27. Chapter 27 #3
“Dreamshade fruit,” Bella gasps in recognition, rushing over to Lily and inspecting her closely.
“Why in gods’ teeth was she eating Dreamshade fruit?” Maxine asks, taking another sip of scalding tea, her gaze transfixed on Lily.
“The queen,” I say, running a hand over my face.
“Lily was convinced she had little brothers, and that the queen would kill them if she refused to comply. She even tried forcing me to put on the ring, screaming about how it was her only choice.” I motion toward the ring lying in Lily’s open palm.
The three of us proceed to stare at it in silence like the poisonous black widow it is.
“Does she have little brothers?” Maxine whispers, looking to Bella for an answer.
Bella shakes her head. “I’m not sure.”
They both look at me. I search for Solara, who has predictably disappeared. “She couldn’t remember their names,” I relay. “The queen… she is terrible with names. If she implanted a false memory into Lily’s mind, it’s not surprising that she forgot that little detail.”
“Can you check, Bella?” Maxine inquires. “To see if Lily’s memories are real?”
“I can try…” Bella trails off, chewing her bottom lip as she reaches out for Lily’s temples and shuts her eyes.
Little golden swirls of magic lift off her fingertips and curl around Lily’s face like tufts of smoke.
A moment later, her eyes fly open, and she jerks back, terrified.
“Gods,” she gasps, clutching her throat like she’s choking on hair. “Gods.”
“What did you see?” I ask, grabbing her hands and helping her stand.
“I saw…” Bella trails off, leaning against the wall. “I saw dark magic… and monsters. And the little brothers she was talking about.”
“And?” Maxine asks.
“They were demons. They’re not real,” Bella continues breathlessly.
“The queen, she’s been sending Lily blueberry pies with love notes for the last three months in order to curry her favor, swapping the blueberries out with Dreamshade.
That’s how she convinced her to put on the ring, which is swarming with demonic magic, by the way. ”
“Fuck,” Maxine says, almost dropping her glass of tea. “Fuck!” Her gaze locks on the ring in Lily’s hand and she adds, “We need to dispose of both rings. And quickly, before she wakes up.” She pauses for a beat, her gaze flicking to me. “She will wake up, right?”
“I think so…” I whisper, my heart quivering.
“No. We shouldn’t touch them,” Bella says, practically jumping out of her skin. “The ring on Lily’s finger isn’t going to budge anyway, and the other one…” She shakes her head, as if touching it would cause something unfathomable to happen. “It’s not worth the risk.”
“Then what do you propose we do?” Maxine asks, looking hopeless.
I clear my throat. “We will leave her the way she is, slip out of the room, blockade the door behind us, and then find a way out of this place before—” I stop short, just as something sharp and metal slices my leg wide open, sending warm blood gushing everywhere.
“Shay!” Bella shouts. I tumble forward, and my world dims. Glass shatters, followed by the sound of screaming, cursing, and all sorts of commotion.
“You little flesh-picking vulture!” Maxine shrieks. “Get away from her!”
Lily drops my sword with a clatter. Bella kicks it out of her reach.
I watch the glimmering blade skid across the floor, which is now coated in silver blood.
Very silver blood. No one moves, aside from Maxine, who rushes around the pile of broken glass and whisks a blanket off the back of a nearby chaise, rips a few inches from its hem, and wraps it around my wound to stop the outpouring of blood from my leg.
“You are the raven that she seeks,” Lily gasps as she unveils a little locket from beneath her shirt collar and rubs it with her thumb absentmindedly.
“I am nobody, other than somebody in desperate need of something to numb the pain, thanks to you slicing me wide open like a chunk of bread,” I grit out.
As predicted, the mind-numbing pain arrives on the heels of agony and heartache as I collapse into myself.
This is so much worse than the shoulder blade dislocation, or the bite in my leg.
It feels like a blazing prong has been embedded into my skin.
Or worse, like a fire spirit with teeth has burrowed itself deep inside me.
The air in the room stills, rank with damp copper and bated breaths.
And then Maxine clenches her fists like she’s about to swing at Lily.
“Please don’t fight,” I rasp. “Not over my sake.”
“What’s to stop her from doing it again, next time through your heart?
” Maxine asks, her fists armed and ready, eyes brimming with tears.
“That traitorous bitch deserves to die.” Her voice falters, and something flickers in her eyes.
