I hopped to my feet and accepted the breacher from the warden, eager to learn how to use the dagger as more than just a weapon. “What do I do? Do I just poke it and will for the breacher to do its thing?” “Essentially, yes. All you need to do is pierce the exterior of the remains and will a whisper of your spirit into the blade. Once you do this, the body of the slain will disperse and a portion of the spirit it had in life will crystalize.” “Why only a ‘portion’?” I asked, recalling not getting a satisfying answer the last time we talked about this. Disinterest shaded her expression. “Do you truly wish to know? It honestly isn’t very important…” “Think you can’t summarize it quickly? I said teasingly, grinning at her. Interest flickered to life in her eyes at my challenge and she quirked her mouth to the side in consideration. “Hmm… Well, assuming they had one, when something dies their soul and spirit fuse into one before passing to the next life, leaving only the body. “So, w

Not looking back or speaking, the warden led me by the hand through the trees of the Forest of Embers. Her pale fingers gripped my hand tighter with mounting nerves as we drew closer to Lysandra’s home. After about ten minutes, we emerged into an open space at least three times larger than the half basketball court-sized grove I’d fought the torchboars in. Ringed by trees, a lush carpet of flame-colored grass covered the glade. With no obstructing canopy, sunlight streamed down into the clearing from the blue skies overhead. Made from the wood of the forest, a solitary single story cabin stood in the center of the glade. At least large enough to comfortably house four people, the structure was wellbuilt and solid. A porch and a pair of windows faced us. In the shade provided by the roof over the porch, there was a closed front door. I whistled in appreciation, recognizing from my brief stint studying to be an architect that whoever had built this knew what they were doing. “Damn

My boots clunked against the hardwood as I stepped into the cabin through the front door. Sunlight streamed in through windows on either side of the entryway and along the wall to my right, illuminating a spacious main room with an open floor plan. Lysandra was nowhere to be seen, but as I looked around, I spotted a door on the other side of the room, and another set into the left-hand wall. If I had to guess, she was probably behind one of those doors. The combination of not having been introduced to her, being in her house, and having her out of sight, but nearby, made me feel a touch uneasy as I made my way deeper into the angelic woman’s home. In one corner of the spacious main room, there was a cozy kitchen area with an odd combination of sink, island countertop, and an iron cookpot sitting in a small stone recess embedded in the wall. Next to this was a doorless threshold that looked to lead to a pantry of some kind. Three chairs were slid beneath a dining table pushed up

“So… I hear you’re devoted to Passion. What’s that like? “That means you’re a priestess of Passion, then? Like, officially?” “No, I never ascended to such a position. It would stifle my passion having to live in a temple, so I found it right to remain but an acolyte. I still am beloved by her for my tributes of passion though, so she understands my desire.” “So… being an acolyte means you don’t have the status of a priestess, but you worship Passion and still try to ‘stir the emotions of the flame aspect’ like a priestess... But you don’t have to live in a temple and can travel around if you want?” She nodded. “Quite right.” “But she could be a priestess if she wished to! None is more devoted to Passion than Lysandra!” Saelia said. My guts twisted in sympathy when a shadow fell over Lysandra’s face at the warden’s hurried entry into the conversation. I smiled encouragingly at Saelia and tried to help her move past the awkwardness. “Yeah?” “Yes, for as long as I’ve known her, she

Since there'd been no trail to follow from Lysandra’s glade, Saelia and I had to slip around bushes and weave through trees as we hiked through the wilds of the Forest of Embers. I still didn’t know where we were heading or whatever the warden had in mind. But, I trusted her not to lead me to my death, so questions about that could wait… “Care to tell me why you stopped me back there?” I asked. The warden traced her pale fingertips along the bark of a thick tree as she walked around it. “Stopped you from doing what?” Her messy black ponytail swished as she flashed me a teasing grin over her shoulder. “You know what…” I started to wonder if sadistic teasing was really the only reason she asked me to go with her instead of proceeding with Lysandra. She’s pretty good at hiding stuff. What if she’s actually upset about where things were going with Lysandra? “You asked me not to grab her ass and go with you instead. Why? You weren’t, like, bothered or something, were you?” Saelia