3. Syneca
Syneca
Below, nothing is given and everything is owed. Speak as if every word you spend has a hand out, because it does.
Lore settled onto the arm of Silas’s empty chair and Dez had returned to his game. Her posture was deceptively relaxed, but I caught the way her eyes held mine, searching for something. “The Underworld operates on currency. And not the kind you’re used to.”
“Money exists here,” Dez added, eyes locked on the mirror as if it were some kind of crystal ball, though I knew he’d been watching a sporting event in there. Somehow. “But it’s not worth much. Power, though? Favors? Bargains? Memories? Those are the real trade.”
I thought of the woman who’d saved my life. The debt I owed. “I’m starting to understand that.”
“You’re not.” Silas hadn't moved from where he stood, arms crossed, watching me like I might bolt at any second. “But you will.”
“Can't wait,” I muttered, and shoved against the bond hard enough that he flinched.
Good.
“The Underworld is ruled by four princes,” Lore continued, shooting Silas a look I couldn’t interpret. “Four brothers, for whom the realm’s own magic carved itself into four equal courts before… Before the veil was established between our world and yours.”
“The Furies built the veil,” I said. The history was fuzzy, pieced together from stories Gran had told me, the chroniclers of Fuerlis had tried to piece together, and lessons Aureth had offered in fragments. “They locked the demons away after—”
“—after the fourth demon prince murdered the fourth Fury sister,” Silas finished. “And the remaining Furies fled to your world, taking power that didn’t fully belong to them.”
Dez leaned back, stretching his arms overhead. “Point is, when the Furies built that veil, they didn’t just separate the realms. They stole power from the princes to do it. Raw magic that belonged to the Underworld, woven into the barrier to make it strong enough to hold.”
Lore spoke gently, her accent growing thicker. “And you carry that stolen magic in your blood.”
The words settled over me like ash. “The Phoenix.”
“The Phoenix,” Silas confirmed. “The first, born from Fury fire. Built from their rage and grief. Carrying magic that was taken from the four princes and never returned.”
I held his gaze. “So what? The princes want it back?”
“They want you.” He said it like it was simple. Like my entire existence wasn’t about to become a bargaining chip in a game I didn’t understand. “The second you pulsed in this realm with significant power, the second your magic burned bright enough, every demon with power in this realm felt it.”
“They know you’re in Kiamond.” Lore said quietly.
Dez gestured vaguely at the walls around us. “The individual demon courts each have secret, warded entrances. You’d have to be a member of that court to enter. But this is neutral territory. The central playground, so to speak. Where demons come to hunt and bargain and—”
“Fuck and fight,” Lore finished.
Silas’s jaw tightened, brows pulling together.
I had no business feeling drawn to that look, but something in my chest settled anyway, because it was the most familiar thing I’d experienced since coming.
As if his nature felt a little like home, even if it was only a vague scowl of a man at his friends and not that careful, quiet disdain of a griffin.
“Oh, and the food here is pretty good.”
Lore threw a small pillow at Dez without looking up. He caught it without looking either, and I wondered how long they’d known each other.
Despite everything, my mouth almost curved. Almost. He reminded me a little bit of Calder at that moment. The thought of him made me homesick.
“The important part of this, Syneca, is that the princes will come. Which is why I’ve cut you off.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Your ability to pull from my power.” His eyes met mine. “I’ve buried it further than you can reach.”
Heat flared in my chest. Not panic. Anger. “You can’t just—”
“I can. And I did.” He took a step closer, and though it was only a step, suddenly he filled the entire room, taking all the air.
“You’re in the Underworld now. Every time you pull from me, every time that connection flares, it broadcasts exactly where and what you are to everyone with enough power to notice. ”
“I don’t need your power.” The words came out harder than I intended. “I have plenty of my own.”
His expression shifted with a cocked brow and lowered chin, condescension sliding back into place. “You don’t know what you have. You’ve been suppressing it since you were a child.”
“And whose fault is that? You slept in my bed. For years. You watched me get dressed, watched me cry, watched me do every private thing a person does when they think the only thing in the room with them is an animal.” My voice climbed and I couldn’t stop it.
“You know all of it. Every humiliating piece of me. And I don’t know shit about you.
