“At first, I was flummoxed. But then I went to the cavern of the Fates between the worlds. It was little effort to evade the vanth who dwell along those shores since my family and I have been keeping them quite busy. The Fates had quite an interesting thing to say once those bitches got to it. They claim to be unbiased in the workings of the cosmos, but they certainly weren’t in any hurry to help me.”
He paused and then shook his head, fair locks flying around his face.
“Where was I? Oh, yes, the Fates. They told me a very curious thing. It turns out that I must thank you for killing Magva before she could inhabit the human. That would have destroyed the special thing about the little human. Not every generation you find a living portal.”
“What is her value to you? You’ve already broken the gates until you can be retrieved.”
The lauchume clapped his hands and laughed.
“Oh, so you’re going to play after all. Wonderful! Yes, it is true that I damaged the gates to Aites, but there is the annoying little fact that we are still bound to the infernal place. We trickle out and never know when someone like you and your little lantern may give it a go hunting us out. We must obey the laws of Aites, which means we cannot reproduce unless our numbers require more spirits to attend to our task and which makes the daylight toxic to us.”
Charu gritted his teeth. The male was intentionally toying with him.
“What has that to do with my mate?”
The lauchume who had turned aside to inspect the wine rack spun back around with a cackle.
“See, now that’s the sticky matter which is really going to make all of this such a personal pleasure for me.” His face darkened. “You really have been a thorn in my side for too long.” The irritation vanished from his features like smoke and he laughed again. “The way to break the hold of Aites over us is to join ourselves to the portal, or more specifically, to me. I will be able to breed young and strengthen our kind, and the mortal world will be our world, under my rule and dominion.”
Charu bristled despite his best efforts to control his reaction. He smiled coldly, showing his fangs as he schooled his features and attempted an uncaring façade.
“Wouldn’t your mate have something to say about that?”
“Yes, Tiurma was not pleased at all. She was very unreasonable about the whole thing. It really forced my hand. I’m afraid I had to bind her. It was quite painful for her and it made me quite sad to do it, but it is for the best. She is now enjoying a lengthy imprisonment in a lovely statue in her rooms. A gargoyle, I believe it’s called. It suits her, though nowhere near as terrible as her true form.”
He glanced at his perfectly buffed nails and sighed.
“And that brings me to you, the only other obstacle tormenting me. Make no mistake: mating with your female will give me a great deal of satisfaction, especially after you killed one of my favorite acila. It will be at the front of my mind when I am fucking her, I assure you. The only thing that makes it even better is that you get to witness the whole thing before I drop you down into the gullet of another of the greater acila in my service. Such useful creatures,” he murmured, a cruel smile curling his lips.
Rage burned through Charu as a roar ripped out of him. He leaped forward, heedless of the sharp pull of the chains as they snapped taut cutting deep welts into his body. The lauchume laughed in his maddening way as if the sight were the most entertaining one he’d seen.
The lauchume turned on his heel, ignoring Charu’s vicious assault on his bindings as if they were inconsequential. He walked up and stairs and spoke over his shoulder almost absently.
“Oh, do not make any plans for the day of shadows. I believe humans in this part of the world call it Halloween now. Forgive me, but I must see to my future mate.”
Impotent against his bindings, Charu struggled long after the other male left, the mocking giggles tormenting him all the while. Charu’s mind seethed and turned restlessly, the sole focus of his violent thoughts on one being alone—the wulkwos lauchume, even as his being called out in longing for his mate. The male would dare to touch his mate. The lantern, although necessary for transporting him through the gates back to Aites, seemed too kind.
Charu wanted to bind the wulkwos to the smallest pebble and cast it into the depths of the ocean where it would roll upon its sandy button for hundreds of thousands of years. That was after he took great pleasure in opening him up and ripping his head off. Or perhaps it would be even more satisfying to feed him to his own acila. Who knew how many of the monstrous creatures crawled beneath the estate?
Panting, heaving with fury, he finally settled on the floor of his cell, his head tilted back against the wall as he ignored the flaring sigils around him. He smiled as he imagined all the terrible things that he would do to the lauchume. These were followed by thoughts of his mate. Even thinking of her had the singular ability to soothe his turmoil and focus beyond his innate need to fuck something up.
Staring at the brilliant glow of the sigils, Charu felt himself relax. The lantern on the table pulsed brighter, drawing his attention. It was responding to something. He only hoped that it wasn’t due to distress to his mate. She’d suffer worse now that the lamp was being kept far out of her reach. He prayed to all the gods of Aites and those spirits of the celestial realms whom he rarely gave much credence to.
He tilted his head back, letting his horns scrape against the wall. If anything happened to her... if she suffered needlessly... he would sweep over all the wulkwos like a hellstorm. He hadn’t cared for much in the world before Meredith; without her, he would be merciless.
Chapter 23
The young woman who came into Meredith room watched her nervously as she entered, her head bowed deferentially. Lank locks of brown hair fell into unusually pale eyes that skittered away. It took Meredith a moment to realize that the young woman facing her wasn’t actually human. There was a strange presence about her that was as comforting as her grandmother’s kitchen when she was a child.
