I took it as a sign of trust from our fascinating hosts. Then again, Valaine was with us. They probably relied on her to keep us in check, if needed.

“You have all been so kind and welcoming,” Sofia said, smiling. “It’s truly a lot more than we expected.”

Valaine mirrored her expression. “The Aeternae are good people, Sofia. Our methods and the foundation upon which we’ve built this empire might not be what you’re used to, but we make it work.”

“That you most certainly do,” I replied. “But tell us, because we have yet to fully wrap our heads around the concept… How are the Rimians and the Naloreans so willing to give you their blood? Even if they do get paid for it. I don’t know, I find it strange. Blood is such an important part of one’s existence. Without it, we are dead. Without enough of it, we are weak. How do they counteract the side effects of giving so much blood to feed four million Aeternae?”

Valaine thought about it for a moment. “I take it that on Earth, in your world, you just make do with animal blood and maybe whatever the humans donate to you?”

We all nodded. It made her laugh lightly.

“I don’t understand what’s funny about this. We’ve learned to control ourselves,” Esme said, drawing invisible circles around the base of her empty glass on the table.

“We’ve learned to take just enough, and to make it worth their while,” Valaine said. “Like I’ve said, we pay handsomely for the blood we’re given. It wasn’t like this before, though, if that’s what you’re wondering. Today, we offer gold and land, titles and favors in return for our sustenance. We leave the animals be, in the wild and in the Rimian and Nalorean homesteads, where they belong.”

“What was it like before?” Derek asked.

Valaine’s gaze darkened. She didn’t like to talk about it, but she didn’t shy away. I appreciated her honesty. “When we first figured out a way to invade Rimia, then Nalore, we took everything. We did not pay for it. Limestone, marble, wood, spices, silks, blood… everything we wanted, it was ours. But it made the people miserable. Less compliant. It drove many Rimians and Naloreans into rebel sects. There was violence. Anger. It just wasn’t an efficient model. So, the Lord and Lady Supreme at the time decided to draw up a trade deal with the Rimians and the Naloreans. We promised not to drink them dry and to reward them for their blood. It worked. Not overnight, of course. It took a few centuries for the new world order to set in. But when it did, we were all at peace.”

What I found most interesting about Valaine was that her words said one thing, while her eyes had ideas of their own, rather different from what she was telling us. She spoke of peace and balance, but there was fear and wariness in that black gaze of hers. Her red lips tightened into a faint smile as she looked at me. Suddenly, I had all her attention, and my heart went on a race against infinity itself.

“There was oppression at first. But after it became convenient, and many Rimians and Naloreans got rich from our trade deal, it was no longer oppression,” Valaine added. “It was a convenient occupation. After a while, the last of the rebel factions broke apart, as some of their leaders found the benefits of establishing blood farms, as opposed to attacking Aeternae magistrates at every corner.”

“Blood farms?” Amal replied. I knew she was memorizing everything, learning, recording with her mind, processing all this information to build a bigger picture, to fully understand this world. Unlike the rest of us, Amal and Amane—along with the Faulties and the Perfects—had a more reduced moral compass. Like she’d said it herself, she lacked a mother’s nurturing. What we saw as terrible or unconscionable, Amal could easily interpret as reasonable or necessary. Sometimes, such a mindset was better.

“Rimians and Naloreans living in special compounds on their planets. They get married and have children there. When they come of age, the children join their parents,” Valaine explained. “Every day, they give small amounts of their blood, so as not to make them too sick or weak. They live up to eighty or even ninety years on these farms. Occasionally, they’re allowed to take breaks, to visit other places. But the contracts they sign are for life. Unless blood-giving threatens their health, they cannot abandon their role in our society.”

“You force them to live on farms so you can take their blood?” Esme gasped.

Valaine scowled at her. “They’re compensated for every drop that they give. They’re given freedoms, but they must respect their contracts, as they’re our main source of blood. Others are paid nicely for the blood they sell at various points across the empire, but the farms are key to our subsistence. They never lack food or water or good conditions. What exactly are you trying to imply, Esme?”

“I don’t think she’s trying to imply anything,” I said. “It’s just… Like I said, it’s hard to grasp.”

“Well, grasp it,” Valaine retorted. “It’s our way of life, and we do not take kindly to strangers imposing their views on us.”

A sense of urgency came over me as she shot up from her chair. “Valaine, I apologize. We don’t want to upset you or the Aeternae in any way. We’re simply not used to any of this.”

She stilled for a moment, the intensity of her black eyes powerful enough to cut off my air supply. “There is no need to apologize, Tristan,” she said. I liked the way my name sounded rolling off her tongue like a midnight whisper. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must attend to something. Please enjoy yourselves here, and we shall see you in the dining hall in an hour.”

I caught her hand in mine without even realizing it, and we both froze for a split second, as she looked down to observe this strange physical contact.

