Free Hail to the Queen (Sage Trilogy, Book 3) by Julius St. Clair

his seat to better face them and then sat down, a large, warm smile plastered onto his face.
    “Now, we can converse in comfort. Scarlet, I believe you were spouting off some drivel about me knowing why you’re here. Please continue.”
    “I was saying that you know our mission. You know what we want from you.”
    “The stone of Zen-echelon,” Thorn said with grandeur, waving his hands up in circles to the sky. “Yes, I’ve seen what you’ve done to Languor and Quietus. Excellent work.”
    “How did you hear about it?”
    “I said I saw it,” Thorn corrected. “Not heard. I can see everything.”
    “Okay,” Scar let scoffed as Thorn wrapped his wool cloak further around him.
    “So, you want my stone to conclude this irrelevant quest. I understand that, but let me ask you this, why would I do so? After all, you’ve read the letter from Catherine’s father, let’s see, Kyran – three times, and Scarlet – six? It comes right out and says I’m the enemy. I’m the cause of the verdant ether that nearly covers the skies of all five Kingdoms. So why would I help you? Shouldn’t I just execute you right now?”
    “It’s a valid option,” Scarlet replied with a grin. “But of course we’d fight back.”
    “If you can call it that,” Thorn laughed. “Eidolons. What a joke.”
    “So what happens now?”
    “Is that it?” Thorn said in surprise. “ Conversation over? No negotiations? No begging for your life? Just hey, we’re enemies so let’s kill each other? I really wish Arimus was here. He would appreciate the art of mutual respect despite the circumstances.”
    “What do you propose then?” Kyran asked. Scarlet stared at him in shock. What was he doing?
    “Let me break this down for you. I didn’t have to invite you into my home. I could have killed you over six hours ago when you first arrived. Heck, even back in Allay before you left, but I didn’t, because I’m not ruthless. I understand that people need a chance to fight against the powers that oppress them. Trust me, I know more than anyone. So just because I can annihilate you all, this doesn’t mean I just should. I do enjoy the occasional talk, a little worship here and there. Am I making sense?”
    “You think yourself a god,” Scarlet scoffed. “And we’re just bugs.”
    “A crude metaphor, but sufficient. Yes. Though you can relate. As human beings you can look down at your feet and appreciate the structure of the anthill, the organization of their collective and their persistence despite insurmountable odds, yet that doesn’t stop you from crushing their home underneath your shoe if you see fit to do so. It’s not that you hate the ants. The most they’ve ever done to you was tickle the hairs of your arm. But you do it anyways. Because you can. Because something within you yearns for supremacy. For purpose. That you matter as an individual amongst other individuals. I was very much the same way in the beginning, and I had to go through a lot of torment to achieve the status I’m at now. Pain doesn’t even begin to describe what I’ve endured. No word, no feeling you’ve ever experienced can. Most, no, all have died trying to achieve such a feat, and yet, here I am. And now that I’ve ascended, I don’t want to destroy you all just because I have the power.”
    “You want to control everyone,” Kyran said flatly. “And everything.”
    “Precisely.”
    “Then do it. You claim to have the power.”
    “It’s not that simple, my beady eyed friend. We all know what would happen. I slam down the gavel of judgment with all my might, and you’re all fashioned into slaves and ordered to follow my decrees and it would be great fun for a while…but two problems remain. Two, very disturbing problems that I am in the process of fixing.”
    “Go on.”
    “First, I am still bound to mortality. Alas, I may be able to stretch out my years by absorbing others like the Quietus do, but in the end, I will still die. This, I