Pearl of Emerald, page 55
“Sorry.” I shrugged half-heartedly. “No cane. But what in Void happened to you? We were worried the queen got to you and…”
“She did.” Her voice was hollow, staring out the balcony to watch the fight. She didn’t say anything else.
“You… uh…” I rubbed my neck. “Have you seen a Healer yet? With all your scars…”
She looked at her latticed skin, flakes of dried blood crusted over the auburn feathers on her arms. Looking disturbed, she tried to hide them with her hands, but that barely did anything.
“I’ll be fine,” she said, watching the battle overhead. “If that queen really is dead, then I’ve nothing to worry about. More so, I’ve been waiting so long to see the Shadowblood…”
“Yeah…” I let out a smooth breath through my nose, watching another spray of shimmering ice puff from behind the roof’s tip. “It’s pretty cool to see them in action finally.”
XAVIER
Thunk!
Thunk!
Thunk!
I leapt back from La’lunaî’s icy barrage of shards, each one sticking to the roof where I’d been standing.
Alex waved his hand over them all, snatching them in a smooth row and thrusting them right back at the little Seadragon. The shards cut across her face from both cheeks, two shooting through her torso and one sinking into her arm.
She howled, more out of rage than pain, and didn’t bother to wait for her wounds to heal before coming at us again.
“Xavier!” Alex hollered, and I saw him encircle his hands, the moisture between them sucked out of the air and condensed into a wavering ball of cloudy water.
Before he lost control of it, I whipped my hand toward the ball, gripping the water from the middle with my Hallows and yanked it out in a twisting string as quickly as he produced it. With that hand, I drew out the water. With the other hand, I used my Glaciavoking to pour out the ice in my soul, freezing the water into a thick slush.
I splashed the little girl rushing me, tightening my grip on the water until she was caught in the slushy rope, and just as we’d done at practice, Alex came and dipped his hands in the stream, increasing the pressure to a crushing degree.
La’lunaî’s bones gave audible cracks, her arms breaking upward and her ribs crushing as if by an invisible weight.
She roared, howling under the pain, unable to control our elements without the use of her broken hands and feet—
“Da’torr!” Vendy lunged for me suddenly and tackled me to the shingles, my shoulder hitting first as my supply to Alexander’s water was cut off. Then an enormous pillar of jagged ice slammed into the roof where I’d been.
The second demon, Shëfaux, landed on top of it, smirking down at us.
La’lunaî was released of her bonds, panting and shying back to allow herself to heal, black blood slithering into her wounds.
Vendy pushed off of me and readied her blade as Alex ran toward us—but his foot slipped over a loose shingle and his legs slid over the edge. I seized his wrist in time, half of him dangling there until I pulled him back on the roof.
“What are you freaks?” Shëfaux laughed, scratching curiously at his head. “Grim wolves with our Hallows? That’s a new one.”
“It’s impossible,” La’lunaî spat behind him, still mending her injuries. “How do you have all three elements? Only my Bloodline can hold all the Blessings!”
“Not anymore,” I said, crouched defensively while I held the ice in my soul, denying freedom to the coldness that itched to leak from my hands.
Shëfaux cupped a leathery hand to his mouth, hiding an amused chuckle as he smeared it down his chin and asked, “What are you Clean Ones even doing here? Our affairs don’t involve you.”
“It’s nothing personal,” Alex said beside me, drawing out one of his scythes.
“Only business,” I finished and followed his example, taking out my lone scythe.
Both Ancients went rigid, staring at our radiant weapons. Dalen flew down beside us then and raised his Crystal daggers, and Vendy held hers in a defensive pose over her head, all of our weapons gleaming blue.
Shëfaux’s grin vanished. “Oh, Oscha.”
With my free hand, I let out a burst of ice, shaping them into sharp spires, and Alex took control of them and flung them at Shëfaux.
The demon dodged and took control of them himself, tossing the ice away. But we’d only used that as a distraction.
Alex and I rushed him, slicing inward at his sides. He yelped and ripped away before either of us could move in for a killing blow, and the demon hopped onto an adjacent roof—
He was blasted with fire, and I saw Nathaniel tossing more flames at him from behind Shëfaux.
