“We know, Ethan. You’ve commented about it enough in your messages that I’m fairly certain we all are aware by this point,” Sereth said, a note of exaggerated patience in her voice.
“Perhaps you’re intellectually aware, but I don’t think you realize just how much of a problem it is. On the other hand, maybe this will change that,” Ethan said, his voice sharp now, slapping a hand on the table as he continued. “Alserah has other deities in residence, now. A minimum of three are there, and rumor says that there could be as many as ten of them, and we have no idea what they’re doing.”
“What? How in all the stars can you have lost track of that many deities?” Yimael exclaimed, half-rising from her chair with her hands on the table. The anger in her voice was palpable, and Ordath felt shock ripple through him as well.
“Lose track? Just how few mortal deities do you think there are?” Ethan asked, sarcasm all but dripping from his voice. “I know of at least sixty archangels, and I’m certain there are more that are either obscure or who’ve hidden themselves away for ages, and we only have the support of eight of them, excluding Sereth and Ordath. Mortals are even more prone to gaining mantles than we are, and they have somewhere in the neighborhood of two hundred known deities. Certainly, about half of them are on the other side and they’re fractious, but keeping track of hundreds or more deities is nigh impossible. Don’t you dare give me grief about this, not when we’re waiting on your artificers to finish their work!”
Yimael opened her mouth to speak, but Zithar interrupted suddenly, his voice cracking like a whip, and the other two at least had the grace to look abashed. “Enough! We don’t have time to listen to you bicker. Ethan, do you have any more information about these deities?”
“The only one I know is there is Gandar, as he’s a staunch ally of Alserah’s. The lack of information is frustrating, and I can’t do much about it,” Ethan said flatly, shaking his head unhappily. “I’ve dispatched scouts to keep watch around their borders to see if they leave, but if they teleport it’ll be hard to determine anything in time to act.”
“Unfortunate, but there’s nothing we can do about it. It won’t be easy for them to act against us, though. They’re not in the heavens, and we have no need to travel to the mortal world to continue our plans,” Zithar said, shaking his head firmly. “Keep an eye on them as best you can, and we’ll continue on our path. If anything, I’m more concerned about the other traitors, Isalla and Roselynn.”
“Not much has been learned about them lately, though one of our best is after them, a man named Sorm,” Ordath said, smiling slightly as he continued. “He’s another reason I didn’t mention for not punishing Haral, as they’re in a relationship.”
“Sorm… the one who was captain of the guard for the Holy Council?” Yimael asked, her anger seeming to ease slightly.
“That’s right. Even with Ember, I’d confidently bet on Sorm over Roselynn, which should tell you a lot about him,” Ordath confirmed, relaxing slowly. “I don’t know much about the others, but I doubt he’ll let them get in the way of doing his job.”
“Excellent,” Zithar said, nodding. “In that case, if you’d keep us informed? I don’t want another surprise like this coming out of nowhere.”
“Of course,” Ordath agreed, and he pushed himself to his feet as the others began to disperse.
Things were going well, even if Haral would be regretting her decisions shortly.
Haral shuddered on her knees, hissing as pain seared through her body at the thought of her mistake where Isalla was concerned. She should have killed the angel outright rather than trying to blame her death on the hells, but she couldn’t change that now. Not that the Chamber of Penitence cared.
The room wasn’t large, a simple white-walled room with gold patterns on it to make it look more soothing, almost like a room for meditation and contemplation. That was what it was, in fact, though the enchantments over the room were far more sinister than its welcoming appearance might imply.
The enchantments worked their magic ruthlessly, and what they did was not only dredge up every mistake Haral had made for the last century one at a time, but they also forced her to examine the mistakes as pain racked her mind and body as punishment. In theory those who hadn’t made mistakes could go into the room without being affected, but that was only in theory.
“Isalla. Roselynn.” Haral whispered their names through gritted teeth, her rage slowly burning higher as she was forced to examine her actions where they were concerned.
