Saviour of Souls

Tatiana

Genevieve was dead.

The Queen of Tarvenia was dead.

My mother was dead.

Those were the whispers I heard going around the camp as I made my way back from the main tent, having emerged from my bed to fetch food, Lucifer accompanying me everywhere I went. He didn’t ask me if I was dealing with it, didn’t need too. He could feel everything, every little emotion and thought that went through me. He didn’t try to comfort me, could sense that I wanted to be along with my thoughts for a while, but he remained close, not wanting to leave me completely alone.

They tried to keep their whispers to a minimum, the others around me, but I could still hear them. Sometimes, they would try to console me, speaking words that fell on deaf ears. Other times, they bowed their head in silence, knowing just as well as I did that I was now the Queen of Tarvenia- A Queen without a Palace to rule from.

We hadn’t been able to confirm if Desterium had been one of the Demonic-beings fighting. Her body had not been amongst the dead, and we had found no signs of her presence beyond that, but I suspected she had played a part in it. It would have been her first move in the Immortal War, to bring my city to its knees.

What city would fall next?

Leena had no heirs. Her city was unprotected beyond the soldiers around me.

The King and Queen of Karmona had no heirs. Their city was well fortified, but it was far from where we now sat. If Desterium were to get to it, she could raze it to the ground before we could even make a move.

Lamia’s Royals were cocky, and greedy. They could easily be bribed out of an alliance with us, and into an alliance with Desterium, if they believed she had a better chance of winning than we did.

We hadn’t lost the war, but how long would it be before we all, one by one, fell to Desterium Maladur?

Lucifer looked over to me, hearing my thoughts, and brushed his fingers against my shoulder.

When the news had first arrived, I didn’t know what to think. I had no idea what my first emotion had been, because it seemed like they had all been tangled together. Panic, for the Seedling left behind in the city. Relief, that it had been fortified well enough that the Seedling Fields had survived. Anger, for the fact that I hadn’t been able to protect my city from its first ever attack under my reign, and grief, for the fact I had lost my mother, and had not been there to say goodbye.

At the same time, I was so, so thankful that I had obeyed the sensation to take Tarragon and leave. Had I not, all three of us, the final heirs of the Sun Palace, would have died at once. The only heir left would be the Seedling. Lucifer was not yet officially married to me. He could not inherit the throne in my place upon my death. It would have gone straight to our child.

“Tatiana, honey, give me the bowl.”

I had forgotten I was holding it, but when I looked down, suddenly aware of a burning sensation in my fingers, I saw that it had spilled, the boiling liquid tumbling over me, and Lucifer gently took it, placing it on our desk, and picking up a napkin. He wiped my fingers, and the gesture was enough to break through the narrow shell of shock.

I crumpled, falling to sit heavily on the bed, and Lucifer pulled me to him, trying to comfort me, while understanding that there wasn’t much that could be done. I was going to be in pain.

Of course, I was, I had lost my mother.

Tarragon didn’t quite understand what the news meant, but he knew what death was. He knew that Genevieve was dead, but he was too young to comprehend the fact that the Sun Palace was also gone.

Rebuilding would be quick. We had excellent builders, and plenty of resources, but the Tree of Life had been in the Palace, hidden in the Stone Room, and there was the fact that Genevieve’s stone would also be there now, waiting for us. We would have to retrieve it as soon as possible, to prevent Desterium from getting her hands on it.

“Let it out,” Lucifer whispered, “Don’t hold it in.”

So I did. I continued to cry, our food going cold on the table, until finally, I just leaned against my Connected, savouring the comfort. He remained still, his arm cradling my shoulders, the both of us in silence for what could have been as long as an hour until footsteps began outside.

It was Seth, looking nervous and knocking quietly on the wooden post with his knuckles, Jason beside him, a hand on his shoulder, the other clasping something. The Vampire-Fae didn’t look stern, just expectant, and when Seth looked up to him for guidance, clearly lost for words, Jason cleared his throat, smiling sadly at the two of us and saying, “There’s something Seth needs to tell you, Tatiana.”

