Blog Tour (Excerpt): The House of Always by Jenn Lyons

Galen’s wife, Sheloran, was also present, whom Kihrin had met exactly once.3 Lastly, two people with highly suspect loyalties: Qown, who still worked for Relos Var; and Talon, who only worked for chaos and mischief.4
Senera knew it was an odd tableau; a situation where analogies of kindling and matches might yet prove apt (even if her “guests” were soaking wet). The Lighthouse’s arrival room was circular, large, and devoid of windows. Ascend- ing and descending staircases led to other floors, while a small passage joined the Lighthouse to the manor beyond. Painted black glyphs lined the stone inte- rior. Most of the people she’d kidnapped wouldn’t consider them strange only because most of the people she’d kidnapped had never been to Shadrag Gor before.5 If they had, they’d have recognized those glyphs as new.
But none of them, not even Thurvishar, understood their purpose.
There was considerable irony to her scrambling, desperate fight for time, here, in this place, where time seemed in infinite supply. Yet she rushed for each precious second, for a chance to explain.
“You can’t expect us to believe—” Janel had already gone for her sword. “Just hear me out!” Senera cried. If she could just explain . . .
But she had even less time than she’d believed. The Lighthouse at Shadrag Gor wasn’t a safe place anymore. Senera had no one to blame but herself; she’d made it that way.
In that moment, Vol Karoth struck. The world changed.

Inside Vol Karoth’s prison. The arrival.
I’m not sure how many times Vol Karoth and I fought or for how long. It seemed like forever.
We fell into a routine. He always found me. No matter how far I ran or how well I hid, he eventually arrived with a sword in his hand and hate in his heart. Time had no meaning, so I couldn’t be certain how long it took him each time. It was forever, and it was instant.
Then we would fight until I became so exhausted I stumbled or he slipped a blow past my defenses. Then I would find myself somewhere else. At which point, the whole game would start up again, a cycle I hadn’t figured out how to break, let alone defeat.
Vol Karoth had just finished a swing powered with so much energy it had shattered one of the buildings behind me, when we felt the others arrive.
I couldn’t tell you how I knew.
It’s not like people appeared out of thin air. But I felt them. Twelve souls, several of which meant so much—everything—to me.6

3 Twice. I forget he’d technically run into Sheloran a second time when Kihrin returned to the Capital and was captured by Gadrith.
4 Talon was the Yoran woman. Yes, I brought her, but in my defense, would you have let her out of your sight?
5 Here I am forced to acknowledge that a shocking number of them had, in fact, been to Shadrag Gor before.
6 You have no doubt noticed by this point that the math doesn’t work. That’s because we didn’t know about our stowaway.

T H E H O U S E O F A L W A Y S 19

“No,” I whispered. What? How? We were inside Vol Karoth’s prison, weren’t we? Nothing should have been able to get to us here. The one thing I had been able to count on was that no matter what happened to me, at least the others would be safe.
You brought friends.
“No.” I ducked away from the slash before charging him. I flipped, dodged the blow I knew he’d aimed at my legs, tagged him along the arm instead. It was a meaningless act of defiance, but I wanted him focused on me. “Leave them alone. It’s just you and me. And we don’t have to be enemies.”
Oh? You’re ready to surrender, then?
“Have it your way. I guess we do have to be enemies.” I jumped up as he slammed his sword down on the ground, fracturing the stone paving under- neath.
You don’t want me hurting your friends. But they aren’t your friends. You don’t have friends. Friends are a lie.
“They’re not. You used to have them too, you know.”
Vol Karoth laughed at me.
No, I never did. That was a lie too. But what you call friendship ah, what
a joke. After how you hurt them. Shall I show you?
I felt a sweep of panic. “No, you don’t have to—”
Let’s look at the lies we tell ourselves.
The world changed.