Page 35 of A War of Embers

Every second here feels like death is slowly slipping further and further away from my fingertips. Just barely out of reach, but out of reach all the same. “Like I told Nox, Rowan and I came to an understanding. We’ll figure it out later.”

“I still can’t believe you went in search of him by yourself the other day,” she sighs. “I thought for sure Lord Rowan was going to confine you to the estate after that.”

This is the first time I’m hearing about her knowing I snuck out.

Before I can question her, Zeke perks up. “If you’re wondering who the blabbermouth is, it was me. I had a sparring session with him later that day and he told me he found you snooping around in his study. Apparently you were quite helpful in his plight.”

“If you mean did I inform him that whoever is detailing his maps of Tellus is an idiot, then yes.” I shrug indifferently. “It’s not my fault he hired someone incompetent at their job.”

“Oh, I really like you,” Zeke grins. “Such a waste of an interesting mind when you die. I’ll forever treasure these little moments between us.”

“How has no one succeeded in killing you?” I snark.

Alyvia shakes her head.

Zeke, the bastard, just howls with laughter. “Many have tried. Clearly no one was successful in their endeavor. Much like you, I suppose. You can’t tell me no one has ever tried to kill you and take the souls inside of you for themselves.”

Several tried. None of them are left alive. Either Lady Gwenyth made an example out of them to the masses or she used me to do it. No one has ever come close to being able to penetrate my chest and pull out the souls stashed in my heart. Before jumping into the Blood Sea, I thought it was something that could potentially happen if only another District’s Lords or Ladies would try. Instead they would send their own immortals to try and steal the souls from inside me. None of them ever made it back.

Even now I have my sliver of doubts about Lord Rowan’s abilities. He might be the strongest here in Aïdes, but I can’t think of anyone whose power out-bests the other in Tellus. If Rowan can pull out the souls, his magical ability must be off the charts.

The larger part of me believes his power is as great as the others have said. If Sereia really didn’t think her son could do the impossible, she probably would have sent me back to Tellus in an instant. Yet here I am, on the other side of the sea.

“Nothing to say to that?” Zeke taunts.

“I’m sure you can imagine how victorious another District would be to be capable of holding onto my souls in their own immortal. I’ve known a few Districts to place two souls inside of some immortals, but they never last long. I figured people thought they were too powerful that way and threatened their role of Lord or Lady, thus they removed a soul and created an army of immortals instead.”

“You’re the only one ever to keep four souls inside of their body?” Alyvia questions.

“The only one who’s survived that I know of. I asked around if this had been tried beforehand. A few people speculated immortals before me may have been given more, but I honestly don’t know. Very few people will speak of it.”

“Hmm.” Zeke takes a hearty bite into the apple. “And you never explored the theory of why you?”

“No one who remembers the Anderson family would speak to me after I killed them. Any information they could have passed along, they chose not to. In those early years, I spent more time activated than I did in my own mind. It’s reasonable to see why no one would answer my questions. After a while, I simply quit asking. It’s easier to hear the silence and speculate to yourself than be given lies or no response at all.” We’re getting far too off topic of Lady Cirilla, but I can’t quite come up with a way to bring the conversation back around without suspicion.

Finally Alyvia quits working with the dough, tossing it aside and wrapping a cloth around it. “I’m sorry about your past, Keres.”

Awkwardly, I say, “Thanks.”

“Well, I for one am not sorry about it. Does it suck? Absolutely. But it got you here,” Zeke snorts. “Far away from your Lady Gwenyth, so I’d say things worked out well for you in the end.”

Seriously, how has no one succeeded in killing him? “I’m amazed you’re close to Rowan with the way you speak. Seems to me, he’d more than likely rip out your tongue the moment you antagonize him.”

Zeke, the asshole, winks at me. “That’s where you’re wrong, little monster. We have a working dynamic. I’m allowed to act however I want, and he doesn’t interfere.”

“You can’t possibly think Rowan is scared of you.” It’s an absurd idea.

“Scared? No. He respects me, I respect him. That’s how our symbiotic relationship works. Would he like to kill me? Probably. I enjoy being a nuisance on the best day. But unlike most, I do not fear him.” He pauses and glances around the busy kitchen with an air of boredom. “A shame you won’t be spending more time with us, little monster. He might grow to like you given the fact you do not fear him either.”

“What’s there to fear?” I challenge.

Zeke cruelly smiles at me. “What’s there not to?”

“I think what Zeke is trying to say, though terribly put, is that you’re one of the few people Lord Rowan actually has met with and spoken to. Usually he relays information, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with you because you demand to speak with him. You’ve seen him,” Alyvia adds in a slightly shocked voice. “Not only that, but he branded you for his bargain. Usually he leaves it up to someone else to create that bargain and he merely oversees it. But you made him see you.”

“Rumors have been going around about that,” Zeke says. “The immortal from Tellus who caught our fearless leader’s eye.”

I scrunch my nose in disbelief. “You make it sound like something scandalous is going on.” I glance towards Alyvia. “I can’t be the only one who sees him. Didn’t you say he’s dining with Lady Cirilla? He’ll have to show his face for that.”

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