From the Ashes of Victory: The Complete Series, page 67
part #0 of From the Ashes of Victory Series
The words needn't have been said aloud, however; Selene read them plain on her face. "Like you chose Elise? And Elise chose you?"
Millie blew out a bested breath. "You're right. I'm just used to being that person for her," she said, nodding at Yekaterina as she showed Victoria another chord and the song began to pick up speed, "I feel like I'm failing her in some way."
"Your loyalty is admirable, Millie. It's one of your finest qualities. But in this case, it is unnecessary. Victoria must be allowed to grow."
As the song got faster and faster, Vickie and Yekaterina laughed as their fingers flew over the keys, matching the other's harmonies while adding one flourish on top of another that left the other no choice but to try something even more daring to keep up.
"I haven't heard her laugh like that in a long time," Millie said.
"Then let her do that, as well. There is another who enjoys being made to laugh you should concern yourself with."
Millie turned to see Elise approaching, a glass of wine in each hand.
"Thank you, Selene."
"Of course. Elise," Selene said with a small nod before leaving them alone with each other.
"Good evening," Elise said, handing Millie a glass.
"Good evening to you. Cheers."
"Santé," Elise replied, clinking their glasses together.
They both sipped wine in silence, the presence of the other all that was needed as Kalinka became something different altogether, swept away in a whirlwind of improvisation and one-upmanship that had one witch stealing notes out from under the hands of the other.
Music and laughter filled the halls of EVE for the first time, and as Millie stood side-by-side with the woman she loved, she felt what had, until that moment, only been a house become a home.
"Are you sure?" Millie asked, sitting in Vickie's chair, idly fingering through the book she had stolen the space from. Elise was away at the war hospital, and Millie had managed to pin Vickie down in her own bedroom, coming at the Yekaterina question from a different angle. Millie could accept that they had become good friends, but there was one more possibility she felt the need to eliminate before she could trust her best friend's well-being to someone else. One that could possibly make her pain even worse. It was a long shot, but she had to know.
"Of course I'm sure," Victoria said from her perch on the end of her bed, barely looking up from her task of threading the laces through a new pair of boots. Far from the chunky army boots she'd always worn, these were far nicer and quite a bit more fetching, even if they would barely be seen beneath a pair of trousers. "We have a lot in common."
"I'm sure you do, but that doesn't mean she doesn't."
Vickie looked up then, her eyes exasperated. "Millie, it's possible for two women to be close without being close, you are aware?"
"I am aware, thank you. I am also aware that Yekaterina is extremely charming, and I want to make sure she isn't taking advantage of you."
"That is callous. I don't know how you can even suspect her of that."
"Because I'm afraid—"
"She's not, Millie. I understand. That is, I don't— but I do. I know how protective you are, but that is an unfair suspicion. You trusted her enough to reveal your relationship to her, and she is supportive of you. After everything you've lived through, and that horrid business with the asylum, you trusted her with your secret. You volunteered it to her. If you trust her with that, you should trust her with me. And quite frankly, I am not an object for you to smother in your scales and make impervious from harm. You are my best friend, and one-third of my Coven. I trust you with my life, but you have to trust me with it, as well. I know I've let you down once in that realm, and it may be a lot to ask at the moment…" Victoria looked down and away for a moment before she managed to look back up, now with an earnestness that forced Millie to pay attention to the next sentence. "I won't let you down again."
"You're sure?" Millie asked. She wasn't above picking another fight with a Russian if there was a chance she only wanted something Vickie would never give her. If Yekaterina wanted something more and Vickie told her no, how would she react? But Millie being over-protective wouldn't do anybody any good, would it?
"There are things that she has shared with me that make us closer than most, yes, but romantic love is not one of them," Victoria said. "And before you ask, yes, I am aware of her proclivities. Some other woman will have to make her happy that way. Or man," Victoria said, looking like what she was saying was only now dawning on her as being Yekaterina's reality.
