Chapter XI

I’m sorry, Master Rana. With all my heart, I truly am… I lied to you despite how nicely you’ve been treating me, and in the end, it got you killed. I accidentally sacrificed you for the sake of my personal revenge…and that’s something I’ll never be able to take back. I surrender to the consequences. I’ll let Master Cartus and the others do whatever they wish to make me pay, but at the very least, in the end, I got Tyrus… I beat him, and made absolutely sure that you’ll be his very last victim. That man will never take another life ever again…

Despite the occasional trembling of the fortress and the sounds of battle still raging in the distance, Rennigan walked slowly and calmly through the open doors of the library, retracing his steps back the way he had come. His head was a maelstrom of contradicting feelings, ranging from relief, euphoria, and happiness to guilt, self-hatred, and despair. He may have succeeded in avenging Faye, Hiro, and Jessi, but he was certain that as his team looked down on him and watched Nyx’s head get separated from her body, they were disappointed in him. Why wouldn’t they be, after all? He wanted his prey for himself, and he was willing to do whatever it took to get it.

“Oh, don’t mistake me, Glaus! I never said I didn’t cut her head off. I said that I didn’t kill her”

Rennigan’s legs suddenly drew to a stop a mere second after rounding the corner and seeing the cracked remains of the ice wall Quill had blasted through. He had brushed aside that man’s nonsensical ramblings as being an idiotic attempt to confuse and rattle him, and in the heat of battle and the subsequent victory, he had almost forgotten about it.

“It doesn't matter whether you believe me…” Quill had said. “If you somehow manage to get out of here, then you’ll know that I’m telling the truth.”

Rennigan furrowed his brow, finding it strange that a man like Quill Tyrus would have been as specific as he was if he was just trying to get in his head. Of course, it was absurd to think that the Master of Water had some means of defying death, of becoming a monster, but something in Quill’s demeanor was unsettling Rennigan, and it was then that he recalled a suspicious detail he’d not pondered for even a second due to how distracted he had been back then.

Why did Master Cartus send me after Tyrus alone? It was obvious based on my time traveling with them these last few weeks that she was very close to Master Rana. On top of that, she’s a hothead and is clearly fueled by her emotions. Would somebody like Sinna Cartus not want to avenge Master Rana herself—to order me to stay behind rather than allow me to avenge her friend for her? And why did Master Cartus take Master Rana’s body and run? Am I just letting Tyrus posthumously get in my head? Or…?

“Out of her corpse came a violent creature who butchered Kosah-Rei and civilians alike…”

Rennigan swallowed back a lump in his throat, forcing his legs to restart as he stalked further down the corridor, through the hole in the ice wall, and returned to the spot their fight with him had begun.

It was cold.

Unnaturally so, even when taking into account that much of the area was still frozen over. He could see his breath rising up in front of him, and while the mountains certainly got chillier than Erika, it was still summer and hadn’t once reached such temperatures in the entire week and a half march north. The only sign of Sinna was the shattered window she’d jumped through, leaving him wondering just where the Master of Rock had rushed off to.

Rennigan narrowed his eyes, his instincts warning him that something was definitely amiss, and while he didn’t want to entertain the manipulative words of Quill Tyrus, he was starting to get very nervous.

What should I do? Should I try to find Master Cartus? Or would it be better to rush back to the rest of the attack force to both let them know Tyrus is dead and see what else has been going on in this godforsaken fortress? As tired as I am, I think with a bit of aid from Master Grunly, I could probably keep fighting a little while longer… If I could meet up with Caeli, maybe I could back him up against Vesh?

He let out a meek sigh, wondering if he was just trying to find excuses to avert his eyes from what he had caused. He was being a coward. What he needed to do was find Master Cartus and turn himself in. Only with her permission should he do anything further in the Battle of Ankalla. That was why, after taking a long and deep breath, Rennigan rushed towards the smashed open window and went to peer over the side for any sign of Sinna Cartus.

But, to further his confusion, Rennigan could only gape in shock at the snow-covered courtyard below him, as well as the six crumpled corpses of Korrei-Tarr lying within the red-stained powder. Despite wearing strong armor, limbs were slashed off and appeared as if they had been tossed in random directions. On top of that, he didn’t spot any sign of Kosah-Rei Teeth or the Master of Rock, but the cracks in the walls and the markings in the snow indicated a destructive conflict had unfolded.