“What is it?” I said, my voice stifled by tears, and Lucifer rose to speak to Jason in private as Seth stepped toward me, bowing his head, wringing his hands and shuffling from foot to foot.

“There’s something that happened when I was in Hell with Desterium,” he began, and I nodded, trying my best to look comforting, and attentive. If Seth needed to get something off his chest, I was willing to listen, even if the name of his Connected made my blood boil.

I couldn’t blame Desterium yet, not without knowing for certain that it was indeed her who had attacked Tarvenia.

“Um… We were captured by Abel Maladur, her cousin, and the two of us were being tortured. Abel offered me a bargain, in exchange for our release. I- I was doing it mostly to get out of there, but Desterium was included in the bargain, and I just wanted to clarify that I wasn’t doing it to save her, but- but to get myself out, I guess, and-”

“I believe you, Seth.”

He nodded, swallowing to compose himself, and said, “Abel promised that if I became a Demonic-being, he would let both of us go, and I agreed. We made a Blood-Oath, and- and I became a Demonic-being.”

By now, Jason and Lucifer had finished talking in the corner of the room for long enough to catch the end statement, and Lucifer saw the look of shock on my face a second before Seth could, stepping smoothly forward, capturing his attention before I could scare him into never admitting anything again. I wasn’t mad at him, just… surprised. For some reason, I had almost expected for Seth to admit that he had kissed Desterium, or at least something very similar to that.

“If you’re a Demonic-being now, then you’ll need blood,” My Connected said, sounding so calm and unsurprised that I considered if he might have known beforehand, and Seth said, “Yeah. Jason’s been helping me. But that’s also why I’ve been going into the city. Becoming a Demonic-being meant my senses improved, and the war camp, with how tightly packed it is, is too much sometimes. I go into the city to calm down.”

“That’s fine. But I would prefer if you take someone when you go,” Lucifer said, and the look of worry on Seth’s face melted away as he nodded, promising to do so.

Jason ushered Seth out, ordering him to find something to eat, since blood wasn’t the only thing he would need to maintain his strength, and turned to us.

“I made a tonic for you, Tatiana.”

I blinked. I had given up taking tonics when Lucifer and I had decided we’d wanted a Seedling. Why would I need another one? Was the Seedling okay?!

“This one is a sleeping tonic,” Lucifer reassured me, and I took a deep breath, calming myself, Jason stepping forward to explain a bit more.

“Due to your recent grief, and the fact that you’re carrying a Seedling, you’re likely to experience insomnia. While normally, this isn’t really a problem that needs a sleeping tonic, I’ve decided that since we’re in the midst of war, it might be best if you’re getting the appropriate amount of sleep. I’ve prescribed Selphien with the very same tonic, if you would like to wait to see its effects. It’ll knock you out enough that you’ll sleep, but not enough that you won’t be able to wake up in a hurry in the event of someone breaking into the war camp.”

“Thank you, Jason,” I said, and Jason said, “I’m very sorry for your loss, Tatiana. If you would like- Well, I’m aware of what happens to Fae who are joined with the Tree of Life. I’m more than happy to retrieve the tree and the stone if you find you can’t bring yourself to go so soon.”

Lucifer looked to me, and I nodded.

“Please do. I- I would, but I just can’t face it yet. I hope that doesn’t make me sound weak, but I just can’t.”

“It doesn’t make you sound weak at all. I better go back to the tent now. We’ve got some people who are injured from training that need attending to.”

Lucifer led him out, and when we were alone, turned to face me, and the vial Jason had handed to me.

“Do you want any of it now?”

“No. I think I’ll be okay without it. Besides, we have planning to do.”

Lucifer nodded, knowing exactly what I was thinking, his eyes flicking to the reports Tiskial and the others who had gone to Korath had filed. They were sitting on the table, a map of Korath donated by Jason beside them, and markings across it, mapping out their viewpoints until we had a near exact location of where the Caliem Manor was. They hadn’t gotten near enough to see its layout, but there was one person who had; Seth.

