The Dark World

Chapter Nine: The Summoner

"What the hell is a summoner, anyway?" Mina all but exclaimed, gesturing wide with her arm. The heavy, brocade sleeve of her green dress flapped back, narrowly missing her face.

Frustration burned through her veins, pricking her skin and turning her cheeks a pale shade of red. She did not ask for this. Any of this. The captivity. The stupidly cumbersome dress that made her look like a frosted cupcake. And, now, apparent infamy.

All she wanted to do at that very moment was steal away into the night and forget any of this ever happened. She wanted to rewind time, reset it back to before Rem's heist went terribly wrong, before she made that stupid deal with Gerald. Most of all, she wanted a return to normalcy. She wasn't necessarily free in the Rook, but she wasn't a prisoner there, either.

Jules watched her with a smirk.

She looked like a vibrantly painted bird throwing its plumage. And he sort of loved it. It had been so long since he had seen hope spark at court, and the fact that hope took form in a hapless thief made it all the more delicious.

"I could kiss you," he said, lips pulling into a slanted grin.

Mina gaped for a second, unsure where to even begin. After a few exasperated breaths, her lips pressed together and her brows knitted, giving her an intensely confused expression.

Jules saw her confusion and raised her his barely contained amusement. "I know," he said on an easy breath, turning to the bar, "my inclinations defy all expectations."

He sounded rather pleased with this quirk of his.

Mina batted his impertinence aside with a wave of her hand and continued, "The question still stands."

"What question was that, love?"

Mindlessly, Jules neared the small table stacked with wine glasses, tumblers and an assortment of spirits in colors ranging from deep burgundy to verdant green. He plucked a wine glass and held it up to the light. The glass gleamed back at him, spotless. Satisfied, he uncorked a deep red wine.

"Libation?" he said, offering Mina the half-filled glass with a wink.

"Liberation, you mean?" Mina cocked a brow and grinned suggestively.

"Sure, but only if you drink a great deal."

She scoffed, but she took his offering anyway.

In two sips she had drained the glass and had moved to the table to pour seconds.

"A Summoner," Jules began between swallows of wine, "is what they call a Priestess who can possess others' wills. It is said that these Priestesses are able to take counsel with the Gods and convince them to lend their strength to men."

Mina leaned her weight against the side of an ornate chaise lounge set before the nearby bay window. Looking out, she tried her best to keep her features locked and neutral. She didn't want to expose the internal confusion and terror that hammered her. "Why would the Gods do that?"

Jules took a delicate sip, gaze fanning out, as he took in the luxurious details of the Commander's sitting room, from the brocade sofa, to the vibrantly painted tapestries. "Because the Priestess has imposed her will on them."

"How does a Priestess go about doing such a thing?"

"Well," he sighed, growing weary of her questions, "that's why she must be a Summoner."