So You Might be Soulless

17|| Hate

"Found anything yet?"

"No."

Pause.

"How about now?"

Diya raised her head from the thick tome and glared at him through bleary eyes. "Maybe I would if an idiot shuts up."

"Right, right, sorry." Sebastian was sprawled across a comfy chair, his legs thrown across the armrest with a leatherbound book rested in his lap. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, drooping forwards as exhaustion wracked his body.

A blazing fire burned in the heath, bathing the room in its warm, orange glow. Shadows were thrown up across the wall in a drunken dance like some faceless caricature, their cacophonous whispers and demands sounded garbled to Diya's ears and she gave up trying to understand them.

The musty and comforting scent of old books washed over the duo, and Diya had to resist the urge to press the open double pages to her nose and inhale deeply. She didn't want some servant to see and spread the rumour that the Imperial Family's new bodyguard was crazy.

She sighed and adjusted the flickering lamp by her side, tossing her book into the steadily growing 'no luck' pile, her hope dwindling to almost nothing. Throwing her head back, she let out a tired groan. "This is impossible! I can't find anything!"

"I told you so." Sebastian put his book directly on top of Diya's. "It's getting late... should we head back?"

"Do you want to go? I'll escort you back to the palace then come back. I want to do some more research."

"Why will you escort me back? I'm not a child."

"You're the future Emperor of this great Empire. Your life is important."

"That's probably the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

Diya shot him a flat look. "Don't get excited. If you die, I don't get paid."

"It's progress."

"How are you so happy all the time?" The question slipped out, a product of tiredness, and mostly a jest.

But Sebastian stilled and tilted his head to the side as if he was listening to invisible music. A slow smile tugged the edge of his lips and he stared at her with those jarring eyes. "I made peace with my ghosts a long time ago."

He ducked his head and pretended to be absorbed in the next book, not realising it was upside down.

Diya raised her head and took a deep breath. Focusing all her energy into a single point, she switched on her Sight.

The spirits floated across the room, smiling and laughing with soulless eyes. They hovered around Diya, running their ghostly fingers through her hair and trying to converse with her- their last connection with the World of Living. A woman with a gaping wound in the side of her neck hungrily brushed her fingers against Diya's cheeks and hissed, drawing back sharply.

Diya swallowed thickly and forced her head to turn towards Sebastian. She couldn't get lost in the Realm of Ghosts- it was the number one rule of being a Necromancer.

There were horror stories of Necromancers who get 'locked'- permanent residents of the Realm, despite their physical body still rooted with the living. It was a painful and slow death, often ending with the Necromancer taking their own life to be one with the ghosts they loved.

To her amazement, she saw the ghosts give Sebastian a wide berth, as though he was encircled by jagged barbed wire.

Everyone had ghosts they feared.