《Our Blood Dynasty》


 Prologue: The Wailing Lady

    It was a cold, wet, and somber day. The vast airy church was filled with black attired mourners and their pale tear-streaked faces. A stark contrast from just three days ago when the two oldest princes had returned with the army in victory. Banners of gold and red were waved by eager red-faced drunks during that time. Happy cheers filled the high beams with joy as smiles spread from person to person in one big grin.


    The princes had been resplendent in their victory, the very picture of health and virility. The eldest and his shiny black hair shone under the hot sun. The second prince''s silver blonde glowed white hot. The two prince''s laughs and words warmed the hearts of onlookers and granted their parishioners confidence in the reigning family.


    The giant cathedral with its endless arches had felt cramped with all the celebrating masses. Today it felt cold and endless with empty hollow air.


    This was all noted by a young girl whose cold face barely made note of the pain in her heart. She could never have guessed that the two princes, her brothers, would get sick from infection and die just days later. Brilliant and renowned for healing, their mother had looked after them. Even she was of little help as fever and infection ruined the princes.


    The girl took one last look at her brother''s cold faces. They came into this world together, and they left that way. She kissed each of their cold foreheads, tears streaking down her cheeks. They were so handsome in their full regalia. She wanted to remember them as hale and healthy, not cold as ice. She closed her eyes and pulled away.


    The humming began as she walked back to sit beside her broken family.


    It was soft at first, more like a faint buzzing background noise. The young girl ignored it quickly as she focused on the prayer, something she didn''t want to do.


    The head priest of the church was talking, and his grating voice was hard to ignore. The gentle hum was soothing in contrast and softer to listen to. She needed to pay attention, for this was the last time she would see her two oldest brothers. These words meant to aid their departure from this world were all that would guide them in the afterworld. So she would have to look at her least favorite person, the Holy Priest, to get through this.


    The Holy Priest, or the head priest, was an ancient man who repulsed the young girl. His snowy white robes were lined with golden fur. His grubby thick fingers were adorned with rings, and each ring had a gem the size of his fat beady eyes. He was rather resplendent for a righteous man.


    Not for the first time, the young girl fought to stop her daydreams while he preached. It was of great comfort to slip into her mind, and by habit, she did it whenever he preached. Her daydreams often led to giggles or dozing off, which she usually got caught doing. The young girl received reprimands from her father each time.


    The Holy Priest was her father''s mentor and guide, after all. He valued everything the Holy Priest said and did as nuggets of treasure. The girl didn''t like him. She didn''t like the way he looked at her mother with derision. It was a look that slowly transferred to her as she got older and her womanhood approached. The Holy Priest loved her brothers and treated them like precious stones. He looked at the young girl as if she was a piece of coal that had entered his jewelry box.


    The Holy Priest was bereft as he gave the sermon. It was poignant as if his own blood was being put to rest. His glittering eyes showed his genuine sorrow as the royal sons were put into the wet, squishy dirt.


    The buzzing in the young girl''s ear grew worse as the last dirt shovel covered them.


    The sky darkened, and the heavens wept with the country at the loss of two precious heirs.


    The young princess watched as first her father and then her mother disappeared. Their matching grief had driven them apart, and the directions they spilt into drove that point home.


    A small cold hand clasped onto one of her own. That hand belonged to the princess'' youngest brother, Arthur. It was no secret he was her favorite.


    "Sister Merry," Arthur said in a wobbly voice. His silver blonde curls and round cherubic cheeks were the sweetest things to pinch for the little girl. The little boy was about half her age and the most agreeable. Certainly better than her three rough older brothers.


    "Stick with me today, Arthur," Merry said.


    He became her shadow during the day. He held her hand for support during the neverending lousy day. Nothing could take away the pain, no matter what they did to distract each other. Merry''s heart ached from seemingly insurmountable agony, but the day seemed content with being cruel.


    Her third older brother took to drink and slipped into the ocean and drowned. His body washed up before it could be found.


    The humming in Merry''s head went from pleasant to painful with this loss. If Arthur was a shadow before, he was now an extra limb attached to her person.


    There was talk among the servants that the royal family was cursed. The princess overheard this as she walked to keep her mind off the horrific day. Merry wished they hadn''t spotted her and stopped talking. The young girl wanted to know more. No, she had to learn more. If the curse was killing royal sons, she must protect Arthur, her only brother left.


    The remaining royal family members gathered in the royal chambers. Her father, in his grief, prayed unstoppingly, promising things to prevent further loss. Her mother drank deeply from cups that became bottomless.


    The painful noise in Merry''s head became worse as the shadows grew long. Something was screaming at her, and she fought to remain tall. The poor girl was rubbing her head and ears to ease the pain.


    Her mother was the first to notice and immediately sent the girl to her room. "Your lessons can wait until you''re better." Her mom said.


    Her father had agreed, and the young girl protested. She couldn''t protest for long because the sound grew more urgent in her head. No matter of cleaning or wiggling helped, it brought visceral, sharp pain to her every breath. A healer was called, but her mother, a medicine woman, knew more than any stogie leech-happy old man.


    So it was with no more fussing that the princess was led to her bed to recover. Her mother stopped drinking to accompany her, and Arthur did, too.


    "Sleep. It will be over soon." Her mother said as she coaxed a dark, bitter tea down her throat.


    Arthur joined her on the bed and laid his tiny head on her shoulder. His big blue eyes were damp with unshed tears.


    The young girl''s own eyes were filled with worry. She thought of the servants who mentioned a curse. Was she next on the chopping block?


    "Mother, what''s happening? Am I dying?" She said as she fought another wave of pain. The humming was becoming louder with each heartbeat.


    "This is simply growing pains. I went through this when I was your age." Her mother said with a serene smile.


    Merry visibly relaxed, and her grey eyes closed as she drifted asleep. Her slumber was peaceful at first, painless even as the tea worked its wonder. The peaceful dreams turned into a nightmare when the medicine wore off, and the humming returned with a vengeance.


    The girl woke up soaked in sweat as a scream ripped itself out from her throat. She found, strangely enough, that the more she screamed, the less the humming hurt. The relief was short-lived as the buzzing noise grew once more. It felt like it wanted her to go somewhere, but where?


    Merry cried out in pain as she tried to stand.


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    "Merry." Her mother''s gentle voice called out, and the girl buckled in relief.


    "Mother, something''s wrong. I don''t know how to explain, but..." Merry said. The noise in her head was now a high-pitched wail splintering the young girl''s head.


    Her mother patted her head. "I know." She said.


    "You do?" Merry said as she looked up. She stilled when she locked eyes with her mother''s grey orbs. Something was wrong, she found. The flickering torches in the room didn''t paint her mother in warm light as usual. She looked cold and cruel. The soft, kind woman Merry loved was replaced by a hardened-looking version. The middle of Merry''s forehead pricked as she stared at her mother. How she''d always seen the beloved healer was overlapping with this more sinister woman.


    "You''re going through growing pains. It''s proof that your powers are coming to fruition. I was getting worried because it happened much quicker for me. I assumed they would carry over when you were born, but those pesky boys were in the way."


    Merry shook her head as she listened to her mother. She opened her dry mouth and said, "Mother, what are you saying? Pesky boys? What power?" The young girl couldn''t wrap her mind around any of this.


    "Our bloodline is special, Merry doll." Her mother said. "Your hair has become quite the mess. Look at these knots!" She began to brush out the tangles smoothly.


    Merry watched in confusion as, for a brief moment, the loving mother she knew came back to tsk and fuss over her. The girl relaxed but stiffened when her mother spoke again.


    "We descend from the bloodline of a great Goddess."


    "Mother, there is only one god!" Merry said in a rush of shame and fear. Her mother didn''t look feverish, but she must have caught whatever killed her brothers while tending to them!


    "That''s horseshit!"


    Merry stilled and paled under the snap of her mother''s tongue and the lash of the brush on her head.


    "Those Christian men would have us shackled to their one God in the absence of the true Gods. Power dilutes as the bloodlines go on. All the myths and legends of magic and beasts have disappeared with the Gods. Only the remnants remain like our family." Her mother rambled as Merry''s forehead burned, "Here, this should help the process." Her mother said rather abruptly.


    Merry cried out as her mother touched her back and pressed points along her spine. She ignored the girl''s hisses and complaints and didn''t pull away until satisfied.


    "Be grateful I''m opening your seals. I had no one to do this for me, so my power ruptured my skin rather nastily. We want to procure a good marriage for you and not waste years wiping away the damage."


    Merry collapsed onto her stomach, clutching her head and unable to acknowledge her mother''s words as the pain rocked her. The only clear noise in her head was the painful humming.


    Her mother petted her forehead, and Merry opened her eyes to look at her mother. She was humming in tune with the sound in Merry''s head.


    "You can hear it, mother?" Merry managed to get out of clenched teeth.


    "Yes." Her mother said with flushed cheeks. "It''s the Goddess singing. My mother always passed on the tales, but I never imagined her voice would be so beautiful. I never tire of it. Normal people would die upon hearing her sing. But not us. We are of her blood no matter how removed. We are her last descendants."


    Merry wasn''t a devout Christian, and although she despised the Holy Priest, she loved her father''s faith. Her brothers went to war on their God''s behalf and won bright glory for it. What if her brothers had been loyal to their mother''s Goddess? Could they have lived longer?


    "Could the Goddess have saved my brothers?"


    "Why would she?" Her mother said with a blank look on her face. "They needed to die. They were in the way as all men are Merry. You''re lucky I was here to usher in your powers."


    The speechless young girl paled as she tried desperately to connect her mother''s words to her reality. Her mother was starting to honestly sound mad.


    Her mother sighed and patted her head, "Merry doll, I discovered my powers when I lost nearly every blood relative. It''s what triggers the power in the bloodline. I was the only girl with eight brothers. I had three male cousins and three female cousins. I lost my mother during childbirth and my father to war. One by one, the boys were plucked from this world as they went off to war. Oh, if only I had known what would happen upon their deaths. I would have done it myself! Only when my female cousins and my foolish brother Christopher were left did my power begin to quicken. I could have saved him as the humming urged me to. But I had a vision of an opulent future of power and wealth. His death was tragic, but look at me now! A queen and a powerful woman armed with magic and cloaked in luxury. The only real shame was that those female cousins died and missed my ascension. I would have loved to see their envy."


    Merry fought to sit up and keep her expression blank as she processed all this. "Mother, what have you done?" She asked, even as her mind filled in the answers.


    "I told you, Merry doll, I opened your path to power. The boys are dead, and you''ll grow stronger now. It matters when the males of the line die. Girls gain the power to protect them. It may be because they spread the seed faster for propagation." She said in a pondering tone that was better left to wine prices than her sons'' lives.


    This is not her mother, Merry thought. The unselfish, magnanimous mother Merry had always known had been replaced by a monster. The young girl fought the pain in her head as she got off her bed. She needed to find Arthur and then her father. The greedy Holy Priest was preferable to the woman who had birthed her.


    The young girl''s feet expected to feel cold stone, but when they landed on her bedroom floor, it was into something wet and sticky.


    Merry felt her knees give out, and she slipped. She fought to stay upright, but the shock was too great, and she fell on top of the bleeding body of Arthur. She cried out his name as bile rose from her stomach. Her hands grabbed at him as she searched for the wound.


    "Mother, he''s dying!" Merry shouted as she looked up at her mother.


    The woman who still sat on the bed had cold steel eyes of disgust. Her disinterest in her son''s dying body was more clear to Merry now than her words.


    Merry couldn''t stop the wail that ripped out of her as she screamed her brother''s name.


    "Oh, Merry doll." Her mother said with a tsk. Finally, the woman stood. She elegantly moved her skirts to avoid the blood the same way Merry had seen her mother dance. It would be admirable if it was any other situation.


    "I told you, this needs to happen. Upon his death, you will gain even more powers. The women grow strong to protect themselves and keep the bloodline going. Foresight is gifted as the men in our line die. That power is fine, but what about the ability to move things with your mind? And there''s more you can unlock. We are going to have such fun. No more pesky men." She said as she clapped her hands excitedly with sparkling eyes. "I waited decades for this moment. I prayed to anyone who would listen for a girl. I feared I would have to wait for one of your brothers to sire one. But then you came, my little Merry doll." She reached to tussle a loose curl from Merry''s head.


    The girl flinched and moved away. She didn''t want to be touched by this monster''s hand. The little girl wanted this morally corrupt woman away from her. She didn''t want power. She wanted her brothers back. Why did her mother get to decide that their lives were worthless? Go away, she chanted, wishing this with all her might. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly as rage and agony built in the pit of her stomach. The pressure in Merry''s heart exploded to a boiling point. She screamed, and the room shook with her cry. Which in turn slammed her mother into a wall.


    Instead of being angry, her mother grinned even more aggressively. "You''re so strong. I couldn''t do that for years...I wonder if..." The monster said.


    All the yelling finally attracted attention, and there was a knock on the door.


    "The King is here, and I know you said not to bother, but--" The door swung off its hinges, and a tall man with black hair and blue eyes strode into the room.


    He stopped short as he took in the chaos of the room. "Arthur!" He ran forward to scoop the little body into his arms. "Get the damn healer!" He bellowed, and the servants standing outside the door scurried to do his bidding.


    "Daddy..." Merry sobbed and moved to his side. She never felt safer than in this moment. The monster would be stopped, and her brother would be saved.


    "I can''t let you do that, Alexander." The monster said in a cold voice that chilled Merry''s blood. The beast snapped her fingers, and the fragile life that was Arthur was snuffed as his neck loudly snapped. "Look at what you''ve caused! I was slowly adjusting young Merry to her powers with his death."


    Heartbreaking silence filled the room, and Merry''s legs went out again. How powerful was she? The sound of Arthur''s little neck echoed hallowly in her head as she lost her sight to tears.


    "Merry doll, this didn''t go as planned, but I have another idea."


    Merry looked up blindly, wondering what fresh hell her mother would deliver. All the broken girl could manage to do was shake her head. She didn''t want to hear any more ideas from this beast.


    "Victoriaaaaaaa!"


    Merry had never seen her father so angry before. His face turned several shades of red and purple as he slowly set down the lifeless body of Arthur. He roared the name again as he unsheathed his sword. The holy blade sang as it moved toward Victoria''s throat.


    "You will succeed me in ways I couldn''t have imagined," Victoria said as she sidestepped her husband''s sword. Merry noted that she didn''t care that he aimed for her life. Victoria used the wind to parry and block his attempts.


    "Oh, I''ve seen the glory of the old Gods. You will have daughters. Powerful girls who will inherit their full potential with no bloodshed." Victoria said. Tears of mad joy spilled from her eyes, and she covered her mouth. "I should have pondered more on what would happen if only one descendent was left. I should have realized what could have awakened! How blessed one would be to become the last!"


    The holy blade struck Victoria''s heart, and Merry froze. She hadn''t expected it would be this easy for her mother to die.


    "With you, the legacy of our Goddess lives on. Caelestis awaits!"


    Her father sliced Victoria''s head off as Victoria began to laugh maniacally.


    The servants in the hallway stared in horror like Merry at the woman they had once respected. Victoria''s body moved long after her heart stopped. Merry watched as her icy father sliced his queen apart and threw the pieces out the window down to the crashing waves below.


    His hard blue eyes met her own, and Merry flinched. He was looking at her the way he glared at her mother.


    "Lock her in the east tower." He said with a harsh tone that was better served for prisoners than his own blood.


    "Father, wait!"


    "It''s for your own good." He said.

 Chapter One: Cloaked in Sand

    There was nothing around him but coarse, abrasive grains of hot torture. What the young man yearned for was rain. He glared at the bright blue sky as if to will it into being.


    "Red!" The boisterous voice landed across the sand to the young man staring at incalculable blue. That was his name now, and if he didn''t respond, there would be no supper tonight.


    The sentiment in Red''s face was replaced with vacant eyes and an emotionless expression. He had long learned to hide his desires from his captors.


    A figure trotted up to Red; it was the enormous kiss ass of the captive workers. While most men maintained their pride and dignity in times of adversity, this fellow was the first to cave and bend over for his masters. Red had no ill will toward Shulga, but he didn''t like to be around the other man any more than he could help it.


    Shulga was the mouthpiece of their supposed betters and a top-notch squealer. The man always kept his fingers in everybody''s business. As such, little happened around their camp that Shulga didn''t know. If the information was juicy enough for rewards, Shulga never hesitated to feed it directly into the mouths of their slavers.


    Even now, Shulga looked like a shifty-eyed rat, ready to squeal and earn crumbs for his labor. The drab, flimsy clothing Shulga wore was better than the rest of the enslaved captives. The glaring man even had a warped copper pin to showcase his pet-like status.


    Shulga''s light brown eyes looked down on Red and the work the man had accomplished thus far. Red said nothing as he looked away. He didn''t maintain eye contact and kept his gaze low and to the ground. Shugla was notorious for becoming dispiteous when he suspected any disrespect from his fellow slaves.


    Shulga opened his mouth and attempted to pass on Red''s new instructions. The thick accent of the man was almost indecipherable as broken Habrinon. In any other situation, it may have brought a smile to Red. It produced a twisted delight within the man. There was nothing he hated more than the Habrin empire. The butchering of their elegant tongue sounded like a perfect melody in his ears.


    The man hadn''t found much to smile about since he was sold to the Tyrin nomads. Red never thought much of the nomads before that fateful day. All he knew was that they were blueleeches who never stopped sucking up to the dwindling Habrin Empire.


    The group of nomads even changed their name from Tyr to Tyrin. The cucks needed to understand that anything the Habrins vowed would be ultimately broken. They would have conquered the world in their thirst for supremacy if they hadn''t been cursed. There were times Red suspected that the Tryin nomads were eating away at the carcass of Habrin in hopes of taking it over. Habrin wouldn''t go down that easily, though; not even the curse from a God fully crippled them.


    "Do you understand?" Sulga said, all but stomping his foot in the hot sand with impatience.


    In times like this, it was best to nod and trot off. Red did so off to his new workstation.


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    The sand went from scorching copper to a tawny landscape dotted like pottery.


    Red fought the spark of ire that wanted to rise within his gut. He could hear Shulga''s laughter from behind him as he attempted to dodge the blue spots on the sand.


    He was sent into the blueleech infested area. Blueleeches weren''t actual leeches but eggs that attached themselves to anything warm-blooded. Blueleeches were nearly impossible to detach after they touched your skin. These eggs were used to soak up the heat of the desert and could incubate for years until they found blood to suckle.


    Red hid his grim smile at the situation he was faced with. He knew that the reaction Shulga and anyone who might stop to look over at him expected.


    If you contract blueleeches, it''s a death sentence. They were one of many creatures crafted from the curse that broke the Habrin Empire. There was no painless cure for monsters such as this.


    Red had no reason to fear them but didn''t let that on as he hopped and jumped through the infested area to get to his new workplace.


    He could hear the tsking Shulga at the lack of reaction and Red''s inevitable escape from death.


    Red looked at the sand, and he was now expected to excavate. There was only one thing anyone would dig for in the middle of the Ela Desert: God''s Dust. That was, after all, what could bring back magic in the blood of the Habrin people. They snorted it like a drug for a few hits of power that should have never been theirs to begin with.


    Red wasn''t surprised he was sent into this area where no one else had succeeded. He was the most hated among the slaves because he never brought a single speck of God''s Dust back from his digs.


    The Tyrin Nomads first suspected him of cheating them, but no matter how often he was observed and hovered over, it never appeared for him. Someone could jump into his hole and dig for a handful of heartbeats and be able to find God''s Dust.


    He was thus deemed undesirable by the slavers. His new job was to go ahead into the most dangerous areas to clear them of danger. Others then used the work he put into clearing areas to go in and find God''s Dust.


    He was a hero to his fellow slaves for making things safer and being the target of their captors. One of his enslaved brethren always managed to sneak some extra food during mealtime in thanks. Red knew the hard truth; they only did so, hoping he would keep up his vitality and continue to take the most challenging work on by himself.


    Red didn''t care about any of that. He loved the simplicity of being granted moments of peace and introspection alone in the sand. The deeper he went by himself, the more freedom Red had to relax.


    That freedom, for once, brought a happenchance that Red would later come to know as a miracle.


    It took the man only a short time to clear the blueleech traps but he stretched out his time so that no one else would know. He was far away enough from the camp that no one could directly spot this indiscretion.


    Red would have left long ago if he hadn''t been bound to one of the slavers. He took his chance to take another crack at the spellwork.


    Red held his arm to the sky, studying the magic seal engraved on his flesh. He would free himself one day. When he did, Red would ruin the Tyrin nomads and continue his work to finish the Habrin Empire.


    A flash of silver cut through the sun''s heat, and Red had to shut his eyes to protect them. A thump as something landed ahead of him drew Red to that spot.


    A woman appeared. She was lithe and pale as the moon. She lay cloaked in sand as if her thin skin couldn''t feel the firey grains. Her silvery hair nearly blinded Red as he stared down at her. Her chest moved slowly but steadily so she wasn''t dead.


    Red narrowed his eyes as he picked up his shovel. The best thing to do in this situation was to cut off her head. The Tyrin Nomads would capture this humanoid creature. She would then fall into a more bottomless pit of the abyss as all pleasure turned to ash.


    A clean death was the best gift he could grant her before she became tainted and warped.


    The sharpened metal of his shovel barely graced the woman''s throat when her eyes opened.

 Chapter Two: The Lone Ember

    The kiss of hot steel seared into the woman''s neck. Before thinking twice, she opened her eyes and used her power to knock away the heated weapon.


    It was a simple flick of eyebrows that brought nothing abnormal to the surface in any other moment when used. For some reason, just that one magic trick of hers winded her.


    Her breath caught in her chest, and her heart began to pound. It felt wrong to use magic for some reason when it should have been as easy as breathing.


    She looked around her and noted the person who had tried to kill her. It was nearly impossible to see who exactly attempted it. They were covered in brown broken rags barely tapered together.


    There was only one thing the woman could make a note of, and it was the lone ember eye burning into her.


    While most would have felt outrage or fear at a possible murderer, the woman felt cold indifference. A nick of her neck wouldn''t end her suffering. She wouldn''t be stuck roaming this cursed land if it could.


    The two stared at each other for one long, pregnant pause.


    A heartbeat later, a man was unearthed from the heap of rags. The man and woman studied each other with the same shrewd gaze as they took each other in. The man had one red eye and one black. He kept half of his face cryptic by keeping one rag over his mouth. His striking eyes were a startling contrast to his tanned brown skin. Perhaps even more incredible was that he could hide his tall, thick frame in shoddy attire. The woman felt like he''d grown two feet since he took off the rags.


    He disregarded her and went after the shovel she knocked aside. She watched him go, curious if he would try to kill her again.


    Sadly, he didn''t.


    He returned with his shovel and made the international gesture for her to go.


    "I have nowhere left to go." She said simply as she sat up and took a look at the hellish surroundings. In fact, the young woman had no idea where she was. She''d floated around half-conscious for too many miles and years.


    The man opened his mouth and spoke. His voice was intensely gruff, as if he barely used it, but it was even more important to note that she couldn''t understand it. Not a single word made any sense to the woman.


    She blinked lazily and sighed. Maybe she''d been asleep for too long?


    Both tried to communicate for the next few minutes; the woman even flowed through all the languages she could speak.


    Neither of them could understand each other. The man finally gave up speaking to her and instead kept gesturing for her to go.


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    She shook her head and then shrugged. There was something wrong with her body. She needed a moment to catch her breath before she could leave.


    As if fed up with her, the man lifted the shovel and aimed it at her throat. He placed the steel edge directly on the cut he had tried to conduct before. The thin trail of blood from the previous wound had already congealed itself into a thin ribbon towards her chest.


    She hadn''t bothered to stop the blood, and instead of cowering in fear at the fresh danger, she smirked and lifted her chin for his aim.


    "Do it." She said. "If you can end my suffering, this will be worth it."


    The man''s expression hardened, and for one heartbeat, she thought he was going to swing and chop off her head. But the man sighed and lowered the shovel unexpectedly.


    His eyes seemed to carry emotion, but that mattered little to the woman. She finally had the strength to stand on her legs. That meant it was time to go.


    "This was a nice break, but I must depart." The woman said as she stood up and dusted off the endless grains of sand from her person. If the man could understand her, he might have cracked a smile, she thought, imagining what that could look like.


    She gave a little wave and jumped up into the air. At least, that was what she expected to happen. Instead of going up and flying away, she barely made it two feet into the air. The same strange feeling came over, and she gasped as the boundless magic within her shriveled up. She dropped like a hot stone and landed on the scorching sand.


    A choked, bitter laugh rocked her slim frame at the realization that something was wrong with her magic. What she was going through wasn''t a simple hiccup; her magic might be gone.


    The one thing she had desired for hundreds of years would become her undoing. If her magic was gone, her immortality was also at risk. This was her chance to die.


    Red watched the strange woman flail about in the sand. The fall from above must have damaged her brain. He recalled a dog he used to keep as a boy before his brothers got their hands on it. They dropped the dog from the roof to teach him a lesson about heights. The dog''s mind was never the same after that day.


    She was a magical being in a land cursed to be magicless. There was no telling where she came from. Habrin conquered dozens of nations, and all those lands fell victim due to their curse.


    If she came from one of the countries that escaped the tyranny of the Habrin Empire, then she might still hold magic.


    Red glanced down at his slave mark, and a grim smile grew. She''d need to leave the Ela Desert if she wanted her magic back, and he was just the man to help her escape.


    Red took his shovel and started drawing in the sand. The woman''s mad laughter subsided as she watched him with curious blue eyes.


    With simple strokes, he quickly drew the map of the Ela Desert. He wrote the old name for this land and noted how her eyes lit up in horror and understanding.


    Ela Desert wasn''t always a blistering land of sand. Once upon a time, it was the Elan Nation. It was among the first of the great three nations before the Habrin Empire razed it.


    "Elan?" She said in her untraceable accent. Her face was one of horror and fear as she glanced around. She said a few more words before shaking her head.


    Red used his fingers to show how long it had been since the Elan Nation expired.


    Her mouth dropped open before she snapped it shut. She crouched down and used her abnormally pale fingers to trace the symbols for Elan in the sand. Red could tell she doubted him, and he couldn''t blame her.


    Red ruthlessly erased the last symbol of the name Elan from the sand. That symbol represented the Elan people''s dedication to their God. But like the Elan people, their God was dead.


    What was left was the Ela Desert, a godless broken crypt of bodies.

 Chapter Three: The ni Symbol

    Red couldn''t take his time to communicate with her further. He could hear Shulga yapping for his attention, and it was by some miracle that the woman had fallen in this secluded spot. He could keep her hidden until he found a way out for them both.


    Red pointed at himself and said, "Red."


    The woman glanced up at him with unseeing eyes. He then used his shovel to spell out his name in Elan. It was the bastardization of his real name, but one that would do. The man took a moment to stare at the symbols in the sand. He tempered down the emotions that grew at the sight of them. The name Aram felt strange to see on the sand. Red preferred the simplicity of his current nickname. He had one red eye, so being called Red was good enough.


    The man looked up at the woman, who was muttering incoherently in another language.


    The blows to her head seemed to have taken her wits, but Red didn''t have time to care. He pointed at her and then the symbols in the sand. Then he gestured for her to do the same.


    The woman mutely dug her fingers into the sand. The symbols for Merin appeared in Elan. She mutely pointed to herself before looking away.


    The ni symbol for God at the end of her name almost made Red pause. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into the sand cave nearby. He all but tossed her inside. She looked hollowed by Elan''s loss, but he paid her no mind.


    "Stay." He said. He used his shovel to draw a line in the sand. With precision, he drew images of monsters and the Tyrin slavers outside of that line. He then pointed in the direction of these dangers.


    Shulga''s yaps were getting closer, and he didn''t want to linger. Red left the silver-haired lady in the cave and returned to the slaver camp.


    Merin''s anticipation made her heart beat hard like a drum. For the first time in hundreds of years, her magic was gone. This may be her last chance to undo it all.


    She fell to her knees and clasped her hands in prayer. It was an action Merin couldn''t remember doing for far too long. She had long lost her right to pray, but she was finally praying after all this time.


    "Is my time for penance over?" Merin said as her eyes looked up at the sky. She must have fallen deeply into her thoughts for hours because the burning sun was lowering itself to bed.


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    She whispered names near and dear to her heart as one might chant in prayer. "It has to be time." The cursed magic she had been gifted was finally relinquished from her grasp.


    The image of the one who promised her a new life flashed before her eyes, and she impatiently turned away from that memory. Like so many others before him, he hadn''t listened to her desires. Merin didn''t crave life. She craved relief from it. All she wanted was to rest.


    Merin stood up and looked around for anything sharp. Aram took his shovel with him regretfully. Her fingers clawed at her neck as she sought the spilt in her flesh.


    Merin''s trembling fingers withdrew from the tender flesh, and she grew pale. The only signs that she had bled were the flakes on her hands. The wound had already healed. So her immortality was still flowing through her wretched veins.


    Manic laughter spilled from her lips as curses rang from her throat.


    "I am bereft of my magic and doomed to rot in immortal flesh. You have truly outdone yourself now." She said. Her words echoed despondently in the airy sand cavern.


    She glanced down at the drawings Aram had left in the sand. As she inspected the artwork, she thought it was amazing what that man could do with a shovel. Drawing things in the sand might be the only useful method the two could use to communicate from now on.


    There was little they could do immediately about the language barrier between them. The Elan language was meant to honor their God, not to be used for idle chatter. That meant only valuable or important names, objects, items, or things had meaning in the Elan language.


    Aram wasn''t a name Merin recognized as one of those things. One name was similar to what Aram had drawn; that was how she understood it. But why hadn''t he spelled that one out in the sand?


    The man in question emerged and strode into the cave with his hands full of supplies.


    Red volunteered his usual services with the slavers, but this time to do more work. It wasn''t too out there for the taciturn man to toil longer than most. It was the first time he had offered to do it, and Shulga couldn''t keep his sour expression off his face.


    Doing this flew in the face of all that Red held dear. He only needed to keep his head down and do enough until he could escape. This Merin was his best bet so far to make it out alive. Unfortunately, he was switching tactics, which might make him stick out.


    But his God had handed him a way out on a silver platter, and he would take it to escape this hell.


    So, this was why he showed up at the cave with an armful of supplies. He only needed a handful more days of work in the blueleech area until he would be ready.


    Merin''s pale face still lacked color, but two rosy spots grew on her cheeks when she sniffed the food in his arms. The supper for both of them tonight was a rice bean patty.


    He handed her her portion, and she dove into the patty with both hands. Red watched her teeth nibble and chew like a small animal through the patty.


    "It could be poison." He said. If she understood him, she might have overreacted, but he knew she couldn''t. She inhaled the food as if she were dying.


    Red ate his portion slowly as he thought of how tomorrow might go. Shulga was going to linger if he could to spy on him. Red must put out blueleeches to stop the rat from getting too close.


    Tomorrow, he will test this lunar creature and see just how magical she is.

 Chapter Four: Grain of Hope

    A grunt and a pointed sharp poke in the ribs was how Merin woke up the next day. She could feel her heart race as her temper flared into being.


    The woman opened an eye and peeked out from her lashes to see who disturbed her. It was Aram, and he looked as if he hadn''t slept.


    Even though she knew it was pointless, she attempted to tell the brute that she needed several more hours of sleep. The sun wasn''t even up, so why should she be awake?


    When she was done eloquently making her point, Merin rolled over on the cold, hardened sand and attempted to fall back asleep.


    The rag-covered man smacked her with his shovel, and enraged now, Merin reached for her magic to punish him.


    She wouldn''t have attempted if she had been fully awake, but in her addled state, she instinctively reached and welded it. Aram was smacked by an invisible force and sent into the wall of the sand cave.


    His annoying shovel fell from his grasp. Although the man was held up by magic, he didn''t blink or cry out. He was watching Merin with a steady focus that resembled a man on a mission.


    Before Merin could say anything, her chest constricted, and she gasped. She fell to her knees, and Aram was dropped from the wall with her concentration lost.


    He landed smoothly, and Merin watched with mistrust as he moved towards her. Obtuse and blunt seemed to be this man''s middle name because he grabbed her left arm and dragged her sleeve away to stare at her flesh.


    His rough, callused fingers traced her veins, and Merin glanced, curious at what he was looking for.


    The woman realized there was nothing out of the ordinary. Her purple veins were strong and pulsing blood to this accursed body.


    Aram tapped on her arm, and Merin realized with horror that black sludge seemed to congeal up her arm as he tapped. His methodical movement was causing the blackness to gather. He was guiding it up her arm and towards her throat.


    Bile rose in her gut, and before she could stop herself, she was vomiting black tar. It shot out of her as spit might, but it was sticky and left her feeling used and groggy.


    Aram said something, but Merin didn''t have time to blink. He grabbed his shovel and swung it down toward her head in one smooth motion.


    Merin hesitated half a second before reaching for her power and stopping the shovel in midair.


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    She felt less constricted in her chest but sleepier than the nap-loving woman had ever felt before.


    Her knees gave out, and this time, Aram caught her and slowly lowered her to the ground.


    The last thing she could see was his glittering red eye staring down at her.


    The woman shouldn''t be able to recover this quickly from the poison that was Ela. There was only one explanation for why she wasn''t adequately affected by the damned land.


    For the first time in Red''s life, he felt a grain of hope hit his chest. His God had done more than deliver him the tool he needed to escape. He''d been given an explosive that he could use to finish everything once and for all.


    Red watched the woman slumber briefly before leaving her in the cave. He needed to set the trap for Shulga to keep the rat off any tasty tidbits.


    Red needed all the time he could muster. He had set aside just the right tool for that, too. Red was going to use the blueleeches he cleared. The blueleeches were easy to get rid of and to place down.


    It didn''t take long before a blood-curdling roar echoed across the sandy plains.


    Red looked up calmly from sharpening his shovel and set it down blade first into the sand with a grim smile. It looked like the game was about to begin. He hiked his shovel on his back and ventured out of the cave to see the damage.


    He knew it was a slim chance that Shulga himself would venture near the site. It was more likely that the coward would send someone else to do his dirty spy work.


    And Red''s assumption was sadly true.


    A young boy, barely a man, had rolled into Red''s blueleech trap.


    The boy had shit and pissed himself from the smell of it, and Red met his eyes.


    "I finally have a way out." The boy said with a grimace of half joy and agony.


    "You can be saved," Red said. It was costly to free the blueleeches from one''s flesh, but not impossible. Life would be even worse than working under the blistering sun if one could survive that. That was if one made it through the process of extraction. Red knew that life was worth living, no matter the cost. He was one of those people who believed that. If it had been offered, Red would have taken the chance; he couldn''t afford to die. At least not until his mission was complete.


    "No." The boy who became a man said. "I know what they''ll do to me, but it''s not worse than what I''ve suffered."


    "It is worse," Red said simply. "They will suck your blood dry and feast on your body as they complete their stages of growth. What hatches from your corpse will go on to kill others and send blueleeches to other lands."


    "Can you...hasten it?" The other man said with watery eyes.


    "I''ll make it quick for you," Red said. He used the end of his sharpened shovel to cut a thin notch across his left palm. Instead of pooling and dripping down into the sand, his blood disobeyed gravity and floated in the air.


    The other man''s eyes widened at the sight. "You''re one of them!" He didn''t get to finish his words.


    Red sent his blood out as a blade directly into the other man''s eyes, mouth, nose, and ears. The filled orifices were flooded, and life was instantly snuffed out of the young man.


    Drops of Red''s blood sprayed ever so slightly onto the blueleeches. The faint sound of hisses and popping echoed around Red. Any blue leeches hit with even a droplet of Red''s blood disappeared into smoke.


    Red never feared the blueleeches and what they could do. They never bothered Red for one very crucial reason.


    He was the last of the Elan Nation''s blood.

 Chapter Five: His Other Half

    Merin stared at Aram with a fierce no-nonsense expression. She didn''t understand everything that drove the other man to action, but she didn''t want another shovel flying at her.


    She tapped the sand and gestured towards the drawing she had painstakingly crafted.


    Aram snorted at her poor craftsmanship.


    "Explain yourself!" She shouted, trying her best to add Elan''s connotations to her words. The two needed to find a better communication method than attacking each other.


    Aram finally took out his shovel and drew some figures in the sand. She watched each graceful stroke of his craft, ready for answers.


    He ended up redrawing the Elan Nation, but it was all wrong.


    What once was a robust and prosperous nation became the...


    "Ela?" She said, confused as she looked around. If Elan lost their name''s ni symbol, that meant they lost their God. She shook her head, refusing to believe that. He showed her this before, but it was too preposterous and horrifying to accept.


    "That still doesn''t explain you attacking me." At Aram''s blank look, she tried to mimic their interaction from the day before with her hands. Part of her understood the purpose but needed more evidence for her conjecture.


    Whatever that black thing in her had poisoned her and made her unable to use her magic. Whenever Merin accessed it, something twisted within her and caused her to fall apart from the inside.


    Merin nibbled on her lip as she stared into Aram''s eyes. He was stubbornly looking back at her but not saying anything.


    Her exhaustive patience was tested as she crouched to the ground and dug out the ni symbol. Merin then looked up, met Aram''s eyes, and deliberated erased the marking from the sand.


    He gave a simple nod.


    Merin''s knees gave out, and she fell backward on her butt as the impact of it all truly hit her. No wonder this land felt strange. She hadn''t wanted to believe him, but he clearly understood what ni meant.


    The Elan Nation was too great to fall, but it had.


    Merin fixed her posture and threw up her hands in a gesture she hoped read as who? She needed to know who did this.


    Aram''s ordinarily calm and stoic expression darkened into a cold fury of the likes she''d never seen before. The hairs on the back of her neck rose as she watched him write out unfamiliar symbols in the sand.


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    The woman would learn much later about the Habrin Empire, which grew into power as she slept. She looked at him blankly as he drew more things showcasing a war.


    Had the fall erased the woman''s memories and senses? Red wondered, not for the first time if the woman needed a more thorough check-up.


    The Habrin Empire was over three hundred years old. The language that she spoke was unknown, but she recognized the importance of the ni symbol. That same symbol dotted the end of her name.


    "Merin." He said, and she looked up from her ramblings to meet his gaze.


    He used his shovel to point to the location of where they were on the map. He used a quick slash to indicate the direction they needed to go.


    "We will leave this place." He said.


    She must have understood him to some degree because a tight smile grew on her lips, and she gave a jerky nod.


    "Inni." She said. Other words spilled from her cracked lips, but Red knew what she was asking this time.


    "Dead." He said. Then he did the well-known gesture of death with a slash across his throat. He pointed out at the sand that littered every inch of their horizon.


    She grew pale, and her tiny chin quivered as if she had been physically slapped.


    She said more things, but Red was out of patience. He shoved a leather bag towards her. She barely grasped it before gasping sharply as she looked at its contents.


    He grabbed some God''s Dust during his morning work. It was true that while he dug around in plain sight of others, God''s Dust never appeared before him. That was because what little magic Red could access was used to put the Dust to rest when he came across it. To the unseeing eye, it would look like he''s ill-fated to never find it.


    But if someone knew what he was genuinely doing, they would understand what Red was and how deeply connected he was to this land.


    With tear-stained cheeks, Merin shook the leather bag and said, "Inni?"


    Again, Red simply nodded. The people of Elan Nation carried the blood of their God within their flesh. The Habrin Empire murdered, enslaved, or ate every member of that nation that they could. Those who were left with their last spark of free will created a suicide pact. All but a handful died instantly. The Ela Desert was born that day. The bones, homes, and land were turned into grains of time that flew to infect Habrin.


    The Habrin Empire was cursed, but the sniveling roaches that they were, they found a way around one of the curses. But not their loss of magic. They could only obtain a flicker of their power by snorting God''s Dust.


    Merin set down the bag of bone dust and turned away from him.


    Red gave her a moment to adjust to her reality. He was almost done packing everything they would need to start their journey. He could buy some time with the blueleeches, but only briefly.


    The slavers were vested in him and would eventually notice if he was gone. His brothers sold him off for a reason. They did it to keep him out of the way of succession. If it wasn''t a crime to start killing each other until their father passed, they would have done so already. But his forefathers were ingenious in binding the sons of the line. Hence, the slavers were there to keep an eye, and the moment his father died, they were tasked with terminating him.


    Red wasn''t going to go down that easily. He needed to succeed his father, kill his brothers, and then tear apart what remained of his other half.


    His mother didn''t give birth for him to die in these dead lands. It was to finish what his grandmother had started.


    Red drew a moon and a sun. He crossed out the moon and circled the sun. If Merin had any wits about her, she would understand that they would leave at first light tomorrow. Either way, he would be dragging her out of the desert, one way or another.

 Chapter Six: The Rank Stench

    Red did not have to drag Merin kicking and screaming on their path out of the desert the following day. The addled-brain woman meekly followed him as he led her on his chosen path.


    The following days were spent walking whatever distance her soft legs could handle. The burning sun was too intense for her to endure, so they didn''t walk during those hours. These weren''t breaks, however. In between walking, Red coached her to use her magic. He no longer needed to swing his shovel to get her to tap into it.


    Red guided the poison out of her body. Her recovery time was incredible, and so he was soon left out of a side job.


    They slept, ate, and walked.


    This pattern went on for what felt like endless days to Merin. Her cheeks were chapped, her eyes dry, and her hair brittle. Each heavy dry breeze stripped whatever moisture or joy her frame contained.


