He was hostile and, together with the others, we’d be dealing with four hostile Hermessi on Neraka. Up until now, fire had been our friend. As grief swelled inside us all, burning bright and red against the weakened torch lights, I understood the exact amount of trouble we were in.
Neraka was no longer safe for GASP. The Hermessi were gaining power, and they were beginning to show hostility to others besides Taeral and his crew. We’d seen it with Mount Agrith and Calliope, for example. It was only a matter of time before something happened here, as well.
I felt sorry for Ramin. He’d gone down fighting for what he believed in, yes. But he was gone. And the Nerakians were left to fend for themselves.
Ben
River stood by my crystal casing, watching me.
She’d been here for the better part of an hour, and I couldn’t get enough of her. Having been like this before, in this state of seeing her but being unable to touch her, I couldn’t shake the feeling of déjà vu. This time, however, I was determined not to let such a fickle thing as my impending death stop me. I’d cheated the end before, and I would find a way to do it again, no matter what Kelara told me.
My Reaper was on the other side of the casing, watching us both. She didn’t seem pleased to see us tormented like this. I knew that, beneath that cold and sometimes cruel façade of hers, Kelara still had empathy for creatures like me, for the people she was in charge of reaping.
“I feel like we’ve been through this before,” River murmured, talking to me. “Only, it’s a little worse. But it’s nothing you and I can’t handle, right?”
“Of course,” I said, knowing she couldn’t hear me. I didn’t care, though. These things needed to be said, especially to the woman I loved more than anything in the world.
“I do hope you can at least hear me,” River continued, between deep and tormented breaths.
“I can, honey. I can hear you.”
Glancing around, I saw Lawrence next to Grace’s casing. To his right, Vita and Caia both slept, also isolated and surrounded by charmed crystal. The sight of them hurt me the most. I could handle myself in this situation, I could focus on what I might be able to do to get myself out of this mess—but seeing our daughter and our granddaughters like this made it extremely difficult to concentrate.
“It isn’t fair,” I said to Kelara. “You could at least show their spirits to me.”
By now, I’d learned that they were like me, tethered to their bodies by glowing life-chains whose links blackened, one at a time, as the Hermessi’s influence grew and more fae fell under it. We were headed for the four million mark, from what River had said earlier. Five million was even closer than before…
Grace, Caia, Vita, and all the other fae in the sanctuaries had Reapers by their side, as I had Kelara. But these agents of Death kept us from each other, forcing us into this isolation that just made everything worse.
“It’s for your own good,” Kelara replied. “Frankly, I don’t like it, either. But we can’t have spirits fraternizing in this place. It would lead to an uncontrollable mess.”
“Why, because you’re prohibited from forcing us to do anything against our will?” I shot back.
I’d understood that aspect of a Reaper’s job, too. They couldn’t compel us to do or say anything. They even had to basically convince us to move on, so they could reap us—granted, that almost always happened. It was inevitable, once the body was dead. In our case, however, natural death had yet to occur, and even if it did, it wouldn’t be exactly natural, per se. None of this was. The Hermessi were working against the very thing they were meant to preserve and protect, by killing us all, and Kelara was aware. But she didn’t seem to have a say in it. She was just here to do her job.
“Because it’ll make moving on even harder for you,” Kelara said firmly. “We’ve had this conversation before, Ben. Don’t make me say things that hurt you again. I told you, I don’t like it any more than you do.”
“But she’s my daughter.” I sighed, my voice breaking as I pointed at Grace. Lawrence was in tears, whispering something to her, and I couldn’t even see her, let alone hold her. “I just want to reassure her that everything