Imperial (Insight #8)(76)

I bowed slightly, telling him I would do just that.

“I will warn you of this: this is a vast web you are vowing to untangle. So vast that even I cannot clearly see a rapid escape from it.”

“A web that will teach me patience?”

“Very much so.”

“If I had never perished, that is also true of my First?”

“I’m afraid not,” he said in the ghost of a whisper. “Rise,” the Reaper said to Mazing.

She did so gracefully, which was hard to do considering every muscle in her body was not only flexed, but trembling slightly.

“You feel your fate is complete?” he said to her.

“My queen is safe. I have a debt to pay.”

“What debt is that?”

Mazing struggled to find the words. “I was disloyal.”

“Yet, your heart sought someone who was in fact from your line.”

“I’m aware now, but not then. I openly sinned.”

“As each soul does.”

“I was disloyal to him.”

“How so?”

“I never once released my emotions to him; therefore, I did not trust him. That lack of trust led me here.”

“I see.” The Reaper weighed her words deeply. “Anger,” he mused. A smirk came to his gleaming image. “You are reprieved.”

Mazing gasp, then swayed.

I knew that Mazing was needed to love Silas, to keep him alive so he could protect my daughter, but she did not. Her emotions were of anger right now.

Deep down, she had wanted to run from the scent of Colton, wanted to hide in death like I had done, but the Reaper would not allow that. She was angry right now, an anger that she would forevermore have to fight with when it came to the memory of Colton. Oh, if she only knew what great things were in store for her.

The Reaper stood, a sign that we should bow once more. As we did, he stepped closer, and when I felt his hand on my head I felt my power, the power that he had harbored during my brief reprieve, restoring to me, waving across my soul.

It was not returned to me in the same manner in which it was taken. The wrath, the intense pain of a past I could not change, the raw impatience had vanished from it. It was as if the Reaper had washed those stains away, and now my power as a sovereign was restored to me in its purest form, the form in which it was given to me by the Creator himself.

“Safe passage, my dear confidant.” And with that, he vanished.

I had to smile as I felt the sweet release of agony.

I stood, but Mazing held her bow. She was trying to find the strength to return to the corporeal world, to the scent of Colton—now Silas—that haunted her.

I reached out for her essences and took my warrior’s rage and anger away. She would create more, no doubt, but she was to be given a brief rest, one that she so desperately needed.

Mazing rose at that moment and reached out to hug me. I held her tightly.

“I know it feels like hell now, but trust me when I say that when you walk through hell you are guaranteed to find bliss on the other side.”

She offered no words, only a tight squeeze before letting me go.

At that moment, I vanished from her side and appeared before my Vade.

He smiled tenderly down at me. “I take it that went well.”

“Apparently, I was never dead.”

“You don’t say,” Vade said, raising one brow. That was when it hit me: this entire time I had waited for him to avenge my death, take down all those kings and rescue me from my death—a death that didn’t occur. Basically, I had run from him and he had waited for me to return.

“Hindsight blows,” I teased.

“If you learn to read it, you will learn to peer forward with the same understanding.”

“I’ll work on that.”

Vade leaned down and let his lips tenderly frame mine. “Are you ready for this?” he asked as his lips released mine.

I glanced to Rasp and Mazing, who were waiting at our side.

“Am I ready to turn some heads? Make a few people tremble with fear? Why yes, yes I am.”

He grinned as he took my hand and each of us appeared at the edge of the Veil. A mass of souls had now gathered, and once they saw us each bowed to one knee, which told us that among these souls before us there were no traitors; just souls waiting for their turn at life once more.

This time I looked at them, and with my eyes I promised their release; in some way, whether it was by my hand or one of the seven I was to guide, I would release them.

The gratitude in the air told me they felt that promise.

The Realm was next. Now without being cloaked, I could see each soul that was there. Not surprisingly, it was both Vade’s and my line in the mass around us.

Each fell to one knee. There was no way in the universe that the other kings would not sense this.

The stones that led to our home descended, inviting us on. This time, Vade and I shared a step as Mazing and Rasp took another. I stared out at the crowd, feeling those I knew and those I had yet to meet. Aimlessly, I searched for my Fated, Silas, and I found him.

He was on bended knee next to a young girl, Charlie. His eyes refused to be cast downward like the others; they were firmly placed on Mazing, who was not far from me in one form, but a million miles away in another. She was blind to him. Completely blind.

The stones were moving slower than before, guided by Vade’s intent. Once we were just above them, he whispered, “Rise,” and they each did.