Page 41 of Haunted

“That is probably why.”

“How do I sever this bond?” I ask.

“You don’t wish the empress to know your secrets?”

“There are lives at stake. He cannot know.”

“Ah.” Siana takes a shallow breath. “I believe that all your problems can be fixed with one solution.”

“What is it?”

“Do you trust me?” she asks.

“I will trust anything you tell me. You are pure in heart. I feel that through and through.”

Mother Siana nods before attempting to slide up in the bed. The movement is so slow that I assist her and help her settle upright on the pillows. “What are you willing to do to free her?” she asks.

“Free her? From what?”

“From the Dark Master. The puppet master. He pulls her strings. He is linked to her.”

Linked to her. She is powerful because of a link. I didn’t consider this. I lean in until my breath touches Siana’s face. “I want to cut the strings.”

“You aren’t the first to want that. Although, most others don’t realize its strings that need cutting. Very few know where she gets her power. They don’t know that it is something that can be separated from her. They just wish for her death instead.”

“How is she linked to the Dark Master? Why does he not do his own vile deeds? Why does he need the empress?”

Mother Siana relaxes back into her pillow, and her breathing steadies. “The Dark Master has no physical form. He must have a vessel. My daughter has become that willing vessel.”

This is a secret I did not know. “Willing?”

“It has not been easy for her.”

“Who is he truly?”

“He is the Creator’s brother,” Siana says. “A god himself, a shadow of all that is good.”

I know of the Creator. Deian. The humans worship him because he makes every being and creature that comes into this world, but of his brother, Cysgod, I know nothing but whispers, myths. Only dark creatures worship him.

And apparently the empress.

“How can this be?” I ask. “How has she bound herself to him?”

“In his prison, they were joined. He gave her his essence, his power, but they can be divided.”

“How?”

“You must brave the paths of Uffern to free her,” Mother Siana whispers.

“The volcanic mountain?”

“That is where his spirit dwells.”

“How do I free her?” I ask.

“Cut the threads. Bind yourself in her place.”

Myself? Become the vessel for his essence? “And she would be free?”

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