The Blessed Curse (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #4)(62)
“Yasny is waiting near my door. I can sense her there. I’m inclined to let her stew in her curiosity. She has to be frothing at the mouth to know who I’ve brought to my tower. I never bring others here.” Seth grinned, his gaze moving to the top of the stairs and back to Zoelyn. “Sit and rest. If you don’t have the strength to continue, I will help you.”
“Who is Yasny?” Zoelyn asked cautiously as she lowered herself to the cold stone beside him.
“You saw her flying above the palace in her scaly form. In life she was known as High Lady Yasnara. Her husband Kaverax is the one circling with her. They were the former leaders of the Dragons. Yasny is still social. Kaverax no longer cares about anything,” Seth explained. He leaned back against the wall and his eyes trailed across her once more.
“How can I touch you without hurting you?” Zoelyn asked hesitantly. It was obvious he wasn’t going to answer her question about who he wanted to kill, and she wasn’t sure he would want to answer this one either. She needed more information, though, to understand what was going on, and if he wouldn’t answer this one she had a thousand more to follow it up with.
“Your body craves life and I don’t qualify. I exist somewhat like you on both sides of living and dead. You have one foot among the living and one among the dead. For me, it’s closer to one toe among the living, the rest with the dead. I breathe. I bleed when wounded. I sleep, and that is about all I have in common with the living. I don’t eat food or drink or worry about other bodily concerns. I feel pain, but not pleasure; I know anger, but not joy. I have just enough life left to remember what I lack.” He spoke the words nearly in a monotone voice with no expression at all on his face.
“How do you know so much about what I am?” Zoelyn asked, her voice faltering again. She couldn’t bring herself to say the word Undrae, even if Seth said it had other meanings. To her it would always be an insult.
Seth smirked at her and seemed amused. Slowly he shook his head and turned his gaze to the top of the stairs. “Lady Yasny led the dragons for two thousand years before Lady Nerathane betrayed her. I was old before Yasny was hatched. I have forgotten more knowledge than most people in Sanctuary will learn in their entire lives. That’s one answer and I could leave it at that.” He paused and adjusted his dagger before shifting to more of a slouch against the wall. “I will give you a better one, though. I knew Uindraely Merrodin far better than most, and you are not the first Undrae I’ve known. The ones she raised were brutal creatures with less personality than you have. They were like the Blights; their thoughts revolved around survival alone.”
“And you are going to help me just to find out who created me? I don’t understand why it’s so important. I don’t see how a single soul could mean so much to Lord Death. He has thousands of souls outside his city.” Zoelyn’s words were barely a mumble. Her mind was still fully awake and filled with questions, but her body was failing her. She knew she was exhausted, but didn’t expect her body to surrender this quickly to rest. It was taking everything she had just to keep her eyes open.
“It may not be important to Finn, but it is very important to me. Uindraely’s magic was supposed to have died with her. The fact that it didn’t, is a matter I’m afraid I will obsess over.” Seth spoke quietly, his amber eyes still watching her every move. “You really do have incredible stamina despite your current weakness. You should have passed out by now. I have been dusting the stairs with Dreamsweet for the past two flights and I know you must have absorbed enough of it to knock out a horse. Yet you are still talking.”
“Why?” Zoelyn managed to gasp as she struggled to keep her eyes open once more. His words made her want to panic, but her sluggish body refused to respond to her demand to stand.
Seth grinned at her coldly. “Because I want you to be dependent on me, little Undrae. I intend to replenish you, but I won’t let you know how I did it. If I give you the secret, you have the power to help yourself. We haven’t reached that point yet. Until I decide otherwise, you need me if you want anything resembling a normal life.” He pushed off the wall and leaned toward her.
Zoelyn shook her head and tried to force her eyes to focus. Her tongue was thick in her mouth and she wasn’t sure she could even talk. “You said you would help,” she mumbled as her vision blurred further. Her thoughts were racing with a thousand words, but just the few she had spoken had been nearly impossible to voice.
“I will, but in my own way. I’m not doing this for you, little Undrae. I’m doing this for me. In time, you might even understand what I mean by that,” Seth whispered. “That’s a good girl. Take a nice long nap,” he murmured as her body surrendered at last and she slumped forward against him.
Zoelyn struggled to open her eyes once more, but it was taking everything she had just to remain conscious. Seth’s arms wrapped around her and she felt him lift her carefully. Her head lolled against his chest as he began climbing the stairs slowly.
“I was beginning to think she had a poison resistance,” a woman’s voice echoed from above them on the stairs.
“This one is strong despite her current condition. When I am done with her she will be nearly unstoppable,” Seth replied. “And yet, still under your control,” the woman purred, sounding entirely too pleased with the idea.