by Lila Felix
I’d become a name-dropper.
He hadn’t noticed that I knew exactly where to go while we were running—he didn’t have the space to—the Fray called to him and nothing else mattered.
The thing was—that was part of why I loved him—his devotion to our people.
I’d once thought it was his blind devotion to me that kept me head over heels, but the opposite was true. His love for me was unwavering, which was why my ego had been mostly shut down after our sealing was complete. There was no need for ego in a coupling like ours—no need at all.
We’d probably walked for hours before spotting a grouping of tents. I could feel the warmth of my people like a lone star in the darkness.
I nodded in the direction of the tents. The smell of food and the glow from a light beckoned me. “There. Finally.”
Theo stepped in front of me. “Let me go check it out. What if it’s not safe?”
I kissed the back of his neck. “Then we’ll protect each other.”
A man with the longest beard I’d ever seen emerged from the tent before we reached the door, startling me. When I got a hold of my heartbeat, I smiled. I was glad he came out because it wasn’t possible to knock on the door of a tent. If he hadn’t come out, I would’ve resorted to whistling.
That wasn’t the wisest thing, probably.
The Almighty knew that manners weren’t really my strong suit.
“Welcome to our humble home. We’ve been waiting for you.” The man, more belly than brawn, opened his arms wide and motioned into the tent. He wore a long, robe-like outfit with bright, rich colors. His smile was genuine and inviting.
“You’ve been waiting for us?” Theo questioned. He took nothing at face value, but with what had happened to us lately, I didn’t blame him one bit.
The tent flap opened, revealing a woman twice as beautiful as any female I’d ever seen. Her black hair blew in the desert wind. She looked like she was made of olive oil and cardamom. I could hear laughter and conversation coming from inside.
The man pointed to the woman and pulled her under his arm. “This is my daughter, Malynn. She is clairvoyant. She’s seen the Eidolon’s coming for years. But some things are better kept to one’s self—but I’m sure you two know that. Please, come inside and make yourselves at home. We are honored to have you.”
If that wasn’t a welcome, I didn’t know what was.
And no, I had no idea what the hell he was talking about.
When I walked into the tent, I realized it wasn’t a tent at all—more like a portable mansion of magic and luxury.
In other words—it was my kind of place.
“My son, Kareem.” He flicked his wrist to a male version of Malynn. “He manifests mirages, which is convenient in the desert. Our tents are hidden from everyone who might seek us for harm. To anyone else, our tent would appear as a group of palm trees. But to you or other Lucent, it appears as what it is, a haven.”
Not even five minutes in and these people were showing off. I was a little relieved not to be the only one in the room with superpowers.
But I still didn’t really know who they were or how they knew who we were.
Theo cleared his throat. “Who are you? What is your name, sir?”
The Eidolon still said ‘sir’ to people. He would never change.
“Omar. My name is Omar. Eidolon, we are here to keep you safe, you and your mate. You are too young to remember us, aren’t you? We are the Clandestine.”
I knew who these people were, but I had to wrack my brain for a few minutes to recall their purpose. My fingers pressed against my temple, trying to force the neurons to do my bidding. They were only mentioned here or there like a species that had gone extinct without anyone’s knowledge.
“The keepers? No, wait, that’s close, right?” Theo was guessing too. Even with all the history I knew about our people, I didn’t know enough—I might not ever know enough.
“We are not keepers of anything, Eidolon. We are protectors and servants of the Eidolon and his family—but we can only protect if the Eidolon seeks us. I believe that’s why you are here. It is not an accident that you were guided here. There is a purpose to all of us being together. Now enough business. Let’s eat, drink, and celebrate. Long have we waited to perform our duty once more.”
I was leaning more and more on Theo’s gift of discernment when it came to people. He’d never trusted Sanctum like I had. I’d never trusted Collin in the beginning, and he turned out to be my most-valued companion.
I overthought everything.
Even this.
But when Theo smiled at Omar and accepted the invitation, I knew it was okay.
“Come on, mate. We are safe here.” Theo grabbed my hand and pulled me down to sit on a spread of lavish carpets beside a low table filled with food I had never before eaten, but that looked delicious.
“Please, Eidolon, Queen, eat. There is no place safer than with us.”
Um, did that dude just call me queen?
More lanterns and candles were lit. After they were, the real breadth of the tent was revealed. It was at least twenty times bigger than it appeared from the outside, and there were more people in it than I could count. Families and children talked and played together.
“You’re all Clandestine?” I stuttered, still in awe.
“Yes. All of us. Truly, there is nothing to fear here.” Omar’s smile reassured me, but only a little.
I wasn’t scared, yet I was still skeptical. Again, I looked to Theo.
“It’s okay, Querida. You found this place. Let yourself rest.”
I didn’t know if it was the soothing tone my love was speaking to me in or the fact that the tent was so warm and inviting, but my lips never touched food or drink that night. And I didn’t get to say all the things I wanted to. There were no questions asked.
I slumped against Theo’s shoulder and passed out cold.