What the hell? What happened down here? Did the Kosah-Rei do this? I mean, it would make sense, but I don’t recall any of the cultists brutalizing their victims as much as this. He gulped once more, doing his best to stop Quill’s words from creeping their way back in, but he certainly couldn’t deny that he could only call the person who did this a monster. And this snow…? Given the temperature, it could only have gotten here through magic, so…?

He clenched his teeth, forcing his feet to move as he hopped from the windowsill and soared down the three-story drop, using the mounds of snow, as well as meager castings of wind magic, to break his fall. Once he had steadied himself, he trudged through the powder towards the nearest corpse and knelt down, identifying the missing right arm, as well as a massive chunk that had been ripped out of his neck.

It looks like it was bitten off by an animal, Rennigan noted, seeing the dangling flaps of flesh and the rounded shape of the wound that resembled the results of a carnivore's bite.

Shivering, Rennigan stood up and glanced around the rest of the small, square-shaped lawn he was standing within, recalling that they were somewhere in the western part of Ankalla, and that this was one of many inner courtyards the fortress contained. He could see a couple of doors that led back inside and were beneath a covered walkway that followed the entire perimeter. One of them was completely smashed off its hinges, laying just barely visible within the dark corridor that was beyond. This was the only doorway that was covered in a thin layer of frost, and as he took a couple of cautious steps towards it, he noticed that the frost continued inside. His body trembled once more, though he wasn’t sure whether it was out of fear or still due to the chill in the air.

There’s just no way, right? There can’t be…

He couldn’t hear any sounds of battle nearby, indicating that whatever slaughtered those Korrei-Tarr had either moved further into Ankalla, or had been defeated already. Rennigan crept towards that frosted doorway, carefully poking his head through so he could check for any sign of the culprit, all the while keeping his mana drawn to his hand and extending into the snow around him. He was prepared to be jumped, and almost expected it despite failing to sense any presence nearby. The hallway was nearly pitch black, with all of the fire lamps extinguished. There were no windows, so the only illumination came from the open doorway he was now standing within. The corridor stretched out both to his left and his right, but since he couldn’t make out anything in either direction, he wondered if it would be smarter to back out. This had certain death written all over it, especially given that he couldn’t see a thing.

Yeah, screw this… Call me a coward all you like, but I’m not about to end up like those Korrei-Tarr back there. I’ll return to Master Grunly and—

A face was dangling mere inches in front of his, though it was upside down. It just appeared there, as if descended from the ceiling, its long silver hair hanging like a shredded curtain while its eyes did not exist, for in their place were hollow black pits of nothingness. She was covered in sticky, red blood, and when her mouth spread outwards in a smile that reached the bottom of her ears, he found himself gazing into a gaping maw with three rows of jagged teeth that were even bloodier than her face.

Master…Rana?

It was like time froze as he and this creature stared at one another before it dropped from above and spun around to land on all fours, its limbs spindly like a spider, with long claws in place of her nails. It didn’t speak, it didn’t make any noise, rather it just continued to gaze up at his stunned visage…hungrily.

Finally restarting his brain, Rennigan took a cautious step backwards, his eyes never shifting from the abomination in front of him. He desperately wanted to run, to break into a sprint and scream out for help, but he was terrified that any sudden movement would cause it to lunge at him. He got the horrific feeling that the only reason it hadn’t just bitten his head off was because it had decided to play with its food, but if the six Korrei-Tarr laying dead behind him were any indication of its strength, then he was wholly outmatched.

Fuck me, fuck me… he thought with a rapidly increasing panic. What the fuck is this?! It looks like Master Rana… It has her face and her build, but it's clearly something else. Was Tyrus actually telling the truth?! Has this creature been inside of her all this time?! And do Master Cartus and Master Taurus really know? I mean, if this got out in Hiriech and butchered civilians then…?

“You’re a water mage…” it rasped, its voice sounding like an overlap of Nyx’s usual tone and something far deeper and more monstrous. “You’re like her...aren’t you? You control ice…”

His breath caught in his throat, his feet now firmly planted in the snow a few steps outside the doorway. It had spoken to him, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do or say. It extended a long arm and placed its bare palm against the snow, crawling its way into the courtyard as its hollow sockets bored into the young man.

