Kingsbane (Empirium 2)

Zahra inclined her head. “The Deep, however, is the farthest your saints could manage to delve beyond our world. They used their elemental powers to craft a lie, a false promise of a new world for my kind to inhabit and mold into a land of our choosing.”

“And then they forced you into this false world, where you were…” Remembering, she had to swallow against a surge of sickness. “You were stripped of your bodies.”

“The realm between worlds is a mere liminal space,” Zahra said. “The empirium functions differently there. It is distant, cold. It leaves a void in its wake. No physicality, no sensation. No sight or sound.”

“A prison. Just as we’ve always been taught. But you thought it would be a new home.” She looked up at Zahra through a film of tears. “You were willing to give up your own home in order to create peace between us.”

Zahra said nothing, her dark eyes full of a sadness so immense that Eliana could no longer look at her. Instead, she gazed beyond the small circle of light her lamp provided, over the black lake she could hardly see.

“How could you want to help us after we did such a thing?” Eliana whispered. “You fight for Red Crown. You fight against your own kind for us, who lied to you, who banished you into this terrible place where your body was taken from you.”

She closed her eyes. It was a monstrous act, too horrific to be believed.

And yet she had seen it. She had lived it.

“I wouldn’t blame you if you fought at the Emperor’s side to destroy us,” she said.

“And I don’t blame your saints for doing what they did,” Zahra replied. “They drove us into the Deep to save their people. It was the only option left to them. And you…”

Zahra cupped Eliana’s cheek, creating a pocket of soft, cool air against her skin. “For all your power, you are fragile creatures. We would have won, had the war continued. If your saints had not created the Gate, had not forced us into the Deep, then it is probable that you, and Remy, and Simon, and the Lightbringer and the Blood Queen would never have been born. The human race would have been crushed into oblivion.”

Eliana shook her head, fresh tears gathering angrily. “But they deceived you. They murdered you, all of you.”

“And yet here we still exist, even if differently than we did before. And I shall not blame an entire race of beings for the crimes of a few.” Zahra’s fingers caressed Eliana’s forehead. “So frail, and so dear. Your lives blink in and out of this world like the lights of fireflies. And I will do what I can to see that you continue to.”

“How can you bear it? How can you even look at me, much less fight for me?”

In the lamplight, Zahra’s smile was soft. “I bear the life I have been given because it is the only one I have. And I fight for you, my queen, gladly, because the things that have been done to your people since your mother tore down the Gate and released my own are equally as atrocious as what your saints did to us, if not more so. The debt has been repaid, and yet still the Emperor kills. Still he terrorizes and destroys. And I do not believe he will stop at the destruction of humanity. I believe he will venture beyond Avitas, beyond the Deep, to the worlds that lie past the farthest reaches of what we now know to be true.” She paused. “If, that is, he obtains the power to do it.”

The clammy air had cooled Eliana’s sweating skin. She shivered, crossed her arms over her chest. “You mean, if he finds me.”

Zahra’s silence was all the answer she needed.

“Why does he do this?”

“Because he wants answers he has not yet found.”

“What answers? And to what questions?”

Zahra hesitated, then said slowly, “Will you forgive me if I delay that particular discussion? It is not a light one, and you look rather drained of color just now.”

Eliana gave her a wan smile. A profound weariness sank into her bones. She touched the scabbing wound from Navi’s attack.

“You’ll help me practice?” Her voice sounded small and foreign to her own ears, as if Zahra’s vision had remade it.

“I will, my queen.”

“I’d prefer to practice with you, rather than Simon.”

Zahra’s mouth twitched. “I can’t imagine why. He’s such a pleasant person, after all.”

Eliana laughed a little, rising unsteadily to her feet.

“However,” Zahra continued, hesitant, “I do encourage you to consider forging a casting for yourself. And that I know very little about.”

“And Simon might know much more. Is that what you think?”

“It is.”

Eliana sighed, scrubbed a hand over her face. “The moment I’m ready, you’ll take me to the Nest? You won’t delay?”

“No, my queen. I pledge this to you.” Then she paused. “And might I suggest we return to your rooms for now? I know you are eager to begin practicing, but after what you’ve just experienced, perhaps a few hours of rest would be of more benefit.”

Eliana nodded unhappily. “Very well.”

They crossed the narrow bridge back to the shore. Eliana watched her boots cross the slick stones.

Gently, Zahra answered her unspoken thoughts. “You asked me why I fight for you—for you, specifically. I do so, my queen, because in your mother’s veins lived the power to save not just one world, but many. Not just humans or angels, but both, and perhaps other races we do not yet know about, in worlds we have not yet found. She had this power, but so do you. And I believe you will triumph where she could not.”

Eliana let Zahra’s words ring in silence. She bore the weight of them back through Tameryn’s cave and up into the palace, as if they were a pack of stones bound to her body, slowly pressing deeper and deeper into her skin.

• • •

When Eliana returned to her room, Remy was waiting for her.

He whirled as she entered the room, his flushed face streaked with tears.

Eliana froze, ice flooding her limbs. He knows. Someone told him.

“El, you’ll never believe it,” he said breathlessly. “You’ve got to come. Come now. They won’t listen to me or Simon. They’ll only listen to you.”

He grabbed her hand, tugged her desperately out the door and down the hall. She allowed him this—dumbstruck, her relief making her stumble—and didn’t recover her voice until they’d reached a suite of rooms on the palace’s first floor, outside of which stood two guards. They bowed at her approach and opened the doors at once.

