31. Leah #2
“I need to see something,” I whisper back, trying a few keys that look like they might fit and getting it right on my fourth try.
The chamber has a narrow entrance, but it opens up into a long, low room a little further along, with a vaulted ceiling that has a strange light dancing across it. I move carefully forward, stopping when I see the first body lying on the tiled floor, just beyond where the room widens out.
“What happened to him?” Aster gasps, but I recognize the signs all too well—a naked, emaciated corpse, bones all but poking through the thin skin, as if its creator forgot to put any flesh on them.
I step over the dead demon, casting my eyes over the four other bodies in the chamber—each either too thin or too misshapen to have survived long enough to leave the room.
Now I can see the source of the strange light on the ceiling.
It’s a reflection of the lamp light hitting the gently undulating pool in the center of the room.
It’s almost black in color, with the vague shape of more bodies drifting in its depths. Souls waiting to be reborn.
It’s the stolen water from the Morphos.
Aster kneels beside one of the risen bodies, closing his eyelids for him with a gentle sweep of her fingers. She sniffs, clearly holding back tears.
“They never had a chance.”
“Kaliban took the water,” I say, even though it’s blindingly obvious to both of us now. I just need to say it out loud so I can keep trying to wrap my head around it.
“He must’ve been trying to recreate the lake,” Aster says. “That’s the only thing that makes sense. He wanted a version of the Morphos for himself he’d have unlimited access to.”
Anger burns in my veins at the sheer senselessness of it.
He’s the one who’s been making the souls get lost, and for what?
Because he wanted more power? More soldiers?
Because he couldn’t stand the idea that Syrus was the one in charge of Infernum’s most important commodity?
If Kaliban had his way, he’d be snatching every soul he could from Strata and sending them back to die on the battlefield.
But also, nothing about this plan seems to need the sorcerers to execute it. Hathwell was telling the truth when he said he didn’t know about the lake. Which still leaves a question about what they were up to with the demons. Not that the answer to that is really a priority right no—
A familiar prickle runs up my neck, and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to feel it.
“Leah,” Syrus breathes into my mind,
“Syrus,” I reply, reaching out to caress his presence with my thoughts. “I tried to contact you, but you had walls up around your mind.” “Syrus is here,” I say aloud to Asterim, tapping my temple.
“I know,” Syrus says, sounding pained. “Or rather, I didn’t know until just now.
Ajax’s spell put up protections around me I had to remove before I could reach you again, but I didn’t sense them before.
” I can feel his awareness traveling through my body, checking I’m all right. “Where are you?” he asks.
“Kaliban’s fortress,” I say. “But be careful. He wants to draw you here to kill you.”
“I’ll end him for ever laying a finger on you,” he says, his voice icy.
“There’s more, Syrus—look.”
He slides behind my eyes and looks out of them onto the chamber. I make sure to direct my gaze over all of it—the broken bodies and the dark water. A rage that isn’t mine simmers beneath my skin as Syrus realizes what he’s staring at.
“That stupid, reckless bastard,” Syrus bites out. “It’s been him the whole time. And now he’s trying to take my place as Lord of Malice since he’s realized his little experiment is doomed to fail.”
My blood chills at the prospect, and Syrus must feel it, because his anger ebbs a little and his words stroke comfortingly across my mind.
“Listen, Leah, I have to go. I’ve only just crossed the border, and I’ll fly faster if I’m not with you. But you and Aster must be careful. Hide, and I’ll be there soon.”
Then he’s gone from my mind again, and I feel hollow in his absence.
I turn to Aster. “He’s on his way. He says we should hide in the meantime.”
She’s about to speak but stops when a voice carries from the corridor, calling someone’s name. We share a look. If this new arrival is looking for one of the guards we knocked out, it’s only a matter of time before they come down here and find us.
I adjust the grip on my sword. “We’ll try it again like last time,” I whisper as quietly as I can.
She nods, and we creep back toward the iron gate.
I peer out into the corridor and see…nothing.
But just as I’m about to cross over to the dungeon entrance, a demon comes sprinting out of it.
He doesn’t see us but takes the stairs at speed, shouting to raise the alarm.
“Prisoners on the loose!” he bellows. “They’ve escaped!”
I shove the gate open. “Come on,” I say to Aster. “It won’t be long before they send every demon left in this place down here to hunt us.”
We take the stairs two at a time, the guard’s shouts still audible in the corridors above us.
At the top, I grab Aster’s hand and yank her into the first room I can see after checking quickly that it’s empty.
It’s a dining room, but it looks more like a mess hall, with long tables stacked side by side and another one up on a raised platform toward the end.
A glance out the large window along one wall tells me we’re pretty high up in the mountains.
Heart thudding, I pull Aster along with me, sparing a thought for the slim, impractical pair of silk slippers slowing her down.
I twist around, scanning the room for a good hiding spot. Nothing jumps out at me, but I hear boots on the ground and realize our time is up.