Darklings had been revealed and that Zoltan had been declared an enemy of the empire. He’d brought the whole gang to Astoria because it was one of the few places he could control.
“Where’s Rudolph?” Seeley asked. He no longer had his arms up, but the rune cuffs, collars, and chains had stayed on—the latter bolted into a giant marble column base. He leaned against it, pleased to be able to stand and stretch his legs. His Reaper form was not as easy to fatigue as a living body, but still, he could experience all kinds of physical discomfort, and I liked him as far away from grouchy as possible.
“He’s with the others from his crew,” I said. “The guards had the ghouls grouped in several clusters, half a mile away from here.”
“And Zoltan?”
“Oh, he’s putting all that death magic in place,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “Barriers to keep the living out, barriers to keep the ghouls in. If any of them get loose by accident there will be a blood bath. He’s trying to maintain control over this situation, but I’m willing to bet he’s a little frazzled.”
Seeley looked at me. “Have you seen him?”
“Mm-hm. He’s in a bad mood, for sure, cussing and shoving his underlings,” I said, taking a hint of pleasure in knowing Zoltan had a ton of trouble because of our GASP people. It felt like a tiny serving of revenge, and I enjoyed every inch of it.
I paused for a moment, then went on. “You know, something has been irking me. Why can’t they see me? I mean, every single Aeternae with a scythe in this place should be able to see me. Everything has been happening so fast, going wrong in so many ways, I’ve not even had a chance to think about this.”
He frowned, his gaze wandering around the place. “That’s a good question. But I’m afraid I don’t have an answer.”
“Back on Mortis, we could all see souls whenever we held Yamani’s scythe,” I reminded him.
Seeley nodded. “Yes, and that would be a normal occurrence. And yet here—”
“They can’t see me.”
“I’m certain they can wield death magic and reveal you if they get a sense of your presence, but for the time being, let’s just be thankful they can’t. We’ll figure out the ‘why’ part later,” he replied.
A good few minutes passed in silence, as we both analyzed our surroundings. Every detail counted in captivity.
“It’s a lot better here than in those dungeons, though,” Seeley murmured finally. “At least it’s warm and dry, compared to our previous accommodation.”
“And much brighter,” I replied, sitting next to him, wishing I could feel the cold stone against my back. I brought my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs and allowing my long hair to fall around me like a curtain, covering plenty. I let a deep breath loose. “It’s still a mess. You’re not free.”
“We’ll get there,” Seeley said, his eyes searching my face. “You brought us this far, Nethissis. I have faith in you.”
“I just don’t want what happened to Rudolph and the other Reapers to happen to you,” I said, the mere thought making me quiver as though I’d been dropped in a barrel of ice water.
Zoltan had been capturing Reapers for a very long time, somehow forcing them to eat souls and become ghouls, whom he then trained into his service. He’d put together about five or six hundred of them, held in different cells, each with a rune iron collar to keep them in check. His black guards were all Darklings, his servants and members of a murderous faction that had its grubby fingers in many pies across the empire.
I had yet to figure out the details of their operations, but I’d learned that the empire was on to them, mainly because of Tristan and Esme’s investigative efforts, which had resulted in one hell of a showdown back in the palace basement. I’d heard the guards mention Kalon and Trev being present, too, and the Darklings’ determination to hunt the latter down, but I knew I’d have to spend more time around the black guards to get a fuller picture. Since they couldn’t see me, for whatever the reason, I figured I could use this advantage for as long as I had it.
Seeley and I didn’t know how Zoltan had come upon death magic. But it was the basis of his power, the core around which the Darklings had been built. A thought had persistently