“Then tell me where Errshek is so I can be on my way.”
For the first time since Lucifer possessed her, Kalia rolled her eyes up to Saer.It must have been difficult for Sloth to match gazes with Pride, but she somehow managed to weigh hers with profound aggravation.“I told him he needs to hide and made him leave.”
“But you know where he went.”
Kalia’s eyes faltered.She bowed her head, attention fixed with renewed vigor on scrubbing the drying and crusted blood of monks off her upper limbs.
“Kaliaspher.”
Her jaw tensed, and she shook her head, but didn’t say anything.
Energy, constrained and furiously vibrating like bottled electricity, hummed between them.
So close.
He wasso close.
Saer reached from his gut, calling upon the essence of his youngest sister.“Kaliaspherikkana.”His whisper quaked with warning.Kalia spasmed and crumpled to her knees next to the bed, eyes shutting.The use of her true name hit its mark, ensnaring her like a barbed fishhook woven with syllables.
Fear slunk into her plea when she whimpered in turn, “Saer, please don’t.”
He shoved aside any part of Neyu’s influence, bitterness flooding in to take its place.“Kaliaspherikkana.”Teeth bared, Saer sent a spark of unmaking into her core with the word, enough to make her cry out and double over.It glowed there an instant, then vanished as Saer pulled it back.
A warning shot.
Kalia turned to stare at him with eyes too wide, betrayal in her gaze.She gulped for more oxygen, breaths shivering, but said nothing.
Saer’s rage drove him, his face aching with the sharp lines carved there.“By your true name, I command you to tell me where Errshek is, Kaliaspherikkana.”
Too much white around her coffee-hued irises, more effervescent tendrils of steam floated from the corners of Sloth’s eyes.The power of hierarchy coaxed whimpering words from her lips.“He sought the lake of a thousand lightning strikes.The Twins told us about it.”
“Where is it?”Saer shouted.
“I don’t know!”The demoness wailed.“Somewhere south of here.”Hiccuping again as the words fled her, she turned away and clutched at her bed linens, burying her face in them.“I don’t know anymore.Please don’t…”
Saer’s wrath ebbed away.
His expression softened, and he took a step forward.
Too late.Just go.
Neyu would never have reduced Kalia to this.
You can’t undo it.You have what you want.Leave.
Uncertainty waged war with the absolute conviction he’d known moments prior.
Saer tore his eyes away from the youngestDaemoenicand departed.
38
WhatSaersoughtwasunheard of by any locals he questioned.
The humans had familiarity with lightning and harsh weather in general.Many interviews led to long, drawn-out tales of their own personal ‘worst storm.’At first, he indulged their fancies.After he’d listened to the same yarn for the dozenth time, Pride’s impatience broke through and he fell back on old habit, cutting off even the gentlest of reminiscing with a grating snarl.
The more time passed, the more irritable he became.Resentment crawled under his skin like poorly pressed velvet.
He gathered specific but few clues.Knowing the Twins spoke of this lightning phenomenon raised the likelihood of a coastal locale.He’d explored many islands and shores on his original search for them, though certainly not all.No matter where Saer searched, he failed to uncover a lake known for lightning.
