The Soulless

by Kate Martin

  Mortals never failed to kneel at such things.

  “Good. Get it done.” She stood, dismissing the fire from her hands. Two steps taken and she faltered, a concussion surging through her chest. The nine heartbeats suddenly out of sync. One flipped and flopped, stalling and starting again in an uneven rhythm. She clutched at her empty chest and waited for the steadiness to return. When it did not, she felt a chill begin to coat her skin.

  “Are you all right, Lady Lillianna?”

  “Fine,” she answered quickly, standing straight and reestablishing her normal expression of cool indifference. “Just a bit too entranced with all the lovely scents coming from the city. I will leave you now, to make your preparations. I trust you can manage to rile up the mortals into an appropriate frenzy.”

  “What I can’t do myself, my priests will finish.”

  “Good.” She headed for the door, each step deliberate and careful.

  She left the king’s quarters and went directly to the rooms he had given her for her personal use. They were located in the west wing, far from the royal family and the rooms normally given to guests, but that suited her just fine. She preferred privacy, especially when her balance had been so undone by the single rogue pulse. It continued to falter and seize, sending her stumbling and gasping for breath once she was away from any mortal eyes. She bypassed the door for her own room and instead went directly to the next.

  “Kai!” She burst through the door, a particularly painful jolt hitting her chest. He looked up at her from his spot on the floor. He had drawn a labrynth around himself, the lines glowing softly in the sparse light of the room. His arms were bruised; large finger-shaped lines that both highlighted and obscured the scars and labrynths that decorated his entire body. His lip was split and bleeding, but his arrogant expression was fully intact. Olin stood not far off, seething with white-knuckled fists at his sides.

  She did not have time for this. “What is going on?” With a swift kick, she shut the door behind her.

  Olin strode towards Kai. When he came to the edge of the labrynth it flared to life, illuminating in a protective wall around the youth and sending Olin teetering back. “He won’t let me near him.”

  “By the looks of him, he has good reason.” The pulses in her chest continued to beat out of rhythm, making her vision swim. “I thought I’ve told you to keep your hands off him.”

  “He needs to learn respect.”

  “Respect?” Kai stood, though he remained within the lines he had scrawled into the plush carpet. “What should I respect you for? You walk in here as if you own me, demanding I create spells for you and beating me when I refuse.”

  Olin lunged forward, as if he momentarily forgot that Kai had all the protection he needed, but stopped just short of the labrynth’s power. “I am your superior, and you will do as I ask. A witch is made for creating labrynths, nothing more.”

  “I was busy,” Kai said, his nose stuck in the air.

  “Busy with what?”

  “None of your business.”

  Before Olin could once again attempt to throttle Kai, Lillianna shouted loud enough to leave them both staring and silent. “I haven’t the time for your bickering,” she said once they were paying attention. “There is something wrong with the hearts. One is failing to beat in time with the others.” Another attack rocked her, and the severity of it reached Olin.

  He came to her side and took her by the arm, steadying her. “How is this possible?”

  “I don’t know,” she snapped. “It was Kai’s magic.”

  “I did everything perfectly.” Kai folded his arms over his chest defensively. “If something is wrong now, it’s no fault of mine.”

  “I don’t care if it’s your fault or not,” Lillianna said, relying on Olin heavily to keep her feet. “I will blame you anyway. Now go check the boxes. Find out what’s wrong.”

  With a huff and mutterings that Lillianna ignored, Kai stepped free of his protections and slipped through the far door that lead to the room he used as a temporary workshop. His true place of power in Hell was still a mess from all the traps he had set during the ritual.

  Olin led her to a nearby chair. “You are sure it’s the hearts?”

  He appeared honestly concerned, but Lillianna was wary. That concern could be for any number of things. “One of the hearts, yes. I feel all nine pulses, only one is off.”

  “What does this mean for your plans? Your new power?”

  “How should I know? This has never been done before. I am, once again, the first. There is no one to ask.”