They were the reason for her pain, and it was only because of them that she was in this position. If Roselynn hadn’t fallen for Isalla, the young woman would never have come to the Evergardens. If Isalla hadn’t come to the Evergardens, she’d never have investigated the society’s movements, and Haral wouldn’t have had to deal with either of them. It was entirely their fault that she was in pain, and the angel hissed again, breathing hard as she clawed at the floor, her nails flexing painfully as they did so.
“Sorm, I hope they suffer,” Haral said, her wings shuddering with every passing moment.
The worst part was, she’d only been in the room for a couple of hours, so this was going to be a horrifying week. Haral had her doubts that she’d come out intact, no matter what she’d been told.
Chapter 22
“Do you think it’ll work?” Estalia asked, sitting on the edge of the bed as she watched Anna curiously, her eyes fixed on the amulet in the angel’s hands. “It’s been so long since that was made, after all.”
“Oh, it’ll work. Whether or not the building is still there is an entirely different question,” Anna said, smiling as she looked up from the intricately carved amulet. The mana had leaked out of the device long ago, so she’d been carefully charging it again over the last few days, but the enchantments seemed to be as good as they had the last time Anna had used the amulet.
“Too bad we don’t know about that, at least not for certain. I’d ask my agents, but I don’t want to give anyone clues about your presence,” Estalia said, letting out a soft sigh as she shook her head, and Anna couldn’t help watching the way her midnight-blue hair stood out against the demoness’s luminous skin. “Too bad it only works from the mortal world, and a single way. It’d be nice to visit the heavens far more directly.”
“Even the most powerful magic has its limits,” Anna replied philosophically, setting the amulet on the shelf gently. “Have you told Alserah about me?”
“Of course not!” Estalia said, sounding scandalized as she put a hand on her chest. “I know better than that. If they knew who you were, they might panic, and that’s not something I want to happen. For all I know, the society would panic. They’d certainly try to kill you!”
“Very, very true. Or they’d try to rescue me, as if I needed that,” Anna replied, rolling her eyes as she glanced at the teleportation amulet. She was curious if her old home was still standing, in ruins, or if it’d been repurposed. Probably the last, but she wasn’t certain. It’d been far too long to be sure of anything.
She sighed softly, approaching Estalia and smiling warmly as she asked, “Do you mind that I’ve changed back, for the most part?”
“Mind? Of course not! Seeing you confident as you are… it sets my stomach all aquiver, almost like I was a girl again,” Estalia said, her eyes glittering with mirth as she added, “Do you remember the look on Mother’s face when I brought you home? I thought she was about to attack you!”
“It’s almost like we were on opposite sides of the battlefield just a few days earlier, and I’d almost killed her. I’m more surprised that she let me stay without arguing much,” Anna said, her mind drifting back to the day as she smiled.
The memories weren’t all pleasant, as the bone-deep exhaustion that she’d felt at the time was terrible, but nowhere near as bad as her mental exhaustion. If it hadn’t been for Estalia… well, her road would have been a much, much shorter one. Even so, she could still appreciate the shock on everyo
ne’s faces when she’d entered the throne room, and Anna took a moment to wonder what had happened to the others who’d been present. Her mood was dampened a little at the thought, though, as they were probably long since dust.
“She took me aside afterward and asked me what in all the hells I thought I was doing, since you could be a spy,” Estalia said, grinning even more as she laughed softly. “I pointed out that of all the people to try pretending to switch sides, you would probably be the last one, considering how powerful you are. It was a terrible blow to their attempts to invade the hells, hm?”
“Oh? Well, I’m glad you managed to convince her I wasn’t deceiving you. Not that I would have had much luck, as relatively guileless as I was at the time,” Anna replied, sitting next to Estalia and pulling her close. The angel closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth and scent of Estalia for a long moment before continuing softly. “It was a dark time for me, though you made it much brighter.”
“You aren’t the only one whose life was improved,” Estalia replied, her hand touching Anna’s cheek gently, then the demoness slowly, insistently kissed Anna, who melted into it happily.
