Siban took a breath to answer. “They were always broken, Weryn.”
Weryn nodded. A single jerk of his head. “I must go.”
“And I will go with–”
“No, Siban!” His voice was wrecked. “You–you stay here. Where you will be… where you will besafe.”
Siban blinked slowly. “But I am made for the War.”
“You are so much more than that,” Weryn whispered. “So much more.”
And then he was walking again. Elgar went to follow after him, but Siban grabbed his arm almost convulsively. He lifted his eyes to theirs.
“I don’t know what happened, but Ryder,” she said, “Ryder is still in there, Elgar.”
“Yes,” Elgar agreed.
“You must bring him back safely,” Siban insisted. “Please, bring him back to us.”
Elgar gave a single nod and hurried after Weryn and the others.
TRUTH-TELLING
The gate to Forsworn was in the lowest level of the Weryn Palace. The white stone wall was carved with an archway of leaves and vines where the doorway would open once the symbol was sketched in blood upon it.
Around the archway were carved scenes of animals in the woods. Demos recognized many of the creatures from Earth, but there were many others with sinuous bodies, multiple heads, or monstrous sizes that he had never even imagined before and guessed that they were denizens of the Ever Dark. Forsworn was supposed to have the most variety of plant and animal life of all the Ever Dark cities.
Ryder–or Weryn–passed a hand over the smooth stone within the archway. “Will this be your first time to Forsworn, Demos?”
“Yes, my Immortal. It has been closed to us since you… Well, since the War ended,” Demos explained.
He was normally one to speak plainly even if such speech caused consternation. It gave him no satisfaction to hurt anyone, but truth had a greater weight than even pain. Ignore the truth and the price to pay would grow larger as the truth never wentaway. It just waited to be revealed. So, in that way, pain was never avoided by lies, but simply delayed and multiplied.
Yet speaking the truth to Weryn–that Forsworn had been closed since hisdeath–when he was in this condition and they were about to go after Legion and Roan seemed ill-advised. Weryn was already suffering from the mental dissonance of seeing people and places transformed from what he remembered.
Doesn’t this mean we should be staying here rather than going after Roan and Legion? If he’s not in the right headspace, he could be running into danger,Demos thought.
But he already knew Weryn would not be dissuaded from this course even before Elgar telepathically responded,Weryn would not be contained. Both Balthazar and I believe this must happen to help him reintegrate himself. He is strong, stronger than you know. No matter how powerful Legion and Roan are, a full Immortal outstrips them. Trust in this.
So there’s no stopping him and it’s bound to get messy is what you’re saying?Demos sent.
Yes.
He smiled at Elgar. The Eyros Vampire ducked his head, not meeting Demos’ eyes, but he smiled too. It was progress. After that first time they had met in Balthazar’s dungeon, he and Elgar had gotten together a few times. At first, Demos had thought it random that Elgar would be lingering outside just when he was passing by someplace like the fountain or returning from hunting in the woods. But by the third time they had “accidentally” run into one another, he had realized Elgar was seeking him out. It was both flattering and a little consternating as Elgar was not like the people he normally surrounded himself with. In truth, Elgar was not like anyone else at all.
While there were some introverts in the Weryn Bloodline–Siban was a good example of this–most were extroverts with adeep desire to surround themselves with those they cared for at all times. Loud laughter and constant talking–along with quite a bit of blood feeding and sex–was the norm. Too many people being around seemed to pain Elgar even though he assured Demos that he could close out all of their minds. Yet when Demos had invited Elgar to come with him to a Blood Den, the Eyros Vampire had clearly been miserable throughout the whole evening though he’d tried to hide it.
So their other “dates” had been walking around the streets of Nightvallen just the two of them, strolling under the trees in the surrounding forest, or finding a cozy nook at the bookstore and talking there. Mostly Elgar was quiet, but he could be a chatterbox if Demos got him speaking about something he particularly enjoyed. Demos had slowly, but surely introduced others to Elgar like Siban, who Elgar decidedly liked, but Elgar seemed happiest when it was just the two of them.
People didn’t pair off even when they were a couple in the Weryn Bloodline, but either brought that person within their pack or even combined packs. In fact, most Weryn were polyamorous. While Weryn clearly was pair-bonded with Ashyr, that was actually the rarity.
Demos often was with multiple partners that not only knew about one another–cheating when one had a Weryn’s sense of smell was a quick way to get oneself ostracized by everyone–but were often involved with one another as well. But it had always been casual. Elgar wasnotcasual. And Balthazar had made that clear. He had showed up one night just before Demos and Elgar were to meet up.
“Demos, what a coincidence finding you here!” Balthazar had laughed, but his narrowed silver eyes said differently.
“Coincidence? Somehow I don’t think coincidences happen to you,” Demos had responded.
He had been sitting on the fountain. The melodious splash of water was peaceful as was the night churr of insects. Balthazar was dressed in a red and black plaid, three-piece suit. He even had a black cane with a silver knob at the top. Anyone else wearing such an outfit would have seemed vaguely ridiculous to Demos who wore his comfortable jeans and leather vest that exposed the vast expanse of his muscled arms and shoulders. Yet Balthazar wore the outfit with a confidence that made it seem avant garde rather than old-fashioned and sleek rather than fussy.