  A quarter turn passed before Kai returned. He had one box tucked under his arm and set it on the small table before her. “This is the one.” He was teeming with suppressed rage.

  “How do you know?”

  Silently, he turned the box once and gestured to the broken corner. A large chunk of the metal and glass was missing, resulting in the lines of the labrynth carved into the sides to be broken and incomplete.

  With the box so close, Lillianna felt that single pulse flutter even more. “How did this happen? When?”

  Kai shrugged. “They were fine when we began the ritual. My guess would be sometime after that.”

  “Can you fix it?”

  “I’d need the missing piece.”

  Another spasm. Lillianna clutched her chest, suddenly hating the feel of having a heart once again within her. The box mocked her.

  “Then get the piece.” Olin growled, looming over the boy.

  Kai, never one to back down, stayed firm. “And just how would you like me to do that?”

  “Can’t you trace it?”

  A snort. “No.”

  The pulse seized, and Lillianna had to gasp for breath. “Can you stabilize it for now? I’d like an end to this, even a temporary one.”

  With a single finger, Kai touched the box and set the lines aglow. He then leaned over it, studying it, turning the box this way and that. He would touch a section and it would go dark, then light again with a second touch. It seemed forever before he finally stood and looked at her once again. “It needs a connection, something to ground it and remind it how to beat steady.”

  “Another heart?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then connect yourself,” she said.

  “Me?” Kai’s voice squeaked. “Why me?”

  “Because you are the only one in this room with a heart, and I have no desire to remain like this. Now do it.”

  Indignant, Kai chewed his bottom lip as if he wanted to say something, but was smart enough not to.

  “Is that wise?” Olin dropped himself into a second chair, arm draped over the back. His nonchalance irritated her. “Kai is valuable. What if something goes wrong?”

  “For instance—my heart stopping.” Kai grumbled.

  Lillianna stood, grabbed Kai by the throat and squeezed just enough to make her point. “Make the connection properly and that shouldn’t be an issue, should it? Besides, it will give you ample incentive to find the missing shard.” Another spasm caused her hand to clench around his neck, then suddenly release. She collapsed back into the chair.

  Kai rubbed his abused flesh, a sour look on his face. But in the next instant, he bit his finger and set about to tracing his own blood into the lines on the box. It took time, more time than Lillianna had hoped, but he finally stepped back as the labrynth flared with life.

  The pulse inside her settled, falling back into rhythm with the others. Lillianna breathed a sigh of relief. Kai sucked on his bleeding finger, walking away as if that would save him from further tasks.

  “Did it work?” Olin asked.

  “It seems so.”

  “Good. May I?” He gestured to the box.

  “What for?”

  “I have an idea.”

  As much as she loved to be cryptic herself, she hated to be on the other end of such things. Now, she was tired and readjusting to the feel of nine beating hearts, so she simply waved her consent.

&n
bsp; Olin leaned forward in his chair and lifted the box from the table. The magic laced all throughout did not respond to his touch. He gave it a few turns, inspecting all sides and even the bottom. Then he dragged his nose along the broken edge and smiled after taking a deep breath. “Well, isn’t that interesting.”

  “What is?”

  “Let me just confirm.” Another smell, then his tongue rolled out of his mouth, licking the jagged edge.

  Kai, the boy who cut and bled himself on a regular basis, twisted his face in disgust. Lillianna rolled her eyes, unamused. “Well?”

  Setting the box back on the table, Olin reclined again. “It is as I thought. I know that scent anywhere.”

  “What scent? Whose?”

  He smiled. “Carma.”

  Blistering godflesh of a shriveled whore.

  “Carma did this?”

  “You really shouldn’t be so surprised.”

  She wasn’t. It was more the audacity of that damned demon that upset her, the sheer hubris. “How do we get it back? She must have it somewhere safe. She is many things, but a fool is not one of them.”

  “Oh, I think we have a way.” His gaze turned to Kai.

