Demi-Sin of Deceit: Part Two

Tatiana

Venali clung tightly to me, his tiny fingers refusing to let go as Tiskial led me toward the window, and I bowed my head over his. The shift in the wards outside of Tarvenia spoke volumes about how many of Agron’s soldiers were currently here, and the look in Syrphien’s eyes told me that we wouldn’t win this battle, not without putting the Sacreds and the stones at risk once more. Running was the only option.

How many Fae had just died? And what of Tarragon, my poor little brother? Where was he?

Lucifer placed his hand on my shoulder, seeing the pain in my eyes.

“We’ll find him,” he promised, whispering into my ear to avoid detection of the Lord of Hell that Cain Maladur was now so valiantly distracting, “He’ll be safe.”

I nodded, Tiskial’s portal coming into existence just as Cain fell to Agron’s attacks.

“Time to go!” Tiskial said, shoving Lucifer through, and just as he grabbed my arm, I locked eyes with Cain.

I landed on the other side of the portal, in the middle of the beach of Karmona, without a clue as to what had happened to Cain. Around me, Syrphien was scrambling to gather the Sacreds together, while Selphien dragged herself from the waves, having landed in the water. Seaweed clung to her hair, and she plucked it out with a disgusted look on her face.

Tiskial stood, before collapsing to his knees with a groan of pain, clutching his abdomen. Fearing that he might become one of those creatures, Lucifer stepped neatly between Tiskial and myself, his sword drawn.

Around us, the people who had been enjoying the beach cleared out at the sight of the sword, all too accustomed of fighting to risk remaining behind. The battles fought along the coastline and around the walls of Karmona had been fierce, Zeella’s Manor fighting ferociously to secure what they believed they were owed.

Silba’s prophecy to Cain regarding finding the graves of the three Fae Princesses had led me to dig deeper into Sevenna family history, hoping to uncover reasons for their graves being required. What were they buried with? Why were they not connected to the Tree of Life after their mother had passed?

WHERE had they been buried? Amyrdeen, Embyrdeen and Coppyrdeen’s burial sites weren’t mentioned in any of the history books I had read from growing up, and there were no rituals surrounding their burials.

For Faeries who were the founders of all three of the Fae Royal families, it was odd that nobody knew where they were buried. Not even Nel Sevenna had mentioned it.

The books I had been searching in, dug up deep from the library in Tarvenia, had been left in my bedroom in the Palace, abandoned due to our hasty retreat.

Fortunately, I hadn’t found much information regarding the three original Princesses in the first few chapters… Unfortunately, the books might have held more further in; information that I would not get a hold of now. If Agron didn’t immediately destroy the books, they would be stolen by one of his soldiers, undoubtedly. Those books could fetch a pretty price on a black market.

Syrphien, handing the Sacreds to his waterlogged sister, rushed to his friend’s side, helping him sit up in the sand, questioning him on what was wrong. When Tiskial simply shook his head in pain, unable to utter so much as a single word, Syrphien’s eyes slid to me.

“What do we do? He’s hurt!”

“How? Tiskial, where are you hurt?” I could see no blood on his shirt or skin, and he didn’t seem to have any scrapes beyond the ones he’d received from the battle just a few days ago. Jason was nowhere to be seen, and Tiskial didn’t appear to be in any sort of shape to go back and fetch a Shaman for himself. This thought was cemented in when he collapsed again, writhing on the sand, Syrphien pinning him down before he could hurt himself.

“Bring him up to the Inn!” Lucifer shouted. Selphien flocked to her brother’s side, helping him drag Tiskial’s limp body up the beach, the few passers-by who hadn’t fled staring on in an intrigued sort of horror, unable to tear their eyes away.

The SeaSide Inn had been our saviour the last few times we had been dumped into Karmona, the owner now familiar enough with us that she gave us discounts, her business thriving thanks to the soldiers who took their paid leave at the beach.

I had no coins on me, thanks to the plain, pocketless dress I wore, and I knew Lucifer had emptied his pockets of loose change this morning, rendering us penniless.

We had no money left. Not just today, but for a long time. Tarvenia would fall, I knew, could tell from the number of soldiers at the wards waiting for Agron to let them in, which meant that the treasury, where Tarvenia’s wealth was kept, would be taken.

It made sense, now, that Destiny had been paid so much money for simple assassination tasks, because those simple acts would have earnt the Manor millions of gold. What was a few hundred-thousand gold pieces when you were gaining millions in the process?

Lucifer left my side to open the door to the Inn, and I grimaced apologetically to the owner as the customers waiting in the front room flocked to the walls, giving us enough room to drag Tiskial in. The citizens of Karmona were used to making way for soldiers now, and while I knew each and every single one of them understood why it was necessary, I could still see the annoyance on their faces at having to wait as we cut the queue.

The owners face lit up at the sight of us, her hands clasped together as she pulled out a separate ledger, used to record soldiers names, “Ah, my favourite Royals!” Her customers faces relaxed at that, now realising that the Fae woman with the pale green, cotton dress was a Fae Queen, the child in her arms her son.

Venali wrapped his hands around my fingers, beginning to relax now that we were out of the burning sun and hot wind, and Lucifer leaned closer to the owner to whisper, low enough that only Fae ears would hear him, unless you were standing directly in front of him.

“We’ve just had to flee Tarvenia. I can’t give too many details yet, but we don’t have any money on us, and one of our own are injured. If you could give us just one room, I’ll pay double later.”

The owner glanced at Syrphien and Selphien kneeling on the floor, Tiskial propped up between them, and then me, with Venali.

“One room won’t be enough beds,” she said, “Take two rooms. I’ll give you a room with three single beds, and one room with a double. Will that do?”

“You don’t have to do that-” To my surprise, the woman clamped her hand over Lucifer’s mouth, shaking her head fiercely, “I’ve had many people visit my Inn these past two years. First, a Night-Hunter girl and her partner, then, the same girl dressed in different clothes and accompanied by an entirely different set of friends, and then all of you, only to have the process repeated. I will not turn down those who are desperate for a room. Pay me later, but understand that I will not accept a payment made twice. You will pay for your rooms once. That is all.”

She didn’t remove her hand until Lucifer mumbled his agreement, shooting me a wide-eyed glance, and we followed her down the hall after she made a brief announcement to her other customers that she would return shortly. I mulled over her words, wondering how a Night-Hunter girl was of any relevance to us, only to exclaim, “Destiny! You met Destiny!”

The owner shot me a look of surprise, my delayed outburst having caught her off guard, and she nodded, pulling a key from her pocket to unlock the first of the rooms.

