Ryc steps in beside me, offering me aid, and uncurls the canvas with ease. “No,” he replies. “High Emperor Godrick was nyraphim. Full blood.”
In the same instant, a pair of painted golden eyes pierce me.
They’re the same shade as Ryc’s.
Granted they’re some artist’s rendition, but the color… though time-worn and neglected, there’s no mistaking the color. Set in a handsome, sable-skinned face, he stares at me with a cold expression. Beside him, a tawny-skinned female with eyes of forest green holds the same emotionless expression.
Neither of them inspire any feeling or memory.
And why should they?
They existed long before I.
“Is he one of Gaia’s children?” I ask, and Ryc glances down at me, confusion crossing his face.
“He has the same eye color as you, as Zuriel, as Gaia,” I say.
“I don’t know if he is,” Ryc says. “As far as I know, Thalion is the only sibling I have.”
My brows fly high. “You have many siblings, Ryc,” I say, trying to mute the surprise in my voice. “You’ve stood against Death Bringers, but not once encountered a Life Bringer?”
He studies the portrait for a long moment before letting it spring back into place and turning to me. “Not once,” he says.
I scoff a bewildered laugh. “There are six,” I reply. “And they’re all self-righteous bastards.”
Ryc chuckles. “You know them?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No… I’vefoughtthem.”
A small silence passes between us before I continue.
“Life Bringers collect the blessed, Death Bringers collect the damned, and sometimes, a soul is a bit of both. We fight to determine who gets to claim them.” I stare blankly at the dirtied wall between the slashed canvas. “Zuriel, Gaia’s eldest, is the Life Bringer who helped me escape the hells. And he is the biggest bastard of them all. He and I have endured countless skirmishes. The tally of victorious versus vanquished between us was lost long ago.”
“What a wild family reunion your Joining is going to be,” Eve says and both Ryc and I turn in her direction.
She and Cyran stand near the end of the foyer, at the entrance of a hallway leading deeper into the tower.
“A horde of demons and a legion of nyraphim with a long and bloodied history between them in one place,” she says with a small laugh. “Erus doesn’t have enough Royal Guard to prevent that bloodbath.”
“My siblings won’t be in attendance,” I say.
“And Gaia has never been involved in my life. Not until she returned Ves,” Ryc adds.
Suspicion snakes around my throat.
Why is that?
Before I can ask, Ryc takes my hand. “You and I will be the only ones at our Joining.”
I nod.
That would be best.
“We’ve lingered long enough,” Ryc says, giving me a reserved smile. “Let’s start our search near the throne room.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Illa Ysari isn’ta castle in any traditional sense.
