Auryn shifted against him. “If I spent all my time choosing words to please others, I would never speak at all.”
Kailorien gazed into her eyes. Silver. Bright. Fierce. Honest.
“You’re right, Auryn. Of course you are. But…” he paused, searching for the right way to explain, “there are places where words have more power than you might realize.”
Her eyes looked into him. Searching.
“You’re taking me there,” she said. “To the darkness.”
I can’t tell her yet.
Not before I’ve arranged everything and can explain my intentions.
“Perhaps.”
“Since you made the decree, the soldiers call me Sokâr. What is that?”
Void, where do I even begin?
“I would know what you have named me. I see the hesitation on your brow.”
He gritted his teeth. “Because it isn’t something that can be explained in simple conversation.”
“And yet giving me the title seemed far too easy.”
He frowned. “Because the belief was there. The faith in the name.”
She tilted her head. “A faith you don’t share.”
He exhaled, long and slow.
“It’s a title,” he said at length. “It describes someone chosen by the Void. To lead. To rule. To comfort. To move people toward the future.”
Her brow furrowed. “Tell me more.”
He agreed, first urging her back to bed. He removed his armor and laid down beside her, telling her about the Doctrine, the Void, the Destroyer. Things the people of Krystopolis believed.
“Your people worship the darkness,” she said at length. “The Destroyer is your creator. He made the Flaeme, which powers your city’s Shields.”
“As do I,” he added. “As the Resh’Agar.”
Her hand clutched his. “This magic, it pulls from you?”
“Yes. My Runesgram as well. The Resh’Agar is a fount of magic. A conduit of sorts. And a guardian. I am war, and I am a shield. The Arm of the Void.”
Her eyes clouded. She was thinking. Analyzing.
“But how doyoureplenish yourself?”
He frowned. Hoped she wouldn’t touch on that topic.
“There are rites,” he murmured. “Shaped by the Doctrine. Bound by shadow. I…obey them. As I must.”
Her fingers squeezed his hand harder.
“And what does the Sokâr do?”
He hesitated, but there was no hiding truth from her. Not when she was this curious. One way or another, she would either wrest the information from him or pull it out of Zarrek. Resh preferred to tell her this part himself.