Rosette soared above him then, clapping her hands together as an enormous bolt of lightning slammed over the Ancient. His screams curdled and stuttered, the stink of burnt flesh simmering even after the bolt faded.
Shëfaux started to run after Nathaniel, who was easier to reach since he had no wings, but the Ancient was blown backward off his feet by a powerful gust.
Aiden flapped down beside Nathaniel, loosening an arrow at Shëfaux that whistled in a loud burst, propelled by Aiden’s Aerovoking.
Shëfaux struggled against the three vassals, Dalen even snagging a slice here and there with his daggers while Vendy managed slice at him if he escaped.
With him preoccupied, I looked at our main threat. La’lunaî hadn’t moved from her post, still staring in horror at Alex and my scythes.
When she noticed me glaring at her, her finned ears flicked in fright, shoulders sticking to her neck. She glanced from me to Alexander, gave a curse in Marincian, and spun on her heels. She ran.
Ran?
I watched in disbelief as she gained distance. Then I looked to Alex for an explanation. He only shrugged at me, then took off after her. I hurried with him.
Then a thick, thorny vine wormed its way over the shingles like a feral snake. It snagged La’lunaî’s ankle and wrapped all the way up her leg, yanking her flat on her face before pulling her in the air upside-down.
“Leaving so soon, La’lunaî?” Miranda’s grainy voice sounded from a lower roof. I leaned over my ledge to see the old crone smirk, taunting, “Don’t you like our new Reaper friends?”
“They only want to play with us,” Cilia sighed next as she appeared from behind a chimney. Her smile was wickedly pleased. At her heels were three, hound-shaped masses of fire that wavered with smoke at her sides. “It would be rude to walk out on them now, don’t you think?”
La’lunaî’s breaths were heavy as she hung there, petrified. “H-how many Reapers do you have?!”
Cilia hummed, tapping a clawed finger to her chin curiously. “Not including the thousands exterminating our dumber counterparts in the city?” She asked. “I suppose… two. And their vassals, of course.”
La’lunaî’s emerald gaze quivered—
Something shot past my face, so quick I didn’t have time to look before La’lunaî shrieked in agony. A small throwing scythe was sticking out of her shoulder, black veins squirming off the blade and into her pores. Her screams intensified.
“Whoa!” A voice sounded overhead.
I threw my head up, spinning. Octavius’ feet kicked in the air, El’s arms wrapped around him as she flapped both of them down to us. Octavius panted when he steadied, flashing us a toothy smile. “Hey guys. Did we miss anything?”
Cilia chuckled delightedly, interlacing her fingers while pointing at Octavius. “Make that four.”
La’lunaî scrambled to summon a jagged ice blade, slicing Miranda’s constricting vine. She thudded to the roof, tearing out the throwing scythe in her shoulder and scuttled on all fours, shying back in a panic.
She turned tail and took off again.
But a glowing trident shot from above and drove into her skull, pinning her to the roof. Hecrûshou ripped out his weapon and raised it over his head.
“Shëfaux!” La’lunaî shrieked, her hands shoving forward.
Something happened to our Ancients, then. I couldn’t tell what was wrong. All at once, Cilia, Miranda, and Hecrûshou screamed as if pained and curled into themselves, dropping to their knees, then flattening completely as if pushed by the little girl’s outstretched hands.
The only Ancient left unaffected was Shëfaux, who suddenly hopped in front of La’lunaî, protective.
What happened to the vassals? I thought, quickly scanning the roofs. Aiden and Nathaniel were still standing, bearing many bloody wounds, but holding their ground. Vendy fell back at my side with a puzzled look, seeming just as baffled by our Ancients’ sudden distress as I was. Dalen flapped behind me, looking over my shoulder in confusion. “What’s happening?” he called over the demons’ pained screams.
I shook my head, puffing. “I don’t know.”
La’lunaî hurried to her feet behind Shëfaux and wasted no time. She fumbled away, leaping off the edge of the roof and disappeared. Shëfaux started to follow her.
