Chapter 19
The wind shrieked as the air around them began to vibrate, even the ground shaking as heavy snow and ice loosened.
The whirling vibrations increased until the rumbles deafened everyone, the women clapping hands over their ears and wolves whining at the sound.
Picking up snow and ice, the cyclone grew and grew until, with a tree-shaking boom of thunder, it released, tunneling for the wolves and incoming men.
Shocked, Elysia’s gaze slid to Topp. Fingers gripping his axes so tight they were white, he furrowed his brow in concentration as he swept the cyclone along, tearing up snow, dirt, and trees.
One by one the men who hadn’t shifted burst out of human skin, turning into wolves and bears, darting out of the cyclone’s path.
Seconds after the first thunder, blinding lightning cracked through the trees, and a shifter yelped, diving and rolling out of its path.
Elysia stared at the burnt scorch of earth, overwhelmed with the terrible and unfamiliar feeling of being helpless in a fight.
My magic is no good in combat, and I can’t fight a fucking bear.
Topp’s chest heaved with exertion, and the remaining shifters were shaking out their fur, beginning to advance again.
Slowly, they encroached, eyes yellow and snouts curled in permanent snarls.
Topp was raising his axes now, determined exhaustion lining his face. Elysia’s eyes darted between Topp and Jessa. They needed to act now, or they were going to be torn to shreds. Stomach sour, she barked out her order. “Rip them apart.”
Two pairs of green eyes locked on her, but she didn’t flinch. “I said, rip them apart.”
Jessa hardened in understanding, and then animals and trees exploded, both gore and wood splinters flying through the air. The shifters who didn’t explode dropped to the earth, rolling and crying out as their oxygen cut off until all at once they stopped, bodies still and eyes lifeless.
Topp’s bright eyes grew dim as he gazed down at the destruction they had wrought, and Elysia dropped to her knees, the snow soaking through her green dress.
Something in her wanted to keel—to collapse and wordlessly scream into the now mundane winds.
Topp’s large, calloused hand appeared in front of her face.
Tiny drops of blood were splattered against his freckles.
Placing her hand in his like she’d done a hundred times before, Elysia stood, allowing the brutal wind to whip her long dress around her.
The cold settled against her heart. Every step is one closer to the talisman. Elysia clung to this hope. And with that, she silently began to trudge along the golden-lit path out of the Endless Forest to claim her place in the Reyez Empire.
Bloody and mud-splattered, they arrived.
Remy was likely traumatized. Topp hadn’t stopped asking Elysia questions about her kidnapping since they started walking, and Beatriz and Jessa were plotting something that she pretended she couldn’t hear.
The front door swung open. Emmellin grinned, letting out a loud whoop as she turned and jumped onto her husband, legs wrapped around his middle. One arm thrust in the air, she yelled into the house. “Parker returns! Pay up, assholes!”
And with that, she directed her enormous husband to carry her to each and every person who had seemingly bet against Elysia’s success.
Elysia watched from beneath a lifted eyebrow. Nothing like knowing almost the entire room thought you were going to fail and die.
Her sister and Topp loomed over her shoulders, curiosity getting the better of them.
With a ready sneer, Beatriz took in the handful of crew members eyeing her little sister with unveiled disdain.
“No wonder Gage was willing to cut himself off from magic to get away from you all.” Cold and angry, Beatriz was past snippy and well into bitchy territory.
Topp gripped Elysia’s shoulder protectively, his eyes focused on the mixed reactions of their hosts. He murmured into her ear, “Let’s go before—”
Emmellin hooted and slid off her husband in front of them. “Well, I’ll be—a prince.” Her gaze snagged on Elysia’s feet. “Fuck. Those are the ugliest feet I’ve ever seen. You should take care of that. Looks like frostbite over all those…scars.”
Elysia’s still-frozen ears turned hot with embarrassment. She had managed to hide her feet from everyone, including Topp, until now.
“They’re fine,” she muttered, barging into the house with her motley crew trailing nervously behind her like a bunch of weird ducklings.
Elysia snatched the tube with the roulette plans from her sister. Beatriz tried to dive for them, only for Jessa to grab hold of the neck of her shirt and yank her to a full stop. Marching over to where Syliva Reyez watched imperiously, Elysia held out the tube with a glare and spat at her feet.
