Lila snorted.
“That wasn’t an accusation. It was a fact.”
“Right. Well, my obsession might have paid off. Would you like to see?”
Luc beckoned her to follow him, and Lila rose to her feet. He led herthrough a room filled with ceramics and into the forge. There, he picked up his cooling, unfinished sword and indicated for her to look closely.
When it was completed, the sword would be double-edged for unpredictability, with a significant range for thrusting and parrying, every strike doubling as a block. It would be a heavier sword than most, and slower, but Luc was balancing it at the tip so that it could be wielded as if feather-light. Its long hilt would make it usable in two hands as well as one; fashioned from jadeite, the hilt would be white with swaths of green. The blade itself would have a flat hexagonal cross-section and a fuller running along one-third of its length; it would be slowly tapered to retain both good thrusting and good cutting capacity. At last, a spherical gold pommel would serve as a counter-weight for the weight of the blade.
But presently, Luc wanted Lila to notice the veins of black woven into the silvery material and the thin black smoke that wafted over the blade’s surface.
“Is that…?” Lila swallowed and didn’t finish her thought.
“The Void. Contained in this sword.”
“But…butwhy?”
“Because I have a theory, and if it is correct, we will no longer have reason to be frightened by the Void. And once that happens, the Council will have to reinstate me. They won’t be able to deny the value of this.”
A lie, of course. Luc had no interest in rejoining the Council. But he didn’t want to tell her his real intention. Not yet.
“You think this will help you regain your position.”
“I think this will render the warriors obsolete.”
“You mean you think it will render Michael obsolete.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on. Your feud with Michael is legendary, and everyone knows he’s the one who put you under lock and key. But you know, you’ll only be inviting a fight. Next time, with weapons instead of words.”
At this assertion, Luc studied Lila’s face for any sign of duplicity—any sign that she was plotting against him—but Lila’s eyes remained clear. She was stating a fact, not judging his choices. She didn’t care what he did to Michael, beyond the fact that she thought whatever he was planning wouldn’t work.
“If Michael wants to come at me with a sword, then I will come at him with a sword.”
“You can’t beat Michael. He’s the best warrior there is. Have you even practiced sword-fighting since lessons?”
“Of course. I test swords whenever I make them.” Which wasn’t often, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Please don’t tell me that means you swat at the aether.”
“Look, does Michael have a sword that can repel more darkness in a single stroke than a hundred warriors combined?”
“A sword thatmightrepel darkness. And the best warrior can do much with little at their disposal. I should know. I’ve been taking advanced sword-fighting.”
“Yes, I’m aware. You never could give up being a student, could you?” Amused, Luc smiled despite their argument.
“Not all of us have been occupied with Earth for the past aeon.” She arched an eyebrow, then dropped her gaze to the sword. “Anyway, I hope this gets you back into the Council’s good graces. Though I think it likely you will further alienate yourself. Clearly, they’re not much for new ideas. But what do I know?”
“You know more than you credit yourself with,” Luc assured her. It was true. She knew more than most, even if she didn’t know everything. Even if most of what she knew was supposition.
For the first time since she’d entered, he really studied her—the profile of her oval face, her short nails, her bare fingers. She’d pulled her dark hair back into her signature braid, but delicate earrings of gold wire and pearl flowers dangled from her ears, gleaming as they danced against the reddish-brown backdrop of her skin. Her inventions, most likely. They were elegant and bold. Like her.
“Here.” Luc crossed the room and selected a steel bar from his private store, five inches in length and a quarter inch in diameter. He held it out to Lila. “You should make something. Use the other anvil.”
You should make something.
Luc’s words teased Lila, as they’d always done, with the possibility ofmore.With the foolish suggestion that she couldhavemore orbemore than what her lot in Heaven allowed.
