Emperor of the Dead

Chapter 17

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November 8, 1800

Erel, Aeryn Branche

"Why are you here again? To taunt me?" Erel asked, gritting her teeth. "Have you learned nothing in these last few days, Kronos?" 

Kronos heaved a laugh, a rumbling sound that made Erel want to cease his existence.

The giant hadn't done any physical damage to her other than having her hung upside down for hours a day in intervals, but the things he said, the threats he uttered made her mind spiral. Every day, he would come and torture her into thinking Aeryn was dead, that the Black Egret had sunk, that her sisters had died, that Eric had died, that it had been seven years since the day the White Crow had sunk. 

And every time, Erel would remind herself that it's been days, not years. Her hair hadn't grown an inch, there weren't any serious scars on her ankles from hanging upside down. She simply refused to believe a word coming out of his mouth, but sometimes she wanted to believe the lies for an excuse to give up. 

"I've come here not to taunt, but to educate. You see, I've come to the knowledge that Han has brought it upon himself to protect the Tiger's Ruby by keeping it on his person." Kronos dragged a heavy piece of metal against the floor. "That's going to be an issue, because not only has he removed the Ruby from Querilke, my son, I, has also gone mad in the process."

"Mad? As in insane?" Erel asked to rub it in, yet afraid that the piece of metal was a hammer of some sort. She'd been blindfolded today, something that she couldn't recall being done before. Something that could only mean danger was mere inches away from colliding with her fate.

"Sehyun Han of the Black Egret led him to the Lumen Grimoire, a book that has everything to do with death. A belonging of Hades that ended up on Querilke. Not only that, but it drives people to the edge of insanity if not death when handled by someone other than the Emperor of the Dead."

Aeryn had spoken of such a book before, saying that the hole in her ear was because of it. (She actually ranted about how Sehyun had shot her, failing to recognize because it was to save her.) How the book had enclosed her within itself, slowly influencing her into the edge of madness. Aeryn could hardly recall what it felt like. Every time she forced those memories forth, the ringing explosion of Han's gun took over.

Erel summoned some courage. It would be better to get him to talk rather than wait to find the meaning behind the blindfold. "What of the book, Kronos?" she asked with a voice shakier than the ocean's tides. She needed to waste time, so it seemed taking advantage of Kronos' tendency to overshare became appropriate. Erel wanted to know why share at all if he was going to wipe her memories. But alas, she would never know. Kronos didn't seem to be sane, so why would his intentions be?

Moreover, Erel was curious about Cronas. The supposed evil brother that Erel was yet to meet. Erel didn't even know if Cronas was a man. Many rumours had twisted Suzy into a man, so it could be the same situation if not similar. She could never truly know until she saw it with her own eyes or heard the truth rather than the rumours.

Most of everything she knew about Kronos and Cronas came from rumours and whatever Han had shared.

"My son has retrieved it from Querilke at the cost of his sanity." Kronos released a dark chuckle, a sound that made Erel crumble. "He's tamed the book, and now we will raise an army."

"Army?" That single word gave away how terrified the siren was. The harsh whisper gave it all away.

Kronos scoffed. "You sure are curious, Ariel. Aren't you afraid I'll hit you?"