Chapter 33
When Viri startled awake again, she was no longer in the underground crypt, but instead in a vast, vaulted hall, the air so cold that her breath clouded in front of her face.
Everything came back to her in a rush, adrenaline flooding her as she realized she was tied to a cracked marble pillar, one of many lining the arched inner walls of the cathedral’s immense central chamber.
Moss and mold covered most surfaces, as if nature had claimed the space as its own, with vines curling around the pillars and twisting along the fractured ground like serpents waiting to strike.
Everywhere she looked, there was something broken or decayed: crumbled statues, splintered pews, shattered glass, a field of debris scattered around stained white coffins, all leading up to an elevated dais, the only place that looked untouched by time.
Behind it was an enormous figure of an ancient firebird—a symbol of death and rebirth—with its wings outstretched and tail feathers fanning like flames.
It was as beautiful as it was terrifying, its beady eyes seeming to glow as it stared down at a raised stone slab sitting atop the dais.
Viri inhaled sharply at the sight of the slab, but it wasn’t only from realizing what it was intended for. It was also because she could see it—and everything else in the vast hall—due to the moonlight flowing through the smashed glass ceiling.
Bright, brilliant moonlight.
No, Viri whispered to herself, knowing that if night had fallen—
Then she was out of time.
A whimper on her left had her turning so fast that her neck cricked, the pain dull compared to the dread she felt at finding Jessalyn tied to the next pillar along.
Beyond her, more children were bound, all the way around the cathedral.
Like Jessy, they were beginning to rouse from whatever magic had left them there unconscious, their fearful cries and wails echoing throughout the moonlit space.
Viri wondered if they knew what purpose the Reaper Lord intended them to serve tonight, but a searing burn kept her from asking, her mark warning that a reaper was coming—or reapers, as she soon discovered, with them streaming through an archway and marching along the debris-strewn nave toward the dais.
One…five…fifteen…thirty…She lost count as their cloaked forms continued appearing, their bare hands showing blackened veins that vanished beneath their sleeves, some even having so much stolen ellixen that the dark lines traveled up their necks and over their jaws toward their hardened eyes.
None of them spared a glanced at Viri and the children, their focus solely on reaching the steps leading to the stone slab and spreading out before it, like a wall of witnesses in front of an altar.
There, they waited.
Viri’s heart was pounding in her ears, the rapid beats sounding like a clock ticking down far too quickly.
She tugged against her bonds, but a sharp sting of ellixen revealed it wasn’t rope that tied her to the pillar, it was magic.
Rope she could saw her way through, but she didn’t have the first clue how to break out of bindings she couldn’t even see.
A sobbing sound had her turning to Jessalyn again, finding the young girl with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“It’s going to be all right, Jessy,” Viri said in a hushed voice. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She had no way to promise that, and they both knew it.
“If—If I don’t make it—” Jessalyn started.
“You will.”
“—tell Soren I love him.” Jessy hiccuped. “Tell him I w-want him to be happy.”
He would never be happy without his sister. He would never forgive himself if she didn’t survive. He would never forgive Viri if she didn’t do everything she could to save her.
“You tell him yourself,” Viri said firmly, “as soon as we get out of here.”
A dark, amused voice interrupted before Jessalyn could respond.
“I don’t know whether it’s admirable or pathetic that you still believe that’s possible.”
Ice and fire filled Viri simultaneously as the Reaper Lord appeared, striding casually between the pillars until he stood before where she sat against the cracked marble. She hated having to look up at him, but her magical bindings didn’t allow any wiggle room, let alone enough to stand.
“The comet will be appearing any minute, and you still think you can stop me?” He chuckled. “I knew you were stubborn, but this is ridiculous.”
Viri strained against the magic holding her, pain lancing along her wrists as if blades were slicing into her flesh, but she didn’t care, just continued struggling.
“Don’t bother,” the Reaper Lord said, watching her pitiful attempt. “There’s nothing you can do now anyway.”
His hooded head turned toward the dais, where his reapers waited obediently.
He made a satisfied sound, then snapped his gloved fingers, causing Viri to flinch as ellixen overwhelmed her senses.