I hadn’t gotten around to questioning him about the Caliem Manor, or what had really happened there, and considering the gem of information he had just told us, about the fact that Abel could genetically change someone with a mere spell. Seth might be able to tell us more about the layout of the Manor itself, which would make it significantly easier to break into.

But there was also the fact that Zeella’s Heirs were all in The Borderlands, or at least in this Dimension. Tiskial had reported that when Desterium had come through the Divider, she had brought others with her. They were kids, so we couldn’t kill them, but capturing them could yield useful information. Kids were easy to trick into talking, if you treated them right.

“What do you think our first move should be?” Lucifer asked me, and I quietly said, “I think we should find Desterium’s siblings. They’re all children, so getting them to talk should be easy. If we pair their information with whatever information Seth can give us about the layout of the Manor, we could easily break in.”

“But who would we go after?”

“Supplies, I think. Soldiers, anyone who might be important to the war efforts. Cain Maladur would be a good place to start. He seems to be a prominent figure in the Manor.”

“If we kidnapped Cain, we would be slaughtered by Desterium. Remember what happened when we caught them in the Palace? She broke into the dungeon, and freed the prisoners there,” Lucifer said, and I furiously hissed, “We have to do something! We can’t just keep putting it off!”

“I know,” my Connected replied quietly, rolling the map out, leaning on the table and sighing, “But we can’t jump in without thought. I know you’re angry about Tarvenia, and upset about Genevieve, but you can’t-”

“I am more than angry! They attacked my city! How are you not furious about this?!” Lucifer looked over at me, and said, “Tatiana, I’m as upset as you are, but we need to keep the others safe. Rushing into attacking the Caliem Manor will get us all killed. We have no knowledge of their numbers, or location, or plain strength in general. Desterium isn’t an accurate representation of the others. She’s better trained, older and a Royal.”

“The others won’t be as strong as her,” I argued, and Lucifer said, “They might be. We have no idea. I think you’re right about finding her siblings, but not about blindly jumping into attacking the Manor. Come here.” He beckoned me over, holding his hand out for me, and I took it, allowing him to pull me to his side, keeping me close. The map had been narrowed down to one, circled section where the Manor sat, and another circle around a tree, a sort of marker for anyone looking to find the Manor. The map beside it, one of The Borderlands, was unmarked.

“We don’t know where anyone is right now. But I’m thinking of going to Darcie’s home.”

“Why?”

“There’s something Jason said, a while ago, about the fact that he suspected Darcie knew more about Desterium than he was letting on. I want to investigate his room and office-”

“Lucifer, Tatiana, may I speak with you?” Selphien was standing in the doorway, looking better than she had a few days prior, her back healing nicely once again now that Syrphien had caught the infection she’d been trying to hide.

“Yes, Selphien?”

“I- Tarragon is acting strange. He keeps saying strange things, and he won’t eat his food.”

I rushed out, Lucifer telling Selphien to take us to where my brother was, and she led us to the main tent, pulling aside the curtain to reveal Tarragon sitting at a table on his own, a bowl of food shoved to the side, and a bunch of pieces of stick and rock that he’d collected laid out in front of him. I turned to Selphien, who was hovering beside us, unsure what to do, and I asked, “Is he speaking in Faereveyn?”

“No, but it’s not the common tongue, either. I don’t understand what he’s saying. Every now and then, he’ll move a few of his collected things around, and say something.”

“Go get Jason,” Lucifer ordered, Selphien nodding and running out, and I approached my little brother, kneeling beside him.

“Hey, Tarry. What are you doing?”

His eyes remained on the stones and sticks in front of him, his entire body frozen, and I leaned forward to see that his normally rich green eyes were silver. I shook him, and Lucifer said, “What is it?”

“He’s not responding.”

I couldn’t lose Tarragon as well! Not after Genevieve. I shook my brother again, and Jason moved me aside, taking my place next to Tarragon.

“What is it, boy?”

