Page 96 of The Seeker
Ata gave him a crooked smile. “I don’t think she’s the one who wants it.”
“She may not, but she needs it. You were the only Irina in legend able to slay a Fallen with only the sound of your voice.”
She flinched. It was so minute, Rhys almost missed it.
“The only one?” she asked. “No one else figured out how to do it?”
He nodded.
“I told her modern Irin were stupid.” Ata rose to fetch her own gourd of water. She came back and sat next to Rhys again. “Tell me, scribe, why do the Irina need this power? Aren’t the scribes willing to protect them?”
“Of course we are, but we also respect balance. Right now the only way we know to kill the Fallen is with a heavenly blade. And only scribes can wield a heavenly blade.”
“And there are only so many black blades in this world.”
“Exactly.”
“My brother held one, but it was taken by the French when they killed him.”
“How was he killed?” A warrior like the Tattooed Serpent would not have been easy for a band of Grigori to kill, much less any human.
“He was killed by deception and dishonor,” Ata said. “And that is all I’ll say about that. My mate, praise the heavens, died honorably in battle as he would have wanted.”
Her mate?Rhys blinked. “I didn’t know you were mated.”
Ata stared at him. “What?”
“We don’t have a record of your taking a mate. The stories we have say that you and your brother fought together and that you’d chosen a warrior’s life.”
“So you assumed I’d never mated?”
Rhys was speechless. “I haven’t really thought about it much, to be honest. In the stories—”
“The stories, the stories, the stories. I am not a story. I am a person. And my mate was the other part of me.” Ata’s eyes were fierce. “He was myreshon. How in Uriel’s name did you think I sang the magic that slayed the angel?”
Rhys blinked. “What?”
“Who is stronger? Mated Irin or unmated?”
Oh damn.“Mated, of course.”
“And strongest are those mated to theirreshon. It has always been so for Irin, why would you assume it would be different for Irina?” Ata shook her head in disappointment. “Here’s the truth, scribe. The martial magic that slayed Nalu died the day my mate did, because it was only together that we were strong enough to take down an angel, and he died in the effort.”
“Did they know?” Rhys asked. “Did the Grigori—?”
“Of course they did. The Grigori have always known our weaknesses. That is all they have to study. While we work to build lives, they only think of death. They have no creation, only destruction. And it is far easier to destroy than to create.”
“And yet you want to destroy your life instead of create new magic.” Rhys set his drinking gourd down and held his hands out to her. “I know that is the way it has always been. I can’t understand your loss, but I do feel it. I also know that we are trying to change the old ways. Meera is trying to change them. I am too. Otherwise, what do we have but endless war?”
“Lifeiswar,” Ata said. “Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to lower your defenses.” She rose and started to walk away.
“Wait,” Rhys called. “What does this mean? Are you going to teach us the martial magic the Irina need? Ignore what we’re asking of you for a minute. If you truly believe that life is war, if you’re truly ready to die, don’t you want to give your sisters every weapon possible so that they can take up the mantle of guardian when you are gone?”
Ata stopped and turned. “You speak with sense. That’s a fair question.”
“Is that a yes?”
She looked at Meera, then at Rhys. “I know you think I’ve been ignoring your words, but I haven’t. Is she your mate?”