Magic swept through the room in a fiery wind, lighting candles scattered amid the debris all the way up to where they bordered the stone slab, and behind it—
Jessalyn gasped and Viri’s eyes widened as the firebird seemed to come alive, flames leaping along its feathers, blazing from the crown of its head to its outstretched wings and down through its fanned tail. It was even more beautiful and terrifying now, like an inferno made flesh.
“That’s better.” The Reaper Lord hummed his pleasure. “I intended to make tonight’s ceremony more of a visual spectacle, but your friends have proved themselves to be surprising little pests and have managed to figure out where we are, so this will have to do.”
Viri sucked in a breath, hope blossoming within her.
“Don’t look too excited,” the Reaper Lord said with a menacing laugh. “The Magistratus was notified of this location by her daughter, of all people—”
Viri sucked in another breath, since if Wynter had told Sarielle, then she would have also told Meera and Darik. Reeve and Braedan would know, too, plus the rest of their friends. That meant there was still a chance—
“—but I’ve strengthened the wards enough that they’ll never make it through the doors,” the Reaper Lord finished smugly. “An entire army could be amassing outside, and none of them can lift a finger to help you.”
Viri’s hope vanished like smoke, leaving her slumping against the pillar.
The Reaper Lord laughed darkly again. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, Viridia. If it helps, imagine Sarielle Starling’s surprise to learn her precious daughter has been studying forbidden magic beneath her nose for years.” He tsked. “Loyalty is so hard to come by these days.”
“Wynter has more loyalty in her little toe than you do in your whole body,” Viri spat.
“And Sarielle loves her, so she’ll understand.
” Eventually, she added with a mental wince, wondering what, exactly, Wynter had been forced to reveal to her mother in order to share what she’d learned about the comets.
Viri hoped her friend was all right—just as she hoped to survive long enough to find out for herself, even if that was looking less likely with every passing second.
“Love is a lie that only fools believe in,” the Reaper Lord said in a disgusted tone. “How the Magistratus feels about her daughter is irrelevant—unless, of course, she can be used in some way. Power matters. Love doesn’t.”
“Said by someone who has clearly never been loved.”
“Or perhaps said by someone who has been betrayed by love, in all its wretched forms,” he countered sharply, before waving a dismissive hand. “I’m not discussing this with you. The time has come to say your goodbyes.”
Another snap of his fingers beckoned a burly reaper who reached for Jessalyn, her magical bonds dissolving as she was yanked to her feet.
“No!” Viri cried, struggling anew. “No!”
“I have to start somewhere.” The Reaper Lord gave a heartless shrug. “Would you prefer another child take her place?”
Yes, Viri thought, revolted by her own thoughts.
“Viri!” Jessalyn cried, sobbing harder now as the reaper dragged her away, hauling her resisting form toward the dais with little effort. “Viri, help me!”
“JESSY!” Viri screamed, fighting with all her might but unable to move even an inch.
“Such passion,” the Reaper Lord murmured, watching Viri’s battle. “Maybe love does exist.” He sniffed. “Pity.”
And then he turned and strode after Jessalyn, his cloak billowing behind him as he stepped over the vines and around crumbling coffins, following a glass-strewn, candlelit path to where his obedient reapers waited.
They bowed as he approached, then shuffled aside, making room for him to ascend the short staircase up to the dais.
There, Jessy was lifted onto the stone slab, with her thrashing wildly until the Reaper Lord waved a hand to flatten her against the surface, binding her arms and legs in place by magic, his burly helper quickly falling back beside the other acolytes.
Viri was going to be sick. She was peripherally aware of the children sobbing around her, the sounds and smells of their fear only adding to her nausea.
But her gaze remained locked on Jessalyn writhing against the stone slab, the moonlight streaming down onto her visibly quaking form while the flaming wings of the firebird stretched out behind her.
“Not long now,” the Reaper Lord announced, his voice echoing throughout the hall. His head was tilted back as he peered up through the shattered ceiling, shadows rippling around him, like always, but they now danced with firelight, making him look like a demon straight from the pits of hell.
Viri fought and fought and fought against the ellixen holding her to the pillar, panting hard as she tried desperately to free herself, her wrists screeching in pain. But no matter what she did, the magic holding her was too strong.