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She looks at him. “My blood.”
52
LUKAS
When Lukas asked Suki to tell him tales of his mother, he hadn’t expected to learn that he was older than Damon.
At first he had simply thought it would be amusing to find the most devastating moment to reveal this to Damon, perhaps when Ur-Durik was dead and Damon was sitting on the throne of Azuria.
But then he found himself standing in the Sacred Hall by Susal-ur-Bellan. And he watched them build wards around Harok, Umbert and Damon. And he knew what he had to do.
He was ready when that creature forced itself into his body, cold and nauseous for a moment and then, suddenly there. Inside him, with him. Forcing his body towards the zhilvar and the sacrifice stone that covered the vault. He willed back control, finding himself beside that stone, surrounded by mist.
He starts to make his plan.
He will kill this demon. He will die with this demon inside him.
Death to Emperor Selim. Death to Emperor Atticul. Death to Emperor Lukas.
“Harok tried to do that,” Elric had said, sweet face stubborn and stricken. “ It did not work.”
“But I know what Harok did not, Lordling. There is a vault under this forest built to hold demons. Ur-Durik wants to open it. And he will. He will open it and I will cast him into that pit forever.”
Lukas leans over and wakes the Lordling, sleeping by the fire. Condemned men are offered a last meal. He chose his own final indulgence.
“Bastard,” Elric says sleepily. “Not yet.”
“I told you. The control I have will be gone at sunrise.”
“Then let it happen,” Elric spits back at him, sounding desperate. He is so beautiful, red hair bright in the light from the dying fire, pale skin almost glowing, held in Lukas’s arms. The worst thing about leaving this world will be leaving this body, this man. “I will stay with you,” Elric says, pleading now. “Even a demon that had your face would be better than a life without you.”
Lukas realises then that Elric, still half in his dreams, has forgotten what Lukas told him the night before. What he planned to do. That conversation had been bitter, full of tears from both of them, as Lukas held Elric, sticky and satiated, ropes made from the Lordling’s own shredded shirt around his narrow wrists. Ropes that he had allowed Lukas to tie. So brave, his little Lordling, letting a demon rope him. Lukas had left those ropes in place as he told Elric his plans, begging him just to allow him this, this and before it, one last night, lying in each other's arms. And now he must do it again.
“I will not become a demon, Lordling,” Lukas says.
“No?” The delight on Elric’s face cracks Lukas's heart in two.
Lukas shakes his head. “No. There will be no demon with my face.”
“Then what are you going to do?” Elric’s voice is cautious now. Is he realising what Lukas means or remembering, Lukas cannot know.
“I will open the vault before the demon has control of me fully. And I will throw myself into it. Lordling, it was always my fate to die a glorious death. I will save the world.”
“No,” Elric struggles in the ropes. He’s remembering now, but he can do little. Lukas draws him in tighter, trying to soothe him as Elric says, “And what has this world ever done for you? For either of us?”
Lukas smiles sadly at his Lordling, angry in his arms. So beautiful, surprising him with his beauty every time Lukas looks on him. “Little it is true,” he says. “But I always thought there was a chance to build a better one.”
53
JEMEL
As Jemel hurries to the Sacred Hall with the Immurite, someone crashes past him. It takes a moment to realise who, even what it is.
It is Elric, naked, with his wrists roped behind him. He lurches forward to the high table, past soldiers with shocked expressions, half falling onto it.
People are moving, Tobi, Perl and Inez, rising from their seats. Tobi reaches Elric first and wraps him in Harok’s cloak. “He’s going to open the vault,” Elric splutters, falling onto his knees on the stone floor.
“Yes,” Damon says, “he is. Did he hurt you?”