“Yes, I did. She came in waterlogged, with a foot on death’s doorstep thanks to nearly drowning, and with a terrified look on her face. I saw the same girl barely a few months later, with two twin girls and a young man, except the terrified look had been replaced by a rather fake mask of happiness. Then, not long later, the same girl comes to me, accompanied by all of you, with a dimmed, but happy, glow on her face. I learnt not long after that she had been named the Queen of Ordeallan, and married to the crowned Prince of Revala. And again, I hear later that she was previously a Princess of Hell, with a Sin for a father! I’m rather surprised she isn’t here with you today.” She turned to look at all of us for an explanation, handing the first key to the room with three single beds to Syrphien, who pocketed it thankfully, his sister helping him drag Tiskial to one of the beds. Lucifer, with a grim look on his face, said, “She was captured recently, and taken back to her home.” Lucifer’s final word sat ill with me. We were her home, not the Manor.

I stiffened, surprised at my own thoughts, and Venali cuddled in closer, trying to comfort me in the only way he knew how. I held him, brushing a lock of hair back from his face, only to stiffen again when the owner of the Inn paused. Her face paled, and she murmured, “I have heard a great many rumours about our enemy’s ruthlessness since this war has started. I saw the look on the girl’s face the second time she came in, how she masked emotions behind a wall of carelessness, and I saw her with a different personality the next time she came in, surrounded by all of you. It seemed, to me at least, that leaving her home had freed her. Going back, if you will permit me to say, will not do her any favours. I presume you don’t have much hope for her returning alive?”

“We’re trying to think on the positive side. She’s clever, and cunning.”

“But clever and cunning means nothing when you’re facing off against your family.” She unlocked the final door, the grim look on her face now hiding behind a forced smile that I knew came from a lifetime of customer service, and she cheerfully exclaimed, “Well, here’s your rooms! Ring for me if you need any meals, and don’t worry about the price. I hope you enjoy your stay!” She flitted down the hallway, calling out greetings to her customers, and Lucifer closed the door to our room, locking it before we could even see it, the two of us rushing over to where Tiskial was sprawled on the covers. He was beaded with sweat, his shirt laying in a pile on the floor as Syrphien and Selphien draped him in damp cloths from the bathroom. To my surprise, the Fae warrior was trying to fight the two of them off, still trying to sit up despite the feverish look in his eyes.

“He just started burning!” Selphien exclaimed, Lucifer closing the door firmly behind him. What happened in this room would remain between us.

Tiskial beckoned me over, and I handed Venali to Lucifer, the Fae Prince more than happy to be held by his dad. Tiskial took my hand, rasping, “I need to get the girls.”

Syrphien cocked an eyebrow, Selphien teasing, “And I’m sure your wife would be delighted that you’re opening your options again, but this isn’t the time.”

“No, idiot!” He gasped, “I need to get them from Tarvenia! Ash, Myr, Jane- All of them.”

He sat up, using my hand to pull himself from the bed, and Syrphien said, “You’re in no position to be going back!”

Glaring at Syrphien, he pointed a finger to Selphien, shouting, “You have YOUR girl, now let me get mine!”

Syrphien turned to me in desperation, exclaiming, “Opening a portal in his condition might kill him!” Tiskial was hobbling toward the centre of the room, his hand sparkling, barely able to keep himself upright. He was fighting against his own possibly dying body to rescue his wife. Not only his wife, but the others he fought with, too.

“Let him go,” I amended. If Ash died because we forced Tiskial to stay behind, we would be the next ones being buried. Syrphien gaped at me, but Selphien simply sat down on her bed, waiting patiently as Tiskial limped through a portal, vanishing. Besides, Tarragon was still there.

Lucifer took a seat beside Selphien, our son reaching for the Fae Princess, who gladly obliged, grinning at his tiny wings. Syrphien turned to me, questioning, “Had we heard anything from our spies before we had to leave?”

Without the paper to read from, I had to dredge up whatever details I could remember, saying, “Destiny is in Korath, there’s no sign of Seth in Tarvenia or any of the other four cities, including Lamia, and I have nothing to report on concerning our search for stones or Amyrdeen, Embyrdeen or Coppyrdeen’s graves.”

A small frown creased Syrphien’s face, and he questioned, “Graves? Why are you looking for their graves?”

“We need to find them, according to Silba’s prophecy.” Not even Senias, the eldest Prince of the Aos Si, had been able to find any information regarding where they were buried! He’d returned, with his forces, to the Forest of the Damned, claiming that they couldn’t leave their territory unruled for too long without chaos breaking out of its chains. Since I didn’t want Hell in a handbasket at our door in addition to ACTUAL Hell, I’d allowed them to leave.

‘Allowed’ meaning I had given my verbal blessing, since there was literally nothing I could have done even if I’d wanted them to remain. Their lineage could blow mine out of Tarvenia if they wanted too.

“Well, I can help you with one of them,” Syrphien provided, Lucifer glancing at him curiously, “Because one of them is buried in the Lake Palace territory. Amyrdeen is buried there, in one of the tombs. All of my ancestors are.”

“What? Why didn’t you say anything?”

Syrphien crossed his arms, suggesting, “Perhaps if I had been told about it, I might have? Anyway, that doesn’t help us much, because her tomb is massive. I know how to find her body, but if you’re looking for something specific, then good luck. She took her wealth to the grave with her. Everything she ever owned is buried down there.”

“Do you know where Embyrdeen is buried?”

“I would presume in the Dark Fae territory, but since Coppyrdeen isn’t buried anywhere in the Sun Palace territory, I can’t say for sure.”

“Do you know why Amyrdeen chose to be buried in her territory? It might give us a clue as to why the other two weren’t,” Lucifer suggested, and Syrphien replied, “She was our Queen. Her child had to literally pry Amyrdeen’s ring from her finger, too, since she’d wanted to be buried with it.”

The rings…

Was that what Silba had wanted us to fetch from their graves? The three rings of Tarvenia? Everybody and their grandmother knew they were important, and what they could do when put together. Heaven above, even I had taken to wearing mine every day, ensuring that there was no possible chance of the Maladur family getting their hands on it. Luckily, my paranoia had become my saving grace, and I twisted the red garnet ring on my finger reassuringly, noticing that Selphien, who was wearing her jade ring, was doing the same. No one knew where the moonstone ring had gone, it had been missing for centuries, but if the rings were what Silba wanted us to find… “We need to find Embyrdeen’s grave.”

If Amyrdeen had been buried with her ring, then maybe Embyrdeen had, too. Coppyrdeen had placed hers in a locked box that she had given to her child. The rings made the most sense. They were powerful when put together.

“The first place to look would be the Moon Palace territory, but Tarvenia isn’t an option for us right now.”

A portal appeared in the middle of the room again, Myr, Jane, Phoenix and finally Ash rushing out, the latter dragging a near-unconscious Tiskial with her. Syrphien and Selphien leapt up again, dumping him onto the bed once again, and I looked to Myr.

