Page 61 of The Stolen Throne
“Bene, is any of this true?” I ask him.
He blows out a soft breath that sounds like a breeze stirring the top layer of sand in the dunes. “I can confirm everything up until the Devourers came to be.”
“Uh…what’s happening right now? Is he talking to you?” Cain leans forward, head cocked like he might be able to make it out.
I keep forgetting. Quickly, I pass on his words.
The zariph throws up a hand. “Why are we listening to a monster?”
“Smiting is becoming more and more appealing,” Bene rumbles to me. I don’t translate that one, though it’s tempting.
“Because he’s the proof.” I say this not to Cainis but to Reven. To Reven, who has been collecting proof against Eidolon ever since the day he was shed.
He draws one knee up, resting his elbow on it. I don’t believe the casual posture—it’s for the others. “We should listen.”
Cainis glares.
“What made you like this?” I ask Bene. As he talks, I translate for the others.
“Aryd and I fell in love, and she chose me to be hers. When I agreed, she gifted me something called Aura, and I ate it. It transformed me.”
“And when did this—” I wave at him. “Happen?”
“That came later. A few of Aryd’s sisters’ consorts desired more power.”
Wait. Eidolon put it a different way. That the consorts needed more power to put down uprisings of Imperium. But Bene’s wording sounds more like a power grab to me.
“More and more Imperium were birthed among humans each passing year, and three of my fellow consorts felt…threatened. In order that no one consort would have more power than the others, we all ate a second piece of Aura together. That is what changed me into what I am.”
The last words contain a rage that reminds me of Reven sometimes, and I have to consciously not lean away.
“The other consorts, too, although I seem to be the only one who held on to my reason. The others are bloodthirsty. Mindless. I have spent much of my exile staying out of their paths.”
As soon as I share that last bit, a sound pierces the quiet of the tent only to shut off just as quickly. Every eye goes to Tziah, sitting in a back corner by Vos. Her frosted black eyes are wide in a face gone…goddess, she is terrified.
“What did the Aura look like?” Vos asks in a voice so tight I’m afraid it might snap.
Bene considers him for a long moment. “A small blue crystal. It looks like a rock but will dissolve on the tongue when consumed.”
A memory flickers through my mind, of blue crystals in a circle around Reven as he refilled his powers in the night. Only I thought it was jedite, a rare and extremely valuable mineral. Is it the same?
I translate quickly.
“Jedite,” Vos supplies for all of us.
I glance at Reven.
His nostrils flare, and I know he’s thinking the same thing I am. That he’s been using pieces of an ancient, long gone deity’s heart to strengthen his power and tether Eidolon’s evil inside himself. I never did ask him where he got the jedite or how he uses it.
He gives a small shake of his head, and the shadows that bind us ripple, the warning alive within me.
Cain shifts where he’s sitting, looking around the room. “I thought there was none left. The Ynferno Mountains have long been abandoned.”
Tziah grimaces.
“Something you’re not telling us?” Cain asks.
Vos and Tziah exchange a look that says a thousand words even as they speak none. Then she nods.
