“It’s to do with how he became mireborn.” She pauses, sips her drink, then shrugs. “I suppose I might as well cover all of it, now that I’m letting the hellcat out of the bag.”
“I thought we weren’t supposed to say ‘hell,’” I point out.
“It’s different when we’re talking about the likes of Triya, darling,” Asterim says, giving me a dismissive pat. “That’s the actual species name. Anyway,you have a small window when I’m just tipsy enough to tell you things I shouldn’t, so do you want the Syrus lore or not?”
I nod enthusiastically.
“All right,” Aster signals a passing server to ask for another drink, then turns to me. “How well do you know your Stratan history, my dear?”
That’s when I realize where I recognize Syrus’s name from.
Chapter 18
Leah
Instead of answering Asterim’s question, I jump three steps ahead, my brain whipping through the implications.
“Sowhenexactly did you and Syrus become demons?” I ask, wanting to confirm my suspicions.
“Just over three hundred years ago,” she says, smiling. “I know, I look good for my age, don’t I? Not quite as youthful as Syrus though,” she pulls a face. “Most of the lords age slower than your average demon; it’s a power thing.”
I don’t dig into that just yet. Three centuries? That puts Syrus in Strata back before it was unified, when it was still split up into smaller kingdoms.
Ada might’ve pulled me out of school early, but I sat through enough history lessons to remember the names of some of those kingdoms and their rulers.
“The Kaldares were royalty,” I say, and Asterim’s gaze brightens, pleased I’ve worked it out myself. I wonder if she let his last name slip earlier on purpose to see if I’d make the connection on my own. “Was Syrus a king?”
She nods. “Suddenly, Lord of Malice seems a bit like a demotion, doesn’t it?”
I don’t really agree, not when you can feel the magic rolling off Syrus, andwhen you look around at Malice and see a thriving domain, despite Infernum being at war.
The thought feeds into a hunch I’ve been forming. “The Kaldares ruled over Fenlire, right? That’s where Pax is now.” I knew there was something odd about Syrus’s reaction to the river, though why he’d be surprised to see it when it’s been there for three centuries is still beyond me.
“Yes, Pax is built on the foundations of Fenlire’s old capital,” Asterim says.
I nod, although we’re nearing the limits of my historical knowledge. “That was back before the Concords were signed. It must’ve been a nightmare to live there then, with the cities so unprotected.”
“Dark times,” Asterim agrees, “full of death and fire. Not that I remember a lot from my human life. I made my deal later than Syrus. His soul was in the lake a while. But when we rose together, it was mostly still the same in Strata. Infernum’s and Aradis’s armies would fight wherever the war took them, and cities were razed to the ground as collateral damage. Fenlire and its capital were nearly destroyed—they would’ve been, if it wasn’t for the deal Ajax offered Syrus.”
I was taking a sip of my own drink as she talked, and now I nearly choke on it.
“Wait.Ajaxwas the one Syrus sold his soul to? Was that before or after he chose Syrus to be his heir?”
“It was at the same time,” Asterim says, uncharacteristically sad. “That was the deal Syrus made. Fenlire’s capital was about to be destroyed in a battle between Infernum and Aradis. Part of the kingdom had already been burned to the ground, even though Syrus and his army had done everything they could to stop it. Then the capital was starting to burn too, and they knew they were doomed. He could have survived if he’d fled away from the capital. But Syrus still wanted to stay to defend his city and his people.”
She huffs out a laugh. “That’s Syrus though. Loyal to the bitter end. It impressed Ajax. He was getting older, and he’d been looking for an heir for a while. He didn’t like any of the options in Malice, but he saw in Syrus someone who would put his duty to his kingdom above all else.”
I think about that day by the Morphos, when Syrus tenderly greeted the newly risen demons. I certainly couldn’t accuse him of not taking his role as its guardian seriously. It’s the whole reason I’m here, after all.
“So Ajax offered him the deal?” I prompt.
“Yes, Ajax would order Infernum’s troops to save the city, driving the ephilium back from its borders rather than allowing it to become a smoking pile of rubble and corpses. In return, Syrus would leave his kingdom behind and be reborn in Infernum, to become Ajax’s successor.”
A little chill runs through me. “And when you sayleave…”
Asterim gives me a weak smile. “There’s only one way to make a demon out of a human, my dear.”
“Ajax killed him?” My jaw drops, even though I knew that was where this was going. In order for his soul to travel to Infernum, he would logically have to die.