Behind her, having followed them downstairs, Zahra drew a sharp breath of surprise. inclined her head. “The Deep, however, is the farthest your saints could manage to delve beyond our world. They used their elemental powers to craft a lie, a false promise of a new world for my kind to inhabit and mold into a land of our choosing.”

“And then they forced you into this false world, where you were…” Remembering, she had to swallow against a surge of sickness. “You were stripped of your bodies.”

“The realm between worlds is a mere liminal space,” Zahra said. “The empirium functions differently there. It is distant, cold. It leaves a void in its wake. No physicality, no sensation. No sight or sound.”

“A prison. Just as we’ve always been taught. But you thought it would be a new home.” She looked up at Zahra through a film of tears. “You were willing to give up your own home in order to create peace between us.”

Zahra said nothing, her dark eyes full of a sadness so immense that Eliana could no longer look at her. Instead, she gazed beyond the small circle of light her lamp provided, over the black lake she could hardly see.

“How could you want to help us after we did such a thing?” Eliana whispered. “You fight for Red Crown. You fight against your own kind for us, who lied to you, who banished you into this terrible place where your body was taken from you.”

She closed her eyes. It was a monstrous act, too horrific to be believed.

And yet she had seen it. She had lived it.

“I wouldn’t blame you if you fought at the Emperor’s side to destroy us,” she said.

“And I don’t blame your saints for doing what they did,” Zahra replied. “They drove us into the Deep to save their people. It was the only option left to them. And you…”

Zahra cupped Eliana’s cheek, creating a pocket of soft, cool air against her skin. “For all your power, you are fragile creatures. We would have won, had the war continued. If your saints had not created the Gate, had not forced us into the Deep, then it is probable that you, and Remy, and Simon, and the Lightbringer and the Blood Queen would never have been born. The human race would have been crushed into oblivion.”

Eliana shook her head, fresh tears gathering angrily. “But they deceived you. They murdered you, all of you.”

“And yet here we still exist, even if differently than we did before. And I shall not blame an entire race of beings for the crimes of a few.” Zahra’s fingers caressed Eliana’s forehead. “So frail, and so dear. Your lives blink in and out of this world like the lights of fireflies. And I will do what I can to see that you continue to.”

“How can you bear it? How can you even look at me, much less fight for me?”

In the lamplight, Zahra’s smile was soft. “I bear the life I have been given because it is the only one I have. And I fight for you, my queen, gladly, because the things that have been done to your people since your mother tore down the Gate and released my own are equally as atrocious as what your saints did to us, if not more so. The debt has been repaid, and yet still the Emperor kills. Still he terrorizes and destroys. And I do not believe he will stop at the destruction of humanity. I believe he will venture beyond Avitas, beyond the Deep, to the worlds that lie past the farthest reaches of what we now know to be true.” She paused. “If, that is, he obtains the power to do it.”

The clammy air had cooled Eliana’s sweating skin. She shivered, crossed her arms over her chest. “You mean, if he finds me.”

Zahra’s silence was all the answer she needed.

“Why does he do this?”

“Because he wants answers he has not yet found.”

“What answers? And to what questions?”

Zahra hesitated, then said slowly, “Will you forgive me if I delay that particular discussion? It is not a light one, and you look rather drained of color just now.”

Eliana gave her a wan smile. A profound weariness sank into her bones. She touched the scabbing wound from Navi’s attack.

“You’ll help me practice?” Her voice sounded small and foreign to her own ears, as if Zahra’s vision had remade it.

“I will, my queen.”

“I’d prefer to practice with you, rather than Simon.”

Zahra’s mouth twitched. “I can’t imagine why. He’s such a pleasant person, after all.”

Eliana laughed a little, rising unsteadily to her feet.

“However,” Zahra continued, hesitant, “I do encourage you to consider forging a casting for yourself. And that I know very little about.”

“And Simon might know much more. Is that what you think?”

“It is.”

Eliana sighed, scrubbed a hand over her face. “The moment I’m ready, you’ll take me to the Nest? You won’t delay?”

“No, my queen. I pledge this to you.” Then she paused. “And might I suggest we return to your rooms for now? I know you are eager to begin practicing, but after what you’ve just experienced, perhaps a few hours of rest would be of more benefit.”

Eliana nodded unhappily. “Very well.”

They crossed the narrow bridge back to the shore. Eliana watched her boots cross the slick stones.

Gently, Zahra answered her unspoken thoughts. “You asked me why I fight for you—for you, specifically. I do so, my queen, because in your mother’s veins lived the power to save not just one world, but many. Not just humans or angels, but both, and perhaps other races we do not yet know about, in worlds we have not yet found. She had this power, but so do you. And I believe you will triumph where she could not.”

Eliana let Zahra’s words ring in silence. She bore the weight of them back through Tameryn’s cave and up into the palace, as if they were a pack of stones bound to her body, slowly pressing deeper and deeper into her skin.

• • •

When Eliana returned to her room, Remy was waiting for her.

He whirled as she entered the room, his flushed face streaked with tears.

Eliana froze, ice flooding her limbs. He knows. Someone told him.

“El, you’ll never believe it,” he said breathlessly. “You’ve got to come. Come now. They won’t listen to me or Simon. They’ll only listen to you.”

He grabbed her hand, tugged her desperately out the door and down the hall. She allowed him this—dumbstruck, her relief making her stumble—and didn’t recover her voice until they’d reached a suite of rooms on the palace’s first floor, outside of which stood two guards. They bowed at her approach and opened the doors at once.

Behind her, having followed them downstairs, Zahra drew a sharp breath of surprise.