“It was too easy—that’s what happened,” Braedan said bitterly. “I know now that the Reaper Lordletme shove him away,letReeve and me run from the dungeon,letme think we were about to escape. Because in all my planning, I’d forgotten where we were—and what we were surrounded by.”
Realization hit Viri, along with sorrow. “The blackmist.”
A stiff nod from Braedan. “We didn’t have our own talismans at that point, so we were trapped inside Mount Mort with nowhere to go. That’s when things got worse.”
Worse?Viri wondered in disbelief, unsure how that was even possible.
“The Reaper Lord was amused by our escape attempt, but it also made him lose what little patience he had left,” Braedan said. “He warned me that if I didn’t start behaving, then he would consider it as me reneging on our deal…which would mean he could do the same.”
It took Viri a moment to understand. When she did, her heart clenched as a new wave of guilt tore through her.
“Me,” she breathed. “He said he’d come for me.”
Another stiff nod. “After what I’d experienced in just a few weeks, there was no way I was going to let you suffer the same way. And Reeve—his life was still at stake, too, both of your fates tied to my decision. So as much as I despised it—despisedmyself—I agreed to siphon again, and this time, I stuck with it. I blocked out the guilt, the pain, the shame, didn’t let myself feel anything other than the power. It was the only way I could survive.” A weighty pause. “Until it wasn’t. Because soon enough, the ellixen changed me on such a fundamental level that I stopped caring at all. About anything. Or anyone.”
Braedan curled in on himself, but his words came quicker now, as if he was eager to get the rest over with. “My compliance meant I was eventually released from my cell and given a lavish living space, but by then, I was so ellixen-high that I didn’t realize the Reaper Lord had stopped threatening Reeve’s life, stopped threatening to go after you, and I was siphoning simply because I wanted to.Neededto. I’d become a full-blown addict, having no idea that was what the Reaper Lord had intended all along, all so he could use me as a scapegoat for the hunters and Nox to focus on. He gave me the title of Reaper Priest and the menacing reputation that came with it—a ploy to distract hunters from learning of his existence—then kept me locked in a guarded apartment drugged out of my mind on ellixen. By that point, the only thing I cared about was my next fix. I just wanted to get high and stay high. Nothing else mattered.”
He finally turned to Viri, his face haunted as he revealed, “I stayed that way for seven years.”
Seven years.
The whole time he’d been gone.
Tears blurred Viri’s eyes, even as she fought back more nausea.
“Reeve tried to pull me out of it, so many times,” Braedan admitted, looking away again. “The Reaper Lord released him when he was no longer needed for my cooperation, but instead of a cushy apartment, he was cast out into Diaboros, like a fish among sharks. To this day, I’m amazed he was able to stay alive, something that only happened because he figured out how to use his magic to protect himself, and befriended some young reapers who cared more about atonement than siphoning from him. By the time he managed to find me again, I was too far gone to even recognize him. He did everything he could to snap me out of it, told me I needed to fight, reminded me that I’d promised to return to you, but I was beyond listening. The only thing I cared about was getting more ellixen.”
Braedan rubbed a hand down his face, but then squared his shoulders. “That all changed a few months ago, when Reeve learned about the Reaper Lord’s plans to destroy the obelisks. For seven years, he’d found a way to survive Diaboros and avoided doing anything that might risk the Reaper Lord breaking his deal to stay away from you, but the Aurora Comet changed everything. If the sacrifice went ahead and the blackmist flooded the city, then you—and everyone—would end up dying anyway. He realized it was time to act, so he and his friends broke me out of my apartment to wean me off my addiction, all so we could work together to try and stop what was happening.”
“Sage, Jonas, and Ardin,” Viri guessed.
Braedan nodded. “I hated them at first. I raged and screamed and fought them at every turn, my withdrawal symptoms so violent that they had to be with me constantly to make sure I didn’t hurt myself. But they were patient, all of them having gonethrough it themselves, and I was eventually able to tolerate doing what they do—siphoning from reapers.”
Viri nearly wilted with relief at learning her brother’s blackened veins weren’t from a recent kill, though her heart struggled to make peace with all the years before that—especiallysince those years were her fault. Everything he’d done, every child he’d siphoned from…he’d mentioned blood on his hands, but it wasn’t on his.
It was onhers.
She wasn’t sure how to reconcile that, wasn’t even sure it waspossible. Seven years of murdering innocents, all to keep her safe. The burden of those deaths weighed heavily on her soul—until she realized that burdenwasn’thers to bear. The Reaper Lord had done this. He’d forced Braedan’s hand, giving him no choice but to become a monster. Her brother had committed unspeakable acts, there was no denying it. But the blame lay squarely at the feet of his captor.
Fury simmered within Viri, but she stifled it—for now—because Braedan was still speaking.
“It’s not the same as fresh ellixen,” he said, “but siphoning from the others keeps my addiction manageable, and also keeps me in control enough to turn my remorse into something practical—a desire to make the Reaper Lord pay for everything he’s done to me, and for everything he plans to do with the Aurora sacrifice.”
Viri could relate to that desire, her fury rising anew.
“It’s the whole reason I came here to Nevarnost,” Braedan said, “because I realized it was the simplest solution for making sure he never hurts anyone again. Only—”
“You didn’t know about the magical surge that would free thereapers from Diaboros,” Viri said, “and that we need to find a way to stop him that doesn’t end up with him dead.”
Braedan released a frustrated breath. “Yeah. I should have known it wouldn’t be so easy. But I was so fixated on the idea that if he died, then not only would the city be safe, you would be, too, and Reeve and I would be free to return to you.” He swallowed and admitted, “I never found out exactly why he wants you. But I—I assume it has something to do with your magic. And that would be…very bad.”
The sudden turn in conversation caught Viri by surprise. “What magic?”
A hesitant pause met her question, until her brother answered, “I said earlier that I needed to work up to starting at the beginning. The truth is, I’d rather not go there at all. But…there’s something you need to know. Something Mom and Dad never told you. Something I think caused the obelisk to…do what it did that day.”
Viri’s throat turned dry. “What didn’t they tell me?”
Braedan stood up so fast that she jumped, then began pacing between her and the pond, as if he were too nervous to sit still. But then he halted just as quickly and sat down again, though this time, he angled toward her, taking her hands in his.