“Cain was knocked unconscious, and then dragged away by two of Agron’s soldiers. I have no idea what happened to Tarragon. When the shields Layne had put up vanished, he was gone. Layne himself was dragged away. So was Poddux and Sellan.”

Tarry… Agron would kill him for the crime of being related to me. I couldn’t imagine my baby brother having to live through that. Tiskial was in no shape to try and find him, though. If he hadn’t been in the throne room, then he had to have been hiding somewhere. He was a smart kid, but would he be smart enough to elude Agron and his forces long enough for us to rescue him?

“Regardless, we need to begin discussing where to take this next. If Silba wants us to fetch Embyrdeen’s ring from her grave, it means sending someone in to visit the Moon Palace.”

“A spy…”

“We’ll also need to rescue Poddux, Sellan, Cain and find Tarragon.”

“We need to send someone in who can successfully trick Agron.”

“FIRST,” Tiskial gasped from his bed. Ash tucked a pillow beneath him, propping up his head, “We need to get Venali on a boat.”

I snatched Venali back from Lucifer, holding him close as I said, “Absolutely not! He’s staying with me!” I’d lost my mother, and my sister had gone to the Twisted Isles. I couldn’t lose my son, too.

“Tatiana,” Tiskial argued, “He’s the heir to your legacy! I understand that you’re my Queen, and I can’t order you to do anything, but it’s highly recommended that you send him to the Northern Isles.”

Lucifer stood up, walking over to hold Venali and I close to him. He pressed a kiss to his son’s head, and then to mine, murmuring, “I think they’re right, love. We should let him go to the Northern Isles… He can always come back, when it’s safe. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve prepared for it.”

“Yeah,” I said quietly, kissing the top of my son’s head as tears pricked at my eyes, “PREPARED. We’ve never actually had to send him away! And how do we know he’ll be okay while he’s gone? How will we find him again?”

“He’ll be with someone we can trust. Madorinne can take him, don’t you think?”

“Madorinne is a Night-Hunter, Lucifer! What if she has to leave for a mission?”

“Then she’ll give him to Bal’gag, or Haiden. He’ll be okay. And when we find Tarragon, he can go too.”

“I’ll go.” Phoenix said quietly from where she sat near the window, her legs tucked in on Syrphien’s lap. She looked closer to fifteen now, her long red hair twisting between nimble fingers as she plaited it. Her clothes no longer fit her, and she squirmed uncomfortably against the tight dress, which had become closer to a shirt in size than anything. Syrphien tugged off his shirt, handing it to her, and she smiled at him. She tugged the shirt over her, before reaching underneath it to unzip the dress, sliding it down her legs and tossing it onto the floor.

Heaven above, she looked so much like Destiny! She must have had her mother’s eyes, since they were a bright green, and she definitely had her mother’s bright smile. But I could see Zeella’s elegant bone structure beneath it, and in the proud way she kept her chin tilted up like her older sister.

“You’re pretty,” I exclaimed, and Phoenix huffed a laugh, “I’m no rose amongst the thorns, Tatiana, but I suppose I’m quite nice looking for who my parents are. Anyway, I could go with Venali.”

That was definitely a lie. Phoenix gave off the sort of air that a Lady possessed, as well as the same fine, delicate features, although I could see a wild, untamed animal beneath it, a gift from her father’s wild, untamed lineage. It was the fine features that made me wonder what her mother had looked like. Phoenix had the sort of back for wings, too, although I couldn’t see any present through Syrphien’s shirt. I could tell that Syrphien was debating the same thing, leaning back in his chair as if to get a better look at her.

“My mother was a Fallen Angel,” she murmured, and I hummed in surprise, not wanting to appear rude as my cheeks flushed red. She had clearly caught me, and Syrphien, studying her.

“Do you want me to go to the Northern Isles with Venali?” She questioned again. Fiddling with the gold chain that Lucifer had gotten me, our family’s initials carved into it, I shook my head. Zeella would know to look for his daughter. Phoenix was beautiful, too. She wouldn’t go unnoticed, no matter what age she was.

“Does your mental age grow with your physical age?” Myr asked, and Phoenix shrugged, “I don’t know. I think so… When I’m four, I can count to ten, and spell my own name, and I know how to speak, although not eloquently. When I’m fifteen, I can count as high as I’d like, and spell my full name, and I can speak eloquently, so I suppose, yes, it does grow with me. My sister likened my powers to that of a Time-Jumper, but confined within my own body. The Seer ability gives me knowledge, too. When I’m four, I can’t tell you anything of romance or love between partners, but when I’m fifteen, I can tell you quite a bit.”

“Do you have any control over what age you are?”

“I haven’t mastered it yet. In situations like the one we just came from, yes, but if I’m not in a life-threatening situation, I can’t control it…”

“Destiny never taught you how?”

“She never got the chance to. I was too young to work with at the time, but I think she just really wanted to keep me away from the Dome and the training. It turned Chaos into a monster, after all.”

“Does Zeella… Does he hurt them?” I’d been debating attempting to rescue Michael, Chaos and Angel, who were the three remaining siblings still staying with Zeella. From Phoenix’s description, Chaos was too far gone to save, but what about the others? In order to make a decision, I needed to know how badly in trouble they were.

“He strikes us if we misbehave, but it’s Destiny he takes his anger out on. She’s been beaten before, although she’ll never admit it to you out of pride. I remember her coming in with a black eye and a limp, once. Chaos used it to his advantage in the training room, and broke her foot. Even with her Demonic healing it took three days for all the bruises to disappear. That was the last time she was alive. This time, he only struck her across the face once or twice. I think the first time was after she gave a piece of her soul to them.”

Every Fae in the room frowned at that, and Selphien asked, “What do you mean when you say she ‘gave a piece of her soul to them’?”

Phoenix stretched her legs, Syrphien’s eyes widening as she kept them in his lap, and she replied, “How do you think they live as mortals for so long? Every time Destiny comes out of the Void, she surrenders a piece of her soul to them so they can live for another hundred years. If they wanted to, they could live out full lives in mortal bodies, and then have Lilith bring them back, but they didn’t enjoy growing old the first time, and never did it again. She keeps them young. I suppose someone else will have to take on that responsibility now that she is gone.”

“What happens to her soul?”

“Destiny is lucky in the fact that her soul was replenished whenever she went to the Void. Her twin was not so lucky.”

“What do you mean by that?” Syrphien questioned, and Phoenix rose, Syrphien’s dress swaying around her knees as she walked toward me. Taking Venali from my arms, she handed him to Lucifer, before taking my hand.

“May I?”

Shaking, I nodded, and she waved her other hand over my face, closing my eyes. I had visited a Seer, once, and watched my mother be gifted a vision of the future, but never had I received one.