“Can you die for me?” it asked. “That other woman was too hard for even my teeth to break though, but you look soft. You look yummy… I’m so very hungry, and I remember you, too… The apprentice boy… Glaus... Please let me eat you, Glaus…”

Fear wracked his body, indecision plagued him, and the entire time he stood there, he wondered why this was happening to him—whether this was the punishment he would receive for lying to Sinna and Nyx. This creature would ravage his body and consume him, ending his miserable existence just minutes after he finally avenged his team. It would not be quick, and it would not be painless. He didn’t want that, but he could sense now that he was not going to win a one-on-one fight against this thing, even if he hadn’t already expended quite a bit of energy on killing Quill.

And then, a voice entered his mind.

“Live, Rennigan. At all costs, make sure you get home safely. Otherwise, we died for nothing. Otherwise, the Battle of Stellareid will have truly been a complete and utter defeat. So kill Tyrus then go on to live a long happy life. Get a job, get married and have kids if that’s what you want, and enjoy the world until death reunites us naturally. Okay? We’re not going anywhere, so we’ll wait for you as long as we have to. Can you promise me that?”

A jolt of determination shot through him, replacing the terror as he ripped chunks of snow from the ground around him and sent it flying towards the creature in the doorway, intending to bury it alive. He made a promise to Fayela Rio, and whether he liked it or not, he would not die here.

Watching the creature disappear beneath the avalanche he sent onto it, Rennigan jumped backwards, wanting to get to the center of the courtyard where he would have ice and snow all around him to fight with, though he never once moved his eyes from where the monster had been.

That was immediately proven to be the right move, for it emerged from the mound as if it no longer had a physical form. It phased right through it before landing on the spot right in front of it, its head snapping up with the bloody grin that never seemed to vanish.

“Fine, fine,” it spat. “If you want to make things fun, I guess I’ll have a go at it! Let’s see you squirm, little boy!”

Exploding off the ground without emitting even a flicker of mana, the creature reached him with its massive claws drawn back to cleave through his torso. Thankful he’d been ready for anything, Rennigan brought a wall of ice bursting up from the ground between them, slamming into its chest and sending it flying into the sky. Moving into his momentum, the water mage spun around, created a dozen icicles through Geldai, then sent them hurtling towards its body while it was still in midair. Each one met its mark, slamming through her as the barrage tore through her fragile limbs and body, sending her arm splattering through the air, ripping open her stomach, torso, and neck, with the final one taking off her right leg. The bloodied corpse tumbled to the ground and crashed into the snow only to soak it with the blood that started leaking out.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Whether it was due to the dead Korrei-Tarr or a residual from facing Quill, Rennigan didn’t believe for a second that it was dead, and sure enough, the creature rolled over onto its remaining arm and leg, only for both stumps to suddenly pop into fully healed limbs in the blink of an eye.

Rennigan snorted. Of course.

The creature’s head snapped to the side, tilting to gaze at him like a curious animal, and soon enough, he sensed its mana enter the snow and rip control from him as if he had never cast a water spell before that day. Dread settled over him as the signature of that creature reached every molecule in the courtyard, an overwhelming feeling that caused his body to tighten up despite knowing he needed to be ready to move at all costs. He could hear cackling from the monster as it sensed his fear and mocked him, and though he moved to try and create shields of ice on his arms for any sort of meager defense he could manage, he knew that had circumstances not changed at the literal last second, he would have died then and there. Instead, something barreled through the mound of snow left in the doorway, and as both Rennigan and the creature turned to see what happened, they both bore witness to the massive, rock-armored form of Sinna Cartus.

Moving with speed unbefitting in her size, Sinna sent her armored fist slamming into the creature’s head, tossing it across the courtyard like a ragdoll before it smashed into the opposite wall, splattering more blood before crumpling to the stone walkway beneath it.

Rennigan exhaled sharply, the sight of Sinna both relieving and terrifying, but given that she had just saved his life, he supposed he had no right to complain. Much of her armor was glittering a faint blue in the overcast light, indicating that the reason for her absence may have been because she’d been frozen somewhere. The thought that the creature’s ice was strong enough to hold the Master of Rock at all created another pit in Rennigan’s stomach, but he choked back the resulting nausea and shouted out,

“Master Cartus, what the hell is that thing?! What’s going on?!”

