Page 72 of Ember and Ash

I try to rift away, but I can’t seem to move, and I can hear the wolf inside me whine and retreat.

“You can’t rift with the blade of Elysium against your throat.” He pulls the steel back and slides the knife into the sheath snugly against my leg. “And I’m not trying to kill you. I’m trying to save you. And us with you.” He rotates away from me and flattens on the wall before sliding down to rest on the floor.

There’s an air of defeat in him that gives me pause and seems to contrast the way he pushed me to fight. I sit down next to him. “You didn’t like what Silas had to say.” I rotate to face him, and I remember the truck bed we’d ridden in, sitting much like this: close, intimate, and yet so far away. “Why?”

“We need a way to purge the serpent. I sent three of my men to seek answers from those who might actually have them.”

“Which would be who?”

“There are three Knowledge Keepers, all unique and ancient Nephilim.”

I’m intrigued and sit up straighter, rotating to my knees. “What knowledge?”

“There was a time when our library of knowledge was in one central location. There was a demon infiltration. They accessed information they should never have possessed, which led to a lot of bloodshed. That’s when we split the libraries, and certain books, the most critical and dangerous of all, were planted in the Knowledge Keepers’ heads and then destroyed.”

“What if that person goes rogue or dies? Or what if the knowledge is magically extracted?”

“Powerful magic protects the Knowledge Keepers. Should someone try to extract the information, the Keeper will perish. Should the Keeper perish, their knowledge will be cast into an heir, and no one, not even the Keeper, knows who that is.”

“What if the Keeper goes rogue?” I press.

“Once a month, the Keeper visits the Tree of Life in the Kingdom of Nephilim, also known as the Judgement Tree. It’s where our criminals and traitors are sent for judgement. The tree will decide if the visitor is innocent or guilty. You are either punished by the tree or gifted as the tree sees fit as penance for being forced into judgement.”

“Do I want to know what the punishment might be?”

“No, you really don’t, and it doesn’t matter. The Keepers are loyal to their duties.”

“And you asked one of them about me?”

“All of them. And yes, I did through my men. But it’s better we keep your location under wraps until we solve the problem at hand. If anyone knows you have the serpent inside you and that I know this but I’m sheltering you, we’re both dead.”

We’re dead.

Not just me.

“How can you ask about me and not expose us both?”

“I instructed my men to tell the Keepers that I’ve been reading about the Aza, and there are references to the serpent that gravely concern me.”

It’s a smart way to approach this, but I’m not sure it won’t alert the Keepers to my presence here in Elysium. Several of the Eagles were at the courthouse and at least one tried to kill me. Word of me and Micah coming together has to be out. “Why are you risking yourself for me?”

“Sweetheart, as long as you fight, I’ll fight with you, and you just showed me you’re willing to fight. Did you feel the wolf?”

“Yes. Yes, I did. But, Micah, I do not want to take you down with me.”

He pushes to his feet and offers me his hand, and I don’t hesitate to accept, expecting our connection in the touch, almost craving it. He pulls me to my feet, and once we’re toe-to-toe, he says, “Then don’t, Ember.”

The Sacred Book of Nephilim

When you want to know if death is near, don’t look down.

Look up.

Chapter thirty-six

Micah insists on knowledge before battle. “A warrior’s skills come from their mind first and their body second.”

In other words, he refuses my well-thought-out and dogmatic argument to head straight to the forest to start my intensive training. I’m therefore sanctioned to the library to read for the afternoon.