The room took a collective inhale, silence falling heavier than the snow.
Sylvia grasped the tube, but Elysia ripped it backward, pulling her in close. There was shifter matter in her hair, and she was careening dangerously close to not giving a shit if she walked out of this house alive. She held the Reyez queen’s eyes. “You’re going to pay her.”
She released the tube, and it was likely only years of training that kept Sylvia from stumbling back.
“You’re going to pay my sister for the plans.
You want me to steal? You want me to remove a mark?
Fine. But what you don’t do is send me in unprepared to keep people I love alive.
” Heart thundering, the fear she’d kept a grip on was slipping.
She gestured sharply at Topp and Jessa. “The only reason we walked out of that forest is because of their magic. Your son trained me to be a thief. To sneak in, sneak out, and fight mundanely if needed. You want to test me? Fine. But do not bring my people into this without warning. Do you understand?”
Nose to nose, Elysia didn’t dare blink or back away. An eternity slipped past as she waited to be cut down, but neither Sylvia nor any other member of the family moved.
A slow smile crept across Sylvia’s face, but her eyes remained two chips of hazel ice. The effect was terrifying. “Your test was not of strength or skill.”
A buzzing noise filled Elysia’s ears. This fucking b—
“You grew up alone. From my son’s messages, you are guarded, difficult, and trust no one.”
Her hackles rose.
“He also was willing to stake his life on the fact that in spite of how everyone failed you, you would die fighting for your family.” She nodded at the extremely tense group of Kavians behind them and then gestured at her own people.
“To be in this family, you must be capable of being loyal to something beyond yourself. And your strange collection of friends…is a start.”
Elysia’s anger pitched low, still a dark hum in her veins. “You wanted to see if I would take the plans and leave them to die.”
Sylvia gave a perfunctory nod. “Consider that I also gave you a chance to save them. If you hadn’t been there to steal the plans, Maspan would have handled them quite easily.”
Her fingers flexed and released by her side as Jessa grunted her dissent.
Beatriz slapped away Jessa’s hand that still clung to her collar, strolling over with far too much confidence. She looked down at her sister. “You’re trying to tell me you joined the family?”
Exhausted, Elysia was well past explaining her actions, but Sylvia intercepted the question.
“Many think of us as criminals, and we are—but we are also the foot soldiers of death’s many faces.
Who do you think pays for all the temples?
Who do you think pays for all the impoverished and orphaned women who find shelter and now walk in their halls?
People are taxed heavily enough. We can’t expect them to drop their coins at the feet of their gods.
We fill in what is needed and take care of our own. ”
Elysia glanced at the enormous home she stood in and made a face.
They more than took care of their own. Beatriz slid Slyvia an oily grin in response to the woman’s rather polite description of the family business.
“You misunderstand. I have no qualms with your business.” Her eyes narrowed as they went back to Elysia. “My issue is with this one.”
Sylvia’s lips turned up at the sibling dispute. Facing the entire room of Reyez family members and scraggly Kavians, she raised her voice. “Clean up. Take the night to rest. Because when you wake—we celebrate our new initiate and explore fascinating foreign business opportunities.”
Beatriz muttered a quiet, “Fuck yeah,” garnering a few chuckles from around the room.
The crowd dispersed, and Emmellin corralled the tired and quickly fading crew up the stairs and down a hall filled with guest rooms.
Taking the first available room, Elysia shut the door before anyone could say a word, threw the damnable roulette plans to the side and sank onto the bed, staring off at nothing.
Limbs heavy and brain numb, it was several minutes before she finally glanced at the bathing room.
She had to bathe. She needed to bathe. But her body wasn’t moving, and her feet hurt so badly she wanted to throw up.
She dug the heels of her palms into her eyes. She could’ve lost her sister tonight. She was likely going to in the next few months anyway. Elysia pressed harder as if that would shut up the thoughts inside her head.
The door banged open, and Elysia’s head shot up. Beatriz led the unwanted invasion with everyone else trailing in behind her. Door shut, Topp leaned heavily against it with his arms folded.
Plopping down beside her, Beatriz slung an arm around her shoulders. Suspicious, Elysia stiffened before finally relaxing into her sister’s side. She couldn’t remember the last time they’d hugged. Head dropping against her shoulder, the tension in her chest loosened.