Chapter 30 #2
“Yes, for that is what the creature does. It is drawn to the darkness in a person’s heart, and when it finds someone who has succumbed to the shadows, someone who has given in to despair, then it grows in power alongside that person.”
Zara was watching me closely, but I couldn’t spare her a glance.
I had suspected from the moment I first saw the creature that it was the one from legend, but hearing Caelen call it this made it real.
Real enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
Zara and I shared a look. I knew she thought of the conversation we had just had about Altair murdering his father. “It goes by Ozul to the emperor.”
“It goes by many names,” Caelen said, “but none know its true name.”
“But even as far as Mistral you know it by the Devourer?” Zara asked, her face pale and worried. “Has the creature ventured so far abroad?”
Caelen was quiet before saying, “Our king knows many things about this land, and the Devourer is one of many he is versed in.”
“Then he should know that freeing ourselves of the creature now is nearly impossible,” I said.
Caelen shrugged as though it wasn’t his problem. “Rest assured the king meant every word of his letter.”
“Your king seems to know a lot about the Devourer,” Zara said. “Do you have the same knowledge?”
“I am well versed in everything having to do with that creature, yes, in order to know what signs to look for.”
“All right,” Zara said in more patient a tone than I could have managed, “then why don’t you tell us what we can do to weaken it?”
“I would take away its food source, for one thing,” Caelen said, a hint of a scoff to his tone, lighting a spark of irritation through me like a match.
“It’s a little late for that—many have already been sacrificed to this creature,” I said with an edge to my voice. “How does the sorcerer devour souls?”
“It feeds off the energy from a soul, but in its current form, that’s barely enough to sustain it. Make no mistake, though, it’s building its power. Eventually it will have enough energy to build an army of walking corpses. It is the Devourer. Of souls. Of armies. Of whole civilizations.”
“How can we stop it?” Talon asked.
“The creature was at its weakest when your future emperor first sought him out,” Caelen said.
“Now is your last chance. If it should gain the soul of someone more powerful than a servant—like the First Daughter,” he said with a glance my way, “then your chances of defeating it shrink to nil. The emperor, too, has made sure it has a steady diet of souls by sending servants down to the dungeon regularly.”
Zara and I exchanged a grim look. After Raven’s attack, we didn’t need Caelen’s confirmation—we already knew it was true. “Those orders may not have come from the emperor himself,” I said, though the words felt thinner each time I repeated them. “Lord Heron is involved in this, too.”
“Regardless of who’s giving the orders, many servants have been sacrificed already,” Caelen said grimly.
“Those poor people,” Zara whispered. Her voice trembled, thick with unshed tears, and she pressed a hand to her mouth as if trying to hold in the weight of it.
“What are its weaknesses?” I asked.
“Before it amasses its army, it can be killed like a mortal man. Once it becomes powerful enough to form its army of the walking dead, it can only be destroyed after each soul it consumed is released.”
“Are you saying that however many souls it has consumed is how many times we have to deliver a killing blow?”
“Correct. When it’s at full strength.”
“This thing has extra lives?” Zara asked, her tone incredulous.
“Essentially, yes. Every day it grows stronger, and then it will take an entire army to stop it.”
We had to stop it now. It was our only chance. Zara caught my eye and nodded once, so I knew she had come to the same conclusion.
“Your king threatened the emperor with war if he didn’t break his alliance with Ozul,” Talon said, “but would he be willing to aid us in destroying the creature?” Maybe with this king’s army, Zara wouldn’t have to risk herself.
“It would take my king and his army at least a month to arrive,” Caelen said. “By then, Ozul will be far too powerful, and the battle against him will claim countless lives.”
Not to mention, we would have run out of time before the looming wedding date. I gritted my teeth in frustration, but Zara’s face looked resigned.
“Then tell your king we are seeking a solution to the problem,” Zara said.
“Yes, Future Empress,” Caelen said with a bow.
“We will leave you now,” I told him, my mind already racing to the monumental problem ahead.
Caelen hesitated. “You aren’t going to throw me in the west wing?”
“Not when you’ve done so much to help us.” I stared him down for a moment. “I expect to be informed when you hear from your king.”
“Yes, sir,” Caelen said, and he seemed relieved. Probably because I wasn’t going to sacrifice him to the Devourer like the other servants.
Zara and I walked to the door.
“I must speak with Shazeera before we do anything else,” Zara said, her expression determined. “She needs to know what we plan to do.”
“Of course,” I said. “I’ll go there with you now.”
We made our way through the quiet hallways.
Zara stayed close to me, and I could feel the warmth of her body while every breath brought the sweet scent of cinnamon.
Now, more than ever, I wished I could take her away from here.
But instead, soon I would take her to the pits of hell.
A cold weight settled in my chest, pressing down harder with every breath.
In that moment, I hated my cousin for putting us in this position. For Zara having to risk her life. And for my having to let her.