Page 64 of Up In Flames
“Yes, you were right about him. Just not in the way you thought. Caleb wasn't always Caleb. He was corrupted in a unique way. More possession than corruption. When we found him, he was himself, but the Corrupter had his hooks in him. It was too subtle for us to notice, even for Caleb to notice. Though he did eventually. He even tried to tell me a few times, but the Corrupter always took control before he did.”
“Are you saying the Corrupter wasinCaleb?” Xae asked. “Not just his magic.Him.”
“Yes. That's how he knew where we'd be. What we were planning. The Corrupter didn't just have a spy here.Hewas here. Caleb was a vessel for the Corrupter to use. When I went to Caleb that morning, he was the Corrupter, and the Corrupter took me to his fortress.”
“You said the Corrupter was a victim like you,” Rath said. “Tell us what you discovered, Ember.”
“He . . .” my hand went to the pendant. Not my Wraith Lord pendant, but the one Ara had given me. A tear trickled down my cheek. “The Corrupter is Death. Aranren was the victim. He's been suffering for so long. Alone. Imprisoned in his own body.”
Xaedren grunted—a sound of disbelief.
“I know, Xae,” I said. “It's hard to understand. Harder even to accept. But I just went through something very similar to what Aranren did. So, I know it's not an act. He was tricked too. Death took Ara, and when he tries to fight, Death closes the noose even tighter and turns him into the Corrupter. To survive, he learned how to manipulate Death. He pretended to be Death'spartner. Eventually, Death allowed Ara's soul to surface, giving him small reprieves. When I arrived, fully under Death's control, it was Ara who convinced Death to give me back a portion of myself. And when Death withdrew his control, Ara and I were able to talk freely. I met the real Aranren, and I was shocked to discover how gentle he is, how caring.”
“Caring?” Xae's eyes narrowed. “The Corrupter.”
“No, not the Corrupter!” I slashed my hand down. “Aren't you listening? The Corrupter is one of the Corrupted. Death taints him, twisting his thoughts until they're vile.” I shuddered and rubbed my arms. “He did the same to me. The things I thought while Death was in me will forever haunt me. All my softer emotions were repressed. I felt only greed and lust. I had no loyalty in me, not even for Death or the Corrupter.” I lifted my chin. “That's where Death fucked up. He doesn't understand that without love, there can be no true loyalty. I plotted against him even when I was under his influence. Especially then.”
“He made you into another Corrupter,” Rath whispered.
“Yes. Just as the Goddess warned me,” I said. “It's how I know exactly what happened to Aranren. It's how I knew when he was himself. Ara never wanted any of this. He's a good man. Kinder than me. The war is Death's doing, not Aranren's. He is either consumed by Death, doing Death's bidding as the Corrupter, or he is suffering alone as Aranren, surrounded by the evidence of the terrible things he's done as the Corrupter.”
“That's all real sad, Ember,” Keltyr said. “I believe you, and I sympathize for him, truly, I do. But it doesn't change the fact that the Corrupter is our enemy. Whether he is being controlled or not, he is the weapon that hurts our world.”
“He's a weapon in Death's hands,” I said fervently. “We need to disarm Death and free Aranren.”
“That may not be possible.”
“We have to try. I promised him I would never stop trying.”
“Ember,” Rath said gently.
“No!” I growled. “You love me, so you owe him, Rath! All of you owe him. He saved me. Aranren is why I'm here. He's how I got free.”
The men exchanged a hard look.
I started again, “Aranren has been thwarting Death's plans as much as possible. He fails on purpose and draws out the experiments. I think he gave Jath that pendant so he could escape with me. Aranren has been so successful at failing that Death began to doubt that they could win the war. So when he learned about me, he knew the only way he could win the war was with me on his side. If I bonded with the Corrupter, he'd have my power and I would magnify the Corrupter's.”
Xae and Taroc let out low growls.
“He filled the Corrupter with lust for me. But Aranren told Death that he wanted something real. He convinced Death to give us a chance to fall in love naturally.”
“That doesn't sound like saving you,” Taroc said in a deadly tone.
“Damn it all!” I growled. “You don't understand what it's like to have your mind turned dark. To have all the goodness inside you caged in bones. Ara did what he could for me. Evenbefore I was taken, he paved a better path. He manipulated Death into giving me back pieces of myself.” I shook my head and let out a harsh breath. “When I arrived at the fortress, I wasn't Ember anymore. I was Death's Ember. I looked at the Corrupter and saw only beauty. I lusted after him. I would have done anything for him. And the Corrupter was just as obsessed with me. But Aranren fought his way through that darkness and surfaced long enough to remind Death of his promise. He saved me from rape.” I made a sound that was half sob and half sigh. “I guess it would have been rape for both of us.”
Kel snorted. “So, he was fine with capturing you, just not fucking you under Death's influence.”
“Kel, please,” I said. “I know this is rough on all of you, but it's important that you hear me out. It's important to the war, not just me.”
Keltyr sighed and shared another look with the other men. “All right. Go on, Ember.”
“Aranren demanded that Death release me,” I said. “And he did. Not fully, but enough that I knew what was happening, and that I wasn't in love with the Corrupter. It's because of Ara that we were given moments of partial awareness—times when we got to feel a little like our true selves. That's when we got to know each other, and I saw the real Aranren. He told me what happened to him, how he was deceived and became Death's prisoner. We became friends, and we started to plan our escape.”
“You planned with the Corrupter to escape the Corrupter?” Xae asked.
“No, Xae.Aranrenand I planned to escapeDeath.” I sighed. “But I think it was more about my escape than his. Aradidn't have much hope for himself. I tried to motivate him, and I think I even succeeded a little, but he was always preparing me to escape on my own.” My hand went to his pendant. “He gave me this right before our deception was discovered. It's a charm to get through his wards.”
“Like the one he gave Jathalion,” Rath said and leaned in to peer at the crystal. “Do you think it still works?”
