Chapter Forty-Seven
KHALIDA
“Stop.”
Khalida brought up the sword, the tip glancing off Kade’s neck.
A droplet of blood dripped from the wound before quickly knitting itself.
He was the first person she had come across, and she had reacted on instinct.
She looked over Kade’s shoulder as she lowered her sword.
The once green grass had quickly become sickly in the wake of the god, as if her powers couldn’t keep the earth beneath her alive for anything but a temporary renewal.
There was no other sign of the wayfarers.
And all the humans were still prone on the ground, unmoving.
“She isn’t at her full power. The relic is draining her,” Kade said, as if he had read her thoughts. “But that doesn’t make her any less dangerous.”
“A trapped animal will fight to the death. I would think that she would not want to go back to her confinement.” Khalida sighed as she looked around. There was still no sign of Talik. She didn’t dare glance down at her wrist, not wanting to believe there was anything wrong. “She knows we are here.”
“I know.”
The mist encircling Palatine Hill had grown thicker.
It was impossible to see through to the other side or the rest of Rome from where they stood.
It was thick enough that the fog was beginning to look like a sheet of hardened ice.
Khalida didn’t think it was a coincidence, just the damn god flexing her powers.
But that wasn’t what was forefront in her mind. Where was Talik?
Kade shifted on his feet. It was entirely out of character for the stoic Atlantean. He squeezed his hand as if he were holding something.
“What?”
He held out his palm. In the middle of it was Talik’s matte black pinkie ring.
Talik had been wearing it for more than five hundred years.
Ever since she had thrown her wedding ring, a symbol of human marriage, at him.
Behind Kade’s back were Talik’s blasters, and the only way he could protect himself against Ninhursag.
Numbness rushed through Khalida, chased by a surge of adrenaline as her body went from hot to cold.
“Show me your wrist,” Kade demanded, his tone edged with urgency.
Normally she would have snapped at him for the demand, but she was almost dizzy with dread.
She slipped back her sleeve, just past her wrist, to where the bright yellow consort mark should have been.
Instinct made her want to shut her eyes, so she couldn’t see the evidence of Talik’s actions, but she forced her eyes wide.
He had managed to do the unthinkable—undo what shouldn’t have been able to be undone.
The outline of the consort mark was barely visible against her brown skin.
Her mouth was suddenly dry, but she forced the rest of the words out.
If she said them out loud, they wouldn’t fester within her.
“You think this is proof that he’s been swayed to Ninhursag’s side? ”
She didn’t think she could break any more and still survive, but Talik had proven that she could.
Had Talik become a wayfarer like Idris?
“No.”
Relief flooded through her. She didn’t want to be the only one who was hoping for the impossible.
“We stick to the plan—stop Ninhursag.” Kade sighed, the sound not filling Khalida with comfort. “I think Talik is about to do something very stupid.”
***
KHALIDA
He is about to do something very stupid.
Khalida repeated the words, like it was a mantra. It was the only thing moving her forward, making the search for the god so much more urgent.
He could have turned. No. Khalida threw the thought out before she could finish it. Talik was many things, but he wouldn’t voluntarily work for Ninhursag—no matter what she had promised him. Talik had changed over the years, but his loyalty hadn’t.
She kept her profile low, sticking to the shadows and ruins as they followed the path of destruction.
Ninhursag must be looking for the relic.
Khalida signaled for Kade to stop. He was thirty feet behind her, moving between the isolated columns and buildings, using every trick at his disposal to stay beneath the detection threshold of anyone who was still conscious, just like she was.
They made their way, searching for any tourists who may have not fallen prey to Ninhursag’s spell.
So far, they had not come across anyone.
The fog had transformed into a thick layer of ice and stretched out to the horizon, encircling them entirely, separating them from the rest of Rome.
In the middle of Palatine Hill, snaking around some of the ruins, was a new layer of mist, it was still transparent, but the edges were beginning to harden and darken.
Adding another layer between her and Talik.
Above them, the sun appeared to not have moved since Ninhursag had appeared.
The white fluffy clouds that had covered the sky had dissipated.
The world that surrounded them was devoid of any traffic noise, birds chirping, or the rustling of leaves.
A twig snapped.
She whirled, swords at the ready and met empty space. She sniffed. The subtle scent of cotton candy was hard to miss.
“Duck.” Kade forcibly stated through the earpiece. He grunted, and she heard the audible click of the blaster being used. “Ambush.”
She turned, barely missing the kick to her head as she tightened her hold on her sword hilt and swung, impaling the flesh of the wayfarer.
Using her momentum, she drove him backward, until he hit the side of the red-brick wall, the impact vibrating through her.
Her sword sliced through his skin and muscles easily, sliding a few inches into the ancient mortar of the building.
Rocks and leaves fell around them as she pushed the sword deeper into the wayfarer’s shoulder.
Deep enough that he couldn’t move. Palming the knife from her hip, she grabbed his other arm, stretching it out until it was at an unnatural angle, before she stabbed him in the wrist, angling the blade between the bones, until the hilt of the knife was against his skin.
Blood dripped from both wounds as a look of pain crossed his features.
Once he had been human.
The wayfarer knew he had been cornered. His tanned skin was slightly sallow as he took a shuddering breath. “Bitch.”
“What are you looking for?” she demanded.
“Glory.”
Khalida shook her head. She’d had enough and was not playing nice. She stared at the wayfarer. He would have been handsome once, before he had sold his allegiance to an unforgiving god. “I’m only going to ask one more time. What are you looking for?”
Spittle ran down his face as the wayfarer shook. Blood dripped from his shoulder and his wrist. Ninhursag had not enhanced the wayfarer’s ability to heal. Khalida was not above exploiting the weakness.
“Your death.”
“Have it your way.” She drew back, taking the sword out of his shoulder in one slick movement before slashing it across his neck, cutting the soft tendons and flesh with a flick of a wrist. “You had your chance.”
He blinked at her, his right arm slumped at an unnatural angle, unable to move as blood began to seep down like a waterfall. Khalida reached out and pulled the knife from his wrist.
The wayfarer slumped to the ground, convulsing as the light in his eyes slowly diminished, until they were empty.
They slowly returned to a rich brown, the color they would have been before he met Ninhursag.
She crouched and closed his eyes. He may be an enemy but there was a dignity in death that transcended species and sides.
“Your god won’t save you.”
Black boots appeared next to her. Kade. “You gave him more than he would have given to you.”
There was a hint of respect in his tone, one that she hadn’t heard before.
“In death we are all equal. Nothing but the stars and the earth we have been made from.” Khalida slowly stood. It was the Atlantean way, the oath of the immortals. She cleaned her sword and knife, replacing the latter before she turned and faced Kade. “Tell me you have found Talik.”
Kade grimaced, his eyes hidden behind his glasses. “No. I found Ninhursag.”
“Where?” Khalida asked and stopped, her mouth open as she shook with rage.
The transparent wall of fog running through Palatine Hill that had appeared minutes earlier was now an impenetrable thick layer of ice, just like the one surrounding them.
They were trapped between two layers, and Talik was likely on the same side as Ninhursag.
Alone and without his blasters. And about to do something stupid.