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would stand against them, for fear of being infected with their power.
    “But that wasn’t the worst of it. When all the life is taken from something, what is left is death. Take the death away as well, and what is left is nothing . That nothing would breed unnatural creatures, the stuff of nightmares that feeds on that which it lacked — energy — until our world was barren, all the while multiplying the nothingness it created. We left, and that is why we can never go back. Our world was already crumbling, but given enough time it would have healed itself. Now, it is a world of monsters. The Thanatos were all killed in the hope that our past would never repeat itself. Entire families were destroyed for fear of the power in their genes.”
    Unnatural creatures? Nothingness? Shouldn’t I be riding around on a luckdragon or something?
    “Why have I not heard any of this before? It seems rather important.” The only time I could remember death mentioned was in a conversation I’d had with Laurel, and she simply said that you can’t remove death from something. Either she didn’t know this particular history lesson or she lied to me. I really hated being lied to.
    “The Elfennol don’t speak of it. I’m certain most of them don’t know it. My grandfather walked through the portal and helped build our first city in this realm. He told me of the Thanatos and the danger they present. He told me why we must never go home, because to go home is to become worse than dead. It is to be taken away from the natural cycle of things. In secret, I told my own children. The Elfennol fear the past, and would rather forget things as a method in preventing their recurrence.
    My fingers were going numb from the vice-grip that Ezra had on my hand.
    “You inherited this ability from your father, did you not?” Aahana asked.
    He silently nodded his head, and I could almost feel the shame radiating from him. He looked up and met Aahana’s gaze for the first time in this conversation. “Are you going to tell the Elders?”
    She nodded.
    “Hold on. What will they do when they find out?”
    She didn’t answer.
    I pulled my hand free and stood up, not at all liking what the silence implied. “Well, then they aren’t going to know! You just keep your mouth shut, problem solved.” I hovered over Aahana, not trying to seem threatening, but knew I did anyway since the air started to shake around me.
    Control was not my best attribute.
    “It is likely that they already figured it out. Kaylus used that ability to kill poor Arthur. If they have not already pieced it together, they soon will. They might not know Ezra has the same ability, but all of Kaylus’ blood will now be considered tainted. If they have not figured it out, we need to warn them of what Kaylus is truly capable, because it is far worse than we thought.” Aahana spoke in the calmest voice I’d ever heard, and I finally knew where Alexander got his stoicism from. It annoyed me so much I started pacing.
    “She’s right, Della. They need to know about my father. Stopping him is more — “
    “I’m not going to let them kill you because you have an ability that scares them! You aren’t your father, and if you —”
    “They are not going to kill Ezra. We have not done that type of thing for millennia,” Aahana said in such a way that made me feel stupid, even though there was nothing in her inflection that was mean. “At worst, they will imprison him for life. It’s most likely that he will be forbidden to marry or father any children in order to end the taint with him. But it is doubtful they will do even that now.”
    I stopped pacing, “Oh, okay. So, why won’t they do anything now?”
    “In small part because of how he nearly spent himself saving our people yesterday, but mostly because of you.” Aahana finally moved, adjusting her seat to more comfortably look at me since I was still standing.
    “Me? They don’t even like me! Is it because they’re