Page 208
“Has he said anything to you?” Neir asked. “About what’s been done to him in Failen?”
“He told me enough.” Lily clenched her jaw, knowing what he was getting at. “How can you guarantee Luka’s safety when you just stood by and let that happen to him? When you continue to hurt him!”
Conflict crossed his features before he rolled one sleeve past his elbow. Lumpy, pinkish skin swallowed the middle of his forearm and up past the bunch of his sleeve. Identical to Luka’s.
“Look familiar?” He rested the same arm over his kneeling leg and leaned his weight onto her. “Luka and I were given equal purpose to serve our creators by giving them what they need. I did not have a choice but to allow it to happen.”
Lily’s fury quelled for a breath, focusing on something Neir said. “You and Luka were… created? What does that mean?”
“We were not born; we were made.”
“By who?”
“Phantoms. Worshiped, ghosted men, not unlike Reave’s specters, but with intelligence and indifference of a man-made machine. Pure immortal beings that do not need to rely on the healing properties of Licane. I am a copy of the Younger, and Luka is a copy of the Elder.”
Specters? Worshiped? “You are insane.”
“Ask your snake about it. He’ll vouch for me.”
Hope lit within Lily’s belly. Does that mean he’s going to let me go?
Neir tilted his head. “As much as I’d love to see the look on Hazevale’s face, I’m afraid I can’t trade those cuffs in for a collar.” Bile collected in her throat, but she couldn’t help but sigh. Neir scowled. “You’re not off the hook. You won’t be walking away completely free tonight.”
Keep calm. Stay on his good side. “You want to help me. Why?”
“There’s truth behind what the Gnaw and Allay incessantly warn. Reatia will collapse.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Patience, pet. I’ll show you soon enough.”
Lily swallowed hard. Whatever it was, she wanted no part of it if Neir was involved. “Why do something about it now? Why not a year ago in Reave?”
“I didn’t have the resources or the motivation.” A wicked smile curled his lips. “Everyone has their breaking point. Considering the company you keep, I thought it would be easier to earn your forgiveness.”
“He hasn’t hurt me or the people around me.”
“No, only your ancestors and their people.” Neir trailed a knuckle over her cheek. “I’m apologizing, and you have no choice but to accept it.”
Lily flinched. “Forgiveness is as fickle as trust.”
The poison in Neir’s gaze diluted. “Then let’s begin with the latter. Where do you think we can steady it?”
Nowhere, her mind told her, but her body sighed. There was somewhere that came to mind, and though Lily didn’t truly think Neir believed it, she was curious why he brought it up in the first place.
She lowered her voice to a strained, sincere whisper. “You think Luka is capable of restoring the bond with our Flares.”
Neir smirked. “Are you really an Evelian descendant?”
What kind of question was that? “Of course I am.”
“But you’ll never know for sure, will you? It’s not known how or where Keara hid her family. Who’s to say it isn’t your Alokyian blood that appeals to the Wraith? Or something unrelated to genetics entirely. Valen made many mistakes, but there’s one thing he did prove when he swiped the Guardian from the Ivrans: The right to rule—power, influence—belongs to those with the will to claim it.” Neir tipped her chin up with a finger so she could meet his eye. “If you want Luka to be the Guardian, you are strong enough to make it happen.”
What he had to say made her doubt everything she was taught for a breath. It’d been almost three-hundred years. How much of the Imordial line was really in her blood? Her mother was Ashin, yes, but was she an Evelian descendant? Tyrsia’s queens seemed to believe it, but did genetics alone make her worthy of carrying a god? Why Lily and not her pure-blooded mother?
If she wasn’t, that would make Lily the beginning of a new Imordial line. Why in all things living did the Wraith think Lily was worthy of such responsibility?
Did that make her strong enough to mold Luka into the Guardian?