    To make matters worse, her stomach wanted to heave with each step she took. She was walking on the dead bodies of destroyed people. Aram hadn''t been as forthcoming about how it happened, not that he could help it.


    To open one''s mouth was to invite dry heat into it. It didn''t feel good to feel coarse grains of sand in your mouth. Every part of her felt used and dried like smoked meat up for the chopping block.


    She would never step into a desert if it was the last thing she did.


    It was only a handful of days in, but Red knew something was following them.


    They''d gotten off lucky so far and only ran into blueleeches and other low-level roaming curses.


    There was something bigger and hungrier lurking, and he could feel it like a persistent itch just waiting to dive into his flesh.


    Red looked down at his hand. The wound he inflicted upon his skin to grant the other man mercy hadn''t fully healed yet. The dark scab would easily break off to draw forth fresh blood.


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    He might have to go on the offensive with what they would be up against next.


    The only thing he could do was prepare Merin''s magic because he had a bad feeling that he wouldn''t be enough.


    Whatever was watching them had been waiting for a straightforward reason; it needed to catch them off guard. That spoke of intelligence. That makes it worse than a simple cursed being whose job was to spread.


    Merin had yet to learn why Aram was more distant than usual. The man could have been better at conversations but has been worse lately. She caught him scanning their surroundings with a passion he lacked before.


    Anytime she tried to use her senses to pick up on what he could clearly sense, she came up short. Well, it was more like she became short of breath.


    That all came to a head when she came face-to-face with what Aram had sensed.


    It all started off innocently enough. Merin found a pretty pale blue rock. She bent down to pick it up, only to discover it connected to a stringy-looking thing.


    And that string was connected to a giant row of teeth that roared out of the sand.


    The foul stench of a thousand deaths smacked her in the face as countless rows of teeth gleamed at her. Merin was so used to welcoming death that she stared blankly at the giant bobbled sandfish.


    "Could this be my chance to die?" She said, staring into the creature''s throat.


    She''d never had the chance to try her hand at death by digestion. The process of chewing was something she could survive. She knew by experience that her skin was resilient enough to. Could she survive the digestive acids of a stomach?


    Merin would not find out that answer, sadly. Aram''s trusty shovel was shoved in the mouth of the beast. That blasted thing kept the mouth from being able to snap shut. That meant that Merin would not find out if she could be eaten and live to tell the tale. She also wasn''t brave enough to walk in because of the rank stench wafting from its throat.


    He was yelling at her, no doubt for being a dummy who stood still at the threat of death.


    "You should know by now that I don''t care." She said.


    He didn''t acknowledge her words. Instead, he stepped in front of her and, in a move too quick for her to spot, used some kind of blade to slice the fish into four quarters.


    Giant chunks of sandfish fell to the ground, hissing and making weird popping noises as they faded into steam.


    Aram skilfully caught the shovel before it could fall. His palm was leaking blood after he did so.


    "It was almost done healing!" Merin said, scolding him as she fussed over it.


    Although she wasn''t quite sure what happened to the sandfish, she had a powerful ally in Aram. If the two were going to get out of this neverending cemetery, they would have to rely on each other.

 Chapter Seven: A Silver String

    Once again, Merin appeared to be losing what was left of her senses. Red watched the woman throw her arms up in the air, make weird noises with her mouth, and jump.


    The more time they spent together, the more Red felt like she was like that poor dog he once loved. That dog had lost its mind after a fall as well. The only thing Merin was missing to truly make the connection was a limp. With the amount of danger she attracted, it was highly probable that that would happen sooner rather than later, he thought as he observed her.


    Her source of woes was more warranted this time. They faced a part of the land that even he knew nothing about.


    Merin had complained in her cryptic language about everything. It wasn''t hard to surmise what the woman was doing. She''d wrinkle her forehead and turn up her nose when the sun''s heat hit its peak. That sneer of hers was shown every time he handed her the dried meat or bean rice patties. He knew it wasn''t the tastiest food, but it fueled the body. The exact words spilling out of her lips in those situations were flowing out now.


    She was now casting that sneer towards the suspiciously cool-looking oasis that appeared.


    Red knew that it was a trap. Even Merin seemed to realize it was one. She seemed enraged at the taunt of the babbling brooks, swaying trees that offered shade, and the tantalizing scent of fresh fruit.


    Without prompting, Red grabbed her elbow and guided her away from temptation.


    There was no sense in getting too close to something designed to lure them in. Ela was built to curse, and damn, nothing it gave was free.


    Merin made grumbling noises in the back of her throat as he pulled her away from the oasis.


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    He might have patted her head if he wasn''t sure of her temperament.


    According to the daily map Aram drew to show their progress through the desert, they were about halfway through it. For the life of her, Merin had no idea how the man knew that. He just did. He was an enigma.


    Merin also had yet to learn how he always seemed to produce the same tasteless jerky or stiff patties. Not for the first time in her prolonged life, she pondered how starving to death might feel.


    Aram seemed to sense these things whenever Merin wondered these things as she stared at the food. Because he once shoved the rations into her mouth. She''d glared at him stubbornly back then as he forced her to chew and swallow. She knew it was essential to keep her strength up, but there had to be a tastier way to do it!


    The more time they spent in this dusty intense desert, the more she wondered about him.


    She spotted a brand on his arm at least once a day when they changed their clothing. It was prudent to share warmth or wear layers depending on the time of day. It was only natural to see things.


    The brand seemed to grow redder with each day that passed. A few days ago, black and brown scabs grew along the edges of the inscription. Now, there was white and green pus coming off it.


    Whatever that thing was on him, it needed to come off.


    Merin decided to take a page from his book and grab his arm the next time he exposed it to her. Under his blank placid gaze, she squeezed the worsening wound.


    Aram breathed not a word of complaint as she inspected the ooze.


    Merin rubbed her right index finger and thumb together. From the friction, a silver string of light grew. It resembled a needle, and under the continued friction, a wispy string grew.


    Merin efficiently stuck her needle in his flesh. The man didn''t so much as flinch. She could feel his steady gaze on her as she threaded his flesh with silver threads. She didn''t stop until every inch of the infected wound had a string sown through.


    Merin muttered a few words as she rubbed her palms and steadied her breath. After a few calm inhalations, she spread her palms out like wings and blew a cool breath through them and unto Aram''s wound.


    The man did stiffen at this point. But Merin was too focused to notice it as she guided her breath to soothe and heal the broken skin.


    Merin wouldn''t know if it worked for a long time. Because after her next breath in, the lights went out for her.

 Chapter Eight: Kill Them All

    His slave brand wasn''t gone. Red stared at the flesh that was slowly leeching life from his breath. It was partially fixed and would buy him time until they left the desert. The slaver''s curse on the marking had gone off, but she''d managed to stop it from spreading.


    Merin was the gift his God had sent him to fulfill his destiny. The first smile in countless years spread across the dour man''s face. His cheeks ached from disuse as a robust roar of pleasure, joy, and rage burst from his chest in a cacophony of emotion.


    "I''m going to kill them all." The man said with a sharp pointy smile. He was finally able to take revenge for his blood.


    Red had never given up hope but was losing faith each day he toiled. His labor had paid off, and his prayers were answered. The empire that tore the world asunder would be ripped to pieces with his own palms.


    "Yes," Merin said with a half smile to her silent partner.


    The two were finally making a bit of progress in communication with each other. The language that Red was teaching her sounded bewitching. Each syllable flowed into the next. Her tongue was butchering it, but she was trying to learn.


    What was even more remarkable was the small half-smile that graced Red''s lips as he listened to her. The stoic man never smiled or even blinked when he faced danger. Her butchering the language he was teaching her shouldn''t be enough to make him cock a half grin, but it was.


    The two were resting during the hottest hours of the sun''s blaze. They''d managed to find a rocky overtop that provided a couple feet of shade. Sometimes, finding places like this to rest during the journey made the trip worth it, Merin thought. She also enjoyed learning a way to communicate with Red.


    He preferred to be called Red, not Aram. She was embarrassed when she found that out. One day, when he fully smiled, she''d ask him if his real name was what she thought it was.


    For now, Merin enjoyed the peace that grew between them. They hadn''t known each other for long, but a small bud of trust was growing. At least, she thought so. Red no longer slept with his shovel tightly grasped while sitting up. She now saw the man sprawled out with the shovel beside him instead.


    It was a few baby steps of something that she could work with. She figured it was due to her stopping the rot of his arm from spreading. It wasn''t completely cleared, she could still see the angry red brand, but it wasn''t infected any longer. She''d give it another go when they were out of this cursed desert. She''d need complete access to her magic to obliterate the marking.


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    Red was sharpening his shovel as he watched her go over the sounds for the word sun. It should be simple to convey, but this language was more complex than the handful she knew.


    Time passed in this manner until it was finally time for them to start walking again.


    "Let''s go," Red said.


    It wasn''t fair that he was learning her native language quicker than she was learning whatever it was he spoke, Merin thought sour. He was brilliant and proved himself right whenever he told her something. It was a bitter pill for the ancient woman to swallow. She''d been the pinnacle of wisdom people traveled to speak to for hundreds of years. Now, she was no better than a piece of luggage and at the mercy of a taciturn man.


    Merin feared complaining because Red was adept at picking up her words and deciphering them. So she thinned her lips and stood up quickly to follow after him.


    This was clearly her penance for enjoying the length of her damned life.


    They were finally almost out of the desert, but Red couldn''t relax. Things hadn''t gone smoothly, but by all accounts, they made it through with minimal trouble.


    The slavers he expected to pop out of the sand had yet to appear. Not even a whisker of Shulga the rat was spotted.


    The cursed beings were few and far. Red knew of only a handful, but they had seen only half of that number. As long as he didn''t let Merin go further than five feet from him, trouble eluded the two.


    Something about her seemed to set off a chain reaction whenever she escaped his eyes. He couldn''t let her out of sight for a moment. Time had proven that.


    Red looked at Merin, who he now viewed as his good luck charm. The woman was digging in the sand because she''d heard a noise. Could things have gone so smoothly because she was here?


    His blood and ties to this land only granted him so much agency over the cursed creatures. That wasn''t even considering that their food stores didn''t disappear like they should have.


    Merin stumbled into food safe for consumption too many times to count. It''d gotten to the point where he suspected she had a way of creating food.


    If she did, she was hiding that from him. Merin was more competent than she acted. It was enough for him to reassess his initial conjecture about her.


    His inner praise of her was almost wiped clean at the strange wriggling creature she held. It was a pangolin who''d been clearly trying to sleep. The gaunt armored creature cried in protest before rolling into a ball.


    Sadly for it, Merin just kept it in her arms and proudly showed it to Red.


    "Cute!" She said in broken Habrinon.


    An uncontrollable smile grew on Red''s lips, as always when she butchered Habrinon.


    "It will taste good with the herbs you found this morning," Red said. He could imagine the meat and how it would work with said herbs. The thought made him hungry.


    "We can''t eat!" Merin said in broken Habrinon, squeezing the poor creature to her bosom before trotting off.


    It was cute that she thought that that could save the thing, Red thought. He would let her keep the creature for now, but the moment they were low on food, it would be the first to go.

 Chapter Nine: The Red River

    Red stared at the thick, murky water that lay before the trio.


    "We doomed!" Merin said. She was holding up the pangolin and acting as if the creature had spoken instead of her. Red was still on the fence about keeping the animal, but Merin was overly attached to it already.


    She was fondling its scales as she eyed the water with apprehension. She then slipped the thing back into the homemade sling she made for it.


    She barely knew enough Habrinon to ramble, but the woman managed to express a lot with her expressions. Red looked away from her face.


    Merin was right. She was doomed. He wasn''t sure if the pangolin could cross the water. It was likely one of the cursed creatures, so it could naturally move past their border to infect the neighboring lands. The only one who could undoubtedly cross was himself.


    "We''ll camp here," Red said before dropping their bags. He took his shovel and ran off. He needed to do some thinking.


    There was a way he could help Merin cross, but it came at a cost.


    If he was willing to pay that, would Merin be willing? They were going to have to take some time to broach that. He would have to brace himself because he would also be able to confront his brothers soon.


    Merin watched Red trot off like a man with a plan. It was one of many times she''d been left behind to fiddle with her thumbs while he devised a plan.


    She''d been joking when she said they were doomed. The water crashing by the shore wasn''t that deep. She could just wade right through it. But it wouldn''t surprise Merin if something was off about it. The only innocent thing that was just as it appeared to be was the cute little snuggly bug strapped to her back.


    Red was the expert when it came to this place. The look on his face had spoken of doom. So she said they were and took several steps back.


    A sharp, low whistle drew Merin from these thoughts, and she turned around to see a strange garbed figure. The overflowing adornment of cloth reminded her of when she first saw Red.


    Another whistle had Merin turning on her heels to see more such figures. More and more popped out of the woodwork. Each whistled to distract and unnerve her. Merin narrowed her eyes at the way they formed a circle around her.


    She rubbed her fingers together as she called upon her magic to do some damage. Only she wouldn''t get the chance. All at once, the strange figures tossed a powder in her face. Merin''s eyes snapped shut, and she passed out immediately.


    Red crouched on the ground, looking at the footsteps in the sandy earth. In his haste to solve their horrible predicament, he forgot the number one rule when it came to Merin. She can''t be left alone. The woman was more like a creature designed for chaos than a good luck charm. She was attracting all the wrong attention. Her silvery hair and pale skin were a commodity the slavers would give him up for.


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    It wouldn''t harm the slavers to piss off his brothers because they''d eventually kill each other until the one remained. By then, whomever they sold Merin off to will be thankful and most likely powerful enough to grant protection.


    Merin would be stronger once she left Ela, but until then, she was a fledging attempting to survive in a wilddog land.


    Red rubbed his forehead as he ran through his options. He needed to come up with a way to save Merin. Then, he needed to find the words to explain her future if they crossed the waters.


    "Red!" Merin''s voice traveled to Red, and he stood up. For a brief moment, confusion flashed on his impassive face.


    She was running towards him, her ivory cheeks flushed with exertion. "Let''s go!" She shouted.


    Red slipped on the supply bags just in time because over a hundred men appeared to be chasing her.


    "What did you do?" He said.


    There were shouts of rage and cries of vengeance ripping from their mouths.


    "I drugged. I took something." She said with a grin that spoke of mischief.


    "We can''t cross the water," Red said. The men were getting closer, but he needed to tell her about the danger that would happen to her.


    "Red?" She said.


    He knew she didn''t mean his name. She was asking if it was because the waters were stained red.


    "Inni blood." He said, pointing at the water. "They cursed the river. Only the blood of Inni may pass."


    The spark of color and life in her face faded upon his words. "Site of curse." She said in broken Habrinon.


    He gave a terse nod.


    "I no Inni." She said. "ni was a gift."


    Red had suspected as much. Merin was probably not even her real name.


    "I can get you across, but there''s a price to pay," Red said. He needed to focus on the situation at hand and how to fix it.


    The men were nearly upon them. They didn''t really have a choice now.


    "Do," Merin said.


    Red took his shovel and first sliced his left palm and then hers. He pressed the two bleeding palms together. A ceremony he never thought he would ever do was quickly completed with the words that would bind them for life.


    He gave her a quick peck on the lips to seal the deal. Then, rather unceremoniously, he picked her up. The pangolin was still strapped to her back, and Red grunted at the placid creature.


    Red ran for it, hauling his new passengers across the water. The ceremony should have been enough, but if it wasn''t, she might be alright as long as she didn''t touch the water. The red water was warm like blood and nearly as thick. Red kept his gaze steady and on the shore across from him. Now that he was in the water, they needed to get far enough away to avoid projectiles. The first hotheaded men would reach the water and die. The ones that see their agony may stop to help them, but there will undoubtedly be more that try harming them from afar.


    Red could feel his muscles strain at the unexpected weight of the thin, frail-looking Merin. It didn''t help that the pangolin was just a freeloader, and he was carrying their supplies.


    He managed to get across the water with all of them. Red set them down but kept an arm on Merin to drag her away from the mass murder that was about to go down.


    Merin was still reeling from everything when the screaming started. Unable to stop, she looked behind them as they put the red river far behind.


    The first dozen men that dived into the water were melting into it. Loose skin fell off their bodies like hot wax from a tipped candle. You could see the men trying to scream, but their sudden deaths cut them off. They simply dissolved and became a part of the water.


    Merin turned her head away. From what she saw of them, they deserved such torment.

 Chapter Ten: A Union Spell

    There was silence between the pair as they walked through the dense forest underbrush. Merin knew why she was silent, and she assumed it was Red being Red. He might be quiet now due to the same reason as herself.


    Both of them just witnessed horrific deaths, and neither of them reacted to it.


    That spoke volumes about both of their past experiences and characteristics. Merin knew Red was a skilled killer, so he knew firsthand how that went. On the other hand, she''d seen her fair share of death. There wasn''t a death she''d witnessed that could shake her anymore. The melting part was new but not too noteworthy. She''d seen worse.


    Red had killed in front of her before without much reaction from her, so maybe that wasn''t why he was quiet as well. He could be silent for the other reason she was.


    He kissed her. Not only that, but they''d exchanged blood with each other.


    Merin toyed with her necklace. The weight was once her only comfort, and she sought that peace while fiddling with the gems.


    "Red," Merin said. She was always the one to break the peace, and this time shouldn''t be any different. "What kind of ceremony was that?" She used her own native tongue to ask him. He was more adept at learning it than she was learning Habrinon.


    Something other than blood and saliva had passed between them. She could feel it in her center and chest. They were connected. That connection allowed her across the water.


    "It was a union spell," Red said in her language. He repeated the words in Habrinon.


    Merin played with the words in both before nibbling on her lip. "You bonded us."


    "For life," Red said. "It was a sacred Inni wedding ceremony."


    Merin blinked rapidly as she processed this. "I''m immortal." She said in her own language. She hadn''t taught Red that word, which would give her time to explain to him. She was going to have to explain it. Immortality wasn''t all it was cracked up to be.


    They were making good progress, which Red appreciated but resented. He didn''t want to go back to Habrin. His plans meant rubbing shoulders with the people he hated the most.


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    The only bright side would be seeing the look on his brother''s face when he strolled back into their lives.


    They were camped for the night, and both were introspective.


    Since the two started their journey, there hadn''t been time to rest fully at night. They could adhere to regular routines now that they were out of the desert. It would be an adjustment, but resting was the most important thing for now.


    The snap of a broken branch tensed every muscle in Red''s body. All of them relaxed when he realized it was Merin. She was directing the stick into the dirt and looking at him.


    "Lesson." She said in Habrinon.


    A half smile quirked Red''s lips, and he nodded. Considering what family she married into, she would need to get better at the language.


    The capital of Habrin has moved several times since its inception. The sons of the royal family were infamous for settling into their provinces when they were of age. Whichever royal prince became the emperor, their province became the new capital and center of the Habrin Empire.


    The current Emperor of the Habrin Empire had settled near the Elan Nation during the conquest to destroy it. Naturally, most courtiers followed the Emperor because he had stayed in that spot for the last thirty years.


    To minimize confusion, though it never really did, as each new regime had an adjustment period, the Habrin capital was called Capital while that province was in power. This land was called Adabin before. Not many adhered to calling it just Capital because the people who were native to it were stubborn. It is better known as the Capital Adabin.


    Red was explaining this as best he could while they walked through the streets of Habrin.


    Merin stared in confusion, and Red was unsure if she was listening to him.


    "Merin?" He said. She needed to learn these things before they finished the journey.


    "Why are there no women?" She said. She thought it was funny how Red had draped her in cloth when they left the forest. Red listened to her but ignored her giggles. She thought it was just him not wanting to carry the extra cloth now that they were out of the desert. Clearly, something else was at play.


    As she looked around, she saw all kinds of craftsmen, finely dressed men, poor men, and more. There was only one thing glaringly missing. There wasn''t a single woman in sight.


    Red''s lips thinned in an expression she was becoming all too familiar with. He leaned in, and his breath brushed her ear.


    He said, "The Inni cursed the Habrin Empire."


    Merin nodded at this. It''d been days since that lesson was finally bridged by the language gap.


    "One of the curses was about the bloodlines that the Habrin people treasure."


    Merin met Red''s eyes with a quizzical expression. "What bloodline do the Habrin people treasure." Her Habrinon was much better and only messed up a few syllables.


    "The Habrin people value men above females. The ransacking of Elan ruined countless women. So, the remaining Inni cursed the Habrin Empire. Anyone in Habrin land is cursed to only produce men from their bloodline. The Inni ensured that Habrin would die out. They underestimated the ruthlessness of their enemy. Women are brought in as brides because they can''t be created here. This is why you must hide yourself. Women are treated as a commodity, and there''s a lot of men lacking a bride."

 Chapter Eleven: Chain of Command

    Merin''s face seemed permanently stuck with her lips pursed. It was an expression that Red could only make out now that they were settled in their room for the night. When they''d walked through the streets her feminine face had to be covered with cloth. She was too delicate, so he heaped all he could to bulk up her frame. All of that wasn''t enough. Merin attracted trouble and attention, and the men they passed had lingering eyes on her. Those eyes might have looked away if they could see the look on her face now.


    Merin maintained that strange expression as she chewed on her dinner, drank water, and even finished her night routine. It all but became a permanent fixture on the woman''s face.


    Red was ready to put the day to bed when Merin finally broke her silence.


    "Girls can''t be born in this land?" She said in Habrinon.


    Red gave a stiff nod. He''d already said everything he needed to on this subject. There was nothing more he could add.


    Merin was still reflecting on it. It might be time for the man to think about why she was so far behind on the times. Merin might be even more special than he initially thought. Instead of being shielded, as her looks suggested, she was slow for other reasons.


    "Merin, where are you from?" He said in her language. It took the polyglot time to comprehend and understand her language. Her language had more nuances that shifted the entire sentence easily. This complexity would serve them both well in the future.


    "From a land that is dead. Before Habrin and Elan." She said before plopping on her bed and turning her back towards him. She said a few more words he couldn''t understand. He might have a better chance if he had an opportunity to look at her lips. But she''d taken that from him, and he was ready to sleep, not talk.


    "Get your rest." He said in Habrinon. "Tomorrow, we will go over your lessons."


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    Merin regretted losing sleep the night before. Red didn''t clarify if the lessons were hard, but they were clearly designed to torture her.


    "Your posture is perfect," Red said. His tone showed he was in half-thought.


    He made her learn poses, bows, courtesys, and the chain of command in Habrin.


    The intricate rules for power were boring and long-winded, but Red was drilling each piece of the cog into her head. Anytime she tried to question him, he''d create more things for her to practice. Merin wisely learned to shut up.


    It wasn''t like she would need any of this outside of practice.


    When Red finished his lesson, it was time for their midday meal.


    "Why won''t you let me heal the slave brand?" Merin said the moment Red''s mouth was empty of food.


    Two orbs of different colors looked at her for several seconds. Finally, Red said, "It hasn''t served its purpose. Has your power fully recovered?"


    Merin shook her head. She could easily handle his brand, but the stubborn man wouldn''t let her touch it. What purpose did it have other than harming and stripping one of his dignity? That''s what slave brands do.


    "We''ll go over lessons for a couple more weeks before we leave," Red said.


    Merin nodded, but part of her was confused about why she was still with him. Her powers not being fully treated as the reason was a lie. The bond that now tied them was an excellent excuse but not the only one.


    She was morbidly curious about Red and felt like life would be fun if she followed him. He''d helped and saved her when she was at her lowest. That was enough for now. Once the debt was repaid, she would go back to drifting as she waited out her immortality.


    And if the bond transferred that lifespan to Red, they''d find each other and catch up one day.


    Red waited until Merin fell asleep before slipping out of their shared room. He had an eye patch over his red eyeball and a black hood to hide his body in shadows.


    The man moved stealthily through the streets as he followed the familiar route. His presence was as light as a speck of dust as he finally arrived at his destination.


    The familiar scent that wafted from the door soothed an internal knot Red didn''t know he held. Red rapped on the door in rapid succession and precision. He would always remember the code, which was the only way to open this door.


    It swung open, and he was greeted by a burly, tall man who had a smile as wide as a cutlass. "You''re finally back, lad."


    Red lifted his hood, and a matching smile curved his lips. "And with the perfect weapon to boot, Dad."


    "Tell me about it." His father figure moved to let him inside and closed the door behind him.

 Chapter Twelve: Whipped to Death

    The days became weeks before long. Merin lost track of everything she had to cram into her head. She did notice that Red was different, and the shift came suddenly. He wasn''t softer but more understanding when she stumbled or learned new Habrinon words.


    She still hadn''t found the time to explain that she was immortal. There were new implications that came with their bond. If something happened to either of them, which lifespan would be considered? It drew up new possibilities, and she wasn''t eager to test them.


    The woman who spent centuries longing for death now had to stop wishing for it. Her death could lead to Red''s or vice versa.


    Merin was pulled from her thoughts with the reappearance of Red. Her mouth dropped open as the man who abhorred anything intricate was dressed ornately from his head to his toes.


    He wore a loose fine red and black robe. His waist had an insignia on the thick belt. Merin didn''t have time to stare at it because she was stunned by the hues of red and black. Red was even wearing the color in his silk pants. They were a type she''d seen a few of the wealthier men walk around in. The pants were loose around the thighs but tight at the ankles.


    "Red..." Merin said as she stumbled over her words. "You''re wearing red and black."


    Red nodded before tossing clothing at her. "Get changed. We''re leaving."


    He exited the room giving Merin barely enough time to capture the flying clothing. She dug her fingers into the soft silk. Her eyes were assaulted by shades of orange she didn''t know existed.


    This was when it finally clicked why Red was shoving Habrin trivia into her cranium.


    She turned to the sleeping pangolin on the bed. The nameless creature didn''t have to worry about the follies men created to maintain power.


    "I never did like orange." She said to her favorite friend. "But it looks like we''ll be stuck with it."


    Red had schemed with his foster father until they found the perfect time to return to his familial fold.


    A dinner was being hosted tonight in honor of his seed donor''s birthday. He couldn''t be turned away if he showed up during the festivities when everyone had their best face on.


    Red leaned against the wall as he waited for Merin to finish getting ready. He could hear her complaints about the color orange through the thin walls. A half smile grew on his lips as he listened to her use two languages to talk about the downsides of the color.


    When she emerged much later she was still complaining. This time, it was to his face about the color.


    "You didn''t tell me." She said with a glower.


    "You didn''t tell me." He retorted, and her mouth snapped shut.


    The two still kept secrets from each other. This weird allyship they had formed was full of holes. The union spell bonded them, but something drew them to each other even before that. Both knew they could explore it only by spending time together, but they had much to accomplish first.


    Red gestured for her to speak, and Merin shook her head.


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    "You can leave at any time." He said.


    Red watched as Merin contemplated it. She was powerful enough to run off if she wanted to, but she hadn''t. The time they''d spent together was more than just lessons. Red needed to strengthen the connection to widen the scope of their union bond.


    Now Red could feel her emotions through their bond. He poured his blood into her wound, and that sealed the union more than the words spoken. If Red focused he could picture her beating heart through her chest. That beating drum was where his blood had ended up. Her emotions were usually on her face, but it was uncharacteristically blank now.


    So, Red focused on her heart and their bond to sense her feelings. There wasn''t apprehension, fear, or any strong negative emotions. It was a strange mixture of hope, curiosity, and something Red didn''t want to acknowledge.


    "I want to see how this plays out," Merin said. She said a few more things that he couldn''t pick up, but there was a trace of guilt through their bond.


    "Let''s go," Red said.


    There wasn''t a need to discuss every secret between the two just yet. Even if the woman left, Red would be able to find her. Their blood was connected. And no matter the cost, he''d get her to assist him, even if he had to play her.


    Red firmly grasped Merin as they used the hidden prepicked route.


    If he could stroll into his childhood home dressed as he was, they''d be spotted by his brothers'' spies. They''d never make it through the guards that way.


    It was better to sneak in and show his face before he could be stopped. He couldn''t turn a capture into a public spectacle. It would be unfavorable to his entire family, him included. The Habrin people looked down on succession wars before the funeral procession.


    They weaved and bobbed through the streets, people, and other obstacles. The cloaks over their clothing would take the brunt of the damage this journey cost.


    Merin''s legs had strengthened; she was finally used to his pace, and they could make good time.


    It wasn''t long until they were in the hallways of his childhood nightmares.


    Red often heard of longing and hopeful tales of what it would be like to return home. Sometimes, at night, the other slaves wouldn''t shut up about how much they wanted to smell their mom''s food or feel their blankets.


    Red didn''t know what that felt like. A roar of bitter emotions rose in his stomach at the sight of the place where he had spent his youth. He hated everything about this home. While his brothers played and dreamt out loud what it would be like to take it over, Red longed to burn it to the ground.


    Red let go of Merin''s hand and slowed down his pace. He slipped first her dirty robe, then his onto the floor and kicked them aside. Now that they were inside this cesspit he didn''t need to rush or move quickly. The colors the two wore meant no slaves, servants, or guards would look at them.


    He could feel Merin''s curiosity swell through their bond, and he spared her a look. She was eyeing the ornate gold, black, and red decorations with disgust and fascination.


    The sight almost brought a smile to his face. Almost.


    All too soon, they stood before the banquet door. The guards standing outside blinked uncontrollably at the sight of the two. Their gold, black, and red pins showed their status, which allowed them to look directly into the eye of everyone but one person in Habrin.


    They opened the door wordless, and Red strolled through with Merin.


    They''d come in at the perfect time. Red''s birth father was receiving a toast from Red''s most hateful brother, Akkad.


    Akkad''s arm froze mid-toast, and his tanned skin turned several shades of red and purple. His mouth began to quiver, and Red took delight in how he shouted out in horror at the sight of him.


    "Aram!" Akkad screamed.


    Red''s name then rang out of several mouths in loud gasps. A hush swept across the room as everyone got a look at him. Red savored the disbelief, hatred, and fear pooling off his brothers.


    "Who is Aram?" A woman wrapped in silks of orange blood twisted her nose in annoyance.


    "To address a royal prince of Habrin without the proper title is a crime," Merin said, startling everyone and forcing them to shift their attention to her. "You could be whipped to death for that. You can''t be excused as ignorant because he is clearly wearing the colors afforded to a prince of Habrin. And you are clearly wearing the colors that indicate you''ve given birth to a child of royal blood. So you do understand proper procedure."


    Red cracked a grin at Merin as he watched her look at him eagerly. Her eyes sparkled with a look at me attitude. All the hard work of teaching her the annoying intricacies of the Habrin culture paid off.

 Chapter Thirteen: His Seed Donor

    Chaos erupted and boiled over like an untended pot.


    Merin watched, amused by the words thrown her way. It was funny that she was being asked by several men and women who she was. Everyone talked over each other, so she pretended not to understand for more chaos.


    One voice was clear and more authoritative than the rest. It came from a young scholarly-looking man. His voice brought a calming hush across the enraged faces.


    "Aram, who is this woman?" He said.


    "Rutilus Aram," Merin said. "You should add the proper title. Regardless of your ties."


    The nameless dozens of faces turned their gaze back on Merin. Each had different emotions staring holes into her. She stared back, unrepentant or uncaring. She had escaped the trappings of noble families but remembered how to play their games.


    "She is my Russus," Red said.


    It shouldn''t be a surprise for any of Red''s brothers or concubines. The only women allowed to wear orange in the Habrin Empire were royal concubines. Russus was the kinder way to title these women.


    They were afforded an opulent life or a time of poverty depending on which prince they ended up with. Their lives became tied to whichever harem they entered. If their prince rose to become the Emperor, then whichever Russus he favored most became his consort.


    It was a custom different from what the Habrin Emperors of old used to do. Russus and Rutilus were titles and roles the Habrin Empire stole and copied from the country of Rusin. It was one of many lands the Habrin Empire razed to the ground after they stole all the natural resources and customs they desired.


    Seeing the people Merin had spent so much time learning about these past few weeks was quite fun. Red hadn''t left details out like the colors they were forced to don. She could tell who his brothers were and, from their descriptions of their characteristics, guess which was which.


    Telling everyone apart took a lot of work. Everyone wore varying shades of red, brown, black, and orange. It was one big splash of the sun rising.


    "Enough."


    A firm voice who had yet to speak snapped everyone''s mouth shut. Everyone in the banquet hall snapped their head down except for Red and Merin.


    A man who sat on what looked like a bench stood up. Due to her lessons, Merin knew that this was the Habrin version of a throne. It was ornate, but considering the throne her father had sat on, it was not impressive.


    "Father," Red said. There was a distinct hint of sarcasm in his voice.


    Merin peeked at him to see his expression.


    The Emperor of Habrin was the only man allowed to wear red, black, gold, and silver robes. It was expected of him to dress in several layers of these colors.


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    This man was wearing black leather that rippled as he moved. And he was striding over to them. She thought the Emperor wasn''t supposed to be so spry. He was a man in his sixties, after all.


    The closer he got, the more wrong it felt to look at him. Something was off about this man, and Merin instinctively stepped back.


    When he was finally three feet away, she realized why she wanted to run out the door.


    He was wearing a skin mask on his face. His eyes were burned out hollowed ducts. And they were barely covered by the mask.


    Merin bit her lips as she pondered how this emperor could see without eyeballs.


    "Aram, we''ve missed you. You''ve grown so much since we last saw you. I''m glad you could come back on such an auspicious day."


    The freaky-looking emperor then took Red away from her. The two disappeared. She assumed Red would talk about his travels that separated him from his family.


    Merin stared at the rows of faces turning their ire towards her with Red gone.


    "Shit." She said in her native tongue.


    "These are serious accusations."


    Red stared at the man who spoke. He wasn''t stupid enough to tell the truth about what happened to him. At best, it would be treated as sibling rivalry. At worst, there would be consequences for all.


    The branding on his arm was what the Tyrin Nomads used. It was unreplicable magic that they could weld due to their craft. It was the only irrefutable piece of evidence he could use.


    "Cut the shit, Sosia," Red said.


    The man quirked an eyebrow but said nothing. "How could you tell?"


    "There''s no way the Emperor would cut through tension like that. He''d sit back and drink wine as he watched his sons bicker. Also, your face mask doesn''t have the right thickness. He prefers supple skin when he picks them."


    "Rutilus Aram, I am in awe of your observation. It took your brothers two weeks before they realized."


    "Where is he?" Red said. A knot of tension was building in his head. How could he kill his father and brothers if the most significant target was using his Sosia to take his place?


    "No one knows." The Sosia said with a shrug. "He slips away to the slums some days. He was setting off to sea the last time he checked in."


    Red''s head began to throb, "Who is running things?"


    "The other Rutilus are. They refuse to return to their provinces. They''re fearful that any of the other Rutilus will take over in their absence."


    "And you," Red said. "As his Sosia, he can use your body like a puppet to take his place."


    All Red got for that was a nod. It was a secret that every Sosia was strung up with strings to be used by every Emperor to do with as they saw fit.


    "Has he physically checked in or only entered your body? When was my father last seen?" Red said. His mouth burned, as always, when he called that man father.


    "He only checks in by taking over my body." The Sosia said without a hint of emotion.


    Red didn''t bother wasting a single second more on the Sosia. Although the man had given him credit for recognizing who he was, there was one straightforward reason why Red knew he wasn''t his father.


    Red''s blood didn''t react as the man got closer. His abilities granted him the knowledge of blood connections. He could feel that pull through touch or proximity. Naturally, it was the same with his brothers. It was one of the reasons he gave everyone so many chances over the years.


    How could you hate someone you feel instinctively tied to? With just a touch, that blood connection filled him with strength, comfort, and the knowledge of shared blood.


    Those feelings would be mutual if his brothers shared his mother''s side. They would have the power of blood and see why the Elan Nation lived the way they did. His brothers'' blood ran Habrin strong, and like their forefathers, they preferred to cut off branches of the family tree instead of encouraging them to grow and spread.


    Habrin saw the family as rivals, not blood.


    It was easier for Red to lament this again than focus his attention on just how fucked he was.


    His seed donor was calaventing about the damn world while his blood-hungry sons were chomping at the bit to see which one would take over. He left the world in ruins through his greed and then ditched the reins as another big fuck you.


    To kill the man, he would have to find him first.

 Chapter Fourteen: The Emperors Sosia

    When Red rejoined the banquet hall, he wasn''t surprised to see Merin grinning at two women bawling their hearts out.


    Merin could handle herself when she was cornered, or else he wouldn''t have left with the Sosia.


    "Merin," Red said.


    She trotted over to him with a blooming smile on her face. He gestured with his head that they were leaving, and she followed him. Shouts and roars of emotions followed in their wake, but both ignored them.


    "How did it go?" Merin asked him in her native tongue.


    "What is the name of your language." He said.


    Merin blinked, then said, "It''s a name lost to time. I call it Arthurian."


    Her voice hitched, and Red could feel her heart skip a beat through their bond. A torrent of emotions too complex to comprehend without introspection flooded her heart.


    Red didn''t have time to unpack any of that, and Merin beat him to the punch anyway.


    "What did you talk to your father about?"


    "He''s not my father," Red said.


    Merin''s eyes widened, and a twinkle grew in them.


    "I didn''t mean it like that. He''s the Emperor''s Sosia."


    "Sosia?" Merin said.


    "It''s the counterpart crafted through magic to serve the Emperor. It can become him during times of uncertainty. He''s designed to take a knife in the heart for the Emperor. Sosia are made in the image of the Emperor but have no free will."


    "That sounds like a fate worse than death," Merin said. "I would know." She muttered the last part to herself. Had this been a month ago, Red might not have understood what she was saying. The two had countless days and nights of lessons, so he caught it this time.


    "How would you know?" He said.


    "Where are we going?" She said. Her face was furtive, and she wanted to change the subject.


    Red obliged and said, "We''re going to my rooms."


    Her eyes lit up, expecting more overly decorative horse crap.


    That same light went out thirty minutes later when they finally arrived at their destination.


    Red could feel pity, anger, and sadness through their bond. He looked at her, unsure why those were pulsing through her veins.


    "They live like that, but make you endure this?" She said. "Unacceptable."


    "I don''t need those trappings. I like it simple."


    "This is criminal! You''re a prince just like them!"


    "I''m not like them," Red said. "I don''t need to dress up my surroundings to understand my worth."


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    Merin smiled, and new emotions rushed through their bond. Red blinked and rocked on his heels a bit. He might have made a mistake in deepening their connection. Merin was an emotional woman who felt everything under the sun. Red couldn''t remember the last time he felt anything so complex.


    It wasn''t a bad feeling he was finding, and that thought did worry him a little.


    Merin made it her mission to spruce up Red''s rooms. He called them rooms, but it was a mini palace in its own right. The structure was like the main palace that they left. Tall walls with massive archways and openings to allow fresh breezes in. He didn''t have silk draped for privacy; instead, there were thick mothy sheets.


    He had rooms, a decent-sized banquet hall, a courtyard, and more. It was hard to see his home. There was a layer of dust, dirt, and spiderwebs on everything. There should have been servants to come in and clean it up even while the prince was gone, Merin raged.


    When she told Red this, he laughed. It was then that he dropped a shocking truth. A great majority of the servants thought that he was cursed. They always did the bare minimum before running away, and he had a rotating door of new people.


    Red was born with one red eye and one black. His brothers spread the word that he was doomed to die before the Emperor because he donned the colors before his name day. A prince can''t earn the right to those colors until the verification of blood is proven, which was done on a prince''s name day. Red''s name day never happened, so he was considered the nameless prince. Aram was just a formality because of the interrupted day.


    "If anything, it should have been interpreted that you would succeed your father."


    Red shrugged at that. "Don''t expect anyone to come."


    "They will," Merin said through narrow eyes. She refused to live in filth or squalor now that she was out of the desert. She had never cleaned a day in her life, and that wouldn''t change now.


    Merin tracked down the heads of departments for the servants and guards. It was a tiring task as she boldly navigated the main palace halls.


    She could tell who was who by how they dressed. The guards all wore dark brown leather. The servants wore white and lighter shades of brown. The slaves comprised the lesser part of the workforce. They were more often than not indentured due to debt owed to a royal or a guard. They wore grey mothy robes and did not have a pin to set them apart.


    Everyone who personally served the royal family had pins. The leaders of the servants and guards wore pins of twisted copper with black edgings. Merin had learned that the color and shape of the pin were the most crucial part. The princes each had a personal symbol for the black and red pins that their people used.


    So that was how she was able to find them. She did it through the copper and black pins. The group of them were eating little cakes while they played dice.


    Merin cleared her throat sharply to get their attention.


    Instead of responding or following the customs she''d painstakingly memorized, they made more noise.


    Merin narrowed her eyes and inhaled to grant herself the patience to deal with them. "One more chance." She muttered under her breath and tried to clear her throat again.


    The disrespectful gamblers made more noise to drown it out.


    "And there goes my grace," Merin said with a serene smile and stormy blue eyes.


    She flicked her wrist with a bored swish and knocked everything off their table to the ground. Then she flipped her hand to send the table and seats carrying people afloat.


    Screams and panic-induced curse words escaped her victim''s mouths as they finally looked at her.


    "Good, I have your attention," Merin said in perfect Habrinon. Her peaceful smile stayed plastered across her face, but each word dripped venom. "Lower your eyes. You know the rules."


    They did so immediately.


    "My Rutilus Aram is overly generous in that he doesn''t punish those that don''t perform their duties. I''m not the same. If I see a speck of dust or another bug being eaten by a spider..." She paused and shuddered at the memory. That was a terrible way to die, and she has now ranked it higher on her extensive list. She needed to treat Red better because he saved her from being digested. What was she thinking? Death by digestion was not the way she should go out; she was embarrassed that she welcomed it then.