Tarragon continued to stare, and suddenly, before I could start shouting his name, he began moving. Rocks and sticks slid across the table, forming first a square, and then smaller squares within then, and then, finally, he placed a rock inside one of the small squares, mumbling something that was indeed in another language. Jason examined the strange marking, and said, “Well, he spoke in Demonic.”

“Can you translate it?”

He nodded, and said, “He said, ‘You and I are alike, Prince. I’m a Princess, you’re a Prince. We’re both Seers. I would like to help you. Your big sister is looking for someone- my big sister. You can find her here.’” Jason pointed to the map, where the rock sat in the square, and Lucifer gaped, “He’s made a map.”

Tarragon mumbled something else, and Jason said, “He said, ‘You will need to support her. I know your siblings do not wish to, that they hate her, but she truly means well this time. Help her. She seeks the key that sits in his pocket, but she doesn’t know it’s there.’ Tarragon, cut off the connection.” Jason gently pulled Tarragon’s hands away from the table, and he shook his head, clearing it, before frowning down at the rocks, gathering them up, and shoving them into a small basket at his feet, and stumbling off.

We sat there, stunned, and Lucifer said, “Bring Seth here.”

Selphien, who had returned, ran out again, wide-eyed, and a moment later, she brought Seth back. By then, we had composed ourselves enough to sit, but Tarragon’s words hung over us like a sword. There was another Seer, likely one of Desterium’s siblings, communicating through Tarragon. If they could speak to him, render him unresponsive, what else could they do? Could we protect him from it?

Seth walked in, slowly, looking wary, and clutching at his pockets like we were going to rob him. We knew he had Desterium’s mother’s ring, so was that the key the other Seer meant?

Tarragon was accompanying him, looking up at him with big eyes, and a smile on his face.

“Sit down, Seth,” Lucifer said, and I smiled at him and Selphien, the two of them taking a seat across from us. Tarragon plopped himself down on the floor, looking over each of us in turn, a strange look of wisdom in his face.

“Tarragon told us you have some sort of key in your pocket. That’s the second time he’s mentioned it. Do you think he means the ring? Could you show it to us?”

Seth emptied out his pockets, looking for the ring, and as he pulled out objects, including a black rock on a cord, Jason stopped him, picking up the necklace, squinting at it as he turned it over and over in his hands, studying it.

“Where did you get this?”

“I don’t know. I woke up in the medical tent, and it was laying on my blanket. I’ve kept it on me ever since. To be honest, I forgot about it.”

“It’s Demonic, I can tell you that,” Jason said, tapping at the rock, and as he did so, something shifted in the air around us, all of us stiffening, looking around. Tarragon stood, and said, “Put it back. Give it back to him.”

Jason slowly held the necklace out, and Seth took it. The second it rested in his fingers, the shifting paused. What the Hell was it?

“The Rift cannot be disturbed,” Tarragon mumbled in warning, and Lucifer said, “What Rift? Do you mean the Paradoxin Rift?”

Tarragon shrugged, and held his hand out for the necklace, his eyes glazing over. Seth handed it over, and the second it brushed against Tarragon’s fingers, something exploded around us, darkness encompassing the tent. We all shouted, and I rubbed furiously at my eyes, shouting for the others. One by one, they all replied, although Tarragon’s voice was muffled.

When the darkness cleared, Tarragon was gone.

*

“What was that thing?!” I screamed at Seth, launching at him and grabbing his shoulders before he could run, and I heard Selphien screaming at me to stop, that it wasn’t Seth’s fault, that he couldn’t have known what the cord would do. Jason was still rubbing at his eyes, groaning something in Latin that sounded like swearwords, and Lucifer wrapped his arms around me, pulling me off Seth. I tried to throw my Connected’s arms from me, but he held on tightly, his hands carefully away from where our connection with the Seedling sat.

“Where did he go?!”

“I don’t know!” Seth shouted back, looking frightened, and Lucifer said, “Tatiana! Stop! Stop!”

I turned to him, sobbing, “I can’t lose Tarragon!”

