Page 49 of City of Snakes (Legends of Henosis #2)

Chapter 48

Sybilla

“ C are to share what you two are whispering about?” My eyes narrowed on Krait, who had leaned over and been speaking to Asterie.

Krait’s brows rose. “I will tell you later in bed,” he said without an ounce of sarcasm.

Fenris appeared entertained. Even Wyeth, who was usually reserved, stifled a laugh. I pursed my lips, biting back a retort. It was not the time to show any division.

I hadn’t told him about Firose’s accusation against Ryn so that he would go and beat his friend to a pulp. Yet his reaction told me that the enchantress had not lied.

Fighting my growing sympathy, I tapped my foot beneath the table. Elsedora would be here any minute with the map.

“How are your studies progressing, Hurley?” I asked the young warlock, trying to distract myself and the others from whatever tension was strung between me and the infuriating man at the other side of the table.

Young Hurley’s cheeks reddened at the attention. “Good,” he croaked out.

Fenris chimed in. “He’s a natural. He’ll be shaping rivers in no time.”

“Resourceful.” Krait’s thought caressed my mind. I chanced a glance at him. “I’m working on a new list.”

I hadn’t been trying to hear his thoughts, but it seemed my mind was open to compliments.

It felt oddly good to have found those tally marks against my character.

I’d been a fool to grow too intimate with him.

I should not trust him with my heart.

Krait had the right intentions for our realms, for defeating Caym—that I could trust.

Cassidee leaned her elbows onto the table, turning to Krait. “It’s nice to formally meet you. Those Warhorses back in Luz were really something.” She whistled in approval and added, “They cut through that attack like butter.”

“Forgive her,” Wyeth cut in. “She has a penchant for only talking about war.”

Krait only hummed in acknowledgment.

Cassidee carried on, “So, why were we searched and stripped of our weapons at the door? If it’s a matter of safety in Luz, we need to know what we face.”

I cleared my throat, catching her attention. “We’ll tell you as soon as Elsedora and Rynall join us.”

Cassidee smirked and relaxed back into her chair, seeming eager to get to the dangerous bits of the conversation.

“Was King Sheffield found?” I asked Amara.

“I was waiting for the right moment to tell you. His body was found on the south coast of Eros,” Amara said with watery eyes and a wrinkled brow.

She had served the King of the South Corridor for many years. I’d always longed for advisors like her, ones who cared about my well-being.

“It was hard to determine his cause of death…too much time had passed.” Her shoulders deflated as she stared into her wineglass.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said. “He was an honorable King. Did you know he used to send me letters on my birthdays with pressed flowers between the pages?”

Amara offered me a sad smile and shook her head. “That does sound like him. It’s a great loss for the Corridor. He has a young nephew—school-age. His father, Sheffield’s brother, died years ago. It will take a great deal of training to fill the King’s shoes.”

I had no doubt she would be an excellent guide for the young royal.

I liked Amara. Elsedora had let it slip out over wine one evening that Amara had once been Krait’s lover, just before Freya. We had too many threats looming for me to stop and consider that awkward—plus, he was not mine to feel possessive of.

We were all so tightly interconnected to each other; it was something Caym could prey on if we let doubt or hatred guide our decisions. “What’s Bringham to say about it?”

“He’s calling for a noble from the West to usurp the boy,” Amara answered.

I sighed. “Of course he is.”

The doors opened, revealing a tender-stepping Ryn and a worried-looking Elsedora, who led him by the crook of the arm into the dining hall. The rolled-up map was tucked under her other arm.

“What did we miss?” El asked.

“We’ll catch you up later. Come, sit,” Krait instructed. “And roll out that map.”

Amara stilled beside me when her gaze landed on Ryn. “Fenris told me that you lived, Rynall—but it was hard to believe until now.”

“Beautiful as ever, Amara.” Ryn greeted her with a quick squeeze of her shoulder, then he took his seat beside Krait.

Elsedora unraveled the old parchment, careful not to rip it, and Cassidee and Wyeth pitched forward in their seats to observe it more closely.

“What do we have here? ” Fen asked with great interest, turning the old page toward him and Asterie. He appeared lit from within with intrigue.

“A map,” I answered dully. Fen leveled a look at me that read, You don’t say?

I added, “Of where the Death Origin’s current envoy is.”

Amara’s fingers trailed over her mouth. Asterie’s brow furrowed. I took a deep breath and chanced a glance across the table at Krait.

“ Strong, so strong, ” he thought. “I’m adding that to the list.”

I rolled my eyes. Forced compliments wouldn’t win my favor.

Elsedora rounded the table and leaned down to whisper something to Amara that made the enchantress’ eyes grow dewy. Then El placed Mattock’s stone memorandum down on the table. Amara quickly grasped the stone and brought it to her heart.

Krait addressed everyone around the table. “The Death Origin is rising. I believe he gained strength the night you were saved.” He nodded toward Asterie. “Whatever bargain was made, we need to discuss it now.”

Amara spoke first. “I summoned the Sun Origin—but that isn’t what saved her. Astros said they made a bargain with Death.”

There it was.

“Who is ‘they’?” Ryn inquired—his curiosity piqued. It bubbled on the back of my tongue.

Amara sighed. “The other Source Origins. But it’s long been thought that the Death Origin had been laid to rest.”

Asterie gripped the edge of the table, looking forlorn. “I cast a Lacero curse on myself. I thought it would bring me to bargain with Death, but it did not. My namesake intercepted me.”

Cassidee tapped her fingers on the table. “What exactly did Origin Asterie say?”

