better? Possess them all?”
Lilyth shrugged. “Ascension, possession, is there a difference? It is only a matter of who looks out from behind your eyes. That you are Ascended means one of Thoth’s feeble Watchers has been possessed. From Lord Scythe’s point of view, are you not the possessor?”
Duncan felt himself at a loss for words, her logic forcing him to reassess his perspective. Then he shook his head, refusing to let a demon’s lie open a small crack in a door that would lead him to question his own deeds. “I don’t care,” he repeated. “Where is she?”
Lilyth closed her eyes and took a breath, then said, “Lore Father, I have stayed Sovereign’s hand or his first course of action would have been to execute all the people of Edyn. Kill the dreamers and the dreams die, too. Then the world will be remade.”
“Stayed his hand? What do you mean?” he said, looking around at the room, drinking in details like a dry sponge thrown in water. Perhaps she spoke the truth, that her world was healing him. He didn’t know enough to believe her, but with his mind now strangely sharp, many questions crowded to be given voice. He thought for a moment, then ignored what he’d asked earlier and raised the most important one first. “Why does Sovereign seek to remake the world?”
Lilyth bent her head, and it seemed she was really considering how to answer. She raised her eyes then and said, “Sovereign believes the world is broken, imperfect. We are a bad dream, nothing more than a nightfright. When the sleeper wakes, the nightfright is gone.” She paused then said, “Sovereign will survive the remaking of the world but we, your people and mine, will be gone.”
Duncan blinked, his thinking still clear, and asked, “How can you stop something you claim is so powerful?”
Lilyth gestured, and Duncan’s eyes were drawn to the children running around the throne room under the watchful eyes of their parents. Wait… children? He’d seen children upon entering the palace grounds, in the marketplace, even here in the royal chamber. His mind was whirling. He’d seen children everywhere .
He stumbled back and sat down on a ledge near the sill, a hand to his head. Were these people really parents? He took another look and realized that while each watched with loving care and earnest, they did not interact as birthers would, but more like… guardians.
Then the history of Edyn hit him like a hammer and he found it hard to breathe. “You took them,” he said, the accusation coming out as a gasp. “The children who disappear from the land, taken by demons.” He looked up at her as if daring her to deny it.
She did not. Instead, she sat down next to him and took his hands in her own, “Lore Father, these children are the only reason Sovereign has not wiped out your people.”
Too much… it was too much to take. His mind rebelled against the sheer number of children he’d seen in just his short walk, a walk he now knew had been engineered for his own benefit. If she could whisk him to her castle through a Gate, why have him walk anywhere, if not to see this? She had paraded him through a city built by her actions, trying to justify her choice to kidnap, capture, or worse.
He looked at her, his pale eyes meeting her own deep blue ones, and asked, “How many?”
Lilyth looked down, then back at the archmage and said, “These children are special. Just as the Galadines, Illrys, and others like you. The blood of the first families to walk upon Edyn is special . Sovereign cannot reach them here, nor can he remake Edyn without them. He does not have the power while the Aeris live, for we draw upon the Way. He too must use the Way, he must to remake the world. As long as we exist, he cannot draw upon the power he needs, and he cannot remake the world if it means harming those who carry the blood of the first families. It is a stalemate, of sorts.”
She grabbed his hands tighter and her voice became
Lilyth shrugged. “Ascension, possession, is there a difference? It is only a matter of who looks out from behind your eyes. That you are Ascended means one of Thoth’s feeble Watchers has been possessed. From Lord Scythe’s point of view, are you not the possessor?”
Duncan felt himself at a loss for words, her logic forcing him to reassess his perspective. Then he shook his head, refusing to let a demon’s lie open a small crack in a door that would lead him to question his own deeds. “I don’t care,” he repeated. “Where is she?”
Lilyth closed her eyes and took a breath, then said, “Lore Father, I have stayed Sovereign’s hand or his first course of action would have been to execute all the people of Edyn. Kill the dreamers and the dreams die, too. Then the world will be remade.”
“Stayed his hand? What do you mean?” he said, looking around at the room, drinking in details like a dry sponge thrown in water. Perhaps she spoke the truth, that her world was healing him. He didn’t know enough to believe her, but with his mind now strangely sharp, many questions crowded to be given voice. He thought for a moment, then ignored what he’d asked earlier and raised the most important one first. “Why does Sovereign seek to remake the world?”
Lilyth bent her head, and it seemed she was really considering how to answer. She raised her eyes then and said, “Sovereign believes the world is broken, imperfect. We are a bad dream, nothing more than a nightfright. When the sleeper wakes, the nightfright is gone.” She paused then said, “Sovereign will survive the remaking of the world but we, your people and mine, will be gone.”
Duncan blinked, his thinking still clear, and asked, “How can you stop something you claim is so powerful?”
Lilyth gestured, and Duncan’s eyes were drawn to the children running around the throne room under the watchful eyes of their parents. Wait… children? He’d seen children upon entering the palace grounds, in the marketplace, even here in the royal chamber. His mind was whirling. He’d seen children everywhere .
He stumbled back and sat down on a ledge near the sill, a hand to his head. Were these people really parents? He took another look and realized that while each watched with loving care and earnest, they did not interact as birthers would, but more like… guardians.
Then the history of Edyn hit him like a hammer and he found it hard to breathe. “You took them,” he said, the accusation coming out as a gasp. “The children who disappear from the land, taken by demons.” He looked up at her as if daring her to deny it.
She did not. Instead, she sat down next to him and took his hands in her own, “Lore Father, these children are the only reason Sovereign has not wiped out your people.”
Too much… it was too much to take. His mind rebelled against the sheer number of children he’d seen in just his short walk, a walk he now knew had been engineered for his own benefit. If she could whisk him to her castle through a Gate, why have him walk anywhere, if not to see this? She had paraded him through a city built by her actions, trying to justify her choice to kidnap, capture, or worse.
He looked at her, his pale eyes meeting her own deep blue ones, and asked, “How many?”
Lilyth looked down, then back at the archmage and said, “These children are special. Just as the Galadines, Illrys, and others like you. The blood of the first families to walk upon Edyn is special . Sovereign cannot reach them here, nor can he remake Edyn without them. He does not have the power while the Aeris live, for we draw upon the Way. He too must use the Way, he must to remake the world. As long as we exist, he cannot draw upon the power he needs, and he cannot remake the world if it means harming those who carry the blood of the first families. It is a stalemate, of sorts.”
She grabbed his hands tighter and her voice became
Similar Books
