by Jamie Magee
Scorpio was sure if Toril had her way, she would’ve never let him see all the members connected to them, but to use the power they had united to take down Ambrosia she had no choice. It was nearly impossible for Scorpio to even focus at first. There were beings he would’ve never, in his wildest dreams, assumed were connected to him.
The moment Talon was safe and the spell was done, Scorpio felt the pull back to his body, the one Toril was adding her newfound strength to. He fought like hell to break her hold on him.
Hell, no, he wasn’t going anywhere yet. He had to chase the beings. It was hard for him to choose who to go after first, the ones he knew—had met in the flesh, or the ones he didn’t know. He had to dive in to understand how he was blind to all of this. Toril had been sleeping for eras, for all either of them knew, they could very well have an enemy among them now. Scorpio was almost positive they did.
Souls all have a price, some lower than others, some so high their grace seems unbreakable. But everyone has a price, something they will give it all for, something that is so precious that it was worth turning their back on their nature. Scorpio had seen it happen too many times among other immortals not to believe it so.
He could’ve stayed lost in his search, chasing every soul until he understood it all, but the pull of Toril was too strong. When he finally did open his eyes, he felt the pools of sweat coming off him. His muscles were aching from being tense for too long. Above all, the weight of the world was resting on his shoulders.
Listlessly he laid there committing the battle and aftermath to memory. He sensed Toril moving about but paid her no mind. She was bound to be brimming with power; the weight of her long sleep was gone. The woman was never much for idling. By the time he did roll his head toward her, the fire had been built again. The dust that had settled on the tapestries he had hung on the walls was gone, she had touched everything, making it hers.
When he rose and reached for water, she hesitated then glanced over her shoulder at him. Her shy grin, the glint of supremacy in her stare was enough to string his body even tighter. In the past, merging his soul with hers would satisfy him for the better part of a day, longer if circumstance demanded that it did. His stare trickled down her, now that he’d had her flesh, there was no satisfying him anymore.
Damn this curse!
“War games have not lost their seduction with you, have they,” he quipped.
She rested the pillow that was in her hand on the bed then slowly came to him. “Feeling death breathe down your neck beckons you to suck life into the depths of your lungs.”
“Death was it?” he said as a sly grin tried wearily touched his lips. “She was weaker than I thought she would be.”
“Ambrosia wasn’t, she was simply caught off guard. She found favor with Talon, watching him in battle was her passion. If she had any idea what he was, it was at the last minute. I would wager she assumed he had devoured his Throng as well. She thought one blow would give her all of us. Finding us less than dormant wasn’t something she counted on. There was no time for her to gather her power.”
Scorpio’s grunt was as far as he was going to agree or disagree. There was one thing he knew for sure, Reveca Beauregard would never be caught unprepared. Which was fine and good if it didn’t put Toril at risk.
Toril had to have her vengeance to live. There was no gray area in this spell. During the times when he saw Reveca’s best side, when a true kinship between them blossomed, he’d looked for a solution.
Even if there were no times of peace between him and Reveca, his conscience would’ve demanded he found a way to undo the choices he’d made when he was struck with grief. He owed it to the Sons. It is known that one would give up everything for the one they love. Scorpio was sure it was a true statement. What wasn’t said was that giving up was the hardest part. Your love for another may make the sacrifice justified, but it will not erase the loss you feel.
The men he had known and fought, his family, had met a crossroads alongside him. He’d have to stand up and tell them that despite their bond, he had never once been one of them. He’d declare Reveca was right, he’s always been after her.
“You should not have kept secrets from me,” he said as he rose.
“You know I had no choice,” Toril dipped her head and pulled a familiar shield over herself hiding her truest of emotions. In the past, Scorpio had always been angry and starved when Toril had done this. Today he was both, but not to the same degree. His calm state pushed him to question if her tone was timid and not cold for reasons he’d never explored.
“I know that was your excuse.”
The room dropped a few degrees. It was a sign that Toril was not only brimming with power, but also hurt and battling her negative emotions. “So says the son of the enemy...”
His glare slowly moved her way. “Your doubt in me has landed us here.”
“Face to face with victory,” she said as surprise hit her youthful expression. “I’m aware.” In a quieter tone, she said, “It wasn’t easy.”
He was standing before her in the next heartbeat, her sway back, the girlish intake of breath as her eyes widened only stroked his ego all the more. “Victory, you mean your escape from death? From a spell I was forced into casting to save you, to save our son?”
Anger spilled over her expression. “Unless you have started another war I’m oblivious to, then yes.”
Resentfully, he slowly swayed his head. “You should have told me, Toril. You kept me from our Throng—blocked my vim from theirs. How was I ever to know who they were or if they were safe all this time you slept?”
“It is my fault a phantom nearly killed me, and you used the darkest of magic to avoid your grief, and soon after, your demise,” she agreed in a quiet, cold tone. She refused to look at him as she went back to tidying the cavern. The avoidance only irked Scorpio more. Walls came in too many ways; this shy approach of hers was one of them.
