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I frowned, a little confused about where we were in the building and what Willas was talking about. Or why he was interested in me and the assignment I’d been given.
He stopped by a door and pushed it open, gesturing for me to step inside.
Nerves ricocheted around inside me as I entered the room, uncertain what I was going to find inside. Maybe I’d gotten the situation all wrong and I was about to find out exactly what happened to warlocks who left the cult.
A bright flash almost blinded me, and I lifted my arm to try and shield myself from it. Once it was clear that nothing was attacking me, I realised there was a large ball of light hanging in the middle of the room, pulsing and filling the air.
Something about it felt familiar, and not because of the way it was making my tattoos pulse and reminding me how it felt to use magic. It was more than that. There was something about it that felt like more than that, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.
“And this is why we need the gods,” Willas said, staring into the ball of light with a power-hungry expression on his face. “It’s where our power comes from. Our magic.”
My eyes widened. “I didn’t realise this was real.” I’d heard the whispers around the building that there was a central source of the warlock powers we were granted by the tattoos we all bore, and I supposed it did make sense that there was one. Otherwise how could a human like me be able to perform magic?
“It’s definitely real,” he responded.
“I don’t think I understand what this has to do with the gods.”
He gestured to it. “This is a god.”
I stared back at the ball of light and the sense of familiarity clicked into place.
Kua. It felt like she did. It was subtle, but I could feel it in the way the ball of light pulsed and swirled in on itself.
“What happened to the god?” I asked.
Willas shrugged. “One of the former warlocks killed them.”
An uncomfortable feeling spread through me. “The god is dead?”
“It would be difficult for us to use their soul as a power source if they weren’t,” Willas said, his matter-of-fact tone making the words he was saying sound even worse than they already did.
The urge to never use my magic ever again came over me. How hadn’t I realised I’d been using the power of a dead god? I almost felt sick at the thought.
“If we already have one, why do we need another one?” I asked.
“Expansion,” Willas responded without skipping a beat. “We’re at the limit for how many warlocks can pull power from this one source. If we want more recruits, then we’re going to need more power. Which means another god.”
“Another god,” I echoed, thinking of all of the gods I’d met over the past few months and tried to imagine bringing one of them here to die, and I just didn’t think I could do it. Even if it was someone other than Kua.
“Mmm.”
“Which god was this?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer, but I asked anyway.
“No idea. Probably some minor local deity who has already been forgotten.” Willas shrugged as if it wasn’t important, but it changed everything.
This god had died, probably involuntarily, so that we could have power. And we just went around acting as if it was nothing and didn’t even bother to remember his name.
I couldn’t let that happen to Kua. Or to anyone else.
I just had no idea how to make sure that was actually the case.
CHAPTER4
Kuaket
I lovedthe buzz in DeLux Café on a Wednesday night. Maybe it was just because I enjoyed the idea that everyone here was after something. There were plenty of people like my brother who were searching for a genuine connection, but I wasn’t interested in those.
I just wanted to spend time with the people who wanted to have a good time.
