Chapter 33
MERI
M eri inhaled, breathing in the scent of fresh fallen snow.
She opened her eyes to see Sinan sitting cross-legged next to her, his eyes dark pools that drank in light and never left her face.
The hint of warmth and realness had faded from his features, replaced by the ethereal beauty that had fascinated her from the beginning.
Sinan had not only survived, his Gift had returned to him.
Her head hurt like hell, and every part of her body ached. With a groan, she propped herself up and caught Gallmau’s worried gaze. Thank the Prophets he was alive and well enough to hover over her.
Next to him, Valentina let out an exhausted sigh of relief. Sinan lifted a metal cup to Meri’s lips, and she drank its contents down before noticing the skin on his forearm was blistered and deep red.
“You’re hurt,” she said.
Sinan shook his head and touched a sigil on his cloak. His skin began to heal before her eyes. “My Blessing’s back, and I needed to touch Valentina to help her do her work.”
Meri felt a lump at the back of her throat.
Of course. Sinan could perform necromancy again, and along with that power came the inability to touch another living human being without terrible pain.
She wondered how long he had needed to maintain contact, how much he had endured, all to allow Valentina to save Meri’s life.
“The eyeballs helped.” Valentina held up Cliona’s relics to show Meri.
The medica had overcome her squeamishness about quite a few things.
“Sinan has experience with combining necromancy with medicus magic. A fascinating technique, but I won’t be giving a public lecture about it any time soon.
His support was the only reason I was able to get you back. No speed for a full month. Promise me.”
“No speed for a while,” Meri agreed, sitting up and wincing at the pain that caused.
Valentina opened her mouth to protest, then gave a weary shake of her head and stood up.
The sun had begun to rise in the east, and the area around the caves was bustling with activity—and necromancers.
There had to be dozens of Bone Lords strolling around, more than she ever would have imagined could be in one place.
They wore white shroud cloaks, sigils blazing, much like Sinan.
Meri climbed to her feet, ignoring Gallmau’s protests, and stared.
She spotted a small group of Shields, some obviously injured, seated on the ground and surrounded by more necromancers.
A larger group of the oversized Noviodunam soldiers, even more obviously dead, had been piled nearby.
“Where are my blades?” Meri gave Gallmau, who had grabbed her by the waist to hold her up, an angry shove. “And what happened?”
“Gallmau and I thought it best you and your weapons remained apart until my fellow Blessed and I left.” Sinan also rose to his feet.
“As you can see, as soon as Zhang Jue’s shadow wards collapsed, I called for help.
Since you’re not going to listen to Valentina and rest more, why don’t you come with me to talk to Rixende? She’s being…difficult.”
“Get used to it.” Gallmau grinned at Sinan and shifted his arm to Meri’s shoulder and gave her a half-hug. “Let’s go talk to my sister and not get into a fight with all of Sinan’s creepy friends.”
Meri hated not having her swords, but she had to admit there was little to be gained by arguing the point. Sinan wouldn’t have spent hours of agony saving her life if he meant her any harm, and antagonizing this many necromancers when she needed help standing up didn’t make much sense.
As they walked by various Bone Lords, each odder and more frightening than the last, Meri questioned Gallmau and Valentina about the events after she had collapsed.
She continued to gape. Sinan had to be the closest thing to a normal human in Karakoncolos—at least as far as his appearance was concerned.
The giant Azhdarchid and her two flaplings that Rixende had sent to rescue Valentina stood near the riverbank, preening their wings in the morning sun.
A hulking giant stood far closer to the flying beasts than seemed advisable.
He had a large vulture on one gloved arm, as a hunter would hold a hawk, and two Death Hounds lay at his feet, content as lap dogs.
The man acknowledged Sinan with a scowl as they approached.
Meri shuddered as she spotted the raised scars on the man’s bald head and fierce face.
Another assassin from the Order of Katil—hopefully one who was now on Sinan’s side.
“The Azhdarchids have bonded to the new beast master.” The assassin addressed Sinan with a snarl and gave a particular glower of hatred to the rest of them.
Meri made a mental note to avoid this particular Bone Lord in the future.
“That princess of yours needs to convince them not to eat anyone who tries to shadow-walk them and her back to Karakoncolos.”