  Now on the floor, sitting cross-legged with his arms folded over his chest, Kai frowned as they both looked at him. “Ask me nicely.”

  — CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE —

  Despite taking their time and arriving back at the manor around noon the next day, Alec had hoped they would be able to arrive with little notice from the other members of their so-called family. Unfortunately, luck was not on their side. He and Bri barely made it to the base of the staircase before he heard Carma summoning them from across the house.

  Leaving their bags in the hall and exchanging dubious glances, Alec and Bri followed the sound of her voice to the backyard. There, beneath what had once been a beautiful oak, but what was now little more than a scarred and burned skeleton of a tree, stood Carma, Dorothea, and Picadilly. Each appeared disheveled to say the least, haggard and bruised if one wanted to edge closer to the truth. Dorothea’s hands were bloody, as were the arms of the other two women.

  Alec was so glad he hadn’t listened and come home earlier. “Yes?” He posed the question innocently, as though bored with Carma’s summons.

  “Did you have a lovely time?”

  “What a ridiculous thing to ask.”

  “Why is that?”

  The true interest on her face gave Alec pause. “You haven’t heard?”

  “Heard what, Alec? I’ve had a long night. I don’t want to play games.”

  “About the temple. The entire structure was reduced to rubble, with every seat inside full.”

  “How terrible.” She didn’t sound like she meant it. “Demonic in nature, do you think?”

  “Bri thinks so. He didn’t see it until right before it happened. And I saw Olin there.” He was not about to tell her how Bri had gone charging in, proclaiming his dark prophecy only to be ignored. Bri didn’t need another lecture.

  “Olin. Most definitely Lillianna’s work then.” Tucking her hair behind her ear, Carma flicked her gaze to Bri, then back to the charred spot in the grass at her feet. “In any case, it is just as well you didn’t come home last night, we only just finished ourselves.”

  Bri tugged on Alec’s sleeve. “She doesn’t care?” he asked, his voice a strained whisper.

  Alec motioned for him to keep quiet. “And just what were you up to all night?”

  With a grin, Carma waved a shining piece of metal in the sunlight—the shard she had taken from Lillianna’s box. “Let’s just say I’m sure Lillianna is not feeling her best at the moment.”

  “Terrific. She wasn’t incensed enough as it was?”

  “Would you rather she became a god, Alec? There’s never been a demon god before. What do you think life would be like?”

  “I imagine not much worse than the places where Kaeie and Kesi reign.” The twin gods were masters of mischief and mayhem.

  Carma turned serious, her dual-colored eyes darkening. “Lillianna would enslave us all.”

  “I’m not arguing with you.”

  “Then go inside and leave us alone. You’re ruining my good mood.”

  Perfect, exactly what he had wanted. “Your wish is my command.” He bowed mockingly before steering Bri back into the house and upstairs.

  “How can she not care?” Bri asked again once they had reached the second floor.

  “She’s a demon, Bri. She only cares about things that affect her.”

  “Like Lillianna’s ambitions.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Lillianna was probably behind the destruction of the temple.”

  “More than likely.”

  “So then shouldn’t Carma wonder why? It will draw a lot of attention. The myst is full of people speculating about it, talking about it. It won’t go away any time soon.”

  Hand on the door to his room, where he planned to actually sleep for the rest of the day, Alec shook his head. “She’s crazed from whatever she and Dorothea worked last night. It happens. Once she’s over it, the thought will cross her mind, I promise you.”

  “All right.” He didn’t look convinced.

  “Think you can get some sleep now that we’re out of the city?” Neither of them had slept the night before. The nightmares wouldn’t go away, and so conversation and games of cards and dice had occupied them until the sun had risen. The dark circles under Bri’s eyes made him look as pale as winter snow.

  “I think, maybe. I’ll try.”

  “Well, I’ll be here if you need me. If I don’t answer right away, I’m probably sleeping.”