Colby would be the last to admit how tired she was, but everyone around us knew. The words were hardly out of my mouth before she was asleep.
Omar stood. “Come, we have a place to sleep ready for you.”
The surprise must’ve showed on my face.
He smiled at me. It reminded me of my father’s. “We have waited a long time, but we never lost hope.”
I was glad they hadn’t. I’d lost hope a long time ago.
“Show me the way.” I gathered her up and followed Omar to a bedroom of sorts near the front of the tent. Royal blue, magenta, and gold fabric decorated the ceiling of the room and flowed down to the floor, which held a bed more comfortable looking than the one I had in my childhood home. The soft glow of candles filled the space and the lullaby scent of lavender wafted from incense on the small table, the only furniture in the room.
“Leave her to rest. We have much to talk about. My daughter has many questions.”
As we left, a woman, about the same age as Malynn took station outside Colby’s room. She reminded me of a Secret Service agent, except prettier and less—stiff. After following Omar back and talking to his daughter, I found that he was correct and Malynn wasn’t shy about anything she wanted to know. She asked questions, pointed ones, but some of them were vague. While I trusted them on the surface, I was still apprehensive. After all, I’d made many mistakes before about who could and could not be trusted. I tested her first, of course, though my instincts said that these people were legit.
“I saw the demon. It woke me from a sleep like the mummies.” Her English wasn’t all that good.
I tried not to laugh. “Like the dead. It woke you from a sleep like the dead. What demon?” I knew exactly which demon she referred to, but, again, I wasn’t giving too much away too soon.
She drew her hands up over her head and bent her fingers into deadly claws. “Like this and his foul breath made you…” She showed me shivering. It was like playing the Lucent version of charades.
“It made me shudder, yes. Someone brought him to where he belongs.”
She flexed her fingers, almost reaching into space for more information. “The brother—the brother brought him to hell. He was rewarded.” Her voice grew coarse like some of the desert sand had gotten trapped in her throat.
It struck my core the way she still called him my brother. In my heart, he was no family of mine. Everyone still called him my brother—even Colby. Collin and Ari were closer to being my family than that bastard would ever be again. But I played along. “Who was rewarded?”
“Sanctum.” She whispered the word, but it was for naught. The rest of our company gasped at the calling of such evil. One woman covered her daughter’s ears as if Malynn had uttered a curse word. “He was given the right to have a child—a privilege once taken from him in return for his gifts. That was his reward.”
I reached up in frustration and fisted the roots of my hair. Just when I thought I’d figured something out, it all came unwound.
Who would ever give my brother the gift of having offspring?
A little Damion Lucent running around was all the world needed.
Malynn turned and had a heated conversation. They were speaking so fast that even if I spoke the language, I probably would’ve been lost. Strained tones and harsh syllables met each other in a small battle.
“What is it?” I asked, wanting in on whatever was wrong.
Malynn wrung her hands. “Did I say something wrong? He is your brother, correct? I don’t understand.” She turned around and more strong, pointy words and aggressive voices were thrown around.
I held up my palm as if for them to stop arguing. “It’s not you. You didn’t say anything wrong. I know none of this. Everything you’re saying is news to me. I mean, I know he is—was—my brother, but other than that, I am in the dark.”
Malynn took a long sip of her tea while the rest of the group went back to their previous conversation as if nothing had happened. “I didn’t know. We assumed you knew such things. It’s fine. Should we start at the beginning then?”
And start at the beginning, we did—at the beginning of time. I had only thought Colby knew her history. This woman spoke as if she were there from the beginning, like Eve was her bestie.
“Your brother wasn’t born into his role. Don’t let him joke you into believing that.” The word was trick, but I didn’t have the energy to start correcting her. “At some point, he summoned the evil one, the devil, Satan, the adversary, the name doesn’t matter. Your brother asked for his place. He asked to be the one to destroy the Eidolon. I don’t know if this was before or after he knew it was you. You’ll have to ask him that yourself. In exchange for his place, he gave up his soul. It is on lean? Is that how you say it? Lean?”
“Lease? My brother’s soul is on lease?” He’d treated his soul like a car trade-in.
She snapped and smiled. “Yes, so what he’s doing is paying rent of sort. He earns more time with his soul and in life by doing wrong.”
I let some of that settle along with my food, which was already threatening to upheave after less than three bites. Every time my brother did something wrong, he gained more time in this life—more time to do more horrible things.
“What about—you said something about a child.”
Malynn reached behind her neck, pulling her hair around and resting the length across her lap. It flowed around her like a thick, black snake. “You had the power to kill that demon in the Fray, but instead, you brought Sanctum there and he transported the demon to hell. It was like returning a soldier to the enemy’s army. He was rewarded with something he was missing—he chose to regain the power to have a child. That was taken from him when he took the job as your villain. I believe he took many demons back to their maker. A child was his reward for the first one, but that is the only reward he will ever get, no matter how many he brings back.”
She meant nemesis, but I nodded anyway.
“What else? What else did he give to be so evil? Why would he choose it?”
