Chapter Six #2
“We call it an imperae collar. It’s Imbued using runes, like the ones you saw on the entrance to the Underworld, only instead of causing confusion, the collars are Imbued with the Power of docili. They make the mortal, or daemon, who wears it docile and compliant to commands.”
“Like my visanis?” Ena asked, seeming concerned by this association.
“Sort of, but it doesn’t compel them to do the command, like your Gift. It just increases their susceptibility to suggestion, and makes them more willing to do things without resistance.”
“Others have worn them before?” she asked, her brow furrowed.
“Yes, the mortals that have been taken and forced to serve here in the Underworld, they wear them. And some daemons, too, are forced to wear them as punishment. Those who do are called imperi, and they are made to serve the upper- and mid-level daemons.”
“There are different levels of daemons?” Ena asked, this idea seeming distasteful to her.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Ty answered, steeling himself to reveal one of the more shameful aspects of his home. “It’s part of the hierarchy I told you about, the one Cole insists on. Not all daemons are afforded the same privileges as Steig, Turner, and I.”
“I see,” Ena said, contemplating this.
He knew these ideas were foreign to her, and he was worried how she might react. There were many things about the Underworld that were complicated, and he didn’t want her to judge them all on the ways they’d been forced to be.
“But why did he make me wear it?” she asked. “The collar, I mean. The magic in the runes won’t work on me because I’m a witch.”
“Exactly,” Ty said, raising an eyebrow. “Cole made you wear it anyway, as a symbolic gesture. Just to illustrate your status as a witch-slave. To make sure everyone, including me, knows your place in the hierarchy.”
Ena scoffed at that and turned away from him, taking a seat in the chair. She seemed…not upset, exactly, but annoyed.
“I know this is a lot to take in,” he said sympathetically. Would it be too much?
She sighed, then looked up at him. “It is, but I’m fine, I promise. It’s just that your uncle seems like a fucking piece of work,” she said.
Ty couldn’t help but laugh. That was one relatively mild way of putting it. He would go with “manipulative piece of shit,” but that was just him.
“Believe me, I know,” he said. “That’s part of why I want to break the bond. To break his hold on this place. If daemons had more of a choice…they might not all follow him.”
Ena nodded. “I get it,” she said. “I’m okay, really.”
Ty’s chest swelled with pride to see how well she was taking everything in stride, and part of him relaxed slightly.
“You’re doing so well with all of this, Ena,” he said gently.
“I’m impressed. But let me know if that changes, okay?
I don’t ever want you to feel scared. You know I’ll protect you, right? ”
“Yes, Ty, I know,” she said, giving him a small, sweet smile. “I trust you.”
Something about the way she said those words made him feel so…powerful. It was absolutely intoxicating.
“But you know…it is strange,” she continued, staring up at the low cave ceiling.
“What is?” he asked, following her gaze.
“Being underground,” she said. “At first, it felt off-putting. I’m so used to the sky, and the trees, and all the signs of the animals and plants.
But here, my Knowing is so…quiet. I can’t read any of the daemons, and there’s no animals, and yet…
” Her eyes turned toward the stone wall beside her, and she reached out, stroking it gently with her fingertips.
“I think I Know the stone,” she said, her voice quiet as if she were concentrating.
“What’s it feel like?” he asked gently, always fascinated by her magic and what her Knowing revealed.
“It feels…old. Older than anything I’ve felt before.
Its age is…almost unfathomable. And it’s so steady—unchanging in a way nothing else back home is,” she said, shaking her head as if trying to understand.
“And I Know it wants to remain that way, but even still…it has changed. It’s changing now, as the water rushes through it, and we walk across its floors.
This mountain is still moving. Just very, very slowly,” Ena finished, a small look of awe on her face.
Ty watched her, enraptured. How she Knew all that after only being here for such a short time was undeniably impressive.
It’d taken daemons centuries of study and experimentation to learn about stone, its histories, and how it changes.
It was one of the things he loved about his home, and he couldn’t wait to show her more of it.
But not now. Now, he had other unfortunate business to attend to.
“I should get going,” he sighed. “Cole will want that debrief, and I still need to get Myka to attend to our horses.”
Ena nodded solemnly, dragging her attention away from the stone.
“But while I’m gone, I thought you might like a bath,” he added.
Her eyes lit up at the word “bath.” “You have a bathtub in here?” she asked, looking around excitedly.
“Yes,” he said, smiling at her excitement. He loved pleasing her. “Come on.”
He led her through the archway next to his bed, hidden behind some hanging deer hides, that led into the bathing chamber, and heard her small gasp as she followed behind him.
“What in the Underworld is that?” she asked, pointing to the metal seat set above a hole in the cave floor.
“It’s a toilet, like an outhouse. It’s set above an aqueduct of the spring water I told you about, so it carries away the waste.”
Then her eyes turned to the sink and the bathtub. “And how do you get water for those?” she asked. “Does someone bring them?”
“No, those come from the pipes too.” He demonstrated, walking over to the bathtub and turning the metal knob on one side of the cave wall, opening the valve that let water flow out of the aqueduct and into the tub.
She stuck her hand in the stream of warm water as it flowed out of the cave wall. “Ty, this is amazing,” she said in awe. “Every room here has this?” she asked, disbelieving.
“No, not every room. Mostly just the upper-level daemons,” Ty said, some shame creeping into his enjoyment of her fascination.
“It’s meant to be a privilege, for those of us who fulfill Iblis’s missions with our Powers.
The mid- and lower-level daemons, who work in the forge and the mines, have communal bathhouses that they share. ”
She nodded, but Ty could tell the hierarchy felt strange to her.
Witches, and even mortals, didn’t have one that was so strict and determined by something out of one’s control.
Yes, some villages and Covens had more resources and more influence, but the differences were not so stark, and not enforced so intentionally.
Once the bath was filled, Ty turned off the knob, stopping the flow of water. “Take as long as you want,” he said to Ena, gesturing for her to get in. “You’ll be safe here, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Ena nodded as he turned to leave, but then she grabbed him, stopping him.
Standing up on the tips of her toes, she kissed him gently, in a way that set his blood boiling, before pulling back and looking up into his eyes with certainty and understanding.
“I just want you to know I’m alright with all this, Ty, really.
I know you want to change things here, and that’s why I’m here. I’m with you,” she said.
He smiled down at her, a sense of relief flooding him. He’d spent so long keeping secrets from her, it felt so good to not have to hide anymore.
Because even after everything, she was still here. Nothing had scared her away yet. And Iblis, it made him feel so…whole.
Holding her face in both hands, he gently kissed her one more time, before pulling back reluctantly to leave. “I’ll be back soon, Ena. Enjoy your bath.”