Chapter 38 #2
Her pale skin was slick with sweat, and she couldn’t have been a day older than twenty-two. But, as much as I didn’t recognize her face, I knew that name.
“Ophelia’s cousin,” Nocta confirmed. “One of the most gifted members of a very gifted family. Like so many, she hates me. My guess is Tarquinius recruited her to his cause and swapped out your friend with her to keep a spy in your midst.”
“He knew we were at Heathermoor all along?”
“I’m sure of it. Likely he only allowed you to go because he needed something from the school. Information or . . .”
A piece of the Grym . . . and she’d taken the rock which was our only tie to the Grym. To ‘research’ it.
It was my turn to bend at the waist, sucking in a breath as dark spots appeared before my eyes. This was not the time for panic.
Focus, Harlow.
“And Opie?” I managed. “Where is she? Is she alright?”
He pursed his lips and shook his head. “I can’t be certain, but I believe Tarquinius took her with him into Everdark. I doubt he would hurt her. He still needs you, and he knows he has no hold over you without her.”
The words took the slightest edge off the near-apocalyptic level of panic threatening to swallow me whole since I’d learned she was in trouble.
Gary slid past me, eyeing Nocta’s monsters as he crept toward Malena, his hands raised. “She stole something from me. I need to get it back. Is . . . is that okay?”
Gary had allowed ‘Fable’ to take the square stone under a pretense that had nothing to do with actually helping any of us. No doubt she would have handed it right over to Tarquinius.
Fury shot through me. Fucking lying bitch. And what she’d put our poor Fabes through?
It made me want to do things that would leave me a monster, and Nocta’s men looking human.
I sucked in a steadying breath and blew it out through my gritted teeth. I had to shove the feelings aside. They would do me no good now.
“Yes, Gary, you can take your . . . rock . . . back.” Nocta dipped his head in assent. “You have nothing to fear from me or mine. I swear it.”
“You have an interesting way of showing it,” I said, a spell at the ready as Gary reached Malena’s side. “Ambushing us like that.”
As much as I knew I couldn’t turn my back on what was happening here, everything inside me was desperate to get to Fable and make sure she was alright.
Gods, what had they done to her? Was Nocta right? Was Tarquinius truly responsible for such an atrocity?
Gary knelt, unstrapping the leather satchel from her waist. “It wasn’t meant to be an ambush. I came as soon as I knew Tarquinius was gone and you were on your way. I’m here to tell you the truth so we can–” Nocta broke off as Malena groaned, her eyelids flickering.
Gary let out a yelp, leaping back to his feet with the satchel in hand, then rushed back to safety with the rest of us.
As Malena’s arms began to move, a rune-less spell cut through the air.
The stone floor rumbled and cracked as vines forced their way through, snaking around her hands.
She stirred fully awake in a flash, yanking at her restraints.
Her expression flitted from confusion to panic, then settled into one of pure rage as her eyes found Nocta.
“You fucking bastard,” she spat, her fingers squeezing down on her wooden restraints, but it was no use. Securing a Dwimmer’s fingers was the oldest trick in the book, and for good reason. As it stood, she was basically helpless.
“Harlow? Help me, he’s –” she began, wincing as her voice came through in truth. Deeper and raspier, with a hint of British peeking through, and nothing like Fable’s. “Ah. Right, then. The jig is up, eh?”
I clenched my teeth hard enough to crack them as I stared down at her, still trying to process. “You’re Opie’s cousin. Her family.” I tested out Nocta’s theory like it was fact. “How can you possibly justify working for Tarquinius even when you know he’s putting her in danger?”
Malena let out a bark of bitter laughter.
“Do you even know what it’s like to grow up under the weight of an entire family’s expectations?
To have magic drilled into you from birth, knowing they’ll never accept anything short of perfection?
You think I owe Opie something just because we share blood?
That’s literally all we share. She never had grandmother standing over her, mocking her for every failure.
Her mother beating her knuckles bloody every time she botched a rune.
Opie was invisible. Living the fucking dream, if you ask me. ”
Nocta watched her, his eyes filled with something like pity. “That wasn’t her fault. She’s an innocent in all this.”
“Innocent?” she spat, struggling against the roots that bound her to the floor.
