Page 126 of The Demon Court

“On my own? Absolutely.” She tried to curl her fingers around the walking stick a little more firmly, but her fingers creaked with the movement. The bones snapped and popped as though even that little movement could break her. “You shouldn’t get too close. They aren’t very friendly toward men.”

“I’ve heard.” Though it was the first time she’d spoken with him, Selene had expected the gruffness of his voice. The harsh tones made him seem a little less human. “I was tasked with seeing you there safely. Leaving you here alone is not completing it.”

“Then stay here.” She nodded toward the horizon. “You’ll see my path. I’m the only dark thing in these fields. You’ll know when I reach the Tower.”

“And then?”

“Even if I fall, you leave me.” He jerked at the harshness in her own voice, but Selene continued on as though she hadn’t shocked a man bred for war. “It’s not so surprising, is it? You knew you were bringing me here to die.”

“Greed said they would save you.”

She looked at the Tower and felt something inside her heart break. “No,” she whispered. “I don’t suspect they will.”

And still, she soldiered on.

Selene didn’t look back at the poor man who had thought he was saving her. She didn’t look at the silhouette of the castle beyond him. The shadowy outline had always been there on the horizon, just out of her reach. How many times had she stared at it while she was here? How many times had she thought that maybe she’d visit Lust’s sacred castle? As a child, it was a place out of reach but full of wondrous secrets.

Now she knew that it really did contain treasures. She could only wish that her sisters were so lucky as to see it someday.

The walking stick helped as she trudged through the snow. But the snakes underneath her skin grew angry the closer she got to the Tower. They rolled under her skin, coiling around her heart and squeezing until she felt it struggling to beat.

All they had to do was squeeze a little harder. Just a bit more. But all she had to do was keep her feet moving.

She recited spells under her breath, lessons from when she was a child. Each one grew more difficult than before. The elements. The kingdoms and who ruled them. The laws in each kingdom and why it was so important to know them. Etiquette. What was required to be a woman in a kingdom like this. Why she should hate Lust and why all of those rules were wrong.

And then she stood in front of the Tower once more.

Selene stared up at the monolith of white marble before her. It split the very sky, like a massive cloud in the middle of all that blue. So much blue.

Only then did she look behind her and see the guard still standing there. The wind whipped snow around him, trying to shove him back from his vigil, but he remained until the very last moment. And then he lifted his arm, a dark smudge against the horizon, and turned to leave.

She was on her own.

Again.

Sighing, she struggled to the door and lifted the knocker. Once, twice, three times, and then she fell to her knees before the door.

Selene had no idea how long it took them to open the door and see her there. Probably longer than she wanted to know. Whoever had opened it stood there for a long time, staring down at her crumpled form before they burst into action.

She was rolled onto her back, her listless eyes seeing the blue sky above. When had it become so difficult to keep them open?

“Selene?” Oh, that was Sibyl. Her dark red hair had been shorn so close to her skull that she was nearly bald. There was a black smudge underneath one eye as well. A bruise?

“Help,” she whispered, the words hard to get past her thick tongue. “Please. Help me.”

“Mother!” The scream echoed in her head, the pain arcing through her entire body until she couldn’t think around it. The pain didn’t stop at the scream.

Oh no, the snakes had felt her pain, and they congregated around it. They coiled through her, zeroing in on what had caused her pain and indulging themselves in the sensation. She endured the spike of that headache over and over again, countless times, until she wanted to scream through it.

And then a cold hand pressed against her forehead and it all magically disappeared. She shifted toward the touch, seeking the brief relief from her torment.

“My daughter,” Minerva said, her touch as soothing as it was poisonous. “You’ve returned to us.”

This was her chance. This was her moment to lie and claim she was sorry for all that she had done. That she could be the daughter her mother wanted her to be in every other situation, just not with him.

Though it was a struggle, Selene lifted her arm and grabbed onto Minerva’s wrist. “Forgive me, Mother. I failed you, and I know it was wrong.”

“I raised you to be a goddess,” Minerva whispered, her fingers combing through Selene’s hair. “You were supposed to be everything that you ever wanted to be. Powerful. Strong. Better than all the others because you would be the one to bring us to the castle.”

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