Page 54 of Broken

Chapter 22

Cole called up to the Big House, where Thanatos lived, and informed Sugar that he and Ireland were on their way. He hung up before Sugar could tell him Thanatos was busy.

He wasn’t too busy for this, and Cole didn’t feel like arguing.

He also called Gunn, who met him on the front porch of the Big House. It wasn’t just big, it was enormous—a mansion made of huge timbers, with high gables and small windows, like something you’d see in a Bavarian forest—or a fairy tale.

The columns holding up the roof of the two-story porch were sections of polished tree trunks, with the bark removed, and the carved front doors were big enough for a dragon to pass through.

Sugar met them at the door with his usual sour face, and escorted them into an enormous Great Hall, big enough to throw a ball in, and up the curving staircase and down a hallway to Thanatos’ large book-lined study.

Thanatos was not waiting for them. Thanatos did not wait for people—they waited for him like he was fucking royalty.

At least he had the decency to have one of the soldiers on duty bring them coffee while they waited. And chocolate chip cookies. Clearly Breanna kept the Big House supplied, as well as her friends.

He wondered if trolls ate cookies. Or whatever Dark Fae Thanatos was.

He glided in about ten minutes later, escorted by two soldiers, who remained outside the door as if one of the wolves might try to assassinate Thanatos at any minute.

Not that most everyone hadn’t wanted to, at one time or another. But if they did, who would pay the bills?

Thanatos took his place behind the ginormous wooden desk, rested his forearms on it and clasped his hands, the forefingers making a little steeple. Sugar took up his usual place behind him.

“I am here,” Thanatos announced. “Azúcar has informed me you have a piece of information for me?” Azúcar meant ‘Sugar’ in Spanish, which was the language in which Sugar had first acquired the nickname.

“Several, in fact,” Cole said. “We have these.” He glanced at Ireland, who compressed her lips, and then nodded. Cole unzipped the duffel bag he’d brought in, and took the books out one at a time, in their bags. He pushed them across the desk to Thanatos.

It was always hard to read Thanatos’ emotions, but Cole could practically see his hood quivering. He touched the bags, then took the books out of their wrappings one by one, and held each one in his hands for a moment before opening it.

He glanced through their tables of contents, and then raised his head and looked at Ireland. “Where did you get these?”

“Out of the safe in the sorcerer’s lair where Cole found me,” she said. “They’re what Riker and I went there to get.”

Thanatos gave a hiss of satisfaction. “Do you have any idea what you have here?”

“Some,” Cole said. He explained how the two books cross-referenced each other when it came to the binding magic. “Since they’re trying to separate Bright and Dark magic, we thought they might have been written just when that schism was happening—when the Bright Fae were trying to separate themselves from everything they classified as Dark.”

“It doesn’t seem like they succeeded very well,” Gunn said. “If the spells you’re talking about need both books to work.”

“You are correct, Mr. Jorgenson,” Thanatos said, looking down at the book and turning a page. “And so are you, Mr. Hunter. These books were indeed written just prior to the Bright Fae officially breaking away from the rest of the Fae. They claimed to be able to separate Dark and Bright magic successfully. It is the underpinning of their entire society, the root of their power.”

He surveyed the room.

“Illyria was one of the few who dared to tell them they were mistaken, but they would not listen. She studied many sources, did many experiments, and wrote her findings into a new book—the Book of Twilight. Then she went to the newly formed Bright Fae Council to try to tell them once more that what they were doing was wrong, and would end in disaster. And when she showed them the proof…”

“This Book of Twilight?” Cole asked.

Thanatos nodded. “They attacked her.” Thanatos rarely showed any emotion in his voice, but there was a bitterness in his words that spoke of long-held anger.

He’d known Illyria, Cole realized. This was personal to him. It was why he’d spent so long looking for her.

Thanatos went on, “They said they did not believe her, but of course they did deep down, because why silence her if nothing she said mattered?”

“But they didn’t kill her,” Ireland said. “Why not?”

“It was not because they did not try,” Thanatos said. “They were unable to destroy her. Instead, during the battle, one of her allies encased her with a shield of protection—her and the Book together, so it would not be destroyed. Before doing so, he trapped a part of her soul, separate from her body, so she could not be killed.”

“And that’s what was in the Orb of Thekate?” Cole asked.