Her fingers, still interwoven with mine, began to tingle, her powers flooding through me, tugging at my magic, and I frowned, a dim red drifting beneath my eyelids. I followed it, surrounded by nothing but darkness, as if someone had taken Limbo, and twisted it.

‘Follow the voice…’ Phoenix whispered into my mind, her powers singing around me, forming a small pathway. I ran after it, reaching for it, feeling as though she were teasing me, and suddenly, I fell through that darkness, seeing nothing flying by, but still feeling as though I were falling. I felt a scream rip its way out of my mouth, and just as suddenly as I had fallen, I stopped, the sensation flooding from my body.

There was a door in front of me. Just a simple, wooden door that you would find on the front of any house in a neighbourhood.

‘Go inside.’ I didn’t recognise the house, but as Phoenix’s voice floated around me, a front yard came into view. It was a neat, red brick home tucked away behind a garden full of various flowers I hadn’t seen since Earth’s times. A white picket fence separated the yard from the road, a small driveway curving up to the front door.

I took a step onto the driveway, and as I did, a wave of emotions flooded over me. Joy, fury, sorrow; they struck hard, each emotion more potent than the last, and eventually, I stepped back onto the road, overwhelmed.

‘Do you recognise this place?’

I wracked my memory for any sign of a house like this one, and came up empty-handed. I had never seen a house like this.

‘This is where Destiny grew up, until she was moved to the British Manor.’

This was Destiny’s home.

It didn’t look anything like how I had ever imagined it. I had always seen her house as a sort of gothic Manor hidden behind a grove of dead trees and a tall iron fence. Not… this. It was so normal. Human.

‘This is also where Reanna grew up… Until she died.’

‘How did she die?’ I asked fearfully, those emotions still making their way through my body, my mind having to separate them from each other to process them in their entirety. With joy came bliss and elation and an eternal sort of happiness that I was hard-pressed to find anywhere. Fury brought the absolute worst of the occupants of this home out. Vengeance. Hatred. Jealousy. It was volatile.

Sorrow was the emotion that scared me the most, though. The others, they were human, normal. They had a defining box. This sort of sorrow had none of those things, and while sorrow was certainly a human, normal emotion, this sort of sorrow felt different, ancient. It was empty, cold, almost emotionless in its emotions, and then it was mingled with hatred and a burning sort of sadness that sent a shiver down my spine. Ice and fire, then. Those two words described Destiny and her family perfectly. Emotionless while still raging with emotions.

Phoenix’s voice dragged me out of the mental pit my mind had pulled itself into, reeling me back into the world, and I shuddered again as she said, ‘Zeella told Destiny that her twin had died from an illness.’

‘And that isn’t true?’

‘The truth requires a sacrifice, Tatiana. You have to enter the house.’

Enter the house, while braving those wild, untamed emotions.

Destiny had braved them. She had lived here, spent her childhood here. She would be the cause of some of these emotions.

Gulping, I debated whether the truth was worth knowing. If Reanna was dead, then how did it matter how she had died?

And why couldn’t I just ask Sophie, who WAS Reanna?

‘Did… Did Reanna give up her soul to keep her family alive?’ I uttered the question quietly, half-afraid of the answer, but Phoenix simply repeated, ‘You have to enter the house.’

I sucked down a deep breath, bracing myself for the onslaught of emotions, and began sprinting for the door. Happiness, anger, sadness… Happiness, anger, sadness. It blurred, until each step I took across that driveway yielded another memory from the house. It, like the plants in Tarvenia, seemed to hold onto those memories, cherish them, and I spotted Destiny, Reanna and Cain playing in the garden, Cain trying to keep up with a light-footed Destiny, while Reanna hid in the bushes, her blonde hair glistening in the sunlight. Bliss…

Another step, another memory. This time, the trio were slightly older, bags slung across their backs as they trudged up the driveway through the rain, their hair soaking wet, but all of them laughing. Happiness…

Then, another step. I was still so far away from that door, my sprinting slowing, my mind baffled by the emotions that didn’t come from me, but which hit me regardless.

Cain stood in front of Sarah, her skin too pale, her ribs jutting out from beneath the thin cotton dress she wore. She was clasping Cain’s hand, whispering something to him, Destiny and Reanna nowhere to be seen. Worry tinged this memory, as well as that hollow sadness.

The next memory wasn’t any easier.

Destiny was being half-dragged by Cain into a car, the driver unfamiliar to me, but it was Destiny’s appearance that startled me. Gone was the high-spirited, graceful little girl, replaced by a child who resembled her mother. She was even paler than normal, her eyes glazed over, her mind clearly elsewhere, but she still fought against Cain, whose eyes were filled with pain, although I could tell it came from nothing physical. These were two cousins that I didn’t recognise. Destiny was dressed in a pair of leggings, and an ill-fitting shirt, likely taken from Cain’s wardrobe, and Cain was barely thirteen, a small dagger on his belt where I knew a sword now rested. I couldn’t hear them, but somehow, I knew what they were saying.

“Des, this will be good for you! You haven’t left the house in months!”

“I don’t WANT to leave the house! Leave me alone!”

“No, I can’t sit back and watch you die from your own grief!”

No longer able to look at them, at the pain that surrounded them, or the hollowness that overlayed that memory, I took another step.

Cain stood on the porch now, in front of Destiny, who was shivering in fear, staring at Zeella.

He was clutching a bottle of wine in his hand, clearly distraught, but Cain refused to move. Zeella’s empty stare turned malicious, and he snarled, “I don’t want her anywhere near me! She’s useless to me!”

“She’s your daughter!” Cain argued, a tear slipping down Destiny’s face behind him, and he gripped her hand, still angled to protect her while seeming barely able to protect himself. Zeella drew a dagger, pointing it at the two of them and hissing, “She looks exactly like her! A spitting image! I don’t want to be hounded by hellish memories every time she enters a room!”

Anger. It was the foundation for almost every memory after that, all of them swirling together at the corners of my vision; Cain letting Destiny let off steam as they fought in the front yard… Destiny screaming at the same, unfamiliar driver, who looked just as distraught as Cain did while looking at her… Cain shouting at Destiny, shaking her when she stood there without response, tears rimming his eyes.

And then, all of those emotions faded, giving way to one last, final memory… Boxes were scattered across the yard, labelled carefully with what they contained, while Cain and Destiny stood beside me, staring at the house as if for the final time. Zeella was on the porch, handing the keys over to that unfamiliar driver, the door locked to them. To my surprise, relief was the main emotion, although I could still feel that hollowness emanating from Destiny.

