Imperial (Insight #8)(13)

I knew there was grief on the first level of The Realm, but I didn’t sense the power of a sovereign in the energy, which meant Fielder was masked. Not really an odd thing for him in the human world, but it was in The Realm.

Then again, I would hide myself, too, if I’d partnered with Xavier against Vade. If that were even the case.

With each second, more and more questions arose. I was assured by Rasp that Vade had not crossed with anyone, but this revelation that Mazing had displayed now said that the kings of grief, shock, and fear were working together. Against Vade. That enraged me.

We had passed more levels now, the sky was brighter, and in that light I could see how Mazing was near translucent. One glance told me I was, too.

We had not been nourished properly in eons, and it clearly showed. Before our death, I was already teaching my line—or trying to—that they did not have to create the emotion of wrath to pull from it. I knew from my human life that there was enough anger in the world without someone fanning the flames.

My only issue was that once you taste power, you crave it. To heed that, I was teaching them to find energy that was given freely. Energy from masses of souls, or even nature—water was the most powerful source we’d found. That was in part what my and Vade’s last fight was about. He thought I was starving them. Moving the race backward. We were the first line to ever show signs of hunger: being translucent.

I was honestly amused by the argument when he brought it to me. I thought he feared that I’d vanish from his arms. Apparently, that was not the issue. It was politics. Power. Boys club. Creator forbid that a female shake things up a bit.

That was why Mazing and I only took what we needed from the Escorts we stopped from reaching The Fall. If we took it all, I’m sure we would have found our own way out with the power we would have gained over time. But we are both stubborn. And we had a point to prove.

“When we get to the mansion, I want you to go to the springs. Feed. Learn what you can from the others,” I ordered.

“I should not leave you until we know why we are here.”

“I need you to be strong, you have to be nourished. And you will learn more if I am not at your side.”

Truth be told, I didn’t want anyone to be near me when I saw Vade. I didn’t trust myself to stay strong.

The highest level of The Realm was near. Storm clouds gathered above us, lightning spider-webbed across them. It was our own little electric gate.

The wind did not sway us as we passed through the next level, but I felt my insides quivering, my breath becoming short.

The mansion was in view now. It reached the width of the finest cities of the Earth below. Its height could barely be seen through the clouds that the rooftops reached to.

White, black, and red were Vade’s colors. Mine, too, I suppose. The mansion was as white as the moon itself.

The stone drifted to the massive front entryway.

I stepped forward on the white marble. Doves, the symbol of peace, were lingering around the massive oval room. That was odd. But what was insane was that I sensed not only my scent, warm honey, but caramel, Xavier’s scent.

Rasp had lied to me. Someone from Xavier’s line was here, not long ago. Maybe within this moonrise. And someone with my scent was here as well.

What the hell? Is that why? Is that why that lowlying—I couldn’t even think of curse words fast enough—hadn’t come for me? He had replaced me—with someone from my own line? A line that I had perished for!

Mazing gripped my arm, pulling me closer as every muscle in my body tensed. “I smell no roses.”

That was the only reason that Vade was still breathing at this point. Roses were the scent that passion had, a scent that clearly stated that a fever had occurred.

“Go to the springs. Feed,” I ordered.

Rasp stepped up behind us, judging my every emotion with his icy eyes.

“Mazing is feeding now. Take her there,” I said to him.

“I will take you both. Then I will take you to the throne,” he replied respectfully.

I reached for his dark shirt and balled as much of the soft cloth as I could into my fist. “I do not need a guide in my home. You do as I say.”

“Sovereign,” he replied with a quiet whisper whilst glancing at my arm, which was not only trembling but also nearly transparent.

“Do as I say. That is, unless you believe the actions of your king warrant protection from me.”

He let his eyes fill with sorrow, then bowed slightly. I let him go, and he offered a simple nod for Mazing to go with him. Both of them glanced warily back at me. Smart ones, they were. This was going to be the fight of a lifetime. It was possible there wouldn’t be a mansion standing by the time I was through with the likes of Vade.





Chapter Five





Normally I would manifest my way through this massive mansion and appear at his, well, at one time our chamber doors, if not within the walls of them, but I was trembling.

I decided to push forward with a slow, calculated stride. Once you passed the grand entry hall that was made of white marble, you entered the great hall. The most elaborate part of this was the red stairway which was two hundred feet wide with a dark mahogany railing that brought out the clash of red and white the elegant room was laced with.

Balancing each side of the stairway were columns that were close to fifty feet in width and had water flowing upward around the marble of which they were made of. Those columns were a part of the springs where I’d sent Mazing.