Imperial ((Imperial) Web of Hearts and Souls)

  The First are precious to all sovereigns. Their every care and desire is heeded, and an abundance of respect and honor is returned. So, when mine found herself swooned by Colton, Xavier’s First, I should have been told. But Mazing was ashamed and shielded what she thought was a passing fever from me.

  If Escorts find a fever with another Escort, they always find one in their own line, or not at all. Simple as that. Truth be told, commitment was not really our thing. In most cases, permission to be coupled only arose when an Escort developed a fever for a human. When that occurred, lengthy judgments were set in motion to ensure that the Escort was not under a spell or being threatened by an opposing race, simply because the opposing race often wanted what we could not freely provide—our kind could not state or feel the four letter word that begins with an ‘L’ in the English language.

  The lore has various reasoning for that as well. One is that the word and emotion unite all beings as one, which is the goal, of course, but if we are one with them we cannot take the emotions that harm humans away. If we dared to, it would infect the masses. Can we say end of creation as a whole? Yeah, that would happen, no doubt.

  It was an extreme tribulation to couple with a human. Basically, the Escort would be stripped of any knowledge of their heritage, yet the dreams and cravings would remain. More than likely, they would go insane and harm not only themselves, but also the one they chose to leave their race for. Because of that, some never bother to seek permission; they feel that they can control their urges and not harm their adored. They are always wrong. Death comes to the human, and the Escort lives out his or her existence in misery. Good for our kind. Not so awesome for the tortured soul of the Escort or the one they dared to adore.

  Some lore, really old lore, has different reasoning for why that word—in any language—is our poison. It states that it is not felt simply because the sovereigns had not sensed such a thing. That until they not only lived through it, but also produced a symbol of that emotion, it would continue to be our demise. Basically, it stated we had to transcend. That when we did so, the souls we were meant to relieve would also transcend into a level of consciousness that would allow them to feel and set free the emotions that were too much for their souls to bear in the first place.

  I didn’t believe that for an instant. In fact, in my opinion I would have told you that Vade and I had proven that to be a false lore. But then again, considering how we ended…I suppose there still may well be a shred of hope that one day we could all openly feel the emotion that is at the core of all creation.

  Fever was our word for passion—rush was meant to be an eternal commitment. But like I said, commitment was not really our thing.

  No one in the history of our existence had dared to cross lines or found an attraction with the opposing sovereign lines.

  And even if there were a precedent—I never would have allowed one of my own to cross with Xavier’s line, especially my First. The emotion Xavier created was shock. He was known to be unexpected, to surprise his prey at the most unlikely moment, and when that strike occurred the victim of the emotion discovered they had been deep within a web of fate for quite some time and there was no way out at that point. That emotion usually led to fear, which was why Donalt, the sovereign of fear, and Xavier worked well together in the past.

  Donalt was the first of our kind to take human form, to live and breathe in that state for an extended period of time. I’m not really sure how well that worked out for him. I died not long after he not only mocked the life of a current human king, but also convinced the entire kingdom that his name had always been Donalt. As far as I was concerned, Donalt could stay in his little world below and take Xavier with him.

  Mazing should have known from the first flash of fever with that line that it was more than likely a ploy. I would have told her as much if she had come to me with this confession.

  Instead, she and Colton met in secret. I assume that Xavier had no idea at first, but I have no doubt that soon after he discovered this treason he declared that Colton would be coupled with a petal, simply because the timing for that announcement was too perfect for my liking.

  Petals were near the lower end of the line. They knew they were Escorts, had served bravely for a few lifetimes, and were beginning to blossom into a name we would claim and use at our will. The only class below them was mists. Those were the youngest Escorts. In most cases, they didn’t know of their heritage and were blindly living out other courses of their existence—never really knowing why they didn’t seem to fit in. Square peg, round hole.

  Coupling a First with a petal was an ostentatious move. It stated that Xavier was openly breeding his line. Forced fate is a dangerous game to play within any race.

  Like I said before, we cannot carry children, but our essence is our power. Any blast of deliberate power or energy from a sovereign extends their line. Those in our kingdom can extend our line as well, but it is more complex than when we do so. First and foremost, they must be coupled. It takes the power of two to bring forth one.

  When Escorts that are coupled produce a fever that has the slightest tinge of a rush—their essences create a ‘bloom’: Escorts born human, only to be claimed later in time. The claim must come from the sovereign, which is why we must approve all couplings. Without our approval, the newborn Escorts will live troubled lives, to say the least. They will feel what they are but never clearly see or understand it. Some have even been known to blindly fight against the race of Escorts.

  Rarely have our lines chosen to disobey the laws of our race. Therefore, strength and vitality were built into our immortal race.

  Because the Petal, Cadence, if I remember correctly, was younger and was chosen to couple with a First, there was no doubt she would not only have a fever for Colton but also a near instant bloom. Maybe not a powerful bloom, but creation would occur. Colton’s energy would ensure those newborns would rise quickly. Along with their insatiable hunger.

  Now, I knew this was occurring, all of the sovereigns knew it was occurring, obviously Colton knew it was occurring…but Mazing did not.

