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Chapter

Sixty-Two

Liv

C al’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fell from his stool. He was out cold on the floor, and Maev was overtop him, waving one of his notebooks over his face. Brekt stayed against the far wall.

“He’s not bad looking, Maev,” I whispered, eyeing Cal on the ground.

His glasses were askew, his mouth slightly parted, showing his two sharp teeth.

The green tint to his skin went well with his dark waves.

“You sure you don’t like him? He’s smart like you.

” I grabbed Cal’s glasses and fixed them.

The angle of his head exposed the gills on his neck.

It sent a pang of guilt through me. I missed my old friend.

“I like Cal, he’s great. But just not like that. He never leaves his dungeon.”

Cal moaned, going pink when he saw Maev over him. “Mae—you’re actually here. Please tell me I was hearing things. Did your friend, the Ikhor, bring a Guard into my home?”

I laughed, and Cal’s head tilted my way. “You.”

“Me,” I said.

“I wasn’t dreaming.”

“No.”

“The Guard is here,” he whispered, pointing to the door.

I nodded. “On the other side of that desk.” I grabbed Cal by the arm, hoisting him up with Maev’s help. “Best get your notebook out now and get the questions over with.”

Cal sprung to his feet, and Maev and I fell backwards. “Right, my notes.” He stopped at the sight of Brekt and fixed the glasses on his face.

Brekt had taken off the jacket and had it thrown over his arm, which was crossed with the other over his chest. His nostrils flared when we all stood staring at him. “I’m not a fucking show,” he grumbled.

I hid my smile. I guess the grouchy demeanour wasn’t just because he was secretly the host of the Aspis—it was just him.

Cal sat on his stool and found the same notebook he’d written about Nuo, opening it to a different page. “I have been collecting information on the Guards for years. I am hoping I can get you to clear a few things up for me.”

“Why?” Brekt’s brows lowered. “Don’t assume I will pass the Aethar our secrets. Even if you are a friend of Liv’s.”

Cal looked close to passing out again. “I, um, well, I enjoy the stories of the Guards.”

“I’m your enemy.”

“I’m not one to draw lines in the sand.”

Brekt didn’t appear convinced.

“Wait,” Cal said quickly, “Did you say before you’re the Aspis?”

Brekt growled while Cal looked back and forth between us.

“The Aspis and the Ikhor. You’re both here and not killing each other.”

How could I even begin to explain Brekt and me?

Cal chuckled. “I see. You two are the lovers.” He cleared his throat. “This may cause a problem for you two. History says only one survives.”

Brekt stepped away from the wall. “Well then, I suggest you do your part and help us find a different way.”

I grabbed Brekt’s arm. “Cal is helping us,” I reminded him.

“He’s been obsessed with you warrior lot since I met him,” Maev said, sending Cal an apologetic look. “I mean obsessed in the nicest way possible.”

Cal fidgeted with his notes, taking quick peeks at Brekt. “Now, I have mixed accounts of how you came to be at the North camp. Sources have said you were born from shadows and were brought to the world unnaturally—explaining your skill in combat.”

Cal lifted his attention to Brekt, who wore a tired expression.

I failed at holding back my laughter. “And is that how you were born?”

His eyes narrowed on me. I was thoroughly enjoying this. I went and sat on Cal’s cot tucked on the opposite wall, and enjoyed the view.

“Others have said your parents left you on the steps of the North camp, terrified to raise a shadow-wielding demon,” Cal added.

“Let’s go with shadow demon. Whatever that is.”

Cal scribbled in his notes. “Born of natural causes, left as a demon baby,” he said slowly. “Next question. You fight with a long sword, three short swords, and ten throwing knives. You avoid the long-range weapons like the bow because you never mastered the skill.”

Brekt looked ready to fight. “Want to test me on that?”

Cal shook his head and smoothed out the paper from his book, waiting.

“Bastane had the best skill with the bow. I didn’t have the patience to watch the target and aim. Any more questions?”

“Oh yes?—”

“Liv, why am I giving my enemy information on our fighting styles? Is this being passed to the Aethar defence units? The ones the pretty boy was part of.”

I frowned at Brekt for bringing Ollo up, and waited for Cal to answer.

He waved a hand around his room. “I collect information, which most times goes through one ear and out the other when it comes to the Rydavian aerial units. The pretty boy doesn’t visit me here.

” Something about the way Cal referred to Ollo made it sound like a sore wound.

