Chapter 31
Chapter
Thirty-One
T he metallic scrape of unsheathing blades hissed from the boat behind me as a fair-skinned man sauntered from the shadows—a face that had haunted my nightmares since the night we’d met at my Ascension Ball.
Symond.
The Umbros Queen’s Chief Centenary.
“You’re looking as beautiful as ever, Diem Corbois,” he crooned, striding toward me, stroking his dark goatee. “Or should I call you by your real name... Diem Bellator?”
“Bellator?” Zalaric said, his eyes going round. “You’re Auralie’s daughter?” At my nod, his expression turned to horror.
“Hello, Symond,” I said wryly. “I’d say it’s a pleasure to see you again, but why bother lying to someone who can read minds?”
He stopped a few feet away and chuckled. “You’re a long way from Lumnos, Your Majesty.”
“You hired me to smuggle a fucking Crown? ” the Cardinal snapped at Zalaric.
Symond cocked his head at me. “Do you know what happens to foreign Crowns who make visits without permission?”
“Your Queen has experience with that,” I answered. “Perhaps she can tell me.”
I threw on a cocky smirk to conceal my own fear while I calculated my odds. Though my magic was recovering from the flameroot, I was still a Crown. Even weakened, one Descended should be no problem.
Then, from the shadows, another emerged. Then another. Five, then ten, then fifteen. All clad in black leathered armor and fluttering crimson capes.
“Cooperate,” Zalaric warned quietly. “Fighting back will only make it worse.”
Symond gave a cruel smile. “Her Majesty the Queen would like a word with you.”
The claws of Umbros magic scraped at the edges of my mind. Like a swarm of tiny insects, the Centenaries scratched and burrowed their way into my thoughts.
“Ignios?” one cooed. “How fascinating.”
“A Guardian-loving Crown,” another laughed. “Now I’ve really seen it all.”
Another clicked her tongue. “Naked and begging, and he still didn’t want you.”
“Get out of my head,” I gritted out, my cheeks burning.
Symond surveyed my body, dragging his teeth over his bottom lip. “He’s a fool. I would never turn you away. But you already knew that.”
Just as he had at the Ascension Ball, he forced a wave of dirty, sinful, scandalous images of the two of us into my mind. My skin tingled with the sensation of a hand drifting down my stomach and along the ridge of my hips. I sucked in a breath as I realized it was my own hand, moving of its own will—or rather, Symond’s will.
Fight , my godhood hissed.
I didn’t hesitate. The floodgates opened and a cascade of icy flame swirled around the corners of my mind, purging the intruding magic until I was alone in my own head. A silvery light haloed my skin and pulsed in the cave around me.
Several Centenaries staggered back in alarm, though Symond’s ominous smile curved higher. “Clever. Who taught you that trick?”
“You’ve learned enough from me already. But I do have more where that came from.” With a twitch of my wrist, a tangle of sizzling, white-hot whips unfurled around me, the crack of their snapping ends reverberating off the stone walls.
“Stop,” Zalaric pleaded from behind me.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Symond said in a knowing, sing-song voice. “Those blades look terribly sharp.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What blades?”
“ Diem .”
My head turned at Luther’s hard tone, my breath choking in my throat at the sight of Luther, Alixe, Taran, and the Cardinal holding their own knives against their necks.
Symond chuckled. “For their sake, I hope your magic is fast. Take care not to miss—a single thought from just one of us, and they all slit their throats.”
“Do it, Diem,” Luther gritted out. “Don’t worry about us. Kill them and run before more come.” He grimaced as his blade cut deeper, slicing through the fabric of his scarf. Trickles of red dripped down the front of his sweater.
“You hurt him, and I will slaughter every last Centenary,” I snarled at Symond. “And I don’t mean just the ones in this cave.”
My glowing whips lashed at the stone walls in warning. Rocks carved loose and clattered loudly across the cave floor.
Symond’s cold smile wavered, then tightened. “Come peacefully, and your friends will be spared.”
I glared. “You’ll let them go if I come with you?”
“Oh, no. They’re coming with us. Her Majesty wants to meet you all.” Symond shrugged lightly. “But I give my vow your friends will not be hurt, so long as they behave.”
