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“Yes, you are not the first incarnate to have a family they love and wish to return to,” he said. “I’m not offended.”
He stepped down further, coming closer to look more intently at me. I felt nervous under his gaze, yet at the same time, felt completely safe. As he looked at me, I really could see both darkness and light in his eyes, perfectly balanced, sparkling as he looked at me. After a few moments, he gave another warm smile.
“Your Trials will be tomorrow,” the king said. “If your Trial goes well, you can choose between staying with us or returning to your family.”
The king then turned to Luc. “And you? Do you wish to return to your family?”
Luc bowed his head, the light leaving his eyes. “I have no home to return to, Your Majesty.”
The king nodded. “Yes, that is common too. Then this shall be your home.”
Luc chewed his bottom lip as he took a deep breath.
Home. That was probably a word Luc hadn’t heard in a long time. Part of me wished to see him finally find a place to rest his heart, but on the other hand, I was still hurt by his actions.
“Come with us,” the king said, motioning to his right- and left-hand men. “We will show you to yourwings.”
He chuckled, putting emphasis on his last word and looking to his right- and left-hand men for a reaction.
His right-hand man clapped. “A play on words! Wings of a siren and wings of a building. How entertaining!”
“A pun?” his cold-looking left-hand man said. “You have a better sense of humor than this, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, lighten up, Hugo,” the right-hand man said. “It never hurts to laugh at a joke.”
“You’re right, Vito,” the left-hand man replied. “I laugh at you all the time.”
“Exact— Hey, wait…”
The king shook his head with a smile and motioned for us to follow him.
The caves were a deep and beautiful maze, the caverns stretching high as if they were the sky themselves. Sirens flew above us, fluttering from one hole in the ceiling to the next, as if they had their own floor that humans could never touch. It reminded me of bird nests high in the tree branches, unattainable by the critters on the ground.
“These caverns are quite large,” the king said as we followed him. “You’ll get lost easily if you don’t know your way. The incarnates and sirens stay on this side of the caverns. The humans stay across the way.”
He pointed across a large chasm to another maze of caverns. As he pointed, a line of people walked across, each man tied to the man in front of him.
At the front was Adrian. At the end was Henrik.
I stepped forward automatically, only to have Jacques grab my arm and pull me back.
“You can’t fly yet,” he said flatly. “So don’t try to jump across any holes in the ground like a fool. Especially for humans about to get tried.”
I glared at him, but quickly turned back to watch Adrian and Henrik as they were taken deep into the caverns opposite of us, disappearing into the darkness.
“How will they be tried?” I asked, almost whispering.
“The way everyone else is tried here,” Jacques replied. “With blood.”
CHAPTER 28—ROOM
“You can both stay here until the trial tomorrow,” the king said, nodding to Vito to open the large crystal door in front of us.
Vito happily opened it up, revealing a single dormitory room with four stone bunk beds that jutted out of the walls like shelves. Each bed had a red blanket and single pillow, along with a folded pair of black robes I had seen the other sirens wearing. The room was completely empty otherwise.
“Welcome to the most boring room in the caverns, incarnates,” Hugo said, monotone.
“Yes,” Vito agreed, “but once the Trials are over and you get your wings, you can get upgraded to a wonderful single suite!”