I get a sense she didn’t mean that. She’s just as heartbroken as I am.
“I would never kill the raven,” Lily blurts out, pulling herself to a stand.
Her newfound introspection does nothing to prevent Maxine from sweeping up my blood-coated sword and surveying it between narrow slits for eyes. Nor does it stop Bella from taking a step back, allowing Maxine ample space to attack.
“Tell us everything you know about the queen,” Maxine says, lifting the tip of the blade against Lily’s cheek, as though she’s envisioning carving out some foul profanity into her skin. Lily’s eyes widen, and she raises her hands slowly.
“Let her go,” I say between fractured breaths. “Without maiming her.” I glance at Lily’s neck, and then at her head, a lump of panic forming in my throat at the sight of her dribbling golden blood.
“Why?” Maxine’s gaze spars with mine.
“Because she’s our friend,” I choke out. “And this isn’t her fault.”
“Are you sure, Shay?” Bella asks hesitantly from somewhere behind me, her voice followed by a beat of silence before she adds, “I hate to admit it, but Maxine is right. Dreamshade poison can be very persuasive. Lily could kill us all in the blink of an eye, friend or not.”
“Yes, I’m sure.” A tincture of madness ebbs through my voice. “Let her go, and we’ll sort this out, amicably.” I toss a threatening glare at Lily, who nods hesitantly in agreement.
“Fine.” Maxine steps away from Lily and hands me the sword. “But don’t make me regret this.”
“Right,” I sigh as I stare down at the silver-soaked blade. “The queen,” I say, directing my next words toward Lily. “Did she tell you to do this?”
“Did she tell me to do what?” Lily asks.
“This,” I say, pointing toward the wound in my leg while ignoring the animated look Maxine is giving me out of the corner of my eye. Lily presses her lips together in thin silence, and then she nods slowly.
“And afterward?” I add.
“What do you mean, afterward?” Lily asks, looking lost.
She has to be playing dumb, right?
“I assume the queen gave you some kind of an escape route,” I theorize.
“A way out of this mess after you maimed me?” I clarify, glancing around in the hopes that there’s a secret passage lurking around here somewhere.
Secret passageways are always tucked behind bookshelves, and given how there are an innumerable amount of bookshelves in this place, the odds are high that we’ll find one if we look.
Lily only shakes her head in response. “No. She didn’t.”
I scrub my hands over my face. “She really expected for you to remain locked in here with us… after what you’ve done?”
Lily seems to consider this, and then she slowly nods.
“Well, this is awkward,” Maxine chimes in, “considering how our only way out of this mess is to sacrifice someone. And before you say no again,” she adds, directing her next words at me, “remember… we can’t pry open the door unless someone is dead.
And ideally, that someone will be Lily.” She lifts a finger at Lily.
Lily rubs the locket around her neck nervously.
I grab Bella by the sleeve and pull her in close, whispering underneath my breath, “Surely there’s something else we can do to escape? You know, without killing anybody? A secret passageway tucked behind a bookshelf?”
“I don’t think that’s wise,” Bella contends with a murmur, glancing over her shoulder at Maxine and giving her a firm nod.
Beside her, Lily continues rubbing her necklace and chewing her bottom lip, hardly paying attention to us.
“Her mind is clearly compromised by Dreamshade poison. She’s not Lily anymore.
Look at her eyes. She could kill any of us if she wanted to. ”
“What’s she doing?” Maxine asks, her face falling flat.
“What’s who doing?” I ask.
Bella and I exchange a confused glance. But by the time we realize what’s happening, Lily has already slipped out of the room.
“Fuck!” Maxine says as the three of us rush to follow after her.
But it’s too late. Down the corridor, Lily dips her finger into the locket’s contents, and then sweeps the powder across the door, delving the residue into the crevices of the magical runes until they light up with vigor.
The door props open.
“You liar!” I shout, racing to catch the door before it closes. “You said you didn’t have a way out!”
But Lily only slips through the door without saying so much as goodbye, sealing it shut behind her with a soft thud—right in my face.
It practically takes all of Bella and Maxine’s collective strength to drag me back to the bedroom, both of them tutting on and on about how my wound is leaking through my bandage, and how I need to calm down. But my ears are too busy ringing to hear them.
“There is a traitor in your midst.” Priestess Seraphina’s voice rattles around in my mind.
The traitor was Lily.
Goddamnit.