Darkness Splintered (Dark Angels 6)

Although it did seem somewhat surreal to be having such a calm and collected conversation with him after his initial entrance. “Would either Lucian or the sorcerer have been able to access the temples in their altered forms?”

“Lucian could have, as he was my chrání. The sorcerer has no need to enter the temples. The gates are within the grounds that surround the temples, not in the temples themselves.”

A chrání, in Aedh speak, basically meant student or protégé. “That doesn’t actually answer my question.”

Yet again his amusement touched the air. While it was nice that he was in such a jovial mood, I suspected it wouldn’t take much to bring back his wrath.

He said, “Only those of Aedh blood can enter sacred temples.”

Meaning the gates weren’t considered sacred? Why not? “So I could enter them, if I needed to?”

His energy swirled around me, contemplative in its feel. I wasn’t entirely sure why, given he could access my thoughts and would have to know where this was heading.

And yet, his next question suggested the exact opposite. “Why might you wish to access the temples?”

“Lucian was a devious bastard who trusted no one.” And rightly so, given it was my father who’d betrayed him to the Raziq in the first place. “Not only would he have kept information about the sorcerer’s identity, but he would have kept it somewhere not even the sorcerer could access.”

“Being Aedh does not automatically give you access to the temples – indeed, only those initiated into the order can move freely within the inner realm of the temples.”

“Which is a roundabout way of saying I’ll need your help?” And it would come at a price, of that I had no doubt. Still, it was worth reminding him exactly what was at risk. Hell, he might even surprise me and offer help without threats or strings.

And tomorrow, those damn pigs will fly.

“You will need help to access the temples, yes, but I will not be able to provide it. The Raziq have traps waiting around them.” Contempt darkened his tone as he added, “They hope to ensnare me should I be foolish enough to go near.”>“I am your father,” he roared. “I may have given you life, but I can also give you death.”

Amaya’s hissing got stronger in my head. Whether that meant she was finding it harder to maintain the shield or she was simply getting more pissed off, I couldn’t say. But the sooner this attack ended, the better for us both.

“My death will hardly help regain control of the two remaining keys,” I countered, still managing to keep my voice even. “Besides, I’ve already been dead. It holds no fear for me.”

The words were barely out of my mouth when the attack stopped with a suddenness that had me blinking. There was a moment of silence before he said, “You died?”

A hint of amusement had replaced the anger, and I frowned. What in the hell was funny about me dying?

“You didn’t feel it?” Amaya was beginning to quiver in my hands, which generally meant she was running low in resources and would soon start leeching mine. And while that was something I couldn’t afford, given that I wasn’t exactly at the top of my game after the last few days, there was no way in hell I was about to ask her to drop the shield. Not until I knew the reason behind my father’s sudden mood switch. “I thought the blood bond meant you could feel my presence no matter where I was?”

“When you wear flesh, yes,” he replied. “But place yourself in death’s hands, and it is a different matter entirely.”

“Why? I mean, wouldn’t me dying break any sort of connection? That in itself should tell you something happened.”

“It is not that simple.”

“It never is.”

His amusement got stronger, but it didn’t make me feel any safer. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“If you had remained on death’s plane, then, yes, I would have sensed it. But you chose to come back.”

“Which clarifies nothing, given the gray fields themselves are the realm of death.” And the Raziq certainly had no trouble finding me whenever I stepped onto the fields.

“Stepping onto them as an Aedh is very different from stepping on them as a soul ready to move on.”

Which I would never be able to do again, thanks to Azriel’s actions. Bitterness stabbed through me – bitterness and anger and a splintered sense of loss. I swallowed heavily and somehow said, “So is the fact I basically died the reason why the device in my heart hasn’t summoned the Raziq?”

“Yes. As I told you previously, only death could stop it.”

Which only meant I was free from the pain of the device, not from the Raziq themselves.

Unfortunately.