Page 188 of House of Lilith

He lets out a strangling sound and I guess it makes her fear she’ll kill him, because the next thing I know, he’s snatching his hand away from his throat and opening the Box.

For a second, my mind goes blank.

Then I send all the rocks slamming into him, but he’s already crashing to the ground, the Judge figurine flying out of the Box and coming to hover above us.

Before there’s a flash of light that nearly blinds me, and when I manage to open my eyes again, what I see almost makes me double back.

*

It’s a… woman, I guess, I think as we all freeze in place, my eyes dragging up and down the enormous figure floating in the air, seemingly composed of twigs and clay and leaves, even bugs.

I watch her eyes land on Ricky’s creature. Her lips curl in disgust and the next thing I know, it disappears.

And then she lets her narrowed eyes sweep over the three of us, making me hold my breath.

“Yes?” her deep, ethereal voice sounds. Annoyance, there’s a touch of annoyance in it.

But what makes me really worried is the sheer power emanating from her with no ups and downs. Constant, tremendous power.

“Dame Gothel herself?” I hear Ricky say in a choked-up voice. I turn to look at him, finding him staring up at her in awe. “I can’t believe this is how it works.”

Dame Gothel just takes a deep breath, as if she has to fight not to lose her patience. Fuck, I think as I throw a glance at Romanov, who’s still standing there, unharmed, her eyes narrowed at the woman.

“Um,” Ricky starts, a bit of hesitation in his voice, “it’s the biggest honor of my life to find myself in your presence. My name is Eryndor O’Connor, of the famed and ancient line—”

“Get to the point,” Dame Gothel cuts him off.

“It’s justice I seek, Dame Gothel,” he continues in a more fervent voice. “For you to even the scales between Grimm and Fiain Academies, the ones you helped bring into existence and the ones you’ve sworn to keep under your wing.”

“The scales have already been evened,” she says with an impatient wave of her hand, “a hundred and fifty six years ago.”

“That’s not true,” Ricky protests. “The Grimmswantyou to think that, sure—”

Like a gust of air, she flies to get in his face, her voice turning menacing as she says, “Oh theywantme to think that? And that’s what you think ofme? That I have to rely on the words of you pitiful creatures for the truth of what happened here?”

I see Ricky swallow around a lump in his throat. “Of course not.”

And he pauses a little, at least until she retreats. Then he continues, seemingly struggling to keep looking at her. “But there must be some kind of mistake here. My namesake was a great king, one who did all he could to bring his land prosperity. But he did make one grave mistake — trusting the Grimms. During the Games of 1867, he realized they were rigging the Games and he tried to set the record straight.”

“Actually,” I hear Romanov say as she takes a step closer, making my muscles tense up, “it was the other way around.”

Both me and Ricky turn to look at her.

“How wouldyouknow?” Ricky demands. “I have his diaries.”

She folds her arms. “And I have Vasilisa Romanov’s portrait.”

What is she talking about, I think to myself as I watch Ricky frown, but she’s already letting out a scoff.

“What?” she asks him. “None of his journal entries mentionmyancestor? The one he trapped in a painting?”

Ricky grits his teeth and proceeds to ignore her, turning to Dame Gothel instead. “My great-great-grandfather tried to set the record straight,” he tells her, “but the Grimms waged war against him, damaging our Academy’s Heart’s magic in the process and causing the downfall of the O’Connor dynasty.”

He pauses to spit out, “So how can you think, even for a second, that the scales have already been evened?”

Dame Gothel lets out a little laugh as she turns to look at Romanov with this funny look in her eyes that makes me hold my breath.

“Because the girl is right,” she says, her eyes lingering on her for a moment longer.

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