Chapter 47 #2
“You helped her get more magic,” I hissed.
It was a guess, but what Shula said came back to me—that Naila had battle magic, not the mending I knew she’d possessed since birth.
Because the Zalaam queen corrupted her, because that dark poison of magic had filled her, and twisted her into something else, something more.
“You were the one who made her join the legion. Did you force her to spy, too?”
“No.” Kanuri’s laugh whispered off the vaulted ceiling, whispered over the windows behind us.
Her steady advance forced Nabil and I back another few paces, until my heel met the first step.
Trapped, unless we climbed those stairs.
“She offered to spy, when I told her how much it would help our queen.”
I had no choice but to lift my foot, place it tentatively on the first step. “You took advantage of her. Pretended to be her friend, even though you knew spying would get her killed.”
Kanuri shrugged, her gaze fixed on me. I refused to claim any sort of kinship to this vile woman. Mingyue was my true grandmother, not this poisoned, malice-driven bitch. “If she’d been a better spy, she would still be alive.”
“You’re a piece of work,” Nabil spat, throwing his arm out to stop me when I lurched forward. It didn’t stop me screaming, venting a wave of dark, crackling flame both hot and icy at once. It had no effect on Kanuri, but it was satisfying to see her take a step back nonetheless.
“I’m going to shatter that amulet like I did the king’s,” I hissed. “He died so easily without it. I didn’t see your beloved queen there to protect him.” I made a show of looking around, my arms shaking, rage flaring my nostrils. “I don’t see her here now.”
“I am her handmaiden,” Kanuri seethed, spittle flying as true emotion seized her face for the first time. “It is an honour to—”
“Do her dirty work?” Nabil cut in, and I let my smile spread, its shape cruel on my face.
Kanuri let out a deep hiss, nothing fae in the sound. So this was her weak point. Good. We could exploit it.
I pushed Nabil’s hand down, sending a flash of deathfyre to distract her as I took a second step backwards.
“You know what I think?” I laughed. “If you really mattered to the queen, you’d be at her side right now.
You’re not a handmaiden, you’re her soldier.
Disposable and unimportant. Why else would she send you here, knowing I would kill you? ”
Kanuri scoffed. “You truly think—”
I didn’t allow doubt to form. “I killed Bakshi, and he was protected by one of those too.” I used a flame-wreathed hand to point at the medallion.
“But maybe your all-powerful queen didn’t hear about Bakshi’s untimely death.
Maybe she really does care about whether you live or die.
” I laughed, a crack of noise. “I doubt it, though.”
I held onto my fury and snapped my hand at the woman, the traitor. I didn’t ask why she’d done everything she had. The answer was the same each time—power.
“You’d kill your own grandmother?” she asked coldly, coming closer, forcing us back.
“I had a grandmother,” I hissed, a rush of ice pouring up my chest, down my arms. My hands shuddered with it, my voice low and vibrating when I snarled, “Your sorry excuse for a queen killed her.”
“Say that about my queen again,” Kanuri demanded, jerking closer. Only a handful of steps separated us now, and I sensed Nabil close behind me as I walked backwards up the steps, luring her closer. Rightly assuming she couldn’t allow us close to the gate.
“She’s a fraud,” I taunted. “If she’s so powerful, why is she not out there fighting our legions?
” I stabbed a finger at the wall, at the forest beyond, at the brave people of Ithanys who answered our call.
“Why is she hiding behind wyverns and soldiers? Why did she send you to face me, instead of facing me herself?”
I bared my teeth in a grin. Kanuri was close enough now that my heart hammered in my throat, and my entire plan balanced on a knife edge. Literally. Four steps separated us, then three.
“Your queen is a coward,” I sneered, and watched the sheer rage flare in her black eyes as she lunged.
I was ready for her, and so was Nabil. I drove my dagger up under her ribs at the same time I punched deathfyre into that wicked amulet and Nabil swung his sword.
She moved faster than any fae, as fast and sharp as the wind itself. Before I could stop her, she tore her chest from my dagger, and twisted aside before Nabil’s sword could make contact.
“My queen,” she raged, “will wipe any trace of you from this world. From every world. She’s done it before.”
I whipped my dagger up to intercept a glint of metal, only light from the vast windows behind us giving me a warning in time to stop the knife she aimed at my throat. The breath went out of me, my rage faltering for a second as fear cut through it.
Nabil drove the hilt of his sword into her shoulder, forcing her down a step to give him the space to use the full length of the blade.
But Kanuri was light on her feet, even on the stairs.
She sidestepped his attempt to spear her at the same moment she slashed a broken-edged short sword at both of us.
Sound was drowned out by the pump of blood in my ears. The world narrowed to Kanuri’s movements as she feinted and struck, dancing away from any attempt to stab her again. But blood leaked down her middle; my dagger had struck true. Even though she didn’t show signs of weakness, she was weaker.
I swiped for her ribs, forcing her into Nabil’s next slash, and I didn’t breathe at all when she snapped her teeth at him.
I raised my fiery hand and jammed my thumb into the latch on the bracelet I hadn’t taken off since Mihrunnisa gifted it to me.
And before Kanuri even stopped snarling at Nabil, I dragged my wrist, and the bracelet’s spikes, across her throat.
Hot blood poured over my hand as I lurched out of range of that short sword, my knees weak. I watched blood ooze down her chest, breathing hard, hope a knot in my chest. And I saw it—the moment she realised the spikes had cut deep, that she was bleeding out, her death guaranteed.
“Move!” I shouted, lunging forward just as she struck, like a snake sinking in its fangs without warning.
But she didn’t stab Nabil; she shoved her hands into his chest to force him off balance. Relief filled my chest with air; he wouldn't be gutted, only bruised, and I could defend him for the time it took to regain his feet. He’d be fine.
But in all the time we’d been luring her closer, I didn’t realise how close we’d come to the top of the staircase. Didn’t realise the gate loomed behind us until Kanuri shoved Nabil through its shattered surface, and he disappeared into the glass.