Without warning, I tripped over the porch, landing with a ‘BANG!’ that rattled the wooden door in front of me, and I was surprised to find that I was crying, sobbing, even. I had known that Destiny hadn’t had the best childhood, had heard some of the gory details from Syrphien or Cain, and even a few from Destiny herself, but never had either of the cousins given away even a hint of how deep the trauma they’d suffered went.

‘What you’ll see inside will be worse. These are just the memories of outside the house. Inside is where their entire world revolved around...’ Phoenix’s voice turned almost hollow itself as she gave out an empty laugh, saying, ‘Out of sight, out of mind, right? The neighbours saw a lot from the Maladur family, but never all of it… I have to warn you before you open that door that the only people to ever see these memories are the occupants who created them, and other Seers like me who might have gone looking. You can speak of these memories, but I would recommend that you not mention most of them to Destiny. They WILL be heartbreaking.’

‘How much?’ I begged, ‘How much were they hurt?’ Zeella’s face as he had brandished that dagger at the two cousins had been murderous. I couldn’t imagine pointing a dagger at Venali like that, not even if Lucifer died. Pushing myself to my feet, I reached for the door handle. To my surprise, it was unlocked, and I pushed the door open, revealing a cosy living room, a fireplace sitting unused to the side. A snow globe that read ‘NYC’ sat on its mantel, surrounded by family photos and memorabilia. A lounge had a single, white blanket on it, while a small coffee table held a coffee cup, still steaming, and a book.

I took a wary step inside, only to see Zeella wrestle Destiny to the ground right in front of me, his fingers pressed hard against her throat while the unfamiliar driver said, “Zeella, stop! You’ll kill her!” Destiny struggled, trying to scream for help, thumping her hands against the floor, leaving deep divots where her fingernails dug in, and Zeella only tightened his grip.

Zeella lifted his head to stare at Destiny, hissing, “I know.” He lifted a blade, stabbing it through her throat, between his fingers.

A second later, a wave of power rattled the living room, a dull red glow emanating outwards, and Zeella pulled his hands back from Destiny’s throat, wincing in pain as the power settled, drifting away.

His hands were scorched, the skin of his palms peeling back and blistering, and the man gaped as if he no longer recognised the Lord of Hell before him.

“You killed her…”

Zeella took only a moment to stare at his daughter’s body, still sprawled on the floor, before ordering, “Take her body to the car, and bury her somewhere.”

“What… Zeella!”

The Sin of Lust swung around, glaring at the man, before snarling, “You will follow orders, both as my Guardian, and as a member of the Caliem Manor! Take her body and bury her!”

“And when Cain finds out?” The man questioned, his body shaking, although he tried to hide it.

From where I stood, watching the scene unfold at my feet, I could see a door in the hallway further back shaking, Cain’s furious shouts heard throughout the entirety of the house.

“What was that power?!” Cain screamed from the bedroom, no more than a frightened boy concerned for his cousin, “WHAT WAS THAT POWER?!”

Zeella tucked the dagger he held back into his belt, nodding to Destiny behind him and saying in a hollow voice, “Take care of it, Tingen. And then tell the boy.” He strode back through the hallway, past that door, and into another, still open door. I waited until the scene faded to question, ‘Zeella killed Destiny?’

‘It was her first time in the Void,’ Phoenix said quietly, ‘Belial loved her soul, called her his Soul of Shadows, and when she left, he mourned for her, tried everything to get her back.’

‘How did Cain react to her dying?’

The scene reappeared, Destiny’s body now gone, Tingen sitting on the couch, his head on his hands as the door behind him unlocked. Cain, his face red from screaming or crying, trudged out, each footstep dragging on the ground. Upon seeing Tingen, he broke into a sprint, vaulting over the couch to demand, “Where is she?!”

Tingen remained where he was, before muttering, “Where Zeella always wanted her.”

Cain froze, and for a split second, I could see the moment before the news sunk in, where the look of useless hope shattered in his eyes. He struck Tingen across the face, shouting, “You’re her Guardian! You’re meant to protect her!”

“No,” Tingen corrected quietly, ignoring the red mark blooming across his cheek, “I’m Zeella’s Guardian. The girl overstepped a line.”

“ZEELLA OVERSTEPPED A LINE! HOW COULD HE KILL HIS OWN DAUGHTER?!”

“Prince-”

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!” Cain shouted, wiping furiously at his face as he began crying. Tingen, seeming to find a shred of humanity, pulled Cain into a hug. He did nothing, refused to fight back, only whispering, “I don’t want to be an Heir! I hate the Manor! I HATE ZEELLA!”

“Statements like that will buy you nothing but a grave beside your cousin, Cain.” Tingen reached up to brush a speck of blood off of Cain’s forehead, where he must have smacked his head on the door in his desperation to get out, and Cain smacked his hand away.

“I hope you all die on the battlefield!”

He tore away from Tingen, striding for the front door, and Tingen called out, “She’s cursed, remember? She’ll be back… in a hundred years.”

Cain paused for a moment on the doorstep, before striding out, slamming the door. Zeella strode out of the study, peering at the front door from the hallway, and it didn’t take me long to realise that he had been hiding from Cain. The coward.

“I can’t imagine how he would react if he found out what happened to Reanna.”

“If either of them find out, I imagine it will spell the end for you, Zeella,” Tingen said wisely. Zeella sighed, conjuring another glass of wine and saying, “Then it would be preferred if they never find out.”

“You’ll have to do the same with Destiny in a hundred years, so she’s bound to notice.”

“No, I miraged their minds. The only person who knew besides the Lords, you and myself was Sarah.”

“Is Destiny aware that memory poisoning drove her mother to an early grave?” Zeella’s flinched slightly, staring at Tingen, who rolled his eyes, “Oh, come on, Zeella! Even I know that Inferos is a Fae weapon, and that Sarah didn’t make it. It belonged to Genevieve, so why does Destiny have it?”

“I was surprised when that Fae Queen visited and gave it to her. My daughter was barely a babe in the cradle and received a weapon I had been after for years! Genevieve,” He spat my mother’s name with an animosity that made me grimace, “just DECIDED to give it to her? What a load of shit! They’re planning something.”

“Maybe they were hoping that the powers it contains would overwhelm Destiny, and she would die? What exactly can Inferos do?”

“It can be used with Caelum to Time-jump, it can hold the weight of Hell, and contains a dark god in it whose name even I have no knowledge of, but I speculate came from a world before Earth. It can be used to destroy the Rift, too.”

“So where is Caelum?”

“I last tracked it to an old Night-Hunter family living in Europe, although they’ve eluded me thus far.”

“And Inanis?”

“Gone. I haven’t seen that necklace for centuries.”

“What about Faeretan, then?”

“Lost. I haven’t seen it since that war with Coppyrdeen.”