“Yes, it is if you had the sight of this day. I’m not a fool, Toril. You played every piece of this Throng like the keys of a piano, dramatic or blissful, either way, the music set the stage for a victory you lusted for.”
Her eyes welled as her hand went deep under the blanket she was adjusting on the bed. “No matter how it was played, who played what, victory is something we should not find fault in.”
His stare questioned her as he judged her emotions and body language. There were only rare moments in their last years together he recalled her seeming so shy about engaging in a fight with him. At moments like this, he saw the girl he found long ago, not the female who blocked him at every turn and demanded that heads rolled. At the time, a senseless demand for taking Talon away from Reveca would’ve ended him, weakened their very small Throng. Toril didn’t care then. Scorpio had seen her argue past the point of reason. So infected with hate that she didn’t care if she went down as long as her enemy went down with her.
Scorpio had the slightest hope the dark, vindictive part of her had been demolished in her sleep and time had given her reason to see the battle plans clearly. Even if it had, there was a very real chance it was too late.
“You saw the path through the eyes of vengeance. Not once did you trust that being part of the Sons had its benefit.”
“Did I?”
He was so sure he liked the sound of a real question in those two words.
“You did.” He leaned forward. “You have never shown me everything within, even before I was taken. Now that I have seen the depth of secrets, the disasters they are causing, how am I not to feel like a taunted fool?”
“Time has been our enemy. Hate and love will come and go until the end. I understand your anger.” Her eyes drew up to his, like it took all the courage she possessed. “I apologize for my part.”
As if her part was a trivial one?
His vim seized her and squeezed. “Hate, love—are you insane? We are fucking empaths. Hate for you can never come from my soul. You should’ve trusted me,” he argued. �
��Now we face the impossible.”
“You can not be so grim, not now,” she pleaded.
“When I am faced with the soon to be slaughter what mood should I cling to?”
He winced when he saw the pain flash in her eyes. His vim let her go, but he kept his fierce stare on her.
She walked away from him not stopping until she reached the flames, after long moments of staring into them she spoke. “I admire how true you hold on to our purpose. I always have. I know this is a hard time for you.” Her shoulders shook, and he questioned if she was crying— there was enough sorrow in her soul for him to believe so. “It had to be this way. There was no choice...I would’ve found one if there was. We fight the span of time. It has come to a head now.”
“It’s not time that is the enemy. It’s the secrets,” he said as he took a seat at the foot of the bed. “I could’ve been making allies, building strategies. Instead, my only chore was to keep Talon and our son safe while I waited for the signs to awaken you.”
“And you chose Talon’s death? You chose to wait until Reveca had discarded him and found a more powerful lover.” She turned her head to the side, but never fully looked back at him. “And what may I ask was wrong with the times when Reveca was weak? When she was broken and wishing for death?” She faced forward once more. “Like me, you have heeded an unknown voice and let it lead you here. Not to an easy time or a hard one, but to the right time.”
Stunned awareness washed over Scorpio’s soul. “It was never easy to understand if Reveca was weak or simply pouting. Those dark times were dark because she had no one to fight. “It crossed my mind, it did. Yeah...something held me back.” He swayed his head. “The secrets you left were in your control.”
After a pause, she spoke. “You know them now, from what I sense it has only made you harder, not as content as you have always told me you would feel if you knew of your Throng.”
“Harder,” he repeated ironically. “First of all, you had no right to ban me from anyone. Secondly, my rage comes from the impossible situation your silence had landed us in.”
When he felt guilt swell in her emotions, his expression softened, but not much. “Dagen, Toril. You are not a fool; you must know that he alone adds impossibility to this war. The others...I can’t even wrap my head around them right now.”
“You are the one with little trust.”
“No, I am the one who has watched King and Dagen all but siege the Boneyard. I knew there was something about him that was familiar and odd. When I finally understood they were Dark Angels, I still knew something was off. They were not like the others we had crossed. Even their explanation of breaking off from traditional ways didn’t account for it.”
“You knew,” she said softly. Scorpio could not tell if it was an accusation or a way of encouragement. “You were there when Dagen was taken, when we were too late to save Zosime. You had crossed his essence just as I had.”
Maybe he had.
“He’s only been there for weeks, Toril. Do you think I would’ve had the time to convince a First to a rising God to betray his leader, the men he’d lead for eras?”
This was a fuck all and Scorpio knew it was as the angles of this war started lining up in his head. He grimaced at the thought of her being forever gone to him. He’d barely gotten her back. “If you had let me in, I could’ve looked for him.” Scorpio crossed his arms as he stared Toril down. “Like you, I thought he was lost to us.” He slanted his head. “Your sight showed you differently. You hid this from me. Wasted time.”
“It is tiring to argue the same words different ways with you.”
“Is it tiring to notice that Reveca has allies in our Throng? Try this on for size; to take her down with the power of the Throng we need power. The power of an entire Throng at the very least, more than likely we’ll need more. Every soul in this has free will, Toril, and honor.”
