At least Crow is nowhere in sight. I seem to be free of him, at least while I am stuck here. That realization alone is enough to make me wish I could be stuck here forever, even if the Wraiths are coming.
Not a moment later, Veltuur pulls me into its thrall.
I slap onto the stone floor on hands and knees. Somehow, as I stand in the Pit of Judgment to face the Council, I am even less prepared than the last time I was here.
I know why I have been summoned. They expect answers about the Guardians that I was sent to find, though I am no longer sure what I want to share. Telling them anything will lead them straight to Acari and Gem. I may have fled from them, but it was never my intention to run straight into the Council’s arms and toward Gem and Acari’s damnation, not until I had a plan at least.
And now that I am here, there is no time to think of one. The Council will expect full cooperation, and I am a loyal servant of Veltuur, so why wouldn’t I give it to them? But I’m surprised to find I don’t want to. Somehow, keeping all of this a secret from Acari is starting to feel like a greater betrayal than omitting anything from the Council.
The chamber of council seats is exactly as I last saw it. The six Councilspirits sit in their respective thrones, towering over the pit I am standing in. The most ornate throne of all though is still empty, and even as all of the eyes in the room aim at me like daggers, I can’t help but speculate where the seventh Councilspirit is. Perhaps they too betrayed Veltuur and were sent to the Wraiths. Perhaps there is a fate worse than that.
“You smell like the living,” Nymane says, addressing me with a scrunched nose that causes more cracks to fissure her porcelain skin.
Decrepitly slow, Leumas stands, his arms stretched as wide as his grin. “A welcomed return, Reaper Sinisa. I believe what my fellow Councilspirit means is that you have spent much time in the realm of the living and your sacrifice for our cause is much appreciated.”
“Your fellow Councilspirit said exactly what she meant,” Nymane sneers. “Let’s skip the formalities and theatrics for once. Tell us what you learned of the Guardians. We’re told you found the place where they have been hiding, protected by some barrier, but somehow you were able to cross it. How?”
I try to remain stoic, but inside my heart is a ruckus. They already know far more than I want them to know, and I can only assume I can thank Nerul for that. If he’s already been updating them regularly on my whereabouts, then they already know exactly where the camp is, and Acari, Gem, and everyone else there is already doomed. Regardless of whether or if I withhold telling the Council how to cross the boundary, it will only be a matter of time before they figure out a way through for themselves. They’ll make it their priority, if they’re as invested in locating the Guardians as I believe they are.
It’s then that I realize how puzzling that is. As far as I can tell, the Guardians were tapped out. Acari asked them directly to heal his sister, and they said they were unable to do so. Why the Council would be interested in them is beyond me. Unless maybe they’re the ones who created the boundary. I suppose that would make them useful to the Council.
“Well?” Nymane snaps, her lips tight.
“Yes, I found them. But I didn’t learn much about them. They have no power to heal the princess, like the prince requested. They are worthless. They are no better than the other mortals.”
A snickering ripples overhead from each of the Councilspirits.
“I assure you; they are of greater importance than you know,” Leumas says, his smile fading.
The longer we hold each other’s gazes, the more I sense something different about him. He is not his usual confident self, and neither is he showing me the pride he typically has in my work. Though my first thought is that he knows I am stalling and withholding information, as the laughter continues around him, and he declines to partake in it, staring only straight down upon me, digging into my eyes, I sense only his urgency. He is trying to communicate something with me, I am almost certain of it.
The laughter fades before I can decipher his code though. Leumas switches his smile back on.
“So, Reaper Sinisa, please respond to Councilspirit Nymane’s question. How did you diffuse the magic to cross the barrier surrounding their stronghold?”
I swallow, buying half a second more that is still about an hour less than the time I need. I can’t tell them what they want to hear, but I am not yet ready to face the Wraiths. I…I should have stayed at the healer’s hut. I should have never left. The Council would have never been able to find me there, but now I am at their mercy. If I do not tell them willingly, they will surely have the Wraiths torture it from me.
A black glint flutters just outside my view, and I turn to find my crow flying up to the Councilspirits.
Caw, he squawks at me when he lands, his head jutting low and more forcefully than usual, like it’s threatening me with the point of his beak.
Rage sparks through me like tinder catching flame. Hot and mighty. The longer I stare up at him, the more hatred that seethes through me until I am pretty sure my body is one giant inferno.
I want to rip its head off. His head off. I want to stab him a dozen times over again, and I would if he was not so far out of reach.
“You will be rewarded for