I had no idea what Inanis was, or Faeretan, but I recognised the others. Inferos was Destiny’s beloved blade, given to her by her mother. Zeella’s words seemed to tell a completely different tale, though. Why would my mother give Inferos, a supposed Fae weapon, if Zeella’s words rung true, to a member of the Maladur family?

And Night-Hunter? There were Night-Hunters on Earth?!

“And this is the truth? No lies?” Tingen questioned, and Zeella placed his hand over his heart, “The solemn truth. I was planning on sending Destiny to track down the Night-Hunter family so she could retrieve Caelum. Together, those two weapons can open the Rift.”

“Satalari hasn’t created the Rift yet,” Tingen reminded, “She’s still working on prototypes.”

“I’m paying Miss Paradoxin quite a large sum of money, so if she wishes to survive, she would do well to find what I’m looking for.”

“Fifty million gold is certainly a lot of money, I suppose, but science doesn’t listen to money, Zeella,” Tingen replied wisely. The Lord of Hell rolled his eyes, but acknowledged his Guardians words with a sigh as he stood, pacing around the room, deliberately stepping over the markings Destiny’s fingernails had made on the floorboards.

“Nel Sevenna is still alive, Tingen. She’s still working to destroy the Maladur family after what we did to her family. Earth will be destroyed within a matter of months, a year at most. I need to have everything I need before then.” Zeella had been aware that Earth was going to be destroyed, and had given no warnings to any of the other Super-Naturals that he shared Earth with!

Even as I was mulling over that thought, another, more terrifying one took its place- For Zeella to have known that Earth would be destroyed, he would have had to be in contact with someone who could create a new world…

Seraphina.

The Archangel Queen had sworn she hated the Maladur family, but she had also been desperate to escape Heaven, Earth’s version of Alcalie. Had Zeella promised her freedom back then too, just as he had when she had sacrificed Kynal to summon Leviathan?

“Destiny will be destroyed with Earth, then?”

“No. I want Grigori to go out to where you buried her, and bring her back through Necromancy. I want Cain’s and her memories of her death eradicated. She will not know that I have killed her. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Zeella.”

Phoenix’s voice sliced through the conversation, muting the memory even as Tingen and Zeella continued their conversation to say, ‘Zeella killed Destiny again in Korath, through a very similar method, except that time, he didn’t stab her. It was for a different reason, though. In Korath, she had eavesdropped on Zeella when they had been discussing killing Cain. Here, on Earth, she had found one of Zeella’s notebooks detailing what Inferos was, and how her mother had died. In both instances, Cain was locked in his room. Ironic, isn’t it? Zeella always told Michael, Chaos and I that history repeats itself, and for Destiny, it did. Just going around in circles. But while all of this is important, you came here to learn what happened to Reanna. Follow.’ A small flicker of red light appeared behind Zeella and Tingen, the ball hovering in the hallway, and I slithered past the two Demonic-beings.

The ball drifted into that open doorway, before vanishing. Gulping at what I might find, I entered the room to see the ball hovering beside a drawer. Striding over, stepping over empty bottles of wine and scrunched up battle plans, I reached for the drawer, surprised when I felt solid wood beneath my hand. It opened without a sound, revealing a single, leather-bound book nestled in the silk, and I pulled it out.

The book was thick, easily thicker than my hand, and full of papers that stuck out from all sides, tucked untidily into its clean white pages. Before I could undo the leather cord that held the book shut, the scene melted away from me, Phoenix falling back from me, her fingers releasing mine, and Syrphien caught her.

Lucifer rushed forward, watching from a step or two away as I blinked. I was back in the Inn room, Phoenix shivering on the floor, being held tightly by Syrphien.

“G- Get me a bit of paper!” I shouted, Myr rushing out the door to ask the owner for paper and a quill. I hadn’t gotten a chance to read that book.

The book. I was still holding it.

Never in all my years of reading about Seers, or listening to people who had experienced Seers, had I ever heard of someone taking a physical object back from a memory. But it was here, and I had. The book was in my hands, still in pristine condition, all of the pages still in place.

Finally spotting it, Jane questioned, “What is that?”

I’d kept an eye on Jane ever since Kynal’s death, and while she had taken a month off to mourn her brother’s murder, she had seemed to be recovered since then. Death was a common part of her family, so she seemed… accustomed to it, in a way. Accepting was perhaps a better word. Tears no longer rimmed her eyes whenever Kynal or Leviathan was mentioned, and she had taken his sword and worn it on her belt during every battle since then, claiming Demonic lives in his name.

“It’s Zeella’s… journal… I suppose,” Phoenix said hoarsely, nursing a burnt hand. Using her powers had taken its toll, and I could see an exhausted look in her eyes. Syrphien, scooping her up, placed her down on the bed he had claimed for himself, rolling the sheets up around her, a strange look in his eyes as he rubbed at his head, glancing back to Phoenix.

Lucifer and I seemed to be the only ones who noticed the confused look on his face as he took his seat back by the window, glancing to Phoenix every few moments.

“His journal? Like a private diary?”

“I think he planned things in this,” I explained, Myr returning with the parchment and quill. Seeing their looks as I took it from her with a murmured thanks, I wrote down everything I had seen and heard, including the memories the house had given me. Lucifer, reading over my shoulder, read it aloud while I wrote, the other’s faces paling.

“Zeella miraged Destiny and Cain’s minds to hide Reanna’s death? Why? What was he trying to hide?”

“Phoenix seemed to hint to the answers to those questions being in this journal.”

“Read it tonight, then,” Syrphien said, “Myr and I will go out to find some food, and you, Lucifer, Jane and Phoenix can either wait here, or begin searching through that book.”

“Phoenix said that Reanna didn’t die from an illness, and when she was showing me those memories, Zeella seemed to hint to the same thing. If that’s true, we have to settle one thing first- If we find what really happened to Reanna, do we tell Destiny once she’s back?”

Syrphien sighed heavily, mulling it over before saying, “There are times when the truth is important, and times when it is less so. I believe, depending on how Reanna died, this could be one of those important times. And considering what you said about Destiny and Cain’s minds being miraged, there’s a good chance that Reanna was outright murdered.”

“She never hinted to us that she met a terrible end, though?” Jane said quietly.

“And Destiny never told us the true extent of the torture she endured in her childhood. Zeella KILLED her on Earth, had someone bring her back through Necromancy, only to mirage her mind so she wouldn’t remember it! She had depression at one point, too.”

Syrphien and Selphien blinked, seeming surprised, and I continued on, adding, “I saw a memory where she was only a child, being dragged by Cain who kept insisting that ‘it would be good for her’. Destiny kept screaming, but she was hollow-eyed, practically emotionless.”