“You won’t. We’ll find him. Tatiana, we’ll find him, I promise!” Lucifer assured me when I continued to cry. The explosion hadn’t touched any of the furniture in the room, but Tarragon’s strange objects had been rearranged again, and I stared down at the map at my feet. It was a map of Ordeallan, Darcie’s house blotted out with a rock.

Lucifer saw it at the same time I did, and we both rushed for Tiskial’s tent with Ash. Hopefully they weren’t in the middle of something personal. Luckily for us, when we rushed in without knocking, they were seated at the table, having a meal. They stood, bowing to us, and Tiskial sighed, “Where to?”

“Darcie’s house. Please,” I breathed, and Lucifer added, “Tarragon’s been taken.”

“Taken? By what?!”

“Some weird necklace that connects to the Rift. We think he might be in Darcie’s house.”

“I’ll come with you. Ash, can you get Syrphien and the others?”

Ash left, saying she would meet up with us at Darcie’s house, and Tiskial quickly moved us, vanishing before we could thank him. Darcie’s street was dry, thankfully, and we ran up to the front door, which was tied shut with string. The second we stepped inside, Desterium’s scent greeted us, passionfruit filling the house so much I nearly gagged on it.

“Tarragon!” I screamed, running through the various rooms, and I heard Lucifer searching upstairs. I couldn’t sense him anywhere, but on the floor of the living room, surrounded by a charred circle of burnt floorboards, was the necklace. I left it, knowing that Seth was the only one who could pick it up safely, and Lucifer shouted, “Tatiana!”

I ran to him, praying he had found Tarragon, but when I ran in, he was kneeling on Seth’s bed, looking out the window.

Outside, there were twelve soldiers, all of them Demonic-beings, and we watched as they paused outside. Lucifer, looking over to me, slowly creaked the window open, their voices floating up to us, their conversation now easily heard.

“She should be in here. Be prepared, men, our Princess is a trained killer- Remember that.”

“What are our orders?”

“Zeella wants her subdued, but alive. He’s got a lovely set of Severing’s waiting for her.”

What kind of court captured their own Princess for a Severing?

“Go inside and retrieve her. Bring anything you think she might have taken with her. Zeella suspects she’s hiding something from the court.”

I couldn’t let them get their hands on that cord.

I ran back downstairs, trying to keep silent on the stairs, and I snatched the cord, ducking down low beneath the window as one of the soldiers peered inside, preparing to break down the door. Lucifer ran down the stairs to join me when the soldier looked away, and grabbing my hand, pulled me toward the back door just as the front door was broken down. We ran through the back yard, the cord swinging in my hand, and around us, the air began tingling.

“Get down!” I shoved Lucifer to the ground, the cord flying from my hands and landing in the grass, just as a myriad of colours exploded around us, and the brick walls of Darcie’s house groaned, bending beneath the force. The soldiers in the street screamed in pain, and Lucifer pulled me close to him, shielding me. When the cord landed on the ground, the colours vanished, beams of sunlight piercing through to wipe them away, and the screaming ended, the scent of burnt flesh filling the area.

I gagged, Lucifer doing the same, and using a handkerchief, picked up the necklace, wrapping it carefully, and tucking it into his pocket just as shouting began throughout the town around us, people screaming, and I heard the ‘CRACK!’ and ‘BOOM!’ of buildings collapsing around us, smoke rising on the horizon, coming from the direction of the Palace.

The air seemed to heat around us, and Lucifer grabbed my hand, hissing, “What’s that sound?”

There was a sizzling sound of heat meeting water, and a sickening smell of sulphur in the air, and Lucifer pulled me toward the front gate. Outside, the Demonic-being soldiers were dead, their bodies smouldering on the side of the road, and I gagged, Lucifer leading me through the chaos to see a large orange light on the horizon, a light that was slowly inching its way through the town.

