Chapter 16 Stakes #2
“Continue,” Heathren says in a voice that is musical and rich, yet also rasps of all things war. “Just hold your entire memory of this issue in your conscious mind, Rikyava. Everything you’ve discovered so far about the Black Dragon and its origins—and we’ll find it.”
I nod, knowing that whatever they’re going to do to find my memories won’t be comfortable, but it’s probably the fastest way to get our allies in the Intercessoria on the same page as us.
Inhaling deeply, I find a steady place as Baldur and Mikkel take my hands, Laerke sitting close and touching my knee for support.
“I’m ready,” I say as I lift my chin.
Insinio and Heathren both nod. And then their dual magics dive into me, hitting me with two megawatt bombs of pure Archangelic firepower all at once.
I reel as I’m hit; I feel how the Archangels are trying to be gentle, but because their power is just so massive, it’s beyond them.
I feel them trying not to hurt me, however, as their massive magics seethe inside me; this is not an Intercessoria interrogation, and I’m not a prisoner being forced to give up secrets.
But there’s just so much information to get through; I feel the power duo’s magics blister all through my memories, everything we’ve learned about the Black Dragon since we started this hunt.
The parts inside the Void are the most disastrous to recall.
I draw in tight with my Bloodmates as I grip Mikkel’s and Baldur’s hands so hard my nails dig into them.
Because it’s painful, reliving all the agony we endured from that divisive energy in the Void. It’s only an echo of the real thing, however; weathering it, I am stalwart as the Intercessoria’s inquisition finally ends.
I felt how it staggered both Bjorn and Strom from far away, however. For once, I’m thankful both mostly had shields up against me and the rest of our Bloodbond right now.
Even though it’s a problem in the long run.
“Great Gods of the Source.” Insinio whistles as he and Heathren finish.
Their faces drawn, both look like they’ve been through battle as they shake their silver-dark wings out, making them ripple through the space.
I wonder if they experienced my memories like I did when they searched my thoughts.
But I have no more time to ponder it as both Archangels lock eyes squarely with me.
Both Insinio and Heathren are no bullshit as their intense silver eyes pin me now. I hold their gazes, unafraid as I shudder off the last of their invasive Archangelic magic. I’ve given them everything I know about the Black Dragon and the divisive cosmic force that drives it. Now it’s tit-for-tat.
As we learn what they know about it, and have been withholding.
“Spill. What do you and your people know about this thing?” I ask now, as I hold Heathren and Insinio’s gazes, hard.
“Rikyava. If everything you’ve shown us is true, and I have no doubt it is, then what we’re dealing with is an incredibly ancient cosmic force, and dangerous in the extreme.
” Heathren is the one to speak first, giving it to me straight as his pale white-silver eyes pin me.
“I have no doubt the top brass know what we’re facing—this rift-energy out in the stars.
The Intercessoria made a very bad move, not liaising with you right from the beginning.
They did not divulge this information to Insinio and me, however.
” Here, Heathren exchanges a dire glance with his burly partner.
“Else, we would have come to you straightaway with it.”
“I believe you.” I know Heathren doesn’t lie. It’s not that he can’t; Archangels can lie their asses off, if they have to. It’s just that he doesn’t. I hold Heathren’s gaze, unafraid but furious that the Intercessoria held out on me.
On all of us Blood Dragons, when they could have helped us so much.
“Does this ancient cosmic force have a name?” I ask now, wondering how much the Intercessoria know about it.
“Nah. Most of them don’t.” Insinio speaks up now as he holds my gaze with a tough, sad smile. “You can bet it is something ancient, though. Which makes sense that the top brass have kept ridiculously silent on this one.”
“Why don’t your superiors fill you in on critical information like this?
Aren’t you both Juds?” Mikkel asks them now, and from the way he asks it, I can tell he’s been on the receiving end of Intercessoria investigations, maybe even an interrogation or two, in the past. He’s not hostile with the Juds, but he’s cagey, as he cinches close to me and watches them with dark eyes.
Laerke’s little better, stony, as she sits on the bed, despite how Insinio helped us with her brother when he went Wraith at Chambord.
“For Archangels, Ren and I are pretty young; at only a little over a thousand years old, and half-human to boot, neither of us is party to a lot of what the elder Archangels know, especially in the Intercessoria. They think we’re rowdy, rebellious teenagers,” Insinio says, snorting a chuckle of derision, “but together, we pack a lot of firepower. So they have to give us some leeway, rather than discipline us like they truly want to.”
“I didn’t know you were half-human.” My eyebrows rise as I hear some of the duo’s story, which I’ve gotten next to nothing of in the past. I also didn’t know they’re both relatively young for quasi-immortals, at only a thousand years old.
“We don’t divulge our story to many.” Heathren is curt now, as if chit-chatting about their past is a waste of time.
And it is, when we’re up against so much.
“In any case, what we’re dealing with is most likely an ancient cosmic force; as such, it cannot be destroyed, only halted in its progression on this earth.
Such things are not even forces Archangels tamper with; your ancient Ancestors made a vast mistake to tap into such a destructive energy in the cosmos. ”
“Yeah, tell me about it,” I snort, grateful that the Jud duo are on our side, but furious about what my Ancestors brought into this world, and which Hedda and Lithava perpetuate.
“So if this ancient force cannot be destroyed, how are we supposed to fight it?” Laerke asks now as she lifts an eyebrow at the Juds.
“You don’t.” Heathren’s pale gaze pins her, then me.
And I feel a death knell echo right into my very soul.