    Merin shoved that memory deep into the recess of her brain. She opened her eyes only when she gathered herself. Her eyes looked away from the cowering floating people to inspect their clean quarters.


    Mercy was theirs to have when they earned it; she decided this would be their final chance.


    "I know what I will do if I see a dirty home. I''ll start with you and work down from there." Merin said.


    She dropped them painfully to the floor and walked away. Nothing was more disgusting than a messy home, and if they didn''t take her threats seriously, they would pay dearly.

 Chapter Fifteen: Contact Our Allies

    Red''s quarters were full of distant memories he''d rather forget. So he left soon after Merin left. She was muttering about knocking sense into people as she all but sprinted off. While she did that, he needed to meet with his foster father.


    Red''s place was at the back of the grounds. Ever since he was a boy, he''d taken advantage of that to sneak out. On one of these excursions, he met his foster father and formed bonds with the man who would save him from himself.


    Red changed his clothing to dark brown leather. He covered his red eye with a patch, and just like that, he looked like any other random broken citizen of Habrin.


    Red kept one eye on his surroundings while he paid attention to the bond between Merin and himself. He was confident in her ability to care for herself but didn''t want her biting off more than she could chew. If she were in immediate danger, he would need to know.


    Through it, he could feel anger and then satisfaction coming from her end. Red cocked a half smile when the satisfaction came through even stronger after some time. She must have done something about the mess, not that he doubted she wouldn''t.


    He would have been fine sleeping in the courtyard where he could see the stars. Merin was the opposite of him and had different needs.


    Red shelved that to enter his foster father''s smithery.


    "Reu!" Red called out as he looked around for his father. It wasn''t a big smithery.


    The place was well-shaded, with open doors to air out the fires. There were forges and everything Reu needed to serve his high-end customers. Only a few products were in bins and barrels, but all were the less perfect products. Reu took on specific orders and could afford to sell the ones he considered imperfect to any passerby. There was a backroom for privacy and storage of things.


    Reu ended up in the backroom when Red found him. Reu looked up from the knife he was sharpening. "How did it go?"


    Red sat down opposite his father and rubbed a hand over his face. "He''s gone."


    Reu raised a brow, but his steady hands didn''t waver as he scrapped the blade. "Are you going to step up?"


    Red snorted and said, "How can I burn the place down if I help them keep things stable?"


    "You can aid in the destruction of the Habrin Empire and walk away. That is the easy way out. It''s always easier to destroy than it is to fix. There will be a sinkhole of power that will lead to future wars as freed countries strive for independence or domination. People are suffering. Habrin''s influence hasn''t grown, but it has not weakened. Without Habrin at the helm, there will be trouble."


    Red grew still as he chewed over the words. "These countries you speak of are already plotting while Habrin collapses internally."


    Reu nodded to indicate he agreed but said nothing. Soon, only the scrapping noise of the whetstone was heard.


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    "What should I do?" Red said when he couldn''t bear the other man''s silence any longer.


    "You need to surround yourself with allies within the palace. You have partnerships across countries, but you need more close at hand. You''ve played the long game well on your own. You need to surround yourself with soldiers, servants, and more spies. Relying on your own abilities won''t save you."


    Red never wanted his own guards or servants. He never needed them or thought much of men who relied on others outside of their own abilities. The only tangible thing you could depend on was yourself. He had never been given guards or sought them like his brothers. If he was going to stay within the palace grounds, that might need to change.


    However, if Red did this, it would signal to his brothers that he was tossing his hat into the succession war and was ready to create his own Emperor guard militia.


    Red also had Merin to consider now. Merin was a factor he tied to him through blood. Her abilities would be able to take on the task at hand. She was worth keeping around, but he didn''t want to expand his energy to find more.


    "My Russus will need ladies to wait on her. I will bring in men to form guards. I''ll contact our allies, and we''ll meet. I can sneak their people into the palace as my staff."


    "Don''t forget the stupid pin," Reu said with a chuckle.


    Red chuckled as well. It was silly, but the customs of Habrin were strict about clothing and accessories. Red had gone years without all the trappings his birthright afforded him, but to take them down, he needed to assimilate to some degree.


    "To take down the Habrin Empire, we''ve played the slow game, looking for the chance to strike. You will need more patience to succeed. You can''t kill your brothers due to the spellwork woven into all royal sons before succession starts. You can''t kill your father and start the succession battle until he''s found." Reu said as he set down his tools and stood up. He walked over to a table and picked up a cloth-covered object.


    "We''ll make the emperor show his face," Reu said. He handed over the object to Red.


    Red uncovered it and snorted with disbelief when he found the red and black pin in the shape of his mother''s flower.


    Merin was not surprised that the place was nearly spotless when she made the long trek back to Red''s quarters. Dozens of people were running around scrubbing everything clean.


    Upon the sight of her, they increased their fervor in cleaning. Merin smiled, satisfied that she had provided enough motivation. She turned on her heels and decided to explore. The inside was being cleaned of dust and grime, but she could explore the outside.


    It was bare of what she''d seen in other courtyards as she passed them. There was a fountain, but it needed maintenance. The trees, brush, and plant life were out of control.


    She turned her attention away from that to look up at the sky. The sun was on its journey to turn off the lights, and the shadows hid some of the damage.


    Merin took her pangolin from its sling and set it down so it could roam and nibble on bugs.


    She watched him go from a perch in the most robust-looking tree. She needed to wait for the moon to come out, and it didn''t make her wait long.


    The beams of silver blue shone down on her, and she shivered in delight. A good portion of her power had yet to return. The Ela Desert had damaged her body, and Red couldn''t undo it entirely.


    Something else was wrong, and Merin knew who to blame. The image of the boy she met all those years ago flashed in her mind. He told her there was a time limit if she didn''t accept herself.


    At the time, she had laughed it off, but now she wasn''t so sure that he had been bluffing. The boy wasn''t human and knew far too many things about her past to be a complete bluff.


    She ignored him and spent hundreds of years drifting in the skies, unwilling to touch down. Now look at her, she thought with annoyance.


    Merin jumped down from the tree, and instead of landing on the ground, she hovered. The moon would restore her balance. She closed her eyes and held her arms out to the moon. It was as comfortable as breathing to connect to the energy the lunar light gave her.


    Soon, her body was glowing as it absorbed and Merin shuddered with the rush.

 Chapter Sixteen: Big Enough Loophole

    Days of relative peace passed as Merin and Red settled into palace life. Red did bring in servants and guards. There was only a handful altogether, but the amount was a necessary one.


    Merin and Red each had one guard. Merin''s was a towering raven-haired woman named Letha. Red''s was a short, agile man named Bellare. Red felt more nervous with the man now that he was his shadow. He couldn''t hear the other man walk. With a lifetime spent looking over his shoulder, Red was accustomed to being alert. The man came on Reu''s recommendation, and that was the only reason the silent man was kept.


    Merin erased the slave branding for him. His skin was cleaned of all reminders it ever existed. It was enough to show the Sosia what had happened to him. The Sosia served best as a puppet for its master, and whatever it saw, heard, or listened to was shown to its owner.


    Overall, the past few days were deceptively tranquil. Red knew this peace wouldn''t last because his brothers had been eerily absent.


    That suspicion would prove to be right when Red woke up to the sound of footsteps.


    The first clue to Merin that something was wrong was a scream. She dropped the pangolin tail that she was playing with and stood up in a rush.


    The hideous orange nightgown was hiked up as she sprinted to the source of the noise.


    Red stood in the middle of the courtyard, covered in blood.


    Her feet froze at the sight of him. He was holding that beloved shovel of his, but there wasn''t a trace of blood on it. Her first thought was that the blood came from him, but there were a handful of bodies at his feet.


    "Behind you!" Merin shouted. Red dodged the blade from one of the attackers.


    Red caught the offending arm before it could retract and sliced it in half. The man howled in pain for a second. Red slit his throat, then stuffed the sliced meat in it to shut him up for good measure.


    More shadowy figures descended into the courtyard. Red pushed the dead man''s body off him and got into a stance.


    Merin could feel her outrage win over her shock. All the hard work she put into making this place look nice was slowly being destroyed. Red was slicing up bodies and tossing them across her newly fixed garden like it was fertilizer!


    "I thought you said your brothers couldn''t hire people to kill you with the binding? Aren''t they supposed to be affected by whatever they dish out!" She shouted at him over the loud screams and clangs.


    "They can''t," Red said as he used his shovel to catch an attacker by the throat. He twisted the blade, and it sliced the man''s neck. With one final thrust, Red was able to knock the head clean off.


    "Looks like a loophole to me," Merin muttered. She stepped forward to interrogate one of the men who escaped with his life. He was bleeding out because of an artery in his leg. That leg was missing now, and his blood was pooling underneath him. She sidestepped the pungent scent of death and the puddle to get closer.


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    Merin bent down and used her disgusting orange robes to wipe the sweat and tears off his brow. "I can make the pain go away." She said in a cajoling, sweet voice. To prove her point, she cupped his chin and infused a cool, healing breeze through her palm and into his skin.


    The man gasped at the invasion and whimpered.


    "Tell me who sent you." She said.


    When the man shook his head, she removed her hand. The sweetness disappeared from her face as if it never existed, and only cruelty remained.


    The man cried out despondent as his suffering returned with the loss of her hand. Merin knew he desired that cool relief back, so she said, "In order to receive, you must give first."


    "We came for Akkad...we didn''t know the nameless bastard was here. It was supposed to be Akkad!"


    Red could hear what Merin was doing as he fought against his attackers. It was shocking for him to learn that Akkad was the intended target. His brother must have pissed off someone and then sent them in this direction. Was that a big enough loophole for him to escape the spellwork? It might be, and that meant he could expect more attacks like this to occur.


    Red had sent Bellare off on a mission to follow up on leads on his father. He was grateful for once that he gave up control and sent the man in his stead. If Red had gone with him, then Merin would have been here to handle this mess. Well, Red''s eyes darted to Merin, who was picking on the fallen attackers, not completely alone. Her own guard was making sure no one got close enough to hurt her.


    Red used his own blood to make every slice he cut into his enemies the only one needed. He didn''t use his blood openly as a weapon. If he did so, then his mother''s origins and his grandmother''s plan would be undone.


    The twenty-odd men were dealt with deftly.


    Regardless of how the only cut he sustained was on his palm, and that was self-inflicted, Merin fussed heavily over him when it was all done.


    Technically, she first scolded him for ruining her new garden, and then she fussed.


    Red was still coming down from the battle. He always felt more alive and energized when he accessed his blood magic. When he used it to kill, something darker and more violent awoken within him. The pangs of hunger that he ignored were stirred within him.


    Red grabbed her wrist that was washing the blood off him and said in a gruff voice, "If you''re going to say no, leave now."


    Her incalculable blue eyes widened, and she gave a little gasp. Her pupils dilated, and the two spots of redness on her cheeks grew. Red knew that she understood what he wanted.


    She didn''t say no.


    Red didn''t bother confronting Akkad the next day. The duplicitous man was not only the second prince but the most cunning of his brothers. To directly confront him is what the other man desired. He was too skillful at social manipulation and wordplay. He got his scheming while suckling on his mother.


    As a rule, Russus were not allowed to belong to a noble house or family. The Habrin Empire didn''t like their consorts, Russus, or future mothers to belong to great houses of power. It was harder to control countries when your in-laws might try tossing their own hat in the ring. Russus were brought in as commoners and or slaves.


    Vera, Akkad''s mother, came in as a slave. She was cleaned up, educated, and quickly became a favorite at court. It didn''t hurt that she disposed of every major threat to herself in the Emperor''s harem before he ascended.


    She was the reason why rules were changed in regard to ascension. The spell that bound all the sons to stay peaceful until after the death of their father was not extended to mothers before. She had an innocent woman executed for the crime of poisoning the first prince.


    Red had made a point to never eat anything when she was at the table.


    She was the Emperor''s consort now, and if Akkad became the Emperor, she would become the most annoying woman in the Habrin Empire and unstoppable. No Emperor''s siblings survived their ascension into power. If their siblings had kids or Russus, they died as well. That meant only the mother was left alive and in charge of the Emperor''s harem.


    Red made his way to the banquet hall, where a family breakfast of sorts was being eaten. If his brothers were going to aim for his life from afar, why not make things easier and bring the danger to their table?


    He didn''t want Merin getting on his case about their home being a butcher shop instead of a place to rest.

 Chapter Seventeen: A Power Play

    Merin''s comfortable morning dozing in bed was rudely interrupted when something small but precise struck her forehead.


    She turned over, half asleep and unwilling to fully wake up. Another small projectile struck her on the head.


    Merin sat up and held a hand out, ready to attack whoever was at fault, but grew still when she saw the attacker.


    A boy who looked no older than nine was standing in her room. His golden brown curls were in wild disarray. He wore a white tunic with strange symbols curved along the seam. His tan bottoms were cropped haphazardly as if he styled them himself. The only truly noteworthy thing about his appearance were his eyes.


    His eyes were a burning red that glowed like hot embers.


    Merin''s mouth grew dry as her outrage shriveled and her heart contracted. It was the same boy she''d seen all those years ago. Why hadn''t he aged a day? It had been well over three hundred years since she last saw him.


    "Acuzio, look at her dumb face. I told her I''d come and revisit her. She must have forgotten." The boy said with a chortle at her expense.


    Merin looked around but saw no one else in the room.


    "Aczuio is here, dummy." The boy said, pointing to a lizard on his shoulder. "He''s being punished for bad behavior, so he can''t take his true form."


    Merin didn''t remember the lizard before, but she remembered the boy''s name. She wet her lips and attempted to follow the conversation. "What is his true form, Mordecai?" She said.


    "He''s a dragon," Mordecai said. He then blinked at her as if she were truly stupid. "Can''t you tell?"


    "No, that...that wouldn''t be the first thing I''d think of when I''d see him," Merin said and answered honestly.


    "It''s okay; you can make fun of him if you want. Tell him how dumb he looks as a lizard. He can''t hurt you while he''s stuck like this." Mordecai said. He then proceeded to crack some nuts and munch on them loudly and messily.


    "Mordecai, what are you doing here?" Merin said. She needed to grab the reins of the conversation during this lull.


    "I''m here to congratulate you," Mordecai said, blinking slowly as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. "You finally did something instead of floating around like a drugged-out princess."


    Merin''s face turned bright red as she blinked rapidly.


    "Since you''ve made your choice and changed your mind, I''m here to reward you," Mordecai said.


    "I haven''t changed my mind," Merin said. "I still plan to find a way to end this immortality."


    "I was thinking I''d gift you a magical tree, but Acuzio said that would draw too much attention. So instead, I got you this." Mordecai said as he spoke over her. The boy then tossed a silver-plated hand mirror at her.


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    Merin caught it on reflex, and before she could stop her fingers, they were caressing the fine inlay. It looked like it was spun from the light of the moon. To further cement that image, a moon image was curving the entire frame.


    "That belonged to Caelestis," Mordecai said. "I pulled it out of her tomb from her dried-up hands."


    Merin''s eyes snapped up to meet Mordecai''s burning orbs at these words. That name always echoed in her head because it was the Goddess from whom her mother said they were descended from. She had burned the journals she found detailing her mother''s ramblings, but the words hadn''t escaped her brain.


    "Your rise to power will be fun to see play out. Make sure to protect your prince. Your immortality might not cover him as well."


    "You could tell me if it will, can''t you," Merin said, hating how her voice wavered.


    "Where would be the fun in that?" The boy said with an eerie grin.


    The boy then blinked, and his expression shifted into one of annoyance. "I forgot I put that spell in place...I need another way out. I can''t just teleport...." He started muttering strange words to himself.


    The boy took a torch from the wall before Merin could ask him what he meant; he set himself on fire.


    "I guess this is the only way out. I''ll look even better next time I stop by." Mordecai said as his body became engulfed in flames. "Make it worth the trip and start a world war for me."


    Merin watched wordlessly as the boy melted before her eyes. The most terrifying thing of all was that she could see something growing underneath the burnt flesh. It was enclosed like a cacoon that expanded until it exploded.


    Merin was left with a mess, the mirror, and the boy''s pet lizard he left behind.


    She prayed that Red was having a more relaxing morning than she was. It would be challenging when it was brunch with the family, but she hoped still.


    Red chewed slowly on his breakfast as he felt the unabashed stares from his brothers. He never bothered to face them after they pulled similar stunts in the past¡ªhis choice to show up now like this after an attempt unnerved them. The sight of their faces made breakfast all the tastier.


    Red should have started playing games like this years ago. He now understood why his brothers had. It was more than a power play and a unique kind of hunt.


    "About your Russus." A woman spoke up, and Red looked and saw Vera speaking. "She hasn''t been truly made a Russus. There are procedures to be done."


    "We performed a valid ceremony," Red said abruptly. "She could walk across the serien and not burn." Although Vera is the Emperor''s consort and the highest-ranked female in the empire, only the princes came directly after the Emperor in terms of power. He didn''t have to show her respect, and he never has.


    Everyone around the table made disgruntled sounds, and Red hid his face in his cup to sip. Despite the chaos that will ensue after this breakfast, he was having fun.


    "Prove it," Akkad said. "Have her do it."


    "If you ask her nicely, I''m sure she will," Red said with a smirk.


    Akkad''s face changed colors. By now, everyone heard what Merin had done to the servants. She could weld magic. That was startling, and that fact bought them a few days before Akkad grew bold enough to find the loophole.


    Red knew their home was watched, and no trace of God''s Dust had been found in their quarters. That meant it was suspected that she was something else entirely and from a land outside Habrin''s grasp.


    The lands that still had their magic intact were left alone because Habrin relied heavily on magic to conquer. God''s Dust could only get them so far.


    "Where is she from?"


    Another voice spoke up and attempted to dig out information directly.


    "You should ask her. I''m sure she''d love to talk about her home." Red said with an uncharacteristic grin.


    "She can''t be a Russus if she belongs to a noble family!" Akkad shouted at Red. "She''s clearly from a powerful family!"


    "That''s such a nice compliment. I''ll make sure to pass that on to her." Red said as he stood and wiped his mouth with his napkin. He could feel darker emotions through his bond with Merin. There was an abnormal amount of fear twisted in them. He''d never felt fear come off her before, so something had to be very wrong.


    "I''ll go get her and have her tell you herself."


    Several people shouted for him to stop, but Red was already sprinting off.

 Chapter Eighteen: Its A Dragon!

    Merin was holding a horned black lizard when Red finally tracked her down. She was muttering to it as if it could respond to her.


    "Merin?" Red said as he stepped towards her. His eyes darted around the room, trying to assess what happened while he was gone. Red had already pulled his dagger from his boot. He would have preferred his shovel, but he didn''t risk stopping to grab it.


    "It''s a dragon!" Merin said, her face bright with delight.


    Red almost tripped over his feet as he skidded to a halt. "What did you say?" He asked her.


    Merin held out the lizard and said, "It''s a dragon!"


    Red could feel the immense burden of countless words he wanted to say press down on his shoulders. He inhaled deeply and resheathed the dagger back into his boot.


    "What happened here?" He said when he''d gathered his patience.


    He watched as Merin chewed on her lips and debated internally on how to respond. Her emotions through the bond were all over the place.


    "I''m not sure. This boy I''ve met before came here before he exploded over there. He left his pet dragon." She said finally.


    The lizard started doing a weird vibrating motion, and Merin apologized to it. "You''re not his pet? What are you then?"


    Red rubbed her face before he strode across the room. He could see the spot she mentioned, and traces of magic splattered across the walls.


    He sniffed and tried to pick up any signature trace, but whatever had created this was beyond his scope.


    Red turned his attention to the lizard, something he could deal with deftly. It was nuzzling Merin''s hands and making weird noises.


    "If this was left behind, it can''t be safe," Red said. He picked up the spiky one and chucked it out the window.


    The lizard landed on Akkad, who was paying a surprise visit. Red knew his brother was likely coming to start trouble after Red showed up for breakfast. The man was smart enough to do this to prevent Red from actually bringing Merin to breakfast.


    Red watched as Akkad had a split-second realization that a lizard had landed on his cheek before he howled.


    "Get it off me!" He roared. His men attempted to remove it, but each dropped their hands from the lizard within seconds of reaching for it.


    Merin joined Red to stare out the window as the lizard turned Akkad''s face into a melty, gooey mess. The exposed cheekbones went from ivory white to granite black as the lizard stared impassively at the damage below it.


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    Red grabbed Merin''s hand to examine her palm. Her white skin was flawless without a hint of a burn, let alone any indication it had ever touched the sun or seen hard work.


    Merin turned over his hand that was examining hers, "You weren''t burned either." She said.


    "The next time that boy comes back, make sure to get me," Red said as he watched Akkad struggle.


    The fear within Merin eased into relief through their bond, and Red could feel himself relax, too. He hadn''t realized how much of her emotions had influenced his own.


    The lizard might not be a dragon, but it wasn''t normal, which meant it needed to be watched. Many unexplained things had fallen into his lap since Merin fell from the sky. She was a good luck charm.


    Sadly, he would have to ask her to heal Akkad''s face. Although it was an accident, there was no telling what would happen to his own face if it went unchecked. There might be no rebound as a genuine accident, but Red didn''t want to test the waters.


    The two left walked towards Akkad, who had soiled himself before fainting. Merin deftly plucked the lizard from the near-dead man and stuck it on her shoulder. Only then did she pool her magic within her hands and reached out to restore the annoying passerby.


    This was an arduous task for Merin because he was near death. Whatever the lizard was, it had done a fair job of almost killing the man within a minute. It pleased her to be correct in believing what the boy said. Acuzio is a dragon.


    "You can do this much damage trapped as a lizard. You must be unstoppable in your true form." She said in her native tongue. It seemed to understand and gave a strange sort of pleasant hum in response.


    The threads of healing covered half of Akkad''s face. She could feel his men tense at her actions. Red''s presence and innate respect for her Russus status stopped them from touching her. A Russus couldn''t be grabbed or touched. Any man other than their Rutilus would have their hands chopped off.


    The silvery white patch glowed as it grew, and she focused her breath on every crevice of the injured skin. When she pulled her hands away, bright, tender new flesh had grown in the burn''s place.


    Merin had to blink at the amount of energy this healing zapped from her. She would have stumbled had Red not grabbed her by the elbow to steady her.


    Red then scooped her up and carried her off while Akkad''s men did the same for their Rutilus.


    There was no way for any semblance of peace to remain even after Merin healed Akkad''s face.


    Akkad had soiled himself after nearly dying from a lizard landing on his face. Rumors spread fast despite what the royals did to stop them. These tales fell on even the citizen''s ears, and despite what Akkad did to protest, no one knew believed his version.


    He claimed that someone threw a pot of boiling water on his face after he came to check on his youngest brother. The truth was a far more amusing tale that made elders and babes laugh uproariously.


    Akkad couldn''t even take the high road and claim nothing happened. His face was a walking testament that something had happened to him. His bright, tender new skin made the other half look aged and worn.


    Merin kept her wicked laughter to herself whenever she saw him. Even the hardened Red had mirth shining from his eyes when he saw his brother.


    Akkard wore a growing expression of bitterness. He did many things like putting a hand over half his face to hide it. It was too late for him to try to conceal it. Everybody knew.


    The only good thing about this was how Akkad became an advertisement for her healing capabilities. Merin was known for violent magic. This was the first hint that her magic could be healing and that she was good at it. The servants and guards who fearfully serviced the Red''s quarters approached her and asked for assistance.


    Red watched Merin heal servants and take care of her scaled animals. She still insisted that the lizard was a dragon, and as long as it didn''t hurt her, he didn''t care if she kept it.


    Something even more pressing had come up. Bellare had returned with news of his birth father''s whereabouts.

 Chapter Nineteen: Like a Star

    Red met with Reu and Bellare in his foster father''s backroom. The trio had a map on the table in front of them.


    Bellare was pointing to the shipping route his seed donor supposedly took. Red couldn''t help but feel a touch of doubt as he listened.


    "What do you think lad?" Reu said. The other man watched his expression and picked up on Red''s hesitation.


    "It''s too neat," Red said bluntly. His father was an Emperor. The man didn''t get there by being stupid. He was the only son of twenty-five children who clawed his way through blood to sit on the throne. His father''s ruthless endless greed provoked him to conquer even more lands for Habrin. This wasn''t a man who could be tracked so simply. Red didn''t believe for a moment that this cunning man was going senile this easily.


    It was too convenient for the Sosia to say that his father had departed on a ship, and that route was discoverable. The Sosia told him, and he must have also said that to his brothers as well. This could be a trap set for all of them to fall into. It would be fitting for their father to set them up to fall on their swords of greed.


    "We''ll follow it but with caution," Red said over the silence that lingered. "It could be that he''s gotten careless in his old age."


    "It''s worth a shot," Bellare said. "I''ll go."


    "No," Reu spoke up before Red could. "We''ll give your younger brother a shot at it. We need you in the palace. There''s more unrest after the dragon incident." Reu''s lips quivered when he said dragon.


    Every man at the table had a moment with the word. Akkad''s battle with the flying lizard had gotten wilder with each retelling. Lizards, aka dragons, were in high demand. Even in the streets outside the smithery children were welding them as weapons for fun.


    Akkad couldn''t show his face outside the palace grounds without being sung tales of his battle with the dragon.


    Thanks to all of this, Akkad openly declared war on Red. Akkad had sent countless debt collectors Red''s way, hoping one attacker would get lucky.


    They hadn''t so far, but Merin was upset with all the chopped body parts they had to dispose of daily.


    Red looked out one of the tiny peepholes Reu had in his backroom. Given her history, Merin was with him today. If she escaped his view for too long, trouble followed.


    He could see her talking to strangers. She stood out even dressed as a man. Merin had her pangolin strapped to her robed back and the lizard. Letha was with her, and the two women were covered, but Red wanted to keep an eye out. Women were plucked off the streets to be sold whenever the chance presented itself.


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    He wanted her to be in the backroom with him, but her eyes sparkled like a star when she saw the marketplace. Red softened when she turned those eyes up to plead, and he allowed her to frolic in the market.


    It wasn''t the smart choice for either of them, but she deserved a bit of fun. Merin could also take care of herself, which was necessary.


    The market is where a lot of crime happened.


    "You have such a powerful influence that everyone wants a little piece of you," Merin told Azucio in her native tongue. She could comfortably whisper to the dragon in her own tongue. Doing so minimized the chance that someone else would overhear.


    Merin had to disguise her voice as gruff, but from the looks that lingered, she didn''t think she was doing a good job of it. So, she tried to limit her words.


    Acuzio made a little chirping noise, but to her ears, it was as if she could hear the dragon say, "I''m the best."


    Merin wanted to ask why Mordecai had left the dragon behind, but she was worried it was a touchy subject. The boy said he would return, so maybe she''d find out later. For now, she was going to go shopping.


    The marketplace had delightful scents, pretty baubles, and exotic animals. Merin soaked in the new sensations with wide eyes. She missed being able to do this kind of activity!


    She fingered a silverly blue silk that she ached to wear. If only the Russus role didn''t limit her to the ugly orange hues. Merin twisted her lips in thought and mentally tried to imagine shades of blue that could work with orange.


    "It''s not impossible..." She said half in thought as her fingers ran through the silk.


    The man selling wares caught her wrist, and Merin blinked at him with narrowed eyes.


    Letha moved within a heartbeat to place her sword at the man''s throat. "Drop your hand." The bodyguard demanded.


    "You have a pangolin and lizard...you are Russus Merin. I need your help." The man said. He let Merin go, but his eyes were sticky glue on her face. "Please, Russus."


    Merin nibbled on her lip, marveling that she was becoming infamous for the company she kept. "If you know I am Russus, then you understand the crime you committed." She said. She used her hand to signal to Letha to back down. The other woman did so smoothly, but her tall frame stayed taut.


    "I tried to get your attention, but you only looked at my silks..." The man said.


    Merin winced at that. She was obsessed with color now that she was stuck with the ugliest one for the rest of her time in Habrin. Anytime she saw shades other than orange, she gushed. "You''re excused this time; what do you need my help with?"


    "My son...he''s dying. The rumors say you healed Rutilus Akkad''s face...can you heal my son?"


    "Bring him to me," Merin said. "I''ll have a look."


    The man all but abandoned his stall in his haste to grab his son. Less than thirty minutes had passed before the man returned with a six-year-old boy in his arms.


    The boy had extensive burns across his flesh. Merin gasped at the boy''s face, which was littered with scabs, and his holeless pupils.


    This was the same kind of scars the Sosia had.


    "What happened to him?" She said, lowering the wrapping around her face. She couldn''t believe this could have happened to a little boy.


    "He contracted Febris. His body could fight it off, but the damage was done. The fever burned his body, and he lost his eyes. He''s barely able to stomach food. He''s getting weaker by the day."


    Merin had never heard of a disease that caused burns to the body. Was this part of the Elan curse? Her heart ached, and she reached out and healed the little boy without caring what attention this would attract.


    Soon, Merin had people of all ages with similar scars lined up for a cure.

 Chapter Twenty: The Proper Bait

    "How long can she sustain the crowd?"


    Red knew that someone had asked him that question, but for the life of him, he couldn''t respond. He was outside the smithery with Reu and Ballare. Their cloaks were hiding their faces, but no one would bother to pay attention to the group of men.


    Only one person was being stared at right now, and that person was Merin. She was surrounded by sick people clamoring for aid.


    A child had slipped off her hood in the commotion, and her long silver hair looked like threads of moonlight. She spun smaller similar strings onto the sick, injured, and weak.


    "This was the plan all along, son." Reu''s voice finally broke through Red''s concentration.


    The plan to use Merin started the day he met her. He had too many ideas, but nothing was perfect until he learned that her healing had gone beyond her own body.


    So, the goalpost moved. Her healing capabilities would bring out his father. His father was still scarred from Febris, like countless citizens of Habrin. The vain man wouldn''t let go of the chance to be rid of his scars. He''d tried every method known to mortal man, but nothing worked. Elan''s curses didn''t fade with time; they only grew stronger. Like any roach, the Emperor would come out with the proper bait.


    That bait was Merin. The rumors of her healing capabilities had spread organically until his allies grabbed it.


    His father would have heard about it by now and would be in this crowd watching or have a puppet nearby. His father''s puppet magic was stronger than that of the previous Emperor because he ate and drank the blood of countless people with Elan blood. The curse had crippled him like it had others, but his body was so full of victims the monster went almost unscathed.


    Hence, the creation of Febris. Elan''s God hated the Emperor of Habrin and made him the first to burn from the inside out.


    Red fed Merin some of his strength through their bond and watched as her spine straightened and color returned to her cheeks.


    "It was supposed to be next week. She didn''t get much sleep last night." Red said as he monitored her through their bond. Her heart was beating strong.


    "That''s on you," Reu said. "Do you see him yet?"


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    Red shook his head. He had one eye on Merin and the other eye out for his father. He couldn''t feel the pull of blood telling him a relative was nearby.


    "If we do it again, he should show up," Reu said. "This was just the first time, and with more proof, it will work."


    "It has to," Red said. He needed to end things once and for all and kill his seed donor.


    When Merin and Red left the marketplace, it was with a cart. Merin lounged in it on top of piles of silk, gold, jewels, and other gifts.


    Red had covered her with the thickest silk, hiding her from view but not the cries of the ill. She could barely keep an eye open to respond, let alone care.


    She didn''t know who was pushing the cart but she enjoyed the journey as grapes were dropped into her mouth. She was thirsty, hungry, and in need of a long bath. Merin settled for sweet grapes while she waited to head back. Her Pangolin friend had his bowl of bugs thanks to one thankful man. Acuzio had a platter of weird things that the dragon was enjoying. All of them had earned some grub.


    "You did good," Red said. He lifted the silk to peek at her with his fathomless inky black eye. If he wasn''t pushing the cart, then who was? She looked and saw it was Bellare and Letha.


    Merin smiled tiredly in response. "Thanks." She knew he fed her energy through the bond; how else would she have been able to reset so many times? Both were exhausted, and she motioned for him to join her in the cart. He shook his head. She settled for offering him a grape which he accepted.


    "Elan created Febris, right?" She said in her native tongue. The desire to know had been burning within her, stoked by every sick kid she saw.


    Red gave a curt nod. "Those who have eaten the flesh or drank the blood of Inni for power were damned." He said, responding likewise.


    Merin felt the sweetness in her mouth turned to ash. "A lot of children were covered in those scars..."


    "Their parent''s sins were passed down to them. This is why many women don''t want to marry into Habrin. Their future husbands could be hiding under camouflage magic the horrors that will infect their children."


    "The Sosia has the same scars," Merin said, recalling the face mask.


    "He is a replica of the Emperor. The Emperor was the first to contract Febris."


    Merin felt the food she''d eaten want to make its way back up.


    "How come you and your brothers don''t have those scars?" Merin said as she eyeballed his skin.


    "My brothers were born before Elan cursed Habrin with Febris. I was not." Red said with a stiff smile that elaborated nothing.


    Merin blinked rapidly as she processed that. She knew that Red was of Elan blood, and that came from his mother. That was on top of a cannibalistic father who ate people for power. What effect did the Elan blood coursing through his father have on Red? What kind of being could that conception create?


    Another question she didn''t want to answer came to mind. It made the woman close her eyes and pretend she fell asleep. Still, it rattled in her head, granting her unrest and unease.


    What would happen if someone with her strange combination was eaten?


    Silently, the woman moved death by digestion or being cooked and eaten alive to the top of her worst way to die list. It was disgusting how it seemed to keep coming up, she thought. It would be best to put it at the top and ensure she never fell to such a fate.

 Chapter Twenty One: Fed the Shadows

    Red kept an eye on their surroundings on the way back to the palace. He was tense and ready for action. They had left the marketplace too smoothly, but there was still time for something to go wrong.


    Merin was an astoundingly beautiful woman, and she showed off her face. To make matters worse, she also showed off her skills. It didn''t take much for Habrin men to get ideas in their heads. Habrin was a country full of soldiers who had been at peace for too long without wives.


    As if Red''s thoughts summoned trouble, it came right to them.


    A group of about thirty men stopped and cut them off from joining the path to the palace.


    Red sighed heavily before looking down at Merin to see her fake sleep had turned into actual sleep. The supposed dragon was lying on her, its spikes bristling towards the danger. Red reached near the prickly thing to grab a grape. When he pulled away from the cart, his hands appeared empty.


    "If you''re a real dragon, take care of her," Red said, then he stepped towards the group of men. He placed himself at the front of the cart. Bellare took one side of the cart, and Letha took another. That left only one unguarded, but Red was confident he would be enough.


    The group of opposing men had dark cloth coverings that hid their features and size. It was hard to go up against opponents if you didn''t know what you were dealing with. Red fingered the wrapping on his palm as he mentally calculated who he would kill first.


    One man stood front and center, and he was the only one with his face exposed. He had a smile that Red knew that most people would find charming. His white teeth that flashed across his skin reminded him of the sandfish he saved Merin from before. The man had hair similar to Merin''s but was cropped short with gold threaded into the pale locks.


    "Rutilus!" The man with the wide smile said. He stretched out his arms in a friendly gesture. "My name is Zoltan, and these men are my very curious friends."


    Red stayed cold and stiff as he stared at the man. He didn''t have his shovel with him, which meant he lost an opportunity to strengthen the blood he refined it with. At the rate he was going, he would never run out of men to kill. There would be a next time.


    Zoltan''s arms dropped, but that cheeky smile stayed fresh on his lips as he said, "We''ve heard that your Russus is a treasure, and we would like to meet her."


    "Leave," Red said.


    The man''s smile faltered now before it grew bold again, "Rutilus, that is a little harsh; we just want a look."


    "I don''t repeat myself," Red said.


    "Rutilus--"


    Red threw his blood-covered grape past Zoltan and into the forehead of a man who had sneakily pulled out a dagger.


    The smack of the grape gave an audible crack as it broke through the skin and collided with the man''s skull. The man fell backward and crashed to the ground with a loud thump.


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    There was a brief silence before it was broken by screams of outrage and blades being drawn. Red let out a dark chuckle as he watched the smile fall from Zoltan''s lips.


    "Rutilus," Zoltan said with a click of his tongue. The man sounded disappointed, which amused Red. "You could have left the woman and walked away. No lady is worth death. Not even a Russus."


    Red said nothing as he unsheathed the dagger in his boot. He didn''t break eye contact with Zoltan as he played with the blade.


    "Looks like you have a taste for blood," Zoltan said before signaling his men to attack.


    Red tossed the dagger to cut the other man''s neck in response. Red''s lips thinned when he saw the other man block it with his own blade.


    "Has anyone told you that you''re like your father?" Zoltan said with a smirk.


    Red saw red after that and charged.


    There was a persistent noise that made Merin wake up. She blinked as the familiar sound of battle raged beyond her silk covering.


    She stealthily peeked and saw blood and body parts sprinkled like dirt in all directions. Merin grabbed Acuzio for comfort and held the dragon tight to her bosom. She didn''t have the mental fortitude to use her powers right now. She was tapped dry, and if Red was fighting, she couldn''t draw any strength from him.


    Only a handful of people were standing, but Red was tearing them apart with his bare hands. She blinked rapidly as she watched flesh rip and heard the bones crack. A circle of blood surrounded Red as he continued his rampage.


    This was how Red killed when he didn''t have his shovel, Merin thought with shock. Red was often covered in blood, but his shovel was always clean. Merin watched as he sent a shower of blood in all directions as he ripped a man''s throat out with his bare hands.


    Guttural laughter rippled through Red''s body, and for a moment, Merin lost her train of thought.


    "Your Rutilus is a dangerous man." A voice tickled her ear, and Merin jerked. She reflexively held out the dragon as a shield to burn the strange man.


    "Is this the infamous dragon?" The man said.


    Merin looked and saw that he was unfazed and unburned by Aczuio. She looked at the dragon crosseyed in her disbelief.


    "Come quietly with me while your Rutilus is distracted. No funny business, Russus." The man said with a broad white grin.


    Aczuio might have failed her, but he wasn''t Merin''s only trick up her sleeve. She''d been holding onto this one since the Ela Desert. Merin slapped the silver white collar on the man. While he stared at her, shocked, she kicked him in the face and knocked him to the ground.


    Red was on the man within a heartbeat. He hung him like a smoked roast and looked ready to dice him up as sandwich meat.


    "Wait!" Merin said as she fought to scramble out of the cart. Her body was having a hard time doing something so simple. "Aczuio spared him, so that must mean something!"


    Red''s slicing motion stopped, and he met her eyes. Merin gulped at the darkness that had taken over his different colored orbs. At this moment, part of her previous question had been answered. Whatever darkness he gained from his father might have overshadowed Elan''s light.


    Red was covered in blood, which was becoming a familiar sight, and barely breathing from exertion. What wasn''t familiar was the way his red eye glowed. Mordecai''s had looked like embers being stoked for heat. Red''s eye blinded like the sun''s rays. It was as if he couldn''t truly see her, and if she made the wrong move, he would cut her up too.


    Merin landed not so gracefully on the ground and took tentative steps towards Red. The man he held upside down wasn''t struggling, which Merin was grateful for. The last thing that man needed to do was trigger Red''s hunter instincts and have the collar wasted.


    She waited until she was mere inches away before giving a small smile. "The collar I stole from the slavers is on him as well. They wanted to put one on me to make me obedient. Maybe he can be of use?" Merin said with a dry mouth. "At the very least, we can''t question the dead." She was babbling by now, but the stench of death was overpowering at this moment. There was also a thick odor of fear left by Red''s victims.


    Merin was familiar with death, but right now, she didn''t want Red to keep killing. Each life he had taken today had fed the shadows within.


    What would happen if they overpowered him one day?

 Chapter Twenty Two: Assassins Every Night

    There was always a desire for more underneath the surface of his iron control. He kept it banked, never letting the kindling start the fire. Red was not a pious nor abstinent man. He fed the need just enough to keep it sated and calm. To yearn for more would stoke the itch that could never be scratched because it knew no limits.


    Red made it his mission never to give in.


    So how did he get to the point where he was looking at the man he was holding upside down like a steak?


    The slim rational part of his mind knew this hunger came from his father. His father and forefathers were proof that this appetency never faded. It only grew until you devoured countries and looked forward to new lands to consume.


    This ache that desired death should be aimed at those who deserve it or need to die. His maternal grandmother had burned those words into his heart, and he had obeyed it for the past two decades.


    But it was hard to stop it once his appetite was stoked. He wanted nothing more than to keep killing and to absorb. The past countless days of murder he committed made it harder to soothe his yearning.


    The irrational side was already guessing how the meat dangling in his hands would taste. The man smelled like he drank enough wine to pretenderize his flesh with sweetness.


    A piece of him was speaking to him. No, it was a person, Red corrected in his head as he blinked. This person had a piece of his blood growing within them. It was Merin, Red realized belatedly. He could hear Merin speaking to him, and through their bond, he could feel her uneasiness and worry for him.


    Why wasn''t she afraid? She should have been running for it, but she approached him. Red stared at her. He was unsure how to stop, and there was no way he could get control. If he could, he would have by now.


    Her pale unblemished hand unabashedly landed on his tarnished blade welding hand. "Let''s give it a shot, at least." She said with a small smile.


    Red had no idea what she''d been saying this whole time, yet he found his body listening. He dropped the man and his blade to the ground.


    Something within him seemed to crack because the lights went dark.


