Page 99 of A War of Embers

Alyvia lifts her chin in acknowledgment. “Right, well, it hurt.”

“Did you know I came from here?” I venture, gaining her full attention.

“What?”

“I was born here, in the Wraithlands,” I confide. “I was one of the children stolen, taken to Tellus to be part of their army for when they choose to invade Aïdes again.”

Her mouth opens and closes several times in shock. “You’re from here?”

“Apparently. My soul, the one I was born with, was that of a monster. Something created in the Wraithlands. The souls inside of me are only able to be held because of what came out of me. An even trade in a sense.” My lips press together as the next part slips out. “My original soul I was chasing in Tellus is no more. Lady Gwenyth extinguished it.”

She moves quickly, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry, Keres.”

My arms slowly move up to embrace her back. “Did you know I’m also Rowan’s mate?” Saying the words aloud makes them suddenly feel real. Like the finality of the situation is finally sinking in.

“The mark–”

“He knew before the mark. He knew the minute I came here.” Something tells me Char was protecting me for the very reason I now wear Rowan’s mark. He knew, without seeing me, who I was and chose to protect me from his mother anyways.

“And he never said anything until you asked about the snake?”

“I couldn’t feel before I came here,” I admit quietly. “I thought maybe over the years I became so used to the numbness in Tellus I forgot what feelings felt like. But some emotions would flare when I was there doing things for Lady Gwenyth. Anger and hatred I recognized, but I never realized how muted the emotions were until I crossed the Blood Sea. My system is on overload, absorbing all the feelings I’ve had over the years and what I feel now.”

Understanding dawns on Alyvia’s face. “Your need to die to punish yourself for what you did when you were in Tellus is amplified while your feelings and emotions come back before they can regulate.”

“Yeah, and it fucking sucks to feel like I have emotional whiplash every thirty minutes.” Eventually my emotions will even out, but that doesn’t appear to be happening anytime soon.

“Alright enough of the sappy talk,” Alyvia declares. She steps away, motioning with her hand towards my pile. “Show me what you found.”

It takes a moment to rifle through the stack to find the closest correlation to Tellus’ actual Districts. Laying it out on another table behind us we cleared off, I point towards the coastline of Tellus. “See the dark edge here? It represents the iron railing preventing anyone from going over unless they jump or are sent over into the sea.”

Alyvia peers down at the thick smudge line hovering slightly above the edge of the continent. “And it goes the whole way up?” She traces the smudge with her finger from the southern end where Cinnabar is located towards the Obsidian District on the far northern end of the coast.

“No, it stops here.” I gesture towards the middle of the coastline. “There’s nothing here. This entire forest is meant for people either dealing in the shadows or thieves that have no loyalty to anyone but their own group. The railing stops only about a mile out of either District. This entire area,” I move my finger from one point to another, “is entirely barren. No railing.”

She bobs her head at my explanation. “What else?”

“The mountains are wrong.” I slide my finger from the coast to the middle of the map where the Amethyst District is located. Except on this map the mountains reach the edge of the coast. “They’re further back. A plateau actually exists here, dividing up the trail most people commonly use for passage.”

“Is that it?”

“The Godlands and Tower to the High Gods are missing.” I point out behind Kyanite District where a barren landscape sits and far north where the mountains have a short break.

Alyvia’s brows furrow as she notices the distance between the two. “They aren’t linked? The Tower to the High Gods isn’t situated near anything at all.”

“That’s the point.” I tap where the tower is located. “The people who are here serve the High Lords and Ladies, but they more importantly serve those who came before us. Their entire existence is to live in peace, not being able to meet up with anyone. They chose to be tucked far into the mountains.”

“But the High Lords and Ladies are right there.” Alyvia taps the barren spot just west of the Kyanite District. “They’re close.”

“But secluded enough. There’s also a rumor they kill beings for getting too close, so no one really goes that way as far as I’m aware.” No one even knows if the portal the High Lords and Ladies protect actually exists, but since they’re never seen in any other area in Tellus, it’s easy to believe the rumor. Turning towards her, I motion towards the stack of books and documents she has on the other side of the table. “What about you? What did you find?”

“So I was skimming through, so don’t quote me as fact,” Alyvia warns as she moves towards her own pile and begins rifling through the different items. She hauls out a large document and sets it on top of everything else. “The High Lords and Ladies are refugees from their own realm, separate from here. There’s a few documents saying they were banished or fled due to a war causing their own realm to cease to exist, or so the High Lords and Ladies here believe.” She pulls another paper from beneath. “See this?”

I glance down at the photo drawn on the side. It’s a mortal drawn crudely, but there’s blue veins running up and down its torso and legs. “Are those supposed to be the glowing blue veins?” I inquire.

She bobs her head. “I believe so. They talk about only powerful beings possessing this type of magic in their souls. These people are considered rare because the realm itself has to bless them to give them this power.”

Which would make sense in Rowan’s case since he’s considered to have the most power out of all the Lords and Ladies, but he’s still not a High Lord. I can’t exactly tell Alyvia that her Lord glows blue like I do, though. Instead I opt for, “But this isn’t my original soul. The godlike one inside of me is what holds the magic.”

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