“In private.” I shrugged. “When I could.”
The Emperor nodded. “It has been with you before your birth, leading you.”
I made a strangled sound.
“What is it?” The Emperor asked.
“I . . . yes, Your Imperial Majesty. It, uh, I think it speaks to me. It's how I avoided corruption.”
“Avoided?”
“Yes, Sire. The Corrupter had me. He was trying to infect me. I felt his evil seeping into me. It paralyzed me. But then my chest began to tingle.”
“Tingle?” Nex asked.
I glanced at him. “Yes, tingle. The tingling spread over my body, creating a barrier that pushed the evil away. I think it became a ward, like the one around your palace. And it freed me. That's when Lord Nex and Lord Rath arrived. The Corrupter went to face them, and I had this feeling that Rath was about to die. That's when I attacked the Corrupter.”
“I see,” the Emperor murmured. “Yes, that makes perfect sense. Humans are susceptible to the Corrupter because of their lack of magic. You, however, have magic. Therefore, you are like us, incorruptible. But it's more than that. Your magic speaks to you, Ember. It speaks in its own way. Thank the Goddess, you listened.”
“And thank the Goddess you listened as well, Your Imperial Majesty,” I said. “If you hadn't, we would have no defense against the Corrupter.”
“Indeed,” the Emperor said. “All those years ago, the Goddess told me it would be a long, difficult war. The Corrupter accepted Death into him, and conquering Death is never easy. She said that my efforts and those of the warriors she blessed would not be enough to destroy him. But there would come a day when the Corrupter's weakness would be revealed and his own magic turned against him. The Goddess said that a man would come to me, a man with the power to end the war. He would be of the race that the Corrupter corrupts. A human.”
As the Wraith Lords gaped from the Emperor to me, I asked, “Me? You think I'm the one who can end the war?”
“Not alone,” the Emperor said. “You will help us to conquer the Corrupter.”
“I don't know. I . . . how did I get magic? And why me?”
“Magic seems limitless. As if it has no rules,” the Emperor mused. “But it does. There is no taking without giving. No strength without weakness.”
“I don't understand.”
“Think of magic like energy. If I push you, my energy is transferred to you.” The Emperor leaned over to lightly shove my shoulder, and I swayed into Rath.
Rath steadied me, then slid his hand down and left it there, pressed between the couch and my low back. I glanced at him, but he was staring at the Emperor.
“Are you saying that the Corrupter gave me this power?” I asked.
“In a way, yes.”
“In what way?”
The Emperor chuckled. “When energy is transferred, it has the potential to change. My push became your sway. The Corrupter has been casting his energy into your people for centuries now. And your people have been taking that energy and transferring it to their children. Altering it with each generation. Condensing it. Even those who have never been touched by corruption have a piece of the Corrupter inside them. It has gathered, flowing through your race until it settled in you, Ember. You have claimed the magic and changed Death into Life . . . Spirit.”
“See!” Nex waved his hand at Rath. “I told you he has Spirit Magic.”
“You said hemighthave Spirit Magic,” Rath corrected. Then he looked at the Emperor to say, “But Spirit only comes from the Goddess.”
“And Death takes us to her,” the Emperor said. “Death and Spirit are two sides of the same coin, Ratharin. The Corrupter has tossed Ember a coin, but it has fallen with the opposite side up.”
“That's a lot of metaphors to follow,” I muttered. “Let's just be plain about this. You believe that I can kill the Corrupter. Is that right?”
“I believe that you willhelpus kill him,” the Emperor said. “Perhaps it will be you who delivers the death blow or perhaps it will simply be your magic that weakens him enough for a Wraith Lord to kill him. I don't know. But I do know you are the one the Goddess spoke of all those years ago. Will you help us, Ember?”
“You're asking me?”
“No one should be forced to fight. If you don't wish to help us, I understand. Truly, I do. You can say no, and one of these men will take you home. But if you say yes, I promise to give you every advantage possible. You will have the best mages training you. And should you wish it, the best swordsmen.” He glanced at Rath, then added, “And a mentor to look after you.”
