Page 67 of A Spell of Bones and Madness
Kohl
Blood coated Kohl’s palms—thick, hot crimson dripping from where they gripped the staff of the bident. Buzzing rang in his ears. Why could he not think straight? Where was he? His vision was hazy, the outer rim of his periphery going dark. The only thing he could see was red. Where had the blood come from? Was it his own?
A clang echoed around the room as the bident dropped against the slippery floor beneath his feet. Patting his stomach, arms, and legs Kohl searched for a wound, a reason why the liquid pooled from where he stood, but there was nothing. No reason he should be bleeding that much. Yet, there it was, seeping through his clothes, crusting in his hair. The buzzing began to fade and slowlyhis vision returned. Pupils dilating, Kohl tried to catch his bearings.
“You have done well, my boy,” a raspy voice sounded from behind him. Visions flashed in his mind. The attack on Alentus. Torturing Ander. Seeing Katrin in the woods. Kora bound to the dais. Killing the parents of the woman he loved. Kohl turned, and was met by the same deep brown eyes of Aidon, but the sly smile, and venous gaze was nothing like the man he’d come to know. He had done it. He had resurrected a god.
“Ember!” another familiar voice called out. Kohl glanced over his shoulder, as Ajax came barreling up the steps toward the dais, sprinting toward the youngest Drakos daughter, sword at the ready.
Thorn-flecked vines flowed out around Kohl, slithering like snakes toward the commander. With each step Ajax took, he slashed at the vines, but even his broad sword couldn’t cut through the black stocks. Kohl took a step in his direction, wanting to help, wanting to reach out with his power and fight back. It was futile, even tothinkthat he could. His limbs were frozen in place, hands shaking rapidly, onyx veins threading through his skin, but the power wouldn’t listen to him as it had done before. Instead, it flowed out toward Hades as if he was breathing the very life from him, sucking the venom from his veins, the one thing that kept his heart pulsing.
Kohl fell to his knees, his heart throbbing, begging to explode.It will be over soon, Hades’ voice filled his head. Would it? Would the pain stop?Just a few moments more.Turning, Hades' massive form filled Kohl’s vision once more. It was him. The man tied to the oak tree in Alentus. How had he not seen it? The sharp jawline, deepbrown eyes that cut you like knives, a feral grin on his face as he displayed the long canines, screaming out to curse the Grechi who would come after his demise. Time and time again, he stared at that same face—the face of Katrin’s father—but when the vision came to him, all he saw were two figures, blurred by mist and smoke.
“Let her go!” a cry ripped through the cave, and Kohl whipped his head back toward the commander who now took his final steps toward the woman he loved.
Vines twirled around Ajax’s ankles, cutting him off mid-stride and sending his body crashing into the obsidian floor below. His sword clanged against the ground and went slipping across toward Hades, who reached down and curled his spindly fingers around the blade, turning it to ash before their eyes. Thorns dug into the commander's wrists as the vines bound both his hands and feet, leaving him kneeling and powerless on the floor.
Ember lunged for Ajax, throwing her body over his, coating her hands in his blood as she dug at the vines, attempting to rip them off. Kohl’s heart wept for them, the star-crossed lovers who never could be. The hunter and the wolf. The Prytan and the commander.
“Please! Let him go!” she cried, shredding her palms as she tried once more to slice through the bindings.
“I am sorry, but I cannot. For the safety of our kind, the boy must die.” Hades' cool voice crept through the air, clinging to the mist surrounding them.
“No!” she screamed. “You cannot do this! You cannot do this to me.” Ember’s sobs became almost incoherent as her body shook relentlessly. Persephone tried to pull the girl off Ajax, clutching at her wrists, but it was impossible. Ember would not let go.
“You must leave us,” Hades whispered to Kohl. “Your loyalty will not be forgotten.” The hold on Kohl’s limbs receded and on wobbly legs he stood.
“Where do I go?” Kohl asked. His father and Edmund had not been seen in days, and he didn’t even remember how he ended up in this chamber below the mountain.
“Leave! Now!” Hades' voice was damning, but he pointed nonetheless down a corridor behind the dais.
Could he really leave the two gods to take their wrath out on Ember and Ajax? Allow them to die without trying to help? But how could one help against the most fearsome of the gods?
So Kohl did as the Olympi said.
Like a coward, he ran from the cave.
Chapter Fity-Two
Ajax
Training. Battle. Watching as his parents bled out. Ajax had been through all of it and nothing came close to this. Fire seared its way into his bloodstream, snaking through his veins into his heart and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Thick, thorned vines curled around his wrists and legs, pinning him to the ground. Forcibly, he was bent in half, kneeling before the ancient God of Death.
That wasn’t even the worst part. No—physical pain was fleeting, it stopped after death. Ajax could fight through the fire, through the venom that was slowly poisoning his blood. What he could not manage was the piercing scream and haunting sobs from the woman that knelt beside him. He would rather a swift death thanendure Ember’s pain. At least if he died there would be no more hope. She could mourn, but eventually she would move on. Refocus her energy on vengeance instead of pain.
Was the same thing happening to her? Vision blurring, Ajax tried to block it out, block everything out. Maybe if he could shift he could break whatever magic bound him in place—motionless to help the woman he loved.
Firm arms wrapped around his body and he felt the weight of Ember covering him. “I don’t believe you!” she screamed at the Olympi, her voice echoing off the walls of the cave.
“Stop…” Ajax coughed out, his voice shallow and threaded, “don’t touch…the vines…poison.”
She wasn’t listening to him. Small hands ripped at the vines, trying to claw them apart, but it was futile.
A feral growl loosened from Ajax’s throat as he tried to shift once more. Ajax had to stop her, get her off him. He was dying, he knew that with the utmost certainty as the venom creeped closer to his heart, but he would be damned if he took Ember to Aidesian with him.
“You may not believe me now, but you will. Soon, you both will remember,” rasped a familiar voice, following Ember’s plea.
“Ember, please,” Ajax whispered, his energy nearly depleted. “Let go…”
