Page 35 of A Spell of Bones and Madness
Heat crept up her arms, gaze turning to his lips. The lips that ruined her for any other. Her chest tightened, the very air around her unable to fill any part of her. Only his breath could keep her heart beating. As her eyes floated back up to his, his pupils dilated, the rings turning auric.
“Ahem.” Dimitris cleared his throat. “Would you like to sit?” He rose and slid out the chair beside him, slipping his hand to the small of her back.
Nodding, Ember took her seat, shifting uncomfortably on the cold stone at the glare Ajax gave his prince. The low growl in his throat as Dimitris had touched her. It reminded her of the look she gave Farah in Alentus as she bantered with the commander. The green-eyed fate of a person doomed to live alone while the one they cared for looked at another. But maybe after today, there was hope for them.
Otherwise, the three men were quiet. Exchanging glances back and forth along the low table, each picking at their hands or tapping their feet, returning to the papersthat lay before them.
“So what are you all so clearly trying to keep from telling me?” Plucking a few pomegranate seeds from a plate in front of her, Ember arched her brow. “I may be younger than all of you, but I can handle whatever it is you have to say.”
Her father tapped his fingers against the arms of his chair, the other hand grasping the claret wine before him. “It’s not that simple, Ember. I can not tell you what is happening, I have to show you. And once I show you”—he pointed to a vial with clear liquid beside the silver chalice—“I will need to forget.”
Ember inhaled a sharp breath. “Father, that’s not—”
“Water from the Lethe, yes.” Aidon tilted his gaze away from her. “It is the only way.”
“But you’ll forget, you’ll forget everything.”Pools began to settle in the rims of Ember’s eyes. He could not drink that. If she had to snatch the vial right from his hand, she would.
“I could never forget my family—not truly. But if it keeps you safe—keeps our people safe—how can I not sacrifice my happiness for theirs?” Aidon replied before scribbling down a few words on the parchment before him.
Why were neither Ajax nor Dimitris fighting him on this? To have a Grechi drink from the Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, was potentially catastrophic. Even more so when that particular god was the terrifying God of Death. Were they not concerned with the repercussions?
“No! You are all mad if you think this is a good idea! What could possibly be so important that you’d need to do this?” Ember slammed her hands down on the table, the boom echoing off the walls of the great hall.
“It is the only thing Icando, Ember.” Her father could not meet her stare. “I’ve been having blackouts, I will wake up somewhere different from where I should be. Always in the depths of my dungeons. It’s him, Ember. Hades. He is growing stronger and he searches—through my mind and through the mazes of Aidesian—for an object that once belonged to him. Each of the Grechi protects one. A lightning crystal, a trident, a pair of golden wings, a bow, and the serpent’s staff.”
Aidon unwrapped the long object that had been draped in black velvet. A golden bi-pronged staff lay on the table, snakes twining along each spike, ending in a sharp point where their tongues should be. A shadowed blue glow radiated off the weapon.
“What is that?” Ajax’s nose twitched and he and Dimitris recoiled. Somehow the velvet cover had protected them all from the horrid scent that coated the object. Death. It traveled up their noses, coated their mouths. Rot, decay, maggots, and copper.
Ember’s father gripped her hands across the table. “It is the one thing that can truly bring him back. It is his relic—the ancient bident of Hades. His power is bound within and it is what allows me to access my own magic—at least that of the underworld. Ember, I need you to take it. Keep it safe. I cannot remember that I had it—that I gave it to you. If he finds it, if it finds its way into the hands of Khalid or Edmund, it can kill me. Truly kill me.”
Her skin was stripped of all color. Nothing was known on this earth that was able to kill a Grechi once they came of age. Wound—yes—but truly wipe from existence? And her father entrusted this demonic artifact toher?
“But if it can kill you, can it not destroy him as well? Could it not vanquish his spirit or corpse or whatever Khalid and Edmund plan to bring back?” she asked, desperation in each word.
“It is not that simple, Ember. It could kill him, but it is too risky. When I drink this, it will send me into a deep slumber for two days. By then your friend should be healed. I will send word to Nikolaos to meet you on the beaches of Avernia. The blue fire torches will lead you from the palace to the ferry boat. You will be granted passage back to the shore. But please, Ember, promise me that you will hide this. That you will not go after him.”
Ember’s eyes stung with the salty sign of despair, tears streaking down her cheeks. “Father, please,” she begged one more time.
”I’m sorry, angel. I am so sorry.”
Aidoneus Drakos, King of the Underworld, God of Death, raised the vial to his lips and drank.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Kohl
Stars flickered above, the cool breeze of autumn whipping around Kohl’s skin. Hairs stood on edge along his arm and a sharp throbbing radiated from his chest. Kohl laid his palm on the spot where he was hit, the fabric of his shirt singed from the black flame Farah had sent barreling toward him, though the mark was now cold to his touch. His gods-damned sister was working with the enemy. The very man that threatened his life—the peace of the isles. She’d turned on her family for what—some young love she didn’t understand? It had to have been a lie. Farah had lied about Celene. Khalid was fierce and had doled out his fair shareof retribution, but to kill Celene and scar his own daughter, the heir to his throne for a mere romantic tryst—that was beyond even their father’s cruelty.
But that look she had given him—the unwavering hatred and, dare he say, sadness—it was unnerving. Not to mention the scar that was indeed branded on her skin was pinkened and raised, much like the marks he saw Khalid give Alexander. If their father had done those things, she would rather go to these people, these betrayers of peace than come to him? To ask her own brother for help? No—she sought comfort in the allyship of the worst isle in the Mykandrian. What had Kohl done to warrant such a betrayal?
How long had it been since his sister tried to harm him? Because it was just to harm him. There was no way his sister could have truly intended tokillhim. Right? Yet the bruise that lingered on his chest would suggest otherwise. Farah had aimed for a death blow.
Pale light was beginning to wash out those flickering stars in the sky. It had been sometime between midnight and dawn when he’d encountered the crew ofThe Nostostrying to escape. If he was able to get back to the barracks and get a horse, he could surely catch up with them fleeing the other side of the mountains, unless they had horses hidden further into the woods. No—that would be impossible. Horses could not scale the cliffs on the other side of the isle. They would have needed to have had someone else on the inside. There was no Spartanis soldier left that was loyal to the Drakos family. So they had to be on foot.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Kohl screamed into the empty abyss of the trees, sending a wave of power out from his hands, splintering the nearest trunk, rattling the branches ahead. He needed Arion. Thatmajestic horse could travel as swift as the very wind itself. But Kohl knew what would meet him on the cliffs of Alentus, could hear that vicious whisper in his mind.You lost them. You lost them once again.But that wasn’t what caused Kohl to scream once more into the emptiness of the woods. Kohl had lost Katrin a third time and he did not think he would ever get her back.
“You absolute imbecile!” Khalid seethed, gripping his hand firmly around Kohl’s forearm. Sweat built at his father’s temples, breathing deep and raspy as spit hit Kohl’s face. “How did you possibly manage to let them escape when two of them were cripled?”