"All right," Millie said. "But if she tries anything with you…"
Victoria smiled and Millie's heart swelled. "I will let you know. But are you sure you're fireproof?"
Witchscale flared to life, and Millie looked down at her hands. "I'm… fairly sure I am," she said. "It's a risk I'll have to take."
"Well, I appreciate that. But it's Anastasia we should be worried about. I understand this revelation came about because of you," Vickie said.
"I didn't know what else to do!" Millie said, throwing her hands out defensively.
"I'm not blaming you!" Victoria said. "I don't want to assign fault, I want to say thank you."
"You do?"
"If you hadn't said anything, it wouldn't have come out. She already looks better, wouldn't you say?"
Millie had to admit she did. The terror was gone, but the sadness remained. Still, it was a start.
"I believe that is three of our new arrivals you've helped turn around," Vickie said, setting aside her boots and folding her stockinged feet under her like a teenager ready to start gossiping. It was an odd look for her, but not unwelcome. "I thought you were just the muscle."
Millie blushed, looking down at the book in her hands. "Svetlana said it was my heart that was strongest. Her eyes were gold when she said it, so I guess it must be true."
Vickie laughed. "She's not wrong."
"What about you? You… you're much better."
Victoria looked down to find her laces again, keeping her hands occupied as she absorbed this. She slowly raised her eyes once again. "I'm getting better. With all of your help. Progress is slow and halting, but I am."
"And we can thank Yekaterina for that?" Millie asked.
"Yes. Katya… and Anastasia now, have made an enormous difference, even if the latter doesn't know it yet."
Millie noted that it was 'Katya' now, but if she really had made that much difference to Vickie's life and outlook, then she had earned much more than a nickname. "Then in the end, that's all that matters," Millie said. Another nagging thought popped into Millie's mouth; one last bit of insecurity she had to get out before she would sign off on handing her best friend's well-being over to someone else. "Can I ask one thing, though?"
"Of course."
"Does she hug you?"
Looking about as if she'd missed something, Victoria's thick black eyebrows formed a single bridge of confusion. "Yes… why?"
"Good. Can I hug you?"
Vickie's smile bloomed once more, like a lily at the height of spring. "Would you like a hug, Millie?"
"Yes."
For the first time Millie could remember, she and Victoria embraced for reasons other than shock or relief; for no other reason than their affection for one another. Holding her best friend tightly, Millie finally felt that Victoria was going to be all right. She was real, solid, and present in a way she hadn't been in a long time. If Yekaterina had done that, then Millie owed her a debt of gratitude, and a chance to do more good in Vickie's life.
As if she could sense Millie's thoughts, Victoria's hair-muffled voice spoke into her shoulder. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Good, because I won't let you."
Pulling apart, Victoria smile was still broad and bright. "I don't know what I did to deserve you."
"You're you. That's enough."
"By the way," Victoria said, "I was thinking that in light of all of this, if you would be more comfortable spending your nights with Elise, I won't object." Her smile was wolfish enough to rival Ivy's.
"R- really?" Millie stammered.
"Really. I appreciate you thinking of me, though."
"How did you know we don't because of you? Could've been old-fashioned Victorian mores."
"I rather doubt that. We share doors. There's really only one other variable."
"Well sussed, Miss Holmes," Millie said. She had always underestimated how much emotional insight Vickie was capable of, and Millie was, in truth, thankful that she hadn't had to raise the topic herself. They were already so far over the line of what was considered 'acceptable' by everyone outside their home that it was bewildering. There was no safety net below them, and they couldn't rely on the way things had always been done to guide the way forward. If their life was to be one big conspiracy, Vickie volunteering to join it made things a lot easier.
"I mean it. Even after this all blows over and we feel safe again. Don't let me get in the way," Vickie said.
"You're sure? I don't want you to feel all alone."
"I appreciate that, but I won't. I've got lots of books to catch up on."
