Dust to Dust | ✓

15 || The Seer and the Trade

The Reaper shrank back with a hiss from the Bright Soul's flame. Aiko huddled in Cinere's shadow, cradling Felix against her chest. It was like holding a corpse, but she refused to believe that's what he was. Somewhere deep inside, his flame was still lit, his life was still there. She couldn't let go. She touched his cheek again—the skin cracked beneath her fingers like last time and she jerked away with a gasp. "Felix, please," she whispered, her vision turning watery as her throat tightened. "I'm here. Please don't go."

His eyes remained shut. They didn't so much as shift or flutter at her voice. He was still limp and unresponsive in her arms, cold as ice.

Aiko swallowed past the lump in her throat. "Cinere," she croaked.

Her reflection glanced back at her, a flicker of concern darkening her confidence as her brown eyes shifted down to Felix. Setting her jaw, she summoned a roaring flame in her hand and shoved it at the Reaper, which flinched away.

"Let him go," she demanded. "I'll burn this place down if you won't. Then there will be no magic world for you to tend to. You'll be made obsolete in the eyes of the Primordial."

"Cannot," the Reaper ground out through clenched teeth, its cloak fluttering as it glided back from the brightening light. "Threads tangled and breaking. Debt must be settled; the weak flame must pay dues of the Cores."

"What dues?" Aiko snapped. Rage burned her from the inside out, devouring her tears before they could be shed. Gently, she laid Felix's body down before shooting to her feet and whirling to face the Reaper. "Felix hasn't committed any sins against the Cores—I'm the one that allowed for the destruction of the Ember Core and Niveus along with it. He shouldn't have to pay for my mistake!"

The Reaper flexed its long, bony fingers and pointed one at Felix. Aiko shifted to stand in front of him, hardening her gaze into her sharpest glare.

"Promised," the Reaper said in its cacophony of screeching voices. "He was promised by the usurper. His life will settle the debt of the Zephyr Core and the Ember Core. Debt of Dinah Yuin Sylva to the Primordial Three."

Dinah. Aiko flinched as if she had been struck by the Reaper's words. The former queen of Furvus who tried to take her kingdom and power from her, who tried to have her murdered at the hands of Felix, who had met a fitting end by stepping too close to the furnace of the Ember Core—she had a debt with the Primordial Three and promised Felix's life as payment? Something suddenly clicked in Aiko's mind as the pieces slotted together. Once, there was a Core in Furvus, the third and final one in the set, but it had vanished before Aiko could remember and doomed Furvus to become a land without magic. Her strange magic, the void of a Core in Furvus... "She stole the power of the Zephyr Core?"

"Yes. Core was destroyed. Balance disrupted." With stark white hands, the Reaper gestured to the cracks splintering the space around them opening to an even darker world beyond. Aiko hadn't even noticed the damage. Her mind had been focused entirely on Felix. When it turned back to her, the Reaper let out a slow hiss. "Debt must be paid, damage mended. Felix Sylva—"

"He's not Felix Sylva!" Aiko shouted despite herself, the sound scraping her throat raw with indignation. A fire lit up deep inside her core. It licked at her lungs, her heart, until her whole body was burning. She glared fiercely at the Reaper, but it didn't so much as flinch. "He's not her son."

The Reaper tilted its head like a curious animal. "He shares her blood."

Aiko heaved a deep, heavy sigh. "He's just Felix. He's not her son. He doesn't have to pay her debts."

Weight settled on her shoulder. A quick glance revealed Cinere leaning against her. "Technically," the girl said in her usual drawl—not even a hint of concern was found in her voice. "That's not how this works. But I agree. He shouldn't have to pay her debts. It seems his master left him with enough work to destroy him; he doesn't need Dinah breathing down his neck as well."