Awakened

Redbird from returning to this realm.” Her eyes looked like green ice. “And that is why you now obey only me. Be here when I return.” Neferet left the balcony. Her long cloak should have caught in the door she slammed behind her, but at the last moment it rippled and skittered closer to the Tsi Sgili’s body, lapping around her ankles like a sticky pool of tar.

Rephaim faced his father, the ancient immortal he’d been serving faithfully for centuries. “How can you allow her to speak to you like that? To use you like that? She called my brothers aberrations of nature, but it is she who is the true monster!” Rephaim knew he shouldn’t have spoken to his father like that, but he couldn’t help himself. Seeing the proud and powerful Kalona being ordered around like a servant was unbearable.

As Kalona approached Rephaim braced himself for what was surely to come. He’d seen his father’s wrath unleashed before—he knew what to expect. Kalona unfurled his great wings and loomed over his son, but the blow Rephaim expected did not come. Instead when he met his father’s gaze he saw despair and not anger.

Looking like a fallen god, Kalona said, “Not you, too. I expected her disrespect and disloyalty; she betrayed a goddess to free me. You, though, you I never believed would turn on me.”

“Father! I have not!” Rephaim said, putting from his mind all thoughts of Stevie Rae. “I simply cannot bear the way she treats you.”

“That is why I must discover a way to break that accursed oath.” Kalona made a wordless sound of frustration and paced over to the balustraded stone railing, staring out into the night. “If only Nyx had stayed out of the battle with Stark. Then he would have remained dead and I know in my soul Zoey would never have found the strength to return to this realm and her body, not with two of her lovers dead.”

Rephaim followed his father to the railing. “Dead? You killed Stark in the Otherworld?”

Kalona snorted, “Of course I killed that boy. He and I battled. He could not possibly have defeated me, even if he did manage to become a Guardian and wield the great Guardian claymore.”

“Nyx resurrected Stark?” Rephaim said, incredulous. “But the Goddess doesn’t interfere with human choice. It was Stark’s choice to defend Zoey against you.”

“Nyx did not resurrect Stark. I did.”

Rephaim blinked in shock. “You?”

Kalona nodded and continued to stare out at the night sky, not meeting his son’s gaze as he spoke in a strained voice as if he had to force each word from his throat. “I killed Stark. I believed Zoey would retreat then and remain in the Otherworld with the souls of her Warrior and mate. Or perhaps her spirit would shatter forever and she would be a wandering Caoinic Shi’.” Kalona paused and then added, “Though I did not wish the latter on her. I do not hate her as does Neferet.”

To Rephaim it seemed his father was talking aloud to himself more than speaking to him, so when Kalona went silent he was silent and patient, not wanting to interrupt him, waiting for him to continue.

“Zoey is stronger than I anticipated.” Kalona continued speaking to the night. “Instead of retreating or shattering, she attacked.” The winged immortal chuckled at the memory. “She skewered me with my own spear and then ordered me to return Stark’s life to repay the life debt I owed for killing that boy of hers. I refused, of course.”

Unable to stay silent, Rephaim blurted, “But life debts are powerful things, Father.”

“True, but I am a powerful immortal. Consequences that govern mortals do not apply to me.”

Rephaim’s thoughts, like a cold wind, whispered through his mind: Perhaps he is wrong. Perhaps what is happening to Father is part of the consequences he has considered himself too powerful to pay. But Rephaim knew better than to correct Kalona, so he simply continued, “You refused Zoey, and then what happened?”

“Nyx happened,” Kalona said bitterly. “I could refuse a childlike High Priestess. I could not refuse the Goddess. I could never refuse the Goddess. I breathed a sliver of my immortality into Stark. He lived. Zoey returned to her body and managed to rescue her Warrior from the Otherworld, too. And I am under the control of a Tsi Sgili who I believe to be utterly mad.” Kalona looked at Rephaim. “If I do not break this bondage she may take me into madness with her. She has a connection with Darkness that I have not so much as sensed in centuries. It is as powerful as it is seductive and dangerous.”

“You should kill Zoey.” Rephaim spoke the words slowly, haltingly, hating himself for every syllable because he knew the pain Zoey’s death would cause Stevie Rae.

“I have, of course, already considered that.” Rephaim held his breath when Kalona paused. “And I have come to believe that if I kill Zoey Redbird it would be an open affront to Nyx. I have not served the Goddess in many ages. I have done things she would view as”—Kalona paused again, this time struggling with his words—“unforgivable. But I have never taken the life of any priestess in her service.”

“Do you fear Nyx?” Rephaim asked.

“Only a fool does not fear a goddess. Even Neferet avoids Nyx’s wrath by not killing Zoey, though the Tsi Sgili does not admit so to herself.”

“Neferet is so swollen with Darkness that she no longer thinks rationally,” Rephaim said.

“True, but just because she is irrational that does not mean she isn’t clever. For instance, I believe she may be correct about the Red One—she could be used or perhaps even turned from the path she has chosen.” Kalona shrugged. “Or she can continue to stand with Zoey and be destroyed when Neferet comes against her.”

“Father, I do not believe it is simply that Stevie Rae stands with Zoey. I believe she stands with Nyx, too. Is it logical to assume Nyx’s first red High Priestess would be special to the Goddess, and therefore should she remain untouched like Zoey?”

“I see validity in your words, my son.” Kalona nodded his head in solemn agreement. “If she does not turn from the path of the Goddess, I will not harm the Red One. Instead of me, Neferet will be incurring Nyx’s wrath if she destroys Stevie Rae.”

Rephaim maintained a tight control on his voice and expression. “That is a wise decision, Father.”

“Of course there are other ways of hindering a High Priestess without killing her.”

“What do you plan to do to hinder the Red One?” Rephaim asked.

“I do not plan to do anything to the Red One until Neferet manages to coerce her from her path, and then I will either direct her powers or step aside while Neferet destroys her.” Kalona waved away the question. “I was thinking of Zoey. If Zoey can be persuaded to come against Neferet publically, the Tsi Sgili will be completely distracted. You and I can focus on breaking my bond to her.”

“But, as Neferet said, after tonight if Zoey speaks against her she will be admonished and discredited. Zoey is wise enough to know that. She won’t publically clash with Neferet.”

Kalona smiled. “Ah, but what if her Warrior, her Guardian, the one person on this earth she trusts above all others, begins to whisper to her that she shouldn’t allow Neferet to get away with her evil deeds? That she must fulfill her role as High Priestess, no matter the supposed consequences, and stand up to Neferet.”

“Stark would not do that.”

Kalona’s smile widened. “My spirit can enter Stark’s body.”

Rephaim gasped. “How?”

Still grinning, Kalona shrugged his broad shoulders. “I do not know. I have not experienced this ever before.”

“So this is more than entering the realm of dreams and finding a sleeping spirit?”

“Much more. Stark was completely awake and I followed a connection I believed would lead me to A-ya in the realm of dreams, if Zoey had been sleeping. The connection took me to Stark—into Stark. I believe he sensed something, but I do not believe he knew it was me.” Kalona cocked his head, considering. “Perhaps my ability to mingle my spirit with his is a result of the sliver of my immortality I breathed within him.”

… Immortality I breathed within him. His father’s words swirled around and around in Rephaim’s mind. Something was there—something they were both missing. “Have you never shared your immortality with another being?”

Kalona’s smile faded. “Of course not. My immortality is not a power I would willingly share with another.”

And suddenly what had been niggling at the edge of Rephaim’s thoughts burst into understanding. No wonder Kalona had appeared different since he’d returned from the Otherworld. It all made sense now. “Father! What was the exact wording of the oath you swore to Neferet?”