Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
-KADIAN-
The creature standing in the center of the room was similar to the Master of Trials. Lithe, tall. They moved in a way that belied the fact they were here, but not. Transparent at one moment, while solid the next.
“The Vitality Council is now in session. Chancellors.” The figure nodded their head towards the four seated in the furthermost ring.
“Sylar,” the man, who I’d named the Vitality Specter in my mind, said, “if you would be so kind.” The head of the Court of Whispers, hair shimmering with violet, snapped his fingers. Before him appeared a floating piece of parchment.
“Fayma.” The head of the Court of Shadows lifted a dagger, pricking it to one of her fingers before a droplet of blood fell into a bowl.
Shadows surged around the circular desks, weaving together like twigs in a nest. A barrier of sorts.
Each court, it seemed, took part in this ritual. The opening of the session.
“Thalius.”
My body stilled. Had I known Thalius was the head of the Court of Reflection?
Was this a recent development? Given everything that had occurred in the last few days, anything was possible.
My hands clenched the edge of the table until my knuckles turned white.
I could kill him. I could do it now. I looked around the room.
Save for the dagger laid out by Fayma, there was not a weapon in sight, the guards having remained outside.
“Are you okay?” Oz whispered.
I can’t help them if I’m imprisoned somewhere.
Keep it together. I gave Oz a curt nod before watching Thalius place his hands in a bowl of water before him before flicking the excess droplets from his fingertips.
A ripple shimmered across the room as the second barrier established itself.
Clear as the bluest water, the barrier glowed around us as if the sun were beating down upon it.
“Lastly, Qurasa,” the voice said, and I turned to the figure who was four rows behind Oz. The leader of the Eternal Court reached for the rock before him before placing it back down on the desk. The floor trembled as a dais made from sediment and rock took shape in the front of the room.
“Who’s that for?” I whispered to Oz, sweat beginning to pool at my back. The magic of the first three courts caused something to churn in my gut, a gurgling akin to a bad meal. But the last, it had been a remedy, a balm.
I looked back at Oz, who hadn’t heard me and was continuing to stare at the specter, writhing in and out of focus.
“Now, you shall begin.” The specter dissolved from its head to its feet, transforming into white fog at his shoulders and at his center, smoke.
The core of his body into a watery mist, and the last part of its legs into granules of sand.
“Well, this has been an interesting morning,” Oz said as he leaned back in his chair.
Interesting? That man just dissolved before our very eyes. None of this is normal. Brida and Lil are gone, there were two murders yesterday, and you don’t remember any of it, Oz. No, this isn’t interesting, this is insanity.
“Yeah,” is what I said.
Here sat the Vitality Council. The leaders of the four courts, or the chancellors, the eight magisters like Tura said—including Magister Illerium, who it turned out represented the Eternal Court, and not the Court of Whispers, like I previously thought—the four librarians, and Oz and myself.
It seemed the librarians for the Eternal House and House of Reflection did not need or want scribes.
Why couldn’t I have been in one of those courts?
Qurasa rose from his chair and spoke, his words carried to us on the wind, amplifying them as the quill and piece of parchment took notes in front of Sylar.
“As is customary, the Eternal Court welcomes you all in the opening of another Vitality Council. As Giaxia’s chosen court, the first court, it remains our right and privilege to open each of our quarterly sessions.”
The other three chancellors rolled their eyes at his words. Chosen court, the first court. All of it was hearsay. Of course, the Eternal Court would want to believe whatever narrative favored them. Which court wouldn’t?
“Would one of the magisters recall the previous session’s minutes? Illerium?” Qurasa said.
“Very well.” His voice was almost as reluctant as mine had been with Tura this morning as he rose from his chair.
My perception of Illerium’s court affiliation had been with his working relationship with Marsh.
But he himself did not possess any of the court’s physical traits or characteristics.
He had always been dressed in some sort of earth tone. It all made sense.
“If you recall our last session, we focused on the remainder of the Courting, which has since been completed.” His eyes lingered on Oz and myself, seeing us for the first time since his arrival. “In addition, discussions surrounding the succession of A…”
I leaned forward as he paused. Was he about to say Alvar?
