Lilith Shadowflame's Arc

Chapter 4 of 21

Damien kept his eyes on the floor. Lilith kept the crown on her head. The regalia held, but the silence did not. Down the mountain, the succubus she had collared was already walking into villages with her mouth open, ready to speak a name. Lilith did not have one to give her. No pilgrim could pray to a shape. Without a spoken name, the worship would scatter before it reached her, and the power feeding the crown would thin out. She walked past Damien to the back of the temple, where two thrones stood on a black dais. The larger throne waited for her, purple velvet stitched deep, spikes climbing its back. The smaller sat beside it in hopes that it could be Damien’s and him to claim to be by her side for all eternity. Above them, a ledge of black stone had been carved for the dragon to roost. The dragon padded in behind her and climbed to the ledge without being called. It settled, tail down the wall, and watched Damien. Lilith sat. She rested her hands flat on the arms of the throne. "Come here," she said. Damien came. He stopped at the foot of the dais. "You have read about me," she said. "Your brother came back from me and would not speak. You have wanted to be near me for a long time." "Yes." "Then tell me what they called me. The ones who came back. The ones who wrote it down." His jaw moved. He did not answer. "A name," she said. "Say it." "If I give it to you, you stop needing me." "If you don't, my worshippers pray to no one, and I fade. Do you wish to lose me before ever standing at my side and sharing my power with me? Do you wish to be bound to me?" He looked up at her then. He looked at the dragon on the ledge. He looked at her bare hand on the arm of the throne, close enough to touch. He did not reach. "Shadowflame," he said. "That's what my brother wrote in the margin. Not a title. A warning. Lilith Shadowflame. They whisper it before they knock." She did not move. She had chosen the second word herself, in private, long before anyone said it back to her. Hearing it in his mouth meant it had already left the mountain. It meant the succubus had a name to carry down. "Say it again," she said. "Lilith Shadowflame." The crown warmed against her scalp. The purple in the throne's crystals brightened by a shade. The dragon shifted on the ledge and let out a low sound that was not a growl. "Good," she said. Damien lowered his eyes again, but slower this time. "I gave you the name," he said. "You owe me your word." She did not answer. She had what she came for. The name was loose in the world now, and so was he, standing at the foot of her throne with a debt in his mouth she had not agreed to pay. As she simply replied "And you owe me your loyalty. Stand before me and claim your place at my side, so that it may fuel the devotion of my followers. If I give you the blessing you seek, you must kneel, swear yourself to me, and serve by my side forever." Damien gazed at her and dropped to his knees uttering simply "Your desire is my command, Goddess Shadowflame. You have me."