He was speechless. His expression was blank, his aura flaring in shades of amber and yellow. “They’re too powerful,” he mumbled. “It was either that or being a prisoner… at their mercy.”
“You coward,” I hissed.
Caspian drew the last symbols, the ensemble finally ready for the spell itself, just like I’d taught him. A thread of incandescent powder had been used to line the circle, surrounding every mound of herbs and crystals along the way. Once everything was ready, we’d set the powder on fire, and the transference ritual would begin.
I walked up to Ledar and cut a deep incision into his broad chest. He winced from the pain, sweat beads covering his face and neck. I pressed a small diamond inside the wound, making him cry out. “You have to stop this! I’ll tell you what you want to know, just stop it!”
“Like what?” Fiona asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You don’t have anything useful,” I said, and drew one last symbol on his chest, with his own blood, around the wound and diamond. Caspian gave a second diamond to Ramin, which he ingested. Ruffling his feathers, he looked at Ledar. I was lying, of course. Surely there was plenty of knowledge that Ledar could give us, but I didn’t want him to use it as leverage against us, in a bid to stop us from helping Ramin. No, first, he’d lose his power, and then, later down the line, he’d talk. I’d make sure he’d have no other choice.
“Father, please,” the Hermessi child pleaded. It made me sick to my stomach, knowing he was just desperate, and not at all genuine. “You can still stop this. I deserve a second chance.”
“I’m sorry, Ledar. You don’t,” Ramin replied.
“But I know things! I can help you!”
“It won’t be necessary. I’ll be taking your memories with the Hermessi thread inside you, as well. I’ll know everything you know,” Ramin said.
Out of options, Ledar tried to fight his way out, but Zane held him down, mercilessly. With one swift move, he dislocated Ledar’s left shoulder. We all heard the bone pop, followed by a pained yelp.
“I don’t… I don’t deserve this,” he cried, tears now streaming down his tanned cheeks.
I pointed an angry finger at him. “No, you deserve much worse. Be thankful you’re walking out of this alive!”
Ramin jumped off my shoulder and settled on the ground in front of him. “It’s time,” he said to me. I nodded and used a lighter to ignite the powder lines.
“No, please! Stop this!” Ledar pleaded, sobbing like a hopeless little boy.
I had no sympathy for him. Zane, Fiona, Caspian, and I stepped back, leaving enough room for the spell to manifest. The powder lit up, the flames burning bright and green. First, the initial runes began to glow in shades of red and fuchsia, almost blinding me, as Ramin stretched his wings.
Ledar shuddered, then stilled, as if paralyzed. He couldn’t move anymore, watching it all unfold before him. The second runes, drawn in blood, shimmered yellow, and the crystals and herbs burst into blue flames. The third-stage symbols shone white, brighter than all the others.
Ramin cawed in his Ekar form, tilting his head back. His beak was wide open, and a beam of white light shot from inside—the diamond was activated. Ledar grunted, his chest wound flaring white, as well, as the diamond inside it reacted. The beam from Ramin moved as he lowered his head. It touched Ledar’s diamond, and the connection was made.
We all watched, squinting, as the light expanded around Ramin and his son. We heard Ledar’s scream. The air thickened and crackled around us, overcharged with electricity, as the spell manifested, drawing all the Hermessi power from Ledar and pulling it into Ramin.
I could no longer look. It was too bright. Closing my eyes, I waited, feeling Caspian’s arm around my shoulder. We didn’t move until we heard Ledar cry, followed by a cracking sound, like glass breaking.
Moments later, the light was gone. Ledar was still on his knees, but the casings had broken. His hands were free, but there was no elemental energy for him to use against us. The Ekar bird had vanished, replaced by Ramin’s full fire figure. Joy soared through me at the sight of him.
“It worked!” I breathed, holding on to Caspian in order to stop myself from jumping around like a maniac. “It friggin’ worked!”
Ramin looked at me, his voice now heard by all those present. “I will need some time to fully recover,” he said. “Thank you all.”
“Attaboy!” Zane exclaimed, smiling.
“Welcome back, Ramin,” Fiona replied. “It’s good to see you.”
“You… You ruined me…” Ledar managed between fractured sobs. “You… You took away the only thing that made me special.”
Ramin sighed. “A Hermessi’s power isn’t meant to make you feel special. It’s an honor and a responsibility. Something you didn’t deserve, because you were ready to use it in order to disrupt the natural balance of things.”