  “Alone?” One side of Bri’s mouth quirked up in a teasing smile.

  Alec laughed, half surprised and half glad that the entire incident had become a joke so quickly. “If I have anything to say about, oh yes. Very alone.”

  Bri couldn’t sleep, so instead he lay back and entered the myst, activating the small beacon Kai had left there on their first meeting, then investigating the reactions of the city while he waited. Visiting with his brother was how he spent a lot of his time lately. They swapped tales of their childhoods, but only rarely. Both their pasts were mostly pain, and they were more interested in making new memories together.

  The myst was unclear on the ramifications of the explosion, which wasn’t that abnormal. Often times when something drastically altered a path set forth by the Grand Plan it took the myst a while to acclimate and steady itself once again. What he could see worried him. There were blurry crowds of angry people, and more smoke and fire. The temples overflowed with worshippers and priests, and other holy persons walked the streets preaching at the tops of their lungs. Even with limited definition, the darkness of the future was clear. More bad things were going to happen.

  He had just released a particularly disturbing strand that carried nothing with it but the stench of death when he heard the familiar hollow pop that signaled his brother’s arrival in the myst.

  Kai whistled. “Wow. Certainly seems colder today than the last time I was here.”

  “It is colder,” Bri said, watching the wisps go by, some ignoring him, others teasing him with their touch. “The future is uncertain at the moment. There was a disaster in Callay. Unplanned. The myst hasn’t had enough time to right itself.”

  Stepping up to stand at Bri’s side Kai gazed into the myst even though Bri knew he could see nothing but darkness. “What kind of disaster?”

  “A temple was destroyed. A lot of people died.”

  “And that affects the entire future?”

  “Not everything. Just the future of Callay and most likely other parts of Chanae as well. But one incident can have a ripple effect. Who knows how far it could reach?”

  “So what happens now?”

  “Do you want to see?”

  Kai nodded. “Show me.”

  Without another word, Kai set his hand on Bri’s bare arm. They had discovered on their third visit that
if they touched while one worked his particular magic, they could share the experience. When Bri touched Kai while he drew a labrynth, he could see the lines flare with life that went beyond what he could see of Dorothea’s spells. He could see Kai’s blood flow through the lines, moving and bringing life to them where otherwise they were nothing but doodles on the ground. As the labrynth came together he could feel it activate, feel the warmth it exuded as whatever task it had been scribed for came into being. It was miraculous. Like experiencing life from the core of energy that brought about sentience to every person and creature in the world. It had taken Bri’s breath away.

  Similarly, when Kai touched Bri as he looked into the myst, Kai could see the wisps of color as they came closer, and then the visions they carried as Bri let them into his mind. It didn’t seem a fair trade. Kai gave him an experience of warmth and exhilarating power. Bri had nothing more to offer than a bleak future. And pain. Kai had gasped unexpectedly the first time they had done this, and Bri knew his brother had felt that ache he carried with him every day of his life. He was sorry for that.

  Touching a strand he knew contained a vision of an unruly mob of people outside one of the main temples, Bri waited while Kai peered into the myst.

  “Incredible.” Kai dropped his hand from Bri’s arm, but didn’t step back. “And everything is like that?”

  “Similar, yes. I don’t know what it all means, though. It’s still too blurry.”

  Kai nodded and rubbed his eye. “I could see that. It’s not as clear as the other things you’ve shown me.”

  “I’m worried.”

  “Eh. Don’t be. I doubt any of it will reach you.”

  “It might. I tried to stop it,” Bri admitted.

  “You tried to stop it?”

  “The destruction of the temple, yes. But I saw it too late.” Bri stared at his hands. It was still hard to admit. “I was already in the city, only moments before it happened. I went inside and tried to get everyone to leave, but no one would listen.”

  “You ran inside a temple and shouted for everyone to get out?”

  “You sound just like Alec.”

  Kai shrugged. “You have to admit, it’s not the best plan.”