“I wouldn’t expect anyone to knock on my door except for Maev, who is a curious person herself.

And well, now, the Aspis and the Ikhor. Best day of my life. ”

I didn’t miss how Cal went pink when he talked of the twins.

Maev sat patiently at the edge of his desk.

“You called Brekt a demon,” I said.

“I didn’t.” Cal pointed at his notes. “These are words from others.”

“I’ve never heard anyone use that term. My mother told me stories of demons and witches and even dragons.”

Cal whistled. “It’s ancient lore. Stories that have been long forgotten and are no longer talked of. Maev, you never told me the Ikhor was more well read than you.”

“How dare you.” She put her hands flat on the desk, her tone teasing.

“It’s refreshing to hear someone speak my language. Most times, I’m called a weirdo.”

Brekt wasn’t listening to the conversation anymore. His attention lingered on where the dress was tight around my ribs, showing every curve. I refrained from moving. The urge to go to him, to touch him, was sudden and overwhelming.

“So what does bring you here? It doesn’t seem like Erebrekt of the North is one for talking.” At that, Cal added the extra information to his notes. “Silent type.”

I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped.

Maev explained, “I told Liv on our journey back to Avenmae that I originally went after her because of the scrolls you found. I want to show her the scripts and the maps.”

“I thought you laughed at my theories after I showed you those.”

Maev’s face scrunched up. “I don’t laugh at you. And it was about the origins of the Ikhor and the Aspis. And the shrines.”

“Let’s hear it then,” Brekt said. “Liv told me how the Aethar are taught about the Ikhor and Aspis. I’m interested in what you have to say, Cal.”

Cal paled, hearing Brekt say his name. He stood and walked, with a slight hunch to his neck, over to a tall shelf with rolled papers.

He shuffled a few around until he found what he was looking for.

“I had to trade twelve ancient texts for this one scroll. There are other collectors like me. One in particular boasted about this .”

Maev waited for Cal to unroll the scroll from a large tube. “We’ve already made copies of the maps he found and magic-protected them from bleeding.”

“Bleeding?” I asked.

“The ink,” she clarified.

Cal unrolled the parchment carefully, using books and weights to hold down the edges.

“It looks to be protected with magic as well,” Maev explained, coming to stand over Cal’s shoulder. “Which told me it was the real deal when Cal first showed me.”

Brekt and I joined them behind the desk.

The text was long, written in the language of Night, but much of it had faded and flaked away.

“There’s a drawing of the Aspis and the Ikhor,” Brekt noted, “And what is that drawn between them?”

“I haven’t been able to figure it out.” Cal nodded at the image that was half faded, the ink run off the page.

The edge looked like a stone of some kind.

“I have slowly been working on the text, written in the ancient language of Night, but haven’t translated much.

There are no written records to go off, except for artifacts like this that I can compare scribblings. ”

“I can read it,” I said, turning every head in my direction.

“Since when?” Brekt asked.

Shit .

“I forgot to mention on the way here. There is likely a lot we still have to learn about each other. When the Light brought me here, do you remember my shock when I discovered I knew your language?”

He nodded. “You assumed the magic was responsible.”

“I think the same thing happened with the language of Night. I could read the script over the archway leading down to the caves in the Guardian City.”

Brekt’s face fell. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I fiddle with the hem of my sleeve. “I was scared that what I felt inside of me was the Aspis. You had told me most times throughout history that the host was a child of Night. I told you that I didn’t know what I was.

So I thought if I admitted I could read the script, you would know, and you would ask me to become the beast and find the Ikhor. I didn’t want to at the time.”

He ignored the other two watching and leaned in, pulling me into his arms and kissing me on the forehead, and I wrapped my arms around him, melting into his touch. I would never get used to touching someone so freely.

“There were too many things unsaid between us. Between all of us.”

When he pulled away, I caught Maev’s look of surprise. She was seeing the man I had told her of—the warrior who had a good heart.

“So what does it say?” I could hear the impatience in Cal’s tone.

I leaned over the paper, studying the words. “There’s so much faded that no sentence is complete. There are words like gods, sister, war, children, blessed children.”

I trailed my finger under the beginning of a sentence, reading slowly.

“Rem never wanted to admit he was afraid …” My eyes traced the aged writing.

“Then, more words like crystals, gods again, legacies, crystals. Oh! This line.” I pointed to the edge of the parchment. “When the three unite, he will return.”

I stared at the faded script, hoping it would transform and explain more.

“What does that mean?” asked Maev.