Page 21 of A Queen Of Broken Realms
Pinpoints of light appear above the witch’s palms. The image of a child takes form in the shifting, luminescent grains, like glowing sand. The animated face of the young boy laughs without sound, and Ediye smiles. I close my eyes as my head drops.
“Matthew.”
“Yes. Matthew found out I was a witch, arealwitch, and watched me for several days. I didn’t know. He saw an opportunity with Tayo, and he took it the first chance he got. If Tayo had inherited any of my abilities, he was too young for them to manifest to protect himself when he was in danger. I left the cottage to go foraging for lobelia at the river, and I wanted Tayo to stay back, so I had a human girl from down the road come to watch him. He wasn’t a strong swimmer. The river was fast with spring meltwater. I thought he’d be safer at home.” Ediye lifts her palms and blows the light from her hands. “I was wrong.”
Ediye stands and moves toward the center of the room. My chest is burning with rage for the loss she has endured. My wings spill plumes of smoke across the floor as I watch her take a few steps away.
“When I got back to the cabin, the girl was dead and Tayo wasn’t there. But Matthew was. He said he would kill my son unless I went with him and used my powers for whatever he wanted. Stealing money. Stealing booze. Murdering people he didn’t like. Petty human things. But I would have done anything for Tayo. So, I agreed to go with Matthew. I left my home as his hostage. And within two days, my son was dead. I felt it, the moment his light left the world.” The witch turns to face me with fierce eyes full of latent anger, tears glistening on her dark skin. “I took the lives of everyone who helped Matthew. I killed anyone even remotely acquainted with him, even if they knew nothing about me. Lu was with me every step of the way. She never judged me when justice became vengeance. And it was Lu who helped me see the path back.We won’t find Tayo’s light in this darkness, Ediye, and he can’t see you if you wear it like a cloak. Goddess above. It was like she reached right into my chest and crushed the last of my heart with those words. The thought that his bright little soul could be out there somewhere, unable to find me, it was unbearable. Or even worse, that he was watching from beyond the veil and didn’t recognize me in my grief and vengeance. That was when I knew I had to stop. I had to learn to nurture my light, so I could be the lantern to show Tayo the way in the dark.”
I didn't think my heart could fit another layer of sorrow in its broken cage, but it takes Ediye’s words and makes room for more. The witch’s onyx eyes bore into me, and I look away. “I cannot stop. Not until we uncover everyone who was working with the Nephilim. Not until we know why theyreallywanted Lu. I might never find her if not.”
“All right, Reaper. But ask yourself this: can she find your light in this darkness?”
A flare of fire burns in my back. Smoke thickens around us. “There is no light in me to find. There is only darkness.Luismy light.”
A long, patient breath leaves the witch. We look at one another for a moment until I cannot bear her empathetic scrutiny any longer. I turn my attention to my knife and resume the steady sweep of the blade across the stone.
“I’ll be atBit Akalumwith Cole. Join us, if you change your mind,” Ediye says as she lays a hand on my shoulder.
“I won’t.”
“I know. But you can try.” Ediye squeezes her fingers around my skin as though trying to impart her gentle calm. It’s a futile effort. She pulls her hand away and starts toward the door.
“Witch,” I call out before she passes into the corridor. Her footsteps halt at the threshold. I stand, tilting my head side to side, relishing the crack between my bones. Pain slides down my back as my wings uncoil, smoke and flame and sparks. And something more.
I don’t turn around. This is my reminder of who I am, who Ireallyam, should she try to push too far.
“Tell Cyrus to send them in. I’m ready.”
There is a silent pause. And then the witch is gone.
CHAPTER9
If it wasn’t for the whisper ribbon, I’d be finding a way to burst my own eardrums so I could get some sleep.
And yes, whisper ribbon is a technical term.
The whisper ribbon that appears once a day is the only respite I have from the constant ticking of the shifting rings. The one other sound I can focus on, if even for a few moments.
And it’s the only thing standing between me and freedom.
That and a wall.
And a seemingly cursed tourmaline stone.
And a super gross ocean.
Also a gigantic octopus thing with hook tentacles.
So, you know, not much.
…Fuck.
It’s been what, maybe six days? Seven? I’m not sure how long I was asleep for when I woke on the stone floor. Long enough for the hook marks from that tentacled motherfucker to repair in my back. I awoke healed but hungry, and then gradually more hangry, and now my stomach is probably eating nearby organs.
Also, drowning in that disgusting sea was about as awful as you can imagine.
Turns out, drowning is a very inefficient way to kill a siren-vampire-hybrid. I would have been thrilled to die and end up in the Resurrection Chamber, but that didn’t happen. It was more like perpetualneardeath. A lot of gagging and pain and panic and thrashing but not actual dying. The fucked-up hook octopus dragged me across the seabed for a good distance until I passed out and somehow ended uphere, wherever the fuck this is. Some kind of cavern, the entrance blocked by the sea itself, as though I’m in a bubble at the bottom of the ocean. It seems Hooktopus just ditched me here and left. Thankfully, it didn’t have any hentai tendencies. Small blessings, I guess.
