Page 58 of A Queen Of Broken Realms
“I want to be able to bring more souls back in the same way that you were returned. I can see impressions of what kinds of creatures the souls once were, but I can’t make them whole. We need a Resurrectionist to do that. Since I killed Imogen, there is no one who can.”
Davina’s eyes widen as she works out what I’m angling for. “You wantmeto be the Resurrectionist?”
“Yes. Cole volunteered, but…” I trail off as I look toward the hallway where Ashen sits with Roman. My gaze shifts back to Davina and I swallow. “It’s not so much because I want to protect Cole from too much responsibility. He has an important role to play on the Council, if he accepts. It’s that you are the one person here that knows what the souls of the Shadow Realm have experienced. I think you could help to guide them in a way no one else can. And I want you to know that you have a place here, and it’s more than what was done to you.”
Davina’s eyes are the brightest I’ve seen them in weeks. They may have a bit of a shine, but she blinks it away before I can be sure. “Yes. I will do it.”
“Are you sure about this, Davina? It’s not the kind of thing that you can easily walk away from. Once you do this, it’s for a long time. Maybe all time.”
“I know.” Davina stands, her shoulders a little straighter than moments before. She smiles. “I won’t let us down.”
Davina leaves for her room in House Urbigu and I watch her go, then sit in almost peaceful silence aside from the sound of scales sliding across fabric as Zida’s giant wet head drifts over the back of the couch. I watch Ashen and Roman conversing in hushed tones down the hall, Ashen refilling the newcomer’s drink as they talk. After a while, Eryx and Cole exit the room, Eryx looking much relieved from his earlier torment. Cole stays in the hall to whisper with the other men as Eryx joins me in the living room, the razor-sharp plumage of his wings folding beneath him as he sits across from me.
“Cool snake,” he says as Zida flicks her tongue in his direction with a metronomic cadence.
“Yeah, she’s great when she’s not making the pool dirty,” I reply, which earns me a low, disgruntled hiss. I turn my attention away from Zida’s shifting white scales and train my gaze to Eryx. He seems weary, but relieved. “Are you okay?”
“Better now,” he says with a smile as he holds up his wrists. Black bands glow in his skin. Contentment falls over his face as he leans his head back against his wings. “Ediye’s going to be okay.”
“I know,” I say as I smile and nod. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Eryx grins, though he looks much less vibrant and glittery than usual. “I’m not sure I can say the same yet, you know? I never thought I’d be in the Shadow Realm.”
“I know what you mean. A few short weeks ago, I didn’t really think I’d be back, and look at me now,” I say, throwing my arms wide, patting Zida’s head next to me. She gives me an annoyed hiss.
Eryx snorts a laugh. He crosses his arms over his chest and we smile at one another. “Guess it’s a good thing Wynter was able to sort me out. It sounds like it might be best to stay put for a few days given what happened to you in Cairo. I’m sure the Nephilim must be lurking, watching as many corridors to the Shadow Realm as they can find.”
“Yeah,” I reply with a furrowed brow. “We’ll let it die down for a few days. I do need your help though. We need to see if you can find records about the Nephilim in the Realm of Light. Do you know where those might be held?”
Eryx nods. “I do. There’s a library in the ziggurat of Esagila. I can check there. If anyone asks, I can say I want to brush up on the classics.”
A huff of a laugh passes my lips, my chest feeling lighter as we exchange a smile. “About time, Glitterballs.”
We both hear Ashen and Roman laugh down the hall at something shared in their own quiet conversation and turn toward the sound before eyeing one another in surprise.
“That’s rare,” Eryx says.
“No kidding.”
The lightness in Eryx’s expression fades as his eyes search mine. “He was a mess when you were gone.”
“I know,” I reply with a melancholy smile. “I saw the whole…wait, does Ediye’sangel-no-faintyspell still work on you?”
“I’m not sure, actually, I—”
“Let’s just assume it does, because it wassuper cool. I snuck into the room when I got back and Ashen had another demon’s bottom jaw ripped clean off, like head in one hand, jaw in the other, blood everywhere kinda deal. And I was all like ‘dude, you’ve been busy’, and he was all like‘my Lu, ohmigoddddd’, and then he cried but he’ll swear he didn’t and it was so hot.” I narrow my eyes at the angel and he looks a bit perturbed, but otherwise fine. “Damn, I thought the jaw thing would do it.”
“Guess not, LuLu. Isn’t Ediye the best?”
I look toward the hallway where the voices have gone quiet from behind the door. Only Ashen and Roman’s whispering flows toward us now, and the periodicshingof Roman’s blade against the wood. “Yeah. She really is.”
Eryx’s wings clink as he settles deeper into the couch. “So are you,” he says as his eyelids grow heavy when he yawns.
“And so are you.”
Our warm smiles fade with the heavy press of exhaustion. I lean against Zida’s muscular body, folding my arms across her scales. Eryx and I fall into silence, and then into sleep, me into dreams of walls and stones, fates and foes.
My dreams clear with the feeling of hands sliding beneath the weight of my body. I hear a quiet hiss and smell Zida’s scales mixed with unsmoked tobacco.
