Page 56 of A Kiss of Hammer and Flame

Cahra supposed it spoke to Thierre’s claims of Luminaux not being like the other kingdoms. Maybe he was right. But did it really matter? Tomorrow, she and Wyldaern would be leaving to meet the Seer’s teacher, the one Wyldaern called the ‘conduit’. The Oracle.

Cahra glanced back at Hael’s smoky form. She was here, and this was her chance to ask her questions about the Oracles, the prophecy, why Hael was here and where here was.

‘Hael, what is this place?’

‘Last we met, you were also dreaming,’ he said, as if comprehending something she didn’t. ‘You do not remember?’ Then, softer, Hael said, ‘Yet, you remembered me. My name.’

‘What?’ Cahra was remembering something, all right. She vaguely recalled he had said these dreams were visions. Of what?

His unearthly voice soothed her. ‘You know where we are, who – what – I am.’ Hael’s smoke and shadow glided to the sandstone slab, then stilled. ‘This is Hael’stromia, the capital’s palatial temple. And I amthe Reliquus.’

The Reliquus. The word was familiar, but it was like wading through syrup to place it in her mind. As for Hael’stromia, that one, she knew.

They were here somehow, she and Hael, in the capital’s tri-cornered pyramid. Cahra turned in a slow circle, registering the bones, the pillars, the slab and the faraway light. And, finally, Hael’s black cloud before her.

‘Why are you hiding from me?’ She repeated her question, surprising him, by the look of his cloud shifting. Something was off. Hael had appeared to her as man-like before, a full head taller than her, but a physical being in his worn robe—

She looked down, at the cuffs of the robe she was wearing. Hael’s robe. And looked up to where his body should have been.

‘Do not fear,’ he said. ‘You required a garment and I obliged. But my confinement has left me… weak. Malnourished. I cannot appear before you as I did.’ It was then she found his flames, near-concealed by smoke. The fires in his eyes were like dying candles.

Shame and fear; she knew them well, remembering her own fear, the vulnerability of letting Thierre in, of being seen. And the pain of betrayal when he shattered that trust.

Believing in the Prince had been a mistake.

But now, this wasn’t about her. It was about Hael. How long had it been since he’d seen another soul, if he’d been trapped in here for centuries? Trapped, just like she’d been trapped in Kolyath’s dungeons. No food, no water, no companionship. Solitary confinement, that’s what this was, and he’d been here longer than anyone had ever lived.

All because of the stupid prophecy.

She couldn’t stand it. She refused to be afraid, not of Hael. And she refused to let him suffer alone in darkness.

Cahra stared into the core of his dark cloud, her own eyes soft. ‘Show me,’ she whispered, her voice firm but warm.

Hael’s ghostly form heaved. ‘I cannot.’

‘I’m not afraid,’ she said, raising her hand to his wispy smoke.

‘Icannot,’ Hael repeated, angst in his voice.

‘You healed my leg,’ she reminded him. ‘How can I help you?’

Eventually, a sigh rippled through him. ‘It will cost you, Scion.’

‘Cahra,’ she reminded, smiling. ‘This may be the last chance I have to talk to you before I meet Wyldaern’s Oracle. I have questions, and I can’t sit here talking to a cloud for however long we have. So, Reliquus,’ she said gently, ‘name your price.’

Hael’s eyes flared at the mention of the Oracle, but he stayed silent.

She didn’t break his gaze. ‘What do you need?’

He shuddered, as if dreading his own next words. ‘Your suffering.’

‘My – what?’ Cahra blinked.

‘Your negative emotions. Anger, sadness, fear.’ His flames seemed to shimmer with remorse. ‘It is how I survive in such a state, the curse that binds me to this form.My powers, while fed by negativity, can serve to alleviate it. For a time.’

Cahra laughed bitterly. ‘You can take my feelings away? Have at them,’ she said, hearing the hostile edge to her voice, glad to be rid of anything related to Thierre. She looked at Hael’s hovering black cloud. Of course, it was a perfectly nonsensical request. But then, what part of any of this was normal? ‘Will it last?’

Hael’s smoky form shifted. ‘No. That which I consume will be returned to your conscious form.’ He hesitated, as if to say more.