Page 38 of A Shadow in the Reaping
"You look so lovely, Lu. You're the shining light ofBit Akalumtonight. All the Reapers here have certainly taken note of the brightest soul they've ever had to glimmer in their midst," Ember says, sweeping her hand in the direction of the room behind me. Her smile is as placid as still water. I wonder if I'm the only one that knows how deceptive that stillness can be.
"I'll be right back," Ashen says, dropping his hand on my shoulder. I give a single nod but I don't take my eyes from Ember. Either Ashen doesn't notice the predatory gleam in her eyes or he doesn't believe she's a threat in this place. Maybe he figures I can hold my own with the blades at my side, which is truer than he knows. I hear his footfalls depart in the direction of the bar.
"How are you enjoying your time here in our Shadow Realm? Still so-so?" Cole asks, swirling the ice in his glass of whiskey within its ornate crystal cage.
Ember's smile grows across the rim of her wine glass. "Lu can't answer you, Cole. She can't speak."
"Really? Why?" Cole asks, and the concern and curiosity I hear in his words seems genuine.
"Damaged vocal chords, apparently. Though how, I'm not sure. Perhaps a fight with someone? It wasn't Bobby Sarno, was it?"
I give Ember a slow shake of my head and a smile that says she's playing a dangerous game. Bobby-Fucking-Sarno.As if. I'd never let that motherfucker get his slimy hands around my throat. But she already knows to give me more credit than that.
"No, I didn't think so. I heard someone very sneaky snapped his neck on the roof of his own club. How bold and audacious. I wonder why someone would do that?" Ember says, her voice saccharine. Her eyes are glittering gems of hidden malice. I look at Cole and he returns my gaze with an assessing stare and a tilt of his head. He shifts his eyes to his menu as footsteps approach. A pitcher of deep crimson wine with ice cubes and slices of lemon and orange appears in front of my place setting. I smell the blood and citrus, the tannins of wine.
"What is that pretty concoction, brother?" Ember asks, tilting her wine glass toward my pitcher in a question.
"A quarter of a debt fulfilled," Ashen replies, pouring a glass of fangria for me before helping himself to wine from Ember's bottle. A server arrives and takes the orders of my dining companions. He's human. I can smell his blood rushing to the quicker cadence of his heart. He knows I'm different too and gives me a wary look when I pull my bloody drink closer and shake my head to decline any food. I have questions that I can't ask about how a human would wind up in this place. Does he want to be here? What does he know about immortals? Also... he smells tasty. Is he a douchebag?
As the server leaves with a nervous look in my direction, Ember casts a smirk toward her brother. "A quarter of a debt fulfilled? You're not considering repaying Lu for saving your life with a bit of... what is that... sangria?"
"Fangria. For vampire consumption only," Ashen says, leaning back in his chair with his wine glass. "And no, of course not."
Cole's eyebrows climb beneath his mop of blond hair as his gaze bounces from Ashen to me. "You saved his life? How? And... why?"
"She can't answer you, remember?" Ember says as she cuts him a side-eye glare.
"I was struck in a confrontation with Semyon's former pack," Ashen explains. His voice is deep and rich with memory. "The blade was laced with Angelwing poison."
"I thought Angelwing was a myth," Cole says. His eyes sweep across my face as though he's looking at someone new.
Ember's lips curl in a smile, like this is the very best of games and we're the only two playing. "No, it's no myth. It just hasn't been used in a very, very long time. Not many are left who have seen it. Even fewer remain who know the antidote."
"Which is?"
"Sacrifice," Ashen interjects. He takes a sip of his wine and sets the glass on the silver tablecloth, pushing the base against the fabric. He taps his finger along the stem, a quiet metronome for the music.Tick, tick, tick.
"No, brother. Not just sacrifice," Ember says. "The Realm of Light demands more than something so simple as sacrifice to remedy a poison wrought of their empire."
Cole spins his ice in his drink, theclink, clinkadding to the ping of Ashen's finger on the glass. "What do you mean?"
"She spellcast also," Ashen says. He sounds bored of this conversation, though I know he's not. I'm becoming really fucking irritated that it's going too quickly to write my own reply, which Ember seems to enjoy.
"The spell was not the antidote."
"How'd she cast a spell if she can't speak?" Cole asks, his eyes narrowing.
Sign language, you dicks, I sign, even though that is of course a lie. Ember laughs. So someone here does know sign language after all.
"Vampires are adaptable creatures, Cole," she says.Right, Leucosia?Ember signs. She holds my gaze as her hands form the words, her smile spreading. A spark of mischief catches fire in her eyes and she turns their gleam toward Cole. "No, the spell helped to hasten the effect of the antidote, but it wasn't just for my brother's benefit."
Ember and I look at one another, unmoving. I know what she's about to say. It's something I've known since the moment I realized I had been successful in saving Ashen. It's how I knew my blood would not be enough. It'swhyI spoke the spell.
"Not just sacrifice. Not just blood or spells. It's risk. Being willing to risk something you cannot get back," she says.
Ashen's eyes cut to me and back to Ember. "Risk what?"
"Little brother. Haven't you asked yourself why Lu shines like a star in our Shadow Realm?"
