LYCORIS RADIATA
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Saya Claymore
Death isn’t new to me. Wherever I go, death seems to follow. A bloody trail weaves a path to my location, and no matter what I do or how much I try, it comes.
Ash flakes from my fingers, and red spider lilies sprout from the ground, bursting vibrantly. Shadows pull away from the carriage walls and the rattling cage shakes, mercifully supplying sounds other than screams.
Serun steps out of the darkness, blood dripping from his sharp fingertips. Sticky blood lifts from the ground with every step he takes, like strips of fabric peeling away from each other. Spider lilies bloom near him, signifying death. We grew them in the graveyard in Cherry Bloom village.
My hands on my knees, fingertips curling inwards, I look up at Serun and follow his fiery eyes. “Olivia, you are without a master. Come, I will make it quick. Painless.”
Painless?
Olivia mechanically makes her way towards him. The finality stirs something strange inside me. We fight. Isn’t that what humanity does? Fight. Cling to survival. They’re nightwalkers for a reason. Their very existence is born of desperation to live, no matter the cost.
I get to my feet quickly before Olivia can reach Serun’s lethal embrace.
Making myself a barrier between them, I throw out my arms, shoving Olivia away while my other hand rests on Serun’s broad chest. Light radiates from the centre of my palms, only for the shadows to carve them away in the blink of an eye.
“You aren’t killing her,” I say, my focus snapping to Serun. His eyes crinkle, amused. “No more death.”
“Serun’s Law states that a newborn without a master needs to die.” His claws curl around my hand. “But if you want her alive, make her your servant, and I will call it a night. No more bloodshed.”
Serun’s Law. Everything revolves around it. But it also seems Serun doesn’t control it. Everyone has to abide by these rules, even himself.
What would happen if he broke it? Would his siblings turn against him? Or worse—would every nightwalker in existence?
Olivia pushes on my outstretched palm. “I’m willing to give up my life for Serun’s Law. You’ve done enough, Lady Consort.”
That name is going to damn well haunt me. But there’s no time to be bitter. Her words sound…strange. Robotic. And unlike the Olivia I met earlier, there’s no emotion.
An ache constricts around my throat. Her jaded red eyes stare longingly at Serun, pulled into his lure, accepting her fate. Control. He is the Lord Nightwalker.
“Fuck. Okay,” I say, lowering my hands. “She will be my servant until she is no longer considered a newborn.”
Serun snaps his fingers. Olivia sucks in a breath, her hands going to her head, fingers digging into her temples. When I look back, Serun is gone, and so are his shadows. I’m left with Olivia in an ash-covered room, the spider lilies wilting, browning around the edges.
“So, you are my master, huh?” Olivia tilts her head; her brows furrowed with suspicion. “Did you set all this up?”
I walk around her and say, “I saved you. I don’t care about control.”
“Lord Serun won’t like that.”
I roll my tongue around my upper teeth. “I don’t care, Olivia. You can do as you please.”
“Thank you,” Olivia says as I reach the door and turn to face her. She laughs, flashing her fangs. “It’s an odd thing to do, thanking another as a nightwalker. I bet most don’t even remember how to fucking do it.”
A pang hits my chest as I’m reminded of Manni’s warm smiles.
I don’t respond. Part of me fears growing close to someone who might fake these emotions. Or she could die just like Manni and Emily.
Olivia kneels by the broken glass, picking up the shattered shards as I slide the door shut behind me.
I trip over something, stumbling, and watch it roll across the ground and into the dim light of Serun’s carriage ahead.
The canned fruit. Picking up the wayward food, I find Serun sitting on the leather lounge, arms draped across the top, his shadows falling away to reveal his face.
A crooked smile lights up those magnetic eyes, and he sweeps his focus up and down my frame before finally settling on my mouth.
“Am I in trouble?” I ask him.
“Depends on what trouble you intend.”
I place the can on the fridge, then gesture to my bloody gown, and shrug my shoulders.
Serun sighs. “No, Saya. None will care—”
“You. I care little about how others see me, but I am your consort. Someone you can kill whenever you want.” My eyes narrow. “Do you care?”
He twitches a smirk. “No. I do not care.”
With a nod, I smooth down my gown. “Those flowers that bloomed when you killed him. Does that happen often?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He shrugs.
I’m not going to get any answers out of him, am I?
I point to the bathroom instead. “I’m going to wash this blood off me before I eat.”
“By the time you’re done, I suspect we will be at the Undercity.”
“And what happens when we arrive at the Undercity?”
“We will travel to my manor.”
I look out into the darkness. Instead of the sea, the view is now rock, as if we are back on land. Underground perhaps. “When we get there, could you contact your brother? I want to know if he has a lead on Cole.”
“Saya,” he says as he stands.
“Please,” I whisper.
Serun’s ears pull back, and the words I know would have been him telling me that his brother will contact him if he knows something wash away. Instead, he inclines his head. “If it will put you at ease.”
“Thank you.”
He looks away, and I smile, imagining his face going red. If there were any semblance of a beating heart inside that chest, it would glow.
Beautiful.
He reminds me of the red lilies that sprouted after the kill.
A pretty corpse.