“You see plainly, you must see with wonder. Expect to be amazed, and you will be.”
It was all he could do not to roll his eyes. Eons ago when on any given day nature was wrapped around you it was easier to see the signs, take in the miracles, and have blind hope. Today it was easier and harder to see twenty steps ahead in the instant world Scorpio had been lurking in. The hard fact that Toril was not understanding was he was not the only one living in the modern world. As ancient as some in their Throng might be, they’d been subject to the same perceptions and experiences Scorpio had.
“You do not understand the bonds this battle will test.”
“I don’t understand your lack of faith, no.”
“My lack of faith? I have yearned for this day. To see you and speak with you. To look at you and touch you when I wanted. I craved for the day my son will know his mother. For a day when my battles will be behind me and not before me, and now I’m faced with the possibility that it may never come. With the burden of knowing that if we fail this all rests on our son’s shoulders. He alone will have to face the end of one reign and the start of another. How can he be asked to do such a thing? His entire life has been lived under a cloak. He has never stretched his powers and til this day is still alone.”
Softened by his words, she edged closer. “No sight would have changed what we face today. There is nothing you could’ve done differently to prepare. It is my responsibility to take Reveca from the life she never wanted. How it occurs is not my choice.”
“They will fight us, how are you to take her down when our own Throng is facing civil war?”
“You can not speak for them. You just noticed them.”
“I live in the world they live in. I sensed enough to know this should be a concern.”
Scorpio’s dark mood was wearing on Toril— he knew exactly when her sorrow became awash with anger. “Do you want me to speak my fear? Did you not just boast you were an empath? What good does it do to speak of all the ways something will not work? Why would I stack the deck against my desired victory?”
“It’s called strategy, Toril. We need a war plan that makes room for us to adjust. We can not go at this blindly.”
Toril squared her shoulders. “We must. This is not a battlefield where we can hold back legions or attack one flank or another. We will be called to battle, and we must fight and let the hands of fate direct us all.”
“We still have some time...we can still control where this occurs.”
“There he is,” Toril said daring to smile.
“I’m not speaking optimistically, I’m stating advantages.”
“I need you to focus on those. Where there is one, there are many. You fear Dagen, he is at a loss now struggling with his own past. He doesn’t need our fear but our support. It is known that the lovers of Throngs suffer more than any other.”
True enough, they suffer because of truth. When you cannot hide every whim of emotion from your lover, strife will emerge. In the beginning, it will nearly rip a mated pair apart. In the end, the old demon of a test will still arise from time to time. Its purpose is simple: to teach. To vividly understand one, is to vividly understand many in many ways. The pain and trial are true with every member of a Throng, twice as bad when both lovers have the same affliction of donning emotions of others.
“He loves a ghost,” Scorpio agreed. “I would have forgotten too if I had no recourse. I can testify that no amount of time will drown the loss of one’s soul.” He swayed his head. “But you are seriously underestimating the bond he has with King, and how deeply King loves Reveca. King is the entire reason Reveca taunted dark gods in the first place. She lost first. She felt the pain first.”
“You are slipping from the point again. Use the role you have rooted yourself in for good. Return to your home, Talon needs you now. Gauge the threats as you see fit, but as you do, guide the others to the battlefield we want them on for the reasons we want them to be there.”
He pointed at the ground. “You think I’m leaving here? Or worse, you think I will take you there?”
She tilted her
head. “Are there truly a hundred and fifty horses in one of those machines?”
Scorpio’s eyebrows popped up. He’d often daydreamed of showing her the wonders of the new world. He was sure some would delight her, and make her smile. But it would be the ageless wonders of nature that she would crave to see, lose herself within. In a very real way, the modern world would bring her sorrow. Mortals had managed to disconnect from each other and the world at large. For someone of Toril’s ancient blood, it would seem like the end of times had truly arrived.
Because she had connected with others and taken in their lives, she had some sense of what was beyond this cavern, but it was nothing as awakening as seeing it with her own eyes would be.
“It is meant to describe how fast the motor will go. No real horses are inside.”
She nodded once as she narrowed her eyes and tried to reason his explanation with the visions she had.
“I’m not leaving here. No matter how much power you have from the last kill, this is a different world. Time has passed. Enemies are inappreciable. There is no telling who Reveca has asked to come to her aid once Dust took control of the Sons.”
Toril strolled forward and reached her vim out to him caressing him like the lover he was. She grinned when she sensed his desire reaching out for her. “The power I gained, we all gained. Even before the battle, you were holding back, were you not?”
He didn’t bother to answer. He doubted he was truly holding back anymore. In the beginning, he did hold back how fast he moved and stopped manifesting where he wanted to be within a thought. He knew Reveca had her share of spies watching him looking for proof to take to the others that he was different, that he was the devil she accused him of being. When a strength is left unused, it leaves you.
“You can be there and here, gone for only moments if that is what you wish. No one will question your power now. If anything, it will give them more reason to respect you.”
