Page 26 of Mantle (IMMORTAL FLAME #3)

~Kai~

“Fuck,” I grunted as I watched our latest attempt at re-engineering the Inhibitor spell fail.

Yet again.

The suspended kaleidoscope of magical colors in the center of Arcanum Conclave turned to ash instead of brightening and fusing, as was the goal.

I looked up from my position fifty feet away working over one of the stone benches on producing our ninth Bastion Gauntlet, as Cornelius and Maelira discussed possible remaining options to try.

Gabriel and Calla were over by another table making more gauntlets just like me. And Sylas was late. Again.

I shot myself with my magic accidentally, my frustration impacting my work, a mild burn forming on the back of my hand.

I healed it quickly and stepped back from the table, then headed on outside, recognizing that I needed a brief mental breather.

I pushed out of the entrance doors and took a walk around the property, my coat flapping behind me against the wind.

The peaceful surroundings infused me, and I continued for a while, even savoring the chill in the air as welcome and soothing.

And then a voice caught my attention, stalling me in my easy steps.

“Ungh… just a little more. Yeah… come on.”

I zoned in on the sound, the grunts and some shuffling growing louder as I reached the rear of the building.

I caught sight of an alcove concealed by shadow.

Approaching cautiously, I strained to make out the figure shrouded by the darkness and the protectiveness of the alcove.

I was a few feet out when I identified exactly who it was.

Fuck me.

There Sylas was sitting on a rock, his coat on the ground beside him, his shirt off as he injected a fucking syringe into his chest.

It was filled with a milky liquid infused with flecks of his crimson magic.

With a burst of teleportation, I was in front of him. “What the fuck are you doing?”

He jolted, almost dropping the syringe in the process.

His head shot up. “Motherfucker, Kai,” he grumbled, then proceeded to inject the remaining liquid.

I went to react, when something caught my eye.

His right arm was partially desiccated.

A groan escaped him as he put down the syringe and I watched the desiccation dissipate until his skin healed from any sign of the affliction.

The shock of it had me snagging his arm in a harsh grip. “What was that? That desiccation?”

“You just answered your own question.”

Our eyes locked, and the look in his made me very aware of my fingers on him.

“You’re a necromancer… this isn’t possible,” I said, releasing him and taking a step back. “You wield death, you don’t succumb to it. You’re its enforcer, not its victim.”

“I make it my bitch—that’s how I prefer to term it.”

“Then, what happened?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I wasn’t strong enough.”

“Against what?”

He sighed heavily and rose to his feet. “It doesn’t matter,” he said as he slipped his shirt back on over all that hard muscle, then snatched up his coat, placing the empty syringe inside.

“The fuck it doesn’t.”

He eyed me with a lift of his lips. “Aww, want to defend my honor, babe?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“My bad. It was just that one night where that was on the table.”

Fuck. “Sylas.”

“It doesn’t matter who was responsible, Kai.”

“Because it could implicate you in some form?”

His lips twitched. “You know me well.”

“This isn’t a mild magical affliction. The desiccation… you’re dying.”

“It’s worse than that. I’m being turned—transformed into a vampire.

It’s not a standard turning, obviously. It’s botched and unnatural, so I’m becoming something between vampire and death.

And my power… without the serum—a special concoction of my own design—it would already be slipping away substantially by now. ”

Of course losing his magic would be far worse than death to him.

We were the same in that respect.

Our magic meant everything to us—it was the very essence of who we were.

I couldn’t imagine being without it.

Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to survive without it.

“This person who you can’t identify, he did this to you, so—”

“He can reverse it? Yeah. Obviously my first thought. It didn’t work.

He’s gone to ground anyway. Nobody has heard from him in a few years.

” He pulled on the hair at the back of his neck, his struggle to maintain his composure painfully clear—not the Sylas Morgrave that I knew.

“At this juncture, only something along the lines of reversing the vampiric condition itself would work.”

I cursed and scrubbed my hand over my face. “And the serum?”

