Page 73 of Held

Renault screamed. It quickly turned into wet gurgles as Wick pulled back, stringy flesh connecting his mouthful to the shredded remains of Renault’s neck.

Blood gushed onto the grass. Wick swallowed his lump of meat and ignored the blood frenzy burning at the edges of his mind, slowly heating him up.

Renault let out a final gasp and went still. Briar pressed her boot into his cheek, testing for a reaction. He did not move as she kicked his limp hair over his forehead.

“That’s him dealt with,” she said. She gripped the cracked amulet and turned to Wick. “How are you feeling?”

Wick licked his bloody mouth. The burning was growing hotter inside his skull.

“I am myself,” he said. “For now.”

Briar gave him a short nod and turned to the bowl of fire behind them.

Marigold was crouched next to it. At first, Wick thought she was groping for the scant few coins that had fallen into the grass. Then he realized she was attempting to push herself up and failing, her arms shaking from all her magic.

“Wait,” she croaked. “Briar, you don’t understand!”

“I don’t? Because it looks like you screwed me over so you could get your fucking apothecary,” Briar snarled. She gestured at Wick to step forward.

Wick did. Then he hesitated. Briar still stank of fury, but there was so much sorrow underneath it now that she was looking at her old friend.

“You remember how we grew up,” Marigold blurted. “You remember how many nights we went hungry, all those things we had to do to survive!”

“Yes, and then you went to your cozy magic palace while I starved on the streets,” Briar said coolly. “Is this meant to make me pity you? Because it isn’t working.”

Marigold shook her head, eyes gleaming with tears. “Things have beenhardout here! I just want to feel safe. You understand, youmustunderstand. That’s all you want, isn’t it? To finally have enough money to feelsafe.”

Briar’s mouth twitched bitterly.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said, and Wick knew it was a lie. “I want so many riches, I choke on them. Speaking of choking…”

She nodded at Wick. Wick looked back at her beseechingly. The blood frenzy was building, and it wanted nothing more than for him to give himself over to the violence Briar was offering. But he could sense her hesitance even if he couldn’t smell the sadness wafting off of her in waves.

“Wait,” Marigold cried. She shuffled back, her fists full of coins she had managed to salvage from the grass. “Wait, don’t! Help me!”

She tipped her head up to the sky. The temperature dropped so suddenly that even Wick noticed it, and Briar shivered.

“My lord Titan,” Marigold screamed. “Save me!”

At first, Wick thought the sensation running through him was shock. Then Briar shuddered, and he realized it was a tide running through the forest, rushing into Marigold with such force her head snapped back with it.

Marigold’s mouth dropped open. A white light glowed within it, filling her eyes and lifting her from the ground. Wind ran through the trees, cold and biting, so forceful it made Briar stumble into him.

“What’s happening?” Briar demanded.

Wick steadied her and shook his head. The burn in his skull was flaring hotter than ever, and yet the cold felt so familiar.

“I guess she really is a warlock,” Briar yelled over the howling wind. She looked up at him, shielding her eyes. “Titan! Isn’t that?—?”

The wind died down so suddenly that Briar fell silent in the middle of her sentence.

Marigold hovered above them, her limbs dangling uselessly at her sides. Her glowing face was tipped up to the sky. No, not the sky, Wick realized, but to the mountains.

Marigold’s mouth did not move. But the voice that echoed around the trees could come from nothing else.

“Hello, child,” said the voice that had been whispering in Wick’s mind since before he could remember.

Wick stepped in front of Briar protectively, curling his remaining wing around her. “Titan. You speak to me, to many of us. Why?”

---