My lips tip in a sly grin. “Many. But down here, just Cin. You probably want to hold off on meeting him.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just say he’s a bit more… unhinged than the rest of us.”
She gulps, her pulse skyrocketing. “Okay… And you all are… brothers?”
“We are notreallybrothers, but I lack the human term for what we really are.”
“So you’re just really good friends?”
I shake my head. “Not exactly. We are more than friends or family, or any type of mortal unit that exists. We are pieces of the same soul. Separate, but one.”
Her brows rise. “Pardon?”
“It’s called sundering.” I reach out, grabbing a small chunk of shimmering ice-rock that’s broken off from a fissure in the wall. Clenching it between my claws, I hold it up for her to see as I explain. “This rock represents the demon we were born from. He was named Slaine—but you don’t need to remember that. All you need to know is that he was the world’s biggest asshole, and The Far Place is better off now that he’s gone.”
I clear my throat, shaking myself out of the fractured memories of the past. “In a normal sundering, one is made into many.” To demonstrate, I smash the rock against the ground, shattering it into several small pieces. “The soul is quite literallysplit. The demon is rendered into as many pieces as is necessary.”
I then grab a piece of fur hide, ripping it into tiny pieces. I place one next to each individual rock. “The hide represents spirits from the mortal realm—your world. Any living creature will do, but animals are preferred. Something to do with purity.” I shrug. “Anyway, you can use magic to weave the living soul and the fractured demon piece…” I place the cloth over the rock, covering it. “Andboom.You’ve made yourself a demon. It’s less powerful than the one it came from—divided by however many pieces were made—but it’s a demon nonetheless. Pretty cool, huh?”
“I… guess. That sounds insane.”
“Insane, but true.”
“So you were… sundered?”
“That’s where it gets tricky,” I say, reaching for the rocks once more. “Five years ago, Slaine’s rival—Abaddon—killed him. He was reduced to ash and dust.” He removes the cloth from each of the rocks, and smashes them into little tiny pieces. “This is what happened to him.”
Willow cocks her head. “What about all the pieces and bonding stuff you just told me about? Surely you can’t putashback together?”
My grin returns. “Correct. In truth, there’s no reason we should exist at all.”
“I don’t understand…”
“Neither do I. Rhune thinks it was fate, Dravik thinks it was punishment, I think it was random, and Cin has this crazy theory that it wasthe treesand that The Far Place was trying to balance itself. He thinks that in the process of trying to put Slaine back together, the fates messed up, and gave us life instead of the monster it intended to.” I gaze deep into her eyes. “None of us know for sure, though. This place and the beings that control it are strange, unbound by the rules that dictate your world’s existence. The only explanation I have for you is that I have none. It’s magnificent, inexplicable, and terrifying.”
My smirk widens as I lean in. “Do you have any more questions for me?”
She shivers. “Just one. The demon you came from… If he was so bad, does that mean you all are, too?”
My smile falters. “Slaine was vile. Evil to his core. We, thankfully, did not inherit those parts.” My mind flashes briefly to Cin, and I know I’m lying to her in part, but I’ll explain eventually. If Rhune has his way, she’ll be here with them all for a very long time, and will come to understand that we are not themonster we were made from. “Those evil pieces got left behind when we were brought to life, I guess.”
I take in her shaken expression. “I think we’ve gone over enough for now. How about I show you your new home?”
“It’s not myhome. I’m not staying. As soon as Rhune comes back, I’m having him take me to myrealhome on earth. And if he won’t, I’ll find my way back by myself.”
I almost laugh. Rhune has no intention of taking her back, and there’s no way she can escape this place, let alone survive the elements outside. But I don’t tell her this. She’s clever, and will figure it out herself.
“Okay. Would you like a tour ofmyhome? It will pass the time until Rhune gets back.”
She looks around, biting her lip. I can tell she’s curious about this place, that she wants to know more. Whether she will forgive us when she does… that, I do not have the answer to.
“What about the baby?” She gestures to the antethorpe, who lets out a sleepy bleat.
“Let him sleep here, in the warmth. He won’t go far.”
She reaches over, running her tiny palm over the creature’s fur. So soft and loving. My chest clenches with jealousy, and I can’t help but imagine what it would feel like to have her fingers inmymane, running overmyhorns…
