Ruk answered this time. “My kin and I fine-tuned those alterations over the course of many, many years in your lower timeline, and we don’t have time to repeat that process. And there’s a big difference between providing you with a helpful tool and changing your bodies.” He spoke gravely. My mind flashed to Aurora, floating above us in this very castle. My skin pricked with goosebumps. That was another issue we needed to address. I wanted to help reunite Ruk with her. Hopefully, she could still be saved after all her time in stasis.
“Alterations are hard to take back,” he finished. So, we don’t get to keep them? I frowned but said nothing as Xiu shifted in her seat. The arbiters wanted to keep their powers as close to the Higher Plane as possible.
Xiu’s face tightened. “Yes, using an item means that we don’t have to waste energy modifying you. Such an undertaking requires truly massive amounts of energy, and we would then have to revert you back to your normal form when your task was complete. This is just a temporary fix, until you stop the council.”
My hands fluttered to the necklace tight against my skin. Modification. It wasn’t so long ago that Dorian and I learned that it was the arbiters who’d created the curse that Dorian and I had suffered. For our entire relationship, we had searched desperately for a cure. Being together without pain meant that we could fight alongside each other… and love each other without worry.
Dorian’s hand was still on my knee. My fiancé’s hand. My heart quickened as I recalled his proposal, which had come mere moments before we’d fought for our lives and freedom in the Games. Pushing away the sensation that the memory brought, I remembered the cold, hard reality that awaited us in the lower realms. No stasis, no curse protection.
“If you’re giving us these necklaces, I’d like to point something else out,” I said. “As soon as we set foot in the Immortal Plane, Dorian and I will feel the effects of the curse that you placed on vampires and humans. We cannot fight well, or even be near each other, with the curse hanging over our heads. Can you help us?” I hesitated, debating whether to push my luck. “It’s hard for me to understand why you would create something like that to begin with.”
Un stirred for the first time. “We had good reason.”
Dorian inhaled evenly, but his eyes narrowed on our unlikely host. “Good reason caused the Separation, too, as I understand it,” he pointed out. He placed his hands on the table, splaying his fingers in a display of forced calm. “Lyra and I have suffered immensely from this curse. If you want us to fulfill our duty, then you need to give us a workaround.” Bodies stiffened at the tables. Orbs grew darker in color.
“Temporarily, we might be able to,” Xiu offered, but she hedged away from a confident promise.
“We desperately need it.” I leaned forward over the table. “The only current workaround for the curse is dangerous to my body, and the rulers are highly aware of how detrimental the curse is for Dorian and me. They’ll use that against us. They certainly are ruthless enough to pit a couple against one another.” It was impossible to forget those awful moments with Zeele in his lab. Over and over again he’d dragged us closer to one another. I blinked away the memory. Zeele was gone now, but Irrikus and the others remained.
A muttering of disapproving whispers broke out at the end of the table. Un said nothing, but his frown said everything. How could I forget the way Un had reacted and courted public opinion during our trial, when he asked Dorian and me if we were a couple?
I heard the faint tinkle of a bell as Bi rustled indignantly. He must have kept one on him at all times. “We can’t approve a vampire-human relationship. In fact, we can’t even entertain a conversation about this.”
Pik cocked her head to the side. “Why not? Our logic is clearly not as perfect as we think. Perhaps it’s time we revisit some of the old issues.”
“Bring up your proxy debate again, and I’ll lose it,” Un muttered bitterly. I glanced between the arbiters. Clearly, many of them had reservations and sided with Bi and Un. Some, like Pik and Sen, appeared more open-minded. Xiu was in more control now than the others. If we could convince her, that would go a long way.
“We at least deserve an explanation,” Dorian said, with palpable restraint.
“Indeed.” Xiu nodded, her long braid swaying as she did so. “Essentially, vampires are meant to check everyone else. It was decreed that this should be their purpose from the beginning. In order to maintain the balance, vampires had to be impartial.”
I felt a flare of anger, but by now I’d grown used to their arrogance, even if their logic continued to annoy me.
“Our decision was based on the need for vampires to have clear judgment,” Sen added. “We wanted to eliminate the potential for a conflict of interest.”
A tight knot formed in my chest. Their reasoning gave me little comfort, causing my irritation to grow. They have no idea what we’ve been through, since they can’t experience emotions. How could they know best about relationships between species?
“We had to think of the consequences such a pairing might produce,” Xiu said, “beyond the vampire’s purpose as judge. You two are of disparate species. If you had a child, we do not know how your genetics might combine. It could be disastrous. It could result in something weaker than a human or… stronger than a vampire. It disturbs the natural order.” Her brows knitted together with worry. “Offspring can result in confusing combinations. Chaos has no room in our logical system. The hybrid species might have ended up staging their own uprising. What if the combination gave them the unique ability to hide among humans? There’s no guarantee that they would remain bound to the same duties we set up for vampires. They could turn dark more easily, possibly more easily than humans, making them highly dangerous to the balance. It was simply too much to consider, so we decided to prevent a problem before there was one.”
Tears blurred my eyes for a moment. Angry, furious ones filled with lots of salt and memories of my hardest moments with Dorian. I blinked them away with difficulty. I needed to focus.
“I understand you had a concern,” I said stonily, “but you have to realize that you’ve already failed.” We had already heard rumors about other humans and vampires being together. Surely, they knew that.
Xiu stared hard at me. “Failed?”
Dorian met my eye. He nodded warily. “There have been other human-vampire relationships, long before this war ever started. The curse in general is something you should reconsider, but especially for the duration of our mission.” He dropped his voice to a low, rumbling tone. “It’s imperative that we are able to work together to end Irrikus and his Immortal Council.”
We need them to know how serious this is.
Un sighed. “Are all lower beings so bold?”
“No,” Ruk answered for us. “And we should count ourselves lucky that these two are. I advise that you heed their warnings, Xiu. Give them what they need to fight.”
Xiu leaned back in her chair. “I will confer with all the arbiters. Give me one moment.” She closed her eyes. Her facial muscles flexed tensely. I couldn’t imagine how many voices she was processing in her incredible brain at that moment.