Amma swallowed a spoonful of stew. “Okay?”
He threw himself backward, head lolling to the side. “There were birds and trees and this big, freshwater lake fed by a natural spring. Oh, and these desert foxes with massive ears and teeny, tiny paws who would come to drink and play with each other on the bank.”
“That actually sounds pretty nice.”
“It. Was. Awful!” He splayed a hand out, tongue falling from his mouth as he retched. “Deepest darkness, it made mesick. Anyway, that was the noxscura’s doing, trying to get me off my ass and out into the realm to continue on my Abyssal crusade to carry out evil.”
“It sounds to me like the noxscura wanted you to do good if—”
“Evil,” he insisted, sitting up and grabbing his bowl again, pointing at her with the spoon. “Now listen, none of that’s the point, I just want you to understand what noxscura is so you’remost useful to me.”
“Okay, so noxscura is a neutral, motivational force of magic. Got it.”
Xander’s eyes rolled even harder. “Well, it’s also a bloody poison, so add that to the list. In its purest form, it kills just about everything it touches.”
Amma nodded. “Not Delphine though.”
“So, you know something about the vile nox-touched and how they’re your peoples’ fault?” He sneered at her, taking another bite, and at that Amma screwed up her face. “Oh, no, you don’t. Shocking. A couple of decades back, the followers of one of your gods came into an entire cauldron of pure noxscura. No idea how, but if you’re in power, you don’t let something like that go to waste, so your most devout rounded up orphans, most from that little island Clarisseau, and dipped each one in just to see what would happen.”
The way he said it was so flippant, but Amma’s stomach twisted, and she passed her half-eaten bowl of stew off to Quaz.
“It killed almost all of them, of course, most right away, though some languished for a few weeks until, you know, bleck,”—he stuck his tongue out in mock death—“but eventually they had a few survivors, and as a result, nox-touched were born. And that’s how the realm was blessed with Delphine Delacroix.”
Amma frowned. “That’s awful.”
“I know!” Xander looked too wistful. “And it made her into such a bitch.”
“I’m sure it would anyone.” She didn’t want to offer Delphine any sympathy, but it was in her nature, even as she grit her teeth.
“Not her sister.” He sat forward, smirking. “Celeste also survived the big, horrific dunk as a child. The priests and mages trained her up to fight evil while beating her for every little mistake and making her watch all the other orphaned riffraff die agonizing, noxscura-filled deaths too, and she’s…well, she’s likeyou. She’snice.” The word looked like it burned his tongue to say.
“Let me guess, you hate her.”
“I find her absolutely unbearable.” Xander blew out a breath. “But we were friendly once.”
Amma fell back into her chair. “Oh, my gods, is there anyone youdon’tsleep with?”
“I’m not stupid enough to fuck someone who could have complete control over the arcane blood running through my veins, unlikesomeblood mages. I just sort of abducted Celeste once back when Delphine and Bloodthorne were athingbecause I wanted to know what in the Abyss was going on. She told me everything, her little sob story of a life and how they ruined the cauldron of noxscura that turned them. Impressive stuff, honestly.” Xander put his empty bowl down and picked his wine up again, looking into the cup and swirling it about. “But she was boring, and too much of a risk to have around, so once I got what I needed from her, I sent her home.”
For the first time that evening, Xander wouldn’t make eye contact with her, hesitating before taking another drink. “She beat you up, didn’t she?”
Xander choked on his next swallow. “What? No!”
“Yes, she did. You wouldn’t just send someone home. She kicked your ass and escaped.” A tiny tingle of delight raised Amma’s spirits.
“Well, she didn’t make living with her easy, that’s for certain. Celeste insisted on planting flowers and baking these tooth-achingly sweet foods, and she taught the shadow imps tosing. Do you have any idea how dreadful an entire choir of infernal cretins sounds? She didn’t even have the decency to teach them anything in a minor key. It was so…uplifting.” Xander shuddered. “And Ididlet her go, I just didn’t exactly do it of my own volition.”
Chuckling, Amma took a sip. “She manipulated you into doing it.”
“Yes, all right, that’s what I’m trying to tell you—it’s how the damned nox-touched work!” Xander threw his arms up, totally overwhelmed, wine sloshing. “If they can wheedle themselves into you, which is just what she did, filling my head with ideas about…about goodness and all that nonsense, then they can make you do things you would never otherwise dare. It’s utterly abominable.” He fell back again in a huff, head tilted up at the ceiling. “Sometimes I do miss the little tea cakes though.”
Cake sounded pretty good to Amma. “Would she help us?”
“Celeste? No, definitely not. Even if I knew where to find her, she’s as susceptible to Delphine’s charms as Damien is, albeit in a totally different way. Celeste’s mind or her heart or whatever it is that makes you humans all soft is weak, and the right word from Delphine is all she’d need to turn back into a simpering minion. It’s better for her to stay away.”
“You’re probably right; two nox-touched working in tandem would be worse than just one.”
“Hmm? Oh, yes, of course.” Xander’s brow was knit as if lost in thought, but he shook it off. “Anyway, I assume Delphine waited to enthrall Bloodthorne after he was underground because of that thing those divine mages were summoning. Just being near it made me feel a little woozy myself.” He touched his stomach at the memory. “I’m sure that only exacerbated his loose grip on his own noxscura—a problem he’s clearly having because ofyou, I might add. Delphine’s grip on his reins is probably tighter than it’s ever been, so retrieving Bloodthorne will require beating him into submission first.”
