Chapter 16 Anouk
Anouk found Val standing in a daze in the middle of the dance floor.
‘Where’s Theo?’ she said, gripping her arms. ‘We need to get out of here. Now.’
Val frowned. ‘I thought he was with you.’
‘I was with Bastian and Sera. Over by the dead provost.’
‘The— What?’ Val looked up at the dais. ‘Hell’s teeth.’
They circled the dance floor twice. No sign of Theo anywhere. Perhaps he’d gone after the prince himself.
The doors were all blocked off now, and the number of Rose-bearers had doubled.
The ceiling began to tremble.
Val’s eyes went wide. ‘Anouk.’
‘Can’t help it.’ Anouk clenched her fists, harnessing a breath. Long and slow … long and slow … Just like she’d been practising.
A chandelier dropped, shattering in the middle of the dance floor. ‘Oops.’
‘Do it again,’ said Val.
‘What?’
‘Break more shit. It’s the perfect distraction.’
It was as easy as breathing … or in this case panicking.
Anouk couldn’t stop it if she tried.
More chandeliers tumbled from the ceiling. Sconces shattered. Wine spilled.
The dais split in two and the provost fell flat on his face.
One by one, Rose-bearers strayed from their posts. The east door was left unguarded.
They bolted for it, swinging into the corridor.
Anouk’s dress tore as they ran, the satin catching in her heels. Skidding to a stop, she ripped off the ends of her skirt, flinging her stilettos behind her.
Val dumped her mask in a flowerpot. ‘Can’t believe he thought I was a kitten. Prick.’
‘What?’
‘Nothing. Keep moving.’
They pushed on, heading for the quad.
All around them, the walls trembled.
‘You can stop now,’ huffed Val. ‘The way is clear.’
Which meant… it was piled with corpses.
Dead Rose-bearers littered the halls of the Appoline. Bastian had been here. Left a macabre trail of breadcrumbs on his way to find the prince.
Fighting back her revulsion, Anouk weaved between them, following Val into the storm-swept night.
Rain pelted them as they hurried across the quad, making for the clock tower. A figure stood at the edge of the roof, the planes of his skull far too visible in the flickering moonlight.
Anouk’s stomach turned. ‘Lark.’
He was dangling Seraphine over the edge like prey.
There was no sign of Bastian. Or Andreas.
This was wrong. All wrong.
Val sucked in a gasp. ‘The sky is moving.’
The clouds parted and a shadow streaked across the moon.
‘The Strix.’ Anouk’s voice was a ragged whisper.
The earth groaned, a nearby bench cleaving in two. And yet, despite the violent rush of her power, she could not shake the sky, or stop what was already in motion.
The Strix dived for the tower.
Val froze, crushing Anouk’s hand in hers.
Time slowed.
A slant of moonlight revealed the Stargrazer seated atop the Strix.
He was a beast of a man, tall and stiff-backed. Clad in the fighting leathers of Urnica, his rank plain by the golden mane of his helmet. General.
Prince Darius.
Terror of the Skies.
He snatched Seraphine like a dandelion seed.
Val screamed as the monstrous bird returned to the clouds with frightening speed. Anouk stifled the sound, slamming her hand against her mouth and dragging her off the quad.
‘Swallow your fear,’ she hissed in her ear. ‘Or we’ll be next.’
The sky was opening.
More Strix were alighting on the Appoline.
Another shadow circled overhead. The beast landed less than twenty feet away, its red eyes glowing across the quad.
They looked right at Anouk.
Reeling backwards, she shoved Val into the nearest shrub, diving after her. They collapsed in a heap in the dirt.
‘Are you trying to kill me?’ said Val, spitting out a leaf.
‘The opposite,’ huffed Anouk. ‘Stay down.’
Overhead, more beasts circled, their screeches joining in a terrifying aria.
They crouched in a sea of hydrangeas as the Stargrazer slid from their mount like a drop of oil.
Moonlight moved across the quad, and Anouk saw that she was a woman. Tall and broad-shouldered, with braided hair the colour of wheat, and dark eyes rimmed in kohl. Eyes that flashed with menacing curiosity as she moved towards them.
Anouk’s stomach knotted. They had not hidden themselves fast enough.
Fear stoked the fire of her magic. The Appoline groaned as a raft of slates slid from the roof. The Stargrazer reached for the hilt of her sword: a long curved blade made for lopping off heads and asking questions later.
‘We should run,’ hissed Anouk.
‘To where?’
They were surrounded.
The Necromancer occupied the clock tower to the west. The Appoline and its Rose-bearers lay to the east. The wall at their backs was far too high – and shaking from the rush of Anouk’s terror.
Ahead of them, four more Strix landed.
More circled overhead.
‘We’ll get picked off if we run,’ said Val, with the kind of chilling certainty that made Anouk wonder if it was spoken with truth magic.
She raised a counterpoint. ‘Or we die squatting like cowards in the mud.’
Val swallowed. ‘You’re right. We should fight. Stand our ground.’
The ground was trembling violently but their resolve held steady. They might as well go down swinging.
‘Let’s charge her,’ said Anouk. ‘On the count of three.’
One.
Footsteps squelched in the wet grass as the Stargrazer approached the bushes. Anouk slipped a dagger from her bodice.
Two.
Val pulled a knife from her garter.
Thr—
‘Irina!’ A new voice rang out.
They froze mid-crouch as Caruso came running across the quad. His mask was crumpled in his fist and his expression was violent. ‘Return to the skies! The Stone Maiden is on the loose. The whole place might come down.’
The Stargrazer turned. ‘Andreas—’
‘Is going with Darius.’
Whatever else Caruso said was lost in a chorus of shrieks.
At a signal from Irina, the Strix took off once more, shadows rising like wraiths in the night.
Fisting a hydrangea, Val eked out a curse. ‘Bastard.’
Anouk glanced sidelong at her. ‘He just saved our skin.’
‘I know.’
They could have escaped then, crept from the bushes and run for cover, if not for the violent rattle of Anouk’s nerves. She was seized by the sudden bone-chilling realization that if her brother was still alive, he’d be swinging from the neck of the Strix that had just snatched Seraphine away.
Which meant Bastian was likely dead.
The thought lit like a spark.
And gave rise to a firestorm of terror.
Magic erupted, and every window of the Appoline exploded in a hail of colourful glass.