Page 36 of What Is Dark Within Me

“Look, Alejandra—”

“Aleja.”

“Aleja, the Dark Saints are appointees. I was human once. Some of us were fey or Otherlanders from different realms. Since I’ve been in the Hiding Place, other Saints have come and gone, some leaving to travel on their own, but you… To survive the war, we had to break some of the Second’s rules. When it was over, Nicolas was supposed to be punished and stripped of his Otherlander powers. To be forced to live a human life and die as a mortal. But instead, you took the punishment that was meant for him.”

Aleja realized she was still holding the chicken bone and tried to set it on her plate. Her hands shook so much, she nearly missed.

“I know it’s a lot to process. IwarnedNicolas against contacting you. ‘I’m just keeping an eye out for her’,” Bonnie parroted in a rather good impression of the Knowing One’s accent. “Well, he always did turn into a complete dolt around you, so that tracks.”

“The painting of us,” Aleja said, her mouth feeling too dry to swallow. “He claimed we were—gods, I can’t even say it.”

“Oh,thatpainting. The Astraelis briefly captured the palace and defiled what they could. Not that there’s anything wrong with the profession, but… I really shouldn’t be the one to tell you any more than that, so please don’t ask.”

There was a long silence between them. Aleja listened to the bubbling stew and the clinks of a cooling kettle and stared at the plate on her knees. “This is impossible,” she finally muttered.

“No. It’s improbable. But we’re Otherlanders. Improbable is our whole deal.”

There was a sound from the door. It wasn’t quite a knock as much as a scratch, like dog paws swiping against wood. It was no surprise to see Garm panting on the other side when Bonnie shuffled to the door and swung it open.

“Didn’t I tell you to find Tad? We’re still having a bit of girl talk here, so if you don’t mind,” she began, but he cut her off.

“I’mgoing. I was trying to tell her something before, but you decided to be rude—oh, is that chicken?” The Doberman shook his enormous head, as if trying to reset his train of thought. “It’s important, Bonnie. I’m supposed to speak with all the Dark Saints, but Amicia doesn’t let me into her palace. She’s allergic to dogs.”

“Amicia?” Aleja asked. She tried to stand, dropped back to her ass within seconds, but succeeded on the second time. The bare soles of her feet ached from her run through the garden.

“You would know her as Lust. She has her own palace at the other end of the Hiding Place,” Bonnie said to Aleja. “I’ll talk to her, Garm. Go help Tad.”

Garm’s only response was to let his tongue loll out of his mouth.

“Which was I?” Aleja whispered, even though she still didn’t believe it, even though she still didn’t want to know the answer.

“Righteous anger. Our Lady of Wrath. Our Lady of Fire. If the flames the gardeners had to put out are any indication, I’m not sure you know what you’re capable of. Nor do I think Nic understood the power already dormant within you when you made the bargain. You need to be careful.”

Garm licked the back of Aleja’s hand with a gritty tongue that had been eating who-knew-what before he decided to learn what two-days' worth of her unwashed skin tasted like. “Thank you,” she finally said, “For the food. For being kind to me.”

The smile Bonnie gave in return was sweet and sad, and Aleja realized that if anything the woman told her was true, then Bonnie must be feeling a bit like Aleja was right now. Like she’d had a friend whom she thought would never leave her side, only for them to disappear with little explanation.

“I imagine your stay will be brief, but take care in the palace,” Bonnie said. “It has always had a mind of its own, but lately… There have only been six Dark Saints for centuries, and the magic that keeps this place together is incomplete. Imagine a house that’s lost one of its support beams. Even though it’s still standing, it’s a lot more rickety than usual.”

“Why are there only six Saints?”

“Because Nicolas never nominated anyone to replace you.”

* * *

What areyou going to do? asked the voice.Avoid him forever?

Yes. That seems like a reasonable response, Aleja answered.

She circled the grounds around the palace for perhaps the fifth time, wondering if she’d be able to sneak her way to her grandmother’s tower without being noticed. Aleja wanted more answers than Bonnie had given her. Shedemandedmore answers than Bonnie had given her, but the gardeners fled at her arrival, and even if Garm were here, she had no food to bribe him with.

So, she walked. And walked and walked until the still-bare soles of her feet were punctured by twigs and fallen rose vines. Aleja left a trail of blood through the charred garden—the wounds unable to heal while they were constantly torn open again.

She noticed Nicolas seated at a bench beneath a cascading wisteria vine on her sixth loop but didn’t acknowledge him until her eighth. In the dimming sunlight, he looked every bit the Knowing One; a shadowy figure framed by wings, with eyes capturing the reddish hue of the sunset.

“We’re wasting time here,” Aleja finally snapped. “I’m healed. We should look for Violet’s doctor. He’s the one who gave her the relic.”

The red glow appeared around her hands, shedding embers that hissed as they met the cool garden air.

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