Saying nothing, she turned her attention back to the case housing the unused set of chains. When she turned back, there was ice in her gaze. And then she slipped the ring onto her middle finger, and said, “I will not allow that to happen.”
My chin dipped, the hot burn of helplessness blurring my obscured vision. “I’m not ready to give up on our people. Not done fighting, even though the enemy has taken all of my weapons. But if I fail,” I pressed,needingto lighten the weight compressing my lungs. “If even the Raith isn’t enough to conceal what I am, promise me you won’t condemn them to a life half-lived. Free them. Fill your ring with every ounce of ki you can, and free our people.”
“I took vows,” she said, pausing to adjust the ring. “To protect my people. To do no harm. But most of all,” she said, raising icy blue eyes to meet mine, “I vowed to make impossible choices. Today I am forced to choose which shade of black will suit the future best.”
“Ah. You see, that’s where you’re wrong.” Expelling a shaky breath, I laughed. “If the general wins, there will be no more impossible choices. No more chances to set things right.”
Delicate brows came together, head tilting to the side.
“We’re linked too deep, Asher and I. Probably my fault,” I allowed, drawing tiny circles on the battered finish of her desk with blunt claws. “Or maybe it’s simply because of what we are. Separately and together, I don’t know.”
“Unique,” she said. “A gift from the Goddess.”
“Perhaps.” From the hall beyond her cramped office, came the rumble of deep male voices. Time running short. “But we cannot be separated, he and I. Even by death, and for that, I hate him most of all.”
The High Priestess blinked, going very,verystill. “What?”
“If the general tries to claim me for his own, as those chains would suggest he intends to do, Asher and I will both die.”
Shaking her head, the High Priestess said, “No… that’s… that’s not possible…”
“I think it’s sort of poetic, really. Most powerful ki-wielder who’s ever lived, but can’t use it without killing us both.” I shrugged, picking at my hemline. “I don’t know. It’s probably best that something as rare and dangerous as the darkness isn’t the prize for corruption and murder.”
“Good morning, sir,” said one of the soldiers standing guard, identity indistinguishable through the closed door.
But the man who responded needed no introduction. “A fine morning, indeed, soldier. Or… itwillbe. Inside, are they?”
“On the field yesterday, Asher fired a weapon,” I whispered in a rush. “Took everything and not enough. I almost died, and he with me. Not enough of your barrier between us to stop it. Bond runs too deep.” Fists clasped tight in my lap to stop the trembling, I choked on the next words. “With us gone, youmustclaim my mother’s pendant. You’ll have the power ofthreeTrila-Glís. You’ll be unmatched.” My lips twitched, and fingers trembling, I prepared to loose the Eidolon and turn myself into a mundane ghost who dared to trust. “A-Are you with me, Your Grace?”
The doorknob twisted, light spilling into the room, making my eyes water. But still, I didn’t break from her half-lidded, swollen gaze. Even when she stood, rounding the edge of her desk, head bowed to her master.
“Ah,” the general said, his large frame blocking out all the light. “My girls. What a lovely sight.”
A tremor washed over me, from the crown of my skull, to the very base of my spine. Waiting on an answer that might not come, if I’d placed my trust in the wrong woman.
“Oh,” the general said, pausing, turning back to his men standing guard. “And gentlemen? We are not to be disturbed. Underanycircumstances. Understood?”
The chorus of ‘yes, sirs,’ churned my stomach, but I swallowed it down. Trapped in a tiny room with ghosts and dark feathers bound in chains.
Closing the door behind him with a sharp snap, the general spread his large hands and said, “Shall we begin?”
Chapter 10
The High Priestess clasped my shoulder, a flash of obsidian and silver glittering on her bejeweled finger as she met my eye.
“Why is it so dark in here?” the general barked. “Can’t see a bloody thing. Sasha, go open the blinds and get some light in here, you lazy cow.”
“Of course, sir,” the High Priestess said, taking the long way around her desk. Concealing me from night-blind eyes as I upheld my promise and flipped the leather band. Allowing the Eidolon to sink jagged teeth deep into scarred flesh.
There was no time to brace for that bottomless hunger, no time to second guess or hesitate, for the general was almost upon me. And with him? Destruction or lies. Nothing between.
With my truest essence wrapped in a frigid cloak, I could only gasp as the flames of my ebon soul were doused without so much as a puff of smoke. Blinking against the wash of early morning sunlight pouring in from a tiny, forgotten window.
Disoriented, I was rendered completely and utterly mundane. Cut off from everything, including the parasitic leech who’d made a home in the hollow space where my heart used to flutter.
“Let’s begin with a lesson in manners, hmm?” the general said, and came to a stop before me. “A slave stands when her better enters a room.”
The obvious response hung heavy between us, but I stood, wobbling on legs made of overcooked noodles. “My apologies, sir,” I murmured, head bowing against my will. “It… it’s not easy to adjust to life here.”
