“Fuck balance.” Darius, Prince of Fire and resident hothead, spoke without thought to his mother beside him. Too late, he realized his blunder, chastised when she smacked the back of his head. “Sorry, Mother. I mean, to hell, ah, heck, with balance.” Darius fumed, his red eyes gleaming with frustration. “It’s not the Light Bringer populace Marcus is worried about. It’s the Congregation of Idiots.”
“Church of Illumination, Darius.” Ravyn, his mother, my sister, sighed. “And Marcus is right to be wary. The Church exists to check our power. Tanselm’s watch keepers make sure our sorcerers and Storm Lords abide by the needs and wishes of the people. Frankly, with all that’s going on around our lands right now, we can’t afford to alienate them.”
I wondered. The Church used to stand for what was right. But lately things weren’t as they should have been with the Church. I’d been so busy hunting Dark Lords I’d lost sight of Tanselm’s domestic problems.
“Arim, what do you think?” Ravyn asked.
“I think we have bigger problems than the Church just now.” I related the battle I’d fought with Jonas on the mundane plane, pleased to see frowns darkening my nephews’ faces. Good, they understood the ramifications of the Netharat’s interference.
“So what do you intend to do about it?” Ravyn asked.
“I need to talk with Sava and a few others I can think of off the top of my head. It’s time the leaders of our worlds came together to form an alliance. If Sin Garu mounts a successful attack against the humans in the Earth plane, other Dark Lords may come forth and try the same with other mundane worlds. Earth must stand fast against those with magic, or Light worlds will begin seeing serious repercussions.”
Aerolus nodded. “In the altee scrolls I’ve been studying, I’ve watched prior battles fought over worlds without magic. Did you know Kreer was once like Earth? A flat plane with little to recommend it. Then one of the Aellei found it and began tinkering. Now the place is lit with odd resonances of energy. Though it’s mostly Light, Kreer is expanding into several interdimensional coalescent strings of power that —”
Darius interrupted, “Right. Strings of power. Thanks, Aerolus. But if we could get back to our main problem at hand?”
“I feel like I’m back in University,” Marcus mumbled.
“I hated University. They want you to do too much studying.” Cadmus turned a sly grin my way. “So how about we ask what we really want to know?”
I glared at him, knowing what he’d ask about.
“Have you found Lexa yet? With Jonas’s help, you must be close.”
Jonas smirked. “Yes, oh great sorcerer. Do tell them how the hunt goes.”
I clenched my jaw, not amused when Cadmus shared a grin with the Darkling. “I’ll speak to you about your idea of help later.” I glared at my brown-eyed nephew, including Jonas as well, then turned back to the group. “As for Lexa, it’s been three weeks, and she’s still missing. I’m sure Sin Garu doesn’t have her. We’d have heard if he did.” I’d have felt it.
“I, for one, am glad she’s still alive.” Ravyn nodded. “Her magic helped save my life and that of my sons, lest you forget. Aerolus, she healed you and Alandra when you needed it most and asked nothing in return. Cadmus —”
“You don’t have to sell her to me, Mother. She took care of Ellie for years and saved my ass — me — from Sin Garu.” He shivered, clearly recalling his time in the Netharat’s grasp. “The wraiths are not friendly creatures. At. All.”
Jonas piped in, the Djinn always needing to have his say. “Don’t forget me. She allowed the Sarqua Djinn to return to our homeworld.” Jonas directed his emphasis my way. “She’s not the monster you think she is. She’s actually a very nice woman.”
Darius stared at Jonas as if he had three heads. “Right. The woman who kills with a touch, who murdered her Light Bringer family and who worked with Balen and Sin Garu to kill our father, aunts, uncles, and cousins, is just a wonderful gal.”
I wondered why Darius’s sarcasm bothered me, considering I’d been thinking the same thing.
“She didn’t kill anyone.” Jonas huffed, then quickly amended, “Well, not anyone not deserving of it. I’m telling you, that Dark Lord — that woman — is no more a murderer than you or me.”
Marcus eyed him with a raised brow. “Is that so? Because I clearly recall you killing several Light Bringers not too long ago. A hunting party near Foreia during the Dark moon? I guess they deserved it, hmm?” His tone was as provoking as his words.
I admitted to feeling amusement since Jonas looked so annoyed.
His amber gaze flared. “For your information, Prince Jackass, those Light Bringers were trying to kill me and Ethim. I’ll be damned before I lose my ruler to a measly Light Bringer warrior who doesn’t know his head from his ass.”
Cadmus chuckled. “Well said. Though I think those particular warriors were Church brethren who confused their left from their right, not exactly a head and ass thing.”
“Shut up, Darkling,” Darius shot at Cadmus and leaned closer to Marcus. “Ever since he married Ellie, he’s been more one of them than us, anyway.”
Marcus nodded, his lips quirked, and chimed in about wraiths and the Dark, pecking at Aerolus, who’d married an Aellei.
Aerolus, for once, didn’t remain quiet but fired back in retaliation for the slight on his affai. “I’ll remind you that Alandra helped defeat Balen, who could have seriously damaged our people if he’d been allowed to live and join with Sin Garu. What are you thinking, Marcus?”
“You have some nerve, you arrogant lekharn.” Cadmus glared at Marcus, including Darius in his hostility, and Jonas crossed his arms over his chest, apparently in agreement with the Djinn insult. “Lekharn” translated to shithead. “Ellie saved our world from annihilation at the cost of —”
Marcus cut him off, and then Jonas joined in the fray, voices rising in volume as male annoyance overrode the worried calm in the room.