For a long minute the room was quiet, as they simply enjoyed the company of one another. Anna enjoyed it more than she probably should, but their decisions had kept them apart for far longer than either of them wanted, with only occasional, brief liaisons. A large part of it had been caution, Anna admitted privately, but it was also that she’d honestly come to enjoy her time in the spire. The work she did there was important and expanding the point of view of others was something she thought vital for the future.
“Are you really going to tell Kitania about us?” Anna asked suddenly, a thread of worry twisting through her as she opened her eyes again. She bit her lip for a moment, then admitted softly, “I… am worried about her reaction. It’s been so long, and we’ve hidden her ancestry the entire time, cloaking it behind rumors about your brother.”
“I’ll remind you that he agreed to spread the rumors and not contradict them, even if he got himself killed later on,” Estalia said, her smile fading as she let out a soft sigh. “That was… unfortunate. If he was around, all this would be easier, but fortune doesn’t always favor us. But yes, I’m planning to tell Kitania. She deserves to know that she doesn’t have a father and mother, but two mothers. And… well, I’m not certain, even now, but her immortality…”
“You think it’s an angelic mantle,” Anna stated, a tinge of grief rushing through her at the thought.
“That’s right,” Estalia agreed, leaning into Anna even more as she frowned, shaking her head sorrowfully. “It’s the only possibility that makes any sense to me. She can’t pass it on to demons or mortals, or at least she’s never sensed how to do so, so either it isn’t a mantle, which seems impossible to me, or it’s an angelic mantle.”
“You don’t hear me disagreeing with you, do you? I’ve had plenty of time to think about it over the centuries, and I’ve come to the same conclusion,” Anna agreed, hugging Estalia still tighter for a moment, then reluctantly eased her grip as she continued. “At least they probably can’t steal it. Most mantles… well, it requires the person to be dead to absorb it, and that can’t happen to her. So at least that’s something.”
“Very, very true. But that doesn’t mean they can’t hurt her badly, or the people around her,” Estalia agreed, a flicker of pain crossing her face. Eventually the demoness admitted softly, “I… wish she was here. Where we could keep her safe.”
“I know,” Anna said simply, curling her wings around Estalia protectively, and the demoness went quiet, simply hugging Anna in return.
Nothing broke the silence this time, and after a long couple of minutes, Anna leaned down to kiss Estalia again, and this time they didn’t stop at just a kiss.
Chapter 23
“You didn’t mention how cold it is up here, Yain,” Maura complained, clutching her coat closer as the horses plodded forward, her hair whipping in the wind. “It’s summer, for crying out loud! It shouldn’t be so chilly.”
“It isn’t always this cold, but the northern wind can be rather unpleasant,” Yain said, not looking too much happier.
For her part, Kitania entirely agreed with them, since she was far colder than she’d prefer. Demons tended to be resistant to heat, not to cold. Only the angels seemed unbothered, and Kitania wasn’t sure if that was because of their armor or if they were more used to the temperatures common in the north.
“Ugh, it’s still unpleasant. I didn’t pack clothing suited for late fall or early winter, after all,” Maura grumbled, and Kitania resisted the urge to laugh at her. It wouldn’t be nice, and Maura really didn’t deserve to be mocked, since she and Yain had ended up doing a lot of the harder work on the trip.
The Harth plateau was truly immense, and Kitania was a bit taken aback by the sight of it, particularly at how flat the land here was. Stranger to her was how there were locals farming easily despite the apparent cold, though the crops were somewhat more unusual to her eyes. None of the others knew much about the plants, though, so all Kitania could do was glance curiously at the farmers working their way through the fields as she passed.
They’d passed a city as well, one which was lower-built than many human cities Kitania had seen, and the most imposing structure had been a broad, open-air temple which they’d been able to see from miles away. She didn’t know an immense amount about the deities of Uthren, but Kitania did know that one of the major aspects of their faith was revering the sky, which was part of why they loved the heavens so much.
