“Don’t forget Evers, who wants to kill him and probably you now, along with getting rid of magic altogether.”
“Right, no pressure,” I said, looking at the softly glowing ring on my finger. “Why did he use blood magic?”
“He must have felt it was the only choice at the moment,” LD said. “Tristan has never been what I’d call impulsive.”
“Maybe he wanted the power? Blood magic is off-the-charts power.”
“He picked an odd time to go power mad, don’t you think?” LD asked. “He must have had a reason. The runes we saw on the skywalk should have shredded Haven to pieces. I don’t know how he didn’t activate the sequence.”
“Kali said Evers wanted to remove magic from this plane,” I said. “Is that even possible?”
“Possible?” LD asked. “I don’t know. Probable? I guess anything is probable. She’s strong, but so are we. If she targeted Tristan, there must be a reason.”
“You mean aside from being just this side of a psycho-sandwich of revenge and insanity?”
“We’ll find her,” LD said, his voice certain. “Right now, you need to find Dex and bring Tristan back from the edge.”
“Right,” I said, crouching down close to my temporarily satiated hellhound. “What if I can’t help him? What if it’s too late?”
“What do you think Tristan would want?” LD asked me gently. “Do you think he’s dark? I mean deep, where it counts. Do you think he’d want to be a dark mage?”
“No, absolutely not,” I said without hesitation. “Monty may be many things, but dark is not one of them.”
“Then fight for him,” LD said. “Help him see what he can’t see right now.”
Then, I asked the questions that had been tugging in the back of my mind all along.
“What if I fail? What if I try to help him and make things worse…force him over to the dark side?”
“This is a schism, not mind-control,” LD said. “You can’t ‘force him’ to go anywhere he doesn’t want to go. If he goes dark, your job at that point is not to convince him.”
“What are you saying?”
“If Tristan goes dark, despite your attempts to bring him off the edge into the light, you’re going to have a small window of time to stop him.”
“Stop him?” I asked. “Stop him how?”
“Do you know why Grey isn’t hunted down by the rest of the sects or the Dark Council?” LD asked. “Everyone says he’s a dark mage. Why not just put him away?”
“Because Grey, a dark mage, happens to wield a dangerous, goddess-powered sword?” I said. “Have you seen Scary Grey? I wouldn’t tangle with him.”
“Me neither,” LD said. “But that’s not it. Grey is a dark mage who has managed not to succumb to the darkness; there’s still good there. He fights the darkness everyday. It’s why he doesn’t cast often, much less give that sword freedom. As long as he manages to win that battle…”
“He remains Grey.”
“He remains alive.”
“What happens if one day he slips, or loses the battle?”
“The moment that battle is lost, if he gives into the power of the sword and steps fully over to the darkness…”
“He has to die?”
“Before he kills hundreds, if not thousands of innocents,” LD said, his expression dark and tinged with sadness. “If Monty can’t be brought back from the edge…”
“Fuck you, LD,” I said with venom. “I am not going to kill Monty. He’s family.”
“You say that like he’ll give you a choice,” LD said. “If he steps over and surrenders to the darkness, the Tristan you know will be gone, buried by the darkness.”
“Buried, but not gone,” I said. “If Grey can do it, so can Monty.”
“Grey’s darkness is now focused in the sword,” LD said. “Tristan doesn’t wield a goddess-powered dark weapon.”
I thought hard about what LD was saying, when a solution presented itself.
“But I do,” I said, slowly. “If I use Ebonsoul, I can siphon the energy of the schism from Monty and help him.”
“Or kill him,” LD said. “You don’t know how your weapon will react to him in a schism—or to you, for that matter.”
“Do you?”
“No, I don’t, but I’m not his shieldbearer. You are,” LD said. “Ultimately, this is your choice. To use Ebonsoul, you’re going to have to get close. Close enough for him to hurt you. Your odds are slim to none.”
“Never tell me the odds.”
“This isn’t a movie, hombre. Tristan is powerful in his right mind. If he’s lost it, chances are he’s going to blast first without bothering to ask questions. This is beyond risky…it’s suicidal.”
“What if it was TK?”
“Excuse me?” LD asked. “What do you mean?”
“What if it was TK who had gone dark?” I asked. “What would you do?”
“Bring her back or die in the process,” LD said without hesitation. “She’s scary and dangerous, but she’s not dark. She was close, but she didn’t step off the cliff into the abyss.”
“Then you understand,” I said. “Monty is family. He would do the same for me.”
“I know,” LD answered with a nod. “I needed to make sure you did.”
“When did TK almost go dark?” I asked. “Was that when she was with Badb?”
LD nodded.
“Before the Ten. That’s a story for another time,” he said. “I suggest you never bring that up to her, if you enjoy breathing without mechanical assistance.”
“Understood,” I said. “I’ll bring him back.”
“We’ll keep tracking Talin. Once he leads us to Evers, or TK loses her patience and forces it out of him, I’ll let you know.”
“Tell Erik I had to leave,” I said, touching Peaches lightly on the head. “Besides, I think Jessikah would be safer here.”
“You mean out of the way.”
“She’s clueless and a mageist,” I said. “Her attitude is going to her killed out there. Or I’m just going to feed her to my hellhound.”
“He’d probably get indigestion. Don’t be cruel.”
“How can she be so blind to the obvious?” I asked. “And what’s with the superiority complex? I get she’s a mage, but…wow.”
LD nodded.
“Black Orchid aren’t