"I guessed, but being reminded every night can't be good."
"It's my choice. You can remind me of that all you want. Be happy. I insist."
"Thank you, Vickie. That means a lot."
Victoria jerked her head in the direction of the door. "Go on, then. A certain lucky girl will be home soon."
With a smile and a nod, Millie turned to leave. The moment she did, a sudden, frantic banging came from her own door the next room over. Sharing a quick look of terror at what it could mean, they both plunged into the hall to find Niamh, sweating and out of breath.
"Millie, you need to come to the infirmary right now."
"What happened?"
"It's Elise."
Victoria looked down at Elise as she lay in her hospital bed. She was motionless, save for the irregular breaths allowed by her bruised ribs. The swelling in her eye was already going down, thanks to Ivy, but it was discoloured, green and purple.
Her beautiful platinum hair was still stained with the hideous off-red of dried blood, in slashes and patches now that it had been let down.
Sitting beside her, Millie held her hand, having yet to leave her bedside since they'd arrived.
"Someone tried to take her from me," Millie said quietly. Not the soft, respectful quiet of someone sitting beside a patient in a hospital, but the quiet that comes before a battle. Her voice may have been hushed, but in her eyes raged a thousand hurricanes swirling with broken glass, ready to flay the skin from the next person they set upon. "Not because she was a witch, and not because she loved me. Not even because she was a woman who dared to live her own life." Those terrible eyes looked up from Elise to find Victoria, but there were no words that would calm what roiled within them. "They thought she was from the wrong country. That was all it took. They beat her, they threw blood on her. Blood, Vickie! They tried to—" Millie stopped and bit the back of her finger so hard the skin went pure white. "Are they here?"
"Just outside."
"I want to see them."
Victoria braced herself for what she had to say next. It had been a vain hope that she wouldn't have to, but a hope nonetheless. "I won't let you hurt them, Millie. They've done nothing wrong."
Millie looked down at Elise again. "I don't want to hurt them. I want to tell them something."
Victoria watched Millie's eyes for any sign she was lying, or that which was bubbling within her was in imminent danger of getting out. But Millie was serenely stroking Elise's fingers; it was only her eyes that gave away what was lurking just below the surface.
"Very well," Victoria decided, and stepped into the hall.
They'd called Elise Russian. It was one of the only things she'd managed to say before she put herself to sleep. Whoever had attacked her hadn't even known who she was or her role in the community. Everyone knew who Elise was. How could anyone think she was Russian?
"How is she?" Katya asked the moment Victoria was through the door, barely pausing in her nervous pacing. Her eyes were limned in red and she was fidgeting with her fingers so badly Victoria had to place her hand over them to stop her. The other Russians were there beside her, even Anastasia, to her great credit. All of them wore the same look of grave concern on their faces, and Victoria felt compelled to put them as much at ease as she could.
"She's very strong," she said to all of them, "her magics are working, albeit very slowly without her conscious guidance."
"And Millie?" Svetlana said.
Victoria took a deep breath before plunging off of that cliff. "She wants to see you."
All eyes turned to each other, though none of them were able to make eye contact beyond a furtive glance. Victoria looked between them, but none would look at her, either.
"Perhaps just one of you, at first," Victoria said. "It's probably best to not crowd her right now, anyway."
Out of familiarity or concrete knowledge of the courage within her, Victoria looked at Katya first.
This time, she did look up. They held a wordless glance long enough for the message to pass between them, and Katya slowly nodded.
"I'll see her. She deserves that much," she said, moving to open the door before she could change her mind, but Victoria stopped her short.
"She's in a terrible state; I have never seen her so angry. She may lash out and say things she doesn't mean. She's always had a temper, but this nearly broke her." Victoria gave Katya the slightest squeeze on the arm. "If she tries to hurt you, I will protect you."
Inga stood up to her full height, lowering her black eyes on Victoria in challenge, but Victoria shook her head. "Millie's my friend. She's in my Coven. Let me do this."
