43. Midnight
Midnight
Eleven Days To Go
I untie Lucy as fast as I can and carry her to the sofa. I give her a blanket.
“Get the contract. It’s on my bedside table.”
I rush to get it and as I bring it back, the same symbol on her shoulder forms on the page.
“Whoa, you really are a codex,” I say and lay it on the coffee table in front of us.
The rune dissipates from her skin, appearing on the paper and then reforms itself into words.
Severance Clause:
This contract is binding for eternity unless Architecti is released.
I read the sentence over and over wondering why it jars. And then I understand.
“Why does it say ‘released’?” I ask, my tone a little colder than it should be.
Lucy doesn’t answer. She blinks at the contract, mumbling the wording over and over. I get up and pad to the kitchen to get us some water and put my shirt back on. I settle next to her, tugging her under my arm. Aftercare is important no matter what is going on.
“Do you understand what this means?” I ask and place a kiss on top of her head.
I recognise that perhaps I shouldn’t be providing such intimate care.
She was clear—we’re in a contract, nothing more.
No matter what I want. No matter what I think she wants.
Why am I torturing myself by being this close?
Lucy’s puts her head in her hands. “There’s something I have to tell you.”
I stay quiet, giving her the space to open up.
“This is… it’s the one piece of information I’ve held precious since I discovered it. Telling you… it requires quite the level of trust because it’s my only leverage against my father. And you are his reaper.”
“You don’t trust me?” I say, trying not to sound hurt.
“That’s not… I didn’t mean it like that. I’ve just spent so long fighting my father on my own, I don’t know how to do this with someone else. I asked you for help, and I recognise I’ve been resisting accepting it.”
“What did I say earlier? You’re mine. I am not letting you go no matter how hard you resist. You can trust me because you are the only thing I want in this life. Even if that life only lasts another eleven days.”
She swallows, her eyes dropping away from mine. It stings.
“I didn’t think it would be relevant.”
“That what wasn’t relevant?”
“Architecti… she’s… she isn’t dead.”
“What are you talking about? Of course she’s dead.”
“No, Midnight, she isn’t. Or not exactly, anyway. I don’t know what she is now.”
“You’re not making any sense,” I say.
She takes a deep breath, trying to focus her thoughts.
“My father tricked her and imprisoned her. She’s in some kind of purgatory, I guess.
I don’t know how he did it, only that she isn’t actually dead.
So, the Societas are wrong. They don’t need to kill me to resurrect her, because she never really died. She’s just trapped.”
“Fuck me,” I breathe, running a hand through my hair. “He tricked the entire city. We all thought we were safe.”
“That’s the thing, everyone is safe while she’s trapped. What did it matter where Architecti was? She was gone and that was the point. It’s why I never told anyone.”
“And you have the gall to call me naive. You took the side of a man who lied to millions of people. Made them think he was their fucking saviour when really?—”
I stop dead and glance at the contract, the words in dark ink on the parchment. Heat flashes in my cheeks. “Oh gods, he used you.”
“What?” she says.
I point at the contract, my head swimming.
“Don’t you see? He used you. He trapped Architecti.
This contract is between him and her and inked on your body.
And the Societas are convinced you’re the key to resurrecting her.
This contract is the key, I don’t know how, but I think the Societas are right. They’re just wrong about resurrection.”
Her eyes widen as she turns back to the parchment.
“He fucking used me…” she whispers.
A knock at the door startles us both.
“You expecting company?” I ask.
She shakes her head, wraps the blanket around her like a towel and cracks the front door open.
Lucy gasps and stumbles back. “Father…”
Oh, fuck.
Ignatius’s eyes fall straight to the runes on her body, then scan the apartment, the debris of sex and kink. His skin deepens to a rouge that reminds me of lava. He snaps to face me.
I’ve never feared him. Not once. But tonight, I get close. He stalks across the living room, scruffs me by the neck and hauls me off the sofa.
“What did I tell you about Lucy?”
I grab at his wrist. His grip is too tight, I can’t breathe, let alone speak.
“Put her down,” Lucy’s voice cuts through the tension.
Ignatius flinches.
“Now,” she says, and I spot a glint of steel jabbing his side.
His grip loosens. She stabs the knife in.
“Release her properly.”
He opens his hand and I stagger back.
“Can I trust you two long enough for me to gather clothes?” Lucy says.
“Don’t look at me ,” I say.
Ignatius gives her a curt nod, and she dashes from the room. Neither of us move.
