Page 66 of A Spell of Bones and Madness
Bones. Human bones.
Darkness overcame them, the corridor’s walls closing in to the point where Ember only knew she was moving forward by her outstretched hands meeting air rather than Ajax’s chest. The only advantage to the narrowing passage was if the beast did turn and chase toward them, its gargantuan form would not fit in such a minuscule space.
“What if it’s a dead end?” Ember called behind her.
“It can’t be. Thatthingwas there as a guard. There has to be something this way—something important,” Ajax replied through heavy breaths.
So Ember kept running.
Until her legs turned leaden.
Until the passage narrowed so much she had to turn to her side.
Until a little trickle of light formed in the distance.
“I think we are almost there! The place Leighton described.”
TheSpéos.
This was not happening. Aidon had been there—in the forest. Gods—she gave Aidon back the very weapon that could kill him. Yet there he was, bound to a throne by some golden vines, Kora beside him. Neither struggled, their bodies limp, eyes closed. It was difficult to see from this distance behind the gods-damned veil if they were even still breathing. The only thing that was clear from this side was Kohl pacing in front of her parents, flipping the two-pronged staff around in his hand.
Ice began to run through Ember’s veins, so cold it burned her body from the very inside out. Faint blue rimmed her amber irises, beads of sweat pooling at her temples. This was not it. Ember would not let Kohl destroy one more part of her family. He took her sister’s position, he took their home, he would not take her parents—not now, not ever.
A feral cry left her throat and Ember lunged at the black veil, blue light radiating from her palms. Shouts from Ajax began to fade as hissing filled her ears and Ember landed on a bed of writhing black snakes. Why did it have to be snakes? But just as quickly as she landed, they dispersed from the onyx floor around her, clearing a path right to the dais where her parents were tied.
Sweat trickled from her palms sliding against the blackened floor. Steadying herself, Ember stood and turned around, expecting to see Ajax behind her, but she was alone.
“Shit,” she muttered under her breath. Her hand instinctively went to her back. “Gods-dammit!”
The bow and her quiver of arrows were no longer there. She looked down at her waist—neither was the sword she carried, or the dagger she kept by her ankle. Defenseless. Against Kohl and whoever else lingered on this side of the veil, she was utterly defenseless.
A low, vicious chuckle came from the dais. “How curious. He said the Lady of Spring would come, but I didn’t believe him. The true god speaks many riddles. I should have known.” Kohl turned from the two thrones on the dais to face Ember. His eyes were a muted ebony. Black veins snaked under his skin, both in his face and down his arms. His hand was still gripped around the bident.
Lady of Spring. That was the same thing Charon said when they ventured into Aidesian. The same title Giselle had called her when describing the lore the wolves kept secret. Ember stepped closer to the dais, her outstretched hand shaking. “Kohl—I need you to give me the staff, you don’t understand what it can do.”
“Quiet! I know—I know. She is the key. We can continue now. I will not disappoint you.” Kohl paced back and forth now, but it was not to her that he spoke.
The cave went quiet, and the sound of four beating hearts echoed across the walls. The beating sounds grew louder, as if they were war drums summoning soldiers to the battlefield. No hissing—not anymore. The snakes seemed to evaporate before her eyes. Four hearts—not five. There was no one else in the cave with them, yet Kohl muttered like he was speaking to someone else.
“Kohl, please. I need you to give me the staff,” she repeated.
“I can’t!” he screamed. “Loyalty. He rewards loyalty. My father and Edmund—they were not loyal and now look at them.”
His father and Edmund were here too? Where were they? What had been done to them? Hopefully a punishment worse than death for all they had done. For Iason. For her home.
“Who is he, Kohl? Hades? He can’t hurt you—any of us—if you just give me the staff.” She moved up mere steps from him, no weapons but her fist. If it was necessary, she would go blow for blow with him once more.
For a moment, a brief moment, Kohl’s eyes returned to the warm stare Ember once saw in Alentus. “I am sorry, Ember. I am so, so sorry.” But then they flashed red, then were absorbed by the blackness once more.
“Kohl, no!”
Ember tried to tackle him, but he was too fast. The staff pierced through Aidon’s heart, thick black liquid leaked from his chest as Kohl removed the prongs and stabbed Kora next. Vomit rose in Ember’s throat and she fell to her knees before her dying parents.Screaming would not help, no one could hear her. No one was there to witness the horror that sat before her.
A pale hand reached for Ember’s, delicately wrapping around her palm. Through silent tears she peered up at a familiar face. The breath was stripped from Ember’s lungs as she took in the pale pink hair that now flowed down her mother’s back. No—her mother was dead. This was someone else entirely. Persephone wrapped her arms around Ember, tears welling in her eyes.
“Do not cry, my dear.”
Chapter Fifty-One