“What are you?” she asked bluntly as she stood from the soiled bedding, ignoring the grimace the female made at their condition. Her nervous eyes popped back up to Meredith and she swallowed.
“I am a lasa, mistress.”
“What’s that?” She kept her voice low and her pitch gentle as to not frighten the nervous spirit. “And please don’t call me ‘mistress.’ I have no intention of being anyone’s mistress.”
A tiny, barely-there smile tilted the edges of the lasa’s perfect bow-shaped lips.
“I will be punished again if I don’t observe the protocols, mistress,” she whispered. “A lasa is a spirit of the earth. We transition the world between the cycles of the living and dying.”
As the lasa gestured for her to move, Meredith stepped out of the way just as she began to pull off the bedding. A niggle of guilt tugged at her for creating extra work out of spite.
“Huh, autumn must be a busy time for you,” she said.
“There are many plants that must be prepared for the winter sleep and some for dying and making way for the next generation. There is always much to do.”
The lasa’s lips twisted wryly as she bundled up the bedding, carried it to the door, and deposited the mess in the laundry bag on a cart just outside the room. She returned to the room, brushing her hands off on her apron.
“A bath then, mistress. I suspect you must wish to get clean.”
Meredith followed her to the bathroom door, blushing.
“Really, you don’t need to do all of this. I won’t tell anyone.”
A dark eyebrow raised and the lasa giggled.
“It is no trouble. Truthfully, I would much rather be doing this than one of the other chores the wulkwos assign me. They enjoy giving me the worst of duties. It amuses them to see a servant of Turan, the goddess of love and beauty, mired in filth.”
“How did you end up with them if you’re a servant of a goddess?”
She shrugged, the gesture seeming strange
for a spirit. Meredith watched as she plugged the tub and it filled with steaming water. With long, delicate fingers the lasa tipped scented bath oils into the water that lent a soothing aroma to the air.
“The aiser are constrained by the laws of nature and fate about how much they can interfere with the lives of those on this plane, just as the spirits are constrained to our specific duties that impact the worlds. Once pulled through the veil, I was separated from my lady and my purpose.”
The lasa regarded Meredith’s filthy state and wrinkled her pert nose. “Please undress and hand me your clothes for washing.”
Meredith made a face. “I really don’t enjoy helping this asshole along. As far as I’m concerned, I wouldn’t mind rolling in my own filth more before I greet him. I would even help it along to achieve new levels of disgusting.”
The spirit let out another breathy giggle. “That would earn you no favors. As much as I would love to see the look on his face, I must caution you against displeasing the lauchume. Not only would he punish you, he would punish me and everyone else here in the estate who came into contact with you. He has chosen a pretty form, but his true nature is terrible.”
Reluctantly, Meredith stripped off her dirty clothes and handed them over to the spirit. She had little sympathy for Kessler or the wulkwos who’d manhandled her up until that point, but she didn’t wish to see the sweet-tempered lasa be punished over her refusal to cooperate.
“What’s your name?”
The female cocked her head, a mysterious smile dancing around her lips.
“There is power in a name, mistress. Remember you this: the true name of a spirit can move them between worlds, strip their power or return it. The name of things is the first words of the first among the aiser. We all have a common name and a royal name that is our true name. I will speak my true name to you. I trust you, mistress, and perhaps you will bring hope for me. I am Apane, the spirit of chance and unpredictability of change in the natural world.”
Meredith’s lips parted as she considered the implication of power contained in a name. She felt humbled by the trust placed in her by the spirit.
“So Charu’s true name isn’t Charu?”
“No, mistress. I know of no being that knows his true name save for his twin, Culsa.”
“Do you, by chance, know the lauchume’s name?”
The spirit laughed again, her pale aethereal eyes crinkling with merriment.
“That one’s name I’m not certain if even his mate knows.” Her face fell with sympathy, the dark tendrils of her hair wafting around her face as if on a current that Meredith could neither see nor feel. “Terrible female. She tormented me endlessly but now I only feel sad for her since she suffered the lauchume’s disfavor. Do you think that strange?”
Meredith blinked, caught off guard by the question.
“I don’t know how I’d feel if I were in your place. There was a time not too long ago when I would have said that anyone who’d hurt me deserved everything they got and then some.” She took a deep breath and let it out in an exasperated huff. “I cut ties with everyone, my own family included, because of hurtful things said, but now I’m not so sure if I made the right choice. I left them all and moved across the country, and now I don’t even know if any of them are still alive. I’m scared to find out, honestly.”
She rubbed her hand across the back of her neck. Could she forgive and feel empathy for a wulkwos who’d hurt her but then suffered greater hurt themselves for all their greed?
“I guess it’s difficult to judge. Things aren’t as rigidly good and bad as I once thought. The entire world is shades of gray. It seems now with everything falling down around us, and meeting beings that didn’t fit how I defined them, that’s a pretty limited way of understanding the world. We lose a lot of opportunities for truly good things in our lives if we limit ourselves like that.”
Apane’s face lit up with a smile, her eyes twinkling like stars. Reaching her empty hand forward, she twined their fingers together.