“Maybe so, but you’ll be alright; the wind isn’t always like this,” Yain scolded, prompting soft laughter from Isalla. “You haven’t been cold the last couple of days, so get over it!”
Maura just grumbled, and Kitania grinned, glancing at Rose in amusement, while the angel simply smiled in return, obviously about as entertained as Kitania was. Kitania was more pleased that the ice between her and Isalla had cracked, and Rose was slowly opening up as well, as they often talked quietly late into the night, feeling out each other a bit more carefully this time around. As much as Kitania liked Isalla and Rose, she didn’t want to completely dive into a relationship that might go awry.
On the other hand, while Kitania had initially suspected that Maura and Yain were in a relationship or approaching one, she’d realized it was more of companionable banter. She still wasn’t certain they weren’t occasionally sleeping with one another, but if so it wasn’t anything serious. She knew that sort of relationship, since Kitania had been in several similar ones in the hells, all the way back when she was living in the palace.
“How much farther is it to Uthren’s Throne?” Kitania asked, quirking an eyebrow at Rose. “I don’t see anything in the distance, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
“Ah, well… I’m not entirely certain. I’m not used to traveling on the ground, which makes it harder to tell, and the lack of easy landmarks is troubling,” Rose replied, flushing slightly with embarrassment as she looked at Isalla. “How about you, Isabel? You were always better at geography than me.”
“That’s because I had to arrange travel more than you,” Isalla said, laughing softly as she smiled. “As to that… I’m not sure if we’ll make it there today, but certainly tomorrow. The distance is deceptive on the plateau, with several ripples in the landscape that can hide areas when you think it’s flat, and the mountains in the distance are way farther away than you might think at sea level.”
“Truly?” Vinara asked, looking at Isalla curiously. “How far away are they?”
“Well… look at those ones to the west,” Isalla said, nodding toward a mountain range off to their left that looked no more than a handspan in height from their perspective. “Those are at least twenty miles away, if not even farther than that. I may be better than Lynn at geography, but I didn’t pay attention to exactly where the mountains were, relative to our location. The thing is, line of sight is farther up here, and th
at makes it a little easier to overlook changes in the landscape. Sometimes, anyway.”
“Ah, fair, I suppose. I wondered why they didn’t seem to be getting larger as fast as I expected… well, you can learn something new no matter how old you are, I suppose,” Kitania said, glancing at the mountains again, then stopped and blinked as she looked ahead of them, drawing her horse up short as she saw a man simply appear on the road ahead of them.
The others quickly stopped as well, and Kitania heard Eziel inhale sharply at the sight of the man. He was an angel, with brown hair and eyes, and cradled in his arms was a sleek, deadly-looking crossbow with an enchanted bolt loaded. He wore glittering chain without an emblem, which was immaculate, though the semi-transparent cloak on his back concerned Kitania a little, as did the smirk on his face. In her opinion that was a very bad sign.
“I thought about staying hidden for a while longer, but I’m afraid my patience is running thin,” the man said, his voice a relatively pleasant baritone, but the harsh edge to his gaze told Kitania that he was anything but pleased to meet them. His gaze settled on Kitania for a moment, then he looked at Isalla and Rose, sneering slightly as he said. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Isalla and Roselynn… the two of you were long the dogs of the Order of the Phoenix, and now you’re allies of the very beings you were supposed to stamp out. How very disgusting.”
“Who are you? The bastard who attacked us when we fought the bandits?” Isalla demanded, her eyes narrowing suddenly.
Maura’s hand was drifting toward her sword, but the angel obviously noticed as well, as his crossbow came up as quickly as a serpent could strike, taking aim at her as he spoke. “None of that, miss elf. I’d hate to kill you, but I’m more than willing to do so if necessary. My issue is with the demons and traitors. As for who I am? I’m not telling you that. I might be confident, but I’m not stupid. No, I’m here to give you a choice.”
Hell's Ascendant (Mantles of Power Book 3) Page 17