“You want to talk to me about hurting innocents after what you did in Central Park? You fucking bastard. For the first time in my life, I’d found someone who didn’t treat me like a tool to be used, and you took him away.
Carl wasn’t even a Dwimmer. He was a goddamned delivery driver who loved bird-watching.
He had nothing to do with any of this, but you didn’t give a fuck.
You and your cronies murdered him like it was nothing. ”
My gut churned as memories of what’d happened in Central Park rushed in. It had been all over the news. The chaos. The carnage.
Maybe that had been staged by Tarquinius too?
But I glanced at Nocta, catching the flicker of regret and sadness in his eyes as he stepped closer to her, and disappointment rolled through me.
Shit.
“That was never meant to happen – he attacked me and my men with human weapons. There were casualties, and in a war –”
“Don’t lie to me!” she screamed, her face flushing with anger.
“I was there! I watched you kill him. The only one who ever really loved me, and you took him away.” She let out a breath, turning her head to the side.
“After Carl died, there was nothing left. I had nowhere to go. I would’ve killed you myself if Tarquinius hadn’t found me and given me a chance at revenge.
All I had to do was fool a bunch of dumb kids to get to you. How could I possibly refuse?”
“And the Phyllis switch?” I demanded. “She was on your side, wasn’t she? You turned on her and killed her like she was nothing.”
Malena barked a laugh. “Ask your daddy, there. A casualty, right Nocta? She’d come for the piece of the Grym Dunaras to bring it back to Tarquinius, but you all wouldn’t give us a second alone for me to give it to her.
And then Mind-fuck McGee over here,” she jutted her chin toward Cat, “was pressing her. I couldn’t let her spill our secrets.
Every time I started to feel a little bad, I reminded myself of the truth.
You’re no better than he is. You had no problem lying to everyone to protect your own skin, and in the end, if push came to shove, I knew you’d take his side over ours.
” She let out a hollow laugh, her gaze shifting to me.
“And I was right. Just look . . . look at all of you. Ready to talk things out with this fucking psychopath. I was right not to expect better of you; like father, like daughter.”
My gut twisted at her words. Because no matter how much I wanted to deny it, there was some truth to what she was saying.
But maybe that wasn’t as bad as I’d thought?
He’d done terrible things. He’d hurt people in Central Park.
He’d terrorized the Dwimmer world for decades.
But he’d also been merciful, both here and at the Solstice Games.
He’d made sure no killing blows were made during the fight, he’d protected Opie . . .
Maybe it wasn’t as black and white as we’d been told. Maybe he wasn’t the true bad guy here.
Or did I only think that because I was his daughter?
A crack split the silence before I could respond, drawing my attention to the Weave. The oily threads of magic began to unravel before my eyes, the darkness beyond it opening to reveal a gaping rift.
Nocta’s voice dropped to a tight whisper.
“He’s here.”
The entire Weave began to shudder, and a dark shape emerged from the tangled web of magic. Tarquinius. And he was dragging a limp form behind him.
“Opie!”
I moved to dive toward them, but Typhon grabbed me and held me back. It wasn’t Opie though that he had in his hands.
Tarquinius stepped forward, a cruel smile on his lips as he tossed a battered Liam to the floor in front of us. Liam’s face was bruised, his breathing ragged as he struggled to push himself up. “Liam?”
“I tried to keep him from getting back through for as long as I could,” Liam groaned, blood dripping from his face.
My head spun . . . what was he even doing here? He’d gone to hold off the Runecoats and Mallachtan.
And then, he’d clearly come here to help us. But how did he know?
There was no time to think more on it as Tarquinius let out a low, satisfied chuckle.
“Welcome home, students!” He surveyed us with icy satisfaction, his voice dripping venom as he spoke. “How kind of you all, saving me the trouble of hunting you down. But as much as I had high hopes for your adventures at Heathermoor, I find I’m no longer in need of your services.”
I could hardly make out his words as my gaze locked onto the sword hanging at his waist. I’d only seen it once, and not even in real life, but it was all too familiar.
Excalibur.
Tarquinius didn’t need House Phoenix or the Grym Dunaras to vanquish Nocta for him anymore because he had found fucking Excalibur.
Hecate help us all.