Stars of Blood

Twenty-Six 𖤓 Anubis

"Archard Clysen made his son drink from the kumi?"

I was in shock. It was known that pyuwa could drink blood. I had received reports of what happens in their glass domes, one at the center at each of their so-called Houses. And from my spies I have received news that Archard Clysen liked to use his human servants as food and that he never drank haed.

But I hadn't sent spies into the House of Spring for years. We didn't have many pyuwa-daeg half-breeds and they always got caught behind those sickly cherry blossom walls.

Garren nodded as he kneeled down so he wasn't towering over Retta and I. Out of the corner of my eye I watched Retta close her grandmother's notebook, noting the page with a ribbon.

"And how did you get this information?" I questioned. "From my understanding, there are no spies in the House of Spring at the moment."

Garren didn't dare look away. "Your Twelfth disobeyed your orders. She went to the House of Spring instead of the House of Autumn like you had ordered her to."

I wanted to throw something. Anger boiled in my chest.

Xael was stupid. She knew better than to go to the House of Spring. I could recall the fight we had before Xael and her siblings left for their different assignments. She told me she didn't care if the House of Spring was the most dangerous city in Pillon, she wanted to go because she thought it would hold more information than the House of Autumn, which was true. The House of Spring was where the devilish pyuwa lived, the one that killed my husband.

Archard Clysen.

His name was a curse.

"Xael Aberra," I spat, cursing her name instead. "Stupid girl. Doesn't she know that all our spies there have died?"

When neither Garren nor Retta replied, I shook my head and asked, "How did she get this information to us if she doesn't have a messenger with her?"

"A butterfly, perhaps?" Retta spoke up.

"Yes," Garren confirmed. "You know the Aberra's and their strange abilities, which they never explain."

"Conan has mentioned something in the past about Xael's weird ability with butterflies," Retta said. "He spoke about some sort of blessing, from either Yagan or his sister, Ujom, the twin Gods of Youth."

"It doesn't matter where Xael's abilities came from. Did she say she was safe?" I interrupted.

Garren nodded and said, "She is alive and well and working as a direct servant and healer to the pyuwa's clan Leader, Archard Clysen."

I gritted my teeth. Garren knew how much I hated that name. And now Xael living in close proximity to him... I shuddered at the thought of what could happen when one day he decided to drink from her. He would taste daeg blood and she would be executed.

And now, while the pyuwa still had the upper hand, trying to save Xael would most likely result in more daeg deaths.

Stupid, stupid girl.

"What else did she say?" I asked instead. I didn't need to make my anger known through the sound of my voice or throwing a tantrum like Conan was known to do. Retta and Garren could probably sense it, see it in the way my brows twitched and how I bared my teeth uncontrollably.

"That the kumi has escaped," Garren said calmly.

"It is no longer in the House of Spring?" Retta asked, straightening her back, now fully intrigued.

Garren shook his head and continued, "Yes, the kumi is no longer in the House of Spring and it escaped with the help of the Clan Leader's own son. Destrine Clysen is now missing, along with his supposed associates. Xael was able to give us a list with full names: Christopher Bles, Jezerine Vuhen, and Zevan Vivendel."