Page 34 of The Princesses of Ruin
But Scarlett’s body is still stained black, like someone dropped blots of ink on her skin. Gold glimmers between her collarbones, over the marks left from Ashai, and the color doesn’t dissipate. Though the runes on her arms have burned off whatever she absorbed, her good eye remains black. There’s an oily sheen of gold over it, like a cataract, and her empty eye socket plumes with glittering darkness.
“Go forth and collect the ingredients, or don’t. If you choose the latter, my aid ends here.” Zephrom’s visage fades, her magic seeming to pull her into the walls.
“There is no other choice but to continue on this path,” Reina says. “I trust you, my goddess.”
Zephrom disappears completely, but I can still feel her in the room, watching us. Zane wraps his arms and spindles around Scarlett, caging her in. He whispers something in her ear, and Emillia clears her throat, turning to me.
“Well, that was something,” she says as she releases my hand.
I can’t believe I was about to attack an immortal one. I snap the grenade back on my belt.
“Scarlett was never one for bowing to authority,” I say.
Emillia smiles. “One of the necessary qualities in a queen, I suppose.”
“Are we really doing this?” Liliana asks. “Just throwing ourselves out into the wild to collect these ingredients without knowing whether we’ll survive or if we can brew the potion in time, or if it’ll even work?”
Scarlett nods. “It’ll work.”
“How do you know?” Jasper asks.
The crimson queen grins. “Well, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t really matter, right?”
“Our final hope is an ancient ritual with ingredients so deadly to collect that no one would dare risk it,” Alastair says.
“Except for us idiots,” Liliana says.
“It means Ashai will not expect it,” Alyse says. “She knew we would come for her with Reina’s magic, but she wouldn’t dream of this.”
She places her hand on Kazimir’s shoulder. “We should pack light, my love. We’ll need to fly.”
He folds up his scythe and holsters it, then takes her hand. “We’ll return with a dragon scale.”
The group shifts, pairing off.
Emillia glances at me.
“You’re going to need a tracker if you’re going to hunt down a dire wolf.” Her tone is back to casual. Playful, even. She’s smiling softly, and it makes my heart race.
“Would that be you?” I ask, hoping I’ve read between the lines appropriately.
She tugs on her earlobe, then leans closer to me as she whispers, “I heard you mumble my name in your sleep last night.”
My face burns and I swallow hard. I was most certainly not sleeping when her name tumbled from my lips on heavy breath. “Your magus ability?”
Her soft smile grows into something hungrier. “It’s very useful.”
Liliana clears her throat right behind me. “We’ll be partners for a good bit of the way. Headed to the north together and all. I’ll carry you, Adrik. You’re skinny.”
The heat in my face intensifies and I’m about to offer a rebuttal when Emillia says, “I like ’em lean.”
Liliana giggles in a very salacious way and I feel like I might throw up. There’s nowhere for me to hide and I can’t escape.
Alastair’s hand comes down on my shoulder. “Breathe, my friend.”
“We’re going to be great friends, I think,” Liliana says as she takes Emillia’s arm. “Tell me, do you know any good jokes?”
“You’re asking a sea captain if she knows any good jokes? What do you think we do all day, watch the horizon silently?”
