Page 76 of Heavy is the Crown
He lets out a deep, rumbling chuckle. Not one that inspires warmth but one that sends chills through my entire body. He’s right, it’ll send a huge fucking message when he’s seen walking through those halls. I know I should care, should worry what it’ll say about my reign as king. But truthfully, I’m not confident we’ll survive the fucking night, so that will be tomorrow’s problem.
“Who is this girl to you?” He pulls the cigarette from my mouth between his thumb and pointer finger and places it in his own, drawing the smoke deep into his lungs. His mismatched eyes glow as he looks at me.
Taking a deep breath, I pause, trying to decide how much to tell him. “I’m not sure how to answer that,” I say truthfully. “She met me at a time when I had no one else, really. And she took a risk that I worry cost her more than it should have.”
He looks at me pensively before giving a shrug. “How will I know her?”
“She’ll have her mouth bound by a mask. You won’t miss her. Trust me on that.” Anger still radiates through me at what Oisin has done to her. Nothing survived in a five-block radius after she left me. My power incinerated everyone and everything before I managed to pull myself together. I hadpromisedto keep her safe.
But that promise had been made before she volunteered to go undercover, I try to remind myself.
“And if I encounter anyone?”
I know what he is asking. “If they aren’t with us, kill them. Paint the fucking halls red.”
Another wicked chuckle escapes him before he passes the cigarette back to me and stuffs his hands in his pockets. “See you on the other side,mi cielo.”
I watch as I send a devil of a different kind into a den of vipers, before dropping off the roof to the ground below.
Drago
Rage flows through my bones. My dragon does not care who gets in the way.
We set the city on fire with our black flame.
Our skeletal wings push buildings over and our roar shatters glass.
Our goal is simple: Bring this city down. Make it impossible for any reinforcements to gain entry.
FORTY-FIVE
The Lady of Souls is a position of great importance. And it is incredibly lonely.
-Priestess Codex
Ava
(“Me and the Devil” – Soap&Skin)
The walls of the palace shake, the cold glass almost cracking as a roar deafens us. A roar that I would know anywhere.Drago. My mate.
Screams can be heard echoing throughout the halls. Astrea has left a trail of bodies in her wake as she has held her own against Oisin, against me. But I can see her energy waning, see that she is holding onto her mind the best she can.
“You can’t keep this up forever!” Oisin yells.
“We can’t, either,” I mutter as he drains more and more of my magic.
Astrea grits her teeth. “I don’t have to.” She dodges a guard's sword before gracefully stabbing her dagger through his armor. “I only have to hold out long enough to kill you. And I will kill you, make no mistake.” But even from here, I can see the sweatbeading on her brow, and with each wave of that black mist she sends out, her body sags a little more.
“Tell me, Harbinger, is it the madness you are avoiding? Or do you truly just not know how to wield your magic?” He jumps off the dais, dragging me with him by the arm. The release of the leash gives me a moment's peace, my body sagging and my mind rapidly trying to make sense of everything that’s happened.
“Oisin!” My mother’s voice cuts through the room, the sound of her high heels suddenly piercing my ears. Oisin turns to look at her. “We are ready!”
“Finally,” Oisin drawls, his voice laden with annoyance.
That's when I see Lady Ornate, Cordelia, and a few other witches appear beside my mother. All of the witches are decaying and smell of death.Oisin didn’t just reanimate Cordelia,he reanimated the whole damn coven.The thought slams into me with the sudden understanding of just how deeply Oisin has gone into magic he never should have touched. When one of the witches shifts, my eyes meet the Mori grimoire held tightly in her decaying hands.
“No,” I breathe out as the magic starts to snap in place. I push against the control over me, forcing my mouth open. “Astrea, run!” I scream. Oisin turns, red eye flaring with rage as he grabs hold of the leash, silencing me again.
