A Burning in the Bones (Waxways #3)

Chapter 56 Nevelyn Tin’vori

56 NEVELYN TIN’VORI

A horn sounded.

Loud enough to halt every action, every shout, every spell. The enemy lines parted to allow someone through. Nevelyn assumed this would be their leader. And so it was a shock to watch Agnes Monroe march forward. The woman was outfitted in some of the finest leather armor Nevelyn had ever seen. Bone-handled daggers were sheathed at both hips. She looked like someone who’d grown up traveling in a mercenary army. Nevelyn’s eyes swung over to Ren. Her friend had slumped down to her knees. Her eyes wild. Almost rolling.

“I… I can’t feel him…,” she muttered to no one. “I don’t understand. I can’t feel him .”

Nevelyn didn’t know what those words meant, but it was far too clear that the girl hadn’t recovered from the bloodbath she’d just left behind. There was no way she was fit to perform a negotiation. Nevelyn’s feet carried her to the edge of the wards. The other wizards parted to allow her passage. Taking a deep breath, she stepped through the trembling magic. Exposing herself to an army that seemed hellbent on removing all of them from the face of the earth. Agnes Monroe mirrored Nevelyn’s steps until they were no more than ten paces apart.

“My daughter won’t speak to me?”

“Right now? I don’t think she can. Try again in a few years. After the dust settles. Come knock on Meredream’s door and see if she’ll let you in. Maybe you’ll be a grandmother by then.”

As intended, that word cut through Monroe’s mental armor. A dozen different emotions flickered over her face. Her eyes moved from Ren in the distance then back to Nevelyn.

“Your… is she…”

And then her expression neutralized. The sharper emotions faded. There were whispers in the air between them. This would be the manipulation spell. Carefully pulling her back to the plan.

“You must surrender,” Agnes said suddenly. “Or more people will die.”

“Yes. Come quietly, so that you can kill us all later, right?”

Agnes made a show of looking wounded. “Do you think I would let that happen to my only daughter? No, there would be trials. The worst that any of you would face is prison. Sentences for insurrection. After a time… you’ll be released. Free to live a normal life.”

“Free,” Nevelyn repeated. “As long as we give up our magic.”

“The Great Balancing must reach its natural end point. A magicless world. Would that really be so terrible? People are tired of living in fear—and your magic is the last thing they have to fear.”

The words were almost reasonable. Very nearly convincing, if Nevelyn didn’t know there was a dragon whispering lies from across the continent. “You don’t want us in Kathor. That’s fair. Allow us this self-exile. We will go to Meredream. Let us pass. We can live in this city and you have our sworn word that no one will return to Kathor. Not unless you ask us to come back.”

Agnes Monroe nodded. “An enticing promise. How many generations do you think will actually keep it? One? Two? Come on. You know that someone will eventually try to take back Kathor. All it would take is one powerful wizard—or maybe the entire next generation grows up thinking of it as a birthright that was taken from them. I see Shiverians in your group. Proctors. Graylantians. Winterses. Even Broods.”

When she said the last house, her eyes drifted to Ren. The accusation was clear. She saw her daughter as one of them now. She was no longer a Monroe in her mother’s manipulated eyes. Nevelyn decided to cut straight to the most reasonable offer.

“The children then. Let the children through.”

For the second time, Agnes Monroe faltered. The easy confidence slipped. An expression of utter despair crossed her features. Like a shadow of the true self. The part of her that knew that all of this was so wrong. That they had gone too far. Killed too many. Nevelyn raced to take advantage of that flaw in the armor.

“One is already dead.” She pointed back to the girl with the arrow in her stomach. “And you know that’s one too many. Let us pass. We will escort the children to Meredream. Once they are safe, we will surrender. It will be exactly as you’ve asked. You can drag us back to the city, perform whatever trials you’d like. I do not care. You once told me that the great houses must fall. They have fallen. Truly, they are no more. But the children must live—or your society begins with the same blood on their hands.”

Tears streaked down Agnes Monroe’s face. She started to nod. It was such a reasonable compromise. The children would live. The children should live. Agree, and the armies on both sides could set down their weapons. They would even have prisoners to take back to Kathor as proof that they’d won. But as she waited for a response, the woman’s eyes grew dark. From light brown to shadow black. More tears fell down the woman’s face. All that pain, but it didn’t matter. Arakyl was here. Taking over. Nevelyn began to backpedal. She was face-to-face with a demon now.