I set down my cup of morning tea, studying the wizard sitting across from me. A small breakfast has also been laid out, but I have no appetite, so I ignore it. I came to his study early in the morning, so he's currently in his mid-twenties. Not that itfeelslike morning since the sky has remained a beautifully forlorn twilight cycle since we arrived here in Alaska.
We've been in the Sanctuary for two days now. Most of my time has been spent training my matches, answering the Garnet Wizard’s seemingly endless questions, and thinking.
Lots of thinking.
And now I've developed a plan.
“I told you about my episodes,” I begin.
“Yes. The way you ‘expire,’ as you call it.”
I nod. “Last time it happened, my bonded matches were affected. They heard Amadeus's message to me through our bond, which makes me further believe they’re bound to my shadow heart, which links back to him. So…”
When I trail off, the wizard arches a brow. He's handsome as a younger man, with closely cut black hair, a clean-shaven face, thick brows, and cunning brown eyes.
“So?”he prompts.
Better to just fucking spit it out.
“You know all about my gambit, but I haven't told you how my story will end,” I say, smoothing my gloves before meeting his eye. I force my voice to stay steady. “If I don't fulfill my purpose as a revenant, one of two things will happen. I will either slowly decompose until I fade to nothing and pass into the next life, or my shadow heart will give out. It was never intended to give me life for years, just long enough to fulfill my purpose.”
He considers that. “In that case, your bound matches’ curses are not truly broken. When you pass on, those blights shall return—and take it from me: curses come back with a vengeance when a keeper is gone.”
“You mean when the keeper'sheartis gone. After all, that's what they're bound to—this spell in my chest. What if you could remove my shadow heart before then? Keep it intact somehow so their curses remain unbroken?”
The Garnet Wizard’s brows go up, and he leans forward with interest.
“An intriguing theory. One I would be very curious to put to the test.”
“Then test it. Once I've bonded with all of them and accomplished my mission…I'll return so you can try to remove my shadow heart. If you preserve it after I pass on, it may prevent their curses from returning.”
He's quiet for a long moment, staring off into space thoughtfully.
“All this, you are sacrificing for the humans in the Nether,” he finally muses quietly. “Why?”
What kind of question is that?
“I told you about their living conditions, if it can even be called living. I'm the only one who can help them escape. It’s hardly a sacrifice when I’m doomed anyway, so why wouldn't I?”
“They're only humans.”
If he starts spouting off about how much better legacies are than humans, I will throw this fucking teacup at his face.
“So was I, once upon a time,” I point out with a warning edge in my voice.
He throws his head back in a laugh before checking the nearby grandfather clock, which is wreathed in thriving vines.
“I shall consider your theory, Maven. I’m afraid I have another engagement that will take up much of the day, but the etherium withdrawn from my storehouses will arrive later today.”
Thank the fucking universe.
As I leave the study, I go over my plan.
I only have three days left to kill off another member of the Immortal Quintet. With etherium, I can now store Somnus's potent life force, which has sat heavily in my veins for days as I've resisted the temptation to tap into it.
Once I copy the spell Felix and I perfected to store life forces in the etherium, I can take it to a temple for the blessing it will need from a priest or prophet to continue sustaining the Divide.
But that will come after the human exodus out of the Nether.