“A new king.” He finally muttered.
He took his seat before Qurasa rose once more.
“Thank you, Magister Illerium.” The curt nod of his head and his shift in body language told me, and anyone willing to pay attention that Illerium hated this position.
Was it the words whispered yesterday that corrected his speech?
Or was Illerium perhaps hiding something more?
“Now,” Qurasa began, only to be interrupted.
“I have a matter I wish to discuss.” Thalius’s sneer was a dagger to my insides, his eyes the color of ice.
He was cold and calculating. Related to Lil in name only.
Where his expression radiated rigidity, Lil’s offered compassion.
She was the breath of fresh air you grasped for as you broke the surface of the water after emerging from its depths.
And this man had tried to forge her into something to be controlled, manipulated, sold.
Wherever you are, Lil—know that he will pay for what he has done. To you, to Addie… I will find you. Somehow.
“Is that so?” Qurasa quipped before outstretching his arms. “Well, by all means, Thalius, don't hold us in such suspense. It has been, oh, since the last council that you regaled us with something or another, was it not?” He looked over to Illerium to confirm if his assessment was correct.
Illerium said nothing but nodded once more.
Qurasa lowered himself so slowly to his chair that I wondered if somehow time stood still.
If time manipulation was something that belonged to the Eternal Court, or whatever this room really was.
There had to be a reason that particular rooms or wings in the palace could utilize all four courts’ magic while other parts did not.
“Why, thank you, Qurasa. For that marvelous introduction. I’m not sure we would have remembered what we were doing here without it.
” Thalius said, each word dripping with venom.
“As was noted by the magister,” Thalius gestured to Illerium, “at our last session, we had discussed the succession. This has now been established.”
Before Thalius could utter another word, the doors outside of our bubble opened, and a voice boomed from outside the barrier. “Take it down.” The voice said.
The council members looked amongst themselves, each conflicted with the fracturing of proper decorum.
All save one. With a wave of his hand, Thalius removed the barrier that had been placed around us.
All that remained was the barrier of shadows.
Fayma did not rise, nor did she remove it, but through the shadows a figure emerged. Rai.
“Ah, Your Majesty.” Thalius bowed before his new king.
“Put it over there,” Rai said, ignoring him. He pointed to the dais that had emerged from the rock, and atop it his guards placed a throne.
“What in the Gods’ name do you think you’re doing?” Illerium was standing, hands clasped on the edge of the table, whether for support or due to rage, it remained unclear.
“Taking my rightful place on the Vitality Council,” Rai said, placing himself atop a black and red throne.
My pulse quickened, my heart thudding in my chest, each beat a reminder of everything he’d done. Everything he’d done to Lil. Stay calm. I attempted to remind myself. Oz’s newly amber eyes grew when he mouthed, “You okay?”
Why is he here?
“Your rightful place?” Illerium spat. “There is no rightful place for a king or monarch on the Vitality Council. You know that well enough. Your father never attended a single meeting, and that was not due to lack of interest but lack of invitation. The king does not rule the courts, but serves them.”
“The dais is for the king,” Rai looked at Thalius who nodded in agreement. Their conspiring had been more than the events from last night. “Now,” Rai continued, “take your seat Illerium. I believe Thalius has something he would like to say.”
“The dais was for the first king and he never asserted his authority. It was he who decreed that no monarch would place themself before the courts, before the realm. Eldara is the courts, not the king!” Illerium shouted, slamming his hands against the table.
The tawny color of Rai’s cheeks deepened to crimson with each of the magister’s words.
“If you’ve quite finished,” he said through gritted teeth, “Thalius.” He returned his gaze towards his champion.
Rai and Thalius, the two men who had failed Lil more than anyone else in this world.
The man who sold her, and the one who bought her.
For what price, that was yet to be determined.
A political advantage? To be raised to king, and what, his second?
What I knew is that the transaction would eventually cost them their lives.
It wouldn’t be now, it couldn’t be. But at some point in this life, I would take theirs, and I would relish it.
“Whatever it is you’re thinking about,” Oz whispered to me, “I suggest you stop.”