    Red was back in his bedroom when he opened his eyes. He relaxed upon the now familiar sight of clean sheets and spotless floors.


    Merin had worked wonders with the servants because even the air managed to always smell like fresh flowery crap.


    A scream cut off the peaceful thoughts, and Red dashed out of the room. He barely paused to grab his shovel. He could see the darkened skies outside, meaning he must have slept until the sun went down.


    Bellare and Letha were outside the door, watching over him while he slept.


    "Where''s Merin?" He said.


    "Russus said to make sure you could sleep peacefully tonight," Letha said.


    Red felt like wringing Bellare by the throat. "There are assassins every night." He said.


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    "She said she would handle it tonight so you could rest..." Bellare said. He wanted to convey something in his expression, but Red ignored him because another cry of pain echoed down the halls.


    Red took off down the hall as his mind tried to run through all the scenarios of what might greet him.


    Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.


    Merin was standing in the middle of the courtyard. The full moon illuminated her silvery hair. Her left hand held strings of silver attached to a handful of men''s throats.


    A man attempted to jump down from the rooftop behind her. Red cried out to warn her as his body moved to kill the man. Before he could, Merin beat him to the punch. Merin held out a hand and caught the man in mid-air. She lifted him higher before smashing him like a child might a toy.


    Merin twisted that string, and the trapped men cried out. Little beads of light traveled up the length and towards her palm. When the lights faded, the captured men collapsed. It was a similar magic to something Red had seen his father do, which raised alarms in his head.


    Merin looked at him and tsked, "Go back to bed. I have it covered for tonight. It''s the least I can do." She said.


    Red scanned the courtyard and saw dozens of dead men. There were more than usual, and he attributed that to the marketplace healing incident. Red knelt to examine the bodies closest to him. Every man she killed was broken from the inside.


    Red looked up from the pile of bodies to look at Merin. She''d stolen their life force and used it to kill them.


    She hid her strength since they left Ela. She had the ni symbol attached to her name. She said it was a gift, but the Inni people didn''t doll out ni to just anyone. There was also the fact that Merin had never heard of Habrin. He long suspected she lacked current knowledge because of something more than stupidity.


    It may be time for Red to question Merin to discover how old she is. Better yet, it was time for him to know what she was.


    "Bad dragons don''t get tender meat," Merin said, shaking a finger at Acuzio. He should have attacked the man who tried to kidnap her. "Begging won''t make me share." She said, turning her head away from the dragon who was pleading with her. She shoved the juicy meat into her own mouth instead.


    Although she had used the moon to steal vitality from the men in the courtyard, she was ravenous. Red was staring at her strangely as she cleared several plates of food. She usually picked at her food like a delicate bird forced to eat, but that facade was long gone. She needed to fill up on food.


    She could see questions in his eyes, but his mouth was busy chewing like hers. She still hadn''t decided what to say when she swallowed her food.


    Merin nibbled on her lip as she braced herself for the conversation that both had put off a staggering amount of time. She appreciated that he had waited patiently for her to broach the subject. Both of them had their secrets, and slowly, they were peeling away the layers, but that took time.


    "I''m a Caladrius," Merin said when she finally gained the courage to admit it.


    "What is that?" Red said.


    "I''m not exactly sure. I''m the last one. My mother didn''t have much to pass on to me aside from her madness. She discovered how to trigger the hidden attributes of our blood."


    "Your history with Elan?" He said.


    That was a bit touchier but something Merin needed to confess. "I came across them right after I met Mordecai." She said.


    "Mordecai is the boy that left that," Red said, pointing to the dragon who had crawled onto Merin''s plate and was eating the unattended meat.


    Merin pretended she didn''t see Aczuio eating the forbidden meat and nodded. She said, "Mordecai warned me that he would punish me if I didn''t change course."


    "Why would he say that?" Red said.


    "He said that I was messing with his plans, and if my mother''s prophecies were stopping me, then he would lay the groundwork for me to overcome them. I''ve lived my extensive life ensuring her prophecies didn''t come true. I didn''t think he could actually do it."


    "What did she foresee?" Red said.


    "She saw I would have daughters who wouldn''t need loss to gain strength. She saw the return of a dead Goddess...Red, I think Mordecai created the Habrin Empire." Merin said with a dry mouth.


    This was the one thing that she had managed to ignore the moment she put the timeline of everything in order. Mordecai said what he wanted and told her he would punish her if she ignored him. She had ignored the kid and decided to float around for hundreds of years. Mordecai must have accomplished his promise with the creation of Habrin.


    If so, then Merin was to blame for even more innocent loss of life. How could she ever move past that?

 Chapter Twenty Three: A Red Bird

    Red took a bite of food and chewed slowly as his brain listened to Merin.


    "When you met Mordecai, was he a child?" He said.


    Merin gave a nod. "It''s been...a long time. A lot of years, and he stayed the same." Merin said. Her face turned crimson when she paused.


    Red had an idea of why she was embarrassed. Age was sensitive for women, but he wanted to get to the bottom of things. He had already figured out that she was old.


    He''d long suspected it, given how extensive their lessons became. Merin didn''t know about the Habrin Empire, which had recently hit its three-hundred-year benchmark. The Elan Nation was still at its height of power when his forefather ate his parents and stole the throne of the old country. Habrin started shortly after that same forefather''s conquest of his first country.


    History stated that a red bird came to the first Emperor and whispered gifts of knowledge. That knowledge brought power and hunger into the blood. That harbinger must have been Mordecai.


    All of this aligned with what Merin told him and what he knew of the history of Habrin.


    Either way, Mordecai was dangerous.


    "There''s a legend about a creature my grandmother told me about. She said to avoid it at all costs because it takes many forms." Red said. "It''s called a phoenix. Elan Nation abhors birds due to what they deemed as the flying menace."


    The lizard started making noises, and Red spared it a glance. "It caused chaos and made Elan more enclosed to outsiders. Elan''s God, in particular, hated what they called cousin." He said.


    Merin started coughing on her drink, and Red patted her back.


    When she finally regained her senses, she said, "So Mordecai is related to Elan''s God?"


    He told her the history of the first emperor of Habrin and how he came into power. A bird was mentioned then as well.


    "Do you know Mordecai''s plans?" Red said when he was done. This was important because all signs pointed toward this bird being a little too interested in what was Red''s.


    "He wants to keep the line of Caelestis going. She was a Goddess that died some time ago," Merin said. Her eyes darted toward her overflowing jewelry table. She ran over and came back moments later with a strange hand mirror.


    "Mordecai gave me this. He said he took it from the Goddess'' tomb." Merin said as she passed it over to Red.


    Red inspected the mirror. Its silver lunar theme reminded him of the woman biting her lip and still keeping secrets.


    "So Caelestis is your ancestor," Red said. He watched as Merin''s face turned several shades of color. "That doesn''t explain why it matters to him that you have children unless he is also related to you."


    "I don''t think he is." She said.


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    "We''ll have to question him when he comes," Red said as he mentally planned how that would go. "Thank you for taking care of the assassins tonight."


    Merin gave a huge smile and said, "I wanted to."


    "Thank you for using your strings to redirect them to the courtyard so it''s easier to clean up."


    Merin''s eyes grew wide, and her mouth fell open. "You knew?" She said.


    "I''ve been prepared for them to come in through windows or any of the other countless openings, but they never did," Red said. His father would do something similar, and that was how no one got the jump on him growing up.


    The magic that Merin could use was too similar to his father''s side of the family. If his forefathers learned magic from Mordecai, then it also made sense for Mordecai to be Merin''s relative.


    Maybe the lizard was a real dragon, Red thought as he watched Merin pamper it. The casual way this potential God tossed things around had to be calculated.


    A strange rise of possessiveness rose within him at the idea of this creature watching and making plans for Merin''s life.


    Red was looking forward to the red bird of legend reappearing. It was past time for the two to talk.


    Merin couldn''t stay mad at the dragon forever. It was just too cute! Acuzio had the cutest little black spikes that looked like thorns, but they never pierced her skin. Its reputation meant that wearing it made people burst into song. It was fun because the saga of the black dragon grew with each retelling of the song.


    She really liked the dragon. So where had it gone?


    Merin hadn''t seen the errant dragon since the dinner conversation with Red. That was days ago, and it was as if it vanished.


    Red was gone because he was torturing the failed kidnapper for information. Letha was still with her, but the guard was even more taciturn than Red.


    She wanted someone to talk to, but her listening companion was gone!


    Merin wandered out of their mini palace to look for the runaway dragon. It had been acting funny during that dinner, but she thought it was due to banning it from the excellent meat. She''d even looked away when it ignored her punishment anyway!


    A knot in her stomach grew as she called out to the dragon. First, she used taunts of goodies. When that failed, she vowed punishments for making her worry. All of it was in her native tongue, but the dragon didn''t show even a little spike.


    Merin was in the middle of calling out to the dragon, like it was a dog, when she ran into a couple of Russus wearing blood orange.


    She turned a corner in the garden, and if she''d been looking high instead of low, she would have seen the two brightly colored women.


    Merin knew that one was Vera but had no idea who the other was. It wouldn''t be Akkad''s Russus because the two women threw barbed words at each other.


    Merin made a face and turned around sharply to leave. The last thing she wanted to do was get in the middle of harem drama. She''d done an excellent job avoiding the other Russus and keeping her skirts clean of dung tossing. She didn''t have the patience not to throw magic around and do real damage while receiving tongue lashings from them.


    "Where do you think you''re going?" Vera said.


    All hopes of escaping unseen were dashed. Merin stiffened, and just as she was about to turn around, a voice spoke before she did.


    "I thought to take a walk around the water." The deep masculine voice said.


    Merin peeked over and saw that the Sosia was there. This man still freaked her out. His face mask was disturbing, but the fact that he was a puppet was creepier. He wore black, highlighting that even the Sosia were deprived of the Emperor''s decorative colors.


    The other two women seemed to feel the same way. They made excuses and escaped.


    The man turned to stare at her. She tried to remain like a statue, hoping he wouldn''t be able to see her truly. He shouldn''t because he didn''t have eyeballs. There were holes where his orbs should be. And yet he could see her. She''d reckon he could even tell how pale she''d gotten the closer he came to her. He didn''t look right, and there was something even more sinister about him today.


    "Russus Merin." The Sosia said. Something else seemed to be speaking through him.


    The stormy unease in Merin chose that moment to erupt, and she spewed vomit all over the Emperor''s Sosia.


    Unwilling to see what happened in the aftermath, she took her upset stomach and ran back to the safety of their quarters.

 Chapter Twenty Four: What is That

    Red spent the last few days testing the limits of Zoltan''s slave collar. The man begrudgingly obeyed him but completely listened to Merin.


    Merin thought he was still spending time working over the genteel man, but Red had bigger fish to fry. To be exact, he had a supposed dragon to roast over the fire.


    Merin seemed too ill-equipped for what was to come. Mordecai hadn''t stopped by to only drop off a hand mirror and leave his pet behind; Mordecai knew something before either of them could.


    The first night that they spent together was when Merin conceived. He didn''t know until he lost his mind to blood lust. When she spoke to him, he might have done something inexplicable if she hadn''t been carrying his growing blood.


    Merin was being watched by a God who wanted her to have children. Neither knew why that was, and he couldn''t get answers from Mordecai. Red couldn''t take the chance that his future blood would be kidnapped.


    So this was how Red found himself in Reu''s smithery, trying to test the limits of the lizard.


    Red dangled it over the spit; it was slowly turning as he attempted to roast it. The lizard looked back at him with bored eyes, unimpressed with the heat.


    Red could feel his lips pull back in an ironic smile. Interestingly, the lizard remained unharmed after a full day and night on the spit.


    "The Russus has started to worry about it," Bellare said.


    Red ignored the man who''d been overstepping his bounds more and more. Red had managed to distract Merin with tasks that bought him time with the creature. He went to great lengths to test out multiple attacks. He''d taken knives to it and tried smashing it with multiple heavy things. And now even fire couldn''t harm it.


    Red used fireproof gloves to pick up the spit and then dropped the spit and the lizard into the waiting water. The water sizzled as the collision of heat and cold met.


    Red watched the lizard as he waited to see how long the thing could go without air. He counted in his head and saw the lizard didn''t struggle or look upset. A normal animal in this situation would fight for life and try to escape. This lizard looked like it was enjoying the deep dive like a bath. It was well over an hour, and the lizard rested peacefully at the bottom of the water tank. Red knew it was alive because it was still blinking. Tiny bubbles floated to the top like it could breathe underwater.


    Red stuck his hand in the water to untie the lizard, and it bobbled up to the water''s surface. The lizard then started moving his legs and began paddling around leisurely. There were no gasps for air or stress in the creature. Each movement the lizard created was slow and peaceful.


    "What is that thing?" Bellare said with less composure. "How is it possible?"


    "It''s a dragon," Red said. This had to be the only valid explanation for what it was.


    The lizard blandly gazed up at him. It was blowing bubbles in the water now.


    If Red were a betting man, he''d wager that the damn beast was laughing at him.


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    "Aram."


    Red should have known he couldn''t return to his quarters without being spotted by someone in the main palace.


    The tone that spoke his name was melodious and collected. There was only one brother who spoke as if he were always performing. That brother was Cem. He was the second eldest after Akkad and the more dangerous of the two. One could guess what Akkad would do because of his hot-headed nature. Cem was controlled and always watching for an advantage during the chaos of Akkad''s fits.


    Red spun on his heels to look at Cem. The other man wore only red on his robes. The only black was his slicked-back hair, which looked like the other man had painstakingly tried to lighten the color.


    It was one of many attempts by sons of the royal family to show they were not serious about the throne. It never saved a single one of them from the slaughter of ascension.


    "We need you at the meeting this afternoon," Cem said. "There''s talk of war starting in the northern provinces. The remnants of their original countries have gathered and haven''t paid their taxes in the past six months."


    "Isn''t your province up north? Is yours one of them?" Red said.


    Cem gave a jerky nod. "It is." He said.


    "Then you should solve it," Red said. "That has nothing to do with me."


    "Aram, I can''t handle it alone. Please attend the meeting." Cem said. The other man didn''t wait for a response and took off.


    "So the dissolution of the Empire has begun," Red said with a grim smile. It was within his plans to keep his brothers distracted while he lured out their father.


    Soon, all of his brothers will have worries drawing them away from the capital.


    Red had taken advantage of Merin''s healing in the marketplace. Rumors of the curse being undone were spreading like wildfire. If she gave birth to a daughter, then Red could plan for that to align with the decaying of the Habrin Empire''s influence. If Habrin showed that it could undo even one of the curses inflicted upon them, there would be worldwide consequences. People will either wait for Habrin to come back to its full power or buckle under its control and stop it from making a comeback.


    Red was still determining which direction he wanted it to go. He desired the total destruction of his other half, but his foster father had made valid points about what fallout could create.


    Either way, once people no longer had to bow to Habrin, there would be rebellions too numerous to contain.


    Merin nearly spat out her chewing mint when Red returned to their quarters. He had Aczuio looking at home in his dark locks.


    "So that''s where you went!" She said, standing up on her tiptoes to reclaim her favorite dragon.


    He looked hungry, so she immediately fed and fussed over him.


    "Merin, what is that?" Red said.


    Merin blinked rapidly as she tried remembering the lines she practiced when she found her new companion.


    "I was looking for Acuzio, and I found this poor baby during my search."


    The poor baby looked properly bereft as it looked up at Red. Red was staring down at it with unkind eyes but the poor baby persisted in looking needy.


    "That is not a baby," Red said.


    Merin put Acuzio down on the platter of food and scooped up the fluffy baby, who was looking balefully up at her. "It needs a new family. The poor thing was covered in blood and being attacked by the shitty children of this family."


    "Who did you steal him from?" Red said.


    "Defne, Akkad''s Russus, and their horrid children had already killed its mother."


    "Did you leave them untouched?" Red said.


    Merin made a noise at how Red seemed to know her so well. "I trapped them in the cage they kept this poor baby in."


    "It''s going to get huge," Red said. "It''s not safe to keep something that can kill you with one hit." He seemed to cut himself off, and Merin watched as he looked at Acuzio and then at her pangolin.


    "Look how well-behaved he is! He won''t be a hassle!" Merin said as she turned up, her eyes pleading, willing to beg.


    Before Red could say anything, the baby she held up to plead used his faculties to pee.


    There was a long moment where the only noise in the room was the gush of pee falling to the floor.


    "He''s such a good boy," Merin said, reiterating her point. "If we let him out in the wild he''ll be killed by predators. He can''t hide with a white coat. Or poachers will capture him for sport again."


    Red rubbed his face, and she couldn''t tell if he was fighting laughter or annoyance.


    "Jaguars get really big," Red said, but there was a tone of defeat, and Merin knew he would let her keep the cat. She sat down the said cat, sidestepped the pee, and ran to hug him.

 Chapter Twenty Five: Wheres My Dragon?

    Reu''s messenger dropped off a coded note for Red moments before he entered his brother''s meeting. Red gave a nod, and the messenger immediately disappeared into the deepening shadows.


    Red opened it and scanned it before feeding it into a nearby torch.


    A hand tried to grab it from him, but the dragon perched on his shoulder started hissing at the interloper.


    "Doesn''t that monster belong to your Russus?" Akkad screeched as he snatched his hand and examined it for burns.


    "It''s taken a liken to me," Red said. Oddly enough, the days spent trying to starve and maim the thing had endeared the two to each other. "I wouldn''t go digging through fire, Akkad."


    "You shouldn''t be burning strange things," Akkad said with narrow eyes.


    Red snorted and walked into the room, ignoring Akkad.


    The other man made an exaggerated noise and charged after him into the room. It was the only room in the palace with no windows and only one door. It was a horrible place for the royal heirs to meet, but it had made his generation honest with each other.


    The dark black walls were barely lit with torches, and there wasn''t a single decoration in the room. In the middle of the room was a table Merin would have called the squatter''s hobble. To him, it was expected to have tables on the ground with cushions for seating. Red could feel his lips tug as he recalled the first time she saw how their dining experience was supposed to go. One would never guess how she used to fuss over it¡ªconsidering how she now loved to lounge on cushions and stuff her face.


    Three of his seven brothers were already seated at the table. The Sosia was at the head of the table, sitting on what Merin called a bench. It brought a bigger smile to his lips because now he could only see the throne as a bench.


    Hushed conversations were going on, but no one spoke to the Sosia. All of his brothers even avoided eye contact with the puppet.


    Red sat down and ignored the cup of wine before his seat. None of his brothers had touched their drinks either. Even Akkad, the bold, sat down and ignored the offered cup. Only the Sosia drank openly from his cup.


    "Is Father attending this meeting?" Emir, the middle brother, said.


    There were hisses of disapproval as glances were shot toward Red.


    "I already know," Red said. Then, with a taunting expression, he picked up the wooden cup and took a long sip.


    Voices rose as countless arguments and past grievances were tossed around. The rest of his brothers joined the fray, making the already noisy room impossible to enjoy.


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    "Silence."


    The one word sent a chill down Red''s spine. The hairs on his arms rose, and he lifted his eyes to look at the Sosia.


    This eerie voice was how his father was supposed to sound. The Sosia was close but couldn''t weld fear as effortlessly as their sperm donor.


    The Sosia''s face was calm and collected. The air around him seemed to shift as his body was filled with the energy of its creator. The spine was straighter, the posture was more relaxed, and the expression was derisive.


    Red noticed how his brothers snapped their mouths shut and sat their butts down. No one uttered a word. And no one looked directly at their father, who had taken over the Sosia''s body.


    Red could feel his heart race as excitement and apprehension battled within him. His father was finally close enough to touch, but killing the Sosia would do nothing to his father. The Emperor would just implant a fresh puppet to wear the robes and sit on the bench.


    "Who called this meeting." His father said.


    "I did, father," Cem said. His mouth was audibly dry. Red watched under his lashes as Emir gave Cem a sneaky shoulder pat.


    "Why." Their father said.


    Cem launched into his talking points but was cut off by the Emperor.


    "Just kill them." He said with a bored voice. "Why all this fussing like the squalling Russus? If they want a fight, go and put an end to it."


    "The--"


    Cem was cut off again by the Emperor. "Aram will accompany you."


    Red stiffened and raised his eyes to see his father eyeing him with a calculating smirk.


    Red wanted to bring his father out using Merin as bait, but he needed to be around for that to happen. His father was sending him off to war to leave Merin undefended.


    Before he could protest, the room shook, and the torches went out.


    Merin chewed on the stiff jerky with annoyance. "It tastes great." She said after she composed her expression.


    The cub was not fooled, and Merin sighed.


    "I can''t share my tender meat with you and Acuzio! There''s just not enough to go around." She said, but the cub was pawing towards her, making the cutest noises. Merin, feeling like a sucker, handed over the juicy, soft meat and turned her head away in shame.


    "Hey, idiot!"


    A new voice drew Merin''s attention from the cub to a man. He had curly brown hair that looked a bit familiar. That was where the familiarities ended. The man was dressed in all red, and the color shocked Merin. Habrin was very sensitive about ownership of that color, so who was this man?


    She took a defensive stance and moved the cub and the sleeping pangolin behind her.


    "Where''s my dragon?" The man said.


    Merin blinked rapidly as she reevaluated the man. His eyes, which shone like embers, dropped sparks onto the marble floor. Mordecai said he would look even better when he came back. The boy before was cuter, but the man was scarier. Her definition of better was vastly different from his own take on his appearance.


    Merin pointed silently opposite the direction that Red had taken off towards. The man said something nasty before vanishing in a cloud of smoky flames. She watched briefly as, instead of completely disappearing, the firey cloud shot toward the direction she had pointed. It reminded her of a flaming arrow, and that comparison worried her.


    Merin scrambled to get up. Her misdirection wouldn''t last, and she needed to get to Red before Mordecai found him and Acuzio.


    Merin forgot that she was wearing her home silks when she ran outside her home. Her home silks were silvery blue, which looked best on her. She received looks and confused comments from servants and guards, but she ignored them.


    Red had told her a bit about the room he was going into. The guards that should have been in front of the door were missing in action. Merin was used to Habrin customs by this point. There were door ushers and guards at every door. Royalty wasn''t supposed to touch the door handle because they were supposed to opened for them.


    Her mouth was dry as she swung open the door and looked inside.

 Chapter Twenty Six: Tick Tock Bloodmonger

    Pitch blackness greeted Merin''s eyes. There wasn''t even a spark of Mordecai, let alone torches. She could see something glowing but turned away as she attempted to use her other senses to find Red.


    Voices rose and fell as bickering broke out. Someone finally lit one of the torches, and everyone blinked at each other suspiciously in the room.


    Merin ignored all of Red''s brothers as her eyes sought Red.


    He wasn''t in the room.


    Merin turned on her heels and ran back to their quarters. Maybe she missed him when she ran over?


    Red was nowhere to be found even there.


    Her misdirection didn''t fool Mordecai one bit. And her deception must have cost her Red.


    Minutes felt like hours as Merin waited for word from Red. When the hours started to creep up, company came over. Merin was in the middle of packing when they did.


    She knew that if Red went missing, his brothers would be over to start trouble. She''d been too bold for far too long. She was also unlike the other Russus and avoided her harem duties. Since she didn''t bow to or respect the elder Russus or the Consort, they would be the first to peck at her.


    She couldn''t fight off everyone forever. Since it wasn''t safe here she needed to find Reu.


    Merin wasn''t too familiar with Red''s father figure. She knew they were always plotting in Reu''s smithery when Red let her frolic about the marketplace. He was her best bet, and the only one she knew to run to for possible information.


    Reu found her before she finished packing.


    The jovial man was replaced with a man tightlipped and pale with worry. He was cloaked in dark colors, and half his face was covered.


    Reu wasn''t alone when he showed up. Three other men of similar garb accompanied him, and Merin continued her packing as they spread out to look around.


    "Your boldness hasn''t changed." One of the men said, and Merin looked at the man.


    "Am I supposed to be scared?" She said with a defiant tilt of her chin.


    "When was the last time you saw Red?" Reu said, interrupting the brewing argument.


    Merin told him everything, including the bit about Mordecai.


    Silence reigned, and during it, Bellare and Letha showed up.


    Red still needed to be found. Merin couldn''t stuff her concerns down anymore. Something very wrong had gone down. Where was he?


    Red landed painfully on his back. The impact stole his breath; if his eyes were closed, he would have missed the sword swinging down.


    Red caught the blade, and the sharp metal sliced his calloused hands. In the same breath, Red used his freshly cut blood to assault his attacker.


    The man screamed, and Red ruthlessly stole the sword before ending the other man''s misery for good.


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    Red needed more time to process where he was and how he got here. He was attacked ruthlessly whenever he tried to get a feel for his surroundings.


    A new man jumped down from a cloud. He was naked as the day he was born, and Red showed no mercy in slicing him into quarters.


    Red decapitated another man who appeared out of nowhere. He could smell his blood mixing with the aroma of sweat and effort. His heart pounded, but it wasn''t the sound he was searching for. The beat he''d grown conditioned to listening to was gone.


    Merin''s heart was absent, and the bond was gone.


    A new blade came towards Red, and the spilt second he took to dodge was one too many as a new fight began.


    "I thought for sure that would be his end." A voice spoke as it chewed on something loud.


    Red caught the attacking arm and used his strength to tear at the muscles, tendons, and ligaments. He groaned from effort as he ripped the arm apart.


    "Nice! How gory! Truly a son of Habrin." Again, that voice said this as it noisily chewed on something. "Take a bite of the flesh!"


    Red ignored the attacking man''s scream and blocked the clumsy incoming swing with the man''s arm before decapitating him.


    Red was out of breath as his vision saw spots of red. He couldn''t give in to the hunger. He needed to ignore the thirst. Red looked at the man who was laughing and eating nuts. He stood high on a cliff overlooking the small barren valley Red was fighting in.


    Well, it wasn''t baren any longer. What was once red clay ground was now soaked in blood with fresh fertilizer and food for scavengers.


    "Mordecai, I presume." Red said, noting how the dragon was perched around the man''s neck. The dragon rested on Merin''s shoulder and even napped in Red''s medium-length locks. Red had never seen the dragon wrapped around someone so protectively before. That spoke volumes, considering what the ornery beast was like.


    The man smirked and dusted off his hands. "I wanted to see if you could receive half of what you dished out to my dragon," Mordecai said.


    "I wanted to test its limits," Red said. His face was unrepentant.


    "Oh shush, Acuzio, I won''t really kill him. If these golems could do actual damage, then he''s unworthy of our Merry."


    "Merry?" Red said, testing out the new name for Merin.


    "That''s not even her real name. It''s just a nickname." Mordecai said with a smirk. "If you can survive the labyrinth, then you can escape my punishment. Tick-tock bloodmonger, you don''t want to waste time."


    "Tick-tock?" Red said, trying to understand what those words could mean.


    A loud blaring roar almost knocked Red off his feet as the sound assaulted him.


    "Booo you suck! I can''t believe you like him. Fine, I hope you die as a lizard." A voice said. Mordecai''s words barely registered in Red''s head as something sharp and pokey landed on him. When Red opened an eye, he saw two beady lizard eyes smirking back at him.


    It had felt like an eternity for Red, but he still had no idea where he was or what was happening. He went from barren ground to a series of underground caves. Acuzio had taken charge of their route, and Red followed the dragon.


    The dragon glowed in the dark endless underground passageways. It had ruby shining like a fire between the black spikes. The longer Red stared at the marching dragon, the larger it seemed. It was as if the beast was growing the deeper they went.


    The dragon wasn''t the only thing that glowed underground. Spores of all shades were either stuck to the cavern''s walls or ceilings. They floated around to tickle the two intruders.


    Red was able to spend his eternity of walking calming down his heart. Only when that was achieved did he start binding his wounds and taking stock of his weapons. Mordecai didn''t seem like the type to let go of a grudge. Red needed to be prepared for battle.


    Red took this peaceful walk as a time to recall the last thing he saw before he woke up to being attacked.


    The torches had gone out in the meeting room. His brothers were attempting to blame each other. He looked at where his father was last and saw his eyes glowing in the pitch-black room.


    That was the last thing he saw before Mordecai presumedly snatched him.


    "Acuzio, where are we?" Red said. He''d never tried talking to the dragon, but Merin and Mordecai seemed to understand him.


    "You don''t want to know." A deep gritty voice said, and Red could feel his heart pick up in speed as his fight or flight was triggered.


    Silence reigned after that, and Red turned introspective again. There was a missing sound he didn''t realize how much he''d come to rely on in the past few months. Merin''s heartbeat was a constant no matter the distance, but there seemed to be a limit. She was gone. Their bond was gone.


    How far had Mordecai taken him?


    Red didn''t have time to linger on that because Mordecai was a grudge holder, and monsters greeted his sight this time.


    "It''s going to be a long day," Red said as he unsheathed his stolen weapons.

 Chapter Twenty Seven: Light and Life

    Red fought battle after battle against endless hordes of monsters. Some were tall enough to reach the cavern ceiling. Other monsters were too thick to budge after death, and Red had to find a new route. They all bled acid that dripped and redefined the world as Red knew it.


    Acuzio was doggedly trotting on undamaged by any of the fights. None of the monsters came close to the dragon. Red finally picked up the dragon, and nothing attacked him as long as he held it.


    He received cuts and bruises all over his war-torn body. Every muscle screamed before reaching a bright opening that spoke of the sun''s heat. Red heaved out a breath he''d been holding at the familiar sight of light and life.


    He finally made it out of that hellish place.


    "Don''t be surprised by what you find," Acuzio said, but the sun turned up the light before Red could ask him what he meant.


    The Capital of Adabin had undergone tremendous shifts since Red''s trials. The man thought as he stumbled down the empty dusty streets. He was too exhausted to care if his red eyes were spotted. The bustling streets were also dead silent, so no one was there to care.


    What wasn''t silent was that familiar second-beating heart. He was finally back where things made sense. He could feel the pulling of blood drawing him in the direction of where Merin was.


    Acuzio one-mindedly trotted ahead of Red as if he knew where the two were going. Red didn''t have the energy to question it as the feeling of connected blood pulled him.


    Red found himself outside a decrepit building on the outskirts of the capital. Plants and other things adorned it, but Red did not mind it paid it no mind.


    He was here for what was inside, not outside.


    The door swung open before Red could touch it, and Merin stood in the doorframe. Her mouth was open as if she were in the middle of saying something, but it screamed his name instead.


    "You''re plumper than I last saw you..." He said before diving face forward toward the ground.


    Red was gone for six months before he finally returned. The first month was tumultuous, with his family sending spies and guards to search.


    Merin took her two remaining pets to seek refuge with Reu, Bellare, Zoltan, and Letha. She discovered that Zoltan was one of the cloaked men who stopped at the palace. The snarky man still had to obey her, but that didn''t stop his tongue from wagging.


    The second month was when Merin realized she was pregnant.


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    The third was when she started disguising herself as an old woman and walking the streets to offer healing cream to Febris victims. That was also when Merin discovered that Habrin men highly respected older women. Her Russus title aligned her with the royal family, bringing danger and preconceived notions. Some rightfully blamed the Emperor for what befell them, while others wanted a taste of what the royal family did.


    Russus were a target outside the palace walls, as were young women of childbearing years. You were left alone and respected if you looked old enough to be a grandma.


    Time began to blur by the time Habrin went to war against their Northern provinces.


    She hadn''t given up hope that Reu would find Red, and she was right not to, Merin thought as she finally looked at him after six long months.


    Merin caught Red as he all but fell into her arms. She stumbled under his massive muscle-bound frame, but with the use of her strings, she persisted.


    His handsome face was marked with wounds, and his hair had grown to span his back. He looked like he fought through the bowels of her Christian father''s hell and survived to talk about it.


    "Letha! Run some hot water!" Merin said. She then called for Zoltan to help bring Red in.


    It took some time to bathe the sleeping man by hand, but it was time Merin spent wiping away his wounds as well. There were burns from strange substances, cuts, and what looked like teeth marks that spanned his broad back. He had layers upon layers of blood, grime, and dirt.


    "You''re next." She said to Acuzio, who had also come back and hadn''t gone unnoticed.


    Acuzio made noises in protest and darted away.


    Merin watched him go before returning her attention to Red.


    His bright eyes were open and staring into her own.


    A knot that she didn''t want to acknowledge loosened and dissolved in her gut.


    "Hi." She said.


    "Hey." He said.


    There was a long silence as they soaked in the sight of each other. Merin dove forward to squeeze him as she whispered her regrets of lying to Mordecai.


    When she finally contained herself, she demanded to know where he''d gone.


    While Red explained everything, she cut up pieces of fruit and veggies for Red to snack on while the stew slowly burned. She fed him by hand as she listened rapt to what Mordecai had done.


    "He was trying to kill you."


    "He wasn''t. If he wanted me dead, I''d be dead." Red said after swallowing a banana slice. He made a face as he looked at the next piece of banana offered to him.


    "What," Merin said.


    "All you''re offering now are banana slices."


    "It''s all I crave," Merin said, aware that her pale face was heating up. "We have too many bananas now. I even make butter from bananas, and I''ve been eating it on everything."


    "It''s nasty!" A voice from the door spoke.


    Merin made a face at Zoltan, who had learned how to serve but not keep his mouth shut. The man ran off and closed the door on his way out before she could order it.


    "I missed so much." Red''s voice was hoarse and full of unspoken emotion. It made Merin''s heart skip as she turned back to stare at him.


    "Not everything. I''m glad you came back." Merin said. She wasn''t a crier, but she could feel massive tears build in her annoyingly weak ducts.


    Red brought her closer to him until his head could rest on her stomach. She could feel something shift within her at the touch. Later she would understand it was a pull of blood connecting to blood. But at this moment, she took the time to brush his hair.


    She was afraid of facing this without him, let alone at all. She was in Habrin, though, a land cursed to have sons instead of daughters. She would beat her mother''s prophesy as long as she gave birth in Habrin.


    So then, why did a part of her doubt that things would go as planned? Between Mordecai''s interference and Red''s Inni blood, there was no telling what would happen.

 Chapter Twenty Eight: Ramifications of War

    Red spent a handful of days recovering from the vigorous trials Mordecai put him through. His body healed up quickly due to Merin''s intervention.


    They were still in the little building outside of town that turned out to be owned by Reu. In true Merin fashion, although the outside looked moderately bad, the inside shone with cleanliness and quality decorations.


    Red only missed a little on what happened in the past few months. The Emperor declared him missing and held him in contempt for running away from the battle. There was nothing Habrin men hated more than dereliction of duty. Merin was declared a person of interest, but she''d remained hidden as a dark-haired, rotund older woman.


    "It''s a good disguise," Red said as he watched her hide her growing belly with extra fat pads and a baggy dress.


    "I can''t be a grandma with a huge belly otherwise," Merin said as she added embellishments to her face. She wiggled her eyebrows at him. They were darkened into two thick caterpillars with streaks of silver like her head of hair.


    Red''s lips cracked a smile at her antics. Aczuio protested for a brief moment when he pulled up his robes to cover his head. The dragon preferred him to Merin these days and liked to hang out in his hair. The eyepatch on his red eye felt stiff and abrasive, but it would be a temporary fix.


    They were on their way to the Northern Provinces. The only way to combat the title of coward was to show up and turn the tide of battle. Habrin wasn''t losing, but they should have been able to stamp out the rebellion sooner than this.


    The whole world was watching and waiting to see who would be victorious. If Habrin didn''t shape up, then that one annoying brush fire would turn into a forest fire that would sweep the land clean.


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    Bellare, Letha, and Zoltan were accompanying them. They were ready, but the only person who wasn''t was Merin. She was in the middle of attempting to pack everything and anything for the trip. Everyone was watching and waiting for her to finish up.


    "It will only take a week of traveling before we can use the Sebon River to shorten our journey," Red said. He had to be the one to speak up because she wouldn''t listen to anyone else.


    Merin looked up from her packing with a confused expression.


    "We don''t need all of that." He said.


    Merin''s mouth dropped as she looked at everything she told him she would most certainly need.


    To her dismay, Red''s logic won, and she had to put back things that she wanted to take. It mainly was brightly colored silks and extra finery to make life easier rather than necessary.


    So, with that little delay put behind them, they set off.


    True to Red''s plan, they got to the Sebon River and used a boat to cut their journey in half.


    The ramifications of war were rampant, and everywhere they went, death, destruction, and loss were evident.


    They narrowly managed to avoid danger by sticking to the backroads and staying on the tail end of Habrin soldiers.


    Everything was peaceful until the group made it to Cem''s army.


    "So you''re not chickenshit." When he saw Red, an unknown soldier with battle scars all over their face said. He then attempted to spit on the ground, but the wad was swatted back at him through invisible air to land over his mouth. The man gagged and started making odd noises at the random assault.


    Red turned to look at Merin, who hadn''t retrieved her hand yet.


    "I believe you do know the proper way to address a prince of Habrin." She said the perfect image of innocence.


    Merin had undone her disguise, and her silvery hair marked her as the hot-tempered, violent Russus. So it was no surprise that no one was fooled, judging by the looks on their faces.


    Red pushed her hand back into her robes. When he was done, he turned to the soldier, "Tell my brother I''m here to support him, and I have information to end this quickly."


    Without another word of complaint or rudeness, they were ushered in.

 Chapter Twenty Nine: Like the Sun

    Cem was the only Rutilus sent to man the war. It was a tragic setup that guaranteed one of the other Rutilus would need to step in. Cem was sent into fail so another could Rutilus shine.


    Red noted how his brother looked like the broken version of himself. His face was long with stress, and his mouth had fresh crinkles that spoke of a perpetual frown. His red eyes were as broken as his hunched shoulders.


    Red didn''t particularly care for Cem. Cem was like all his brothers. They had a group mentality that liked to strike the downtrodden. Growing up, Red was the only one without a Russus mother for protection, and so he was the easiest to pick on.


    Red should feel pleasure or even a touch of joy at the empty man, but instead, Red felt only pity. The shared blood between them was singing as it always did to connect. It was a shame he''d long kill that hope they could be brothers one day. Red did try once upon a time. Luckily, there was a stronger pull towards Merin that would stop him from making a lapse in judgment.


    This was just the start of Cem''s downfall. Red would be the one to push him over the cliff to ensure he couldn''t get back up.


    "You came," Cem said with an expression of bewilderment and disbelief. "We thought...What information do you have?"


    "Since this began with the loss of their herds. They became sick and didn''t want to pay taxes. We can fix the animals and create a concord." Merin said.


    Cem raised his brows and looked at Red with an incredulous expression. It was well known that the sick animals were a mere formality for starting a war with Habrin. The Northern Provinces couldn''t pay taxes because they were taking care of their sacred animals. The animals were holy to the Northern Provinces, which made it the perfect call to arms. No one knew if they were actually sick yet.


    When Cem pointed this out, Merin said, "Considering how they feel about these animals, if they really are sick, they will let me in. If not, we can be crueler in this war by striking the sacred animals. We need to be able to talk to them and broker peace."


    Cem made a face, but Merin wasn''t done. She knew the lines Red wanted her to say. They planned this, and it was up to her to get Cem to listen. Cem took Red seriously, but there were other Habrin men nearby. Rutilus couldn''t come together without the pretext of a Russus. Merin thought it was silly, but she could see Cem listening to her.


    It was all that Habrin royal pride, she thought internally with a scoff. Outwardly, she said, "It won''t be true peace. We''ll kill them in their sleep. Or at a meal of some kind."


    "That''s admitting defeat," Cem said. "The Emperor will never go for that."


    "He doesn''t need to know," Red said. "We can end it easily by killing them."


    "They won''t accept any drinks or food. Not after the Hara Mead incident. No one trusts Habrin after that genocide."


    "That''s not even mentioning the countless other times similar moves have been pulled," Merin said with a snort. "I''ll be the one to go in. I have a reputation as a healer."


    Cem looked at her, but Red cut him off before he could argue some more.


    "Do you have a better idea?" Red said. His patience with the song and dance was over, and Merin reached over to squeeze his hand. He held on for a decent amount of time. Cem was lucky Red didn''t have his shovel on hand.


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    Cem didn''t, and after dubious talks and intermediates to start the peace talks, Merin alone was accepted into Ceylan.


    Merin looked at the fields of animals who looked sickly and near death. She did her best work at night, waiting until the moonlight fell across the land to lift her hands and send healing strings in all directions.


    Red caught her when she stumbled. He was quiet as a shadow, and it hadn''t taken him long to sneak past the obstacles in his path. His ability to sense blood made the journey look flawless, no doubt, Merin thought as she looked up into his eyes.


    His red eye glowed, and the shine made her look away on reflex. Her eyes fell on Acuzio, who seemed to glow blue around the cracks in his scales. The pair of them were different since they came back. Red was quieter when he moved and quicker to take blood. Aczuio glowed red during the day and blue at night. He''d also grown about five inches longer.


    She''d been told what they endured during Mordecai''s tampering, but she feared that something was done on the inside that she couldn''t heal away.


    "Is it done?" She said when the silence stretched for too long.


    Red nodded and scooped her up into his arms. "Ceylan agreed to meet when they break their fast at noon tomorrow."


    "The other provinces?" She said.


    "They''ll be there."


    "Tomorrow is going to be rough." She said as she hesitated about how to broach the subject of what was to come.


    "It will be easy," Red said with firm conviction.


    Merin leaned into him as she searched for words. Despite knowing it was Red''s end goal, she was still torn over the plan.


    "Will you be okay?" She said finally. The only one she truly worried about was Red. What would the slaughter do to him? His glowing red eye became bright at the slightest sense of blood lust from others. It didn''t take much for him to crave these days.