“Is that lava?!” He exclaimed, the two of us walking up the street to try and get a better view. It was visible on the path to the Ordeallan Palace, the hill covered in that orange light, and I nodded. There was lava coming from the Ordeallan Palace, and slowly creeping down toward the town. The booming sounds I could hear were the gates breaking down beneath it, and a few of the nearer houses catching fire, and collapsing. The only time I had ever seen lava was in Satalari’s realm, because she was the only person who could control it. She used it for everything in the Moon Palace- torture, execution, decoration, anything that you could possibly do with lava, she would do. Satalari had been in Korath the last time we’d checked, but it was barely a short walk from the Divider to Ordeallan, and if she was angry about not finding Nihila, she might take her anger out on the town.

Lucifer started shouting for Tiskial, who was waiting nearby, and we watched as he soared down from above, shouting, “You need to leave! Both of you!”

“We need to evacuate people!” Lucifer replied, and I said, “Get the others in here to start evacuating people from the houses closest to the Palace. Take them up to the Academy. Lucifer and I will go up to the Palace to see if Leena’s okay.”

Lucifer looked over at me, about to tell me to go back with Tiskial, and I shook my head.

“I’m not leaving you to go alone.”

“What about the-”

“The Seedling is fine. We need to make sure Leena’s okay.”

Tiskial flew down to greet us, a portal appearing beneath our feet, and we plummeted a foot or two before we landed in the garden of the Ordeallan Palace. Inside, people were shrieking in terror, the heat nearly unbearable so close to the lava, and the stench of sulphur burnt my lungs and throat as we ran inside, smoke clouding most of our view of the city below. Sure enough, lava was flowing toward the city, coating the cliffside in its burning mass, and when we threw open the door, the Palace was equally as hot inside.

“Leena!” We shouted over the mass of servants running around us, boxes of clothes and important items in their arms, “Where are you?!”

The Queen of Ordeallan was nowhere to be seen, and we pushed around panicked people, all of them rushing for various exits around the Palace, as heat began to push down on us from above, the upper levels of the Palace burning.

“Leena!” Lucifer bellowed, his voice louder than mine, and we turned toward the newly-refurbished meeting room, the door ajar. Inside, papers were scattered, an official Royal decree on the desk, the Royal seal pressed into the bottom of the parchment. Nobody was in the room, and we grabbed the parchment, and ran for the dining room. This room was mostly empty of people, since the servant’s hallways here were longer than the others around the Palace, but once again, even though we had a clear view throughout the room, Leena was nowhere to be found.

We checked almost every room on the bottom floor- the ballroom, the bathroom, two servant’s rooms, the kitchens, but before we could explore the upstairs region, there was a loud creaking of wood, and the stairs collapsed. Smoke was quickly filling the smaller bottom level, and Lucifer pulled his shirt off, handing it to me to wrap around my face. I took it, my Connected’s hand on my lower back, leading me to the back door once again, the garden now empty. When we passed the kitchen, I looked to the dungeon door, unable to ignore the feeling of being forced to look over there any longer.

“What if she’s in there?” I pointed to the dungeon, and Lucifer shook his head, his wings clamped firmly to his back to try and avoid the heat. There was no reason why the Queen of Ordeallan would need to be in the dungeon, but what if she had run down there to try and avoid the fire?

“Lucifer,” I called, pulling on his sleeve to stop him, “I think we should go back.”

He looked over his shoulder to me, and I turned back to the dungeon, the roof above us groaning under the weight of flames. Lucifer’s eyes flicked between the back door, which was still down a long hallway, and the closer door to the dungeon, and said, “Quickly.”

We ran for it, trying to get out of the smoke as quickly as possible, Lucifer leaving the kitchen door open in case anybody else was still in the Palace, and trying to escape the smoke.

The dungeon door swung open effortlessly, the stairs below lit well, the flames of the torches dancing wildly, and Lucifer closed the door behind us, leading me deeper. Above us, while the sounds of the Palace were muffled, I could still hear the ‘CRASH!’ of a part of the roof collapsing, and Lucifer swung suddenly, swearing.

The look reflected in his eyes when he turned to look at me made me shiver, “That was the roof of the kitchen and hallway. We’re stuck in here.”

I sat down on the steps, flames licking at the door above us, and thanked Heaven that Leena had built her dungeon from stone, not wood. Yes, it would heat up, and we would likely starve of oxygen before we burnt, but at least we weren’t going to be cooked alive.

