Page 165 of The Mirror of Beasts

He hadn’t wanted to die. Not then, when he’d finally freed himself of his father and the future had opened its door to greet him.

My heart throbbed painfully as I stood beside his still body. Neve had drawn the burial shroud up to just below his chin. His face was still streaked with dirt and blood.

Using a clean bowl of water and a new cloth, I gently dampened the dark, dried blood on his lips. I placed the coin there.

In ancient times, the Greeks buried their dead with coins over their eyes or in their mouths to serve as an obol for Charon—his fee for ferrying the dead into the Underworld. It felt right that this coin would instead be planted in the earth like a seed.

I leaned down, pressing my lips to the other side of the coin. I lingered there a moment.

“See you soon,” I whispered.

Drawing the shroud over his face, I looked to Nash. Beneath the thin layer of cloth, it looked like he was merely sleeping.

“Thank you,” I told him. “For trying.”

With the coin and the small skull in my hand, I emerged from the dark chamber and reentered the world of the living.

Gathering a small handful of ash that had collected on a side table, I wandered the ruined halls until I finally found a door leading out into the walled garden, untouched by the heavy mounds of snow on the nearby mountains and hills.

“Oh, you would have loved this,” I whispered. “You nerd.”

The night air felt crisp and pure as I inhaled. Vast rows of herbs and trailing vines on trellises stretched out around me, lit by faintly glowing lanterns. Though each plant was neatly labeled, there was a wildness to it all, as if they’d been left to grow as they desired.

I found my way to the center of the garden, marveling at the way the dusting of snow had fallen just outside its perimeter, until I saw the protective sigils carved into the low walls.

I knelt, using my hand to dig into the soft dirt. When I was sure it was deep enough not to be disturbed, I placed the ash inside, then the bone, and, finally, the bloodstained coin.

Please work, I thought. Please. I only had the vague instructions we’d gotten before to go on. Just then, it hardly seemed enough.

As I finished covering the coin and patted the soft earth over it, I heard an anxious voice call my name.

“Miss Lark?”

It took me a moment to recognize Isolde, the small, nervous sorceress who had accompanied Kasumi and the others to Lyonesse. She looked like a fighter now, like she’d been dragged to hell and back by the ankles. The cuts and bruises on her face were healing under a heavy layer of ointment. She no longer looked scared of her own shadow.

Sometimes surviving did that for a person.

I rose to my feet. “Is something wrong? Is Neve all right?”

“Yes,” Isolde said with a broad smile. “That’s why I came to find you. She and the Council have had a breakthrough.”

My pulse jumped. “Already?”

Isolde opened the door. “If you’ll follow me?”

I did, and eagerly. We wound our way back through the halls and up the stairs, to the room they’d locked me in only a few hours ago.

Two other members of the Council stood inside the room, their backs to us. A small trill of warning sounded at the back of my mind as one turned, her expression stony. The slight movement was enough to reveal who was sitting on the settee, arms spread over the back of it, legs crossed.

And smirking.

Madrigal stood behind him, looking exceedingly pleased with herself.

“No—” I began, backing away from the door. A dark shadow lingered in the corner of the room, and it—he—came toward me, his face pale. “Cabell—”

Isolde’s hand latched onto my shoulder and I felt an icy spark jump between her skin and mine.

Darkness descended on my mind, slicing through my thoughts, robbing the feeling from my body. Cabell caught me by the arms as my legs gave out, his hands tightening around them, his face expressionless.

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