Soul Song ~ Book One

Chapter Forty-Two

The skeletal face, with its jaundiced eyes, didn't reflect the thoughts swimming through Klellen's mind. No amount of opulent surroundings, from Elder made silks of bright blues and intense mauves, hanging across the windows or over the bed pressed against the wall, could bring him joy. Each problem demanded his attention. It was one of the many times he was glad to not possess blood of his own. He'd have a migraine if he did.

"Why so melancholy?"

Startled, Klellen whipped his head around, looking for the owner of the voice.

"I said, why so melancholy?"

Frowning, Klellen glared at his own image in the mirror. The macabre skull grinned at him as he inspected it in the glass.

"Don't you have all you desired? Power, prestige, your wife, alive by your side?" the skull asked him. Skin and flesh blushed across the bones until his old face glowered at him.

"What is this? Who are you?"

The Klellen mask laughed. His own voice melded with thousands of others as it laughed.

"Why, lover, have you forgotten me so quickly?"

Klellen curled his lip at the mock-Klellen in the mirror. The image didn't follow suit.

"How could I forget that which placed a curse upon me?" he growled.

"How very unkind of you. I only did as you asked," the face in the mirror pouted, much to Klellen's displeasure.

"You gave me a prison I cannot escape from. And, you added so many others to this prison."

"Ah! But, I did not. I gave you what you asked of me. You have the power you sought. It is through no fault of my own that you are not satisfied with your blessing." The reflection feigned disinterest, inspecting its nails. Klellen slammed his fist on the table, just short of shattering the wood.

"You killed us all!"

"I warned you," the image yawned. "And I gave you the choice. Your life for the lives of all others. I would think it a small price to pay."

Klellen rested his head on his hands. "Why didn't it work? She never gets sick. She was the only one to survive an entire family dying. Green eyes. Why did we only end up with a child with ashen colored skin with no abilities?" Klellen paused to stare at the visage in the glass. Not getting an answer, he continued. "A son will be born of two Changed Ones. Will it work this time?"

Plague narrowed Klellen's eyes at him, but didn't answer.

"The things I have done to that girl," he sighed. "But the things she should have been able to do for me! Answer me, Plague!" As Klellen watched, the skin and flesh in the mirror melted in a grotesque display until nothing but the skeletal monster remained. For the first time in a long time, Klellen climbed into bed and slept, dreaming the dreams of blood and horror all Changed Ones dream.