Thinning Veil

Thinning Veil

Hoping the child's strength wouldn't give out before it could be done, wishing that the path he knew was ahead for both of them wasn't so doomed.

"They may make it through this... Maybe, but it's not up to me whether or not he survives the Wolf's Hall. I imagine your granddaughter will make that very difficult, and not every hero is promised a proper nostos."

"Perhaps."

"You doubt your own granddaughter?"

She said nothing, but it was answer enough. The lost siren who had joined the Army seeking retribution and to honor her family would not let her great-nephew go easily. Her rage, as old and as furious as all sirens who had tapped into the heart of their line's power, would not allow it. Before she'd died, she had bathed in it, gloried in ripping through the ranks of hunters who had taken her world from her. She would push him until he rose through his pain or broke. She had taken after her mother in that way, and that same rage and drive for justice was in the heart of all her descendants.

He'd awaken it. He might have already and didn't know it. His training would test him. The locks on the rest of his power would come loose, and they all had to hope it would be enough.

The Pretender would not be dethroned easily and actively amassed power. Another siren screamed silently, swallowed whole to the north, adding to the vast well of power, allowing the Pretender to keep his hold.

She laughed, pulling him from his thoughts. "You think the ties of blood will be overruled by the ties of this gamble? Or do you think the limits of his strength are so near?"

"No," Gavin smirked and glanced back at her. "I'm counting on the bonds of sirens and muses across time and space to be unbreakable and drag him either to his full strength or into madness."

She stiffened. If Gavin had to guess, it was in the darkness of his eyes what exactly would come if the chief to be could not survive this with his heart intact. Maybe what would happen if he survived too. The path of a conqueror was not easy. A leyline grew thin to the west, merging another pair of vast islands. Koraha's border hummed and expanded. The tribe there would feel it soon.

He chuckled. "He will be very busy if he pulls through. Do you think they'd be considered the Cyclops or the lotus-eaters?"

She straightened her spine, her flashing eyes looked out into the distance, and she squared her shoulders. "He has my husband's cunning. He will survive your trials. And neither. They are corpses in a bloodied hall."

She was probably right about that from the way the red light of Koraha spread and devoured the white light of its neighbor's border, inching slowly to encapsulate the new territory; he wondered if it would come to pass soon enough.

"Not my trial you have to worry about." He tipped his head toward the churning ocean. "Can't you hear it? Can't you feel how thin the veil is now? Growing thinner every second. Has your husband not been whispering sweet nothings to you?"

She didn't answer. "He will feel it soon... He gathers his council wisely."

Gavin snorted. "Sure, let's call it that."

"You underestimate the power of hope," she smiled, gentle and understanding. "I understand that it is because you have had so little of it in your short life. You have allowed him to be your hope in your near afterlife. Don't pull back now because the way is uncertain and complicated. He is his father's son, his grandmother's descendant, my little palintonos polytropos." She turned her gaze south toward that same screaming pain that had echoed for decades in silence and was strained to near breaking by time. "He will make it." She nodded. "His blood calls to him as it has in every descendant of our line. Twofold in him. He will make it. You will see."

Gavin hoped she was right, or everything about the Young Conqueror's journey to Young Chief would be that much harder.

"You should visit your granddaughter. She may gain some comfort in your presence."

"You and I both know that is not possible."

"Have you tried?"

"Don't tempt me, child."

So she had. He shrugged and headed to the Port to take a peek at how Kore was doing.

"Do what you will, but as I said, the veil grows thin."

Nikolias didn't want to develop a deeper disdain and distrust for human police officers than he already had, but the police officer in the passenger seat made doing so nearly impossible. The man oozed corruption as he sat silent and shifty. He held back from delving into the specifics of the haze of malice around him. He needed all the control and calm he could muster before stepping into that house.

The enforcer whistled as he drove, his aura clear and full of righteous fortitude. His oaths shimmered around him like a full-body shield. He was the only reason Nikolias had agreed to get in the car with the officer. Nikolias knew from R.J. that the enforcer had worked with his dad for years and taken his position on a massive case after he died, but Nikolias had never met him.

He was grateful that a man of the same caliber had taken over his dad's work, though. It meant there was a good chance the cross-national trafficking of drugs like Alpha's Will would come to an end sooner rather than later.

The officer was an older man, twitchy, and constantly fiddling with the belt that held his gun in place. He was on edge, shifting in his seat like he couldn't get comfortable.

Fucking suspicious…

His fear hung tart in the air, more a mental feeling than a scent, unless he was borrowing some of Derek's power as a lycan.  He'd have to figure out how to manage that if he ever needed to, since Derek was definitely tapping into his power on a semi-regular basis.

Would he be able to shift? Other than knowing he was half faros, and apparently a muse and a siren, Nikolias' had o idea what else was in his bloodline thanks to whatever shielding his father had passed on to him. Regardless of why the officer was so on edge, the car's cabin was too small for his mounting terror. Nikolias sighed and rolled down the window, grimacing at the pain growing between his eyebrows.

So long as he didn't end up with a third eye or some shit, Nikolias would be okay.

"Have they already started?" Nikolias sighed. "Tell me they've already gone through most of it. How long has it been since the warrant was issued?"

"Not a chance," the enforcer said, chuckling. "Sorry, kid. Even on the scenic route, we'll probably end up arriving just after they've cracked the door open." His voice softened. "I wished more than anything that it wouldn't happen like this... That you wouldn't have to come back here after everything else that's happened."