“Ready?” I ask, trying not to sound too eager.
She smiles and then winks at me with a cheery look on her face. “Yes, Empress.”
I shake my head, suppressing a smile. Then, shutting my eyes, I picture the grey stone castle, its peaking towers, the green grass, the sand beside the rippling lake. I let out a sigh of relief as I feel us being pulled away, whisked back to my world. However, a part of me feels guilty for leaving them. Even though the Fey have never been my favorite creatures, they still don’t deserve to suffer and I wonder if maybe I’ll end up going back and helping them.
As I land on the ground, I shake the thought from my head, relieved to be back in the real world again.
Chapter 31
Alex
It’s dark, murky, the air smells pungent, but that could be from the mummified corpses surrounding me. Water drips from the stone ceiling and rivers down the walls. I scrape my knife across the rocks as I watch the Lost Souls cower, terrified out of their rotting minds. The fear flowing off them invigorates me, but, for a brief second, it feels wrong.
“See? It’s not so bad,” Draven says, walking the length of the room with a massive grin on his face. The Banshee watches us from the corner of the room, perched on a rock, occasionally joining us.
I nod, cutting a piece off the stone wall. I watch the fragment fall to the ground, already forgetting what I was thinking about. “It’s not too bad.”
We’re in the basement of his place. Apparently, he’s been working on his army for quite some time because he’s already got a whole stash of Lost Souls on hand. He brought me down here to train me and to add Stasha’s body—soul—to the collection.
He carries a long, black whip, laced with silver, as he struts around the room, carrying confidence, even though decaying bodies surround him.
“What you must always understand, Alex, is that strong discipline is the key to their behavior. You give them a chance to disobey,” he cracks his whip as one of them shifts towards him, “they will have no respect for you.”
The willful soul returns to its corner, hunkering back down with the others. Draven rolls up his whip and connects it to his hip. He turns in my direction and gestures for me to follow him as he opens the door. “We can continue this later. There are things we need to discuss.”
Folding my knife, I put it back inside my pocket and give one last look at the tortured souls before I exit the room. Draven waits for me just outside the door and, when I am standing next to him, he removes a long key from his pocket and locks the door behind us, tucking the key back inside his pocket.
He departs towards the wooden staircase that leads to the main floor and I follow behind him. The staircase is old and slightly sways under the pressure of our weight as we make our way up it.
Draven opens the door at the top of the stairs and the light from the hallway greets our eyes, causing me to blink. I follow him down the long hall towards his office. He ushers me to take a seat as he strolls over to the desk and takes a seat in his large leather chair.
“I have no doubt that you will be able to handle the Lost Souls, Alex. You are more than capable. We need to recruit more individuals so my—or should I say, our—army will be strong enough to overtake Helena.” He watches me, wanting a response.
“That shouldn’t be a problem. There are plenty of people walking down the nearby streets every day. We should be able to capture as many as we need—no one would even notice.” Leaning back in my chair I stretch my arms behind me and lean my head back on them.
“Unfortunately, it is not that simple.” He opens a drawer on his desk and takes out a thick book. I recognize it as the book he was reading once before—when he first brought Stasha into the room.
Flipping open the book, he searches for a page. When he finds what he is looking for he shoves the book across the desk towards me. “I want you to read the section on that page. It will explain in detail why your suggestion will not be a success for us.”
Leaning forward in my chair, I reach out to pull the book towards me. I can tell by the thick pages and elegant writing inside that it is very old and is probably something that was difficult for Draven to come by.
I glance down at the page that Draven wants me to view and skim through the words that are written upon the page. Everything becomes clear to me as I read the words and I understand Draven’s concern about finding the right people for our army.
Closing the book I slide it back across the desk. He picks it up and tucks it back inside the drawer he took it from before folding his hands in front of him as he watches me with his dark eyes.
“Do you understand now why it is imperative that we find the correct subjects for our army?” he asks me.
I nod my head. “I do. If we find people with powers such as Keepers and Witches, their strengths will be preserved in them as they become our Lost Souls. So the more powers they have, the stronger they will be for us.”
He is pleased and smiles. “That is exactly right, Alex. So I want to be sure that those that we… convert… have some kind of power. The more power they have, the more power we’ll have.”
We need power. I think I know just the person.
A slow smile creeps across my face. An Omnia is one of the most powerful people I know.
And I know right where to find one.
Chapter 32
Gemma
We land on the shore of the lake beneath the sun and are instantly blanketed by warm air.
“Thank God.” Aislin does a spin with her hands out to the sides of her, her hair blowing behind her like a cape. “It’s so good to be home.”