Page 89 of Until the End of Ever
The unsolicited advice gave me pause. It sounded a lot more astute and wiser than what I had thought Silver capable of. As I’d rather eat my shoe than admitting it, I teased her instead. “Are you suggesting you and I are similar?”
“Wouldn’t go that far, Daddy. But let’s just say that my best friend talks to me, so maybe I know what I’m saying.”
Another pertinent point. What had Kleos told her to make her think this conversation was necessary? I could imagine it.“You know, it’s not that serious. We only started dating this week. We’ll see how it goes.”And other logical words I didn’t want to hear.
I was not logical about Kleos Valesco.
I’d asked her how she felt about me. She hadn’t truly returned the question, and I assumed it was because she wasn’t ready for my answer. Silver made me doubt that.
I decided we didn’t have time for any of that today. It could wait until we’d identified our divine friend and foe.
Ihadn’t used my summoning room in weeks.
Unlike the rest of my wing of the manor, this room hadn’t changed at all. I supposed the house saw it as mine, and didn’t attempt to make it Kleos’s. I made a mental note to ensure she’d also have her space. A proper room for her jewelry-making, and anything else she might enjoy doing.
“Or maybe, just maybe, you should talk to her instead of planning your entire life in your head,”Silver seemed to say, with a silent, judgmental look paired with a knowing smirk.
So that was why some people found my smirks annoying.
Like many of the things I ended up specializing in, calling beings from other world grew out of boredom and curiosity. Cassius taught me how to visit the various underworlds, the rules of engagement with its many guardians, who to bribe or flatter into compliance.
Visiting the dark worlds inhabited by demons and souls was our birthrights as Nyx-spawns, and he knew people who eventually asked me to contact their loved ones.
I was fifteen the first time I attempted a summoning. And I ended up being very, very lucky. Instead of the fiend I was targeting, I manifested part of a demon prince who could likely have annihilated me in instants. But it happened to be a distant cousin, so instead, Taranis shouted at me, giving me a long lecture about the dos and don’ts, and promised to pulverize me if I dared call to him again.
I only bothered him twice afterwards.
I loved world surfing. Portals from one place to another on Earth lasted mere seconds, but the speed and adrenaline hit had always been fun. Moving worlds was my version of a rollercoaster. Faster, infinitely more dangerous, but just as fun.
So I tried other worlds. Any I could read about where I had reason to believe I could breathe and communicate with the various life forms.
Traveling out of this world was one of the secrets behind my many successes. Yes, I was creative and inventive, but my first move whenever I tried to come up with something new was to check whether my goal already existed elsewhere.
What we were up to today wasn’t in my wheelhouse. In fact, I was used to the opposite: calling other entities here, or perhaps traveling to them. Sending only my mind elsewhere? I hated the concept.
Not that it mattered. There was nothing I wouldn’t do for the woman walking into the room, wrapped in a long white Grecian gown under the shawl she seldom forwent these days.
“I didn’t ask if I should wear something specific,” Kleos said, nervously fiddling with her shawl. “Is the dress a bit much? Something a bit more traditional just made sense, you know, for a proper ritual.”
“You’re perfect,” I immediately replied.
Kleos found that amusing. “Well, you’d think so. You’re always dressed like you’re attending a wedding.”
“A man ought to be prepared. You never know.” I winked. “Lucky? The floor’s yours. Literally,” I added, gesturing to the pentagram permanently etched on the wooden floor. “Will this do?”
She tore herself from the shelves of various knickknacks I brought back from my travels. “Yeah, I usually draw it just likethat. All right, usually, we sit for this. Kleos, take the center point. The caster should be on the north point.”
I moved to the right spot, and the others chose their points. Silver, as earth, sat cross-legged to my right, Ronan, representing air, at my left. Gideon, fire, was next to Ronan and Lucky, water, next to Silver.
The moment she stepped on her place, the energy around the pentagram started to hum, balanced and charged by our presence.
“Lucian, none of us can speak once you start. Any last-second questions before I pour the Liquid Dream?”
I shook my head, feeling my jaw tic.
Calm down. Lucky’s chill. She’s done this many times. It’s not just dangerous. It’ll be fine.
“Well, I do hope everyone’s gone to the loo, then.”