I glanced at Zalaric, who was in the same psychic stranglehold as the others. He watched me with a clouded expression as the edge of his blade pushed against the pale scar along his throat.
“Can I trust them to keep their word?” I asked.
“It’s Umbros ,” he said.
“Right—trust no one,” I muttered.
“Diem,” Luther warned, “don’t do th—” His words cut off in a strangled grunt, and panic seized me by the chest.
“Fine,” I blurted out. I waved a hand, and the whips dissolved into mist. “I’ll come. Just don’t hurt them.”
The others marched stiffly back to land and lined up at my side, their unnatural gait suggesting they still weren’t moving of their own accord. The Centenaries approached and felt them up with lascivious smiles as they snatched weapons from sheaths and baldrics.
Symond reached for the stolen Ignios dagger strapped across my breasts.
“Are you trying to lose a hand?” I snapped, and he paused. “I’m coming willingly. You have no need to take my weapons.”
“No blades in the Queen’s presence. You’ve got your magic, that’s weapon enough.”
“You touch her, and if she doesn’t kill you, I will,” Luther growled. “And I don’t give a damn whose throat you cut for it.”
Symond shot him a venomous smile. “Curious that a man who rejects her touch thinks he gets a say in what other men do with her.”
“You can stop airing our private matters now,” I grumbled, handing over my weapons—though I didn’t entirely disagree with him.
“What a shame.” Symond winked at Luther. “I was just about to get to the juicy part.”
I jerked my chin at Zalaric and the Cardinal. “Let them go. They shouldn’t be punished. They didn’t even know I was Queen.”
Zalaric stared at me in surprise.
“Aye,” the Cardinal said. “I was just hired to drive a boat. I didn’t know nothin’ about this.”
Symond pointed at me. “You don’t know this woman?”
The Cardinal shook her head emphatically. “Just met her.”
“Hmm.” He took the Cardinal’s blade from the Centenary who had confiscated it and strolled toward her. “So you wouldn’t say you’re her friend? ” He drew out the word slowly, methodically.
“Nope. She’s nothin’ to me.”
“Well, then.” He held her knife out to her, handle first. “If you’re not her friend .”
Suddenly, I realized what he was implying. My blood froze to ice. “No, Symond, don’t—”
So quick I almost missed it, the Cardinal snatched her knife from his hand and plunged it deep into her own throat.
Luther and I lunged forward to grab her as she collapsed. Blood bubbled up into her mouth, her chest shuddering with a wet sucking sound. He laid her on the ground as I pulled the knife free, then tore off my cloak and pressed it firmly against the wound.
“You said you wouldn’t hurt anyone,” Taran shouted.
“I said I wouldn’t hurt her friends.” Symond gave a bored look at the woman dying in my arms. “They weren’t friends. I kept my word.”
“Jemmina,” Zalaric cried out, looking genuinely heartbroken. “Oh gods, I’m so sorry.”
Symond’s vicious stare shifted to Zalaric. “And you . You’ve become quite wealthy thanks to the Queen’s favor. Now you repay her with treachery?”
Taran pushed Zalaric back and stood in front of him, fists clenched and growling. “You can’t hurt him. He is our friend. And a subject of Lumnos, which means he’s under our Queen’s protection.” His eyes cut nervously to me. “Right?”
It was hard to say whose jaw was lower, mine or Zalaric’s.
“R-right,” I stammered. “He’s with us.”
“You can save your lies. He already made his bargain.” Symond picked up the Cardinal’s fallen knife and tossed it into the water before turning back to Zalaric. “Her Majesty may be letting you live for turning them in, but don’t think I’ve forgotten your original plan. I’ll ensure you pay for it eventually.”
“Zal... you betrayed us?” Taran asked softly.
“What happened to ‘ I owe you my life ’?” Luther snarled.
Symond chuckled. “So much for being friends.”
Zalaric scowled at him. “You were supposed to keep my role a secret. That was the agreement.”
“It’s Umbros ,” Symond said mockingly. “Trust no one, remember?”