Sinna’s head shifted to turn her glowing yellow eyes upon him, as if only now realizing there was somebody else out there. The hostility emanating off of her was a terrible indication, but her attention was forcibly torn away by the creature’s charge. Having dragged itself back to its feet, it leaped towards where Sinna stood, laughing as it did so.

“Come back to play with me, have you, Cartus?!” it shrieked just before Sinna’s hand bolted out to grab the monster’s outstretched arm.

Swinging Nyx’s body over her head, Sinna smashed it into the ground with enough force to scatter snow into the air. But the Master of Rock didn’t let up with one strike, rather she continued to twist her body, tightening her grip on the creature’s small wrist as she repeatedly tossed around its petite form before slamming it into the snow with an even harder strike, then jammed her foot into its chest, caving in her ribcage and cracking the white bones enough for them to pop out of her skin. Blood sputtered from its mouth, though it never stopped smiling.

“Angry?” it wheezed. “Are you angry that I’ve taken over your sweet little girlfriend—that there’s nothing you can do to alleviate her of me?!”

Sinna’s foot smashed its skull, splattering its brains across the snow, but as if not needing its head, its arms grappled onto the Master of Rock’s leg, causing a thick layer of ice to spread from the clawed fingertips and up to Sinna’s torso. In retaliation, Sinna increased the pressure of her foot onto Nyx’s head, as if trying to keep her skull from healing. All the while, Rennigan could only gape at the battle, unable to do anything and understanding his own powerlessness in this situation. It was a being of water magic, and as such, he never would have been able to outpace it. It ripped his control of the snow from him so easily, proving to him that killing Quill Tyrus didn’t make him some brilliant warrior. If not for Sinna, he would have followed Quill into the reaper’s embrace minutes later.

“Die,” Sinna hissed, reaching down to grab hold of the clawed limbs holding her leg. With an audible crunch, Sinna’s grip crushed both arms, freeing her from its grasp and allowing her to move her attention to its neck.

But the creature once again seemed to lose its physical form, its body turning slightly translucent as it rolled to the side, passing through Sinna’s legs in the process. Rennigan watched with a tightened throat as its skull started to reform, with muscle and skin following close behind until Nyx’s monstrous face was back to its normal appearance.

“You can’t hide me forever, Sin,” it sneered. “You know that…as well as her…”

The snow beneath the Master of Rock exploded upwards, concealing her from Rennigan’s view. He felt another urge to run, for if this attack managed to stall Sinna for even a few minutes then he would be dead, but to his relief, the Master bolted from within, chunks of ice collapsing around her as she prevented herself from becoming immobile.

“You’re getting weaker,” Sinna growled, sending a sharp kick into the creature’s stomach that tossed it across the courtyard again. “Still hungry? Still lacking the proper fuel? That’s too bad you wasted so much energy trying to break my armor… You, of all things, should know that’s a waste of your time.”

The Master of Rock was once again on top of her, having reached where the creature landed before it could get up. Rennigan watched, wondering if there was anything he should do to back up Sinna, but he was soon shown that his presence was completely unnecessary for her. She began to ruthlessly batter the creature, sending hit after hit into her head, neck, and any part of the torso that wasn’t concealed beneath Sinna’s large form. With swift attacks, she popped off the creature’s arms, while using her opposite hand to continue to barrage her face. Rennigan could feel its grip on the snow weakening, so wanting to do something, he dropped to the ground and placed his hands into the white powder, and while the creature struggled against him, its decision to turn any of its attention away from the Master atop her was foolish. Rennigan couldn’t retake control, but Sinna took advantage of the opening to tear her crushed head from her shoulders and pound her knee into the spot where her heart should be.

The creature’s grip on the snow dissipated in an instant, as if its entire being had suddenly vanished from existence. Along with it went the mana signature within Nyx, leaving the Master of Water’s body empty of anything, or at least for the moment.

Rennigan frowned, slowly rising to his feet as he held his breath, anticipating the creature’s return and wanting to be ready for it. Even Sinna remained on top of it for a few seconds longer, so when she finally stood up as well, Rennigan concluded that it must really be gone. His shoulders slumped with relief as he glanced up at Sinna, who had not said anything and was instead just staring at him. Her gaze gave him a bad feeling, and assuming she must be waiting for his report, Rennigan hoped the good news he had would alleviate any anger she may have held towards him.

“Um, I killed Quill Tyrus,” he stammered awkwardly. “His body is still up in a nearby library on the third floor, if you want proof.”