“Maybe she didn’t mention it because she has no wish for remembering,” Syrphien gulped, “Cain told me at one point during a morning guard routine that Destiny’s main goal in completing her mission for Caliem was because she wanted to make her family whole again, that she longed for the old days when Zeella treated her nicely.”

“I doubt she longs to be around him right now,” Selphien said grimly, hugging herself when Syrphien followed up her statement by saying, “I read some truly horrible shit, Selph, about what they did to traitors in the Caliem Manor. Severing, limbs being torn off, bones repeatedly broken, being injected with poison and then antidotes when you’re on deaths doorstep… I can’t imagine the shit they’d do to a Princess who defected, and then surrendered.”

“We need to get her out of there, then,” Lucifer said.

“We can’t use a broken soldier, after all,” Selphien sighed, “and she did sacrifice herself for Ordeallan, so I can respect that.”

Outside, a bell began ringing throughout the city, all of us counting each ring. One… A short space of silence… Two… The same silence… Three… and then, four. A meeting, then.

The Karmona Royals likely wanted an update on what had happened in Tarvenia, and why we had arrived in their city seeking refuge behind its walls when we had the war camp to return to.

“Venali needs to be on a ship, now.”

“Phoenix offered to go with him,” Syrphien kindly said, and I shook my head, eyeing the unconscious girl. We had soldiers who waited on the docks who had promised to deliver Venali to the Northern Isles, and ensure he made it safely to Madorinne Lennux.

“No, she’s too exhausted. He can go on his own.”

“He’ll be safe, Tatiana.” Lucifer pulled me into a hug, handing our son to me, and I felt tears pricking at my eyes as I whispered, “We’ll come back for you… When it’s safe.” Reaching down, I pulled off the red garnet ring I always wore around my finger, placing it onto his. Magic ensured it fit perfectly, and I pressed a kiss to his forehead. The ring, while a reminder of his heritage, was also a promise, both to myself and to him. We needed that ring, which meant I would come back for him, no matter what.

“I’ll take him to the docks,” Myr offered, Lucifer also kissing his sons forehead. When the two of us were done with our whispered goodbyes, we handed him over, Lucifer’s arm sliding under mine, wrapping around my waist to hold me up. Tears spilled over both our faces, and Myr strode out.

“I’ll stay here with Phoenix and Tiskial,” Selphien said, “The rest of you should go to the Karmona Palace.”

Lucifer took my hand in his, holding me tightly to his chest, and Jane said, “We’ll give you two a moment…”

The King of Karmona flicked through the book in front of him, the meeting room table scattered with plans to capture back Tarvenia, and rescue Destiny. The Demonic-being Princess had made quite the impression on the camp, it seemed, and most, if not all, soldiers were desperate to retrieve her. The Ordeallan Lords and Ladies had, as we’d expected, opted not to search for Destiny, but that didn’t stop the rest of us from looking. In fact, the Queen of Karmona had torn up the note from Ordeallan with a ferocity I had never seen from the dainty woman, before tossing it into the fire, spitting, “We take care of our own, even when their city won’t.”

Syrphien seemed barely able to restrain himself, trembling as he clutched the table, eagerly anticipating the King’s summary of the books contents. We had told the King and Queen everything we had learnt, including a brief summary of how we had gotten a hold of the book, only to be greeted with a quiet, thoughtful hum as he took the book from my hands, and began reading, taking at least two hours to pour over the entire book, silent the entire time.

Our arrival to the meeting had been tumultuous, with several of the soldiers who had remained in the war camp demanding to know why they weren’t hearing back from any of their friends in Tarvenia, while the Karmona Royals had assured the Ordeallan nobility that Cain would be crowned King of Ordeallan as soon as possible. Lucifer and I had chosen to remain silent on the issue, not wanting rumours to circulate around the camp before we could confirm or deny anything ourselves. We would announce the news that Tarvenia had fallen tonight.

To my surprise, Aubrey had been sitting at the table when we’d entered, looking ready to give birth at any moment, her hand resting on her swollen stomach. We had no idea if she was aware of Fendrel’s murder, and we had no intention of informing her, not for the time being, anyway, and I had a feeling that the only reason she was here was so she could try and claim Ordeallan’s throne for her unborn, supposed son.

Finally, as the King of Ordeallan closed the final page, his face greyed and weighed down with new knowledge, we all leaned forward, eager to hear more information. Clearing his throat, he took a sip of water from the cup a servant had provided several hours ago, announcing, “Reannatiel Maladur was killed in a partial accident. The Lords of Hell had been reaching middle age, and wanted to renew their souls. Alishan Maladur, who is Agron’s daughter, refused to offer her soul, and Lyna wasn’t strong enough to renew all of them. The Sins recognised that the effort might kill one of the twins, but had been willing to try their luck with Destiny. Reanna heard about their plan, and offered herself up instead, consequently dying shortly after giving the Sins a new youth. It was both murder, as the Sins knew the consequences, and risked them anyway, and an accident, because they didn’t intend for her to die.”

“Destiny said her twin had been ill for several weeks before dying. Was that true?”

King Avalon shook his head, saying, “She died within the hour, using her final time to say goodbye to her twin. Destiny and Cain’s mind was miraged afterwards to believe that Reanna had been sick, rather than Hollowing. It says here that, ’With very little space for her power, Reannatiel’s soul quickly succumbed to Hollowing. Lional, feeling guilty, has been particularly nice to Desterium since Reannatiel’s death.’ They were more than aware of what might happen. It also says in a later chapter that, ’Desterium has offered pieces of her soul to renew the Sins souls every time she has exited the Void. She has done this faultlessly, without question or attitude. Her soul survives only because it renews whenever she enters the Void.’ This seems to point to the fact that Destiny is the reason why the Sins live for so long, but there’s something else that is interesting. It mentions another woman, in one of the first chapters. ’Jezebel has proven to be a rather difficult prisoner, often spitting at our feet whenever I suggest she renew our souls. She has also resorted to calling us old men, and mocking Lilith for losing the Garden of Eden. Agron has suggested experimenting with Necromancy to give her an eternal soul, so she might consistently renew ours over centuries.’ I had heard mention of this Jezebel woman before, from the Vampire Alchemist who works with you all.”

I, on the other hand, had heard nothing about a Jezebel, and if the confused looks around the table said anything, neither did any of the others. Jane was the first to voice our thoughts, asking, “Does it say who Jezebel is?”

Avalon picked up the book, clearing his throat again, “’Jezebel of Eden, first-born daughter to Adam and Eve of Eden, cursed by Seraphina with the knowledge to destroy the Maladur’s, and eradicate Sin from human history. Today, she became something more than human, a creature with flawless, bone-white skin, enhanced senses, and a thirst for blood. Lilith calls her a Cambion. I call her a Vampire. When experimenting with her soul, it was quickly made apparent that not only does she burn beneath sunlight, like a Demon does, but she heals quickly after wounds. Her soul does not renew itself, so we have tossed her into the desert surrounding us, locking her out until the rising sun kills her.’ So, from what I can gather, Lilith and Zeella created Vampires.”

