10. Syneca #2
“I can feel him. Every day. Every hour. The loneliness, it bleeds through what’s left of our connection. And it’s killing him. Slowly. Piece by piece.” She lowered her arm. “I need you to find him. Bring him back to me.”
My throat tightened. “Why me and not Silas?” I didn’t look at him. “Or Lore and Dez? They’re demons. They’re far more cunning.”
“Silas tried,” Celeste interrupted gently. “For years. But you carry fire. The moment you nearly died, you understood what it meant to lose everything and keep fighting anyway.” She took a step closer.
Silas moved with her, maintaining the distance between us.
“If you do this for me,” Celeste said, “I’ll help you however I can. Whatever you need. Anything within my power to give.”
“Say no more,” Silas’s voice cut through the moment, breaking my ability to negotiate another bargain before I could even try. “No more bargains.”
I glared into his back, hoping he could feel my irritation as I spoke. “I carry fire I can’t touch. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I can’t do this. I’m told I’m very… What was it, Silas? Oh yes, useless.”
Her eyes cut to Silas so quickly I caught his flinch. And beside her, Dez immediately spun away to hide his smirk.
Celeste’s expression softened with something that looked like genuine sympathy as she looked back at me. “You are not at all useless. You can do this, and you will. I wish I could give you a choice, Syneca. I truly do. But if you refuse...”
She gestured.
Fire erupted through my veins. Not the kind I’d been trying to call yesterday. This was agony. Pure, burning torment that made every nerve scream. The same fire that had killed me, that she’d pulled back from the brink.
“Celeste, stop.” Silas moved. Not toward me, toward her. Fast enough that Dez had to jump between them, hands raised.
“Si.”
“I said stop. Now,” he growled.
The fire cut off.
I collapsed to my knees, gasping, every muscle shaking. My vision swam, black spots dancing at the edges.
Silas was at my side before I could process that he’d moved. His hands hovered over me like he wanted to touch, to help, but couldn’t quite bring himself to close the distance.
“Breathe,” he said, and his voice had gone rough. “Syneca, breathe.”
I tried. Failed. Tried again.
“That was unnecessary,” he said, not looking away from me. The words were aimed at Celeste, but there was something in his tone I hadn’t heard yet. Fear.
“She needed to understand,” Celeste started.
“She understands.” He finally looked up at the Fury, and whatever she saw in his expression made her take a step back. “Don’t you ever do that again.”
The pain lasted maybe three seconds total, but it felt like hours. When it stopped completely, I could finally pull air into my lungs.
“I can take back what I gave just as easily as I gave it,” Celeste said quietly, though her voice was less certain now. “I don’t want to. But I will if I have to. Because Lyric is mine, and I won’t let him die alone in your world while I stand here and do nothing.”
Silas’s hand was still hovering near my shoulder. Close enough I could feel the heat from his skin. “Understood. She’ll do it.”
“Don’t speak for me,” I managed through gritted teeth.
His eyes met mine. “You don’t have a choice. You owe a life debt. And life debts in the Underworld are binding. I’ve already taught you that lesson.”
I pushed myself to my feet and he rose too. “Who are you, Silas? Why do you have a Fury sister who should be dead standing in your manor?”
When Celeste spoke, it felt as if she were confessing. “We staged my murder. Made everyone believe I died so I could hide somewhere the brothers would never find me. And you can never speak that truth aloud. Do you understand? Never. Not to anyone.”
I didn’t answer her. Instead, I turned back to Si. “How were you able to deceive everyone? Why does Ramiel cater to you?”
“You can never tell Ramiel about Celeste,” Silas said, ignoring my questions. “I trust him. But I won’t play with her life. Not when she’s the only one holding the veil in place on this side.”
The room tilted. “What?”
“If something happens to her,” he continued, voice going hard, “if Lyric dying kills her, the veil collapses. The demons will take over Fuerlis. They’ll leech the power from every single being in that realm until there’s nothing left but husks and ash.
Every sprite, every innocent witch, every man, woman and child will fall. ”
I stared at him. “And tell me, demon, why do you care whether or not your kind takes over my world?”
His eyes flickered. “Because unfortunately, I’m not a monster.”
“Could have fooled me.”
He took a step back, crossing his arms. “I did fool you.”
I’d never wanted to punch someone so much in my life. “The bargain you made with my grandmother,” I said finally, skirting the thought of more violence. “What were the details? You’re bound to protect me, that much is obvious. What price did she pay?”
“That’s not your business.”
“I’m bound to you against my will. I’d say that makes it my fucking business.”
“Nothing that happened that day was against your will. You can’t rewrite the past just because you don’t like the consequences.”