  One night she went to Colton, and in the end she was the one that was in shock. A distress that I felt at my core so intensely, it brought me to my knees.

  That night, Colton didn’t confess to Mazing that he had been chosen to couple with another. No, if he had, I’m sure I’d still be alive. Instead, Mazing caught them together. She found Cadence in his bed, heard him whisper the same words to her that she had heard the night before, watched him caress her skin in the same exact way that he always touched her.

  Catching your fever cheating on you is not nearly as bad as knowing that the words you thought were sacred to you were nothing more than verses used to get you right where he wanted you. I’m sure the fact that she was a petal didn’t help the matter.

  Mazing lashed out, as anyone in her case would do, only she was born with lethal capability.

  I understand that she broke twenty-four bones in his vessel, which was not really a big deal. We heal at the speed of light and only feel the pain for an hour or so afterward. Mazing didn’t stop there. With her nails she carved her name across his broad chest, the ‘M’ started at his shoulder, and the ‘G’ finished just above the opposite hipbone. She then poured her essence of wrath into the wound, causing it to scar for the rest of his existence. She was on her way to clawing out his eyes when Xavier’s guards overpowered her.

  Mazing had permanently damaged the First in Xavier’s line. A declaration of war whether she’d intended it or not.

  What I found odd about the entire event was that Cadence never made one move to stop Mazing. I mean that told me she was smart, that she knew it would only take one blow from Mazing to send her back to her low level rank in pieces. But still, she didn’t call for a guard or plead for Colton’s life or anything. Instead, she provoked Mazing. Long after Colton lost the will to speak, she continued her taunt, telling Mazing exactly how Colton had touched her, what w
ords he had said.

  It almost made you wonder what her motives were. Why she would provoke the death of a soul that would have forevermore pulled her from the status of a petal.

  I’ll give you one thing—Colton had nerve. Once he recovered, he came to me, told me what my soul already knew—what happened and where to find Mazing. He was prepared to help me plot her escape. I declined.

  If I took his offer, it would have meant that I was claiming him as my own, which put not only my line at risk, but any and all of our descendants. Not to mention he was from the line of shock. Couldn’t trust a damn word that came out of his mouth. The lot of them were gifted manipulators causing you to look in one direction as the world around you fell apart.

  I glanced to my side to find Mazing’s waiting auburn eyes. We had never discussed this incident. There was no reason to. My mind’s eye showed me, in flashes, what had occurred during that deadly fight. Scolding her or lashing out was pointless. I knew she felt guilt, pain, and regret. Emotions I knew all too well.

  “Glory. Something isn’t right,” she said in a hushed whisper as she glanced at the level of The Realm we were leaving.

  She had a point. If that coupling had occurred between Colton and Cadence, then Cadence’s scent would not have been on a lower level; she would be with Colton.

  “I didn’t sense Colton,” I replied as I tried to read her rigid body language.

  “Lilies,” she said in a whisper.

  That one word caused me to freeze. A lily was the scent of grief. An entirely different line, one that never caused any trouble at all. At least not during my reign.

  “Are you telling me that the chosen petal for Colton was not from his line?” I seethed.

  She swallowed harshly. “I’m telling you that the girl I pulled from Colton’s bed carried the scent of lilies. If she carried his line’s scent, I would have realized it was not in his control. I understood that he was playing me. Having his way with any and all lines.”

  Wrath. That was seeping through my soul. It was so powerful that I felt the stare of Rasp and glanced behind me to find him gazing up at us from the stone he was on.

  I glanced to Mazing once again. “So the Veil is as thin as a cloud, dead are trapped, battles have occurred on the first level of The Realm, humans were involved—lines crossed long before this day—and the Reaper suddenly decided to offer us a reprieve from death,” I summed up sharply, still not comprehending what was occurring now, why we were pulled back into this world.

  Mazing rolled her shoulders once, a tell that said she was getting ready for a fight. “Bring it,” she fumed. “They would not be pulling us out unless they needed something from us. There is no telling what this boys club has been up to while we were chilling with the dead in the Cathedral.”

  “No one is getting anything from me,” I stated with a stern stare. She was my only possession and she knew that. She also knew that she and Vade were never the best of friends—that the fact that her acts took me away from him was not going to win her any favors. “What happened between me and Vade had nothing to do with you. He will not harm you,” I swore.

  Gently, she reached for my arm. “He would never do anything to bring you misery. For that I know I am safe.”

  A sly smile edged to the corner of my lips. I reached to squeeze her hand before I casually brushed it away. I was beginning to tremble, and I didn’t want her to sense that weakness. “He already has. He left us. He did not avenge us.”

  “How do you know that his actions have not led to what was below?” she asked as we rose further into The Realm, to levels where Escorts were more freely seen, not that I could see any now.

  I was sure Rasp was cloaking us at this point. He was deliberately hiding our return. Something Vade could not have done. If anyone had seen Vade enter the Veil and return cloaked, they would have no choice but to believe I was with him. That he had finally woken up and claimed the rush that once was his.

