The Summoners' Heir

Chapter 20: My Princess is Perfect

"Well, then, roughly how old are you?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I've heard stories about you since I was a child, but you don't look much older than I am."

"What kind of stories?"

What an intriguing conversation.

"The usual kind," she was getting annoyed now. "If you don't want to answer me, just say so."

"I don't want to answer you."

"Oh."

Seriously, Darkling?

Then he sighed and said, "One hundred and twenty, give or take."

Blasphemy!

"What?"

Yeah, what?

"That's impossible!" Mother cried.

The Darkling was looking into the flames now. "When a fire burns, it uses wood. It devours it, leaving only ash. Grisha power doesn't work that way."

"How does it work?" Mother inquired.

"Using our power makes us stronger. It feeds us instead of consuming us. Most Grisha live long lives.

"But not one hundred and twenty years."

"No," he admitted.

But even that wasn't completely true either. Not anymore. 

"The length of a Grisha's life is proportional to their power. The greater the power, the longer the life. And when that power is amplified..."

"And you're a living amplifier... like Ivan's bear."

"Like Ivan's bear," he smiled.

"But that means -"

"That my bones or a few of my teeth would make another Grisha very powerful," he finished for her.

I had almost forgotten that's where I'd got that from. I can still remember when I was attacked for my bones. It was chilling. I remember being in Mother's arms; crying as the Darkling performed the Cut on the greedy Grisha. No one could harm the royal family. But that Grisha had come close. I was immortal. But it was a reminder I was not invincible. Not fully.

"Well, that's completely creepy. Doesn't that worry you a little bit?"