“Death!” Alex cursed beside me. He put away his scythe, using both hands to summon the largest mass of water he’d created yet.
I put away my own scythe, then took the ball full-on and heaved, keeping its dense shape as it splashed over Shëfaux’s head and engulfed his arms and torso.
I pulled with my Hallows and dragged him close enough for Alex to plunge his hands into the watery mass and amplify the pressure, crushing Shëfaux and snapping his arms upward.
My knees bent, pushed down by the weight of this dense monster that strangled the demon. I grunted when my foot slipped, and I dropped the water in a startled breath.
Shëfaux thrashed about now that he was free, his arms and ribs still mangled, but he didn’t seem to care. He slammed his shoulder right into me, knocking me on my back. My skull hit the roof at full force, making my vision swim. Shëfaux’s figure was still swirling when I saw him raise his newly mended arm, summoning a fractured lance of ice and thrust it down at me.
In a reflex, I lifted my shoulder away, Shëfaux’s lance piercing the roof where my chest would have been, then quickly drew out my scythe and drove it into Shëfaux’s right breast.
Shëfaux was shocked stiff.
I blinked when a spatter of black blood dripped on my cheek. A different scythe’s tip was poking out from Shëfaux’s left breast, an inch above mine.
I grinned, then heaved my scythe across his chest toward his heart at the same moment Alex cut across in the opposite direction from behind.
Snap!
I watched Shëfaux’s gaze grow stale, his white pupils fading black as he gave a straggled sigh. His limbs went limp, skin turning to dust as black ichor evaporated from his barebones. His skeleton clattered over me, and I coughed when his heavy skull thudded onto my stomach.
My brother was now fully visible, grinning above me.
“Grand timing,” we said in unison.
53
Grudges
WILLOW
The explosions outside stopped, and my grown fox ears swiveled. I listened from my seat in the Infirmary as Hugh stiffened beside me.
Yes, the noise had stopped. Was it a good sign?
Hugh went to the door and cracked it open to peek outside. He straightened and twisted back to me. “Your friend is back, your Highness.”
I slowly rose, leaning on my crutch. “Which?”
Lilli walked through the door, clad in armor, her helm tucked under her arm. Jaq was behind her.
“Willow,” Lilli panted furiously. Had she run here? “The demons have retreated in town. They’re gone.”
“All of ‘em,” Jaq added in a fanged grin.
“Oh, Nira be blessed.” I hobbled over and held Lilli in a tight embrace, kissing her cheek. “Thank Death you’re both all right.”
Lilli smiled wanly, still puffing. “I was bitten a few times, but it’s not serious… where is Oliver—?”
Thwump!
The door was slammed open before I could reply. Oliver leapt from the doorway and latched onto Lilli from behind. “Mama!”
Lilli lunged back at his weight, but she took a step to maintain balance, then chuckled. “There you are, darling.”
“Mama, I-I couldn’t find you, and we were in that dark place again and that blue kid was floating! And-and there were these sandy monsters, gonna swallow us up like last time, and…”
He went on to describe his ordeal in Aspirre while Lilli and Jaq took a seat and exhaled tiredly, nodding off with soft Mm-hmm’s and I see’s.
If the demons in the city were retreating, I considered in silence, then had the Ancients been killed?
I left the infirmary and clipped out to the halls with my cane. There were so many people crowding the corridors, all murmuring about the sudden stillness. Some held hope, but others were skeptical. I shoved through the masses, looking at each face fervently.
Then the whispers rose into awed gasps, the crowd parting for a pair of men who skulked through the hall.
Xavier. He was walking alongside his brother. Octavius and El were trailing them, holding hands to my surprise, and towing that shaking, pathetic Ancient, Khol with them.
Relieved, I hurried over. When Xavier saw me coming, his face brightened, and he reeled me in by the waist to steal a kiss.
“Well, my dear,” he said. “I’m still in one piece. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for that divorce.”
I chuckled. “Pity. Is it done, then? Are they dead?”
Alex grunted beside him, holding up a skull he’d had tucked under his arm. “One is. The other fled.”