“Thank you.” Sinan kept walking, shaking his head, and added in a lower voice, “I’ll add that to the list.”
“You’re taking the princess to Karakoncolos?
” Meri tried to imagine the conversation with Xiaolian during which they explained they had rescued Rixende, only to send her away to an entire city of necromancers.
It wasn’t something she looked forward to.
“Gallmau and I promised the Queen we would take her back to Lutecia. You even promised that.”
“I told you from the beginning if one of the Blessed was involved with Rixende’s disappearance I would handle it my way. The Dauphine is one of ours, and we would like to offer her both asylum and education in our city.”
“My sister has to choose what she wants to do.” Gallmau gave a long sigh. “Trust me, she’s good at getting her way.”
They walked up to the princess, who was holding court, of a sort.
Her curse—Blessing, Meri corrected herself—was more obvious in the morning light, with her hair parted around fox ears and a tail swishing under her long skirts.
She had an all-white sword secured to her waist with a belt made of finger bones and was talking to two necromancers who listened to her with rapt attention.
No one could see her and not immediately know what she was.
Sinan had a point. Returning Rixende to Lutecia would involve taking on the entire Noviodunam, along with religious leaders and most of the city.
Unlike many of the Bone Lords Sinan had summoned from Karakoncolos, both men with Rixende were handsome and similar enough in appearance that they were likely brothers, with light brown skin that hinted at lineage from Meri’s part of the world.
The younger and shorter of the two had horns on his head and eyes that resembled those of a goat.
His older brother looked normal enough, except for patterns that flickered across his face, as if an invisible pool of water was reflecting off his skin.
Jacques sat on the ground near the three of them, his head bowed. The incensor wasn’t physically hurt, at least. He was guarded by a lean young man with more knives strapped to his body than even Meri had.
“The hortdan are all rounded up. Finally.” The taller brother gave Sinan a genuine smile as they approached and spoke in the polished tones of a Soissons aristocrat.
“Mademoiselle Meritamun, I’m glad to see you’re better due to Dottoressa de Almania’s efforts.” The shorter brother also had a courtier’s manner as he greeted Meri and Valentina, but he held the medica’s gaze a second longer than was strictly necessary.
Gallmau came closer, and both necromancers gave him a set of courtly bows. “Good morning to you, Your Highness.”
“Don’t call me that.” Gallmau shifted his feet. “I’m not…”
“You’re the Dauphin and you need to start acting like it.” Rixende cut her brother’s protests off with an imperial wave of her hand. “The future of our country is at stake.”
“You should be the heir to the throne, not me.” Beads of sweat broke out over Gallmau’s forehead, and he was clearly more anxious about this conversation than many of the hellish situations they had gone through.
“Maybe we could cover up your ears with a hat, or something. Not that they’re not flattering on you.
And the tail could be, I don’t know, a new fashion in the capital. ”
“Your sister’s right.” Meri had to help Gallmau face the reality of the situation and do what was best for his sister and his country. “Rixende can’t keep it secret she’s a necromancer, and there’ll be blood in the streets if a Bone Lord becomes Queen.”
“You want me to lie?” Gallmau actually had to ask that question.
Both Meri and Rixende said yes at the same time.
“Not to my mother, though.” Rixende’s poise broke for a moment, and then she recovered her composure.
“The Queen must know the truth. The official story will be that Odart and Zhang Jue plotted to betray the royal family despite their loyalty oaths, cursing me into the shape of a fox and planning to blame the Prince of Shadows for my death.”
The best lies had an element of truth, and Rixende knew that. The princess of Soissons reminded Meri of the Sultana of Kush, but she kept that to herself. Rixende didn’t need more compliments.
“What will we say happened?” Gallmau asked. “We’ve already had one fake funeral when they cremated the corpse that wasn’t Zhang Jue.”
“There’ll be many stories about what happened in Terra Amata.
” Rixende gestured around them. “You and Meri will be in the best one. In it, the Lioness of Abdju and King Syagrius’s only son had to join forces with the infamous Prince of Shadows to battle treasonous witches from the Noviodunam.
Together you fought monsters, overcame magical storms, and exposed the traitors.
The grateful fox princess departed to a remote convent, where she will consult with mystics to learn how to reverse the curse. ”