“Please, don’t take offense,” I said.

“None taken,” she replied, her skin cold to the touch. It felt odd, for some reason, though it should’ve come across as natural, given her pale, almost vampiric complexion. I would’ve expected her to burn like the sun… like I was burning on the inside as I held her. “I look forward to seeing you all later.”

She descended from the gazebo and walked up the main pathway into the palace, hedges and flowers rising on both sides. I stood there, watching her, still wondering how the universe had made our paths cross in such a peculiar fashion. I needed to know more about her. To truly understand her. Valaine was holding back a lot, and I couldn’t control this ardent desire to find out everything. Everything that made her who she was.

“Relax, Tristan,” Esme grumbled. “She understands.”

“Yeah. I just… I don’t know, I don’t like thinking we might have made her angry,” I said.

“Valaine strikes me as the more reasonable among her peers,” Derek chimed in, offering a comforting smile. “I think we just need to be more careful with our questions and our assertions regarding their practices. They’re clearly protective of their way of life and don’t like it when complete strangers doubt them.”

“With that in mind, Tristan and I want to do some exploring of our own, one of these nights,” Esme said, her voice low as she cautiously glanced around, making sure none of the servants lingering nearby heard us.

Derek’s eyebrows arched upward. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you know… Some invisibility paste, a red garnet lens, a little bit of moving around without anyone seeing or hearing us,” Esme mumbled, much like a child caught doing something terribly naughty and having to explain herself. “It’s one thing to take everything they tell us or show us at face value, and a whole other thing if we verify some of this information ourselves.”

Derek didn’t seem happy with our proposal. “You know we can’t not do this,” I whispered. “You know they’re not telling us many things. We don’t mean to interfere in their affairs, but we have to know everything. We can’t get blindsided here.”

“I just don’t want a Neraka repeat.” He sighed. “We ended up toppling an empire there.”

“But we saved millions of innocent people,” Sofia reminded him. “We had no other choice, especially given their shady methods. I don’t think that’s the intent here, though.”

“We just want to be flies on the wall for a little bit, that’s all,” Esme added.

Derek nodded slowly. “Not tonight, though. It’s all too fresh. They don’t trust us enough yet. Give it another day or two, okay?”

“And whatever you do, don’t get caught,” Amal warned us. “Something tells me they don’t take kindly to spies.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful to have Derek and Sofia’s approval. But Amal was right, too. Under no circumstances could we allow ourselves to be detected. Fortunately, this wasn’t going to be the first time that Esme and I had to move around unnoticed. We’d had our fair share of practice while navigating the hidden tribes of Central Africa. Invisibility paste had come in handy back then, as well.

“You know what? I think I’ll be doing some independent exploring of my own, too,” Nethissis said, twisting a lock of copper-red hair around her index finger. “Not sure if you all remember, but I can still make good use of my snake form.”

“You can move around easily,” Sofia said, smiling.

“Exactly.”

“I need you all to be extremely careful,” Derek replied. “Go and check everything out, if you must. I trust your instincts on this. But don’t get yourselves caught or worse. I would never forgive myself.”

“We’ll be okay,” I said, trying to reassure him. I found his fatherly concern endearing, and it was hard not to smile as I spoke. “We’re pretty good at what we do, Derek. I believe it’s part of the reason why you brought us along.”

He gave me a faint smile. Oh, he was definitely worried, and there was nothing I could do about that. But he was also aware of how important it was for us to question everything that the Aeternae told us; he knew why we had to verify, to see certain things for ourselves. I added checking out one of those blood farms to my to-do list. Maybe we’d get a chance to visit Rimia or Nalore, so I could witness exactly how it all worked.

Until then, however, Derek was right. We had to play nice with our hosts. And I didn’t mind that one bit. It would give me an excuse to learn more about Valaine.

Kelara

Just like Death had said, the other First Tenners came back as the full moon settled in the night sky. The Soul Crusher, the Widow Maker, the Phantom, and the Time Master joined us on the frozen lake, far from the Aledrasian civilization. We could see one of their cities rising in the distance, with needle-like towers and wide arches, built above the deep green woods. Fortunately, their experience with the Hermessi ritual had not left wounds that wouldn’t heal. They didn’t really understand what had happened. It was bound to become a legend sometime in the future, lost in the pages of their mythology.

Dream and Nightmare were the happiest to see the band reunited.

“You lucky bastards,” Nightmare said, hugging his siblings one at a time. “You get to go out there and look for the others. How has the world been recently? I miss it…”

“Ugh, you’re such a drama queen,” I said. “You’ve only been here for half a year. Not an eternity.”

“Shut your piehole, sister,” Nightmare replied. “We need variety, otherwise we go stir-crazy. So allow me to fawn over the traveling adventures of my brothers and sister before I take another stab at seal number 998.”