“In a terrible rush, no less,” added Xavier. “I doubt she’ll be coming back anytime soon… now, for the real question.” He held up his arm, offering it to me. When I took it, we walked on and he glanced at my belly. “Do you think we’ll have a son or a daughter?”
I pressed a hand over my stomach. “Well, I… I’m not sure.”
“No visions for it yet?” He sounded hopeful.
“Not that I’ve Seen.” I eyed him warily. “You’re taking this… well.”
“How else should I take it?”
“With a bit more trepidation,” I suggested. “Telling me it’s too soon, that you’re not ready.”
“Oh, I’m not.” His laugh was nervous, his smile a little pale. But he clasped my hand and trapped it on his arm. “But it’s happening, regardless. So, better to be excited than scared out of my damned mind.”
“I suppose.”
The crowd rippled with gasps suddenly, the hall clearing as an armored woman, Anabelle, stormed through.
“Willow.” Anabelle’s tone was hard, her expression tight. “Where is the body?”
Body? I frowned. “Of… the queen?”
“Have you moved her?”
My head shook. “I only just sent someone to find the proper shackles.”
Ana cursed in a whisper.
My fox ears grew, and I turned to Xavier. “You say one of the Ancients fled?”
He nodded. “The younger Relicblood.”
Behind me, Khol gave a choked squeal of terror, clinging to Octavius’s arm. “I-I thought you said you killed her!”
Alexander glanced back at him with a raised brow. “We killed Shëfaux, not the girl.”
“Ooooh….” He quivered and shuffled back, letting Octavius go as he glanced over his shoulder and ducked his head. “No, no, no…! She’ll come back—she always comes back! Always… Always…”
He kept blubbering this, crouching over his knees and cradled his head in his hands, sobbing hysterically. His scene was causing a worried uproar from the people in the corridor, the Ancient’s sobs echoing off the walls.
Hecrûshou pushed through the mass then and strode to the boy. “Still haven’t grown a Bloody spine, I see,” he said, grabbing Khol by his shirt collar and yanked him up. Hecrûshou had his radiant trident in hand, and he pushed the fork over the boy’s shuddering chest.
“Well, Khol,” Hecrûshou spat. “Here we are again. Though this time, I imagine slipping by like the eel you are won’t prove as simple, with so many Reapers.”
Khol squeaked. “W-w-wait…! Wait! I’m with you now, please…!”
“And the queen’s body?” Hecrûshou demanded, the shark’s teeth sharped. “Did La’lunaî take it herself, or did you drag it to her?”
“I-I-I didn’t do anything…!” He blubbered. “Please…!”
Hecrûshou dropped him, letting the boy simper over the floor.
I slipped my hand out of Xavier’s arm and gave Hecrûshou a sideways glance. “Are we sure that girl didn’t Mark him?”
“Marking an Ancient is impossible,” the shark muttered. “Any demon over three centuries rejects it.”
So Khol wasn’t lying. “Is he as harmless as he looks?” I asked next.
Hecrûshou sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Shamefully, yes. He’s a damned pacifist… raised in a temple by Rinish Purists. He’s barely had enough souls to make him Sentient. Oscha, when I first saw him, he hadn’t eaten any souls after his awareness returned. Bloody fool, it’s a wonder you’ve survived this long.”
I let out a dismal laugh. “A demon who abhors violence. What’s next?” I had a different thought and looked at Hecrûshou. “Where is Miranda? And…” My teeth barred. “Cilia?”
“They’re searching for straggling mongrels,” he informed. “Casting them away. Last I saw, they hadn’t found La’lunaî. They’ll return when they’re sure the city is clear.”
A bubble of hate rose, and I growled, “Cilia is not welcome here.”
Hecrûshou hummed. “I thought not, no. I gave her instruction to keep out of your sight. She’ll linger at your perimeters.”
“She’s not welcome anywhere near us,” I clarified, my fox ears curling back. “You and Miranda—and even this peace-loving whelp—” I thrust a hand at the weeping Khol. “Are the only Fera I trust.”
