The Deathsinger: Book 2

Ch 12: Into the Darkness

I curled my fingers into my palms, nails biting into the tender flesh, and struggled to contain my shock. After Astreia's story about the king who started the war with Araphel and Estrellum, I was certain King Brinley's body now belonged to that king, and that he wanted to relight the portals for some evil intention. But this...

This almost made me feel compassion toward him. Almost, but not quite. The scattered souls and stillborn children had been an issue in Edresh for years, and he hadn't been concerned about it until it affected him. Either way, I felt a measure of relief to know that I wouldn't be unleashing some unknown hell by assisting him.

Except...Did I truly trust that this was his only reason? That it wasn't a convenient cover to convince me to go along with his plan without causing trouble. Only, it didn't really matter because I had to go into Araphel no matter what if we didn't want to everything in existence to be destroyed.

"She's speechless," Queen Thera said with a hum around a pudding filled spoon.

"A rather unusual state for her," Tievel muttered.

"I'm confused," I blurted out.

The chair creaked as King Brinley leaned back in it, the thumb and pointer finger of his left hand twisting a strand of his silver hair into a tight coil. His brows flattened over his gray eyes, and his lips softened into a neutral position in his square face. If that was all I saw when I looked at him, I might say he looked like a father with infinite patience waiting for his child to speak, but splotches of red and purple mottled his fair skin. It was an unfortunate tell of temper for many who carried fire magic.

"Perhaps I was a bit too hasty with my compliments. What is confusing about this situation? My child will come into this world soulless unless you relight the portals."

"That," I bit out so harshly it earned a cough of reprimand from Kuga, "I do understand. As we established earlier. But Dycidium is the portal in Araphel. The entrance to the world beyond what some call the Shroud. There, you will be led to the fires of judgment. Souls found lacking will be burned in the flames, and those who are granted rebirth will walk the path to Vyta."

Shock whipped through me, and I bit down on my bottom lip hard enough to draw tears. Those details came from some dark recess of my mind. Knowledge I didn't know I possessed. From the way the others had talked, I thought the portal and the flames of judgment were one thing, but I could see it clearly now. A world beyond ours. In the center of all worlds.

"Interesting," Kuga whispered.

King Brinley snapped forward, folding his arms over the table and leaning toward me. "You don't sound very confused at all."

Blood burned my tongue as I swiped it over my bottom lip, and I swallowed hard before continuing, "I only meant that it's how souls enter. If you need to make sure that your child receives a soul, then would it not be better to relight Vyta first? Surely, there are souls trapped there that would seek new hosts once the fires are relit?"

"And how," the king seethed, "do you propose I relight those fires? Since you helped the only elf who can relight them to escape?"

Tievel squirmed in his chair. "Father, enough."

He struck like a vyper. Between one breath and the next, King Brinley shot out of his chair, struck Tievel across the face with the back of his hand, and returned to his seat without a hair out of place. The blow was so hard, the prince's chair pitched backward, dropping him onto the wooden floors with a thud so loud it was as if the earth moved.

"Brinley," Thera gasped, holding her stomach as she stood. "Why would you do that?"

I tuned out their bickering, focusing on the ground's tremble and the distance clanging sounds. The earth had moved, and from the rising panic on Tievel and King Brinley's faces, it was not because of either of their magics.