Sinna’s head shifted to stare up at the few windows overlooking the courtyard, but when she still didn’t speak a word, Rennigan rambled on.

“So, is Master Rana gonna wake up? I-I mean, she’s not actually dead, right?” He recalled what Quill said about this creature coming out in Hiriech and Nyx replacing it again after Nakoma Taurus took it out. He hoped beyond everything that this was true, for it might mean he could talk his way out of any punishments for lying. “Master Cartus, what happened here? That thing seemed to know you, so…?”

Her gaze returned to him, causing him to flinch back and nearly stumble over something behind him. Catching his footing, he realized one of the Korrei-Tarr corpses was right at his feet, their helmet and skull completely caved in.

Huh? Hang on a moment…? Rennigan stiffened up, his golden eyes settling on that discrepancy. That creature didn’t seem to have the physical strength to do that? Rather, it seemed more focused on slashing, cutting, and biting. This doesn’t seem like a wound it would cause, but then again, what do I know? Clearly, Master Cartus weakened it before it ever got to me… Maybe it could do this before fighting her…?

Yet, deep in his heart, Rennigan Glaus didn’t truly believe that. It was why, yet again, he escaped death. Even as he was trying to convince himself otherwise, Nikirin was already on his lips.

A wall of ice exploded out of the snow between him and Sinna barely a second before she would have reached him, and while she naturally barreled right through it, it was enough of a delay to allow Rennigan to bolt backwards with a desperate and rather sloppy burst of Proto.

Shit! Why?! Why can’t I catch a goddamn break?!

“Master Cartus, please!” he begged frantically, repeatedly sending his mana into the snow as he brought it rising up over her legs. Like the wall, she was strong enough to smash through, but the slower she was, the more likely he could talk her down. “Let’s discuss this! We don’t have to fight! Please! I’m your ally, I swear it!”

“You’re a lying little shit!” she roared furiously. “And I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let an arrogant prick like you be the reason for Nyx’s death!”

Wait, so this isn’t just about me lying?! She’s also trying to keep me from exposing this creature? Do the Masters not know then? Master Taurus does, but maybe…?

The full weight of what he was facing crashed down on him, for if this was a secret from other Masters of Ijiria, and perhaps even the Iijis, then his knowledge was not something Sinna would overlook. She was covering her tracks, and if she was the one who killed that Korrei-Tarr beneath him, and however many more, then she would have no qualms about eliminating him should it mean Nyx’s secret was kept safe. She hated him, after all, and always had, primarily due to the way his father behaved. Perhaps this was the very excuse Sinna Cartus sought to kill him.

But Master Cartus won’t abandon Master Rana if she really can come back to life! he reminded himself. If I can escape, I can reach one of the others and try to protect myself! If I can get into the presence of another Master, or even one of the Iijis, then she wouldn’t dare kill me! If she did, she’d have to explain herself to them, and that would risk exposing Master Rana’s secret! Yeah, there’s no way in hell I can defeat the Master of Rock on my own, so my best bet is flight! I can’t die today! Not after all I’ve been through!

“NIKIRIN!” he screamed ferally, using his pain and drive to live to do everything he could to buy the time he needed. “EXALIGNIS!”

The snow around them filled with Rennigan’s mana, causing multiple thick walls of ice to explode upwards in various angles and positions, turning the courtyard into a crisscross of defense that Sinna would have to knock down, but that he could phase through completely. His second spell sent steam bursting from his hands that swiftly spread throughout the courtyard in tandem with the forming walls. It wouldn’t burn Sinna due to her armor, but if he could remove even one of her senses, it could just barely make the difference between life and death. Finally, he used Proto one last time to jump upwards, knowing that if the Master of Rock managed to use environmental magic to bind him to the ground the way he just tried to do to her, it would all be over.

That last move, as simple as it was, made all the difference.

Since Faye hadn’t lived long enough to learn every rock spell in the book, Rennigan wasn’t familiar with all of them, so when the ground beneath him began to furiously shake, as if an earthquake had erupted right under them, he realized that was Sinna’s doing. His walls of ice began to shatter immediately, cracks began to form along the surrounding walls of Ankalla, and the few windows that remained intact shattered, sending glass shards tumbling down towards them.

Shit!

As always, he was outmatched, and of course he was.