“On top of that, screw you,” Zane added, giving Ledar a disgusted look. “Being a daemon is also an honor. Being a daemon made you special enough. It’s no one’s fault but your own that you felt inadequate or insufficient. You didn’t deserve to be a Hermessi, and you certainly don’t deserve to be a daemon, either.”
“Maybe some time in prison will teach him a few things,” Fiona suggested. “We can’t just let him walk out, anyway.”
Ledar seemed shocked. “What?”
“You conspired to destroy Neraka,” Zane said. “By joining Brendel, you became an enemy of our kingdom. Did you think there wouldn’t be consequences, boy?”
“No, no, you can’t do this! No, please!” Ledar cried, but no one listened.
The daemon soldiers surrounded him and slapped a pair of charmed cuffs around his wrists. They hauled him up and dragged him away, his pleas for mercy echoing down the narrow alleyway. It didn’t matter if the other Hermessi heard him now. He was powerless and useless to them.
“What will you do now?” I asked Ramin. “They can’t destroy you without an heir.”
“No, but they can still try and trap me,” he replied. “I am able to move, though. I’ll keep myself in motion, to dodge them.”
Around us, Infernis seemed to come back to life. The lava lakes glowed brighter. The fire had returned to Neraka, its strength full and healthy, much to the other Hermessi’s chagrin. It gave me a sense of completion, of snarky satisfaction, knowing we’d pulled one over on them for once. It felt nice not to be on the receiving end.
“I will keep working against the ritual, Harper,” Ramin said after a pause. “And we’ll see each other again soon.”
“Be careful, please,” I whispered.
“I have the upper hand now. The most they can do is try and stop me, but I’ve learned my lesson, already. I know their limits, and mine, too. They can’t kill me anymore.”
“We’ll be here if you need us,” Caspian said. “Whatever it takes to stop this ritual, you can count on us.”
“I know,” Ramin replied.
A moment later, he vanished into thin air, leaving nothing but a thread of black smoke behind. We left the slums quickly afterward, heading back to the palace and making sure that GASP was made aware of what we’d accomplished. Ledar was fitted with another set of crystal hand covers as soon as he landed in jail—we, too, had learned our lesson from the Mount Zur incidents. Maybe Ledar wasn’t useful to the ritual Hermessi anymore, in terms of his future as a Fire Hermessi, but they could still force him to do their bidding, like they’d done with the other cult members.
I welcomed the smile that had settled on my lips. We’d saved a friend and a powerful ally. We were still in the game, determined to push through and secure a future for ourselves. I wasn’t sure we’d win, since it all depended on Taeral and his crew now, but I knew that each of us was ready to do everything in our power to fight this.
Vesta
The Calliope sanctuary was slightly different from The Shade’s. It had been expanded to accommodate all the fae that had been brought in from The Shade, and its ceiling was much taller. Tall windows covered each wall, allowing all the sunlight to come through, but filters had been applied to every glass panel, making it hospitable to vampires, as well.
Fortunately, my crystal casing was placed next to those of the Novaks. I was close enough to Ben, Grace, Caia, Vita, Lucas, and Kailyn, which served my purposes, as I was still determined to get either Rudolph or Kelara to reveal us to the living. Most of our loved ones had been dispatched on various GASP missions connected to the Hermessi cults, while my parents had been permanently placed in quarantine, no longer allowed to come visit.
It drove them nuts, of course, but they didn’t complain too much. I’d heard Arwen mention them, saying they were resigned to their quarantine condition, knowing it would help keep them safe. They didn’t even want to think about them joining me in here or me dying because of the Hermessi’s influence, for that matter, and neither did I.
The general mood in the fae sanctuary had been elevated with more of us in here, smiling and hugging and saving one or two more links from our life-chains. Seeley was gone on his mission for Death, and I occasionally thought of him, wishing him nothing but success. He was relentless. I trusted he’d help Taeral and the others pull through. Then again, I’d become more optimistic since the Reapers had allowed us fae spirits to see and touch each other.
“I see it’s still working,” Ben said, his arms crossed as he stood next to Caia and me. We were both watching a group of Calliope fae touching and giggling as some of their chain links shed their blackness, glowing amber once more.
“It’s temporary, but it’s buying us precious time,” I replied. “It’s good. It’s better than nothing.”
