“Cad,” Emre said, appearing as if he wanted to reach out to her. “My love.”
‘No!” She flipped over the chair and raced from the room. Tears wet her face, everything she’d ever believed flailing after her, trying to remain affixed to her.
Brynn…
XXVI
Evander
THE WALL PORTAL slid open into Solanine’s chamber and Evander stepped through.
The aetheurgist sat upon a cushioned chair, legs folded underneath. Nude. Solanine watched him under thick lashes.
“Master,” he said, taking in the nudity but not shying away. The lust within him grew with every heartbeat. He glanced at the bloody runes on the aetheurgist’s belly. They were fresh, which meant Solanine had been performing spells of the void. “The girl was taken by vicars. I followed and from what I was able to gather, they are planning to leave for Kalderim.”
“She’s already come to me,” Solanine said, surprising him with a pastoral response. Snow Eyes was onboard Gargantua? “I’ve got a present for you. You have served well, my child.”
“WORRY NOT, MORTAL. THE GIRL MUST STILL CROSS THE THRESHOLD BEFORE WE CAN TAKE HER. SHE WILL NOT LEAVE THIS CITY WITHOUT MY FALLEN.”
Yes, master. As you command.
“MY DISCIPLE, THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF YOUR SERVICE.”
Solanine tilted that luscious wave of hair toward the wardrobe behind. Rising, elegant and virile. Taut body alight in the glow of the fire blazing in the brazier near the bed. Nipples hard in the slight chill. The sight titillated him, he pulsed against his breeches. Across the room the aetheurgist ghosted, delicate hand finding something along the wooden frame of the wardrobe, a false wall yawning open on silent hinges. Solanine turned toward him and waited.
Moving closer, he investigated the room beyond, and his entire body stiffened. Not in shock, but in eagerness at what he saw.
Master, you are pleased?
“I AM. TAKE THY GIFT. PATIENCE YOU MUST HAVE. TREAD THE VOID SLOWLY OR IT WILL BREAK YOU, SOUL AND ALL. THIS GIFT WON’T BE QUICKLY LEARNED. YEARS IT MAY TAKE. STEADY YOU MUST BE. THE FIRST STEP OF YOUR NEW EXISTENCE.”
But Evander was an impatient man. He wanted it now. He couldn’t wait years for it to become unleashed. Unbound from the constraints of his mortal life. His walking void.
Drenth was on the verge of becoming a volcano, ready to erupt. He could feel it in the people of the mega-city, on their tongues. From lowborn all the way up to the Guilders.
And Elian was planning to throw a wrench into the aethecite engine.
He’d seen nothing of his brother since their discussion of crossing the Fallen the nightturn prior. Little did Elian know, Evander had come straight to Solanine and told the aetheurgist everything. Elian had cast his die; it was Evander’s turn to counter.
His Divine had approved.
“The pleasure of the mortal body awaits you. Go to it,” Solanine cooed as the aetheurgist glided up, smashing warm breasts against his broad back, hand slipping into his breeches, feeling his hardness. “So eager for it to begin.”
Within the room was a table, an older man bound naked upon it. Gagged and chained. He was tall, lank of form with a blond ponytail, and a dyed green beard ending in a point. A man Evander knew well.
Domed the room was, a dry basin below, with marbled stones underfoot. Shelves lined each wall, glass containers holding every element found in the world of Life. Some even borne of the void. Varying colors, solids and liquid, all stoppered. A low layer of translucent mist danced across the basin. It was near-black, dark with envy and death. The purest of poison arisen from the Pit.
Upon the basin’s floor was a rune drawn with blood, Solanine’s blood. Freshly drawn. Blackened-red mist climbed from the voidspeak rune, filling the basin.
“The human body is a playground for aetheurgy,” Solanine said, stroking him, sending shivers throughout his body, spasms into his soul. “A toy that is a tomb, a quagmire. A place for lust and for withering sorrow and suffering. Life and Death reigns supreme, gifting the void and the heavens alike. Two sides of a coin, the seed and the fire. Like the Pentax above, and the aetheurgies of the earth. You know him?”
“Yes,” he grunted against the steady stroke. O void, he was nearing his end.
“Name him. Naming him will give claim to his soul in the void of the Meadows. And then our pleasure will begin. Name this man.”
“Ness. His name… uhhh ooohhh… is Killian Ness.” He convulsed, the end so close. Solanine sensed this, easing back so he wouldn’t yet expel his seed. His Divine laughed in his mind’s shadows.
Hand removed from his swollen manhood, Solanine moved beside Killian Ness. “Disrobe, Evander.”
Evander yanked off his shirt in a hurry, exposing the hard muscles of his chest where a few scars were raised, leaving small shadows along the lines of his body. He then dropped his breeches, his erect shaft quaking in anticipation.
Solanine’s fingers traced the contour of a scarred rune under their right breast and began to chant in a foreign dialect. Voidspeak. Blaring red light bloomed from under hand, over stomach, over womb. The source of Life within. The pendant of obsidian burned black against pale skin.
His Divine’s voice reverberated in his head. “REMEMBER THE PATH, MY FAITHFUL SERVANT. REMEMBER THE CALL OF THE VOID.”
The aetheurgist placed radiant hands upon Ness’ chest, ruby incandescence upon his flesh. The gang leader pleaded through his gag, but Solanine only ran a finger down his jawline. “Ignis burns. Aquis washes. Terris lives. Aere breathes. Four there are to birth the many. Aether remains.” The air grew cold as the warmth fled Evander’s body as he sought the calm of the void. “Fire begets, Fire taketh,” Solanine continued, hands pressed into Ness.
The restrained man jerked and thrashed as fire erupted from under fingertips, charring his skin. Solanine chanted again, louder as the fire burned a bright red orange, the skin blistering as the man passed out from the pain. His head lulled to the side; spittle spilled from the corners of his mouth. Blood ran from his ears and nose.
Solanine’s fists closed. “Water rears, Water recedes.” The fire quelled under an influx of blue wet, it washed across the man’s chest like a wave of healing. Steam rose. “Aquis. Create the gateway to the Meadows.” The fire from the brazier in the main room winked out, plunging the entire dome into darkness, the only light glowing oceanic from Solanine’s fingers. Tiny wisps of red smoke curled through the blackness from the body. “Come the void. Come Killian’s soul. Seek us, take us. Fear us, love us. Own us.”
Evander opened his mind, his soul, everything he was, all of him, his blood, his aether. Life and Death swirled within, teasing the passion of each. Lightning urge. Even with his eyes closed, Evander could see Ness shiver as death stalked him, watching them.
A phosphorescence, soft and pure, emanated from the center of Ness’ chest. The pale brilliance grew stronger, blue essence turning from ice to the deepest of royals. Solanine hesitantly reached out, cradling the light. The mist grew surly from all corners of the basin. With the mist and the light coming together now, melting as one.
“Call the void, Evander. Call Ness’ soul. Seek it, take it. Fear it, love it. Own it. Scales are All. Scales are Nothing.”