  That didn’t make me any happier. I never gave a damn what anyone thought of my actions. An argument Vade and I often had. He’d tried to teach me to rule with absolution, something that could only be done if you took your time and weighed every action, every outcome, and always saw your line as an extension of yourself. I understood my line was me. But with the emotion of wrath as my power, taking the time to think was not my style—at all.

  I stared forward into the now purple sky. “Vade is anger. The one emotion that resides within every emotion. If he had acted out, there would be nothing left.”

  “Is that what you would wish?” she asked humbly.

  I really didn’t have an answer for her. I would not wish for destruction, but I wished to be vindicated. I wished that Vade had at least sent word that I was still in his thoughts.

  Instead, he was calling me home breaths before everything our Creator had envisioned was sure to vanish.

  “We are eternal, my dear First, and we will always be.” My words eased some of the tension in her body, but not all. “Did you sense Colton below, or now?” She would be able to sense him even if he were cloaked.

  “I do not. And I did not sense him within the lilies below. I sensed her king.”

  “Fielder?” That was the name of the sovereign of grief, though it did not do you much good to memorize it. He often changed his name and lurked within the human race. His emotions were habitually found in the fields the dead lie within; hence the name we call him by.

  I’ve never spent much time with him. I really couldn’t see eye-to-eye with him either. He felt his emotion, grief, was the most powerful, the one the human race needed to be relieved of first and foremost. It was one emotion that my soul had never truly endured, so that reasoning was lost on me. Not to mention that, in my opinion, if you were saturated with grief you did not move forward, but lived in the past.

  All the other emotions moved you to a new point. Anger tore everything apart, forcing you to rebuild the way it should be. Shock gave you a reality check and pushed you forward. Fear forced you to find new paths. Obsession pulled you toward your goals, whether they were material or ethereal. Trepidation plotted a new course, preventive actions. Exaltation pushed you to find that ecstasy once again. But grief, grief pushed you to live in a past that will never occur in the exact same way again. Pointless.

  I was told often by those that had felt it that grief was the worst, and in most cases Fielder was considered a saint by those he relieved.

  I’m sure the fact that he was built like a God had nothing to do with that. He was a charmer. Often gave gifts of paintings and such to those he adored. The paintings would capture a moment that had a deep meaning to whomever he adored—cute, huh? Yet what did that do but trap them in a past memory?

  I knew there was grief on the first level of The Realm, but I didn’t sense the power of a sovereign in the energy, which meant Fielder was masked. Not really an odd thing for him in the human world, but it was in The Realm.

  Then again, I would hide myself, too, if I’d partnered with Xavier against Vade. If that were even the case.

  With each second, more and more questions arose. I was assured by Rasp that Vade had not crossed with anyone, but this revelation that Mazing had displayed now said that the kings of grief, shock, and fear were working together. Against Vade. That enraged me.

  We had passed more levels now, the sky was brighter, and in that light I could see how Mazing was near translucent. One glance told me I was, too.

  We had not been nourished properly in eons, and it clearly showed. Before our death, I was already teaching my line—or trying to—that they did not have to create the emotion of wrath to pull from it. I knew from my human life that there was enough anger in the world without someone fanning the flames.

  My only issue was that once you taste power, you crave it. To heed that, I was teaching them to find energy that was given freely. Energy from masses of souls, or even nature—water was the most powerful source we’d found. That was in part what my and
Vade’s last fight was about. He thought I was starving them. Moving the race backward. We were the first line to ever show signs of hunger: being translucent.

  I was honestly amused by the argument when he brought it to me. I thought he feared that I’d vanish from his arms. Apparently, that was not the issue. It was politics. Power. Boys club. Creator forbid that a female shake things up a bit.

  That was why Mazing and I only took what we needed from the Escorts we stopped from reaching The Fall. If we took it all, I’m sure we would have found our own way out with the power we would have gained over time. But we are both stubborn. And we had a point to prove.

  “When we get to the mansion, I want you to go to the springs. Feed. Learn what you can from the others,” I ordered.

  “I should not leave you until we know why we are here.”

  “I need you to be strong, you have to be nourished. And you will learn more if I am not at your side.”

  Truth be told, I didn’t want anyone to be near me when I saw Vade. I didn’t trust myself to stay strong.

  The highest level of The Realm was near. Storm clouds gathered above us, lightning spider-webbed across them. It was our own little electric gate.

  The wind did not sway us as we passed through the next level, but I felt my insides quivering, my breath becoming short.

  The mansion was in view now. It reached the width of the finest cities of the Earth below. Its height could barely be seen through the clouds that the rooftops reached to.

  White, black, and red were Vade’s colors. Mine, too, I suppose. The mansion was as white as the moon itself.

  The stone drifted to the massive front entryway.

  I stepped forward on the white marble. Doves, the symbol of peace, were lingering around the massive oval room. That was odd. But what was insane was that I sensed not only my scent, warm honey, but caramel, Xavier’s scent.

  Rasp had lied to me. Someone from Xavier’s line was here, not long ago. Maybe within this moonrise. And someone with my scent was here as well.