    "Get some sleep, Merin," Red said.


    Merin could feel her lips pucker as she wanted to say more, but when Red looked down at her, she obeyed. His eyes showed that this was more challenging than he made it sound. He''d crafted the plan meticulously after going over everything.


    The upcoming massacre wasn''t her choice to make. After everything she had learned about Habrin, this was just a pond in a much bigger ocean.


    The months of struggle were nearly washed away from Cem''s person the next day. There was hope and joy in the other man''s face that hadn''t been there for quite some time.


    Merin munched on her banana butter cake with a snort as she looked away from the smug man. He already proclaimed this his victory. The only thing Cem pulled off was putting his pants on this morning. The odds were he didn''t even do that, considering the man kept his entire wing of servants on the battlefield.


    "Beyza."


    A title she was becoming all too familiar with came towards Merin again. The people of Ceylan were a little too grateful for her help healing their sacred animals. They were dropping tribute after tribute at her feet. Some even tried to kiss it, and she had to sick Azucio, the face nibbler on them.


    "Just accept the gifts. It will be over soon." Red said, using his cup to disguise the words.


    Merin made a face even though she knew he was right. It was going to be over soon. Cem was passing out food and drink, and right now, everyone was indulging. The Ceylan were wary of eating anything that touched Habrin''s hands, so they brought their own food.


    That was why Red told Cem to posion the napkins, cutlery, plates and rims. Anything that the Ceylan were to touch was to be poisoned.


    Again, Cem the fibber ran around telling the generals and other notable soldiers it was his idea.


    Cem made a noise to call for a toast, and the rabble dimmed so the pompous man could talk. Merin watched him with annoyance as she used the divine taste of her banana butter to melt her sourness.


    "I want to say thank you for agreeing to meet..." Cem said. He coughed nervously, and the supercilious man started to turn red. "We''ve long come together to...to...to..." Cem''s words were cut off as his throat began to bulge. He rubbed at it, trying to soothe it, but the tanned skin began to turn red. A sliver started to form under his fingers, which he stroked until the flesh ruptured. Cem''s blood sputtered out in a spray of goo, and Merin shielded her food.


    As if a cue had been ushered, every man from Habrin started having their necks bursting in a similar fashion.


    Some of the Ceylan people didn''t wait and immediately began to strike.


    Merin munched on her cake and looked at Red from under her lashes. Her worry over how he''d feel at the death of his brother grew when she saw his face.


    Red was grinning as his red eye began to burn like the sun.

 Chapter Thirty: Five to Go

    Merin''s eyes were sticky as they stared at him. Wherever Red went, he could feel her studying him.


    He knew she was worrying because of the twisted feeling through their bond.


    He didn''t kill his brother, so there wouldn''t be any consequences for Cem''s death. Merin was worrying for nothing. Red had taken several pages from Akkad''s schemes.


    Red met with Ceylan nobles, and although there were talks about what could happen to end the war, Red had no part in it.


    Red''s hands were clean. Each Emperor wove a spell of unity into every Rutilus. This binding prevented them from killing each other or their father. Only when the Emperor died could each brother turn on each other.


    Reu was right in that he needed to pick his course of action and stick to it. If he let the Habrin Empire rot from the inside out, it would be complete chaos and disorder. It would be better for him to take out the support beams one by one so that it would be done with order when it finally collapsed.


    Red had no desire to become the Emperor. His only goal was breaking the Habrin Empire and undoing his Habrin legacy for good.


    The fact that Red''s heart was still beating proved that he avoided the spell. "Only five to go." He said.


    Merin''s concern through their bond grew, but he ignored it to step on Cem''s body. His fallen brother had lavishly placed jewelry all over his person. Some of the finery had already been taken by robbers who were going body to body stealing.


    Red was here to collect what scavengers couldn''t: the Rutilus ear seal. That shiny piece of gold was something each of his brothers had rubbed in his face. Red didn''t have one because his naming day was canceled. He wouldn''t have become the nameless prince if the ceremony had gone through.


    Red ripped the gold away and studied that Habrin royal seal on the shiny piece of metal.


    He could make a necklace out of them by the time he was done. Or he could melt them down and create his own seal. The possibilities were endless.


    Red left Cem''s body for the Ceylans to deal with. He grabbed Merin and the rest of his people and started the journey.


    If Merin hadn''t healed the Ceylan''s sacred animals, they wouldn''t have been left off so lightly. Her new title of Beyza granted her prestige among them.


    Merin was still his shiny talking good luck charm.


    Red knew that an uproar would break out if he returned with news of Cem''s defeat. It was better to go from province to province to eliminate all his brothers slowly.


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    Red couldn''t wait for his father to fall first like his brothers were. He needed to thin their numbers when they least expected it.


    Red would meet Reu in the east to sow discord and lure two of his brothers out to take care of their provinces. His alliance with Ceylan could be repeated with the proper leverage with them.


    Merin''s pregnancy complicated the journey back. She couldn''t walk or ride animals, so they had to get a cart to roll her around.


    Red knew they would need to part halfway through the journey, and a tightness he didn''t like grew in his chest. Despite how he felt their parting was brusque. There wasn''t a need for fuss, though Merin cried.


    Red knew they would see each other once the east fell.


    True to plan, Red met Reu in Baris. This eastern province of Habrin was the second to last country to fall under the Habrin umbrella. It wasn''t an easy transition, and if the Emperor hadn''t murdered half of the citizens with his bare hands, there was no way they would have fallen.


    Baris was one of the oldest countries with ties to the Old World. Their land was shrouded in mystery and lies because outsiders couldn''t easily find it. Their borders were defined by trees that touched the sky. A fog filled the crevices between each tree, and this wall separated them from the rest of their world. Any outsider who entered would wander endlessly until they died.


    Red stuffed the dragon under his hood and told him to keep his fires to himself. He hadn''t seen the dragon spit flames, but at the rate it grew and glowed, it could be any day. Baris was not the place to have a fire. Fire was banned, and the people ate only vegetables and anything they could harvest.


    Baris had a particular weakness because of their connection to nature. The trees they were famous for were sacred and a weakness. When someone was born in Baris, a tree sprouted. During that person''s life, the tree will grow as they do, and if the tree dies, the person dies as well.


    When the Emperor of Habrin first came to conquer Baris, he scoffed at the ban of fire. He then decided he would have a roast no matter the cost.


    It only took a spark for the Emperor to make the forest burn. The Emperor enjoyed his meat amid the screams and deaths. This event fostered an eternal hatred towards Habrin from the people of Baris. It wasn''t helped that when the flag of Habrin was placed, with the land conquered, Baris fell under the Elan curse.


    The scorched plains of Baris were daunting to see, but sprouts were visible under some of the ashes. Baris were reproducing to replenish their numbers, and Red would take advantage of that.


    "Hiding in plain sight is a horrible choice," Merin said as she stared out the window. They were finally back to where all the trouble began. It had taken a month of speedy travel, and she was even closer to popping.


    She was bored of sitting around the capital of Habrin, and she missed the palace. The expansive windows were fun to look out at. She spent a long time tastefully creating a welcoming courtyard in which to frolic.


    Now, she was trapped in a strange, ugly place that needed to be worked over. They didn''t return to last place because Red wanted them to be cautious. When he collapsed in her arms, he didn''t bother covering up his tracks because he was so out of it.


    Red was right to be cautious, but she spent a lot of time renovating that place. Now, she had to start all over again.


    "Letha, move it there, not there!" She said, pointing at the correct placement for a nice-looking vase.


    Zoltan said something under his breath, and she used her ire to turn her focus on him. "It''s inside out!" She said. "Flip it and try again."


    Merin directed them until the place was suitable for the night. She didn''t like dust, dirt, or ugly things. Where she rested her head at night needed to be presentable; she spent too many nights in the dirt with bugs and smells.


    Her pangolin had his little yard to dig holes in, and her growing cub was able to roam in the high arches of the building or outside in the shaded trees.


    The only thing missing was Red. She really missed him.

 Chapter Thirty One: As a Thief

    Red couldn''t just enter Baris; it wouldn''t be a simple case of healing some sick animals. Red needed to create problems that Baris would place the blame on Habrin.


    The chaos Red planned to unleash would not only attract two more of his brothers, but also potentially change the course of the provinces.


    It didn''t take much tinder to light the sparks. Baris was ready to burn Habrin to the ground as Habrin had done to them.


    Red did a few petty things, like disrupting trade to make it harder for Baris. They sold some of their produce to get things they couldn''t create independently.


    When Red started selling crystalized ashes of the Baris trees he crossed the line. Baris heavily guarded the pieces that burned into bright multi-colored treasures.


    So, of course, Red stole in as a thief at night to collect and sell them on the black market. Red used his fifth brother''s name to enact all of this.


    When Baris started their hunt for the perpetrator, they would find Kadir, not him.


    Meanwhile, Red and Reu traveled to Ece. It was another Eastern province that his paternal grandfather broke. Ece went from countless citizens to just under a couple dozen.


    Ece was a race of long-living humanoid creatures. Like Baris, they honored their trees, but unlike Baris, they weren''t one with them. Ece went underground after the decimation of their land.


    Hakan, another of Red''s brothers, was in charge of the province right before Ece. That region was Ceren, and the native population was washed away and replaced by Habrin nobles who loved to have lavish ship parties. Hakan wasted countless gold on modifying past ships to accommodate drunk passengers. The port of Ceren granted Hakan a lot of control and power.


    Now that Red had set up Kadir, it was time to ensure Hakan was next to fall.


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    Unable to stand confinement, Merin went out among the backstreets of the capital.


    There were places where women would gather to trade womanly products and tales and pass the time. It was safer than being out on the streets, even if you were married in Habrin.


    She had no idea how to be a parent, and her fear was clawing out of her stomach to grip her by the throat.


    Merin would attend these weekly meetings to drink tea and spend quality time with other women.


    She took the time to maintain a disguise painstakingly but only needed to color her silver hair black.


    Letha and Zoltan would always accompany Merin. Given the nature of the meeting, Zoltan would be posted off-aways to keep an eye on things.


    His quick smile was on display, and Merin tuned him out as Letha fell to the other man''s charms.


    She finally grew annoyed with them and left them both at Zoltan''s usual lonely post.


    Merin wasn''t a doddering fool; she could care for herself just fine if push came to shove. Though Red had given orders, Letha ignored her and followed her into the woman''s hangout.


    For anonymity, the ladies who gathered only used fake names.


    Due to her time in the time she spent in the desert and the fact that the flower bloomed at night, Merin went by Cereus.


    She was greeted by familiar faces that comforted her during her worries.


    Rami and Garnet were her two closest friends in this gathering. They were the only two who would go with her to give out free food to those who needed it and were aware she could heal with ointment. Merin couldn''t risk using her strings or magic openly because that could be linked to Russus Merin.


    She didn''t want to stop offering people relief from Febris or any other woe that made life hard.


    "There''s a group of elderly sick people living near the Jin bridge," Rami said. "They were sent there to stop the spread of a new disease."


    "A new disease?" Merin said with puckered lips. It sounded like she finally had a possible challenge to cure.


    Getting to the bridge took little time, but Merin had to be careful. Jin Bridge was near the palace, and she could disguise her hair, but her eyes and face stood out. Anyone with a discerning eye could potentially recognize her.


    Merin passed out jar after jar of ointment. Some of the elderly men were inflicted with Febris that had festered into open sores that hosted bugs. Merin was becoming very familiar with the stench of death and decay. Merin thought that the Inni people went out of their way to inflict a slow, painful death. She could see how effective they were. The longer Febris stayed in the body, the more agonizing it became. If you were young enough or weak enough, you would die, but the more virile and strong you were, the slower and painful the decline.


    She was undoing that damage, and while she understood and agreed with why Elan cursed Habrin, she couldn''t stand by and allow children to burn for their parent''s sins.

 Chapter Thirty Two: A Minor Tremor

    "Are you okay, son?" Reu''s voice cut through Red''s concentration.


    When Red looked up from sharpening his shovel, his eyes were filled with a focused intensity that Reu couldn''t help but find amusing.


    "If you could see your expression, you''d understand," Reu said. "Everything in Ceren is working out, so why the face?"


    Red nodded but said nothing as he set down his shovel. He was satisfied at the rate of how things were going, but something was wrong.


    Despite the success of his plans, a nagging unease persisted within Red. It was as if a crucial puzzle piece had slipped his mind. Why did he feel like something was amiss?


    It''d been a few weeks since Red started working to mess with Ceren''s infrastructure. He''d organized a group of malcontents to mess with the alcoholic partiers. That group consisted of Ece citizens and more.


    It didn''t take much encouragement to get the Ceren addicts to spend more gold than they could afford. That debt wouldn''t be paid because Red was messing with the finances of the lushes. Most of them were young nobles who relied on their family money or had their own businesses attached to Ceren.


    Security was lax because the Ceren was a city under the guise of partiers. That is, to the untrained eye, it was unprotected. It didn''t take Red long to notice how a lot of morning-after drunks were disguised watchmen who were there around the clock.


    It wasn''t well known how deep the pockets that ran Ceren were. The port made it the perfect location for ships, and some of the world''s best shipwrights stayed in Ceren. Red only realized the extent of Ceren''s wealth once he started his underground operation.


    Hakan went to great lengths to hide his wealth and the young lords he had in his arsenal.


    It made sense why there was a lot of upheaval when Hakan was awarded the region. Red remembered Vera making the biggest stink about it.


    Vera didn''t want Hakan to receive Ceren as a province and had done everything she could to interfere. Hakan got it, and Red suspected the how, but he didn''t have confirmation of that. Their father had made his decision, and no one could undo it, not even the Consort.


    Ceren was full of parties that went a little wild, but Red wanted them to burn through money as fuel. His group started egging on, faking parties, and doing whatever they could to ensure gold was tossed around recklessly.


    The long winding bill these partiers were going through would bankrupt Ceren at the rate they were going. Red would ensure that this would go down.


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    So again, why did he feel like something was wrong? Red was doing everything he needed to to kill his brothers one by one. His plan was working.


    Red glanced down at his hands before turning away to spot his reflection in a copper mirror.


    His red eye was uncovered and glowing, and that brightness reminded him of what he had forgotten about. The man who had a pair of two glowing orbs.


    "Any word of my father?" Red said. Merin was tucked away safely, but he''d used her healing powers as bait to lure the scarred man out of the cracks of darkness. Red didn''t want him slithering out while he wasn''t nearby to kill the man.


    "The Sosia is the same, but no spotting of the Emperor. The shipping route was a dud route. Every route we''ve attempted to follow up on has failed." Reu said.


    This was bitter news that bore repeating. His father hadn''t lost his edge and still pulled everyone by the nose.


    Red ran a hand over his face. This strange feeling in his heart bodes ill for Merin. He couldn''t stop what he was doing in Ceren, so it was out of his hands. There was only one solution to his problem.


    "You look like you want to start the purge of Ess," Reu said with a smile.


    "Let''s get him to squeal and make him their target," Red said. There wasn''t time to waste. His instincts kept him alive; if he ignored this, the consequences could be dire. If they finished everything promptly, he could return to the capital before Merin gave birth.


    Once two more of his brothers died, it wouldn''t matter how he returned to the empire. To lose that many sons in succession would allow Red to spin whatever tale he wanted about where he''d gone. The citizens would be on his side if he played his cards right. It wouldn''t hurt that he''d return with everyone''s favorite dragon.


    It was time to start moving what he stole. Red''s primary target from day one wasn''t just the nobles but the ships.


    The vast ships boasted enough space for hundreds of passengers to lounge on the top deck. It was indeed a waste of creation to create something so important for drunken sprees.


    Red had already stolen some of the schematics for the ships, and Ess was going to take the fall.


    Ece and Ceylan are just two countries that would love to get their hands on this kind of ship. Red and Reu spent days painstakingly redrawing hundreds of schematics and spreading them across the land with the assistance of spies.


    If everyone had proprietary knowledge of Ceren, no one did. Ceren would no longer have an edge over the rest of the world.


    "Alp, put down the human!" Merin said to the baby cub, who had grown a little too much.


    Alp had taken Zoltan into his mouth as a toy. The jaguar cub dropped the man and darted off.


    "My thanks, Russus," Zoltan said.


    Letha put a hand over Zoltan''s mouth to stop it from moving. The three of them were in the backyard of their new dwelling. So they weren''t out in public, but uttering the word Russus anywhere would attract attention.


    Zoltan must have done something to Letha''s hand because the proud bronze woman turned the shade of an apple. The two started whispering to each other, and Merin looked away to stare around the yard, which was supposed to be beautified. It was not supposed to be the breeding ground for two horny people.


    She wandered away from the love scene to inspect the area Alp ran off to. Trees, bushes, and other plant life obstructed the backyard from the direct eye sight of outsiders.


    Merin grew still as a minor tremor below her became bigger. She grabbed her pangolin, who''d been peacefully napping for support until the earth stopped shaking.


    "That''s an ill omen." She said as she crossed her chest in a gesture her father had taught her.

 Chapter Thirty Three: Trust His Instincts

    "Aram!"


    Red heard his name being called but ignored it as he swiftly ducked into the dimly lit tavern. The air was thick with the scent of ale and the sound of raucous laughter. The low lighting and hazy smoke that thickened the air should be enough to throw off his pursuer. Red ensured his careless, continuous stride was confident enough to throw off his follower.


    Unfortunately for Red, his luck wasn''t that good, and the man chased him into the tavern. Red slipped out the back door and caught a look at the man chasing him. It was Hakan. His older brother must have hightailed it here to stop the hemorrhaging of gold Ceren was losing.


    Red could escape Hakan''s eyes this time because he was quick enough. It was time to push his brother''s death up. Red didn''t want a direct confrontation, and he couldn''t risk being near Hakan when he died. He''d learned the hard way after Cem''s death.


    "Your eye never stops glowing now," Reu said.


    Red gave a twitch of his lips. He''d long considered it a consequence of watching Cem die. His Habrin side of the family was satisfied that he had nothing to do with it, or else he''d have died as well. But the Elan blood in him knew better. It understood that he allowed a piece of his blood to die in front of him without helping.


    Red was losing the protection of his Elan blood. It was the only bandage staunching his innate hunger for violence and blood. His Habrin blood will win over if he isn''t careful.


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    "You should go be with Merin," Reu said. "I can handle this portion of Ceren."


    "I''m not leaving until it''s done," Red said. "Hakan will die tomorrow, and Ceren will fall. Did Ece receive our letters?"


    "They''ll be here to attack Ceren and burn it down," Reu said. "There''s not much left to defend it."


    "I''ll leave after that."


    It didn''t seem to matter that Red kept his hands clean. With another brother dead, Red''s blood lust was even more challenging to contain.


    Red rubbed his eyes and fought hard to stop looking at people walking by him in the walkway. He could hear their hearts beating in their chest. Red could smell those with sick, exemplary, or nasty blood. He could all but taste them in his mouth.


    He never wanted to kill someone more than his father before. The hunger was blurring his eyes, and he could feel his hands twitch as they clenched into fists.


    His hunger can''t be contained at this rate.


    A piece of his hair was yanked, and Red flinched at the sharp tug. Acuzio was chewing on Red''s hair, and the man was grateful for the dragon.


    The pain was replaced by a brief moment of clarity.


    "Thanks," Red said. He didn''t have time to unravel and fall to pieces. Red still had three more brothers to see dead. After that, their father was next, and then Red wasn''t sure what would be left of him. He didn''t have time to care now.


    Red left Reu to meet with the Ece survivors and headed back to the capital where Merin was nesting. His sense of unease grew as he got to the capital and saw the outlying damage around the surrounding land.


    Huge cracks in the earth told the story of something tragic.


    Little aftershocks and tremors made Red move faster as his fear overwhelmed his reinitiate. He was right to trust his instincts.

 Chapter Thirty Four: Possible Baby Thief

    The ground, in a constant state of movement, was a stark reminder of the evolving Elan curse. Merin, however, had grown accustomed to these tremors, which appeared sporadically over the next month. For most of Habrin, this was a clear sign of the curse''s evolution. A threat that now loomed due to Febris being cured in many citizens.


    Merin didn''t care about any of that. If the Elan curse could hurt Habrin in a new way she would be the target, not the ground. The ground wasn''t going around healing people.


    So Merin put those superstitions aside and kept healing those broken and sick from Febris. That didn''t eat up much of her time because the ointment she passed out to treat people didn''t need her at the helm. Merin wanted to maintain her anonymity while aiding people, and so far, so good.


    Her favorite time of the week was her meetings with the other ladies. They''d moved locations to a nicer building that Merin put Zoltan to work sprucing up.


    That was how the latest set of tremors found Merin. She was relaxing through a hand massage by Garnet. Like Merin, everyone was used to these little outbursts from Mother Nature, and no one stopped what they were doing.


    Merin looked at the splendid decorations and the ladies that she''d come to know. There were fresh faces, too, like some of the older men she''d healed personally with the ointment.


    Adem and Altan were charming older men who captured the favor of most of the ladies in the group. They also helped serve as lookouts, which came in handy when the meetings were discovered.


    Adem was crippled from Febris, and he lost the use of his arms. He was left without eyes, as in all severe cases of Febris. Adem lost the use of one of his legs and could only hobble about. After Merin healed him, his tiny, broken form allowed him to stand tall. He''d proudly maintained his black hair in a braid even at his worst. His restored eyes brought back orange pupils, unlike anything she''d ever seen.


    Altan was one of them. He was once the worst case of Febris she had ever seen. He had no eyes, muscles, or sores that hosted the ugliest, strangest bugs she''d ever seen. Merin had to use her magic to push them out of his body so it could be cleansed and cured. Altan was a tall man, and with his body restored, he''d manage to regain muscles and usage of his body. His dark eyes matched his short black hair.


    The two men were the grandfathers Merin had never had the chance to have. They helped escort her around the backstreets because they knew the capital. They also knew the best food stalls and ways to create banana butter. Banana butter was still Merin''s go-to food accessory. Still, the longer her pregnancy dragged on, the more she avoided food.


    Before Merin could finish her hand massage, she was dragged away by Letha.


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    Merin watched as Letha packed up all of their stuff and started to usher her out the door. Their trip came to an end when the small tremors started ripping cracks into the ground.


    Pandemonium erupted as panic and fear overrode the logic of everyone present.


    Merin could feel her stomach cramp, and she winced. It wasn''t the first time she''d felt pain during the last slump of her pregnancy. She''d grown used to ignoring them.


    Opening her eyes, she spotted a familiar man wearing a strange purple outfit.


    "Mordecai!" She shouted his name, and he winked at her before sprinting away.


    Before Merin could stop her feet, she dashed down the alleyway to chase after him. She lost Letha in the chaos of it all.


    He didn''t go very far. Merin bet he planned on her chasing him. The cocky man rolled a gold coin across his knuckles as he laughed at her. His back was to the end of the alleyway, but his posture showed he was in control.


    "Looks like you''re about ready to pop." He said.


    Merin recalled Red''s suspicions. Red said he regretted not having time during the labyrinthine trials to confront Mordecai.


    Merin had the time now, "Why does it matter to you that I have children?" She said. "Who is Caelestis to you?"


    Mordecai''s expression remained neutral as he casually flipped the coin in the air. He caught it on its way down and glanced at it. When he was done with that, the coin disappeared. In its place was a leather bag of nuts.


    He started munching on them, and when he opened his mouth to speak, flecks of food fell out. "Caelestis'' line must continue. That is all you need to know." He said.


    "There has to be more to it than that," Merin said.


    "There is, but you''ve forgotten, and I don''t have to tell you jackshit," Mordecai said.


    "Are we related?" Merin said. Red''s theory of Mordecai being a relative was a strong one. She set aside the fact that Mordecai said she had forgotten. There were a lot of years that were a blur, but maybe more happened during that time.


    Mordecai''s burning eyes glowed hot at her words, and his lips pulled back into a smug sneer. "Out of all the worlds and creatures I''ve met, I hate Caelestis more than any other. She died before she could pay me back, and you don''t get to end her line because of your sanctimonious crap. As I have, she must suffer. Your kin will take that place of suffering for her."


    Merin could feel her throat dry up as another contraction timed poorly, with a ground tremor shook her body.


    When she finally had her bearings, she wet her lips and said, "What did Caelestis do to you?"


    "I''ll be back after your third kid is born, Merindah. I''ll be taking something from you when I do. It won''t be Acuzio. That little shit has chosen to stay here because he never gave up on bringing Caelestis and me back together." Mordecai said with disdain, oozing off his voice. "He should have realized she left him too."


    Mordecai tossed a nut at her face. Merin didn''t have time to block it because another contraction hit. She endured, and when she opened her eyes, Mordecai was gone.


    "I think the tremors are my fault," Merin said as her face turned red with shame. Letha tracked her down and helped her return to their temporary home.


    A midwife Reu trusted to aid her was trying to get her to relax. It was impossible to relax because each wave rocking her body tore at the ground.


    Mordecai said she would have three kids? How was that possible? Could she go through this three more times?


    A strange juice was forced down her throat, and Merin spent the rest of her labor peacefully numb to the fact that she was giving birth. The gender of her kid, Mordecai, the possible baby thief, and Red not being around were erased.

 Chapter Thirty Five: Rage Red Haze

    Red''s trip back was about the length of a month. Merin''s due date was approaching, and Red had timed his return so he could be there.


    His worries propelled him, his feet pounding the uneven cobbled streets. The stones threatened to trip him, but his innate balance saved him from a fall. The earth beneath his feet trembled, and he grit his teeth as he stuffed his worries away.


    The safe home he had Merin stashed was secure for her. It was safer to hide in the capital than stow away anywhere else. Only the insane hide from the Habrin royal family right outside their palace. Which is why it should work in theory.


    It felt like an eternity as he dodged the crumbling ground and made his way to Merin.


    The safe house was untouched by the constant tremors. If Merin was in the middle of labor, then the conclusion to draw was that she was the cause of the earthquakes.


    The safe house was empty by the time he reached it. The only hint that Merin had been there was the faint scent of jasmine.


    A long gold cord wrapped in silver and copper hung from the ceiling. Red let out an unidentifiable noise as he ripped it.


    He unraveled the cords and saw the things within it that told the whole story. Merin was back in the palace. This form of messaging writing was something his father was infamous for doing. He used to teach his sons how to read it by enacting punishments for improper decoding.


    Red didn''t bother sneaking in or being covert as he approached the gates. The guards let him in wordlessly, and Red noted how they avoided his eyesight.


    He had no idea what he looked like, but he could tell how fast their hearts beat. He could see how every pulse carried blood and how those pulses of life could be ripped.


    It was with a tremendous amount of concentration that he walked past them.


    The closer his steps brought him to the royal chambers, the louder Merin''s heart beat. She was alive. Red could also sense the pull of blood of only one of his brothers and his father.


    And another that he had yearned for the moment he sensed it. His child. It wasn''t with Merin but with his father. He''d only felt the brand new blood tie through Merin''s belly. It was still going strong, and he needed to be faster.


    No one stopped him on his way, which was just as well because Red was ready to kill the man who tried. Red''s feet picked up the pace until he finally stood before his father''s chambers.


    The door was unguarded and swung open before Red could smash the wood in his way.


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    A red string retreated from the door frame to return to the only other man in the room. Red''s eyes took a moment to adjust to the lighting as he gathered himself for the confrontation.


    The darkened room held only one torch that illuminated that man who sat on his throne. The man''s vibrant robes of crimson, black, gold, and silver were a sight Red had dreamed of staining.


    What Red did not want was for his father to hold his child when he took the other man''s life. The pale white blanket in the Emperor''s arms started to wiggle. Red''s child had Elan blood, so there was a high chance the baby was sensing him and reacting.


    "Aram, you finally became worthy of life." The Emperor said as he soothed the baby by rocking it. The Emperor looked up to meet Red''s eyes. The other man''s eyes were glowing a bright red.


    "You can''t claim credit for this," Red said as he stepped further into the room. He was finally face to face with the one man he''d wanted dead almost his whole life. It burned at Red that he was finally strong enough to attack but couldn''t take the risk. That same man was holding his child, and the newborn couldn''t withstand a fight.


    "If your mother hadn''t given up her own flesh for you, then you wouldn''t be here." The Emperor said. His deep voice was casual as he stated something Red had heard countless times. "Elan blood creates the most tender blood. Her sacrifice allowed you to live and create this. She said you could father more children than she could carry, and your worth would only increase. She was right."


    The Emperor''s words were said with something close to a fervor that nearly stopped Red''s breath. Red took a few more steps and controlled his face to hide his palpable fear. His father had no control over his appetite, and Red needed to be very careful with his next move.


    Acuzio was on his head and had so far been silent, but the dragon was slowly vibrating with rage.


    "Roseus Alev, my new granddaughter."


    Red''s feet stilled at those words, and he clenched his fists as his mouth turned dry.


    As if the Emperor didn''t care that Red was now a foot away, he said, "She will be granted rights and power befitting a Roseus. She will be the beacon that shows the world Habrin can never be stopped."


    The Emperor looked up, and Red could feel his stomach plummet as he looked at him. His father had been healed. The scars that had torn apart his once handsome appearance were gone. His father''s high cheekbones were restored with fresh skin. The holeless pupils that glowed with his magic and allowed him to see were restored once more. The amber-glowing orbs showed hunger that needed to be satiated.


    "This miracle needs a father that''s not a nameless bastard." The Emperor said. "We''ll have your naming ceremony when she has hers and is shown to the capital." The Emperor stood up, and Red squared his shoulders as the other man approached him.


    "Don''t leave the palace until I say you can." His father handed the baby to Red. "I placed my magic over this baby, so if you take her with you, her heart will stop."


    The Emperor turned his back to Red as he walked away. "I''m finally proud of one of my sons." The Emperor chuckled as he strode away.


    Red wanted to attack, and as he readied himself to take the opening his father had given him, Aczuio bit his scalp. Red blinked the rage red haze from his eyes and saw what Acuzio had.


    His father tied a string from his daughter''s heart to his own. If he took his father''s life, his daughter would die as well.


    His father was banking that he wouldn''t take the baby away to kill them both.


    Red couldn''t be as heartless as his seed donor. The baby was sound asleep, unaware of how close she was to death with each breath.


    Merin''s emotions ran rampant through their bond, and Red knew he needed to get to her. Her magic was similar to his father''s, and she might have a solution for how to snip it.


    The Emperor of Habrin might have escaped death for now, but Red was still going to kill the cocky man.

 Chapter Thirty Six: Reborn in Her

    "Our bloodline is special, Merry doll."


    "Oh, I''ve seen the glory of the old Gods. You will have daughters. Powerful girls who will inherit their full potential with no bloodshed."


    "I should have pondered more on what would happen if only one descendent was left. I should have realized what could have awakened! How blessed one would be to become the last!"


    "With you, the legacy of our Goddess lives on. Caelestis awaits!"


    "He should have realized she left him too."


    These words, like a haunting specter, tormented Merin in her dreams. Vivid scenes created a chaotic collision of memories, and reality flashed in her mind.


    Her mother''s journals were all that was left of the woman, and she read every word until they were burned into her mind.


    Merin''s eyes snapped open, her heart pounding like thunder. The truth of Mordecai''s identity struck her like a lightning bolt.


    Caelestis was the oldest of three siblings, and Mordecai was one of them. He was the bird made of flames mentioned in the journals. There was a dragon in her mother''s journals as well. Merin still didn''t know how Caelestis died, but she knew who Mordecai was and why he hated her.


    Merin looked at the spacious room she woke up in. This was different from the palace quarters she was used to. Tones of peach red replaced the tall white walls and arches. The simple furnishings she had tastefully put together to look good were now ancient decorations that stood the test of time.


    Merin looked at her body, which someone had wiped clean.


    Someone had taken her baby. She''d barely had time to hold her child before she passed out. The room was empty of anyone who could be blamed, and Merin''s eyes scanned the room for a target.


    The ceiling shook as her emotions bubbled hot in her chest. Merin didn''t acknowledge that as she threw off the covers.


    She was stopped from moving further by the appearance of Red. He was carrying their child, and he looked as haunted as she felt.


    "I''m sorry I was late," Red said. His red eye glowed, but there was a hint of something else in its depths. There are circles under his eyes, indicating a lack of sleep. He was still wearing a traveling cloak stained in dirt and damage from the trip. He clearly needed to take the time to change his clothes and get proper rest. He hadn''t and instead rushed to return. But he was on time, she thought.


    Red had come back, and that was all that mattered. He''d brought their daughter back to her, and Acuzio was still with him.


    Merin was overwhelmed with everything, and she could only shake her head and reach for the three of them.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.Their daughter was the most perfect thing in the world, Merin thought. Even Acuzio stared at her with affection in his eyes. She sent Red off to get washed up, and he returned with his hair dripping and red eye glowing. The lit-up orb hadn''t darkened once, and Merin hid her worries as Red sat on the bed.


    She pushed at his chest until he collapsed on the bed. Acuzio stopped gazing at the baby and shuffled over to him. The dragon, which had grown five inches, climbed on top of Red and laid out. Between the two, Red didn''t have a chance.


    "The Emperor--" Red said.


    Merin shushed him and said, "Get some sleep. We can''t do anything right now without rest."


    Red opened his mouth to protest, and she covered his lips with her own. "I''ll watch over us while you sleep." She said after she pulled away, "Let me."


    Merin watched as the worries that stiffened his shoulders and created the darkness in his face slowly left. His burning orb that lit up the darkened room went out and returned to its normal ruddy, muted color. Merin cupped the side of his face and smiled gently down at him.


    "Thank you for trusting me." She said. It meant a lot for someone as controlling as Red to trust.


    "Thank you, Merin," Red said. His voice had deepened as exhaustion was finally allowed to catch up to him. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.


    Merin laid their daughter beside him, propping her with cushions and blankets.


    The birth of their child had changed her, and through their bond, Merin knew it had changed Red. Something big was going to happen soon. Her powers would expand. He would change with her if Red received the rest his body needed.


    Merin had ignored her mother''s last words, but they''d return when she needed to hear them. The vision her mother saw that she was now living in was courtesy of Mordecai. He had gotten what he wanted.


    Merin was no longer just a lazy immortal but something much more dangerous. Caelestis was reborn in her.


    While Red and the baby slept, Merin organized their new quarters. She never left the bed but commanded the servants.


    She never spoke above a whisper, but everyone scrambled to do what she said.


    Merin noted the servants that belonged to Red''s siblings or those that didn''t need to be around were stopping by to peek at the baby.


    Word had gotten around that a daughter had been born to the royal Habrin family.


    When Red woke up after fifteen hours of sleep, Merin was in the middle of nursing.


    She handed him a plate of food she''d been using to snack.


    Red inhaled the food, and before he could look around for more, servants placed the food in front of him.


    "Leave us," Merin said without looking from the perfect little eyes of her daughter. The baby''s eyes had first appeared silvery blue but were settling on a color that had long grown on her. The girl now had ruddy orbs from her father''s side, and tiny wisps of hair that looked silver.


    The servants ducked out of the room and closed the door.


    Merin and Red spent the next hour breaking down what happened in the absence of the other. Due to where they were, they used Merin''s native tongue to communicate.


    Red''s confrontation with his father brought fear and shame to Merin. If she''d been stronger, then that man would never have gotten the chance to grab their baby. The red string that was attached to her daughter''s heart was connected to the Emperor''s. If Merin looked, she could see when the string moved and where the Emperor''s side went.


    "Can you undo the string?" Red said.


    Merin shook her head. "I''m not strong enough. In a year or two, I could." She said. "It would be better to wait until the babe grows bigger; she''s too fragile now." Merin feared making the wrong move and killing her daughter. If Red hadn''t feared the same, he would have attacked his father when the man turned his back.


    "He knew the baby name you picked out," Red said. It was something they briefly had time to go over before he left.


    "He must have been watching us for quite some time," Merin said. "What will you do next? How can you kill your brothers when you''re stuck in the capital and you made sure they would run back to their provinces?"


    "I''ll get rid of them as planned," Red said. "There are people posted; if they fail, I''ll bring them to me. They won''t be able to resist coming to the capital soon."


    "We''ll help," Merin said, reaching over to grasp his hand.

 Chapter Thirty Seven: The New Roseus

    From the start, Red''s grip on control was tenuous, a relentless battle that escalated with each passing day. The once harmonious connections with Merin and his daughter now felt like a desperate struggle to maintain.


    How could he maintain ties with them while his father was out of sight? The man was mocking Red, observing everything from a distance.


    The man didn''t even deign to attend Red''s naming ceremony. Instead, his Sosia, a mere figurehead, took his place and anointed Red with a blend of blood and oil. The ritual was steeped in family tradition, a part of Red''s life that had been absent until now.


    The room was packed with viziers, courtiers, his brothers, and every Russus in the palace. The pinch of cold gold on his ear didn''t bring the satisfaction Red desired.


    He no longer yearned for this ridiculous ceremony that gave him the proper rights of Rutilus. Red just wanted to kill the man who sired him, but he couldn''t take the risk. Red''s hands were tied, and until he found a workaround, his father would walk around to taunt him another day.


    No one cared about his ceremony; even the Sosia seemed to rush past the spoken words. Red''s was just the placement card for what everyone wanted to see: the new Roseus.


    So it wasn''t a surprise when everyone perked up when Merin came in carrying Alev. The week-old baby was draped in pink silk, befitting a Roseus. There hadn''t been a Roseus in Red''s generation, and there shouldn''t have been one in the following.


    Yet here she was, proving the futility of the Elan Nation''s struggle against Habrin. The most unique baby in the world and the very beacon Red''s father would exploit if he weren''t stopped.


    Merin gave him a little wink as she walked up next to him. Red noted Merin had ditched the orange robes she despised to don the silvery blues of her choice. This simple flaunting of tradition didn''t make anyone bat an eye. She could get away with anything now that she had given the Empire a Roseus. No Russus could enforce palace etiquette, not even the Consort dared to breathe any dissent.


    Red had told Merin that the Emperor''s face had been healed, but she was shocked when she saw the Sosia. The Sosia was not just a puppet of the Emperor but his double in every facet that mattered. The Sosia had to look like the Emperor to take the fall for him. The once-empty eye sockets were filled with red glowing orbs that penetrated everything.


    Merin seemed overly shocked at how handsome the Emperor was, and Red didn''t like how her eyes darted to him. She wisely said nothing but refused to hand her baby over to the Sosia when it was time.


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    "Russus Merin." The Emperor spoke through the Sosia, which collectively stopped everyone''s breath with those two words.


    "I can hold her," Merin said as she met the cured eyes of the Sosia. The only acceptance she received from the Sosia was a quirk of his lips.


    The rest of the ceremony for Alev was simple. The gold earring that pierced her ear would grow as she did. The traditional role of Roseus held the same amount of influence as any Rutilus. Any daughter born to the Emperor could climb to power only by becoming the last one standing. The current Emperor had to kill twenty-five brothers and sisters to sit on the throne, but the biggest shake-up was the announcement at the end.


    "The Roseus is exempt from the succession battle. The Roseus is now the most important title for women in Habrin. If someone tries to harm her, it will be returned tenfold." The Sosia said, and with a flick of his long-sleeved robes, he walked off.


    There was a nonstop chattering after these words dropped.


    Merin inched closer to Red, and she held up the baby to him. Red wiped away the anointing oil with the sleeve of his black robes.


    "She''s ranked even higher than his consort." She whispered in her native tongue to him.


    "There will be more attempts at her life," Red said in the same language.


    "Letha, Zoltan, and Bellare should return from the dungeons tonight." Merin said, "We''ll need more people we can trust."


    "I''m already taking care of it," Red said.


    The Emperor only increased Red''s ire towards him with each passing day. His father had tossed his loyal people in the dungeons for the crime of not protecting Merin and Alev from the Emperor.


    The man had the audacity to say that if he could whisk the baby away, anyone could. That was a bold-faced lie because the Emperor was the most powerful man in Habrin. Nobody could have done what he did, and who could refuse a direct order from him? No one could do so. The Emperor tossed the people Red trusted to protect him in the dungeon.


    Red had to debate heatedly through hoops until he could finally secure their release.


    Red wasn''t able to relax with them back in their quarters. Alev received countless gifts from all over the world as news of her birth spread. Screening everything was more tedious than fending off those who wanted a glimpse of Alev.


    The naming ceremony proved she had Habrin royal blood, and her title of Roseus granted her new power. Everyone who was anyone wanted to be in with the new Roseus.


    Red couldn''t sneak out of the palace, and every day, his patience was chipped at by the countless lurkers.


    He wanted to break free of the ties that bound him to breathe the same air as his creator. But he was trapped, and the Emperor won public opinion for the first time in twenty years. No one even seemed to care that Cem and Hakan were dead.


    Reu had finished the job in Ceren, and things worsened instead of calming down after the funeral.


    The Emperor gave his granddaughter the province of Ceren.


    Red knew that the other man was laughing at him and was well aware of Red''s plots. Red wouldn''t slow down just because a red string held him in one place.


    He was going to kill Emir next, and he was going to frame another brother for it.

 Chapter Thirty Eight: The Harem Drama

    Merin didn''t have much time to enjoy the bliss of finally becoming a mother. Sure she could finally enjoy palace life of luxury again. She had servants to keep her clean and pampered. Her silky silver hair was finally washed, and she could wear her favorite colors without hassle.


    But her woes had yet to thrive.


    Unexpectedly, Vera, Merin''s long-time annoyance and the Emperor''s consort, arrived. She was accompanied by a group of maidens she intended to offer Red during Merin''s recovery.