He was fighting a Master of Ijiria, so how could he possibly stand even a slight chance against such raw power?

His burst of Proto only sent up a few yards up, for he wasn’t practiced in wind magic to do much else, and right as he was landing, Sinna emerged from the ground, almost certainly having fused with it to move beneath the steam and walls, her rock-armored hand shooting upwards to grab him by the neck on his descent and slam him into the ground so hard that had there not been some snow left to pillow his head, his brains may have splattered from his skull right then and there. His windpipe was being forced shut, and for what felt like a few seconds, his life flashed before his eyes, knowing that if Sinna increased her pressure even a little more, she would crush his throat.

Hang on a second? Is this really how it ends? I’ve wanted to die for years, ever since I watched Tyrus kill my friends. I was prepared for it to end here in Ankalla—knowing that Tyrus would almost certainly bring me down with him. The fact that I came out of it alive, and relatively unscathed, was a miracle in its own right. Faye…my memory of Faye urged me to live. Master Rana urged me to live, and right as I began to wonder if maybe I should, I’m going to be murdered by the Master of Rock?! I’m going to die to cover up a secret I should have never known, all because I accidentally stumbled upon it?! That’s not fair! That’s not fucking fair!

The yellow orbs embedded in the rock that served as Sinna’s eyes were emotionless and empty, while the Master was silent. She probably intended to kill him, then tell everybody else that Quill did it. Ryokumo and Ilirianna would believe it, they would never know what really became of him, and his murderer would walk free—a Master of Ijiria!

No, no, no, no! I’m tired of this shit! I’m so fucking tired! Why can’t anything go my way?! Why can’t I enjoy a victory for even one fucking second?! Why can’t I be happy?! I don’t want to die, or at least not in a pathetic way like this! I’m done! I’m done with all this bullshit! I just want to put it all behind me—to pretend like none of this ever happened?! I just want it to stop! GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME, CARTUS!

His features contorted with rage, hatred, and desperation, and if she killed him, he wanted his final moments to torment her to the end of her life, assuming she even had the heart to care. He expected her fists would tighten at any moment, but to his surprise, they suddenly loosened, her head snapping upwards as if to stare at something behind him. However, he realized she must have sensed something given all the steam still hovering around them. She looked back down at him, leaned forward so that her head was right next to his ear, and hissed,

“If you tell a soul what you saw here today, I will destroy everything you love. I will kill you, Kloras, your mother, your damn maid, Caeli, and anybody else in my way. I will drag everything down with me… So keep your fucking mouth closed, Rennigan Glaus.”

And then she sunk into the ground, her grip allowing him to suck in breaths of air as Sinna Cartus disappeared. Tears were in his eyes, his body was trembling, and he felt so weak from the shock that he couldn’t move. He could only wonder why she spared him for a mere second before the steam dispersed and a man came into view, his eyes scanning the ravaged and snowy courtyard before noticing Rennigan laying a few yards away from him.

“Hey, you! Are you okay?!” It was Alharo Bann, the Vice-Captain of the Korrei-Tarr who frantically knelt down beside Rennigan, his features contorted in concern. “Hang on, you’re Glaus, aren’t you? Where’s Masters Cartus and Rana?! And what happened to Tyrus?”

As he asked these questions, he was already beginning to send some minor healing magic into his body, alleviating Rennigan of the pain he hadn’t even noticed until it was gone. His lips moved on their own as he gave a response.

“Tyrus is dead. I killed him.”

Alharo’s eyes went wide, indicating that even if he expected to hear that Quill had been beaten, he must not have been ready to learn Rennigan was responsible. “Well fucking hell… Good job, Glaus… And the Masters?”

He seized up, a vindictive and hateful part of him wanting to toss Sinna Cartus and Nyx Rana right to the wolves for what almost happened to him. His anger and hatred made him want them to suffer. Sinna, especially, could rot in hell for all Rennigan cared, but just as his mouth opened to begin weakly explaining what took place following Quill’s death, he suddenly remembered what Nyx had done for him that very morning. He recalled the way she caressed his hair, and the way she comforted him after he emerged from the Elixir of Sweet Dreams. It had been genuine, as had the way she mothered him ever since they left Erika. Even setting aside Sinna’s final threat, he knew in his heart he couldn’t betray Nyx without at least talking to her first, so despite his highly emotional state, he did as was ordered and kept the secret.