Alus cut in as he dried a plate with a rag.“My Lord Hubris, much as it must pain you, not everything is about you.”By tone alone, he managed to speak the words without insult.“Ney made her own choices.She had a very good understanding of the consequences to those choices and she followed her heart anyway—if you’ll excuse the very human turn of phrase.”
The corner of Saer’s eyes flinched.If it weren’t for the sin he’d been created from, he would have lowered his gaze, even though no judgment registered in Alus’s expression.He’d never spoken with the Twins, or indeed any of theDaemoenica, about his connection with Neyu.Word must have gotten around, one way or another.
He wasn’t surprised, but a sense of violation and resentment came with the knowledge.What he and Neyu had, he wanted to be theirs, and theirs alone.
Something must have given away his rumination, or perhaps Alus was just that good at deciphering a train of thought.Gluttony put the final dish away and leaned on the kitchen table towards Saer.“No one will ever be able to take away what the two of you had, no matter how Father came to know about it.”
“Nor will killing another of us make your anguish disappear,” Arek added.
“It will balance the scales,” Saer growled.
Arek’s lips thinned.“What is it you really want, Saer?”
The word ‘revenge’ stuck in his throat as Arek regarded him with remarkable depth.“I want her back,” Saer murmured instead.
The apathetic expression on Arek’s face cracked, like crystal on stone.“You are closer to Neyu than any of us will ever be again, Eldest.”
“Pieces of her live in you,” Alus explained before Saer had a chance to ask the question.He and Arek shared a knowing glance before he finished, “They’re easy to see for those of us who knew her.”
The confusion must have read on his face because Alus smiled and continued, “At one point in time, I might have referred to you as ‘Ice King.’It doesn’t suit you as well as it once did.”He tipped his head.“At least, not always.Whether it’s because you learned or subsumed it from our former Queen of the Hells, her influence is there.Quite frankly, makes you more bearable.”
Saer would never understand how Alus could say such things to any one of them and manage to keep from getting socked in the face.He’d discovered he absorbed her power over lust—which he continued to quash under a sea of bitterness—but he hadn’t noticed if he took more when he unmade Neyu.
What if—
“What if it can be taken out?”The question left him, a lightning bolt of childish inspiration.
Mirrored alarm registered on the Twins’ faces.“What?”“Why?”They responded at the exact same time.
Saer tapped his chest.“Take her out of me.Bring her back.”His voice rose as the idea grew.“Surely our maker can create her again with what’s leftover?”
“It doesn’t work that way—” Arek began.
“Why in the Hellsnot?”
Arek leaned away.
Alus raised his hands in a ‘surrender’ gesture.“Because, Don Quixote—”
“Donkey-what?”
Alus waved the words away, dismissing Saer’s inquiry.“Even if Father could do that, it wouldn’t beher.It would have her gifts, her talents, but the memories and experiences, everything which made her someone we all cared for...”Alus allowed the sentence to trail off.
Saer’s mind raced in too many directions to form one cohesive thought.“How can you two let her go so easily?”
Alus’s solemn smile betrayed his feelings as he reached forward and laid a hand over Saer’s.He almost jerked back, but Alus squeezed, and something reassuring in the contact stilled him.“We haven’t, Romeus.We remember with fondness.I might suggest we spend a night doing exactly that.”
The glint of mischief in Alus’s gaze made him narrow his eyes with suspicion.“I’m reluctant to ask what you have in mind.”
“Did you know itispossible for theDaemoenicato get drunk?”Alus asked.
Off to the side, Arek released a sharp breath.“Oh, Hells.”
Gluttony led the trio outside and pointed them in the direction of the market as the sun set over the clay brick town, casting rich ember hues across the landscape.
Merchants had covered their carts with leathers and skins for the evening, tucking them away in favor of flickering, fiery torches.Evening entertainers made their way up and down the street.Ladies of the night and young, sculpted boys with outfits that left little to the imagination approached the entourage of demons.Arek kept his head down and hands in his pockets, avoiding eye contact with anyone.Saer followed suit, growling and jerking away from their unwanted touches.
Alus’s tactic proved just as effective, though more welcoming in its dismissal.
