Chapter 35 #3
The reapers continued to back away. With each step, they sunk back into the ground, their heads bowed as if in deference, but Bressen and I didn’t let up until the last one had disappeared.
I reached out, and my elemental power willed the earth to slide back into the hole I’d made to dig out Morland’s bone.
When everything was once again quiet, Bressen and I both pulled back our power.
One of us probably would have been enough to call the demoni and push the reapers back, but I’d wanted to share this with him, to work together and feel our powers merge.
Ever since finding out we were a Soul of the Moon, I’d felt more and more drawn to him, and that pull had returned twofold after we’d been separated then reunited.
Being away from Bressen would’ve been painful regardless, but I wondered if it was worse because of our soul bond.
Bressen’s feet touched back down and the fire in his eyes cooled, although he left his wings out, slightly splayed at his back.
I assumed my own eyes must have gone back to normal as the smoke disappeared from around my feet.
The demoni had receded along with the smoke.
All but Blink, who still crouched on my shoulder, one hand wrapped in my hair for balance.
“Thank you,” I said softly to the creature, as much a dismissal as an expression of gratitude. The demoni took the hint, and its weight lifted from my shoulder as it departed in a swirl of smoke.
Bressen and I turned to look at Praya and Ariel, and the four of us stared at each other for several long moments.
“That’s a neat trick,” Bressen said to Ariel.
She cocked her head at us. “Likewise.”
Praya eyed me curiously. “I knew dark angelus could call demoni, but I wasn’t aware the Hand of the Nemesis could do it. I never saw Crissail do it, in any case,” she said.
I wasn’t aware the Hand of the Nemesis could do it either, Bressen said into my mind, and I started.
I gave him an apologetic look. I’m sorry, I said back. I meant to tell you I did it against Magdalene, but it slipped my mind with everything else going on. It’s why she called the retreat.
Bressen’s brows rose with a look that said we’d certainly talk more about this later, but he let it drop for now and turned back to Ariel.
“Your power is to make yourself insubstantial,” he said to her, and she nodded.
“It’s phantom power,” she said, “and it’s definitely handy in a fight.”
“Does your body do it automatically?” I asked. She was Praya’s mate, so I couldn’t syphon the power from her, but I was curious to know more.
“Not exactly,” Ariel said. “I do need to think about it, to command my body to become incorporeal, but after about four hundred and fifty years of practice, it does become somewhat automatic.”
As if all four of us had the same thought at once, our eyes dipped to the bandage on Ariel’s arm.
Her smile was wry this time. “I made the mistake of letting my mind wander to places I shouldn’t have let it wander when sharpening an incredibly powerful and lethal blade.” She glanced at Praya, and the direction her mind had wandered that day became very clear.
“Does the sword have a name?” I asked, recalling the conversation I’d had months ago with Samhail about whether his blades had names.
Ariel huffed a small laugh. “Not officially,” she said. “Unofficially I’ve been calling it Dangerous Daydream.”
I pursed my lips to hide my smile as Bressen let out a quick bark of laughter next to me.
“An aptly named sword indeed,” he said, “but we should probably leave before those reapers decide we’ve overstayed our welcome again.”
Bressen nodded to me, and I opened a portal in front of the small house where my father had lived until recently.
We’d agreed earlier that’s where Praya and Ariel could live while they were with us.
Staying in the manor itself wasn’t an option with all the servants.
We’d tell Samhail and Axenus eventually the women were here, but otherwise Praya and Ariel wanted to keep their presence on the continent a secret for as long as possible.
Aramis’s house was just outside of Tide’s End, so staying there kept them close, yet hidden enough that Magdalene hopefully wouldn’t learn they were back.
Bressen and I would return to the ship with Praya later tonight to pick up Serise and get the things we’d left on board when we portaled here. We’d left the gargoyle behind to keep an eye on the crew, while we’d sent Surgeon back here to Solandis to prepare Aramis’s house for guests.
Praya would also wipe the memories of seeing her and Ariel from the minds of the crew.
I didn’t like the idea of playing with their memories again, but we couldn’t take the chance any of them would mention what they’d seen. As far as they’d remember, they’d taken Bressen and I out with our guards for a long cruise, and we’d returned to land early by portal.
No, the captain and sailors of The Maidenhead would never know their ship had carried the infamous syphon, Praya of Gonderil, Hand of the Creator, back to the continent after four hundred years of self-exile.
Tandem Read: Go to Clash of Stone and Steel (Bk 3), Chapter 43