Page 29 of I Am the Night

"Speak ill of who?" I ask, though I'm beginning to suspect who they're talking about.

They share a concerned glance and Elal sighs. "All I can say is this. Be careful with the dragons. And go to that meeting."

Sebastian grumbles but doesn't argue.

"I need to know where it is," I say.

"Well you're in luck, darling," Ifi says, throwing an arm over my shoulder and walking me to the window. He points across the field of gravestones to the far end where a larger structure stands. "That's the entrance. The rest is underground. Go in and follow the steps down. You'll find what you're looking for."

I glance at Sebastian. "Will you wait here for me?" I ask.

"I guess I have to," he says, reluctantly sinking back into the couch.

Elal holds the door open for me, but I shake my head. "I've got a faster way to travel these days."

I close my eyes and think of the location Ifi just showed me, tapping into my darkness, and then I disintegrate.

I land just where I plan, outside the door to Landal's Tomb. It's getting easier to do this teleporting thing, which pleases me.

Vines and moss cover the stone structure before me with lifetimes of growth, and creepers hang down over the entrance, covering the door. Though it looks to have been recently disturbed.

I push through and open the entrance. It squeaks and cracks as it opens and the scent of mildew and dust clogs my throat. I cough, choking a bit before I remember I can use air magic to clear some of this up. A flick of my wrist and I can take a deep breath with more ease. That handled, I navigate down the stairs, casting a ball of light on my palm to guide the way.

Cobwebs catch in my hair and something squishes under my feet, but I don't look to see what. I don't really want to know.

When I finally get to the bottom, I enter a cavernous space full of candles. The room has a tall ceiling, and in the center is a sculpture of a beautiful woman draped in a see-through gown. The stonework is incredible, truly magnificent. It's as if her soul was brought to life, and a chill runs down my spine as I stare at her form.

In another life, she and I were friends.

Or sisters.

I'm unclear.

But we were close.

Who were the other Fates? What were they like? I have so many questions I can never hope to get answered.

"She's stunning, is she not? I tried to capture her essence."

I turn to see Dath'Racul leaning against the stone wall studying me, his long red wing-cape draped over his broad shoulders, his eyes hooded in shadows.

"You sculpted this?"

"I did," he says, stepping forward, into the flicking candlelight. "She was my lover. When she died, a piece of me died with her."

The Forbidden

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

~Rumi

His words leave me stunned. "Lover?"

"Does that surprise you, Miss Oliver? That I would be capable of love?" He steps closer, now standing inches from me, his massive form towering over me, his golden dragon eyes studying me with a penetrating intelligence that is unnerving. The candlelight plays off his deep burnt red skin, giving him a demonic quality that actually seems to amplify his attractiveness.

"We are, all of us, capable of love. The depth of that love is determined by the depth of our own souls," I say.

He tilts his head, studying me. "I was surprised to learn you were one of the Fates," he says in a non-sequitur. "But the more I study you, the more I see the wisdom of your past bleeding through the frailness of your small human life."

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