“I took your Ruki away, and now I’ve brought him back to you so you may have final words.”He stared into the leader’s baleful eyes, forcing manipulative truths from his lips before he could question them.“You can’t see him now.You can’t speak to one another.But that may be changed.”
The chief’s lips thinned, pain lancing through his eyes.“What was I going to name my second child?”The way he posed the question, Asheda must have known Saer wouldn’t be able to answer it.But Saer knew that confidence.Conceit.
Self-assurance.
Arrogance.
Pride.
That sense of warmth and familiarity extended from the tribe’s leader.SaersensedAsheda’s pride.
Mine.
From Saer’s first day, he’d been aware of what his master created him from—what he represented.It hadn’t been taught, but rather built in.He had names for all his instincts, now.
Heat sense.
Soul sense.
Sin sense.Which meant the otherDaemoenica…
“Scuna.”
Pulled out of his thoughts, Saer blinked at the curled spirit.“What did you say, Little Ghost?”
Asheda watched with intense eyes, warm pride wafting from him in droves.
Ruki’s figure whimpered.“Scuna, if it was a girl.Gaugii, to honor one of the elders passed, if it was a boy.”
Saer ran his tongue over his teeth.This was his chance to gain Asheda’s trust, to regain Lucifer’s favor, to see Neyu.
Why did it hurt?
He gritted his teeth, pushed past the unease, and shared the information with the chief.
Asheda stumbled back.“Ruki?”
The chief’s pride dissipated.But when Saer shifted once more to view Asheda’s soul, a renewed brilliance flared at the realization of his son’s presence—one that outshone Ruki’s in a way Saer hadn’t expected.
Instinct clawed at him.Thiswas what his maker needed!He knew, even if he didn’t understand why.
Asheda swallowed.His gaze broke, his defenses gone.“No one knew.Only Ruki and Donanni.”The tribe’s leader shuddered.“They were all I had.”
Saer waited while Asheda licked his trembling lips.
“I—what is it I must do?”
The question spurred Ruki’s spirit out of its reverie, understanding Saer’s intentions at last.“Saer, no!”
He inhaled.
“Father!”
I don’t have a choice.
“All you must do, Asheda”—Saer extended a hand to the chief—“is swear to me that your spirit will follow me on the day you die.”
Ruki’s essence couldn’t speak past the sobbing.
