Page 87 of Of Serpents and Ruins
Watching me.
The hairs on the back of my neck lifted. My gaze darted up to the mirror. Nothing but my own reflection stared back.
"It hurts, doesn’t it?" Her voice lowered, coming from everywhere at once.
My heart pounded against my ribs as my mouth went dry. Her eyes bored into me from somewhere.
"What hurts?" I whispered, lifting my chin. "And how did you get in here?"
Did she know what we were up to? Our plan to destroy her? To make her vulnerable and gut her of her power before we destroyed her in molten rock?
She laughed again, her voice seeming to draw closer. A wisp of shadow appeared before me and then vanished before I could focus on it. "I have friends, my dear, friends among your kind. There are those who understand the truth about me, about my beloved."
"And what truth is that?"
"It was always you or us. We only took from you because we had no other choice," she said, her voice dripping with self-righteousness. "Your magic was necessary to heal my illness. Otherwise, I would have perished."
"Forgive me, but I’d rather you die than all of Sepeazia." I gritted my teeth.
I wondered if hers was the presence I’d been sensing for the past few hours. Was it possible that she was the one turning the curse forward?
"I disagree. As did the Babadon." She chuckled, though the sound contained a hard note. "We were both beyond your comprehension, my dear, and yet because of you, that brute of a mate of yours knew how to harm my beloved." Cool air tickled my ear and rustled my hair.
I tried to watch her through my periphery. She seemed to vanish each time I looked in her direction, but her presence intensified.
"Why would any Sepeazian serve you?"
"Because they understand that in serving me, they serve something greater than themselves. Your people are not as devoted to you as you might hope."
I could practically envision the cruel smile curling over her lips and the flash of her sadistic eyes.
"The truth is, my dear, I have become rather fond of a few of you. As cruel as you were to separate me from my beloved, I am willing to give you a little…knowledge."
Clenching my jaw, I braced myself. There was nothing to be gained from gazing upon her, but some deep compulsion within me wanted to look her in the eye and prove I was still going to stand up to her in spite of or perhaps because of my fear.
"What knowledge?" I spun around, scanning the room.
Every shadow seemed to jump and twitch, swaying just out of my sight.
"Are you looking for me?" Another low laugh followed. "You flatter me, mortal."
The shadows by the wardrobe swept forward and stretched out, vaguely taking the shape of a woman with a skeletal face. She reminded me of the banshee or a wraith in some of the old lore books in my foster family’s home except her hair wasn’t stringy. It flowed in great, soft curls around her face.
"What is this knowledge you're offering me?" The words stuck in my throat. "Are you the reason for everything going wrong?"
"That’s quite a lot to put on me." She pressed her palm to her cheek as she crept closer. Her form remained airy and shadowy, though some parts dripped and sagged. Her voice raked over my ears. "There's perhaps one other thing I should tell you. It isn’t as if there are an unlimited number of times Brandt can enter the cursed state without losing his mind. It takes a toll."
"What do you mean?"
The Gola Resh drew closer. Her orange-green eyes blazed like venomous fire. "Do you really want to know, dearest?"
"Tell me." My fingernails dug into my palms.
She laughed again, mirth dancing over her wavering features. "Well…it’s amazing how many hundreds and hundreds of times Brandt has gone through this and retained his sanity. The truth is, your Brandt is far stronger than I gave him credit for, but you see, my dear, all things must come to an end. He can only make that shift another eight times before he…" A slow smile bloomed on her cruel mouth.
I stiffened. "You said—"
She cut me off with a sharp swipe of her hand. "I don’t really know what you’re going to counter with, my dear, and I don’t especially care. Did you truly believe that he could just resist itup until the end of Sepeazia or that I would let two die together with the end of Sepeazia? No. There are consequences for failing to obey the curse’s demand, however…I might be willing to offer you another solution."