She returns with impressive speed.
“What do you want?” she barks at him.
“Why do you have celestial runes on your body?” Ignatius asks.
“You are well aware of why, perhaps you should tell me ,” she says.
Ignatius rubs a hand over his face and notices the contract on the coffee table. “How the hell do you have that?”
“I’m not answering any questions until you start talking,” Lucy says.
I’m in a dangerous position now. I should leave. Thanks to Lucy, I have leverage on Ignatius, but I don’t want to jeopardise her if he finds out.
“Why are you here?”
“I came to protect you,” he says, suddenly looking old.
“You cause her more pain than protection,” I blurt and instantly regret it as he lunges for me.
Lucy steps between us, holding the knife under his chin.
“Don’t touch her.”
He backs off, raising his hands. “Fine. There was a break-in. The Societas. I think we’re in imminent danger.”
“Where?” I ask.
“My office. They stole a bone.”
“A break-in is awful, but why do you care so much about a bone? Just source a new one,” Lucy says.
“I can’t.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Because it isn’t just any bone. It’s angelic. It’s Architecti’s finger, and it’s one of the only weapons in existence that can kill a demon.”
I frown. “I thought demons were immortal…” But there’s more, something niggling at the edges of my mind.
“We are to mortals. But angels have the power to kill us. You have to be protected,” Ignatius says and stalks to the windows, checking the latches.
“Why? Because if I die, Architecti is released?” Lucy says.
He stills.
A thick pause hangs in the air.
“I’m sorry,” he says, and Lucy’s lips part, a gasp escaping.
I’m not sure if it’s the truth that’s hitting her or the fact Ignatius actually apologised.
And that’s when it hits me. I used Architecti’s scythe in the Severance Rite.
“Oh my gods, she’s here… isn’t she?” I whisper.
Ignatius glowers at me. I brace myself, expecting a fight.
“Yes,” he says.
One word and everything falls into place.
Midnight, Midnight, Midnight.
That voice, that whisper and scream. It was never the campus.
“Who is where?” Lucy says, her eyes switching between us.
Ignatius sags. “Architecti. I trapped her here.”
Which means I never made a deal with the campus. I made it with Architecti. A fallen angel. One who wants Lucy’s soul.
Oh gods, what did I do? What will she do if I don’t reap Lucy?
“I take it you’ve unlocked your contract?” Ignatius says.
Lucy nods.
Ignatius moves towards Lucy. “Which means… have you told her? Are you in love?”
Lucy shakes her head, her eyes glassy as she covers her mouth with her hand.
“What does it matter?”
“It matters because regardless of what you think, you are my daughter, and I do love you, and I don’t want… You have to be protected at all costs.”
“We’ve unlocked part of it…”
Ignatius continues checking the windows, the doors, bathroom, any entrance and exit while the pair of us stand still, feeling helpless. My fingers slide to my scythe.
“Wait,” I say.
Ignatius stops what he’s doing.
“Where was the bone? What did it look like?”
“It was a finger bone. It was in a glass box.”
I unclasp the leather holster and pull out the scythe I’ve carried for a decade.
“Like this?” I say and as I present it, it shifts and morphs back into a bone.
His eyes widen. “It was you…”
He hurls himself at me, but Lucy charges him and they careen into the kitchen counter.
“You will not fucking touch her,” she screams.
“I didn’t steal it today. I’ve had it the whole time. I took it the day you made me a reaper. I don’t know what magic it has, but a ghost of a bone reformed in the glass case the second I removed it. You’d annoyed me, and I liked having one up on you.”
He sags against the floor and Lucy clambers up.
“And no one else knows you took it?”
“No.”
“Then that is something. I guess I’ll be collecting that from you in a few days.”
And there it is, the godsawful truth that lingers between us. Lucy’s eyes flash.
“You will not reap her,” she snarls.
“Lucy, sweetie, she made a contract. It’s binding.”
“Like mine, you mean?”
“Exactly.”
“Then I guess I’ll unmake mine.”
He smiles softly at her, cups her chin the way a proud father does. “That tells me you still haven’t unlocked the final rune.”
“You’re not taking her from me,” Lucy says, and it’s the first time I’ve truly seen her fight for me. A hint of red smoke forms between the buttons of her pyjamas. I tense, expecting him to see it. He doesn’t.
Instead, he says something that turns my blood cold.
“You won’t. Not when you find out what you have to do to break it.”