Asterie cleared her throat. “When I asked her if I was an Origin she said, ‘In part.’ And then she said my place was with the fireling and sunling and that I should ‘Try not to make Death more than an acquaintance. He is difficult for me to negotiate with.’”

Ryn cursed under his breath, and Krait stared down at the table, as though bearing the weight of that news on his shoulders.

“Then it is true…the Origins intervened. They bargained with him.” Amara sighed. “But why?”

The Sources could have been bored of watching us from whatever middle plane they were stuck in. Or maybe Death had promised them their return should they allow him to reign...We could wonder for eternity.

Poor Hurley’s eyes were wide as saucers as he listened. I nodded to him and said, “Why don’t you go play in the sitting room?”

He brightened. “I brought the marbles that Wyeth gave me.” He was out of his seat and fleeing the room before the unsettling news had time to sink in.

“What do we know about Caym’s whereabouts now?” Wyeth chimed in. She glanced at the map.

We explained everything we knew.

The three deathmarks.

Emmerick and Barden being known envoys.

The prophecies of Isolde and the Brennac legends, which I’d come to believe in.

Krait told them of the prophecy naming our child as the key to ending Death’s reign—Asterie’s brow rose.

With all our truths on the table, I sipped a bit of wine and held the sweet burgundy liquid in my mouth.

Cassidee kicked back on two feet of her chair and pointed to the deathmark on the map. “Looks like an envoy is in Helos now, likely in Mattock’s body. Why not just ambush him and then hunt the other envoys down?” She winced as soon as her gaze landed on Amara.

Amara grabbed my knee below the table and squeezed. My jaw tightened, and I sloshed the wine through my teeth, likely staining them. If they knew Emmerick was here…

Krait stared across the table at me for a long moment before he said to Cassidee, “You’re talking about killing a King and a noble of Luz.”

I finally swallowed the now-warmed wine.

“So what do we do?” Fenris asked, glancing between Krait and me.

“Outside of fulfilling the prophecy, I don’t know,” I said, drawing in a deep breath. “Even then, if Caym rises to his full strength, we are doomed.”

“You need time,” Wyeth said. “To figure out what that prophecy actually calls for and to stop Caym from growing stronger through the Death-wielding of the envoys.”

Asterie added on, “ Without killing them.”

My stone-faced friend wouldn’t allow for any plan that harmed Emmerick either. I offered her a weak toothless smile.

“What about the Sethe curse?” Asterie spoke up again, seeming uneasy. “We could find the envoys and use it on them to slow Caym down, no?”

It was the third time the idea had been put into my head.

Amara snapped, “That is too risky for the envoys. It is basically the same sentence as death.”

It would be too risky to Emmerick.

I bit my cheek in thought, before I said, “Tell me how that would work. What are the risks?”

“The Sethe curse puts the subject in a deep sleep for a predetermined amount of time that the caster chooses,” Asterie explained. “It cannot be an unreasonable amount of time or the curse won’t take. And it needs to be specific—moons, years, days. It is likely what Isleen used to bind Caym in the first place. If not awakened before that period ends, then...well, they are thought to sleep forever. It seems Caym’s true form has awoken before his time was up. That is likely what he bargained for.”

“And how would one wake someone under this curse?” I asked.

“There is no known way to lift it,” Amara blustered at Asterie. “Are you suggesting that we use Emmerick’s body to trap Caym and put him to sleep potentially forever? Let the Origins decide his fate?”

“That is exactly what I’m proposing if it comes to it.” Asterie grew taller in her chair and pursed her lips. “Because it is exactly what Em would want us to do should all else fail. He would not deter us from this option, and I urge you not to either.”

My heart raced and swelled simultaneously. I wanted to reach across the table for Asterie’s hand and squeeze it.

She was right. And this would give him a chance.

Amara grew withdrawn. She swallowed and shook her head.

“Right now, Caym’s ability to control the envoys seems limited to just them,” Ryn warned. “We don’t know what form he has taken, but he’s likely still weak. Imagine the damage he could inflict if able to control anyone near him. He’s raised an army of Death-wielders once already—who’s to say he isn’t doing the same right now in the North or West Corridors?”

I shivered.

Cassidee nodded. “We need to prepare reinforcements before we approach the active envoy. What do we have?”

Elsedora noted, “We have the East’s fleets of Griffiths and our Warhorses, but they won’t be enough.”

Krait hummed in thought. “We could wake the beasts of Sahlmkar.”

Ryn balked. “They’ve laid in stone for thousands of years. And doesn’t legend say they were Caym’s creations?”

“They were. But that does not mean they will answer to him.” Krait stared across the table at me.

“What are they exactly?” Asterie seemed skeptical. I was too.

“The souls of Isleen’s children,” Krait answered. “It is thought that when Isleen cast Caym away, their magic coiled together, and he turned her and her children into beasts. That is why none of her lineage was thought to have survived.”

“So they may answer to the blood of Isleen,” Amara noted.

“Which means Sybilla will be able to control them,” Krait said with too much confidence.

I was meant to control them ?

Fenris’ eyes went wide. “What if they don’t answer to her?”

“They will.” Krait relaxed back into his seat.

“Then we prepare for all options,” I said. My arm hair stood on end, but I would not deny us any chance to be rid of Caym.

Krait’s lips curled into a smirk. Something like adoration burned in his eyes. It made my heart beat faster. “ Brave, ” he thought. I sat up a bit taller in my seat.

We would wake beasts of nightmares.

Lay Death to sleep.

Try for an heir that may someday rid us of Caym for good. However unprepared for that option I felt.

To save us all, I would compromise everything.