“I have what I need from Ketheron’s extraction during his cleansing of Win last night—Ruxnoth’s power,” he told her. “Because it’s not straight down the line True Celestial power, the fact it’s twisted and unusual means it’s obviously going tooperate differently from that of somebody like Ariana. And those differences will be key to determining what he can and cannot do, as well as how it can be done.”
“And how to destroy Sanctus,” I said.
“Yes. It’s a violation to the balance. He’s using necromancers. He infected you. Kidnapped you. Clearly also tried to warp your mind to serve what he wants.”
“That’s not what happened. I told you he had no choice but to meet with me in that way. And he didn’t hurt me. He just talked to me and explained things.”
Evira looked up at me. “You can’t have known he just wanted to talk when he first took you, especially with the way he did it—hurting Ambrose, somebody you consider a friendandhim being Ketheron’s boyfriend. So he must have needed to hold you in place in case you fought it.”
“As a precaution only.”
Dad looked over at me. “If it was just True Celestial power, you could have siphoned in a sudden, brutal rush long enough to free yourself. At that point you knew he was protected by death magic from the necromancers he was drawing on, so you couldn’t impact him—not in your current state of sub-par knowledge in Necromancy.”
Sub-par.It bothered me when he referred to it that way. I was far beyond that, but his standards when it came to it were another level.
If I was really that inept, I wouldn’t have been invited toGrimoire Creationclass, which was invitation-only for those with intermediate-level comprehension of the magical arts and tapped ashigh-potential innovators.
“It wasNihilumbra.”
Shock infiltrated Dad’s features—all of them around the room, actually.
He looked disgusted and so pained for me. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “That motherfucker didn’t dare subject you to that torture.”
“It wasn’t torture, because he nullified the effects without releasing me. He was worried what I’d do because he knew I was so ill-informed about so much. Something even I wasn’t aware of.”
“Nullified the effects?” Dad questioned. “How?”
“I thought with his True Celestial power.”
“No. We’ve had both Ketheron and Ariana try.”
“And no dice,” Pops said.
I frowned. “He said that he’d found a way specially for me, to spare me from it.”
“Curses,” Father muttered. He looked over at Dad, his brow furrowed with pained concern. “Sylas.”
“I know,” Dad said, giving a nod. Then he pushed off the wall and strode to me. “He didn’t do itforyou. You’re an asset to him. A hell of a fucking asset. Nothing more than that. Cassius knew him. Ruxnoth is highly-skilled at psychological manipulation. And you’re vulnerable to that, especially now you’re aware of the fear and worry thatsomepeople have toward you. Some, Winter. Not all. Ruxnoth has twisted that fear and your vulnerability for his own benefit, to bring you onto his side. Likening your situation to his is despicable enough, but also usingNihilumbrato further that is beyond even that.”
“He tried to stop those people who created it,” I told him, all of them. “He succeeded for a time, too, until his power weakened from holding Sanctus up alone for too long. You know,Temperance? The group you didn’t tell me about that exists solely to end me?”
“Temperance?” Zayn murmured in confusion, clearly having not known about it either.
Evira started and I looked to see recognition there. She’d known about it. But her reaction made it clear she’d thought I’d been well aware as well. It made sense that she’d know about it, given that she was Crown Heir so very well connected. As I eyed Vaxan, I saw the same was true for him, no doubt because he was Basilisk royalty. Unlike Zayn, they both had access to knowledge bases beyond the standard of most supernatural beings.
Vax frowned out at my family, demonstrating just how surprised he was that I hadn’t been told.
My dad held up his hand as that surprise from him turned to accusation. He told the four of us, while looking at me, “Once you’d completed your apprenticeship with me, you would have been told. Any sooner than that risked scaring you unnecessarily.”
“Unnecessarily?” I pulled from Evira and Zayn both and shifted to the edge of the couch. “We’re talking about a group that exists just to put me down.”
“Temperance is being contained,” Father said.
I looked between them all. “Let me guess, The Shadowed uses its whisper network to track the members of Temperance, and once they get a lock on them, Pops, Grandpa and Grandma confiscate theNihilumbra?It can’t be any of the rest of you because of the anti-magic properties fromThe Voidaspect that’s one of the ingredients?”
“Actually, because that’s fused with the essence of the Veil, it doesn’t impact all magic-wielders, only those operating on death-touched resonance,” Mom explained. “Like me, with my Wraith side, your dad as a necromancer. Because I’m also Dark Fae, which is not a death-touched magical nature, I’m able to break free of it. Your dad can’t.”
“Yet,” Dad ground out. “Tests are still ongoing.”