    "I did this with you in mind. A Rutilus has needs." Vera said above her tea cup with a smug expression.


    She is such a bitch, Merin thought. The smug consort had the same tenacity as the Emperor. Both of them had too much time on their hands to be this invested in her life.


    "Anyone who can hold my dragon, Acuzio, for longer than a minute can stay. Those that don''t will die." Merin said, referring to the dangerous task of even touching her powerful companion.


    Vera blanched before recovering quickly, and she said, "If Rutilus Aram saw this, then I''m sure he''d punish you for getting in the way. You should know your place by now. Even if you give the empire a Roseus you''re not impervious to being replaced."


    "Red knows me and everyone knows my temper. Try my patience and see how hard it will be to replace me," Merin said. She stood up from the low table, a brand new piece of beautifully crafted furniture she adored, to grab Acuzio, who was slumbering on top of Alev. She didn''t want the table harmed but if it got rid of Vera then its sacrifice would be worth it.


    The dragon was quite hefty now, and Merin needed to hold the beast with two hands. She plopped him on the table, and he blinked as he looked for a target.


    "I''d leave unless you want to try your hand too, Vera," Merin said, dropping all the niceties and fixing a cold stare at the other woman.


    The intruders scurried off like prey, and Merin let Acuzio eat from their plates as a reward.


    "There will be more Russus," Zoltan said. The man blended well with the walls and appeared instantaneously. "You should allow a couple to observe. There can be a great benefit in--"


    Merin''s eye twitched as she glared at him. Zoltan''s calm expression shifted into panic and pain as he clenched his throat and started choking.


    Merin looked down and saw that she had clenched her hands. She released them and took a deep, steady breath to retrieve her senses. Slowly, color returned to Zoltan''s face, and his hands eased from his throat. He gave a hoarse laugh and waved off her concern.


    "I''m sorry, Zoltan. I still don''t have a grasp on my powers." Merin said.


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    Merin''s thoughts, even mere whispers in her mind, had the power to shape the world around her. A flicker of annoyance, a hint of torment, and pain could be inflicted with a mere thought, a power that both fascinated and irritated her. Merin prided herself on control, but ever since Red found her, she''d never regained her infamous command over herself.


    Vera was good at rubbing salt in the wound of Merin''s low self-confidence. Red could open up his harem and take another Russus. It was something Merin hadn''t asked him about yet. Up until now it wasn''t fathomable because no one would willingly join it. Now that Red was no longer the nameless prince and had a Roseus, he was a hot commodity.


    Could she share him?


    "If I hold him, can I stay?" A voice interrupted Merin''s thoughts.


    Merin stared at the young girl who didn''t balk at the idea of picking up Acuzio. She was so tiny Merin didn''t see her. The little girl lifted the fattening dragon and stared at it, sweat dripping off her brow.


    "I can be your servant when I finish the minute, right?" The girl said, not looking away from Acuzio''s bored eyes.


    Merin blinked and said nothing as she counted down the seconds. It was a moot point to do it entirely because if Acuzio wanted to kill the girl, he would have by now.


    The girl survived, and Merin gained a new follower, Emine. The girl chirped so much she might as well have been a bird. Merin found out Merin had healed the girl and wanted to repay her.


    Merin was used to the quiet Letha, who granted her solitude, and the absent Bellare and Zoltan, who disappeared with the breeze.


    She was not used to Emine, who talked her ear off and asked questions about everything. Emine was more dedicated than even Letha in being Meirn''s shadow. The girl was almost too much, and Merin nearly tripped over her more than once. This was just the girl''s first day and Merin already regretted taking her under her wing.


    Supper was at least peaceful because everyone but Red, Alev, and Merin''s animals were gone.


    The simple, peaceful meal was interrupted by a visitor. Vera might have given up on throwing women at Red''s feet, but she wasn''t the only one with thoughts. Doga, a Russus Merin had never paid attention to, came through the door scandalously by opening the handle herself.


    Merin chewed on her tender quail meat as she marveled at the woman breaking protocol. A Russus, as all Habrin royalty, knocked or gestured for the guards to open doors, but she swung it wide like a heathen.


    Before Red or Merin could react or say anything, the woman dropped to the ground to prostrate herself.


    "I beg of you, Rutilus, to take me into your harem." The woman said around a mouthful of hair. "My Rutilus is dead, and I seek harbor in your harem."


    Merin could feel her heart drop as all the humor was wiped clean from her face. She looked at Red and said nothing as she lifted her cup to wet her dry mouth.


    Merin was going to get the answer now on what Red wanted. Did he want to expand on his harem? What would she do if he did? This was a moment where their cultures could clash in ideology.


    "I''m not adding anyone to my harem," Red said.


    Merin could feel her heart start to back up, and she glanced at his expression. Red looked murderous, a common sight these day, but it was at the guards who failed to stop Doga.


    Before Doga could protest, Zoltan and Bellare dragged her out.


    "Can you pass the quail?" Red said, and Merin mutely handed it over.


    Dinner resumed, and nothing was said about what had just happened.


    Even more women were dropped by to tease and seduce Red in the upcoming days. Red tossed them out this time, and that alone seemed to stop the raining maidens. As far as Merin hoped, that was all Red knew. Since she knew how he felt about it and didn''t have to ask herself what she would do otherwise, it was time to be proactive.


    Merin took the offensive route to stop the offers and free herself from the harem drama.

 Chapter Thirty Nine: His Hands Clean

    Red used his shovel to cut off the reaching fingers in one clean sweep. He used his free hand to move the splash of blood away from the fake sleeping bundle.


    Red, unable to relocate his daughter from the palace, devised a plan to keep her safe. He created a decoy, a tiny bundle of blankets that could pass for a newborn. Concealed within was Acuzio; the dragon had grown in size and now served as the perfect body double.


    Red, his thoughts consumed by the safety of his budding family, made sure Merin and Alev were kept at a distance from the looming danger. Merin, eager to contribute, was held back by Red''s understanding of her potential to become a liability, a threat to everyone, not just their adversaries. She needed to gain control over her new limits before she engaged in battle. Both of them had changed, but he was better at adapting than she was.


    Red blinked as his body tried to adjust to its new limits. Something happened to Merin when she gave birth, and through their bond, Red was changed as well.


    He felt stronger and stranger than ever.


    Red''s ability to sense blood and see it pulse through the body remained the same for the most part. What changed was his newfound ability to circumvent the barrier that flesh once created. Red no longer needed a cut or opening to control the blood in another person.


    Every night since the birth of Alev, Red tested his limits in new ways with each assassin.


    Red closed his eyes as he set down his shovel. He could feel his heart pound as his excitement battled for control over his actions.


    A handful of fresh attackers came into the room. With his eyes closed, Red could sense each of them and how far they were from him. He lifted his hand up in a move similar to what Red had seen Merin do. The warm bodies followed his gesture and floated into the air. They made noises, but Red couldn''t hear them over the rhythmic beats of their hearts.


    It was music to the man''s ears.


    The sound grew louder until it drowned out any other noise. Red could still hear their beats in his own blood long after he ripped out the lifeblood from the other men.


    "Get some rest. The sun is rising," Merin said. She pushed Red down into their bed in a move that was becoming too familiar to Red.


    They took turns in watching Alev and performing duties. Red stayed up most of the night, while Merin was vigilant during the daytime. When they broke their fast and or ate dinner, it was often the only meal they shared.


    The occasional naps they took together were nice, but they rarely happened.


    Red had a lot to take care of to kill Emir.


    "You need to sleep as well," Red said.


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    Merin''s skin showed signs of restless nights, bringing a flicker of guilt to Red. Alev was a quiet baby who seemed content with either of her parents. Thanks to the blood of the Inni running through her veins being held by those who carried her blood soothed the baby. She rarely cried and was permanently attached to Red or Merin. Alev was currently strapped to Merin in a baby wrap and was sound asleep.


    That meant Merin''s exhaustion was on him for being unable to get them away from the palace. Something warm flooded their bond, and Red blinked as he was hit with Merin''s emotions. It was as if she could read his mind because all he felt through this connection was concern for him and her own guilt.


    "I will later, you first. All your sneaky allies need the day to finish things, so get some sleep." Merin said.


    Red reached over to clasp her hand, and through that simple touch, he was strengthened by the two heartbeats that made anywhere a home.


    Red woke up refreshed and by the dying light of the sun. Dusk was settling in, and Merin was coming to get him for dinner.


    Red noted the little shadow that trailed after Merin, but he only greeted his Russus before leaving to refresh himself.


    When he was done, dinner was spread out, and he saw Merin had waited. Merin dismissed every servant as she often did, and it was just the two of them.


    Well, soon, the three of them because Reu joined them. It hadn''t been that long since Red saw his father figure, but breathing the same air as him was strange.


    Red''s insight of blood was more potent now because he could more easily penetrate through the flesh and muscle of anyone. Which is why seeing his father figure for the first time worried Red.


    Reu''s blood was twisted, and the veins bulged when they should be smooth.


    Reu''s welcoming smile froze as he took in Red''s expression. He didn''t know what was displayed, and Red tried to cough as he stood up to hug the other man.


    Red had never used blood to heal. He''s only ever used it to sense and destroy others. Could it be possible for him to find a way to cure Reu? Red held the other man in a tight hug as he closed his eyes and focused on the blood.


    To clear dangerously clogged veins required precision and delicacy. Red wasn''t sure he could weld such cautious mastery. He had to try. Red could feel Reu''s pulsing heart working double time around the messed up viens.


    He ignored Reu''s question as the other man noticed the extended length of the hug. Red slowly eased the blood through the veins, and he felt Reu stiffen in his arms.


    Late Red would note that the other man didn''t fight him even though Red held his life in his arms. He could marvel later that there was such implicit trust.


    Red loosened the gunk that filled his mentor''s veins, working it through the man until it was cleared.


    Reu gave him another tight hug when he stepped back and said, "I haven''t felt this young in years. All of my fatigue just went away."


    Red said nothing as he listened to the calm, steady, beating heart of the only man he cared for. This increase in power came at the right time to save Reu''s life.


    Once again, Merin was his good luck charm, which only made it easier to obtain his goals and keep what was his.


    Red left with Reu after dinner. Due to his seed father''s unknown boundaries, they didn''t go past the courtyard.


    Men in cloaks greeted them, and the air was a touch awkward, considering why they had gathered.


    This group of malcontents were lower-ranked nobles who helped Red bring down Ceren. Now, Red needed them to help him rebuild the harbor city so that his daughter could anchor there one day if required.


    Reu was his translator to the group because he couldn''t understand them as far as they knew. Their orders were pretty straightforward, and considering that the malcontents could grow in power under Red''s influence, they were eager to start.


    "There''s one more thing I need you to do," Reu said after adjourning the meeting.


    Red took that as his cue to leave. What Reu was about to say next had nothing to do with him, nor could it ever. The last major hurdle for these young noble lords was to kill Rutilus Emir.


    Red had no part in that, and it would stay that way to keep his hands clean.

 Chapter Forty: Credible Rat Suspect

    Merin, driven by her insatiable sweet tooth, chewed on the sticky purple fruit that was now her go-to snack. She was disgusted by bananas after giving birth. Her new favorite fruit was one she couldn''t pronounce for the life of her.


    It had been a long time since she''d seen Red break a smile when she''d mispronounced something, and part of her, in a playful manner, aimed to keep the bit going for as long as she could. Red didn''t smile much before, but now his face was more grim than ever. Merin wanted to find new ways to make his mask crack.


    Red, with an unwavering determination, was receiving a lot of goods from Ceren''s ports as he revitalized the harbor province he destroyed. The Emperor gave it to Alev, and it was a project that distracted Red while he was trapped in the palace.


    While Red tackled that and sorted out how he would kill another of his brothers, Merin, with a single-minded focus, was on a relentless hunt.


    The Emperor''s face had healed, so she must have healed him. Red said that nothing before her magic could undo the cruelty of Febris. A purge of healers who failed in their attempts once littered mass graves for their efforts.


    Red had told her that the Emperor specialized in puppet magic. If she healed one of his puppets, would it heal the string master? Red told her he knew the Emperor would come out to be healed, and at some point, Merin must have. Or the Emperor could have gotten ahold of the ointment she passed out to circumvent exposing herself before.


    That didn''t explain why the Emperor knew her baby''s name choices. Merin picked out two, one for a girl or a boy. So that meant one thing and one thing only; there was a rat to devour.


    Merin did not know where to start with the Emperor but knew who she would tail first.


    Zoltan was her first target.


    The charming, sophisticated man came at them with a group of men. This was shortly after she had her first massive healing spree. From what she saw, the Emperor moved fast. He could have organized that whole thing.


    Red had told her the details she''d missed long ago while she snoozed. Zoltan said he wanted to look at her but brought many men with him. The real intent was clear. All of those men but Zoltan were dead. They couldn''t be at fault or questioned now.


    Zoltan had been questioned extensively, and he passed Red''s examination. His collar bound him to obey her word, and that should be that. But Merin was suspicious. She long treated Zoltan roughly or ignored him because she couldn''t shake the feeling that he managed to hide something despite everything.


    Zoltan mentioned Red''s father to him and asked Red if anyone had told him he was like his father. It might not be too strange because the Emperor was a prominent figure who wandered around Habrin doing whatever he wanted. He went to war with soldiers who may be bandits or citizens, so his face was known. And that was without taking into account his reputation, which everyone knew.


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    But this was more suspicious maybes for Merin to decide that Zoltan was the biggest suspect of being a rat.


    Merin had to be careful in how she stalked Zoltan. He was more alert than he let on and quick to escape in the shadows. The man was an escape artist, making him the most credible rat suspect.


    On the day Merin started her hunt, she gave Zoltan the rest of the day off. The man was startled because Merin had never been so generous before. She didn''t follow him that day. Doing something uncharacteristic would raise his suspicions, and she wouldn''t find anything yet.


    So Merin continued to be sporadically generous with him and gave him time off. The day that Zoltan grinned at her instead of blinking like he witnessed a miracle was the day she officially started hunting him.


    Zoltan was an even bigger flirt than Merin first suspected. The man winked, chatted, and received gifts from multiple women. Soon, Merin realized it didn''t matter the age, gender, or demographic of people. Zoltan just had a unique charm about him, and he welded it.


    Emine trailed after her, and Merin wanted to paste the girl''s mouth shut. The girl was doing her best to stay silent, but leaving the girl behind would have been better.


    Merin learned nothing outside of Zoltan''s annoying popularity that day.


    She was still sulking over dinner with Red. Any hope she had managed to sneak in and out of the palace was wiped away when Red said, "Do I need to ask why you''re stalking after Zoltan."


    Merin started coughing as she inhaled a sip of her water. Red smacked her back, but she could tell he was laughing at her. He must have waited for her to take a sip to spring that on her!


    She made a face before finally confessing everything she suspected.


    Red said nothing as he digested her words and his food. When he seemed to gather his thoughts, she noted that his red eye gleamed.


    "It''s too obvious to be my father''s handiwork." He said finally.


    "Sometimes the most obvious things in the world are the answer." She retorted.


    "Habrin Emperors have always had a complicated history with their children. Tossing out that kind of insult wouldn''t be much of a stretch." Red said.


    But it landed, Merin thought, but wisely stopped herself from saying it out loud. Red lost his calm in a way she''d never seen before. That moment was important because this man was vital to her in more ways than one.


    She never wanted to see that side of Red come out again, and part of her still blamed Zoltan for bringing it out.


    The Emperor was also to blame. In fact, in Merin''s mind, he was the main culprit. Tales of his debauchery were widespread as catchy jingles people sang when they fought, drank, or murdered each other.


    Red''s father was a monster who enjoyed eating the flesh of people, animals, and creatures. That blood lust lived and breathed in Red even as he suppressed it. The constant struggle at night against assassins chipped away at his control, and she could see it in the way his eye glowed.


    Even if Red didn''t want to acknowledge it, he was his father''s son. And the physical connection was just as strong as the pair''s blood lust. Merin needed to watch anything that could endanger her expanded family. She trusted Red to take out threats, but this might be something she needed to do for him. If she didn''t, how could she say she gave it her all?


    The rest of dinner passed in conversational topics about Alev and work in Ceren, but things were brewing under the surface. Merin wasn''t done with her hunt.


    Whoever was a threat to Red needed to go.

 Chapter Forty One: The Damn Dragon

    "What are you doing here?"


    The venomous words splashed on Red, but he remained stoic, his gaze fixed on the random trinkets he''d been idly examining in the opulent halls of Emir''s palace. It was a stark contrast to the simplicity of his original home, and he couldn''t help but think how much Merin would love these fine things. He made a mental note to gift her some of them later.


    There was more noise from the man trying to get his attention, but Red ignored him. The blood lust that pulsed through his veins was hard enough to contain without adding fuel to the struggle. If Red argued with Emir, a fresh chain of events would follow.


    Red spun on his heels and gave the other man a broad smile. The action startled Emir.


    "I''m just here to say goodbye to my brother," Red said. He walked up to his brother and smacked him on the shoulder in a patting gesture.


    Emir''s face contorted into rage and bitterness. "How dare you? You''re not my brother. You''re just a nameless bastard. You don''t have a province, and our father only gave you the naming ceremony for that bastard daughter of yours. She''s not even your real daughter. Habrin men can''t have daughters."


    Mentioning the ceremony was a cruel reminder of the power imbalance between the two. Red had been given his later than any Rutilus in history. This starkly contrasted the natural rights of all Red''s brothers, who were easily granted everything.


    A Rutilus, a title bestowed upon the heirs of the royal family, must learn to govern on their path to becoming an Emperor. If a Rutilus doesn''t learn to govern, they may find themselves at the mercy of advisors with their own interests and intrigues. If a Rutilus isn''t given their own province, the chances of success die.


    A province was not just a piece of land to Rutilus, it was a symbol of power and control. Where they received their province was just as important. If the land was fertile, they could grow fat off the wealth and use it to win the succession war. If the land is too far from the capital, then they''d have to travel to take the throne and kill their siblings, a dangerous and treacherous journey.


    The caustic words landed, but Red''s face remained impassive with its solid and chiseled features. Red didn''t even bother with the accusation that Alev wasn''t his daughter; he knew she was. No one could tell him otherwise, least of all his sniffing brother. Emir, however, grew more incensed. His ruddy, usually meek, and kind eyes started to glow angrily.


    Red snorted, a sound of defiance, and walked away from the man, ignoring his taunts. His resilience was a shield against Emir''s venom, a testament to his strength and determination. His brothers should have never let him grow hatred in his heart for them. If they''d only held out a hand and treated him as blood should, they wouldn''t have to die one by one.


    On cue, a dozen men climbed down from the high ceilings. Emir made a startled noise, and Red ignored his cries for help as he calmly strode out of the palace.


    "Another brother dead." He said to Acuzio. The dragon sat outside waiting for him. The growing beast was too big to sit on his head without causing active harm to Red. He couldn''t rest in Merin''s lap either because the dragon had grown two feet in length. The dragon would take his true form soon at the rate he was growing.


    Red pivoted on his feet to stare at the palace he just left. He could see the outline of bodies through the walls with his power. The pulsing blood of his brother was singing to him as it fought for its life.


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    Red watched Emir fight, but the man was outnumbered and outmatched. His attackers were chipping away at him, and it wouldn''t be long before he lost the battle.


    Acuzio made a strange noise, and Red broke his focus to look at the beast. It was making noises with its mouth.


    "Merin has spoiled you, which is why you''ve gotten fat," Red said. He could tell the dragon wanted more food. Red wasn''t Merin and didn''t carry food to snack on; Acuzio knew this.


    Acuzio made more noises, and Red nearly flinched as a voice said, "Give me snacks now." The deep, guttural voice was one he''d heard long ago and never since.


    Red eyed the dragon, and the dragon stared back at him with its mouth open.


    "Get your own snacks," Red said. He looked away from the prickly beast and saw that he missed the moment his brother had died.


    Before Red could react to the cooling body pooling out blood, Acuzio bit him.


    "He''s just a baby!" Merin said as she patched Red up.


    Red looked at Merin and said, "That baby nearly tore off my leg."


    "He''s just growing. He needs more meat, and since he''s too fa...big, he can''t fly yet."


    "Even if he were to grow wings, he couldn''t fly," Red said.


    Merin gasped at him, but he could tell she was fighting off a laugh. The dragon was more round these days, and after a good meal, it was often seen rolling around instead of walking.


    "He will. Right now, Acuzio is eating to grow. He only needs to bulk up and grow some more." Merin said when she regained control over her face.


    Red kept his mouth shut this time as Merin was luckily able to replace the torn flesh. The culprit, Acuzio, was currently eating a dog it managed to catch. He tore apart the mutt like it was soft jelly. The dragon chewed on the bones, organs, and flesh and swallowed them all. It didn''t even wait for Merin to cook the meat.


    "I need to meet with Reu; thanks, Merin," Red said. He didn''t wait for Merin to respond, and he did not take the damn dragon with him either.


    Red didn''t get far because at the spot where he should be meeting Reu had his seed donor instead.


    The other man sat at the meeting spot cloaked in darkness. The shadows covering the top half of his face showed off his glowing orbs. The bottom half of his face showed off his sharp teeth, which were pulled back into a smile.


    "Aram." His father said.


    "Kaan," Red said rather rudely.


    Instead of being hurt for using his father''s ascension name, he was rewarded with a rich laugh.


    "You''ve killed three of my sons. Whatever shall I do with you?" His father said. "One killed by poison, another by the betrayal of the worst kind, and the latest by assassins."


    Red could feel his throat clench as his jaw stiffened. He said nothing because he knew at this moment his words meant nothing. Whatever the Emperor was going to do, he would do.


    "Should I start placing wagers on who you will get rid of next? Will it be Akkad? Or me?"


    Red listened but said nothing as he stared at the other man.


    The Emperor stood up and patted Red''s shoulder, similar to how Red had done to Emir.


    "I did kill your mother, so that does make us even," Kaan said as his voice brushed Red''s ears. "Stop killing off your brothers. You''re not leaving me sons to work with Aram. I will take that pretty Russus of yours and add her to my harem if that''s what it takes to keep you in line."


    Red could feel an inferno of emotions rise at the provocation. He knew his red eye was alight with his feelings, but still, he said nothing.


    "It''s good that we understand each other."


    The Emperor walked away; again, his back was to Red. Red felt a strange brew of rage and shame that he didn''t attack his father yet again.


    A strange hissing noise drew Red''s attention to the ground. His nails had bitten into his palms and drew blood. The blood that fell to the ground sizzled and burned the stone walkway as it splashed down.


    Red calmed his breathing and noted how the blood that fell when he was calm didn''t burn and melt whatever it touched.


    Without breaking stride, Red located a frog nearby. He quickly located the blood that pulsed through its tiny body. It barely took a whisper of a thought before the frog exploded into a splatter of hot blood.


    Red wiped the drops that landed on him off and looked down at his hands. He would get stronger, and Merin would get stronger as well. Soon, this farce would be over. It didn''t matter what his father''s end goal was; he''d kill him before the man could achieve it.

 Chapter Forty Two: The Last Piece

    "He''s made such a mess!" Emine said. The young girl fussed over Acuzio. The dragon had hunted several stray mutts and dragged the carcasses home with him. Blood, bits of bones, and other things were strewn around the now-slumbering beast. Emine was chattering as she swept and wiped away the blood.


    Merin adjusted Alev in the sling as she slowly left the room. Emine was a cute girl but a bit too loud. She was eager to serve and did everything Merin wanted, so it was hard to send her away. The little girl''s face would become crushed at the mention of sending her to another room. The only solution was for Merin to slip out when the girl was occupied.


    Merin silently walked down the hall. She turned her head to make sure Emine didn''t notice and, because of that, nearly ran into Reu.


    The other man steadied her, and as she thanked him, Alev started to fuss. Merin started rocking her daughter, and the motion seemed to work its charm as the babe fell back asleep.


    "Aren''t you meeting Red?" Merin said. Reu shouldn''t be here. Reu should be wherever the meeting place was.


    "I received notice I was supposed to come here," Reu said.


    Merin blinked rapidly as her fear started adrenaline pumping through her veins. "Red left to meet you, he''s not here."


    Whatever fears Merin was embracing were felt by Reu as well. Before either of them could make a move, Red appeared.


    The strong scent of iron hit Merin, but there was a twang she''d come to associate with Inni blood, too. She shoved Reu aside in her haste to grab Red''s hands, which were stained.


    He flinched and tried to stop her, but she deftly flipped over his palm. There was nothing on his palm but the faded rust of blood. She grabbed his other hand and saw the same thing.


    "What happened?" Reu said while Merin looked at Red and tried to spot where he had bled from.


    "The Emperor showed up and knew about Hakan and Cem."


    There was a long silence as everyone digested his words.


    "Did he hurt you?" Merin said.


    Red shook his head and quickly explained what happened.


    "Your blood can melt things now?" Merin said. And judging from the lack of wounds on his palms, Red figured out how to heal. His abilities were expanding by the day.


    "What do you want to do now?" Reu said at the same time as Merin.


    Red rubbed a hand over his face as his calm facade cracked for a heartbeat.


    As if sensing his pain, Alev stirred awake, and even with Merin trying to soothe the baby, it had no effect. Red slipped the wiggling body out of the sling and held her. Instantly, Alev quieted down and fell back asleep in her father''s arms.


    The warm feeling that bloomed in Merin''s heart was destroyed when she saw the red string attached to her daughter''s heart move.


    The Emperor needed to be killed, but he couldn''t be touched as long as he attached his life to their daughter''s life.


    Merin did the first genuinely deceitful thing since she met Red. She drugged the tea she fed him so that he would sleep deeply. The dark circles under his eyes and the pallor of his skin showed that he would either snap or crack under the current pressure if he went further with no rest. He refused to rest long enough for his body to recover, and he needed it because his father was getting into his head.


    Merin took a moment to stare at the image of Red sound asleep with Alev curled up close by. There were enough pillows and blankets to prop the two so nothing tragic would occur.


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    It was time for Merin to do something other than recovering or stalking Zoltan.


    Merin held out her hands, and several strings flew out to create a barrier around her two favorite people. Since she couldn''t be here with them, she needed to make sure they weren''t vulnerable.


    When she was done, Merin ran out of the room in her haste. Unfortunately, there was one person she had forgotten about.


    "I polished the table that you love, and I was thinking of--"


    Merin covered Emine''s mouth with her hand and pulled the woman along with her.


    "Oh, are we going somewhere fun? Where''s the baby? Is she--" Merin squeezed her hand tighter over the chattering bird''s mouth.


    When the girl was silent, Merin smiled at her, "I need you to run a very special errand for me." She said.


    Emine''s eyes sparkled at the honor. Poor girl, Merin thought; she doesn''t realize she''s just being sent on a fool''s errand, so I have time to think.


    Merin sent Emine off. Then she spent time looking for Acuzio.


    She found the dragon eating smoking hot meat from a small fire on the marble floor.


    "Did you start that fire?" Merin said, stepping closer to inspect the flames.


    Acuzio was still obviously sulking because the dragon turned his head away and chewed faster.


    "You have yourself to blame. You know that Red doesn''t keep snacks around. He''s too efficient for that."


    Acuzio snorted smoke out of his nostrils but still said nothing.


    "I''ve never asked for anything," Merin said.


    Her words were rewarded with another snort.


    "I need help, Acuzio. Please." Merin all but begged the dragon as she knelt on the ground in front of him. The cold marble floor was harsh on her delicate skin, but this pain was nothing she couldn''t bear. This might be the only solution she could bank on. Red would snap if they had to wait much longer.


    "Tell me, child, what do you want." The deep, gravelly voice tickled the top of her head, and when Merin peaked, a glowing red dragon was staring down at her.


    "I need an audience with Mordecai." She said. Mordecai said he would be back when she had more kids, but that would never happen at the rate they were going. The Emperor was too powerful, and she needed help.


    Smoke erupted from Acuzio''s nostrils and covered Merin as her breath was stolen.


    Small, painful things smacked Merin in the face and woke her up. She tried to open her eyes, but she was assaulted further for her efforts.


    "Hey, numbnuts, what do you want from me?"


    The masculine voice she''d recognized anywhere forced Merin to steel himself through the pain to look.


    "Mordecai." She said after she''d managed to open her eyes and see the man in question. She glanced around and saw they were in a strange dark room. There was weird furniture that she couldn''t recognize or understand, as well as the man she''d been seeking.


    He was wearing a purple outfit that looked strange. She''d never seen the like before. The fabric sparkled and looked like tiny flamed jewels were embedded in it to make it weirder.


    "Merindah," Mordecai said as he rolled his eyes. "Yes, we both know each other. What do you want?"


    "You''re my uncle, aren''t you?" Merin said over a dry mouth. It was conjecture she built using her mother''s journals, but saying it made her feel embarrassed. What if she was wrong? What if this insanely powerful being wasn''t the Mordecai in her mother''s books?


    "That''s what you wanted? You''re such a dumb fuck. Yes, Caelestis was my older sister. You''re related to me after several hundred removed generations. What of it?"


    "You hate her because she betrayed you and gave you up to your mother," Merin said. She could feel her courage waver after those words left her mouth. Mordecai''s eyes weren''t the only thing on fire now. The man''s skin rippled and cracked as sparks ruptured from his flesh.


    Merin wet her lips and said, "I know your mother cursed you. She cursed all of her children, but she was the cruelest to you. You became the phoenix because she wanted to take death from you so she could prolong your suffering, which is why you can never retake your true form or name. Caelestis abandoned you, which is why you hate her. Since she''s dead and you can''t hurt her, you''ll go after the ones with her blood. At least that''s what you wanted me to believe."


    The ground underneath Mordecai was on fire now, but the man said nothing.


    "You''ve never wanted me to suffer, or else my life wouldn''t have a touch of joy."


    "Maybe I wanted to burn your found happiness before you?" Mordecai said. His voice sounded rough, as if the fire eating his outfit was also burning him from the inside out.


    "You gave me Red," Merin said. "You created Habrin to make me move on from my mother''s vision."


    There was a brief pregnant pause in which Mordecai broke. "You are the last piece of my sister." He said. The fire on his flesh banked, and he sat down in a weird chair. This was the first time the man looked exhausted. "You''re not allowed to erase her presence because your mummy killed your brothers. Shit, there goes my nice three-piece suit."


    "I''m more than that now; I''m going to become a Goddess and take her place," Merin said.


    Mordecai let out a dark chuckle, "So you finally recall everything, Merindah."


    Merin gave a shaky nod. "I can''t ascend while my daughter''s life is attached to a psychopath."


    "Your Rutilus is a big softie around her; I wouldn''t worry," Mordecai said as he stood up and walked over to her.


    "You know who I mean," Merin said.


    "That''s not my mess to clean up. It''s yours." Mordecai said. He smacked Merin in the face before she could argue with him some more. The lights went out for her, and darkness greeted her one more.

 Chapter Forty Three: Like Polished Gems

    Merin''s actions were as predictable as ever, yet there was an unsettling air about her. Red didn''t need their bond to sense that something was amiss.


    Red''s senses were on high alert as she presented him with tea. He could discern the distinct aroma of the herbs she had brewed. It was a sweet gesture, but she was mistaken if she thought it would deceive him or that the herbs would work on him.


    Like Akkad and himself, the loopholes regarding the succession war were always played with. Red had been poisoned countless times as a child. Red wouldn''t have survived if he didn''t have his maternal grandmother. The older woman had served as a nanny and taught Red how to utilize his blood to purge drugs. This method made him immune as she also went out of her way to poison him and train his body to withstand.


    Red humored Merin and drank the herbal tea. He even laid down and pretended to fall asleep.


    When she left, he opened his eyes and looked at the threads she had draped over Alev and himself. The Emperor hadn''t stipulated that she had to stay in place so she could leave at any time. Was she abandoning them?


    Red slipped the sleeping baby into his arms and silently followed her errant mother.


    By the time Red discovered Merin, she was sprawled on the ground. What Red initially perceived as a peculiar shadow revealed itself as a figure. A man loomed over her, a man that Red had never encountered before. The man''s towering presence engulfed the room with his muscular frame. His onyx skin crackled, as if fire simmered just beneath the surface. The man''s hardened flesh resembled facets of gems, and as he rose, his skin glimmered and gleamed like polished gems amidst the black cracks.


    The man''s lips pulled back to reveal a set of pointy blades in his mouth. He laughed as Red took a fighting stance, "I''d take several thousand years to hone my skills before you take me on if I were you." The man said in an impossible deep gruff voice.


    His voice was eerily familiar, and Red''s stance relaxed as he eyed the man. "Acuzio?" Red said as he tried to connect the dragon with the massive man.


    The other man laughed, and the deep chuckle bounced off the halls.


    "Russus Merin, I came back with your--" Emine said as her loud feet pounded in the hallway behind Red.


    Red turned around to yell at the girl to go away, but waves of heat stopped him mid-turn. He flipped his head just in time to see Acuzio, the chubby-looking lizard, staring at him blandly.


    The other man was gone, and in its place was a not so innocent looking baby dragon.


    Alev held her head up as she grasped Red''s finger. Her bright amber-red eyes stared at Acuzio, but the solemn baby said nothing. Her wispy silver hair was irresistible, and Red used his free hand to touch it. She paid no mind to his actions because she was looking at Acuzio.


    She saw what Red had, and the duo were currently watching the dragon devour a suspicious-looking chunk of meat.


    Merin was apologizing for drugging Red, but it wasn''t the first time she had. He didn''t even confront her before she spilled the beans about hoping he''d get some rest.


    He was in the middle of telling her it was fine when they were interrupted by Alev''s babbling. She was very charming, and the two spent time fawning over her, momentarily forgetting the bigger picture.


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    A servant came before Red could ask Merin why she was lying on the ground because his father had summoned him.


    Red had a hard time freeing himself from Aev''s tight grasp. The one-month-old baby started to cry after he handed her to Merin.


    Red''s heart twisted at the sound, but he pushed any guilt aside and left the three. After what happened the night before, ignoring this summons would spell out trouble. The Emperor was on to him and toying with him; it would be better to confront him head-on and without Merin and Alev.


    Red followed the servant and wound up in his father''s war room. The war room served as more than just the planning floor of Habrin. It was the throne room as well. There were several thrones for his father to sit his ass on, but this one was the one that genuinely held power. Every ornate curved edge of this room was soaked in blood and magic. Habrin lost their access to magic without God''s Dust but the Emperor had no need of that as long as he had his throne room.


    The room itself was filled with maps sprawled out on every surface. Most of them were decorative ones of what lands looked like before Habrin conquered them. The most noteworthy map was the one on the floor.


    The first Emperor of Habrin razed his own country of resources to start conquering other nations. The old country was on full display, painted on the ground for every generation after to step on their way to ascension.


    The capital may change with every Rutilus, but this room stayed the same. The twisted magic of his forefathers meant that this room would be summoned when the battle of accession was over, and the victor could sit on his throne. It didn''t matter where the war ended; this room would appear to claim its new owner.


    Akkad and his other brothers were waiting for him, but there was no sight of their seed giver.


    No one said anything, and Red saw the sweat on the brow of his brothers and their pale faces.


    "It seems father visited all of us," Red said with a dark chuckle at their expense.


    His attempt at levity was met with looks of annoyance from his remaining half-siblings.


    "Attention and make way for his grace Emperor Kaan!" The nameless servant shouted, and the mood in the room grew worse.


    Red and his brothers hadn''t heard the official announcement of their father in years. He was the one person in the entire world they had to lower their head for and bow before.


    Every man turned towards the door as if their strings had been pulled. They bowed their heads and crossed their arms over their chest.


    The door swung open, and their father''s loud, careless footsteps were heard.


    Instead of stopping in front of Akkad, the apparent favorite, it was Red that the Emperor paused in front of.


    Red looked up incredulously at his father, who had extended his hand for him to kiss.


    Red couldn''t stop his glowering expression at something that had never been offered to him before. He certainly didn''t want it now.


    Without breaking stride, the Emperor''s mouth grew into a smile, and the man used his free hand to tug at the string attached to his heart.


    Red''s resolve to kill his father grew as he lowered his lips to kiss his father''s hand. He then brought the hand to his forehead and somehow managed to say some flowery ceremonial words about the other man.


    Red was still reeling from the rage-inducing moment as his father made the rounds to each of his sons except for Akkad. He walked right by his well-known favorite to sit on his throne.


    "Emir is dead." The Emperor said. "It appears that one of you did it."


    Everyone was speechless, but more than one set of eyes went to Akkad. He was the most vocal about desiring the throne, and it wasn''t a secret how he managed to cause trouble for Red.


    Red stared at their father as he tried to plan how this would go.


    He could not have prepared for what the Emperor said next, "Guards! Arrest Rutilus Akkad!"


    Akkad started to protest and scream his innocence, but his words fell on deaf ears. Two guards came in, and after they quickly bowed their heads to the Emperor, they grabbed Akkad.


    Red watched as they skillfully dragged the Rutilus out of the room without once turning their back to the Emperor. It was sinfully forbidden to turn your back on the Habrin Emperor. It was ingrained in all of them to mind, which is why they''d turned when the man entered the room. And they turned their bodies as he sat on his throne.


    "Now, on to more important news; I''ve decided to give Aram a province."


    Maybe Red should have allowed Acuzio to bite off his leg and gain him an out from this torture. His father was feeding off his misery.

 Chapter Forty Four: A Dragon God

    Merin, a mother with a heart filled with love and fear, couldn''t tear her eyes away from the slender thread connecting her daughter''s heart to her paternal grandfather. Her fingers, trembling with an inexplicable urge, were desperate to sever it, to protect her from the impending danger.


    Mordecai wouldn''t help her, and all she earned for her troubles was a sore body from conking out on marble. Red said he found her on the ground, but she had woken up in a strange place.


    Her mind must have been the only thing that traveled.


    Merin''s gaze fell upon Acuzio, a growing dragon rolling towards the pond that served as his sanctuary. The dragon''s presence had transformed the once teeming pond. It was now devoid of its former inhabitants, and it became his sole watering hole.


    "He looks like a crocodile!" Emine said as she shelled nuts for Merin to eat.


    "He''s a dragon," Merin said, her voice filled with a mix of awe and familiarity. The waddling beast, with its shimmering scales and absent wings, flopped on his back to bathe under the warm, beaming sun, a sight that never failed to bring a smile to Merin''s face.


    "He''s not very graceful..." Emine said. The young girl had the good sense to lower her voice when she said that.


    As if he heard her, even with a distance of fifty feet, Acuzio began rolling over to them.


    "By your leave, I''m going to go check on the laundry in case it rains!" Emine said.


    Merin nodded and dismissed the girl, who awkwardly tried to leave without exposing her back to Merin.


    Acuzio was quick despite his size and made a noise of annoyance as he plopped in the girl''s cooling seat.


    "Thank you," Merin said to the dragon. "I didn''t get what I hoped for, but I am grateful to you for listening."


    Acuzio''s black eyes gleamed at her, and Merin noticed that red was woven into his irises for the first time.


    "I will be with you until you no longer need me." He said.


    Merin fought the wave of emotions that rose upon those words. She wanted to find comfort in them, but she was too wary of words alone. "What did you do to be stuck in this form?" She said instead of the half dozen questions she wanted to ask him.


    The scaled beast sighed and turned its head. If Merin didn''t know better, she''d think it was turning red with shame. His scales always had a hint of color between the cracks, so she had to be wrong.


    "I had an accident." He said.


    Merin bit her lips to stop a laugh from escaping her lips. "How so?" She said when she''d managed to strip the mirth from her words.


    "Magic isn''t allowed in every world, and some worlds are forbidden to those with magic," Acuzio said.


    Merin noted that he''d said a lot but still had not told the exact incident. "Mordecai mentioned different worlds...what does that mean?" She said. She was curious but figured he meant countries. The concept of places past her current existence didn''t make sense to her.


    "This is just one world among countless," Acuzio said, but he managed to sneak in a yawn as if he were too tired to speak more. He then took a great deal of time to explain the concept to her, but the words were too strange for her to accept.


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    "So you performed magic in a world where magic was banned?" Merin said, wanting to change the subject.


    "I accidentally burned some things." He said, managing to stand stiff and embarrassed.


    "You''re a dragon. That''s bound to happen." Merin said, recounting the many things she''d found scorched over their time together. "Was it an accident?"


    "I sneezed and destroyed a country," Acuzio said, looking away.


    Merin coughed as she fought the urge to laugh, but her joy died swiftly when she saw he was serious. "You sneezed and destroyed a whole country?!" She said.


    "They have weapons in that world that can cause explosions, and my sneeze set off a chain of events."


    "Mordecai doesn''t seem like the type to punish others for that," Merin said as she recalled the way he told her to start a world war. The Phoenix God seemed to thrive off chaos, and Acuzio doing that seemed like the thing to tickle him pink.


    "The Gods of that world called a meeting to punish me. They won their case with the High Gods because I shouldn''t have been there in the first place. They couldn''t kill me, but they could turn me into a lizard until they rebuilt that world. They had to send a message." Acuzio said, sounding very proud that they couldn''t kill him.


    "They can''t kill you because you''re a Dragon God," Merin said quietly. She ignored the part about rebuilding the world because Acuzio said he burned a country, not a world...the destruction must have been worse than he was saying. She was still reeling from who Acuzio was and his part in her mother''s journals. He was the third sibling and her distant uncle like Mordecai.


    She watched the dragon to see if he would refute her. Acuzio burped and said nothing.


