Page 81 of Fortress of Ambrose
Thirty-Three
Yagrin
Red’s body lay collapsed on the ground, and Yagrin couldn’t move.
Isla’s hands roved her own chest, her mouth gaped open. He stepped closer as deep red ringlets shortened and lightened to a rusty shade of auburn. Red’s full lips faded into Nore’s as she lay there, eyes closed. Yagrin couldn’t feel his heart beating. He watched her lashes change, her body morph, Ellery’s Anatomer magic wearing off.
The last several weeks tore through his mind. The way Nore warmed up to him quicker than he did to her. The way she seemed to know things she shouldn’t know as well as she did, like how he spent his time, his deep hatred of the Order. The way she looked at him as if she knew the secret parts of his soul. The way she kissed him. And the fury she ran off with last night when she told him that he lovedher.
The world swayed. He looked for something to steady himself.It was her all along.
Red wasn’t real?
His throat was dry.Or was she?He stared back at the body on the ground, and his pulse skittered.
Isla peeled herself off Nore and charged at her son in a fit of sobbing rage.
“You! How could you?”
“I saved your life, and you would accuseme?” Ellery flinched, throwing the glove off his bruising hand. “Youruined her life.”
“I did all I could to break the Pact!” She gestured at the dark whirring above them, which were the ancestors, he now knew, circling overhead like a brewing storm. A glass box floated in the air, held in their shadows. Yagrin crept away from the argument, keeping an eye on the dead. He checked Nore for a pulse. A thump beat in her wrist.
“Itriedto protect her by helping her access her magic,” Isla went on.
“Shedoesn’thave magic, Mother. That’s the point you seemed to miss! Your desperation put thatpoisonin her.”
Toushana.Yagrin went cold all over.Nore had toushana implanted in her?He’d never seen her use the dark magic. And judging by the way she watched him use it, she knew very little about it.
“By mistake.”She grabbed Ellery by the shoulders and shook. “I have given my entire life to protect her. Can’t you see? The private cottage. The lies about sabbaticals. I knew this was coming. I knew they’d feast on her if her heart ever went in that box. Andyou knew that too!” She jabbed his chest. Then she held her face, shaking with sobs.
Yagrin hovered a hand over Nore’s mouth. She was breathing deeply, as if she was sound asleep.
“She hardly had a life,” Ellery said, hooking his arms behind his back.
“I was trying to find a way to get it out of her.” She wailed. “I was truly trying, Ell. You’ve killed your sister! You’vekilledher.” She fell to her knees. But Ellery grabbed his mother by the arm, snatching her back to her feet.
“Pull yourself together, woman. You’re hardly recognizable. This is whyIshould be heir. I’m doing her a favor. When I find the Duncan piece of that Scroll, I’ll bring her back.”
Isla paled.
Yagrin’s heart leapt. Ellery was going to kill his mother. Right there in front of everyone.I have to get Nore out of here.The ancestors were moving closer to Ellery. Nore’s heart pulsed inside their gold-rimmed glass box. Maybe there was still something he could do. He hated being lied to. It shredded his soul to know that he’d been deceived.
But his love for the girl he was holding, whatever skin she was in, burned hotter than his hate.
He eyed the glove Ellery used to reach into Nore’s chest on the ground. But when he reached for it, it vanished. He scooped Nore into his arms. When he turned, the scene around the argument had changed dramatically.
Ellery’s hands were still behind him, but silver hid between them.
“You have no idea what it’s like with your heart in that box,” Isla yelled as Yagrin tried to shake Nore awake. “This is the first time in a long time that I’ve seen the world clearly. When your father—”
“Don’t speak about my father,” Ellery shot back. “Youshuthim out of both our lives after Nore was born.” As Ellery spoke, the ancestors moved his way. Nore still didn’t move, unresponsive. But Yagrin focused on her gently beating pulse.
“I never wanted to,” Isla said as the cloud of dead shifted away from Ellery now and toward her.
Indecision.The ancestors weren’t sure who the Head of the House was. Nore’s heart was in the box, but she was unconscious. Isla was alive, so succession hadn’t happened. And Ellery brought them here. Yagrin’s grip on Nore tightened. He heaved her over his shoulder.
“You are not the logical choice anymore,” Ellery said.