“My cousin is right. You are a good one, Meredith. You are tainted with the mark of Aites but you are also pure as light. It is as if the stain is transforming as it bleeds into you. It is a marvel to see.”
Meredith wasn’t sure how to respond to that analysis. She glanced to the full tub thick with sweet-scented bubbles and stepped into the warm water.
“How is this warmed? There is no electricity.”
“A dragon lives in the boiler room,” Apane replied, nonchalant.
Meredith started and looked at her in shock.
“Seriously?”
Peals of laughter rung out of the lasa.
“I’m sorry to laugh. No, there is an impressive generator system that provides power to the estate. The human Kessler discovered it upon his arrival and had his men turn it on for the lauchume’s comfort.”
“Wow, that is convenient, though I am kinda disappointed it’s not a dragon,” Meredith admitted with her own smile. Hopefully it would have been less terrifying than the wyrm she’d hallucinated.
Leaning back in the tub, she looked over at Apane.
“Is your cousin really a vanth?”
She nodded. “Indeed. The vanth and the lasa were created by our mother Turan for her pleasure. The lasas transition the world from one state to the next, and the vanth transitions the soul. Our purposes run parallel. Sometimes I see my cousins, the vanth, wandering through the city and I try to call out to them, but they never hear me. Not that it will do much good. The vanth are as bound as the rest of us when it comes to interfering. No one can rescue you once the lauchume has you.”
The final words offered were prophetic in tone. Meredith knew without a doubt that the lasa was communicating just how hopeless her situation was, but Meredith refused to accept that. She watched Apane sit in a chair near the tub, and lean against its back with a forlorn expression, her weary eyes focusing on Meredith. She could feel the terrible sorrow of the spirit in front of her and it took her breath away on a silent sob.
“Meredith, I’ve become nothing more than this, what you see before you, feeling the world dying around me knowing that I will outlast it all. All because I alone of my sisters was unable to flee quick enough to escape the lauchume when he came across us anointing the leaves for their autumnal change. I confess that my outlook of the world is dismal. It is unnatural for a lasa to feel the woes of life. We are creatures of beauty and joy. This state is destroying me.”
The last part was whispered so low that Meredith barely heard her, but she did and her heart broke for the gentle spirit. She’d been wrong—so wrong—to assume that what was going on just negatively affected humans. Charu’s harsh words many days ago had chafed but she still spoke arrogantly, though not entirely incorrect. Humans were suffering, but she couldn’t ignore that they weren’t the only ones.
She would have never guessed that she’d find spirits to be so complex and capable of so much such as Ischar, whom she’d considered an improbable oddity, an exception who may not be the only one among his kind. Nor could she have imagined there would be other spirits captured and enslaved like Apane.
What else had she been dismissing in her callous disregard?
Singing some foreign lilting melody, the lasa picked up a sponge, squeezed some soap onto it and began to gently scrub Meredith’s back. Meredith nearly groaned at the pleasure. She hadn’t had anyone wash her back since she was a child. Even the odd boyfriend hadn’t seemed inclined to climb into the shower with her.
She was pulled to her feet so that the sponge could be run down her legs. At first, having someone else wash her so thoroughly was far more intimate than she was accustomed to, but the gentle touch of the lasa was so perfunctory and impersonal that Meredith slowly began to relax into it as she was soaped, rinsed, and then her hair thoroughly cleaned.
Apane backed away from the tub, tears suspiciously gleaming in her eyes, and picked up a thick, fluffy towel, holding it out in front of Meredith as she steppe
d out of the tub. Taking a smaller towel, she rubbed the purple tresses dry before tackling the mess with a comb. To Meredith’s surprise, the strands untangled themselves with far more ease than she’d ever been able to coax them.
When the damp hair was finally settled on her shoulders, Meredith turned and looked back at the silent spirit. Tears were freely streaming down the lasa’s pale cheeks. Alarmed, Meredith took her hand in hers.
“What is it? Please, I didn’t mean...”
A watery smile beamed from Apane’s face, as her fingers tightened around Meredith’s in turn.
“Thank you.”
“Huh?”
“For a moment there, it was like I was home tending to my mistress again rather than here.” A fresh wash of tears ran down her colorless cheeks as she looked imploringly at Meredith, her hand tightening fractionally with more strength than Meredith would have guessed the lasa possessed.
“If there is any way, if you could free me...”
“I will do anything I can,” Meredith vowed.
Apane nodded and then jerked in fear when a loud thump sounded three times at the door before it swung open. A large, unfamiliar male stood there, his shoulders filling the doorway. He glared at the lasa, who visibly wilted, before turning his stony gaze to Meredith.
Unwilling to be cowed, Meredith glared right back.
“The lauchume is expecting you,” he snarled, stepping back so that Meredith could precede him into the hallway.
With a last glance at Apane, Meredith strode from the room, determined to find out just what was in store for her... and for her world as she knew it.
Chapter 24
The office that Meredith was escorted into was the sort she’d always secretly pined for. All polished wooden shelves, an elegant antique desk and leather furnishings. There was a trace of cigar smoke lingering in the air, and a narrow table between two bookshelves held decanters of dark liquid that she suspected were expensive liquors.
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