“It’s fighting off the symptoms as you saw, but they’re coming faster now. It used to be a week between needing a shot of the serum. Now it’s barely twenty-four hours. The infection is developing a resistance to it.”

“How did you create it? What are we looking at here? Reversal of necromantic essence particles? Light Fae Realm cleansing herbs?”

“It’s… complicated.”

“So illicit magic then.”

He laid his hand on my shoulder. “Forget it, all right? Let’s head back inside.”

“We’ll find a solution.”

He stilled, his fingers tightening on the shoulder of my coat. “ We?”

“I’m going to help you.”

He didn’t say anything for several moments.

And then he pulled away and turned from me. “I’ve got it handled.”

“You’ve been alone in it for so long that you’ve convinced yourself that you do. Reality is decidedly different, though, isn’t it?”

He turned back. He had that playful grin on his face, but it didn’t reach his eyes. This time, it was a deflection. A defense against showing vulnerability and pain. I knew a thing or two about that.

“Now we’re back in contact, can’t stand the idea of me dropping dead at your feet, huh?”

I didn’t allow the bullshit, telling him instead, “Two heads are better than one. Especially somebody like me, with my extensive knowledge. And most definitely, my stubbornness and unmatched obsessiveness when it comes to unraveling magical mysteries.”

“It’s about your pursuit of knowledge then, right?”

He was jesting, trying to deflect again, not liking the emotional weight.

This time was different, so I did humor him. “Of course.” I lifted a shoulder. “What else would it be?”

He chuckled and came back to me.

But he stumbled in his step.

I caught him and helped ease him down to the rock he’d been sitting on before.

“It’s fine. I get a little lightheaded sometimes for the first ten minutes after an injection.”

“They’re all deeply immersed in their work inside the Conclave, so you have time to take a few moments.”

“I’ve gotta say, I didn’t see things going this way today.”

“Didn’t see me catching you shooting up?”

“Among other things, yeah.”

“Me neither.”

“You don’t usually take a break,” he mused, as he took some rest time. “Whenever you’re here, you’re on and focused the entire time. I mean, I get it, with you being pulled between your classes at Maven Academy, spending time with your loves, and then having this on top of all of that.”

“Yeah, well, I needed one today.”

He arched an eyebrow. “So, she told you finally?”

“Who?”

“Ariana?”

“She told me what?”

He looked away. “Nothing. Sorry, I assumed with the way you’ve been tonight that—”

“Sylas,” I ground out. “What is it?”

He grimaced. “I gave her a warning.”

I started, a chill running down my spine. “One of your—”

“Yes. One of those.” He shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry.”

“What was it?”

“Death circles her, Kai. It was so potent.” He frowned in thought. “And it didn’t make logical sense to me because of what she is—essentially unkillable. But it was there. Powerfully so.”

I swallowed hard. “And you’re never wrong.”

“No. I’m not.”

I sank back against the alcove wall as I tried to reconcile what he was telling me.

Adrenaline thrummed through me like painfully sparking livewires.

Death.

Death coming for Ariana.

She didn’t tell me.

Did she not believe it?

Had she simply discounted it?

Or did she believe it too much?

Fuck.

No. No. No!

I stopped myself before emotion escalated and cost me—or her. Or all four of us.

I couldn’t allow that to happen.

This subject matter was far too volatile to just go in hot and confront her with.

Especially at this stage of things when she was focused on her training with Cassius and working so hard to reach her full potential and to be ready, and while they were searching for Ketheron at the same time. It was a lot.

And the four of us supported one another. We shared the load. We lessened the burden. Me teleporting to her right now in the middle of one of her sessions with Cassius would be the opposite of doing that.

And I wouldn’t have it.

Especially when all I could go to her with was me knowing about the warning.

I needed to know more than that.

I needed answers.

And now that it was on the table, there were things coming to mind—things I needed to investigate and rule out.

For now, I wouldn’t say a word.

I’d do what I always did and seek out answers.

Death circled her? I’d fucking cut it down and burn it to ash before I let it touch her.