She poured herself another cup of tea and sprinkled in some kind of star-shaped spice that smelled like licorice when heated.
“If he knew who or what you were—then it was personal. If not, I don’t know what his motives were. And he gave everything to have the powers he does. His life, his soul, but mostly, he gave up love. He is unable to love or receive love. At least, that’s the way we understand it.”
So either my brother hated me all the way back to when I still thought he carved the craters in the moon, or else, he was already evil and sought to enhance it.
No matter which way I looked at it, none of it made sense.
Torrent was raised the same as me. There was no favoritism or golden child in our family. We had the same opportunities and parents. I couldn’t even begin to imagine a reason why he would choose the path he did.
I breathed out an emotion-filled sigh. Giving me this information was like adding another layer of books to a pile that I would never have time to read. “At least we know he doesn’t have a child. Maybe we can stop him before he procreates.”
The only sound I heard in response was the wind and the gentle flapping of the tent’s edges. Malynn looked down into her teacup.
“What? He’s been with me the whole time. Well, not the whole time.” He would have had to cultivate a relationship with someone to have a child with them. At least, that was the way it should’ve been. If someone was going to have the child of the nastiest being I knew, then at least they could be friends first.
Omar chuckled from the back, showing me a small measure with his forefinger and thumb. “It only takes a little bit of time.” The men huddled around him laughed at the dig.
“There’s a child?” I whispered the question into the night.
Malynn looked behind me, over my shoulder. “Colby, please join us. We have no secrets here.”
I turned around as Colby came out of the shadows. If possible, she looked worse for the wear. Her hair had been brushed and wrapped into a braid. “You know what’s strange?” my mate mumbled. “Without all the noise—this place is so quiet. Is it weird that I couldn’t sleep without all the noise around us?”
“It’s the same when we go to the city for small periods of time. I can’t stand the noise,” Malynn answered, motioning for Colby to sit down. She made Colby a similar cup of tea to hers and pushed it in her direction. “This will make you feel better.”
If anything, it looked like the sight of the brewing liquid was making her worse by the second. “Thank you.”
I waited a moment for the answer to my question. It wasn’t that hard. If my brother—Sanctum—was going to be a father, then ending him, the plan in my mind, was no longer an option. And I hated to admit it, but Colby’s earlier mention of fixing him, well, we might have to explore that.
Even though I hated him, I wouldn’t take a father away from their child—no matter how vile.
I hated being such a softie.
In my mind, I wanted to kill them all, the Synod, my brother, all of them who stood against us. But it just wasn’t in me to carry out a massacre when I wasn’t even armed for such a fight.
Colby took a few sips and her eyebrow popped up, a sure sign that she liked it. “So, you were saying something about Sanctum and a child? Who would—I mean, who would agree to have his child? Ewww.”
Her eww was met with laughter. “I can’t see her face for some reason. She is clouded. I believe he has some kind of protection around her for this very purpose. He must know about us—or is concerned that someone would seek to end her if they knew. The babe grows in her stomach, only weeks old, maybe a few months. But there’s another issue.”
Of course there was. There was always another issue with these people—with our people—all of it.
“What’s the issue?” My voice was laced with frustration and rightfully so.
“He thinks the child is his, which is why he protects the mother.” She looked saddened, and a tear welled in one of her eyes. I couldn’t imagine what would make Mal
ynn have any kind of sympathy for my brother. He was the enemy. “When one makes the contract to become Sanctum—nothing belongs to them anymore. He was allowed to have a child, but it belongs to Sanctum’s master. When you work for the devil, even your thoughts belong to him.”
“Quit your whining. We don’t have a choice. You agreed to this, remember?” The female wasn’t even through her first trimester, and her whining was making me want to slit my own throat.
I was good at slitting throats; Rebekkah knew that before she faded away.
She paced in the miniscule cabin from corner to corner like a caged tiger. She could do that until she was blue in the face, but I wasn’t letting her out of here unless I had to. I couldn’t take a chance on her leaving. He would take her—I knew he would. He thought I was stupid. I knew that granting me permission to have a child would not be without strings. Everything had strings with His Evilness.
If he found her—he’d never let me have this one piece. It was the last shred of humanity I might ever get, and it was sitting in the stomach of the most annoying female I’d ever known.
Yeah, regret was a big word in my vocabulary now. It was all I thought about—all that plagued me.
Pema’s little voice interrupted my self-degradation. “I agreed because I thought you might love me if I carried your child.”
She had the most backward thinking of them all. In the beginning, she had been desperate for anyone’s attention. And the more she clung to me, the more I thought there might be a chance that she would carry the child. Having a descendant of the previous Eidolon carrying the love child of Sanctum was my own private entertainment.
I snapped my fingers at her. She gasped and put both hands over her stomach, but I wasn’t falling for the fake drama. “Look at me, Pema. I’m not capable of flowers and chocolate. I’m capable of death, destruction, and ruining the lives of Lucents. That’s my deal. It’s not like you thought you were going to carry the baby of an archangel.”
My voice didn’t sound half as badass as I wanted it to.