    "What were you even doing in that world?" Merin said. It didn''t seem very easy to contain their magic from the firey creatures that she saw. Their fire seemed to pulse through their veins. Why would he take that kind of risk?


    "Aphra sent me to retrieve something," Acuzio said.


    "Aphra..." Merin said, her voice trailing off. She knew who that was, and that name stole her mind''s attention from the conversation. By the time she recovered enough to question Acuzio some more, he was sleeping off his noon snack.


    Red returned to her with a glowing red eye and vengeance on his face. He told her everything his father had said.


    "He''s sending you to a province?" She said. Her eyes darted toward Alev, who was sound asleep in her crib. "Does that mean he expects you to leave us here?" Alev couldn''t go far from the Emperor because of the string that bound them. And there was no way Merin would leave their child in the arms of a cannibal.


    Red rubbed a hand over his face and gave a terse nod. "He''s giving me a week to prepare, but the orders are done."


    "This goes against what he said before. He didn''t want you to leave the palace." Merin said, recalling that and hoping that, against the odds, it could undo their current circumstances.


    "He''s changed his mind and won''t hear another word," Red said. "I don''t know what to do."


    The lack of confidence from the most self-assured man she''d ever met broke a piece of Merin. They were in the thick of too many plots. For a time, things had gone as expected, but now they were out of depth. The Emperor wasn''t someone they were ready to go up against.


    Merin turned to look at Acuzio, who was watching them as he chewed on some jerky. If Merin didn''t know any better, she''d think he was watching the two of them as if they were playacting.


    "You could make this go away, can''t you?" She said.


    The dragon chewed what was in its mouth and gave a loud audible swallow that echoed in the still room. "What''s in it for me?" He said. His deep voice hit every raw exposed nerve of Merin.


    "Why must you receive something to help your family?" Merin said.


    Acuzio took another bite of his jerky and chewed slowly in thought. When he was done, he said, "Why give out anything for nothing?"


    Gods are assholes, Merin thought with ripe bitterness. They had all the power and wasted it by doing anything they wanted. Maybe she was right, and Acuzio watched her life''s story as if it were a play.


    "What do you want," Red said, and Merin turned to look at him. He looked worn and as wound-tight as herself.


    "Let''s play a game." A new voice said, and Merin watched anxiously as a nearby torch grew in size. The ball of fire lifted itself from the attachment to hover in the air. Slowly a body began to form until Mordecai stood in its place. "I have this fun idea, but no one wants to play with me."


    Merin opened her mouth to tell both of them to go away, but Red spoke up first.


    "I''m in. As long as you remove the string attached to our daughter and ensure it can never happen again." Red said.


    Mordecai snapped a finger, and the string was snipped off. "This is going to be so much fun." The man with embers for eyes said. He clasped Red on the shoulder. A bright flash of light blinded Merin, and when she opened her eyes, Red, Mordecai, and Acuzio were gone.


    "This isn''t good," Merin said as she stared at the empty room.

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    The muggy air, thick with moisture, made it nearly impossible for Red to concentrate on the task at hand. He was accustomed to the searing heat of the desert, the crisp air of the north, and even the bone-chilling nights in Habrin. But this was a new kind of discomfort, a sweat-soaked air that clung to his skin and filled his every breath with warmth and moisture.


    He wasn''t alone, but he was the only one with blood in his veins that the world could punish. Red was surrounded by strange markings under his feet, and statues of stone depicted creatures Red could never fathom.


    These statues towered over him and swallowed up any free room he had to move or defend himself. This was likely his creditor''s goal because while Red was down here, his creditor was floating in the air with wings made of flames. Acuzio rested on a floating cloud made of fire and bobbed along as if floating.


    "Make your choice!" A voice from above him drew his gaze towards said man watching him. The man''s eyes glowed like hot embers as his face showed overwhelming joy at another''s expanse.


    Red hesitated to choose because his last choice cost him half his footing. He couldn''t believe this was what Gods did to pass the time. They watched mortals and took bets on how they would live their lives. Right now, Mordecai is making them watch a strange wolfman struggle to change his destiny. The glowing image of the other man''s life filled the air as a reflection did in a copper mirror. It hung suspended in space and time in bright, vivid colors. The man in the reflection was close enough that Red could hear him breathe.


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    "He will sell the company and use the money for the treatment," Red said.


    "Bzzzzz! Wrong answer! You need to get better at reading idiots," Mordecai said with a jeer. "He''s a selfish piece of shit who will gamble that chunk of change."


    Red looked at Mordecai, who was grinning down at him. It was eerie how often the Phoenix God was correct in what he placed his bets on.


    Red could only hope that the bet he placed was the right one. He couldn''t afford to lose more ground.


    The scene in front of them changed, and true to his words, Mordecai was correct. The ground rumbled and ripped statues apart. Red dodged the flying pieces and random flying spears that aimed for his life.


    With a head resembling a bird''s nest, Mordecai laughed at his misfortune as the sky around them crackled with energy. "Isn''t this fun?" The man said as he held out his arms to greet the chaos below his feet. "This is just the warm-up for the real game. Be grateful because the stakes will be worse for you when I drop you off in a doomed world."


    Red did feel grateful because this blunt God saved his daughter. He trusted that Merin would do what was needed until he returned to them.


    So, no matter what the Phoenix God threw his way, he would triumph over it.

 Chapter Forty Five: Bloodlust For Murder

    The tavern was nearly full of half-drunken men. The stench of hard work, alcohol, and smoke lingered in the air as a permanent aroma. This tavern was nameless because it didn''t need that adornment above the door. It was the only establishment brave enough to reside outside the Ela Desert. Men toiled in the hot sand of Ela for God''s Dust all day. This tavern was a place to refuel, refresh, and drink away your earnings in these unhallowed walls.


    Usually, the patrons filled the tavern with boisterous laughter, but this dusk, a heavy silence filled the walls, starkly contrasting with the usual joviality. The heavy mood of the patrons, thick with cynicism and regrets, hung in the air like a storm cloud. The murmurs of discontent swelled and ebbed among the tables, a precursor to the eruption that was to come.


    One man, overcome with the spirits sloshing in his gut, stood up to brandish his nearly empty pitcher of booze.


    "Fuck!" He roared. The man almost fell back on his butt as he then let loose a torrent of emotions wrapped up in pained jumbled words.


    The other patrons ignored him as his seatmates tried to get him to sit down.


    The drunk man struggled until he was free of his friends, but before he could yell again, amber liquid rained into his pitcher from above.


    He looked up and met the lone black eye of a man whose cloak cast long shadows over his face. The shadows momentarily let up on his face as he pulled away from pouring. A black eye patch on his other eye worried the drunken man.


    "You look like you need more to drink." The man''s accented rasp made the drunken man wary. He wasn''t alone in that regard. The Habrinon accent set off raw nerves in every other man present. Whether they knew it or not, they shifted in their seats, and some turned to face the Habrin man rather than have their back to him.


    Habrin men were notorious for their blood lust, savagery, and fighting skills. Liqueur only oiled them up during their killing sprees.


    "You can''t step into Ela, so why are you here?" The drunken man with a free refill said.


    "Why can''t I?" The other man with the Habrinon accent said.


    "Because they shut it down. No one can go in with the silver menace at the helm. That Beyza fed the curses with some damn magic. No one can dig for God''s Dust...if you''re a spy for Emperor Kaan, go tell him that." A different man said. He had several scars on his body that bore the heavy weight of his labor.


    Another man, with the weight of his woes, said, "We''re not late on delivery because we want to be. Half of our force has died due to the damned desert and that bitch."


    "Silver menace?" The man with an eyepatch said; there was a twang of humor in his voice.


    Many disgruntled voices and shuffling of feet almost swallowed up his question as ire distracted the drunks from the Habrin man.


    "Something bit me!" A man shouted as he drew his blade and stabbed at the floor in a drunken fury.


    "Me too!" Another man said.


    The man with an eyepatch sighed, and his black eye looked at the dirty ground for the perpetrator.


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    "Acuzio!" He shouted, and something large and black scurried over to him.


    Various sharp and blunt objects were thrown at the shiny beast. It managed to dodge or withstand anything hurled at it by unstoppingly darting forward.


    "What is that thing?" A man said at the dog-sized lizard. "It burned the floor!"


    It was a little late for most men with alcohol-colored orbs to notice, but each step Acuzio had taken scorched the floor. The shuffling of air fanned the wisps of flames as men dispersed. Several small fires broke out and quickly ate up the wooden tables and floor.


    The cause of the chaos was chewing on suspiciously wet meat as it watched the fear create mayhem.


    "You couldn''t help but cause trouble." The man with an eyepatch said as he joined the beast in watching the drunk men struggle to put out the flames.


    "I needed extra seasoning for my meal, Red," Acuzio said with his impossibly deep timbre.


    "Well, finish up. We need to enter Ela and catch up with Merin." Red said. He had heard whispers and rumors as he had taken the long trip to reach her. His trials with the Phoenix God had swallowed up decades. Red hadn''t had time to unpack his strenuous torture when the cantankerous God ditched him in Ceren. That was when Red discovered only months had passed since his departure from his original world.


    The world had changed in his absence.


    Habrin was in the middle of a war as it battled the countries trying to regain their independence.


    His father had executed Akkad officially, but Red suspected darker methods of elimination for his half-brother. The Habrin soldiers supported his theory because they retained their magic even with the cessation of God''s Dust.


    The royal blood pulsing through every Rutilus was rich in dormant magic, even with the curse muting their innate magic. It''s the only reason the Emperor told Red to stop murdering his brothers. There was no way the man cared for his sons enough to want them to live. But Emperor Kaan wishes to profit from their deaths.


    A prince was a tremendous contingency plan for their father to sacrifice.


    Luckily, Merin did as Red knew she would and dipped when Mordecai whisked Acuzio and himself away. Their daughter Alev would empower the Emperor more than Red''s rotten brothers could, thanks to Merin''s unique bloodline.


    "Hold up."


    Several men had sobered up due to the chaos and stood in Red''s path as he tried to leave the tavern.


    "He''s the master of that beast! He''s trying to kill us!" Another man shouted.


    The vengeful, bitter eyes of over two dozen men turned on Red.


    Red curled his lip as he felt their fury shift towards his person. "I''ll only warn you once. Leave me alone." Red said as he used his free eye to stare down every man within his peripheral.


    It was then that he noticed that Acuzio had slipped away in the chaos. He was several feet away now, munching on meat and watching him with bright eyes.


    Red internally swore at the prick dragon, who wasn''t much better than Mordecai. Both of them were barely varying agents of chaos.


    "He should be taught a lesson."


    Those words perked up Red''s ears, and he let out a long sigh as he heard it repeated by several other men.


    He would have to greet Merin with the scent of iron yet again.


    Red didn''t bother dodging the first strike from the brave man who attacked first. Instead, he watched and waited to see all of his attackers.


    When the blade was about to pierce his flesh, he finally lifted a hand carelessly and, like a magnet, attached every warm-bodied man to each other. They looked like one of the strange creatures he''d met during his journeys. The only difference was that the eyes lay between the wriggling mass of limbs, not on heads.


    "I warned you," Red said with a hoarse voice. His mouth was dry as his bloodlust for murder controlled his actions. And he knew without a doubt that under his eye patch, his eye glowed red.


    The sky had darkened further before Acuzio and Red emerged from the broken tavern. Aside from the owner and barmaids, no soul was left in the once-stuffed establishment. The remaining poor souls were huddled under tables.


    Red inhaled the crisp fresh air. He was pleased that the heavy scent of blood was finally free from his nostrils. He could finally calm down with it no longer teasing him into yearning.


    "You didn''t have to clean up everything," Acuzio said with a grumble. "You could have left some meat for me."


    Red shot the dragon a look, "It was the least I could do for the workers. Blood is a hassle to clean." He said.


    "Liar. You enjoy absorption." Acuzio said.


    Red ignored the dragon and hopped on his camel that was waiting for him. He needed to cross the desert with no more delays. Red knew that trouble followed Acuzio, so that plan would likely fail. But he had to try. He had a lot to make up for with his absence.

 Chapter Forty Six: A Gods Temple

    After Red''s departure, Merin wasted no time. She bundled up Alev, had Emine pack their things, and took off.


    With Zoltan and Reu by her side, Merin embarked on a treacherous journey to Ela. The decision to seek refuge in the Ela Desert, renowned for its brutal challenges and unforgiving terrain, was not a choice made lightly. It was a place she had once sworn never to return to, yet now it stood as their only hope.


    The relentless curses that permeated the Ela Desert offered a temporary sanctuary from the wrath of the Habrin Emperor. His veins pulsed with stolen power that allowed him to wield devastating abilities. Merin didn''t know the full extent of his powers. She''d only seen one, and that was enough for her to be wary of anything else he could unleash.


    Emperor Kaan, with his ability to destroy nations for amusement and consume humans for sustenance, posed a terrifying threat. How could she, a lazy immortal, stand against a man who treated humans as most did animals? The fear of being digested by him drove her to seek refuge in the harsh desert. No, Merin wouldn''t face the Emperor of Habrin alone.


    The Ela Desert, once a thriving land, now lay barren and desolate. The dark magic that had befallen the land had drained it of life, turning fertile soil into a wasteland. Merin, who had witnessed the land''s former glory, felt a pang of nostalgia for what was lost.


    She''d long come to terms with the fact that Elan Nation was now the Ela Desert, and to most, the only thing of worth in it was God''s Dust.


    But there was one place she knew no one found. She only knew of it because of her gift from the Elan Nation. Hundreds of years ago, she''d been gifted the symbol of ni to her name.


    That came with more than just a pretty symbol because, to the Inni people of Elan, ni were reserved for the anointed. The emblem of ni were sacred to their God, and not every member of the nation were afforded it. Only those with the purest of God''s Blood could gain ni, even though the Inni people all had the blood of their God and a piece of his power.


    For Merin, the symbol of ni was a mark of her divine connection and a source of her strength. Thanks to conversations with Red and Mordecai, she long realized that Elan''s God was related to her through Caelestis, Acuzio, and Mordecai.


    No matter their sorrow or bitterness, there was one place the Inni would not destroy. Merin set off to find that sacred place. Due to Red''s pace, she didn''t have time when she was in the desert before. He ushered them out of the desert so fast she barely had time to catch up, let alone think. And there wasn''t a reason to go back in. Now, it could be all she had to hold on to in the coming days.


    The Elan language was a strange twisted tongue with only one purpose: serving their God. It confounded her in the past how they cut out so many words, but she understood better why, thanks to Red. The pull of blood that thrived in every Inni meant that many things didn''t need to be said. In their daughter, she saw how powerful that connection was.


    Merin knew that everyone thought she was insane for dragging them into Ela, of all places. She also ignored their pointed looks when she made them set up tents and start digging. But they dug and dug until they finally struck what she was looking for: God''s temple.


    That was when the respect that should have been in their gaze finally came to be.


    The black marble looked haunted as it poked its tips from the ugly orange sand. Merin studied it after she handed Alev to Emine. She touched it, feeling the coolness that greeted her palm. The temple, a symbol of her divine connection, was a sight that filled her with a mix of awe and trepidation.


    In Elan, Merin introduced herself, and when that didn''t get the reaction she desired, she opted to use every word she knew in Elan. She was at the breaking point of wanting to stomp her foot when Alev screamed out for her.


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    Without a word, Merin looked back at her daughter. She then scooped up the baby and laid the baby''s palm on the cold black pillar.


    Instantly, the ground beneath them began to tremble and quake. Merin and Alev were pulled away from the trouble by Reu. As he did so, she watched, marveling at the twisted marble creation that was a God''s temple.


    Black pillars made of night sprouted like flowers, and with them, a building that defied gravity. It looked different than when she saw it last, but three hundred years had passed. Elan had learned to etch symbols and latch on architecture that didn''t fit with her image of Elan.


    It looked more at home, with Mordecai''s strange room at which she had a peek of. The windows bore strange colors that captured the sun and threw off prisms of light that blinded everyone who stared upon it. The impossibly tall columns bore more than one level, which challenged her previous knowledge of Elan.


    Merin hide swallowed her awe and turned to look at every other person.


    "Never doubt me again." She said regally, and with an air of forced nonchalance, she strode into the temple.


    It was even more divine inside than outside. Curved statues, glass decorations, and gems were on every inch of her new home. The lavish splendor made Merin salivate as part of her made some serious questions about past choices. She couldn''t help but wonder if her life would have been different if she had embraced her divine heritage earlier. If this was how Gods were supposed to live, she might have caved into her mother''s rantings sooner. Merin slapped her cheek in shame at the mere thought and ran ahead of the group with Alev to explore.


    There were countless rooms; each one seemed better than the last. Merin ran down the hallways until she found the center of the temple. There was a somber air to this portion as it was devoid of grandeur.


    Merin gulped as she approached the door. It swung open before she could touch it, and when she saw what was inside, she wished it hadn''t.


    The acquired temple boosted Merin''s rag-tag team. But this was just the start of their work. Merin needed to stop the production of God''s Dust, a substance that granted immense power to its users, and kick out anyone who didn''t belong in the desert. The Habrin Empire could no longer defend themselves if they lost access to God''s Dust.


    It was the least she could do. So after Merin buried her memory about the center of the temple away, she rolled up her sleeves and got to work.


    Merin had accomplished everything she wanted to in the months following Red''s absence. She stopped Habrin from their God''s Dust production line and took in some Red group members.


    Reu was in charge of all that because only Reu knew every moving piece of Red''s plan. Merin was always informed, but Reu was an active planner. Merin liked that system and saw no reason to change.


    Food and water were tricky at first. Strange streams of water poured off some walls and pooled into elaborate pools, ponds, and even fountains throughout God''s temple. With Merin''s experience of Gods, though, she didn''t want to trust that the water was good. Clearly, much had changed about this place, and maybe something was wrong with it. Emine was the one to clear up any doubt. So eager to prove herself useful, the girl jumped into a pool and gulped up the water.


    There was a great need for food, though, which took a lot more work, even with the abundant water. Merin used her usual tricks to handle that, but it took time.


    Alev had hit her baby milestones sooner than she was supposed to. Babies hadn''t changed much in the past three hundred years, but her mixed blood of Elan, Divine, and Habrin made the baby more than average.


    The baby could shake the ground with screams and say things that sounded suspiciously like complete sentences. It should have been impossible, but Merin was learning that nothing was truly so.


    Acuzio had been gone for most of her life by this point, but that didn''t stop the almost toddler from mimicking the Dragon God and choosing to roll when she desired to move.


    Merin was hiding from Alev at this moment, meaning poor Emine ran around after the rolling baby. She wanted some alone time to soak in her favorite bathing pool that overlooked the once desolate Ela desert. The life she was breathing into the temple seemed contagious, and small patches of greenery were spreading.


    Merin disrobed and slipped into the water. She savored the cool silky feel of it. Above her head, an ornate mural depicted what Elan used to look like. The lush greenery overflowed every inch of the image. The glittering water was full of gems that she yearned to pluck free of their entrapment.


    Just as Merin imagined how they would feel, she heard something that set her heart pounding. The heavy steps of someone who didn''t belong came from the expansive arch windows.


    Merin closed her eyes, and she struck the second she pinpointed the sound. Only to her dismay, the dirty rag-covered intruder was Red.


    And he was bleeding out on her beautiful black marble.

 Chapter Forty Seven: Kill a God

    Merin wasn''t the sole magnet that drew Red in. His heart throbbed and ached with anticipation as he ventured into the vast expanse of the Ela desert.


    The enigmatic black structure that Red discovered was more than just a sight. It beckoned to him, its dark allure almost overpowering. He could have evaded Merin''s attack and revealed his presence, but the black marble seemed to thirst for his blood. Simultaneously a voice, barely audible, whispered in his ears about incomprehensible outcomes.


    Red''s gaze was drawn downwards as an unseen powerful force seized his body. His every muscle tensed with the expected pressure.


    Despite the gravity of the situation, a faint smile tugged at the corners of Red''s lips. This was Merin''s power, a force that could shatter bones and rupture organs, yet Red remained unfazed. He was intrigued, almost daring, to see how close Merin''s attacks could push him to the edge of mortality.


    His many woes with Mordecai tested his mettle against countless monsters. Red learned how to toe the line with death and how to walk away each time.


    But how could these experiences compare to a being whose blood had primordial divinity?


    Merin''s telekinesis was powerful enough to crush a mortal man from the inside out.


    Red was no longer mortal.


    The Inni blood in Red granted him drops of divine blood from their God. But his maternal line was low in the chain of power. His maternal grandma was one of many priestesses who catered to their God. His bond with Merin forged with the mutual blood exchange fostered the divinity within him. His limits were exceeded thanks to that, allowing him to become more.


    Red coughed up blood as he collapsed. He welcomed the dark floor and Merin as she flew over to him. In all the time he knew her, he hadn''t seen her fly. It was mentioned, and he saw her attempt before she fell that one time.


    Memories and nostalgia stole what was left of his breath as he met the bright blues of Merin. She made a lot of noise as she apologized and reached for him.


    Red coughed up a chuckle and closed his eyes. The blood pooled under him was slipping into the porous cracks of the black marble. With a mere tug at it with his hand, his blood slipped back into him.


    Vitality empowered him as it oiled the damage and smoothed away his wounds. Red could hear Merin still babbling, but he ignored her as he took stock of his blood.


    Something was different about it now. The blood that reentered Red''s body was twisting his inside painlessly. And it differed from what had already pulsed around his heart.


    A pair of cool hands grabbed him, and Red opened his eyes to see Merin hard at work attempting to heal him. He grew distracted from his previous thoughts at the sight of her glowing skin.


    It had been a long time since they saw each other, and both had changed. Red''s new ability to perceive magic through one''s blood meant he could now see Merin''s divinity with his bare eyes.


    Merin''s silver hair shone like a halo made of burning white light. Her pale translucent skin barely held the vines of silver light threaded across every inch of her. The glow swallowed every shadow around her. Under her breasts lay a heart that no longer beats. Instead, the gilded core burned with a tantalizing fire.


    Red caressed her bosom and watched as lights refracted from his touch. His bloody hand stained the light for a few seconds before it was erased.


    He didn''t like that.


    The blood that Red fed Merin was barely present. As her body accepted its divine origins, whatever was deemed unneeded was cleansed for her ascension. Their forged bond was still going strong, but the foundation of it was shaky.


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    Idily, Red caught Merin''s hand that reached out to smack him. His punishment for ignoring her chatter, undoubtedly. He brought her fingers to his lips and nibbled on them lightly. It didn''t take much to puncture her pale flesh.


    "Have you gone deaf?" She said. Her lips were twitching as she fought amusement.


    "Have you gone blind?" He countered after he let her fingers escape.


    "It''s not my fault you snuck in like a thief." She said, sucking on the fingers he bit.


    The minuscule drops he managed to grace her fingers with were swallowed but gone in seconds as her light erased them.


    "Merin," Red said. He infused his need into his voice, and she shut her mouth. The luster shining off her skin grew brighter, as did the color in her cheeks.


    "I''m not clean!" She said as she scrambled to stand and back up a few steps.


    "Neither am I," Red said as he followed step for step.


    "I didn''t have time to finish my bath. Red...wait!"


    He pounced and captured her with ease. Before she could plead some more, he covered her mouth with his own. Regardless of what her mouth said, her body was far more honest with him. Merin stilled under him as their lips reexplored each other. Her skin was cool and pliant as she made his favorite noises.


    Red pulled away to meet her sinless blue eyes. Through her clear orbs, he could see his reflection in them. His red eye glowed, as did the remaining blood on the side of his face. Unlike her blood, his was twisted with murky shadows. Hers glowed purifying lights, but his created darkness that was always starving.


    Red cupped Merin''s face as he savored her heavy-lidded eyes and flushed cheeks. His fingers left traces of red-black shadows, and he nibbled on her ear as his hands roamed some more.


    Red was no longer controlling his hunger as he nibbled, nicked, and marked every mouthful he could grab.


    "No more!" Merin said as she lay on top of him. Her shallow breath shook her frame.


    Red played with the lights in her hair as he said nothing. His blood was inside of her and would grow once more. The red-black smudges he decorated across her body wouldn''t disappear anytime soon.


    His newfound possession wasn''t satisfied, and he grabbed her wrist where puncture holes were slowly closing. Red sucked on the wound, closing it with his blood and saliva.


    She muttered some words in another language, and Red chuckled.


    She stilled and said, "You know what I said?"


    "I''ve been gone longer than you realize," Red said. "I''ve learned a lot from your uncles."


    Merin scrambled off him, her bright eyes wide with excitement. "Tell me everything."


    "You first," Red said as he gestured to the vast room they were in. "This wasn''t here before."


    Merin nibbled on her lips, and Red''s eyes followed the movement. When she saw that, she stopped and moved back a few more feet.


    "Wait! I''ll tell you, stop advancing on me!" Merin said.


    Red ignored her to grab her by the waist and lift her up. He wanted her again, and the budding scent rolling off her body meant she did too.


    "I can''t keep up with your stamina..." She said.


    When he ignored that, she said, "I have to show you something! I found the body of Elan''s God!"


    Red stilled, and his voice was gruff as he said, "Show me."


    Her triumphant smile at successfully distracting him was wiped clean with a somber nod.


    It took a little while for the two to get dressed and head to the center of the temple. Red looked around the temple as Merin caught him up on all her mischief.


    The ornate grandeur was strangely mirroring what Red had long come to realize about Gods. They all seemed to be drawn to shiny things like birds. But, Red corrected in his head, so far, most of the divine beings he encountered were distinctly bird-like. Merin was walking ahead of him, dancing as she took steps. Her light brightened the black marble but didn''t overpower the darkness he infused into her.


    "Now that you''re here, something can be done about it," Merin said as a door swung open before either could approach. "I didn''t want to touch it, but we can''t leave him like this."


    Red said nothing as he stepped into the room. Merin ducked behind him and tentatively held onto the back of his shirt. The audacious woman was uncharacteristically showing real fear.


    As his eyes scanned the room, he could see why.


    A man lay sprawled against the trunk of a sable-colored tree. Calling him a man might not be appropriate because he was torn into countless shards of coal. His violet eyes were gems that wiggled and moved as Red came closer.


    Elan''s God was dead, and yet his remains looked as if they might reassemble and come back to life. Red''s presence seems to bring about micro changes in the fallen God that Merin overlooked.


    Could he bring his God back to life?


    Red glanced down at Merin, who was biting her lips anxiously. So far, every divine being Red has encountered sparkled like gemstones. Their unusual physical properties might be what grants them magic beyond a mortal''s scope.


    "How does one kill a God?" Merin said barely above a whisper. "Shouldn''t it be impossible? I tried to end my life countless times when I was just an ordinary immortal..."


    Red forced his eyes to look back at the broken, shattered body of his God.


    He didn''t want to admit it, but he was as clueless as her. The two of them were ascending as their divinity grew. And yet, right now, they were unmatched and unkillable.


    So how the fuck did Elan''s God die?

 Chapter Forty Eight: A Burning Question

    Merin watched as Red reacquainted himself with their daughter. It had been a while since they''d met, but their connection was as strong as ever.


    Had this been at any other time, she might have smiled as she watched them play, but her mind was stuck in the center of the temple and what they found.


    Gods can die.


    Merin knew this before, but it never bothered her. Her centuries-long lifespan was spent yearning for the release of life. It never came, and now the desire to end it all was the furthest from her mind.


    Merin had a glimpse of life''s sweetness, and now, she hungered for more. Her heart was now brimming with a newfound family she didn''t want to be erased. For the first time in centuries, she was part of a family that gave her a reason to keep living and fighting.


    So, she needed to find out how Gods can die. This was not just a passing thought, but a burning question that consumed her every waking moment. Because whether she deserved it or not, she was ascending. Day by day, her power grew and stretched out its capacity.


    Caelestis, her ancestor, was the one whose blood granted her this chance. She''s dead, and Merin was never told how she died. But her legacy lives on in Merin. If her ancestor could die, then so could she. This fear fueled her determination to understand the mortality of gods.


    When she first met Mordecai, he tried to tout the benefits of becoming a Goddess. He went on about making worlds and having the unattainable power to do whatever she wanted. He laughed when she asked about dying, though.


    "You''ll never have to worry about that again." He had said.


    Clearly, he was wrong because Merin now knew of at least two dead deities.


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    "Are you going to eat or continue to make that face?" Red said.


    Merin looked at him and scrunched her face up some more. "Why aren''t you more bothered by this?" She said, her voice tinged with a mix of sour annoyance.


    Red laughed at her, and the delicious chuckle stoked something in her.


    "It''s better to focus on the present before preparing for the future." He said as he wiped their daughter''s mouth.


    She looked away as he then fed their daughter some of her favorite finger foods.


    "What if Mordecai had something to do with it." She said. It was a thought that had appeared more than once in her head. So she lobbied it to Red to see what he thought.


    "Mordecai could be the culprit," Red said, but his voice was mellow.


    "He''s the mastermind behind everything else," Merin said as her eyes darted off toward the waddling figure of another suspicious ally. Acuzio was back with Red. She hadn''t seen the dragon in quite some time, and he was already growing past the restraints of his binding. The other Gods who stuck him as a lizard either planned for that to happen or gave up stopping him.


    Red watched her with a laugh as she scurried after the scaly God.


    "Acuzio!" She shouted his name, and the dragon turned around to give her a mild look of patience. Instead of picking her own brain about how to kill a God, it was better to ask the one they had on hand.


    "How do you kill a God?" She said.


    The dragon''s look of patience grew as it turned around and walked away from her. "You don''t." He said.


    Merin made a face, and she sat back down to tear apart her bread with furious teeth.


    "They never give out anything you want to know," Red said.


    Merin looked up at him. Mordecai and Acuzio were jerks, and she knew that. But they had to tell them everything eventually. What was the point in setting her upon this path otherwise?


    "Is that what it was like playing Mordecai''s game?" Merin said. Red hadn''t had time to tell her everything yet.


    "There were endless games. The prizes I won all revolved around my getting to live." Red said with a snort. "The only interesting prize was learning that Mordecai isn''t even his name."


    Merin''s ears perked up at that. She knew from her mother''s journals that the phoenix went by several names. Mordecai was the most prominent one, but she didn''t know why. "Why does he call himself Mordecai." She said.


    "He lost a bet to a God named Marduk," Red said. "So he goes by the name that means follower of Marduk."


    "I know which God to pray to for answers," Merin said under her breath.

 Chapter Forty Nine: Faded into Oblivion

    The walls seemed to whisper to him, their movements synchronized with his every breath. Unlike Alev, who was accustomed to this peculiar building, Red was adjusting.


    The wall''s murmurs tickled his ears in a foreign yet intimate language. He was intrigued and humored by the strange sensation that settled over him like a second skin.


    Red glanced at Merin, her brow furrowed in deep concentration as she stressed how to kill Gods. He couldn''t help but feel a mix of resignation at their new hurdle.


    Red recalled the way she acted when they first met. Back then, he didn''t understand that she was immortal, just damaged. Her initial disregard for her life when they first met made sense by now. When you couldn''t die, it would be impossible to fear death. From what he pieced together about her story, Red had a growing suspicion of how to kill Gods, a secret he was not yet ready to share.


    He wouldn''t tell her, not in case he was wrong, but because there was nothing either could do about it now.


    Their path was set.


    And even if they were to entertain the thought of deviating from it, it was too late now. Their path was set in stone, their fate sealed.


    "Are you going to move his body?" Merin whispered as she yet again hid behind his back.


    Red had walked back to the center of the temple to examine the dead God. He wanted to test his theory about the black breathing walls. Merin followed him despite her worries due to her morbid curiosity.


    "No," Red said as he knelt to touch the broken heap.


    Merin squeaked as she followed him to crouch on the ground.


    Red shot her an exasperated look before pouring drops of his blood on the coal-colored remains.


    Red watched as that drop was absorbed and faded into oblivion.


    "This isn''t an ordinary temple," Red said. His voice was hoarse as he felt something within him swell. "This monument is the Elan''s God''s remains. We are standing inside his body."


    Red heard a gasp from Merin. He turned to give her another look, but all he could see was the sight of her pale fleeing backside.


    Red looked away from his fearful Goddess to be to stare at the remains of his God.


    "Deniz, thank you," Red said.


    As if the broken body heard him, the walls around him let out one final sigh of release.


    The dark tree, that propped the idolized body, started to thrum with energy as it sucked in the broken pieces at Red''s feet into it. The process was swift, and before Red could blink, it was over.


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    The wood remained dark, but the etchings within the wood glimmered with renewed life.


    "I was right," Red said with a firm smile.


    He knew how to kill Gods now. This meant his father, who was near immortal with stolen power, could also be killed. It was good that he hadn''t come close to attempting his goal before. There was no way he could have done it without the knowledge he had now.


    Red found Merin holding their daughter outside the temple. She was in the middle of shouting at her servants to remove everything inside the temple they had brought.


    "Don''t touch a single gemstone that is not ours!" She said. "If we didn''t carry it in, it stays!"


    "Merin," Red said as he approached her. He thought she ran back to the bath or her bed. He hadn''t expected her to start jumping ship and taking everything out.


    "We were," She paused to cover their daughter''s ears, "Inside a body the whole time. Not just any body but a Godly one. We have to find a new place anyway now that you''re back."


    "We''re staying," Red said simply as he plucked Alev from her frantic mother. He didn''t bother to point out that the Ela desert was comprised entirely of grains from countless bodies, but he was tempted to. Besides, he could tell the God part bothered her as her obsession had grown yet again.


    Several words were thrown at him, and when she ran out of steam, Red gave her a firm look, "The safest place in the world for Alev is inside that temple." He said.


    "Gods are tempestuous. You''ve dealt with Mordecai and Acuzio. We''ll be cursed if we live in there." She whispered, her pale fingers clutched her abdomen in a protective gesture. As if responding to her mother''s woes, Alev babbled words as she yanked on his hair.


    Red passed the baby to Emine and pulled Merin aside. When they were alone, he said, "Deniz doesn''t care if we shit or eat in there; he''s dead. His remains still hold enough power for us to use. What are you terrified of?" He hadn''t seen this behavior run so rampant in the other woman before. He thought she would mull over it and move on, but this wasn''t going away; it was only getting worse.


    Merin chewed on her lip as her pale face came closer. The bright light threaded throughout her body grew more colorful under the sun''s glow. Red ignored it and stared into her azure eyes, which reflected his image back at him. Their bond was strangely silent, as if the emotive woman had wrapped each of her feelings into a locked box.


    Instead of answering him right away, she stood there wringing her hands.


    His patience was rewarded when she finally broke the silence.


    "Red, I''m becoming my mother." She said in a voice he had to strain his ears to hear. "My shameful greed grows with each passing day, and my sense of self is becoming warped by this power. The Gods are inhuman without a drop of compassion. They treat life as a child does their dolls...what if I lose myself in this power?"


    Red felt a strange bubble of emotion in his chest as he grabbed her hands. He held the chilly fingers in his own and forced her to meet his eyes. They''d never talked about it, but their unspoken affection and care for each other never needed to be said aloud. Red didn''t know if he could even voice the depth of his care for her. He spent a lifetime suppressing feelings because it was a weakness in the Habrin royal family.


    His throat was dry, so he cleared it and said, "The Gods can only amplify what we are with temptation. The Gods cannot choose our destiny because our destiny is a lifetime of choices we make. Our parents don''t decide who we become either. We inherit our blood from them, but we do not have to inherit their choices. Our fates are what we decide."


    Merin''s cheeks gained a little color from his words, but just as fast, it was gone.


    "I''m enjoying my growth and using my powers in ways I never have before...it corrupted my mother, and she killed my brothers to make me," Merin said as she fought the gathering of tears in her eyes. "I..."


    "I''d kill you before you could do the same to our children," He said. "If you start to lose yourself, I''ll stop you."


    A smile bloomed on her face, and a tiny giggle escaped her cheeks, "If anyone could kill me, it''d be you." She said all but slumping with relief.


    "Our dynasty is in our hands, Merindah," Red said. "The Gods can''t stop us or change what''s going to happen next." He squeezed her hands to emphasize his point. His power was still expanding, and by the time he was done, the world would be exactly how he wanted it to be.

 Chapter Fifty: Goddess of Destiny

    While Red and Reu reunited, Merin slipped away for reflection. Red''s assertions didn''t entirely soothe her because her resolve was still being built.


    Victoria, the woman who birthed her, was a monster. Their ancestral relatives were also monsters. It was inevitable that she may one day be just as bad of a monster.


    But Merin''s choices were more than her blood. Merin replayed Red''s words on a loop as she watched him hug Reu through the window.


    She was more than just Victoria''s side of the family. Her father''s side was just as much a part of her. It had been a long time since she thought of her own father. Her fingers graced her eyes as the bad memories swirled in her heart.


    Her father should have killed her, but he didn''t. His holy blade sliced through Victoria''s magic and flesh. It could undoubtedly have done the same to her. Instead, he locked her up and threw away the key. He even visited her often in those first years. It was more painful that he came to see her than if he''d just let her go entirely. There wasn''t love in his eyes when he looked at her, only pain.


    Merin looked up at the cyan-blue sky and sighed.


    As long as she made better choices, Red wouldn''t have to follow her father''s path and end her life. Her incessant greed couldn''t be allowed to sprout.


    How disgusting that it seemed to be in her blood to be so avaricious?


    Mordecai and Acuzio''s mother did atrocious deeds in the name of greed. She was the Goddess of Destiny. This granted her unchecked sway over life and death. She used that power to twist and curse each of her children, all the while using them to empower herself. And that wasn''t mentioning how she prolonged the life of her mortal lover.


    That primordial Goddess was part of her. So far, Merin''s mother wasn''t the only one who succumbed to her inherited appetite.


    Merin looked down at Alev, who had made her way back into arms. Does this child even stand a chance?


    Her father and mother''s side are full of deranged and covetous otherworldly beings. Isn''t it cruel of Merin to have a daughter with such a sordid family? Would it be kinder to ensure...


    Merin bit her tongue as her internal wheel of thoughts took on darker and darker twists.


    It was past time for her to get a handle on herself and silence these thoughts.


    The last thing Merin wanted to be like was her ancestral relative the Goddess of Destiny or Victoria.


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    Red and Merin put together a meeting over dinner. Reu, Zoltan, and some nobles from Ceren were the other attendees. The assortment of allies and stragglers gathered in the Ela Desert were small. These were people who followed Red and or Merin. Merin knew that to go against Habrin, they would need more.


    Thanks to Merin''s work in restoring Elan''s land, food was sufficient for any allies of Red. Reu and Zoltan saw to passing it out, which had turned the tide for some time. Food supplies were one of the first things Emperor Kaan destroyed.


    "We''re going to Ceren to set up a base," Red said as he laid a map on the table.


    Merin''s eyebrows raised, but she said nothing. Ceren was the province given to Alev, but it had been abandoned for almost a year. Merin had yet to learn if the Emperor or any of Red''s remaining brothers took it during that time.


    She chewed on a piece of fruit while Reu stated the information he had on Habrin. Reu had daunting news to relay. The rebellion against Habrin was nearly over. Her ending the mining for God''s Dust had done little to hinder Emperor Kaan and his armies. They were on the verge of victory.


    "Kaan sacrificed Akkad," Red said. "And Akkad''s children. They didn''t die of disease."


    A somber air settled over the room upon Red''s words. Merin''s eyes drifted in the direction she knew Alev was.


    "Kaan claims that Elan''s curse has been broken with the birth of Alev. He''s using blood sacrifices to cover up that magic hasn''t returned to Habrin."


    "Will we expose the lies?" A man said. Merin blinked as she tried to recall his name. Since Red''s return, far too many men have come to the temple, and she only bothered keeping track of some of them.


    "No, there''s no need for that," Red said as he looked at Merin.


    Merin swallowed the fruit because she knew what that look meant. It was time for her to speak up. "I''ll heal the broken people and reverse the curse on the rebelling countries. The Habrin Empire will remain cursed." She said.


    Not-so-kind shocked expressions and murmurs of disbelief rippled across the faces of most around her.


    "How?" One brave man said.


    Merin shrugged, "Easily." She said, then took another bite of her favorite purple fruit. She couldn''t undo all of it now, but her work in Ela proved she could reverse the blood curse. The once lifeless dessert was being taken over by greenery. It was reminiscent of how Elan used to look. Merin spent every night soaking the sand in the moonlight. With each passing night, it became easier to do so.


    The only way for the whole world to move forward was for Habrin to be destroyed and Elan''s curse undone.


    The meeting became rather dull afterward, and Merin wandered for more food. She hadn''t had one-on-one time with Acuzio and had a few questions for her ancestral uncle. With that in mind, she took off to find the waddling dragon.


    Instead, she found Altan. Altan was still the grandfather she never had. He was one of the first to make their way into Ela to follow her. It had been quite some time since she healed him, and his body was nearly done regaining its former strength. He came and went as he pleased, and she often only saw him once every few weeks.


    Merin opened her mouth to greet the man as he reached out a hand towards her.


    The sound of tearing bone was the only indicator of what happened at first. Merin blinked rapidly as blood coated her vision, and Altan''s arm fell limply to the floor.


    She pivoted on her feet to see Red holding out a finger. His glowing red eye showed more than rage. This was the same look on his face whenever he faced his father.


    "So you''re finally back," Altan said. The man didn''t seem to notice that he lost an arm. He only had eyes for Red. "This puppet was supposed to last a few more years. You owe me another corpse."

 Chapter Fifty One: The Black Marble

    Red knew his seed giver had entered his temple.


