Chapter Thirty-One
All this nasty adventure hadn’t been for nothing.
Seraphina held a gas lamp as Rune was digging. There was a second gas lamp he’d set on the ground to help him see what he was doing. To her, it was all the same. Night or day, the shadows she saw were black, and the empty spaces around them gray.
There were eight graves, five bigger and three smaller.
They left the small ones alone, as they knew those buried in them were children.
Rune worked in silence, switching between the pickaxe, the crowbar, and the shovel – all of them found in a tool shed.
He didn’t complain, nor make any grunts or groans that signaled exertion, which told Seraphina this was no effort to him at all.
His main concern was to not break the wood handle of the pickaxe by putting too much pressure on it.
“These are shallow graves,” he said, throwing the shovel away and kneeling to sweep at the dirt with his hands. “They didn’t bury them in coffins, only wrapped them in sheets. This one, I think, is a man.”
“Can you pull back the sheet a little?”
Seraphina heard fabric tearing, then the smell hit her. She covered her nose and mouth with her hand.
“His flesh is gray and looks like it has collapsed inward,” he said. “The eye sockets are hollow and dark. What do you want me to do now?”
Sometimes, Seraphina thought Rune should take a break from being her eyes.
“Cover him back up and fill the grave. If the body is rotten, then it doesn’t hold a relic.”
Rune did as she said, and it must’ve been an hour later when he managed to uncover a second body, that of an old woman. It was still not what they were looking for, as this corpse was also in an advanced state of rot.
Seraphina had to take a few steps back to clear her lungs.
Even after Rune covered the second grave, she felt like the foul smell was still in the air.
It had started snowing, which made Rune’s job harder despite his physical strength, and she was beginning to feel guilty for making him do this.
He didn’t like it. In fact, he thought it was horrible thing to do, and Seraphina happened to agree with him.
But if she was right, the reward would be worth it.
“This one is... something else,” he said when he uncovered the third corpse.
“Describe it to me.” Seraphina stepped to the edge of the grave.
“It’s a woman. Her head is separated from her body and wrapped in a towel.
The rest of her body is wrapped in a sheet, like the others, and it doesn’t seem like it’s rotten.
” He leaned over and tore some of the fabric away.
“Her skin is intact. Rosy. Not even that cold to the touch. It’s like she’s still alive, which I know is not true, because she’s not breathing, and her head is definitely detached. ”
“Is her head intact as well?”
“No, that one has absolutely gone bad.”
That explained the persistent smell.
“The relic is inside her body,” Seraphina said. “Tear away the sheet and search her. She would’ve implanted the bone somewhere hidden, like on her ribs, under her breasts, or between her legs.”
Rune straightened his back and wiped his hands on his trousers.
“I... I can’t do that. I’m sorry, Seraphina, but she’s a woman, and I can’t just...”
“No, you’re right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.” She held her hand out to him. “If you’ll help me into the grave, I’ll do it.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want you touching–”
“It’s all right. You said it’s like she’s still alive. That’s the relic preventing natural decomposition. It could be an apex relic or a greater relic, but I’m guessing apex. It has to be powerful, and if we find it, it’s ours.”
Rune grabbed her by the waist and lowered her into the grave. It was as if she weighed nothing. He pulled himself out and sat on the edge, watching her as he used snow to clean his dirt-stained hands and face.
Seraphina fumbled with the woman’s dress.
It was a huge thing, all silk and lace, with an enormous skirt that made her feel like she was swimming in fabric, and a corset so tight that she had trouble removing it to check under it.
Her fingers pressed into every inch of skin, between ribs and around joints, but a thorough search of her torso yielded nothing. With a sigh, she moved downward.
She pushed the skirt up, rolling it at her waist. Seraphina really didn’t want to do this.
She didn’t like it, it felt unnatural and invasive, and as she started running her hands up and down the woman’s legs, she apologized to her over and over under her breath.
