Imperial (Insight #8)(31)
“And you know that I have no choice,” I replied solemnly.
“You can send for him. Call him here. Let him see this place.”
“You mean drag him here. Imprison him and tell him to behave or I will smite him,” I bit out.
“Glory, you have no idea what the corporeal world is like now. We are enemies to what he has become. Evil that we fought to hinder, has manifested.”
I had no fear of evil, for I knew I was the cure to its existence. “I went to each before him. He deserves no less. I dare say he deserves more at this juncture.”
“You went to them in dreams. Dreams that they called to you in. He never called you, for you were never aware of him, and he is yet to be aware of you.”
“Dreams that I doubt he takes the time to have.”
He could not argue with that. I knew Witnesses barely slept. If he was risen as such, the opportunity for either of us to meet never existed.
After an obvious internal battle, he reached for my hand, and in that instant my dress was replaced with my warrior clothes; only a long black jacket that reached just below my hips was added. The priceless necklace vanished, yet the ring remained. I felt him squeeze his powerful hand around it. Agony pierced my soul as I remembered throwing it at him at the end of our last fight, as I remembered wishing I had it when I was in the Veil, thinking that maybe if I did I could tell him exactly where I was, or at the very least have a part of him with me.
His other hand reached behind my neck and pulled me to his lips. A slow, yet commanding kiss laced with subtle seduction was within each movement of his mouth. As the kiss ended, his long fingertips slowly slid down my neck, across my collarbone, then down my chest bone, stopping just before the peak of the Leo mark on my skin began. “You leave here just as you came, with the mark of royalty on your vessel and my eternal devotion within your hands…Glory, I will warn you of this…your absence from me has shortened any patience I may have had when it comes to the likes of you. Return swiftly, or I will come for you.”
His tone was low and deep and held meaning. It was as if he were standing between his two greatest desires and could not assure himself that the course he had chosen was correct. I knew I was one. The secret between him and the Creator was the other.
“I would wish for no less,” I whispered to him. I didn’t intend for those words to hurt him, but I could see the sting in his eyes. Not regret. No, he still felt that our absence from each other was necessary, but he hated that I was blind to the reason.
“Rasp will cloak you and stay at your side.”
“What kind of sovereign would need another’s First to guard her?”
“I assured the Reaper you would be safe. The only way for you to leave the Veil was for him to hold the majority of your power. Otherwise, your escape would have been felt.”
“Power comes in all forms, and I would dare say that the wrath of a woman scorned is more powerful than any supernatural power I may have possessed.”
His flawless jaw line tightened before he spoke. “I will say this again, you must think of your line as you. If your actions are too dangerous for them to embark on, then they are for you as well. The Reaper may hold part of you, but your line will feel your pain as I do. Rasp comes with you, or the Reaper himself will pull you back into the Veil instantly.”
I suppose I’d forgotten that my stay here was measured by my words, that in the end I would return to the cathedral of the Reaper. Some consequences never leave you. “So be it.”
I offered a simple nod. He kissed my forehead once more, squeezing my arm, then vanished, trying to hide the angst I still managed to see.
Warily, I looked just behind me to find Rasp and Mazing both with crossed arms and in full-on warrior stance.
“The springs,” I stated before I vanished and manifested before them.
The springs were nothing less than majestic. Every soul knows that water is life itself, powerful, tender, moving, still, and everlasting.
Before me now was a vast hall that extended as far as the eye could see. White marble had flowing water encasing it, and within this fraction of water the universe was opened for us to witness.
Vade’s speech before was on point. We were meant to be the cure. Once, I asked the Creator if I was evil because I could not only withstand emotions that others could not but also consume them. He offered a very simple answer: because I exist, evil cannot be born.
What was intended to occur in The Realm was that the souls would dream, and in that state their minds would unravel and relieve their emotions. The Escorts would collect those dark emotions, in turn allowing the dreamers to see a clear path.
The negative energy that Escorts released was sent through the springs, where each of our kind could consume those emotions and cleanse them. The pure energy traveled through the water, returning to The Realm, giving the dreamers the power to harness it and imagine life as they wished.
Imagination leads to creation. Full circle. Creation often leads to more powerful positive emotions. If we had stayed on our course, there was no telling how illuminated our reality would be.
Instead, kings betrayed their charge, altered our purpose, and let loose an evil that never should have existed.
I would stop that. One way or another, I would stop that. The Creator may not be using words with me now, but I felt Him within. I felt Him tell me that I could be the cure I was meant to be. That I was powerful enough to not only cure the emotions I was meant to take, but also the damage that my fellow sovereigns had created.