“Nice is good,” I said. “But the whole world-going-to-hell thing is getting in the way.”
He exhaled. “There is no leisure for ‘nice’ amidst our current woes. With Szerain exiled, Rhyzkahl crippled, and Jesral weakened, we are hard-pressed.” Seretis brought his eyes back to mine, sad in contrast with his quick smile. “Yet I must confess, I take consolation in Rhyzkahl’s plight despite the challenges it poses.”
“It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.” I grinned, though his words stirred disquiet. The lords carried an unfathomable burden as an essential aspect of their existence—and had done so for thousands of years. Without their constant maintenance, the demon realm would cease to exist. How could anyone live with that much responsibility?
Bryce emerged from the house and spread an old quilt at the center of the slab. We settled on it, and Seretis’s features relaxed as he connected with the potency reservoir of the nexus.
“How long will Rhyzkahl be out of the game?” I asked.
“I never count him out,” Seretis said. “However, he is quite debilitated. He cannot tolerate sunlight, and he has ineffective connection to the flows.” He paused, unsettled. “There is no precedent for his condition. We do not know if he will ever recover.”
Without a ptarl, I added silently. There was no precedent because, in the lords’ entire history, no ptarl had ever broken the bond. Though Szerain and Kadir were separated from their ptarls, their bonds remained intact. “As much as I despise Rhyzkahl,” I said, “it sucks that he can’t help fix the damage he caused.”
“His absence requires—” Seretis scrambled to stand then stared down at me with shock and distrust as if I’d turned rabid. “You have connected with him.”
Bryce stood, troubled gaze shifting from Seretis to me.
“Connected?” I rose to my feet as well since I didn’t like him towering over me—especially when I didn’t know what the hell was going on. “Wait, are you talking about the dream thing?”
If anything, his apprehension increased. “Yes. A dream link.”
“You don’t have to worry,” I said defensively. “It wasn’t like the other times Rhyzkahl came to my dreams. I wasn’t asleep, and I had total control for this one. Why are you so freaked?”
Seretis shook his head, a sharp movement. “Rhyzkahl is the target with this new link.” He assessed me with narrowed eyes. “You are the initiator.”
“Huh?” I blinked, taken aback. “No, I’m not.”
“Who wove the link?” Seretis demanded. He advanced toward me, but Bryce thrust a hand between us to stop him.
“What are you talking about?” I demanded right back. As much as I liked Seretis, this confusing third-degree was getting old, fast. “I was about to go to sleep for the night, and the dream-thing just happened. I figured it was something Rhyzkahl tried to do that backfired on him.”
Seretis glowered. “He cannot create a dream link.”
“Sure he can,” I insisted. “He used to invade my dreams all the damn time.”
Bryce pressed his lips together then shocked me by taking hold of Seretis’s chin and forcing the lord to meet his eyes. “Tell her,” Bryce said, unflinching.
I planted my hands on my hips. “Tell me what?”
Seretis gave Bryce a look of deep chagrin coupled with unspeakable gratitude. “Rhyzkahl did not forge his previous dream links with you,” he said to me, subdued. “I did.”
Whoa. That was unexpected. “So that’s why you wigged out at Pellini’s ‘dreamer by the sea’ comment.”
His chagrin deepened. “Yaghir tahn,” he murmured and looked away. Forgive me.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “You owed Rhyzkahl a debt?”
“I am weak,” he said, voice low. “I owe every qaztahl.”
Bryce seized his arm. “Stop that,” he ordered.
“Yeah, you need to listen to Bryce,” I said. “Just because you’re not a raging asshole doesn’t mean you’re weak.” Frowning, I tried to piece together his remarks. “I’m lost. If you didn’t create the link, and Rhyzkahl can’t, who did?”
“I do not know.” His mouth bowed into a puzzled frown. “None of the other qaztahl are able to do so, unless they have kept the ability well hidden.”
“Could a human have done it?” It was a stretch, but maybe Katashi or Tessa were fucking with me?
The look Seretis gave me said No, no, and hell no, but he answered with a more polite, “I do not believe it likely.”
All right, so that narrowed my suspect list down to non-humans and non-lords with arcane skills. In other words, most of the demon realm. “Since my abilities are gone, the dream link is too, right?”