Page 61 of Soul Forge

“Will you be gone long?” the ex-captain pressed.

Irileth smiled. “Her body will remain in your protection, Rukya. You have my word.” Reiner crossed a fist over her chest and nodded, retreating to watch whatever was about to happen from a distance but staying close enough to jump in if Elda was in danger.

“I’m happy to help,” Gira agreed. “Aetheria says she doesn’t need to be present to help, but she will watch through me. Join hands.” Elda did as she was asked. Despite the ice they were crafted from, Irileth’s fingers never felt cold. “Close your eyes. Irileth, project an image of your realm to Elda. Send it through the connection you share.Willher to see it through your eyes.”

At first, nothing happened. Then there was a small point of light behind Elda’s eyelids, growing steadily larger, as though she were emerging from a cave. The thread binding her to Irileth towed her forwards through the darkness. She could no longer feel her body standing in the garden.

Instead, she was floating, pulled through the point of light that had become a window into another world. Her feet touched down gently on the surface of a frozen lake, huge fish with bright scales swimming lazily beneath the crystal-clear ice. All around the lake were trees and shrubs coated in a perfect layer of frostand snow, though the air wasn’t cold. The sky was cloudless and bright, but there was no sun to shield her eyes from. In the centre of the lake, Irileth sat with crossed legs, one hand tracing the path of a fish beneath her.

“Welcome to my home,” she greeted, her smile gone. “I’m surprised it was so easy for us to get here.”

Elda turned in a slow circle, breathing in crisp winter air. It was beautiful, but beauty did nothing to settle her nerves. “Whereishere?”

“Each Spirit has their own self-contained realm to reside in once entrusted to a vestige. This one is mine.”

Elda’s nerves jangled at the edge to her tone. “And now that I’m here, what am I about to learn?”

“Must we talk about such sad things right away?” the Spirit pouted. The princess folded her arms and waited until, eventually, Irileth slumped and patted the empty ice beside her. “Come. Sit with me.”

When they were seated, the Spirit went back to dragging her finger across the surface, attracting the attention of the fish. Elda forced her eyes away from the multitude of coloured fins wafting beneath the ice.

“Can you tell me now?” she insisted.

Irileth sighed through her nose. “Yes. I’m going to teach you about your future, little friend. Sypher’s demon soul is violent, and over the years, it has become vengeful. He fights it constantly, trying to keep it at bay. One day, it will overwhelm him.”

“But he can stop it, right?” she asked hopefully.

“No.” Elda’s stomach flipped. “The cross from what he is now to what he’ll become is inevitable. Once it happens, he’ll never be the way he is now. All he does by fighting is delay the change. That’s where the bond comes in.”

“I don’t want to kill him.”

“Depending on the paths the two of you take, you may not have a choice. If the day comes when he threatens Valerus, you will do what you must.”

“And what’s that, exactly? We’re talking about hislife, Irileth,” Elda argued.

Julian’s plea haunted her. The look of sheer worry in his silver eyes, all for his half-demon friend, kept her grounded. His demon soul frightened her, but she wasn’t about to base her decision on its existence.

“He’s aperson,” she stated. “He has thoughts and feelings, people that love him. He’s more than your weapon.”

“I know, little friend. The lesson I’m about to teach you is one I’d rather avoid.” Irileth’s head dipped. “But Aeon demands it. The First Spirit is our monarch, much like your kings and lords. Every chosen one is required to learn. The Soul Forgeisour weapon, andyouare his wielder.” Elda recoiled at the sentiment. Irileth’s brow furrowed, white eyes cast down to her knees. “If Sypher succumbs to his demon, the Compulsion can be used to control him.”

Foreboding churned in Elda’s gut. Something buried inside her knew this was the thing that terrified him. She was about to learn what had damaged him so deeply. “What’s the Compulsion?” A beat of silence followed, and then…

“The removal of his free will.”

For a moment, the world seemed to fade out around her, only Irileth’s voice filling the void it left behind.

“Once you know how to use it, the bond becomes a mechanism capable of enslaving him. My job today is to teach you how. Once you learn, you can utilise it whenever you see fit, for whatever purpose you desire. That is what it is to be a wielder.”

“No.”

Her denial brought the world rushing back in to greet her. Elda got to her feet, utterly horrified, and backed away fromIrileth. Her breaths quickened, tightening her throat at the realisation of why Sypher was so hostile.

“No, I want to leave,” she decided. “I don’t want to be here.”

“I know.” The Spirit tried to soothe her. “I know it’s awful. But you know the man he is now, not the monster he could become. You’ve only glimpsed the darkness in him.”

Panic made Elda’s voice shrill. “I don’t accept that he’s a monster!”

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