Not where you’re from, not what you are, not even your real name. Not one true thing. Not one.”
The room had gone very quiet. Even Dez had stopped pretending to watch his game.
Silas studied me for a long moment. Something almost like amusement moved through the bond.
“All right. One true thing. I hate the color yellow.” His eyes dropped to the soft canary sleeves draping past my wrists, the pajamas he’d likely put me in.
“Always have. And most people call me Silas. You had that one right.”
It took me a breath too long to understand what he’d done. I’d torn myself open in front of him and he’d handed me back the most worthless truth he owned.
“I stand corrected. I did always know one fact about you. You’re an asshole. Anything else? Favorite soup? Strong opinion about curtains?”
He didn’t rise to it. Of course he didn’t. He just held my eyes and let my own breathing fill the silence until the anger he’d conjured had nowhere left to go.
I’d spent my entire life hiding the fire.
Pushing it down. And once we were bound, I used him to pretend I was just a water witch because anything else would get me killed.
And now I was supposed to what? Trust his shitty facts?
Suddenly be a master of magic I’d refused to acknowledge?
The spells were the same, mostly, but the source and affinity were completely opposite.
Fog from water made no difference if I couldn’t manipulate water.
And he damn well knew that’s how I hid. Still…
I was the spark meant to burn an entire world.
“The fire—” I started.
“Will get you noticed,” Lore interrupted gently, smoothing her hand over a pillow beside her. “Or worse.”
“Worse than being noticed?”
“Being stolen.” Dez’s levity had vanished.
“If one of the princes decides you’re valuable enough, they won’t ask permission.
They’ll just take. They can’t hide you in their court unless you’ve broken a bargain, but they can hide you behind their forces until they trick you into something you never saw coming. ”
“But how did we get here? Why don’t we just go back?”
“Aureth,” Lore said quietly.
I looked to Silas the second he sighed. “Because she was a Fury sister, her death momentarily weakened the veil. I could feel it and I used the moment to get us out of that city.”
“And we can’t go back?”
They shared a look.
“Not yet,” Silas answered. “I’m working on it. I promise.”
My stomach turned as I took in the beautiful demon staring down at me. “So what am I supposed to do? Hide forever?”
He spun a dark ring on his finger, tilting his head.
“You have plenty of experience with that. Now, do as you're told and keep your head down. Don’t draw attention. Don’t use your power unless you absolutely have to, and one of us is with you.
Dez and I can keep you shielded well enough until you can manage it on your own. ”
“I’m not sure how I’m going to do that, and rescue some mysterious person for that other mysterious person,” I shot back. “But sure. No problem. I’ll just do as I’m fucking told. You know how well I like to comply with authority.”
The sarcasm hung in the air for a beat before something flew through the open window.
Not something. Someone.
Wings, iridescent blue and frantic, beat so hard they blurred. A voice I’d worried I’d never hear again screamed my name with enough desperation to crack my chest open.
“Syn! Syneca!”
Pip.
She flew straight at me, not slowing, not stopping, just slamming into my chest with enough force that I had to catch her before we both went backward in the chair.
Her tiny hands grabbed my cheeks, her whole body shaking.
“You’re alive. You’re alive, you’re alive, oh Furies, I thought, I thought you were—”
My heart cracked open a little. I hadn't realized how much I needed to hear my name in a voice that loved me. “I’m here.” My throat tightened as everything else softened. “Pip, I’m here.”
She pulled back just enough to look at me, her giant eyes swimming with tears.
“You were dying. Silas was carrying you and there was so much blood and…” Her voice broke.
“Silas came and got me after you and Aureth left. He said we had to go and I didn’t understand, but then we were here and you were still dying and… ”
I looked at him across the room before I could stop myself. He’d gone back to the window, the muscles in his back showing beneath the dark fabric. Silas was deliberately looking away from this reunion. Like he hadn’t been the one to make it possible.
“Did you know he was a…” Pip leaned in close to whisper. “...demon?”
“No.”
She leaned closer still. “Did you know he was pretty?”
Dez snorted.
“Wait.” I looked over at Silas, whose expression had gone carefully blank. “How long have we been here?”