“We would have been in the hallway when it collapsed,” he breathed, and I shakily said, “I just- had this feeling that we needed to go back. I thought it was because Leena might be down here…”

Lucifer pulled me to his chest, breathing, “You probably just saved our lives.”

“I think I’ve just trapped us in a tomb.”

“No, we’ll get out. Tiskial knows we’re up here, but we can’t stay here, on the steps. We need to keep going down.”

I looked up at him, and he grabbed a torch from the wall, the darkness below us impenetrable. I trusted him enough to allow him to lead me down into the dungeon, but when we hit the next level down, I heard something shuffling around us, breathing heavily. The torch had blown out when we’d stepped from the stairs, leaving us blind.

‘What is that?’ I whispered into his mind, gripping his hand tightly, and he said, ‘It might be one of those creatures that attacked the Palace. Keep moving, but quietly.’

We had no other choice but to keep walking, and very quickly, it became a game of cat and mouse, the two of us waiting for the creature to circle around us before shuffling forward a few steps, enough that it had to take the time to sniff us out again, its groans and growls terrifying in the dark. Was this the secret Romalize had wanted to tell us about?

‘Lucifer…’ I had to be hurting his hand, with how tightly I held it, but he didn’t remove his fingers, keeping a firm, and comforting hold on me, refusing to let me go.

‘I know, love, I know. Tiskial will come for us soon.’

It was very unlikely that Tiskial would be coming for us in the next hour, let alone five minutes. He would be busy evacuating Ordeallan for a while, if the lava was even still moving out there. Inside the dungeon, there was no way of knowing what was going on outside. We could have been in here for an hour already, and we wouldn’t have known. Both of us, hearing that the creature was behind us, stepped forward, and onto something both hard and soft at the same time- a body.

I clapped a hand to my mouth, and held back the feeling to vomit, while I heard the creature behind us continue to circle. We had to keep moving. We stepped over the body, being careful not to trip over it, and stepped immediately onto another one. Tiskial had said the dungeons were filled with them the last time we’d been here, but it looked like some of them had been removed, because the path here had been clear up until now.

I could see light up ahead, barely able to light up the corridor with how many bodies littered the hall, and Lucifer swore in my mind, pointing to a pile of… needles? In front of them were dozens of bodies chained to the wall, which had probably happened when they’d been alive, and one or two of them had needles still hanging from their arms and throats.

‘Are those-’

‘Experiments. Leena must have been experimenting on prisoners.’

‘Oh Heaven above… That’s why Destiny was injected with Henara. She was a prisoner down here. They probably did the same to Nym and Lydiav. That would have been why she fought us to keep Lydiav here. She wanted to play Archangel…’

Lucifer’s eyes widened, making the connection, and I felt a set of teeth clamp down on my shoulder. I screamed, shaking it off, and Lucifer punched the creature back, which tripped over the bodies, before promptly turning, and tearing into them with a viciousness that made me sick, my hand clamped down over the wound. It would be able to smell the blood now, what did it matter if it heard us?

“TISKIAL!” I screamed, Lucifer joining in, but the creature remained on the body, devouring it whole- bones and all. That was why there were no bodies up ahead. It was eating them. Lucifer scooped me into his arms, and began running, still shouting for the Fae warrior. Now it was imperative that we found Leena, if only to interrogate her on what we’d discovered, if Satalari didn’t kill her first. The Queen of Ordeallan would be executed for such crimes. Experimentation had long ago been banned, even on prisoners. Only truth and healing tonics were still allowed, except in Lamia, who allowed for painful tonics to be administered in cases where it was deserved.

Lucifer ran into one of the Guards supply rooms, slamming the door shut, and he placed me down on one of the crates, taking his shirt from me to press it into the wound, breathing, “Stay awake.”

I nodded, not feeling tired at all, and my Connected said, “We’ll have to wait for Tiskial. Hopefully he’ll come for us.”

Just as he said that, the roof above us groaned, and came crashing down…