    That is because the walls no longer pulsed with Deniz''s life force; they pulsed with his own. He controlled every inch of this place because it was now his temple.


    The sneaky puppets that lurked about the dark halls were clever enough to avoid the black marble walls. That didn''t matter, though, and the only reason Red didn''t capture them right away was the meeting he needed to finish. He was still in control and aware of every heartbeat, breath, or step in his temple. There was no danger to them simply roaming around.


    That is until Kaan decided to go after Merin. His naive Russus was wandering the halls. The bright light that pulsed off her attracted all the dark, ugly things. Red wasn''t surprised Kaan decided to go after her.


    The reticent man didn''t bother excusing himself from the meeting. He stood up and, like the drop of blood he shed before, sunk into the floor.


    Red emerged behind Merin, and the world slowed down for a heartbeat to catch up with his speed. Kaan''s outreaching arm was slashed clean from his body with a mere gesture from Red.


    Red ignored Kaan when he spoke and turned to Merin. She was standing near Kaan''s poisoned blood. There was just enough for Red to attempt something he''d only done with his own blood.


    Red closed his eyes, and within his next heartbeat, he was standing in the pool of blood. He pulled off teleportation via the spilled blood. And so he was now standing before Kaan.


    A savage grin cracked his lips as he met the eyes of Kaan''s puppet. There was palpable fear in the other man''s eyes, and it was the first Red had ever seen it.


    He wanted to see the other man sweat some more.


    Red wasted no time and grabbed the puppet by the thoart. The body dangled in the air as he choked the air from its lungs. Kaan attempted to say several things, mostly swears undoubtedly, but Red ignored them.


    Red used his free hand to draw the blood off the ground and into his palm. He could destroy the puppet and absorb its energy into him. But that wouldn''t get him very far. His father was watching him through this walking corpse. That meant Kaan''s magic and blood were attached to it. Kaan couldn''t manipulate the creatures effectively without such ties. Couldn''t Red just teleport through the blood that connected the puppet to Kaan?


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    Red''s brain raced as his red eye glowed brightly. Several ideas came and left his mind as he sorted through the possible outcomes of whatever choice he made.


    "Fuck it." He said, tightening his grip on the puppet''s throat. Red closed his eyes and connected to the temple. Each of Kaan''s puppets was attempting to flee.


    Red used his magic to pulse around the walls and stop each puppet in its tracks. He could hear his heart pounding as one with the temple as he exploded all ten puppets into pulp.


    The murky, sticky blood was directed to come back to him as the bones, tissue, and other disgusting bits were swallowed by the temple. Instead of needing at least another night indulging in Merin''s light, Red would be ready for the next phase tonight.


    It felt like hours had passed by the time Red opened his eyes. It had been only a handful of heartbeats that he pulled all of this off.


    Merin''s face was pale when he turned to face her. For a moment, he could see his reflection in her big eyes. Both of his eyes were glowing. His black one looked like obsidian set on fire. Before Red could dwell on this, Merin fainted. He captured her before she hit the marble. The energy he''d taken from her during their coupling had drained her. All the snacking in the world couldn''t help her when he infused his bloody magic into her veins as well. She was drained but would have time to rest now.


    Red held her in his arms as he used the thrumming black walls to teleport them to their bed.


    Acuzio was dozing in the covers, and Red ignored the Dragon God to put Merin down.


    "You should have left me a bite," Acuzio said with a grumble.


    Red met the dragon''s eyes and said, "Stay in the temple until further notice."


    Red left without waiting for an answer to inform everyone else the same thing. He was done waiting, and it was time to move forward with the plan.


    Deniz wasn''t the only God who left their flesh behind to grow the temple.


    This wasn''t a startling fact for Red to realize. The broken pieces that resembled the fallen God were just a decorative idol that symbolized his fall. The magic that swirled in the black marble depicted that at least three other Gods had met their demise here.


    They had left this temple for another to pick up, and Red would have been foolish not to do so. He could strip the magic out of it and empower himself, but that would be shortsighted of him. At least until Red could create the world-ending magic he''d seen Mordecai weld with ease. This temple was essentially a set of training wheels for a growing God.


    Red closed his eyes as he connected with his temple. It took seconds and was as easy as breathing. The magic hummed to life as he used the magic pulsing around him to lift the black marble off the ground.


    Red could feel sweat drip off his brow as his concentration was pushed to its limits. His teeth ground into his cheeks, and the taste of iron was the only indication he''d drawn blood.


    One day, he could teleport the temple with a mere thought. But for now, he would have to settle for moving the massive temple with his mind slowly. Once they reached Ceren, it was time for Merin to break the curse.


    And then Red was going to hunt down Kaan.

 Chapter Fifty Two: Steady and Unmovable

    Merin awoke, her heart heavy with a profound sense of regret. The tranquility of her previous slumber was a far cry from the turmoil that now consumed her.


    Her mind raced with what she saw before the world turned dark.


    Red appeared out of thin air and murdered a man she thought of as a foster grandfather. But he was neither a man nor someone to care about. How could she stomach the fact that she ignorantly cared for that imposter?


    The crack in Red''s regular mask showed an expression only the Emperor of Habrin could invoke.


    The truth hit her like a thunderbolt: Altan, the man she had known for almost two years, was nothing more than a puppet of Kaan. The realization was a jarring blow, one she had never anticipated. It was no wonder her mind caved under the realization.


    A loud crunch drew her out of her morose thoughts to look to her left. Acuzio was chewing on a giant violet gem as he stared at her. A replica, unbroken so far, lay nearby and seemed vaguely familiar. Near the dragon were shards littered like crumbs.


    "You''re making a mess!" Merin said. She sat up to eyeball the damage. Part of her was relieved to have something to focus on instead of her latest failure.


    "Why do you care? It''s not like you''ll be the one to clean." Acuzio said around his mouthful. Each word he spat out had his sharp teeth sprinkling crumbs everywhere.


    Merin scowled, "Aren''t you embarrassed at your age?" She said.


    "You and that Quartus of yours are getting a little too cocky," Acuzio said. His scaly face grew brighter in color as flames sparked to life. "Perhaps I''ve been too generous."


    Merin picked a coward''s tried and true route and immediately started to appease the Dragon God. The last thing she needed to do was stroke his rage and create more problems. It didn''t take much to pacify Acuzio. Merin only had to give the grumpy dragon some tasty meat to put him in a better mood.


    Merin eyed Acuzio, whose scales glowed like gems as he further ruined her bed. Why had the obstinate dragon chosen to destroy the nicest bed in the temple?


    "You mentioned Aphra before," Merin said. She watched him after she spoke for any reaction. The dragon didn''t seem to care as it tore through the tender meat and swallowed it messily. "Aphra is actually--" Her words died in her mouth as she finally paid attention to something outside of Acuzio.


    Her feet numbly left the bed to approach the giant window.


    Her normal view was of the courtyard she had refurbished for Alev to play in. It was exactly as she had left, but the sky wasn''t the same. And the landscape around the courtyard was not what she expected.


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    Fluffy white clouds replaced the green-coated everlasting sandy dunes of Ela.


    Merin lifted herself off the ground to greet the clouds.


    "Oh yeah, the Quartus brought us to Ceren," Acuzio said. His voice was casual as if he were describing the seasoning of his meat.


    "Brought as in moved the temple?" Merin said as she reached to nab a cloud. The temple was floating in the air and became one with the sky. Red had accomplished something incredible, Merin thought.


    "Yes." Red''s voice joined them, and Merin turned to look at him. The last time she saw him, he glowed in hues of red and black. The energy that pulsed off the temple''s walls held the same incandescence.


    His black eye no longer glowed, but his red one burned with a light that spoke of exhaustion. Merin flew over to land in front of him. Her hand reached for his face to inspect what she saw coming off him.


    "I need you to break the curse in Ceren, Ceylan, and Baris tonight," Red said.


    Merin''s hand faltered, and she nodded. "It''s going to be a full moon tonight, so I''ll be able to."


    "I''ll accompany you to prevent any trouble," Red said.


    "Is that wise?" Merin said as she scanned his eyes. He looked worn out and should have copied a page from Acuzio''s motto of eating and laziness.


    "We don''t have time to slow down," Red said.


    Merin bit her lip and gave a nod. As always, she let him set the pace. Red knew his limitations better than her, and their time apart had only grown his abilities. She wasn''t sure she had enough power to move the temple from Ela to Ceren, so she''d trust in him as always. And if he were willing to push that hard, then she should too to keep up.


    "About before..." She said, wanting to talk about Altan.


    The two spent time reviewing everything, and sadly, by the time they were done, Acuzio was gone. Merin needed to ask the dragon about Aphra and who the woman represented in her mother''s journals. She''d have to wait another time.


    Merin thought the moon looked especially beautiful tonight as she stared at it. This was the closest she''d been to its splendor for a long time. The desire to touch it grew, but she stilled her fingers.


    Caelestis'' mirror was her anchor during the pain she would endure next. The blue eyes reflected in the mirror reminded her of her first sin all those years ago. It became easier as time went by to use her magic. But the first time she did, it only brought shame.


    The eyes she shared with Victoria were a great sin to bear. It was the right choice for her to make, but it hadn''t felt good.


    The dark blue hues of her eyes held sparks of color that made the woman preen as she examined them.


    An awkward cough behind her reminded Merin that she was not alone and everyone was waiting for her.


    Instead of acknowledging the humans waiting for her, Merin held the mirror to the sky. The beams of moonlight fell like lightning into the mirror. The pressure should have cracked the looking glass, but it held on strong.


    Merin inhaled deeply before sticking her face into the light.


    The world was wiped clean of color as her sight became blinded by Moonfire.


    Time must have passed, even though it had lost meaning for Merin by the time she pulled away from the mirror. Her vision was still blank as she blinked and tried to adjust. There wasn''t a drop of fear as pure, unadulterated power sang in her veins.


    Her sight adjusted quickly to her circumstances, and she saw Red amid the white backdrop. His flesh looked as steady and unmovable as the temple''s walls. There were fissures of red and gold that had replaced his blood and organs. And his eyes...Merin looked away because she felt a flicker of apprehension about Red for the first time.


    Unfortunately her gaze landed on Acuzio. Or what she perceived to be the Dragon God. His proper form flew above him in an endless shadow that she quickly looked away from.


    Merin finally received the grace of luck because her eyes landed on the land she was supposed to heal.


    The blood curse used God''s blood to invoke the ultimate punishment. It would take someone such as herself to reverse it.

 Chapter Fifty Three: Power and Ambition

    Red, feeling the blood coursing through his body, was curious as he observed Merin. Their bond was so strong that with every drop of the moon that stirred her to greater heights, he felt it too. They were both on the same exhilarating ride, and the only direction was up.


    But the joy of the ride turned rough as Merin took on even more from the moon. Red''s head felt light as he grappled with a type of magic that was foreign to him. It wasn''t the moon that fueled his strength. He stole power from blood and death, after all.


    The waves of power brought intense emotions that he knew stemmed from Merin. His unstable woman finally saw him for what he was.


    But she didn''t flee in terror. Instead, she swiftly redirected her focus to the task at hand.


    All of the magic that shone in the cracks of her skin was directed to the land below them. The light washed the land in a blanket of silver, opening up the heavens and pouring hot rain on everything until it washed the blood magic clean.


    Merin didn''t falter as she rid herself of her moon magic, but Red stepped forward to grab her anyway. She leaned into him as she met his gaze.


    "Cruor...Deus...Red." She said as she grabbed ahold of him. (translate: Blood God.)


    "And what does that make you?" Red said as he stared into her endless eyes. The darkened sky deepened her blue into a night sky.


    "Deam tuam." She said, snuggling in. (translate: your Goddess.)


    Red eyed her silently as he probed their bond for her emotions. She was fully actualized as her power settled in her veins as a fresh organ. After seeing his true self, she had the chance to leave this world. He could feel the power calling her through their bond. It was pushing her to ascend and leave this broken world.


    But she didn''t.


    "That was your last chance to leave." He said. "I''ll have enough power to cover this world in blood as I claim it." He was stronger than the previous Gods of Elan. The three Gods before him settled for a country and ran it as they created countless children with their blood. They were ruled by worldly vices and wasted their chance at true power.


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    Red''s goals were far superior because he understood the fallacies in going that route. He didn''t know if the other Gods understood the consequences, and he didn''t care. He knew he would not squander his growth to spread his seeds.


    Red wanted the whole world to be under his shadow. And he had the power and ambition to make it happen. It was a fresh desire, and he credited the power pulsing in his veins as the reason why. He also attributed his yearning to Mordecai and Acuzio. The two Gods showed him endless possibilities that only the powerful can acquire.


    Red was going to gain it all. Never again would he be at the mercy of another''s grace. Only Red could doll out future grace to others.


    Red knew that his thoughts transmitted to Merin as he thought them. Their bond had exploded, and now she could read him as well as he could her. In response to this thought, he watched as she flinched. She was currently avoiding his sight as she burrowed her face into his chest.


    Red showed her his plans mentally and how he would achieve each.


    Merin stiffened but said nothing as she pretended to fall asleep.


    As always, her silence was her acquiescence.


    "What did you do to me?" Reu said when Red walked into the other man''s room.


    "I increased your lifespan," Red said as he looked at his father. The years of decline were wiped from the other man''s skin. Reu went from reaching for his fifties with the scars to match into a fresh young man.


    "I don''t know what to say," Reu said as he rocked back on his heels.


    "You don''t have to say anything. I need you." Red said. He didn''t want to say the latter part, but it came out nonetheless. He looked down at Merin, who lay in his arms pretending to be asleep. Her emotions and personality have always affected him through their bond. He would have to find a new way to navigate this so it would not interrupt his plans.


    Reu looked like he wanted to discuss it further, but he nodded and dropped it. "How are we landing in Ceren?" Reu said instead.


    Red lifted a hand and used the blood in Merin''s body to hold her afloat. "Easily." He said, stealing her answer from before.


    Moving those he wanted from the temple to the ground was easy. Red kept his temple afloat as he lowered his chosen below. And despite the distance from his temple, Red felt no fluctuation from his control. He could feel everything that occurred within his walls.


    It took less time than a heartbeat for him to assess it. Currently, his daughter is riding Acuzio and yanking on the Dragon''s scales. The Dragon God seemed content to ignore the toddler as it destroyed its meal.


    Red wouldn''t have to rely on guards or fickle Gods if danger lurked near his daughter. He could teleport into his temple with his blood and deal with the threat immediately.


    He looked at Merin, chewing on her lip and playing with a speck of light that clung to her fingers.


    "I need you to destroy the army set to attack Ceren," Red said.


    She met his eyes, her question in his gaze. In her mind, he said, ''I''ll be heading to Habrin to erase it.''

 Chapter Fifty Four: Endless Radiant Balls

    Red vanished from her sight, a technique Merin had observed Mordecai use. Her fingers tingled with the desire to master such magic. Mordecai wielded fire to do this, and Red manipulated blood to accomplish it. What element could she harness to vanish and reappear? It should be the moon.


    Merin''s attention was removed from her thoughts towards the army outside Ceren. The full moon shined light down, exposing everyone to its luminance. Even from her distance, she could see them all.


    Merin''s mind was consumed with the task of ending this battle swiftly. She yearned to catch up to Red, but the army outside Ceren was a formidable obstacle. Alev, Emine, and all those she held dear were in Ceren. They will be safe in Red''s temple, but Merin wanted to ensure further that fact.


    Merin leaped into the air, but her trajectory was off. Her body struggled to adapt to the surge of power in her veins. She suppressed a yelp, her eyes blinking in surprise. She should have spent more time honing her magic. It had taken her years to even consider the possibility of using it.


    Merin floated in the air before she called Caelestis'' mirror to her. The silver hand mirror appeared in an instant. Merin took a moment to admire her reflection. The blue in her eyes had reverted to its original color of silver-grey. Her heart hitched in her chest as she closed her eyes and willed them back to blue. Grey eyes had taken what was most important to her. She could never don the same. Performing this magic was the only one for which she never felt remorse.


    Merin tapped the mirror, and images of soldiers flickered into sight. She tapped and tapped on it as it showed all of the men she needed to kill.


    These were Habrin men empowered by the blood of a sacrificed prince. She could use the moonlight to kill them all in seconds but was tempted to pull a Red. How often had he used assassins to exercise his limits?


    Merin used the same tired method of dispatching enemies for centuries. It served her well because no one was really a threat to an immortal, even a lazy one. This was why she''d never grown. If Merin wasn''t sleeping while floating, she was out cold. She only fought to defend herself.


    It was past time for her to play with her magic.


    Merin stifled the brew of emotions that bubbled in her gut. A few of them managed to escape and claw up her throat. Before she could genuinely fall apart, a rush of calm shot through her like an arrow. It was Red soothing her through their bond.


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    It worked, and Merin inhaled before using her magic to take her closer to the army. They were just settled for the night by the looks of it. Merin noted how their fires were banked and the look-outs were posted.


    Merin landed in the middle of their camp with a loud smack that sent shock waves in all directions. She watched the erupting chaos as men woke up. Some drew blades, but quite a few had various types of magic swirling around their hands.


    Merin blinked, unfazed by the shows of power, and instead looked up at the moon. She could channel it and rain moonfire on everything, but she wanted to know what else she could do with the moon. What were her limits now? She had no idea what they could be, but she had the arena to try them out.


    Merin lifted her hands to the moon. Each ray of light became concentrated into endless radiant balls. She watched them gleam as time stood still for several precious seconds.


    A roar cut off the peaceful moment, and one of the droplets in front of her showed several attackers nearly upon her. Merin touched the drop, and it popped. A chain reaction was set off as the countless balls of moonlight exploded.


    These shards of light pierced every Habrin soldier in an instant. Merin gasped and made a face as she watched bodies slump and fall over. She didn''t mean to do that. She just wanted to see what would happen.


    She clapped her hands and sent a massive wave of healing energy to drown the bodies in it. It worked, and each of them came to slowly.


    Merin tilted her head curiously as she twisted her lips in thought. How did Red go about this without quickly killing everyone? He must mute his capabilities when he faced them. Merin didn''t want to take too much time taking everyone out, but she wanted to play around with her magic.


    What else could she do?


    A blade of fire struck her through the chest, and Merin looked down at it curiously.


    "I no longer have a heart," Merin said emotionlessly. She doesn''t remember when it stopped beating, but the sound wasn''t something she missed having. It was just gone one day, and it never came back.


    Merin pulled the fire blade out of her and threw it on the ground. She didn''t have to lift a hand to hold the attacker up in the air. She did it with a mere thought. A smile graced her lips as she sent all of them up into the air.


    She used a hand to freeze the beams of the moon. Instead of piecing and shattering the soldiers from the inside, Merin used it to steal their life force. She no longer needed strings to warp reality; she could now use the moon.


    Merin let their bodies hit the ground before she healed them all over again.


    Merin needed to find some way to lower the intensity of her magic. She didn''t want to kill them instantly, but it was over far too quickly each time she revived them. How could she learn her limits and understand her magic when her opponent died from a bump with light?


    At least when she is done, she should be able to use the moonlight to get back to Red''s side.

 Chapter Fifty Five: Ashes and Dust

    Red strode down the familiar streets of Habrin''s Captial. His expression was blank as he took in the abandoned hollowed-out buildings. The only thing that pulsed in his veins was relief.


    He was finally going to erase this parasitic country from the map by ripping away its roots.


    There was a hint of blood in the air. A faint whiff told Red that maybe Kaan had disposed of Habrin''s citizens. The putrid blood that flowed through their veins wouldn''t be enough to give Kaan a fair shot at battle.


    Red held out a palm as his steps continued to slap the ground. In his palm, he rested tiny balls of his blood. He sent them out to hit the buildings. There was an explosion whenever his blood met anything, but Red didn''t so much as blink. Marble, wood, or whatever had been utilized to create homes was destroyed and laid in shambles. It only took seconds to do.


    Red heard what sounded like a burp and looked down to see Acuzio. The dragon had what looked like a shit-eating grin on his face as he spat out fire. His dark red flames licked the ruins Red had created. The heat turned everything to ashes in mere moments.


    "You didn''t think I was gonna let you have all the fun, did you? I have a bet to win." Acuzio said with a grin.


    Red gave a grunt as a response. He didn''t care what the Dragon God did if it didn''t get in his way. The beast seemed content with helping him raze Habrin to the ground right now. So he wasn''t going to complain if it stayed.


    Red barely glanced at the beast, which had suspiciously grown another foot in the past hour. Then, his hardened gaze was directed at the palace where the other half of him was. Despite the walls and miles that separated him from Kaan, Red could see him. He easily spotted the bright red blood bag that was his seed giver. The man was pacing, and with every explosion Red created, the other man moved faster.


    Red continued to destroy everything along his path. He knew this was the slow route to hazing it to the quick. But it felt good. The hatred he never dared to stoke burned like a furnace, and his blood sang as it destroyed.


    His maternal grandma was right when she told him the only way forward was to burn what remained. Red was burning up the last piece of his humanity and getting revenge for Elan.


    Merin had cured the curse, but even now, Red could see traces lingering in the air. It would never truly be gone, and everyone who tasted Inni''s blood was tainted. He would track and kill every single person regardless if it was of their own volition. He believed in what he told Merin. A parent''s sin wasn''t something a child had to inherit.


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    But Merin needed to hear those words to soothe the past away. After what was done to Elan, the only way to move forward was to erase all traces of the original sin. This was the only reason he had to come to the Capital alone. The last thing he needed was Merin''s mercy coloring his perception.


    Red used his free hand to touch the red Inni vapors that floated in his face. Kaan had lost his touch because there were citizens he missed.


    Red grabbed the traces, but he didn''t stop walking forward. While gathering the curse''s remains, he used his blood to erase everything along the way.


    By the time he got to the palace gates, the only thing behind him was ashes and dust.


    Red''s eyes strained for moisture as he kept his attention on the blood he was getting closer and closer to. He was worried that if he blinked, Kaan would vanish, and the hunt would be prolonged. Red wanted to extend Kaan''s mental torture and anguish as he loudly made his entrance. He didn''t want the man to disappear as a result of Red''s assault.


    The palace gates burst into flames before he could destroy them. Red glanced at Acuzio. The Dragon God was chewing on the melted hinges that had fallen on the ground.


    Red opened his mouth to speak, but instead, he closed his mouth. The soldiers he''d been expecting to see had finally arrived.


    These men had magic coursing through their veins, but the colors were the hue of decay. Red wanted to cover his nose at the stench of rotten flesh that rolled off them. There wasn''t much that could make him gag or flinch. But Red could tell what kind of flesh these men had ingested to create the magic running through their veins.


    Kaan had kept some of Inni''s blood and fed it to these men. Red could feel a multitude of emotions unfurl and twist him from the inside as he stared at these men. He could feel Merin, through their bond, reaching out in concern, but he couldn''t say anything back to her.


    How could he when the reminder of such sin was flaunted before him? How did Kaan keep the dead around this long?


    "Ah...God''s don''t rot." Acuzio said around the melted iron in his mouth. "No matter how removed, a drop is sufficient to keep the flesh from falling apart."


    Blood roared in Red''s ears as he stepped over the burning remains of the gate. The soldiers had eaten the flesh of the Inni people. He could see it and hear the anguish that flesh had gone through. Even now, the bond of Elan cried out to him with the same siren song as always. Only the flesh sang for release, not connection.


    Red didn''t even have to lift a finger to grant that request. He exploded each of the men that moved to attack him. For those that remained, he ripped apart their stomachs that still carried chunks floating in their bowels. Red lost sight of Kaan for the first time as he mutilated every soldier with Elan''s blood in their bodies. And then he destroyed the rest. He had no room for mercy.


    By the time his vision cleared, it was still covered in red. Acuzio didn''t chew on the bodies he laid out for the first time since Red met him. The dragon set them on fire and walked around the remains.


    Red was tired of wasting time or slowly destroying the Captial. He could always circle back and ruin everything.


    It was time for Kaan to die.

 Chapter Fifty Six: Like Banked Embers

    The man he was hunting was about to flee.


    There was no way Red could allow an escape, so he used the blood in Kaan''s body to stop the man in his tracks. As intended, Kaan froze and became unable to move.


    Red located the drops of royal Habrin blood that powered the Emperor''s Sosia. Predictably, the puppet was close to Kaan. The two were glued near the throne his father was so eager to protect.


    Red used said drops to teleport into the Sosia. A dull explosion occurred as Red broke apart the Sosia''s body with his arrival. The room was quiet aside from the dull thuds of broken bone and flesh falling to the ground.


    While everyone processed what he did, Red used the Sosia''s blood to break apart every other puppet in the room until only the two men who mattered were left.


    "You fucking bastard," Kaan said after the cries of the deceased stopped.


    Red stared at Kaan, his eyes memorizing the man who would never haunt him again after today. The one truth he hated to acknowledge was staring him in the face.


    He was his father''s son.


    Red was the spitting image of Kaan. Of all the sons the Habrin Emperor spawned, only one looked precisely like said emperor. How ill-fated he had to be to carry this man''s genes so perfectly.


    The similarities that bond the two through shared blood were barely visible at this moment due to stress¡ªsilver, and off-hues of black streaked Kaan''s dark hair. The healed, scarred face was now lined with wrinkles and lines of stress. Kaan''s proud shoulders were thin and weighed down by the burden of being prey.


    "I used the same play you did, Father," Red said. "I ensured my prey was exactly where I needed it to be."


    A long string of curses came out of Kaan, but Red ignored this as he watched the man he once feared fold like a cheap blade.


    "Where is your flesh stash," Red said once Kaan finally shut his mouth.


    "You think I''m going to tell you, you stupid shit?" Kaan said.


    "It doesn''t matter if you do," Red said. "I''ll find it and get rid of it."


    Kaan snorted, but that action turned into a coughing fit. Bright red eyes filled with spiteful hate was aimed at him as the other man put it all together. "You...you...fu..." Kaan spat out in between coughs.


    Red stared holes into Kaan as the other man lost everything in his stomach. Red ensured that Kaan retched up everything; not even the stomach acid was left when he was done. The stench of vomit was ignored by both men as the two locked eyes.


    What little strength and power Kaan had drawn from his pound of flesh was gone. In its place was an old man Red could crush in a heartbeat.


    "Why aren''t you finishing him already," Acuzio said.


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    The Dragon God had caught up and was now setting fire to everything his flames could reach. That meant everything was slowly burning.


    "I want to prolong his suffering," Red said. "He doesn''t deserve the mercy of a fast death."


    Kaan started shouting at Red and Acuzio, but they ignored him to continue their conversation.


    "Then just curse him," Acuzio said.


    "How do I do that?" Red said.


    Acuzio hummed and hawed as he moved his head in thought. "It''s been thousands of years since I''ve had to think about the process." He said when he finally came to a conclusion.


    "Show me," Red said.


    "No." Acuzio said, "That''s too much work. Just cover him in blood and imagine what you want his penance to be."


    Red shook his head as he fought the desire to chuckle. He should have known better than to trust that Acuzio would give him honest advice. Still, he cut his hand and directed his blood to cover Kaan''s mouth shut.


    The persistent squeakiness of the other man was finally silenced.


    "Cover him in blood..." Red said as he used his power to move all the blood in the room to circle Kaan. "He doesn''t deserve penace but he has earned his pain."


    Kaan wriggled and flailed in Red''s blood bubble, and Red watched every second of it. Red tightened the constraint, but to his shock, it sparked an explosion. Kaan''s body fell apart due to the pressure.


    As he froze, a tempest of unknown feelings and emotions flooded Red''s brain. He hadn''t meant to kill Kaan so quickly.


    The happiness and pride he expected to feel was nowhere in sight.


    All he had was an emptiness in his chest. Why didn''t he feel any joy?


    What more would it take for Red to feel something other than rage and hunger?


    "Well, that was anticlimactic, huh." A sharp feminine voice cut through the haze within him with its unexpected interruption.


    "Aphra," Acuzio said with a strange amount of affection.


    Red turned around to see what the Dragon God had.


    A woman he had never seen before strolled through the fire that was eating the room. She parted the flames that licked at her without breaking her stride. The fire Acuzio set off all but jumped to join her flesh, and all of the heat disappeared with that action.


    She had a shit-eating grin that was all too familiar. Her golden hair was threaded with amber that shone like gold. Her red eyes burned like banked embers that matched the flaming heat of her gold-plated armor. She used a silver-blue longsword to tap her shoulder as she moved past the two staring at her.


    "Aphra?" Red said as he eyed this woman. He could see the magic pulsing in her veins, and it was one that he recognized: the burning glow of gold, orange, red, and black. Only one other had this Aurora Borealis of lights burning through their flesh. "Don''t you mean Mordecai?"


    "I do go by that when I take the male form," Aphra said as she kicked away Kaan''s dilapidated remains. "He was such a disappointment. If he had eaten you when you were born, it would be him standing here alive. This is what he gets for not listening to me."


    Red said nothing as he eyed Aphra and processed her words. Merin and Red had long assumed that her relatives had planned this, but was this the actual plan?


    Aphra sat on the throne and slammed the shining blade into the ground between her legs. She turned her burning eyes on the two across from her and smirked.


    "You didn''t really think you could just destroy my country and get away with it, did you?" She said.


    "Why would you let me grow powerful enough to do so," Red said as he fought to maintain a blank expression.


    "I was bored," Aphra said with a shrug. "I created Habrin for the same reason. It''s always fun to see what the mortals would do if I sprinkled a little power into their lives."


    "I''m going to ruin what''s left of Habrin," Red said. He saw no reason not to state the facts as he saw fit.


    "You''ll have to go through me," Aphra said with a dark chuckle. "I was so pumped about this upcoming fight I accidentally burned through my last form. You owe me a fun fight now. I liked that body."


    The eagerness of a match with Aphra replaced the haunting emptiness of before. This was how Red was supposed to feel after Kaan''s end. He should be energized and ready for more.


    Red looked down to see how Acuzio was processing this, but the duplicitous dragon was already halfway across the room beside his sibling.


    Merin. Red used his bond to call out to her, you''re going to want to be here for this.

 Chapter Fifty Seven: Hitting Diamond Cement

    "Acuzio, should we give him a handicap?" Aphra said as she swung her sword around wildly. The air hummed and sang as she wildly moved it around. There was no finesse or artistry with her movements. She played with the blade as if it was the first time she''d held one.


    "It wouldn''t matter," Acuzio said. His lizard form shimmered as his magic burned into view under his scales.


    "Oh, that''s right, you''re already crippled. That''s a big enough handout for these weaklings." Aphra said with a jarring laugh at her own joke.


    Red watched the two siblings interact with banter, which he recognized as unequal. He had witnessed it countless times during their previous excursion together. For some reason, Aphra or Mordecai always called the shots. Acuzio listened to her and did as she bade. Acuzio seemed stronger than Aphra; he had far more skill, yet Aphra sat back as she ordered Acuzio around.


    Merin mentioned things she knew about her ancestral family members, but nothing explained why these two had such an uneven dynamic. Why did Acuzio obey Aphra? Weren''t they both Gods?


    Why did Mordecai or Aphra control Acuzio? Maybe Red was wrong, and Aphra was more powerful than Acuzio. But nothing he had seen made that the obvious answer. The magic that burned in their bodies wasn''t equal; one was clearly more substantial than the other.


    "I should take off an arm," Aphra said. "That would give these baby chicks a chance."


    Red barely had time to comprehend the words before Merin shimmered into the room. She was standing in the sole piece of moonlight that broke through a boarded-up window. She stood there blinking her eyes as her body adjusted to its new circumstances.


    "Fucking Cael," Aphra said.


    Red looked away from Merin to see Aphra throwing her blade at Merin''s head.


    Red didn''t think before he moved and caught the blade with his bare hands. His hands burned with a strange sensation, making him drop it mere heartbeats later.


    "Oops," Aphra said. "Did I forget to tell you the special properties of that blade? Merin can inform you it is a family heirloom of sorts."


    The cuts in his hands were growing under Red''s stunned eyes. He didn''t flinch or embrace the pain; Red compartmentalized it. He turned to lock eyes with Aphra and directed his drops of blood directly at her. A wall of flames blocked them as it burned them into vapors. But Red''s attack wasn''t finished. His blood dispersed into the tiniest of droplets, and he located each speck.


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    The vapors snuck towards Aphra, but when they landed, nothing happened.


    Red watched as Aphra''s smile grew more crooked. "You didn''t really think that would work, did you? If you did, then I feel sorry for your dodo brain."


    Aphra''s words landed seconds before she did right in front of Red.


    Her bare hand reached for his throat, and Red barely had time to think before his body reacted. He grabbed her clawy hands, intending to break her fingers.


    An intense heat seared his open flesh. Red ignored the pain and punched Aphra in the face.


    That slap of flesh sounded like a bullet hitting diamond cement.


    Aphra stood there, unphased by anything Red threw her way. His fist was captured with both arms. He tried to remove them, but clearly, her tiny stature hid her true strength.


    "Weaksauce," Aphra said as she flipped her body to aim her leg at his head.


    Red raised his shoulder to block the direct hit.


    It never came.


    A shield of shimmering moonlight covered his flesh and barely held off the incoming attack from Aphra.


    "Merindah," Aphra said with a tsk and a shake of her head. "How annoying of you to get in my way." Aphra let go of Red and aimed to punch the moonlight wall with her fists. She shattered it before her fist touched it and sent the shard of lights in all directions.


    Red attempted to heal his hands during this brief distraction. He wasn''t thrilled that his magic couldn''t fix the flesh that was splitting even under his eyes. His hands were going to fall off if he didn''t get the wound under control.


    Merin''s cool, firm hands grabbed his hands, and immediately, her touch erased the searing pain. She did quick work, and brand new tender flesh replaced the cracked, decaying skin.


    "That blade...Where did you get it from?" Merin said, looking away from Red to stare at Aphra.


    Aphra held out a hand, and the blade made a musical noise as it flew over to her. It landed in her hand, and she held it up with a shit-eating grin, "Oh, you mean this old thing?" Aphra said. "I found it." She sang the words teasingly to her rapt audience.


    "Give it to me," Merin said with a fierceness in her voice that made Red proud.


    "Gladly," Aphra said, throwing it at Merin.


    Red moved to intercept it but was stopped by Merin. "Don''t touch it. It can kill immortals," she said.


    Merin then sang a sharp, strange note he didn''t recognize to the whooshing blade. The blade seemed to because it stopped its frontal assault to pause midair.


    She held out her hand, and in response obediently, it came to her gently with its hilt out like a well-trained dog. Merin wrapped her fingers around it and glared at Aphra and Acuzio.


    "This was my father''s blade. How did you come to have it?"


    Aphra shrugged and rolled her eyes at the question. "Ughhh, what is the obsession these fuckers have with asking stupid questions."


    "Answer me!" Merin shouted.


    "I did. Ask better questions." Aphra said with a bored expression.


    "You must have stolen it," Merin said.


    "Can one really steal from the dead? Isn''t that just repossession for the living?" Aphra said. She directed that question at Acuzio.


    "Passing on things is all the dead can do for the living," Acuzio said.


    "Agreed, enough with the chit-chat; let''s get back to punching the lights out of each other!" Aphra said, cracking her knuckles.


    "This isn''t chit-chat. I want to know--"


    "You''re so boooorring. Can''t you do something fresh and unique for once? Here I am killing time with you, and you find a way to make it longer."


    Merin''s eyebrows twisted on her face, and it was the only warning everyone else in the room had before the entire building collapsed over their heads.

 Chapter Fifty Eight: March of Time

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 Chapter Fifty Nine: A Flawed Inhale

    Red ignored the flames that licked his feet as he fought off the vibrating raging Dragon God. Even with his stunted body, the damned thing had sharp teeth, and it, too, was using fire to cook his body. Like with Merin, Red could barely sense blood within Aphra''s body. It should be coursing through their veins, but that song was absent.


    With Acuzio, Red could all but taste the Dragon''s blood. It pounded and sang just as fiercely as his mouth did. Red healed the bite marks on him as he used his blood to shield the next assault from the beast.


    There was a brief lull between them as they stared at each other throughout the whole ordeal. Acuzio broke the silence by charging.


    An explosion grabbed Red''s attention, but when he turned his head, all he saw was fire. An endless wall of flames swamped Merin and Aphra''s bodies.


    Red could still sense Merin''s life and her near-silent breath, but she was nowhere to be seen. Acuzio grunted a heartbeat before attempting to aim his chompers at Red''s throat. Red blocked the Dragon by kicking it mid-jump. There was a brief pause where his foot met the Dragon, and everything stood still. Acuzio''s hard scales sent waves of pain, but Red gritted his teeth and added more force. It might have worked, but Red would never know.


    Acuzio growled out several garbled words that sounded like nothing Red had ever heard. The Dragon wasn''t looking at Red, but Aphra.


    Red turned his head to look again, and his eyebrows rose. The firewall was gone, and Merin and Aphra stood in its place. Red wasn''t surprised that Merin had managed to escape Aphra''s clutches. Red was surprised by how Merin managed to do so.


    Merin stabbed Aphra in the chest with her father''s sword. The silvery hilt of the immortal killing blade was sticking out, proving that. Aphra stared at it with a bloody smile. She coughed and spat fire on the ground.


    "Hey, numbnuts, I can''t die," Aphra said. Her flesh began melting and piling on the ground in small clumps of flames. "I''ll just be born again."


    "You''re most vulnerable during that process," Merin said with a cold stare that made Red proud.


    Aphra pulled the sword out of her chest and swayed on her feet. The mounds of flames around her burned in alternating hues of blue and red. "Don''t bite the hand that feeds you." She said.


    "Isn''t that how you came into power? By doing exactly that and defying the old Gods?" Merin said. Then, in a move Red never saw coming, Merin used her telekinesis on the blade to slice off Aphra''s head. "I didn''t want it to come to this, but you gave me no choice."


    Another loud explosion sounded, and Red turned to see the light in Acuzio''s eyes go out. The Dragon God''s scales turned midnight black, and he fell to the ground in a loud crash.


    Merin skipped over the fire to reach him, but instead of joy, she looked scared. "We have to go," she said, grabbing Red''s hands and trying to move him. "This will only hold them for a while."


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    "What did you do?" Red said, looking at Acuzio''s strange husk. He understood why Aphra fell apart into fiery clumps, but why was the Dragon God like this?


    "I killed Aphra''s construct to buy us time. She''ll be reborn whenever she chooses to come back," Merin said, hiking up her dress as she all but ran away from the palace ruins. "Acuzio likely killed his own construct to return to his true form. He said he was punished into becoming that lizard, but given how old and powerful he is, that wasn''t truly holding him back."


    Red recalled how the Dragon God grew and acted like a baby whenever he pleased. If the Gods were bored creatures with too much power, having adventures like this likely gave them fleeting pleasure from life''s monotony. He understood it and had nowhere near their mileage on life. Red was a fledging in comparison, even with the handfuls of years he spent with the Gods. But there was a hollowness that had been carved out of him. He couldn''t pinpoint the moment, but it grew each time he took a flawed inhale.


    Was his plans worth it in the end? This burning question ruined the control and sense of self his plans created. When Red killed his father, the last piece of himself was erased, too. He felt like an empty husk whose purpose wasn''t clear...this flew in the face of everything Red believed.


    When Kaan died, Red should have felt peace at last. His burning desire and appetite should have diminished into a full stomach.


    But Red was just a hollow God, created by the curse of his blood and made into a puppet by the other half.


    Only by battling with Aphra and Acuzio was new life breathed into him.


    Luckily, Merin''s words renewed the energizing spark that the anticlimactic ending brought. How could he turn down the chance to battle a Dragon God? Acuzio''s true form would be monstrously huge.


    Red''s legs stopped moving, and he walked back toward the flaming corpses they had left behind.


    "Red!" Merin shouted his name, but he ignored it. "We can''t win against them!"


    "It''s not about winning, though," Aphra said. Her voice was different; she was younger but still very feminine. "The thrill of battle doesn''t need stakes aside from who threw the last punch." A small child stood in Aphra''s corpse. Bright blue flames covered the child, and when they finally went out, a dark red-haired woman stood in its place. "I knew you would get it. It''s a shame Merin was born more moon than fire. She was doomed to be just like Cael. Aran, are you ready for round two?"


    Red didn''t bother questioning how Aphra knew his true name. At the end of the day, it didn''t matter. He grinned as he felt the blood in his veins rejoice. He needed this kind of release, and he desired this exact kind of blood sport. How else could he grow strong? Only other Gods could challenge him from now on.


    "You''re not going to be as lucky this time." A deep voice that sounded like gravel being churned spoke from above.


    Red lifted his eyes to look up. As far as the eye could see, was a pitch-black sky. But this sky was moving and breathing. He knew Acuzio''s true form would be enormous, but even in Red''s estimation, this was too much.


    The Dragon God shimmered and shrank until, like a meteor, he landed on the ground. The giant of a man he''d gotten a glimpse at before stood next to Aphra.


    "I''m so pumped for this!" Aphra said. "We can fight forever!"


    "No," Merin said as she stood next to Red. "I don''t want to waste forever on you."


    "No, you''d rather act like a coked-out princess and roam the skies," Aphra said with a chortle. "As if your taste was ever the standard one should live by." Her laughter was cut short by a sneaky little blood figure holding the immortal killing sword.


    Aphra dodged the sword and set the construct on fire. "Is that why you let us cut you up? So that you can create a bunch of mini-mes?" Aphra tsked as she held her hands up and used her flaming remains to create her own. "Bring it on bitch!"