Page 25 of Light Up the Night

“Has the name carved in it, but a scroll laying open atop said it was yours…” Bard explained while the men sat the beast of a dust bucket down. I coughed and fanned the air, even more so when I gasped at the name.

“What?” Keif urged, almost stepping between me and the trunk.

“Jerrika,” I read before whispering shakily. “That’s my mother’s name…”

I had been told Isabella and she were sisters, but it was something I had placed from my mind once the battle for Lazarus had begun. I gravitated toward the box and ran my hand over the dust and old cobwebs that riddled the top. Someone had spent a lot of time or money on it, that was for sure.

“Is it locked?” Ender asked, reaching over and giving the lid a tug. It creaked in protest but opened easily enough.

Ender

I’ve always known I was a mean son of a bitch, I had to be. Tenderness isn’t exactly a quality many look for in a slave, but to learn that I had ingested snake venom and lived to tell of it only reinforced my sense of euphoric immortality. I’d have killed anyone else, but it was Chalice, and even though every experience I’d had in House Krypt told me not to invest emotionally in anyone… it was true. She had bewitched me, long before either of us realized it.

I rubbed the back of my neck and reached toward the crown of Rochambeau. The rubies declared it such. No one had seen it since the last time an Excellence was assassinated. I slowly glanced over my shoulder toward Chalice. Our eyes met briefly before hers flicked to the stained robe beneath it. Blood and bile were dried on the front of it.

“She’s the one that poisoned him…” I surmised, while reflecting on their likeness. “I’d have loved to have met her.”

“She would have loved you,” Chalice assured before coming to kneel beside me. She stared vacantly into the box. I thought I detected a faint weave, so I placed my hand against her back.

“I’m tired of losing people,” she whispered, running a hand over the front of an ancient looking book. She jerked it away and stared back down at the leather covering before placing her hand over it again.

“We’re not losing anyone else,” I promised, even though I knew it was likely a lie. She snatched the book up, and for a moment, I thought she might throw it at me. Her chest heaved and her eyes glossed over until her honeyed hues burned bright.

“Messiah is lost to me. You are lost from me, even if you won’t admit it. He doesn’t know what to think of me…” Her voice cracked, and she closed her eyes while motioning toward Keif. “She died to protect me… and you know what’s more? I’m pretty sure I died in that fucking Krypt, so what was the point? I’m still walking and breathing, but the person I was when I arrived in Rochambeau is buried beneath what used to be a conscience.”

She threw the book into the trunk so hard the lid slammed shut and stormed for the window. She gripped the ledge and leaned out until my heart skipped a beat. Her knuckles were white, her face flushed.

She was a vision of madness.

A crack boomed from what sounded like the belly of the earth. I thought I was disoriented for a moment, until the rattle of the items on the desk alerted me to the fact that it was the room, not me, that was trembling.

“Get in here!” I yelled, grabbing Chalice’s wrist. Her fists were balled tight and a trickle of blood ran from the inside of her palm. An ominous cloud erupted in the distance, and while I was still standing there trying to figure out what the fuck it was, ash began to fall outside the window.

“Fated Few,” Keif cursed. “That’s the fucking Torch of the Sea!”

Chalice’s head rolled back. I could hear the grinding of her teeth and felt the thrashing of her limbs.

“My Queen!’’ Fish frantically screamed.

“Sir Ender, the troops, they are a marching!” Bard called, throwing the door open hard enough to make it slam on the wall behind it.

“I uh…” I muttered. She weighed less than a feather as I lowered her to the ground. I hated myself for thinking ill of her. I had added to her fucking stress.

“Magik!” Bard gaped from near the window. He ran down the hall screeching about the power of his Queen.

Her eyes sifted open, but she didn’t say anything while I wiped the sweat from her. She was feverish and still going in and out of consciousness.

“Fuck!” I screamed, jumping to my feet. I had to get to the men, but I didn’t want to leave her. “Fish…”

“Go! By all that is sacred, go kill them already!” the boy screeched, shooing me off.

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