Lucifer looked to me, shaking his head slightly, “That can’t be true! Our history says that Vampires were created when Demons merged with humans, or other Super-Naturals, not because Zeella and Lilith decided to play Archangel!”

Avalon placed the book down, shrugging.

“There’s no reason for Zeella to lie in his own private journal. Besides, this thing spans back to shortly after Lilith brought them to this world. The first entry says, ’We have made it to a city on Earth called Jerusalem. My sister Lilith is searching for something that she calls the ‘Garden of Eden’ here, and promises that should we find it, we will be greatly rewarded.’”

“So they’ve been looking for the Garden of Eden right from the start? Wouldn’t Lilith remember where it was?” I questioned, and Lucifer murmured into my mind, ‘If this war truly does run deeper than we expected, we should seriously consider pulling out of it. Whatever they’re looking for, they’ve been looking for it for close to a billion years. They must be desperate, at this point.’

‘If this war runs deeper, than it is our duty to ensure it runs no further,’ I replied, Lucifer’s face tightening as he nodded, clearly worried.

“There is something else that is interesting in this journal. It’s an entry from Earth, before the Legacy War.” Avalon lifted the book closer to him, reading, “’My chance meeting of Sarah Delance, the daughter of a famous astrologist, more than a year ago, has led to something more interesting than I ever could have imagined. She is my Connected, a soulmate forged by Heaven itself. What I don’t understand is why the Archangels would have given me a Connected, when our kind is so clearly despised by their own. In order to keep my Connected close to me, I have had to sacrifice my position in the Manor. Lilith is… unsettled by my decision but has chosen to join me with her own son, Cain. I have yet to tell my sister that Sarah is pregnant... I fear that she will kill Sarah if she finds out.’”

“How is this interesting?” Syrphien asked, lifting his eyebrow, and Avalon said, “Because it appears that, at least for a time, he genuinely cared about Sarah and his unborn child.”

“So what changed, then?”

“The only thing I could find that might lead to a change in heart is that Lilith attempted to convince Zeella that Desterium and Reannatiel weren’t his children, but that they were actually fathered by the same man who fathered Cain. Lilith supposedly claimed that Cain’s father came for a visit, had a few bottles of wine with Sarah, and slept with her. He apparently ‘confessed’ to Lilith the next day.”

‘Is there any chance that it’s true?’ Lucifer asked me, and I bit my lip, shrugging. Anything was possible when it came to the Maladur family.

But it would make sense. If Cain was actually Destiny’s half-brother, it would explain why he was so desperate to protect her.

Why not tell us, though? Information like that was important when it came to Royal lines! And hadn’t Cain admitted once that him and Destiny had been betrothed, but neither of them had wanted it?

“Could it be true?”

“The only way we would be able to tell would be to ask Destiny and Cain outright,” Avalon said, flicking through the book’s pages once more.

“Jason would know a way, undoubtedly, but the Vampire is trapped in Tarvenia with the others,” I sighed.

“Regardless of whether they’re siblings or cousins, that isn’t what’s important right now!” Jane cut in, “What’s important is that we find out just how far this war goes, and what they’re real motive in searching for the Garden of Eden is, because I’m starting to believe that all this crap about wanting to break Lilith’s curse or find the Garden of Eden as revenge against Adam is just that- bullshit. Something else is going on here.”

“Destiny and Cain have never made any mention of something else going on.”

“That’s because Destiny and Cain are being duped just as much as we are!” Syrphien argued, “Zeella explicitly mentions miraging their minds to ensure they didn’t discover certain truths about their family! Who’s to say that they’re not still being lied to? Maybe the reason Destiny was sent here, to The Borderlands, wasn’t just to find the Sacreds! Maybe Zeella was hoping she would unintentionally lead him to something he needed!”

“Caelum and Faeretan!” I blurted, pulling out the scrunched-up piece of paper where I had written down what I had seen with Phoenix, sliding it across the table to Avalon, who picked it up. He read it silently, and then aloud, watching our faces change. When he was done, I said, “When we first found Caelum, it was with Madorinne Lennux, the Maiden of Midnight to the Northern Isles Night-Hunters! She showed us that Inferos and Caelum are drawn to each other. They glow when near each other, and when crossed over each other, can Time-Jump anyone who is holding them. During the Seer experience with Phoenix, Zeella was annoyed that he wasn’t able to find Caelum, because the Night-Hunter family who held it continued to elude him. He also mentioned two other items- Inanis and Faeretan. I have no idea what these are, but they have to be important, if Zeella is searching for them.”

“Faeretan? I read about that blade, once.”

“It’s a blade?” I asked, and Syrphien nodded.

“A sword, to be exact. It has gemstones laid in its base, and is made from a really fine silv…” He trailed off, Selphien, Myr and Jane’s faces paling at the same time, before the three of them looked to each other. The rest of us waited, before Lucifer snapped, “Well? What have you figured out?” Syrphien looked to me, the others following his gaze as he murmured, “Destiny found that blade. In that old temple in the Forest of the Damned. It vanished after that, and I didn’t think much of it, because we were captured shortly after.”

“You guys were captured immediately after finding a blade that Zeella has been searching for for centuries?”

“We were attacked by these weird creatures. We thought they were Flakars, but they were something else, some horror cooked up by Abel- That’s what Destiny and Cain said, anyway. Then, it was like time froze. Selphien, Jane, Kynal, all of us aside from Destiny was cornered by those things, about to be ripped apart, and Destiny was standing there with the blade…Everything just stopped, like time skipped what was meant to be our deaths, and the next thing I know, those things explode over us, and Destiny’s sauntering toward us with that arrogant grin on her face… Selph, do you remember if she still had the sword?”

Selphien chewed on her lip bashfully, whispering, “I don’t think so… I don’t even know if she had the sword at the time. I think it was still in the temple.”

“We should go back, then,” Syrphien suggested, and Myr shook her head.

“No way! The last time we were in that forest, Destiny went missing for hours, and Kynal-” The Faery cut herself short, glancing to Jane, whose face had fallen, apologetically. Shaking herself a bit, Myr instead said, “We lost a lot, alright? Going back in would be dangerous.”

“But I know someone we could send in,” I said, everybody turning in their seats to stare at me. I clasped my hands, placing them on the desk as I grinned.

“Senias, firstborn son of the Aos Si King and Queen.”

Senias hadn’t been at Tarvenia when it had fallen, and he’d said he was going back to the Forest of the Damned. Who better to retrieve an old sword from a temple than the Prince who ran the forest?