“I don’t know, but I have a feeling he’ll execute it at the signing of the peace pact.”
Teryn’s heart raced. Seven devils, the signing was to take place at the end of the month—eleven days from now. Larylis and King Verdian might already be on their way. When they arrived, Morkai would have every monarch—every person who stood between him and total rule—under one roof.
He cursed under his breath.
“There’s something else he’ll be working toward,” Emylia said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“What?”
“Once your marriage to Cora is secure, he’ll pour all of his focus into making his takeover of your body complete.”
Teryn straightened, a chill running through him. “What does he need to make the takeover complete?”
“He needs to forge a fate weaving. To do that, he’ll need your blood, his original body’s blood, and a Roizan. Your blood will be easy, for he merely needs to cut your flesh. As for his blood, well, I already told you about that; he has vials of it hidden somewhere. He always kept a stash of his own blood, as a precaution against using all the blood he’d stored in his crystal. Since Cora’s attempts to energetically clear the crystal emptied it of blood, his hidden store is his only option.”
Teryn’s mind spun as he worked to keep his breathing steady. “What about the Roizan? How long does it take for him to create one?”
“A Roizan can be forged in a single night, but it normally takes years to strengthen it with magic, to fill it with enough power for a fate weaving.”
“That’s some relief. I’ll be able to reclaim control by then. If not to remove the crystal and destroy it, then to figure out how to work my voice. Tell Cora the truth. She’ll see through him?—”
Emylia hung her head with so much defeat, he swallowed his words. Her voice came out small. “It may take years for a Roizan to be strong enough to work great magic, but Morkai doesn’t have years. Not even a single year. Perhaps not even a month.”
Teryn’s breaths grew shallow, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak.
She lifted her head and met his eyes with a mournful expression. “Being forced to rest your ethera isn’t the only thing that deteriorates your body. The mere act of being split like this will slowly wreak havoc upon your inner functions, day by day. There are only two things that can happen. Either Morkai succeeds and makes the takeover complete, or you reclaim your body and force Morkai out. Otherwise…you’ll die.”
His eyes went wide as dread sank every inch of his incorporeal form. He sagged against the doorframe once more. “Why didn’t you tell me this from the start?”
“If I’d told you early on,” she said, “you’d have succumbed to your fear. Fear and panic are what detach you from your vitale. Detaching from your vitale harms your bodily functions and prevents you from connecting to your cereba. You must keep that connection strong. Regardless of what you think I should have told you, it doesn’t change what must be done. You have one choice. One course of action.”
“Reclaim my body. Break the crystal.” The words came out flat. Even more hollow than they normally sounded on the spiritual plane.
“You focus on the former. I’ll work on solving the latter.”
He gave her a pointed look. “You mean the memory you can’t clearly see? And the vision that keeps telling you to stay the course?”
“It’s the best we have.” She gestured toward his sleeping body, dozing upon the bed. “Now is your chance to practice your side of the plan, Highness.”
Fueled with a stronger sense of determination—if not a deeper sense of dread too—he made his way toward the bed. He reached the side and glanced down at his sleeping form. A sick feeling coursed through him as he noticed the hollows of his cheeks, the bags under his eyes. And…was that a wisp of silver at his temple? Teryn leaned forward to get a better look at the strand. It was mostly hidden beneath his dark waves, but it was there. It reminded him too much of King Dimetreus’ hair, a silver-streaked brown that belied the king’s true age of nine-and-twenty.
Whether he had himself to blame for overexerting his ethera or if these physical signs of bodily strain would have begun to show regardless, he knew not. Either way, Emylia was right; his body was deteriorating.
He shifted his gaze to her. “How do you know so much? About Morkai? His plans? About what’s happening to my body?”
She gave him a sad smile. “I’ve been here for a long time. I’ve seen much of what Morkai does, and you aren’t the first soul I’ve encountered inside this crystal. You ask me why I kept the secrets I kept? Because I’ve seen this all before. Again and again. I’ve witnessed the dangers of knowing you’re running out of time. The madness that ensues. The futility that follows.”
He shuddered. “Has Morkai ever succeeded at fully possessing another body?” If so, then the body he knew as Morkai might not even be his original one.
“No,” she said.
Teryn was relieved at that. Yet, as he settled into his body’s frame, he realized something; just because Morkai hadn’t ever successfully transferred his soul to another body didn’t mean the previous souls had survived. More concerning than that was the question of why the sorcerer had ever considered possessing another body when he’d had his own. Before his death, he wouldn’t have had any need for a new body. Had he trapped other souls simply as a precaution?
Or was there more Emylia had left unsaid?
37
Cora left Teryn’s door, her heart heavy with disappointment. Where was he? This was the second time she’d come to find him that day. A servant had insisted she’d seen him enter his room not long ago, but he hadn’t answered when she’d called, just like the first time. He couldn’t have been with the physician, for she’d gathered enough intel to learn that his wound had already been tended and hadn’t been too deep in the first place. Even so, he may have been given something for the pain after his cut was treated. He could be sleeping. When she’d extended her senses, she’d feltsomethingthat suggested he was inside, but it was nowhere near as strong of an emotional impression as she normally received. But if he was sleeping, was he going to do so until morning? They didn’t have time for that.
