“I'm sorry.” I held up my hands. “I'll just leave.”
I turned around.
“Wait. Sit down. We can share the garden. You look as if you need it as much as I do.”
I spun back to see Lord Jathalion settling on the bench, this time closer to the end. He folded his wings behind him and laid his hands on his lap. He didn't look at me, just stared forward. Looking at him, I was overcome with a need to know what had hurt him. A lot of Wraith Lords had been through some serious shit. Sometimes, it happened in their past lives and was what compelled them to become a Lord. Sometimes, it happened during their training. And sometimes, it occurred after they became Wraith Lords. But they rarely showed those mental wounds. Probably because they did as this guy had and went somewhere private to deal with their shit. And I had just intruded.
“I don't want to disturb you,” I said.
Jathalion still didn't look at me, just set his hand on the bench beside him and patted it.
I sat down and stared forward, mimicking him. “Are we talking or being silent?”
He snorted, a brief grin coming to his lips. “So, you're the human I've heard about.”
“You heard about me in Kazenpar?”
“Indeed. The trainees started working twice as hard to . . .” he trailed off, slipping back into his sorrow.
“What happened?” I whispered. “What's brought you back here?”
Jathalion sighed, ran a hand over his face, and looked at me at last. “It was time, I suppose. I've been there twenty years.”
“That's a long time.”
He stared at me. “It's odd that you would find me. And straight from a mission, so it would appear.”
“Why is it odd?”
“You're . . . no, never mind. It's not your fault.”
“What's not my fault?”
“Forget it. I shouldn't have said anything. You've caught me off guard.” Jathalion sat up straighter, looked up at the bright sky, then down at his hands. “I'm usually a pretty fun guy to be around.”
“I'd like to think I am too, but we can't be happy all the time.” I slumped and picked at the buckle that held on my greaves. “Actually, I came here to cool off. I'm frustrated or . . . I don't know. Not really angry, but getting there. Irritated, I guess. Yeah, I'm irritated at Xae.”
“What happened?”
“Oh, as you guessed, we just got back from a mission.” I glanced at him. “Rath and Xae went first.”
“That would be Lord Ratharin and Lord Xaedren?”
“Yeah. They wanted to make sure the Corrupter wasn't there before I faded there. You know, since he thinks I'm dead.”
“No, I didn't know.”
I grimaced. “That's a long story.”
“I've got time, and I could use the distraction.”
“All right. I'll try to condense it. Uh, the Corrupter abducted me and attempted to seduce me into switching sides because he wanted me to fall in love with him and increase his power instead of fighting against him. While I was there, the Consciousness of Death Magic took a liking to me and tried to convince me to join their side as well.”
“Death Magic tried to convince you to switch sides? The magic itself?”
“Yep. The consciousness of it. It briefly brought my parents back from the dead to show me what it could do.”
Jathalion's face went slack. “Holy shit. From the dead? So, you saw their spirits?”