She was wearing a silk shift and silk stockings secured with garters, and Seraphina tried to check every spot, from her toes to the joint of her hip, without removing them.
She did this twice, pressing between her toes in case the relic was very small and could’ve fit there.
She moved back up her shapely legs and stopped at the joint of her hip once more.
“Oh God,” she sighed. “I’m so, so sorry. You don’t deserve this. You didn’t deserve what happened to you, they took your possessions, your life, and here I am, taking more from you.”
Her fingers inched closer to the woman’s intimate parts under the silk shift.
She pressed on her pubic bone, then moved lower, over the folds.
She felt something under the skin of the right labia, a protrusion that shouldn’t have been there, and relief flooded Seraphina when she realized she had been right.
All this nasty adventure hadn’t been for nothing.
She took one of the daggers that were secured to her lower back and pressed the tip of the blade to the woman’s flesh.
“You found something?” asked Rune, bewildered.
“I think so. We’ll see soon enough.”
She tried not to do more damage than was necessary. The skin broke easily, and Seraphina used two fingers to extract the tiny bone. Then she pulled the woman’s skirt down, adjusted her corset, and wrapped her back in the sheet as best as she could.
Rune stood and helped Seraphina out of the grave. She crouched on the ground, gathered some snow, and started scrubbing the bone of blood.
“Should I cover the grave now?”
“Yes. I know neither you, nor I will forget this night easily, it might haunt our nightmares for a while, but it was worth it. Trust me, this is an apex relic for sure, otherwise she wouldn’t have hidden it in such a place. She wanted to be certain that only she and her husband knew about it.”
She heard Rune starting to fill the grave with earth and snow.
Once spring came, the body would begin to decompose.
She tried not to think about it. A relic was better used than buried and forgotten, especially when it was a member of the Sarumite Order who would be using it.
Seraphina was part of the resistance, and she would always be against the High Harvester.
She knew she would only use this apex relic to do good.
“What does it do?” Rune asked.
And that was how he effectively brought her back to reality.
“I don’t know,” she said. She turned it between her fingers and traced its edges.
“It’s a vomer bone, coming from a young saint judging by its size.
It’s part of the nasal septum. It divides the nasal cavity.
Since it was never recorded anywhere, I can’t know what it does and what saint it came from.
Its origin is probably forever lost. But hopefully, we’ll find out what power it yields soon enough. ”
Rune finished filling in the grave and smoothed the freshly disturbed earth with the shovel. He stepped closer to Seraphina, who got up and craned her neck to see the dark shadow of his face.
“Don’t feel bad about what we did,” he said.
“I don’t think I can help it.” She smiled. “You feel bad about it.”
He huffed. “I feel bad about a lot of things.”
She inclined her head, and as she studied him, all she could see through the relic was the way the wind played in his hair, how the wild strands stuck out everywhere.
She could see where his nose was, but not the precise shape of it, and she knew his lips were full, but didn’t know the shade of them.
“You...” she whispered.
She felt a rush of heat start in her fingers and spread through her arms, her shoulders, and down into her chest. Her hand closed around the relic.
There was a pull in her stomach, an impulse that told her she needed to hold on to it, never let it go, never let people with bad intentions get their hands on it.
It was hers now, and Seraphina would protect it, be the keeper of this mysterious bone that would one day reveal its secrets to her.
“You,” she said again, more firmly.
Rune cocked his head, his eyebrows lifting in anticipation of what she was about to say.
They’d done it. They hadn’t let the gruesome nature of the act of desecrating graves hold them back, and they’d done it. They had an apex relic in their possession, and from here on out, everything would be easier. She didn’t know how, but she felt it in her soul.
There was another thing she felt as well – gratitude.
No matter what she did, where she went, and no matter what she needed from him, Rune never said no.
Well, except when he refused to let her touch him.
But that was not something that bothered her.
Truly, it didn’t. She could understand, she could have patience. ..