“How much did they pay you?” Taran demanded, disgust dripping in his tone. “How many gold marks were our lives worth?”
Zalaric pursed his lips, his expression shuttering to an icy indifference.
Taran pushed in closer. “Really? Nothing to say for yourself?”
Hands curled into fists, Luther began to rise.
“Leave him alone,” I said. “I’m the one to blame.”
Every head in the cave swiveled to me.
Symond crossed his arms and grinned, apparently content to watch our drama play out.
I looked down at the Cardinal. Her eyes had closed to thin slivers, her lips now a dull grey, and her pulse was slowing at an alarming rate.
“You knew?” Luther asked.
His delicate, lethal tone should have warned me, but I was too distracted to realize how thick the air had turned.
I swore to myself, racking my brain for a solution. The herbs in my bag were useless for this kind of injury. I could pack the wound with gauze, but she would still suffocate on her own blood before her Descended healing could repair the wound.
I hunched over the Cardinal’s body, my thoughts circling around what happened with Zalaric in the tunnels. If I could do that , then maybe, just maybe...
“ You knew? ” Luther demanded again.
“Yes,” I mumbled absently as my eyes closed. I laid my hands over her throat, her blood-soaked skin slippery under my touch. My magic was thrumming in a way that felt excited, unchained.
Voices volleyed above me as the men began to argue—Luther’s rumble, Taran’s growl, Zalaric’s aloofness, Symond’s snark. They were all shouting, accusing, trading barbs and threats.
Alixe kneeled at my side. “How can I help?” she asked quietly.
“I... I can’t let anyone see,” I murmured.
She nodded and turned her back to me, then subtly spread her coat wider to block me from view.
I released my hold on my godhood, trusting in its magic to do the impossible. A cold-hot sensation rippled over my body and concentrated at my palms with a sharp prick of pain. A soft glow pooled beneath my touch, flared to a blinding pulse, then faded away.
The Cardinal’s eyes flew open. She gasped for breath, and I clamped a hand over her mouth.
“Close your eyes,” I hissed. “Don’t move.”
A single nod was her only response.
With my hands still quivering at the shock of what I’d just done, I took my cloak and laid it out over her body and covered her face. I drew in a steadying breath to calm the thundering in my chest, then stood and faced the others.
Taran and Zalaric were nose to nose, looking ready to come to blows at any second. Luther was on his knees, face twisted in pain as he rammed his fist into his own side, while Symond stood above him with palms extended, chuckling darkly. The other Centenaries had circled Alixe, some with hands extended, others hovering near their blades.
This was a disaster . I needed to get us out of this cave before anyone saw what I’d done and keep Symond’s attention on me and off my friends.
And I knew exactly how to do it... I just hoped Luther would forgive me.
“She’s gone,” I said loudly.
The fighting stopped.
Again, a sea of faces turned to me.
“I’m sorry, Zalaric. The Cardinal didn’t make it.”
His poised features melted into a slump, guilt swirling in his eyes.
My gaze cut to Symond. I cocked a hip and crossed my arms. “Are you done murdering innocent people, or do you intend to make your Queen wait even longer before you obey her orders?”
Symond bristled. “That woman wasn’t innocent. Bypassing the checkpoints is treason.”
“What’s treason,” I purred, sauntering toward him, “is how badly you’re drooling over me. I can see the bulge in your pants from across the cave. I doubt your Queen would appreciate that.”
His eyes flared with heat. My stomach turned.
“Her Majesty encourages her Centenaries to indulge in all of life’s pleasures with whomever we please.” He ran a finger up my arm. It was all I could do not to shudder. “If she doesn’t kill you, she might even join us.”
I forced a coy smile. “Then what are we waiting for?”
He gave a low laugh and extended his arm.
I glanced back at the others and immediately wished I hadn’t. The confusion, the anger, the disgust, the betrayal ...
Only Zalaric seemed unaffected. He watched me with dead eyes, his expression revealing nothing.
I swallowed tightly and turned away. My hand slid through Symond’s arm as I gazed up at him and smiled.
“Lead the way. I’m ready to meet the Queen of Umbros.”