I was allowed to attend, but there was no chair for me. I was given special provision to act as a witness even though I was no longer affiliated with the Luxis or Knights of the Light.
I went to greet my brother properly. We clasped hands and Leonidas pulled me into a half hug.
“When do you think the last time the Orders had all met in one place like this?” I asked, needing to hear someone else speak. Distract myself from anything but the writhing agony inside me.
Leonidas was nearly half a foot taller than me, with long blond hair and matching long beard. Even in the solemnness of the situation, a sparkle shone from his eye as he leaned over and said to me in a hushed voice, “You mean apart from the time you forced them to join forces to stop the end of the world before getting trapped in the Stygian? Or do you mean your wedding?”
One corner of my mouth twitched. “Yes, before that.”
He took a deep breath and readjusted his folded arms and he took in the grim group. “As you know, brother, it is not my place to speculate on such things. You would be the one better to guess. After all, you are the one who can read now.”
Leonidas had no ill intention or judgment in his voice. Yet I knew he was acknowledging how much I’d changed. Interacting with my brother reminded me of the version of myself from what felt like a lifetime ago. He was a foot soldier, a powerful one, but a foot soldier, nonetheless. He was comfortable with that position and the manipulation did not bother him so much as he was doing good by ‘destroying nasty things from the Stygian’ as he put it.
For my knowledge and worldliness, I had paid the ultimate price. I’d left the Order to be with Emma. And now I didn’t have her.
Regina and Phillip had been with me at one of their safe houses when Leonidas came. Now, they sat, a hard set to their jaw as they warily regarded the Order of Luxis on the other side of the table.
Astrid was also present. Instead of the emerald dress she’d wore at the wedding, she wore a beat-up brown jacket, and jeans. Though she met everyone’s gazes head on, I could see she was uneasy. Whether it was because she was in a place without backup, or because it was the first time Tenebrae had been granted a seat at the table in hundreds of years, I couldn’t say.
Jolon sat at the table, outwardly less perturbed then the rest, but I knew he was silently observing and absorbing. Ylang sat with Violetta by his side. They’d adorned burgundy-colored robes and carried powerful gem-topped staffs. Seeing as they had Leonidas with them, their own personal guard, they had little to fear but they always wanted to be the most powerful in the room—as Emma had pointed out.
A pain shot through me. I wasn’t sure if it was the wound in my gut or in my heart that was sending the acute reminder of how she’d last looked before I lost consciousness.
Master Ylang was the one to stand and speak first. The tips of his fingers touched the table, his red velvet robe accentuated his dull pallor and red rimmed eyes. Everyone was present except for the two chairs where someone from the Spiritus would have sat.
“It has been hundreds of years since we gathered around this table, nearly half a millennium in fact.”
Most of the people here shared his weary worn expression in varying degrees of disturbed or anxious.
Astrid interrupted, standing abruptly. She spoke with an educated British accent. “Get to the point. We don’t need a recap of our history."
Regina crossed her arms and sat back in her chair with a nod. “Get on with it.”
Violetta spoke, her eyes downcast at her folded hands. Her repose was either solemn or secretive. “Emma is coming for the books, she has already taken the book from the Order of Spiritus. We do not know why.”
Jo set his boots up on the table, earning him some nasty glares. “It’s not surprising she defeated them. The Order of the Spiritus were never fighters. They sit around hallucinating on drugs in the hopes they will get a vision. They’ve made it clear they want to sit back and watch things play out. For once the fight went to them, and they weren’t prepared to handle it. This means nothing.”
“So we must protect the books. Hide them while we deal with this threat,” Astrid said still standing, resting the tips of her fingers on the table.
Threat. Emma was a threat. I still felt as though I were walking through an alternate universe, unable to reconcile any of what I knew.
“On that we can agree,” Ylang said finally sitting down.
I stepped forward. “Emma is possessed by Othanos’s spirit, we must draw her out so I can exorcise her.”
The silence fell like a smothering blanket over the room.
Finally, my mother spoke in a slow even tone. “How do you propose we draw her out?”
“Lend me one of the books. It will lure her out, and then I’ll have my chance to expel Othanos from her being.”
Ylang’s sharp eyes fell on my mother who caught the chastising look. Instead of becoming incensed with him as was her usual go to, she said in a low voice, “Are you certain she is possessed?”
“Of course, she is. Emma would never do any of this.” My words sounded petulant and menacing to my own ears, but I didn’t care.
“Why should we trust you?” Astrid asked. Everyone turned toward her. “Well I may be new, but I don’t understand why you all are indulging in his biased idiocy. The books are too valuable to risk. From what I understand of their power, with even one in Emma’s hands, the results may already be catastrophic.”
“Do you think she wishes to use its power?” Jo asked, chewing on a toothpick. He leaned back in his chairs, a contemplative expression on his face.