"Thank you," Katya said, and gave a 'stand-down' wave in Inga's direction. "Vita's right."
Inga's posture barely changed, but it was enough to signify her contrition. She remained as a shadow for Svetlana and Anastasia.
Following Katya into the room, Victoria stood as close to between her and Millie as she could in the small space.
"Yekaterina," Millie said without looking up from Elise.
"Yes, I'm here. Millie, I'm so sorry, I—"
"No." From Millie's fingertips, witchscale began to form, flowing up her arm and over her shoulders. "No, I don't want to hear it." The witchscale flowed over Elise's hand and up her arm, as well.
Instinctively, Victoria gathered her power within her. Finding the room below them empty, she focussed her energy, ready to drop Millie through the floor if need be.
Millie looked down on Elise with utter reverence, a solid sheath of misty, ethereal white linking them as one under an impenetrable barrier over their clasped hands.
"I don't want to hear it because it's not your fault."
She swung her attention to Katya, who took a step back.
"It's the fault of those who did this, and no-one else. I have only one thing to ask of you," Millie said, her voice cracking in her fury. "If the ones who did this find you… If they attack you next, I ask you to do one thing, and one thing only."
"Bring them to you?"
"Burn their hearts out."
The voice was barely Millie's. It was ancient, reverberating with a power that was hard to credit as coming from the woman sitting in front of them. Her face reflected the voice, etched in wrath and barely resembling who it belonged to. "Do that for her."
"I swear it," Katya said. "I don't know if they will stop with Elise, but if they don't and they come after one of us, they will not live to try again."
"Good."
Before Victoria's astonished eyes, Millie's witchscale bloomed once more, surging over the rest of her shoulders and up her neck. Down her torso, over her legs, and finally sealing over her face like a mask, Millie was completely armoured in her scales from head to toe.
"Millie…" Victoria breathed.
"I know. Nothing will ever hurt Elise again. I swore to protect her and I failed. I thought we were safe here—I got complacent. Never again. Do you hear me, Vickie? Never again."
"I hear you, Millie."
Under the faint light emitted by her armour, it looked like Millie's eyes were glowing; a hateful, malevolent green, shattered emeralds orbiting a pair of black voids from which there was no escape.
"If anyone walks through that door that isn't a doctor or a witch, I will kill them."
The moment Katya was out of the room, she fell against the wall and sank to the floor. She couldn't stop shaking. "That wasn't Millie in there," she said, looking up desperately at Victoria for confirmation.
She didn't get it.
"Yes it was."
"But that voice… that…" Katya couldn't find the words, no matter what language she tried. It had had the booming quality of being yelled up from the bottom of a well, or a cave. Or the mouth of Hell.
"I don't know what amplified it, but that was Millie," Vita said.
"Why are you so calm?" Katya asked. "Did you not see her eyes?"
"Katya, what happened?" Svetlana asked. "You are terrified."
Looking up at Svetlana and then down to her own shaking hands, Katya managed to explain as best she could in Russian, but, to her mind, failed.
From high above, Inga's face might as well have been covered in armour too, and she moved to stand even closer to Anastasia. "Millie is right."
Vita looked down at Katya. "She's always been… passionate. The first time she used her Manifest in anger, she snapped a man's arm in half with one punch. You know why?"
Katya stared upward.
"He touched Elise. He put one finger on her and Millie hit him with one of those armoured fists—almost crippling him without even knowing she could. She knows now, and whoever perpetrated this did a lot more than touch Elise." Vita blew out a breath. "In fact, we may have more to worry about with Millie than Elise's attackers."
"Why is that?" Anastasia asked, her eyes searching but finding nothing.
"Left to her fury, she will tear through this entire town to find them. She will rip it apart building by building until she does. It'll consume her completely, and she won't care about the consequences. Did you mean what you promised, Katya?"
