Viscount Adis huffed, but it seemed he had been expecting that answer, and soon the black book was tossed roughly to the floor in front of me. I didn’t lower the red book.
“You’ll start with this one. You can study the red book in my presence, and I expect you to be able to read it by the end of the week.”
My arms quaked. While I had always had more of an affinity for the language of the Seid, when compared to Milo, I was still far from fluent. Not like our parents had been. Collum had always been more adept than both of us. Which is why the one book my family still owned had been stored in her bedroom.
“I’m not—not the best at reading this language,” I confessed, sure I would be ordered to death at my admission.
“You’d better learn to be good. And fast.” Adis spun around to face the large, colorful painting on the wall. I dared not move, not even to squint at the painting. “What are you waiting for?” He seethed. “Pick up the black book and start reading.”
I rushed to obey, my fingers still vibrating in a way that couldn’t be healthy. My heart wouldn’t slow. I flipped to the page I did know. The first one, coincidentally, which my parents had explained to be a sort of blessing. Trying to calm my heart, I took in some air, then began in the deep voice I called Milo’s. “Rak aman als aman—” As the words left my lips, a strange sensation swirled in the pit of my stomach. At first, I thought it was just arousal, rearing its head at the worst moment again, but thefurther I stumbled over the words of the blessing, the more it grew, and the more I was able to evaluate it.
It was a strange buzz, a form of energy, and my limbs suddenly felt lighter . . . yet stronger. The lingering pain in my forearm abated. Adis kept his back to me, which was good, for I was afraid he would see the way my limbs had stopped quaking, though when I peered down, my skin still appeared the same.
The longer I read, the more the buzzing increased and I soon took notice of the way the floor between Adis and I had come alight . . . a weird gold light I didn’t recognize blazing from between the stones. At first, I thought it was something he had installed in his premium palace, but one glance around revealed that the strange light was only between us, and it appeared to be spilling from my hands, which held the book.
Still afraid for my life, I continued reading, fighting to maintain concentration even as I pondered the light and what it could be that I was really reading. But at the same time, the more I spoke, the drier my mouth became, though I was not offered a break or a sip of water.
My dry mouth eventually spread into my throat and lungs, until every breath between sentences became pained. But still, Adis did not turn, and he did not offer me water, or suggest I stop reading. The light which filtered into the room through the windows dimmed, and as the room finally eclipsed into near total darkness, my parched throat ran out of words. And once I could no longer speak, the light between my hands, the book, and Viscount Adis, dimmed.
My hands resumed their shaking the moment the light was gone—so vigorously that the book fell from my hands, clanking on the stones. At the sound of the pages hitting the floor, Adis spun to face me, and I fought not to collapse as my exhaustion became all-consuming.
I lifted my face to await his instructions, and it was then that I noticed his eyes. While they had once been black, there was now a rim of gold around them that matched the light which hadspread across the floor. But I didn’t feel comforted by the sight, rather, a shock ran through my spine as I realized the light from his eyes wasn’t fading. Though I had no idea what I had just done, something in my gut told me it was wrong—very wrong.
“Excellent.” A saccharine smile spread across his lips as he looked at me, and my fear renewed to the point where I had to tip my chin down to avoid his gaze. He tilted his chin at the red book. “Now, read that.”
“But . . .” I rasped, fighting to use my overworked voice. “. . . water,” I settled on at last.
His gaze didn’t leave mine as he snapped his fingers and Markus placed a clay cup of water in my hand. I wasn’t sure where he had gotten it so quickly, but I was too thirsty to question it and I immediately lifted the glass to my lips and drank deeply.
“I see you cannot read more today. But you will study that book silently now, in my presence.”
The water was gone and my throat still felt like how I imagined the deserts beyond the border of Ralheim I had read about in books in school were. But when I opened my mouth to protest, I was swiftly kicked in the side—right into my tattoo, again. I let out a pained sound, which was entirely too feminine, but Adis didn’t seem to notice.
“Study. Now.” It wasn’t a request.
I exchanged the books in a breath, turning to the first page and begging my eyes to focus. At first, the symbols swam, but as Adis continued to stare me down and sweat trickled down my back, it was as if my brain suddenly understood the pressure I was under, and I recognized a few of the symbols. The words themselves were the same, the diction was just rearranged in a pattern I hadn’t been able to recognize before. It was almost as if this were an older version of the same language.
One glance up told me to keep my discovery to myself—he didn’t care.
The light from the room was nearly gone now,with only a few candles hanging on the wall left flickering. Still, I stared at the page, deciphering the phrases word by word as well as I could.
There were similarities. Some of the symbols I recognized, but with an extra flourish, or maybe a dot which hadn’t been there before. While I couldn’t be entirely certain, the longer I stared, the more I thought I learned.
And what I knew for certain, was the red book had been penned by someone different than the black book.
Time stretched, the sweat on my neck dried, and then perspired again. It was only when my eyes began to droop of their own accord, my chin dipping to my neck that Adis gave the order, “Return him to his cell.”
This time, I couldn’t argue with Markos and Syrus’ rough handling of me. I could barely stand on my own, much less walk. I was in such a daze as they led me down the hall to my sad excuse of a room that it was a shock that what happened, happened.
Just as they were closing me in the dark room with no light, something niggled in my mind, something, that told me to look up.
And when I did, I saw them.
Markus’s irises had a gold rim around them too.
CHAPTER 4
The next day the cycle repeated itself. Then again the day following. And the one after.
