“It’s not your demon magic I want, darling.It never was.”
I frown, my brow creasing as I scan his features.I always thought they were the kind of cold that screamed cruel.His jaw cuts like blades and weapons, his hair is as dark as a void.He should be handsome; instead he’s cold and vicious.
“Then what is it you seem to think I can help you with?”
His smile grows so severe it sends a shiver down my spine and my feet scrambling back.
“Oh, it’s rather easy.You need to be a good girl and sit there while I slowly strip you of your power.”
I shake my head.“I don’t have any power.”
He laughs.It’s thick and booming and makes the iron bars shudder.It’s a blatant lie; I’m not fooling him.I would have blown in the apartment if it weren’t for him cuffing me and dousing the magic.
What I want to understand is how much he knows about my runes, and more specifically, how they work.Not that he’d give me anything that would help me, not if it jeopardises what he wants.
My arms hum and vibrate and then fall quiet in a cycle.Like the runes are brimming to life trying to join the fight only to be suppressed by the cuffs all over again.
The room glows, light emanating from my body as entropy moths burst into existence.
“What are you doing?”I say, backing away from him as the moths coalesce and form a funnel, the peak of its spiral aimed right at me.
“Ignatius?”I yell this time, unable to hide the coiling in my gut.
“You don’t have any power?”Ignatius asks, only it’s rhetorical.He continues his tirade.“My love, all you are is power.Pure.Unadulterated.Power.You are more than me, or Architecti.You are more than Arcadius.Fuck, you are probably more than all of us put together.Such a waste.”
More?
“What are you talking about?”
He sighs, and flicks dust off his suit.
“Once your contract was broken, all that was left of you was the raw power that made you.”
That much I’d already figured out, but I don’t interrupt him.I need to see how much he’ll give.There’s nothing a narcissist loves more than the stage with an audience willing to listen.
“You are a rare agreement between a celestial and a demon.We carved pieces of ourselves into this covenant-deal, and we formed a power beyond even our comprehension.You are everything I could have dreamed of, the perfect daughter.And now I’m going to use you in order to fix this city, fix my reputation and rid myself of Arcadius once and for all.”
I have to clamp my teeth together to stop them from chattering.My fingers have gone cold at the realisation that my father’s ego, his drive for power and prestige will always surpass his love for me.
Maybe there never was any love there.
My chest cracks and my heart breaks.I want to stifle the hurt, but it spills between my lips in a sob as I realise my father loves status more than he loves me.
The memories of sitting by the Veil entrance on a full moon and making up stories about the shades.Or the way he would clap and cheer when I’d bring him scrolls I’d scribbled on, stating they were deals I’d struck.
All of those shatter and dissolve.It was all a lie.He wasn’t caring for me or nurturing me.He was protecting his asset.
“So what?You’re just going to harvest me until there’s nothing left?”
He shrugs as if that’s the most sensible thing I’ve suggested.
“You sick fuck,” I spit.
But the hate seems to fuel him, and his features twist into a snarl as he waves his hands and the moth swarm blooms bigger.
“It’s just a little bit of power, baby girl.And you have so much.I’m only taking a little…”
He swipes his hand through the air and the moths dart across the cell in my direction.
