Page 16 of Tear of Destiny

“Yes,” Noah answers tersely.

His father scrutinizes me for a moment but doesn’t seem to take much interest in me. Why should he? It would never occur to him that his son might bring a Tempes into the Odyss.

“Hurry up. It’s about to start.” With that, he turns his horse around and gallops off.

“Oh, man,” Noah sighs. “He’s really laying it on thick at the moment.”

“Does that surprise you?” asks Frances. “The documents you were supposed to read are still on your desk, and you showed up over an hour late to the conference the other day.”

Noah grins mischievously and ruffles Frances’ hair. “Don’t you start pointing out all my flaws.”

We continue walking.

Frances doesn’t let up. “Your dad’s right when he says you could contribute more.”

“I stay on top of my main responsibilities. But there are some things I just don’t agree with.”

She shakes her head and looks appalled. “You just can’t let it go, can you? That attitude is going to get you killed.”

“Or maybe I’ll succeed in changing a thing or two around here.”

She snorts. “Oh yeah, sure.”

I listen attentively but decide it’s best to keep my mouth shut. Anyway, I’m too busy wondering where we’re going and what I’m about to see. I can make out the temple complex in the distance, the ruined temple itself surrounded by clusters of small houses. The houses have a Mediterranean look, painted white with flourishing gardens.

The entire town seems to be gathered out in the streets and alleys. There are Noctu everywhere. Their sheer number sends a shiver down my spine.

“What’s happening there?” I ask.

Frances turns to me with a strange look in her eyes. So dark, cold… and I think I even detect a trace of fear in them.

“It’s Travis’ first hearing,” Noah explains quietly. “He was the guy who had dealings with your Tempes traitor. He was supplying Travis with dying breaths in exchange for information. The trial is supposed to uncover exactly what information he leaked… and determine the sentence for his crime.”

My eyes widen. So Travis was the Noctu Charles was in contact with.

“I’m hoping the interrogation won’t last long. Travis probably won’t be sober enough,” Noah says, thinking aloud.

“The guy is drunk?” I ask.

Noah shakes his head slowly. “Travis is an ovlem.”

“Okay…” I say, although I have no idea what he’s talking about.

“As you know, some Noctu use dying breaths to enhance their own powers. It doesn’t just make you more powerful, you also experience a kind of intoxication. It makes you feel powerful, strong, invincible, euphoric. You feel complete. But the effect wears off. After that, you fall into a pit of despair. It’s so bad that you’re at risk of transforming because you want to escape the feeling of emptiness and the pain eating away at you. So you have to fight against the temptation to get too close to the edge. And at the same time, you crave the next dying breath. The more you use it, the higher you get and the lower you fall. It’s a vicious cycle. At some point, you’re so deep in it that you’re constantly chasing the next dying breath. If the effect wears off, the person immediately turns into one of the fallen because they don’t have the strength to resist.”

“So they’re kind of like drug addicts?” I ask in amazement.

Noah nods. “Something like that.”

“And this Travis is an ovlem?”

“That’s why he made a deal with the Tempes,” Noah confirms. “He needs dying breaths, which the Tempes supplied him.”

Travis must have been in pretty dire straits to strike that deal with Charles, with a long and painful road leading him to this point. I wonder if there was anybody who could have helped him. It doesn’t sound as if these ovlems are offered any kind of support.

“Is there nothing a person can do to break this vicious cycle?” I ask.

Noah shakes his head. “Even if they can get over the psychological addiction, there’s no way to stop them from turning into one of the fallen in the end. So he’s a lost cause either way.”

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