Page 81 of The War of Wings
“I believe so. I say that because you are able to cross through the realms with relative ease, a trait of the Extos of the Old World.”
My mind was a hurricane and I was standing in the wind, trying to grasp on to something that would anchor me. “And Rhedros can do the same?”
“Not anymore. He thought it best at the time to renounce his title as Extos and be solely a Saint.”
“He could do that?” I was no closer to finding anything to hold on to in this storm of information.
“He could. And you know Katia was placed here in the New World as a force of evil, yes?”
Apprehension threaded through me at his tone. “Yes… What are you getting at?”
Tyrak was silent for a long beat, and when he finally spoke, his words were measured. “How do you think Katia ended up here in the New World?”
I reared back, blinking rapidly. My ribcage ached at the force with which my heart pounded against it. “Is… Is Katia Malosym’s daughter?”
“Well, no, not by any standard definition. She is not a daughter by birth. Malosym created Katia as a force of evil for the New World.”
“So what does that make her?”
A strangled sigh left his lips. “We do not know, and it does not matter. She severed all ties to Malosym the same way Rhedros did as an Extos. She is a Saint of the New World, and that is all.”
“I… I have so many questions,” I sputtered. “How… Why…”
“If we make it through this,” Tyrak said with a gentle smile, “I swear to you I will tell you the whole story. From the very beginning.”
“Okay,” I answered sheepishly, waiting for Tyrak to continue.
“The Forgotten Saints created the Canon, a list of rules to prevent another Malosym from coming into existence. There is a whole page of these commandments, if you will, but a few hold more importance than the rest. A Saint cannot kill a human. A Saint cannot enter the Human Realm unless cursed by a Keeper and returned as a human. And two Saints cannot, under any circumstances, have a child together.”
“But they did.”
“They did.”
“And what is the consequence? What happens if a rule of the Canon is broken?”
Tyrak’s arms extended out from his sides. “Look around. The world is on the brink of complete destruction. That is the consequence.”
I gnawed at my lip. “I’m a daughter of two Saints. So…I’m just an Extos.”
A humorless laugh left his lips. “Justan Extos,” he said. “Ties to a title does not remove the power from one’s blood. Rhedros may bear only the title of Saint, but Extos power still runs through his veins, though it is dormant. Katia may bear the title of Saint…”
“But Malosym’s power still runs through her.”
“Correct.”
“Which means…” I was on my feet, my head shaking so violently it made me dizzy. No. It wasn’t true. He was mistaken. “His power doesn’t run through me. No. There’s no way. I refuse to believe that.”
Horror and shame and guilt crashed into me, but it was nothing compared to the pain on Tyrak’s face, and it was thenI knew this was no mistake. This was no cruel joke. “You are a part of his bloodline, Petra.”
Chapter 32
Petra
My knees buckled, power flaring in my hands as they hit the table, and for the first time, I hated the blood in my veins. I hated the black spots left behind on the wood, hated the blisters that bubbled up in their wake, the storm brewing stronger inside me with every passing second. My entire identity, my entire life…
“Which brings me to your choice.”
Tyrak’s words ripped me from my spiral. “My choice,” I repeated back to him, as if I’d completely forgotten this was the entire point of this conversation.
