that they had to clasp hands and some weird light rope wrapped around them in that Harry Potter movie. I believe death was the penalty for breaking your word.
I wait for something like that to happen, but Carrick merely stares at Nimeyah. Finally, she waves an impatient hand and says, “Fine. I admit I’m curious enough to hear what you have to say, so I agree to a binding.”
Apparently, that’s all that’s needed because Carrick moves to a chair to Nimeyah’s left and points to the one beside him for me to take. No cool ritual is performed, nor any poetic words of promise spoken—just her agreement to be bound to keep this conversation private. I make a note to ask Carrick later what the consequences are if she breaks the promise.
“Help yourself to anything on the table,” Nimeyah says to Carrick. The offer isn’t extended to me, but Carrick says, “No thank you.”
“Then speak,” she demands imperiously. “For I have other pressing matters.”
I suppress the urge to roll my eyes as I sit quietly.
“When we were here last, you never asked why I wanted to see The Scryer,” Carrick says by way of introduction to the topic. “Did Pyke tell you?”
Prince Pykalias—or Pyke to those closest to him—is a longtime friend of Carrick’s, and when we were here last time, he told Pyke about the basics of the prophecy.
“My son relayed there is some doomful prophecy on Earth,” Nimeyah admits dismissively. “Not of interest to me, as you might understand.”
“It should be,” Carrick says ominously. “Your sister is at the center of it.”
At that, Nimeyah bolts upright, her face a mask of fury as she leans toward Carrick. “Kymaris? How?”
“She’s in the Earth realm now,” he explains. “She used a changeling ritual that not only bestowed incredibly strong powers to her—such that probably rival your own—but it also pulled her through the veil. She’s escaped the Underworld.”
Nimeyah rises from her chaise to start pacing as she ponders this information. She whirls back on Carrick. “And her powers are as strong as mine?”
It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Nimeyah worried. I’d even say she looks weak at this moment, and I know why.
After we had returned from Berlin, Carrick had explained Nimeyah and Kymaris’ history and how they were angelic siblings in Heaven. In the angelic world, being siblings didn’t mean a blood relation as progeny weren’t made through the act of sex and the mixing of genes. It merely meant they were created at the same time and for the same purpose.
Kymaris was the leader of the rebellion against God, and she tried to recruit her sister to her side. Nimeyah, who wanted to be loyal to her sister, halfheartedly agreed to it, although she never actively participated in the ultimate attempt to take over, most likely having second thoughts about going against God.
It’s mostly a rumor passed down across eons, but Carrick had been around for eons and had heard the stories over and over. He said Kymaris hates Nimeyah for not being at her side when the time came, and Nimeyah hates Kymaris for her stupid plot that got them all expelled from Heaven.
Kymaris, however, holds the bigger grudge, and now that she’s free, Nimeyah isn’t stupid enough to dismiss the idea that Kymaris might come after her.
Nimeyah returns to the chaise, perches on the edge, and leans toward Carrick. “Explain everything.”
So he does, and because she is somehow bound to keep the secret, he leaves out nothing. My role in the prophecy—which causes Nimeyah to actually glance my way in surprise and without her normal disdain—as well as my identical twin being switched with the changeling, my Custodia angel placing power within me, and the odd feather that appeared on my leg and has been hypothesized to hold a link between my sister and me. Moreover, that my sister is still in the Underworld and we would very much like to rescue her.
“Kymaris is collecting original fallen Dark Fae.” Carrick goes on to explain the ritual I’d witnessed at her house, and my respect increases just a tad when Nimeyah grimaces over the details. “The main reason I’m here is to see if you can fathom a guess as to why she wants to be in the Earth realm and what she might want to do.”
Nimeyah lets out a scoffing laugh. “Well, I always imagined Kymaris’ top agenda should she ever escape the Underworld would be to storm Heaven and destroy God. But that’s impossible.”
“Agreed,”