“You, kiss me.”
Seraphina didn’t know why she’d said it. Her elation at having finally succeeded at something flooded through her, and she wanted to redirect it, release it, pour it into him through a shared breath.
Rune took a step forward, then another, until he was crowding her space, his wide chest touching hers. He cupped her face with his big hand, pulled her toward him, and crashed his lips to hers.
Seraphina gasped. She hadn’t expected him to heed her request. She stood frozen for a moment, not knowing how to react when his mouth moved against hers.
His lips were plump and soft, like something she could sink her teeth into.
His breath smelled like flowers, and she knew hers did too, as they’d both drunk purified water before leaving Langenbach.
They’d had to, so no one would suspect they were immune.
His other hand came around her waist, and now she was pressed flush against him.
She could feel the hard muscles under his clothes, his chest rising and falling, and his pelvis ground lightly against her.
He was kissing her like he was a starving man, not only with his lips, but with his entire body.
Seraphina released a shaky breath and finally moved her lips against his.
She’d never been kissed before, not on the mouth, and certainly not like this.
In theory, she knew what she had to do, but in practice, she felt clumsy and unprepared.
She’d asked him, and didn’t regret it, but now she worried that while it was great for her, because he seemed to know what he was doing, it was awful for him.
She parted her lips, maybe to try and say something to him, she wasn’t sure, and he took it as an invitation to push his tongue into her mouth and explore her thoroughly.
She let out a groan, feeling her knees like jelly.
Everything below her waist felt liquid, and she felt a trickle down her inner thigh.
She pressed her legs together, seeking friction.
He pressed against her, as if feeling what the kiss was doing to her, and she felt his hard length push into her stomach.
He moaned into her mouth, and she drank the sound, her senses soaring like they’d never had before.
The kiss lasted minutes. They were both out of breath, neither of them wanting to pull away.
Rune caught her tongue between his lips and sucked, and Seraphina clung to his cloak.
One hand went around his neck, and she lifted herself on her toes to reach him better.
But her lungs were starting to burn, her jaw ached, and the kiss was turning into something more painful than pleasurable.
She found the strength to pull away. Rune sought her, his mouth not wanting to part from hers, but Seraphina untangled herself from him and took a step back. She was panting, one hand pressed to her chest, her thudding heart and the lack of air making her feel dizzy.
“Rune,” she breathed, not believing what had just happened.
“Seraphina...” He was panting as well. Then he seemed to regain his composure, and when he said her name again, it sounded different. “Seraphina... I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I don’t know why I did it. I...”
“No, no... Why? I wanted it. You wanted it. There’s nothing to be sorry about.”
“You don’t understand... These lips...” His hand came up to touch his mouth. “You shouldn’t want them on you.”
“I do!”
She moved closer to him again, reaching out for him, but he pulled away and shook his head.
“Rune, I do,” she repeated.
She grabbed his sleeve, and that seemed to anchor him. His head was slightly bowed, as if in shame, and he looked at her from underneath his lashes. It was as if he expected her to admonish him, but all Seraphina wanted was to pull him in her arms and kiss him again.
“Do you regret it?” she asked. “I don’t.”
“N-No... I’ve been wanting to kiss you for a long time, but I was afraid you...” He let out a deep sigh. “You might regret it one day.” He said it like he was almost certain that would be the case.
“No, never.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “I promise.”
It started snowing harder. Seraphina slipped the relic into her pocket and pulled the hood over her head.
“Do you believe me when I say that?” she asked as she reached over to pull his hood up as well.
“As long as you believe it, then I do too.”
That was a strange answer to give.
She took his hand and pulled him back toward the mansion.
“Let’s go inside and see if we can make a fire. We’ll leave at dawn, but until then... maybe you’ll kiss me again.”
“Seraphina...” It sounded like a warning.
“I won’t make you,” she said. “Only if you want to.”
Their boots left dark imprints in the snow that would be gone by morning.