out that Kellan is dead eventually, aren’t they?”
“Of course. But Sylas will manage how that news comes out. He’ll know the best way to frame it. And honestly, if he has to admit that he was the one to make it happen… Plenty of folk have seen what Kellan was like. It won’t come as a surprise that he could have pushed his lord that far.”
“But Sylas took him into his cadre anyway.”
“There are expectations of duty…” August sighs. “I don’t think any of us was really happy about it, including Kellan. But we hoped he’d settle in and adapt. Not so much.”
It takes a little of the burden off me knowing that Kellan rubbed just about everyone the wrong way, that Sylas was telling the truth when he said his death was a long time coming. But I can see that even though he didn’t like the guy, even though they fought, Kellan’s death doesn’t sit easy with him.
I can’t say the thought of my own eventual death—sooner or later—doesn’t horrify me, and I’ve been a lot closer to it than August likely ever has. How hard must it be to grapple with the idea when you should have centuries ahead of you?
August turns to me again, and I realize I’ve been staring at him, taking in the details of his face, which is even more stunning with that haunted expression over the boyishly handsome features. I jerk my gaze away, and it catches on the tattoo peeking from beneath his sleeve instead.
I motion at it, grasping onto that seemingly safe topic of conversation. “Do those mean anything? Your tattoos?” As far as I’ve been able to see from a distance, the regular pack members have a few here and there, but they aren’t as inked up as Sylas and his cadre are—or Aerik and his. Maybe they’re some sort of symbol of rulership?
August taps the one I pointed to, the arcing black lines twisting together like claws. “They’re not exactly tattoos—not the way humans have them. We don’t put them on ourselves. When we master a true name, the representation of it forms on our skin. The more true names you see a fae marked with, the more magic they can wield.”
“True names?” I repeat. The term sounds vaguely familiar, maybe from faerie stories I read back home. With all the stealing of humans into the Mists, it makes sense that a little valid information about the fae would trickle back to our world.
“All things have true names tied into their essence. When you learn the true name of a substance or a plant or animal well enough, you can command it to your will.” August gestures to the room around us. “We called up most of the keep from the trees that grew here, using their true names.”
So they simply talked a bunch of trees into forming this massive building? Sounds like an awfully useful skill. “How do you learn them?”
“If you find someone willing to teach you who already knows, that gives you a huge step up. But most fae are protective of their knowledge. Otherwise, you work with whatever it is you’re attempting to master in various ways until its true name reveals itself to you.” He raises an eyebrow at me. “I wouldn’t get any ideas, though. I’ve never heard of a human wielding magic.”
I’ve wielded it, though. Once, anyway. Thinking of how I convinced the latch on my cage door to unlock, my pulse skips a beat. I’m not sure that’s something I want August and the others knowing. Would it make me even more of a prize rather than a person?
“I think maybe Aerik used something like that to lock my cage,” I say tentatively. The syllables are still burned into my memory. “What’s ‘fee-doom-ace-own’?”
August blinks at me. “You’ve got a good memory—your pronunciation is almost perfect. That’s bronze. Your cage was made of it, wasn’t it? There are other types of magic we can use, but true names are usually the most potent if you’re not worried about someone else who knows them trying to counteract your spell.”
And Aerik definitely wouldn’t have worried that a lowly human could manage that. Did I really? Maybe it was only that he didn’t concentrate quite hard enough that time, and the spell broke on its own. I haven’t noticed any unexpected tattoos springing into being on my body.
I’ll have to find an opportunity to test it. Except I have no idea how to use