by Kate Martin
The boy faced him, lips still twisted in a snarl. “Bri is mine.”
The heat of Hell grew in Alec’s hands.
“Alec, you can cross,” Dorothea said casually. “These lines are not for you.”
He moved faster than his mind could think. The flesh of the imposter’s throat sizzled beneath his hand. “Where is he? You tell me now.”
Despite the burning of his neck, the boy barely flinched. “You’ll never find him. And you won’t get anything from me.”
“Tell me!”
Silence, but for the searing of flesh.
Carma joined them on the table. “Whose creature are you? Tell me and I may spare your life.”
That snarl turned into a smile. “Too late. I’m already gone.” A thin trail of blood seeped out from beneath Alec’s hand. It glided over exposed skin, drawing downwards until it hit a series of lines carved into the collarbone. Light flared, and Alec held air in his shaking, heated grip.
The anger left him immediately, the power of Hell spilled away, and worry like a rock in his stomach replaced them both. “Bri. Where’s Bri?”
“Who was that, and how did he get into my house?” Carma advanced on Dorothea.
Alec did not wait to hear the answer from the witch. He ran back out into the main hall, stared a moment at the destroyed staircase that could no longer take him to the second floor, then ran instead for the servants’ stairs at the back of the manor. He pushed past anyone in his way—they were all scrambling, confused, and afraid after the shock to the house. The trip was longer this way, but Alec forced himself to run faster than he had thought himself capable. Picadilly blocked his path when he finally reached the hall where he and Bri slept. She was disheveled and smeared with ash.
“Alec, what’s going on? I just pulled Brannick out of a hole in the middle of the house.”
“Bri. Have you seen Bri?”
She picked a piece of staircase from her hair. “Only earlier this morning.”
“Where?”
“I don’t remember.” She pulled another sliver of debris from her dress.
Alec cursed and headed for Bri’s room. The door was locked. Alec filled himself with power once again and kicked it in. The silence of the room surprised him, as the brightness of the sun streamed in through the windows. There was no sign of struggle. Everything was in its proper place. Alec’s heart sank. Flashes of memory spilled over his mind—a desert, a labrynth, Marc’s lifeless body in his arms. He barely noticed Pica push past him, heading into the adjoining sitting room.
Alec, dumbly, went to the bed, searching though it was clear no body lay there. Pica returned, shaking her head. When Alec began tossing pillows to the floor, she put her hands on both his shoulders, forcibly making him face her.
“Think, Alec. Take a good look. Is there anything missing? Something out of place? If not, then we should begin to look somewhere else.”
Panic fogged his mind. He looked this way and that, then noticed the shawl that had been Bri’s mother’s in a heap on the floor. He dropped to his knees to look underneath the bed. A blanket. He reached under, grabbing the blanket and hauling it out. Bri’s exposed face greeted him, blank as though sleeping. Alec set his hands on that face. Nothing happened. Bri’s skin was ice cold, as cold as it had been the night Death had tried to take him. He yelled for Dorothea as Pica helped him unwrap the boy.
Alec shook him, rubbed his arms to add warmth in them and gently slapped his face. No response. There was a long cut across his collarbone, red and angry. He pressed his ear to Bri’s chest and felt a weight leave him when he heard the steady beat of his heart, and the subtle intake of breath, but Bri’s utter unresponsiveness left him nearly paralyzed with fear.
“Come on, Bri! Wake up. What happened? What did that thing do to you?” Gods, gods, not again. I will not let this happen again. He placed his hands gently along Bri’s face, and still nothing happened. The labrynth on Bri’s back glowed faintly, indicating that he had gone into the myst, but Alec’s touch did nothing to bring him back.
Dorothea shoved him aside, batting his hands away as she knelt by Bri’s head. “Out of my way. Let me work. Where was he?”
“Under the bed.”
Dorothea’s hands were everywhere as she worked. “Tricky, awful creature of a child. That woman should be ashamed of what she has done. Here,” she gestured to Alec, “hold him up so I can see his back.”
Alec set Bri against his chest. The cold of his skin sent more than just a physical shiver down his spine. In his mind’s eye, all he could see was the past.
Dorothea pressed her fingers to the labrynth she had long ago burned into Bri’s back. The similar gravity of this situation was not lost on Alec. The witch bit her fingers, drawing blood, and smeared that redness onto the lines of Bri’s flesh. Runes lit up, then their light collapsed into darkness. She repeated the process again and again, all with the same result. “Lay him back down,” she said finally. “On his stomach.”
Alec did so reluctantly and it was in that motion that he noticed Carma standing silently at the far end of the room. He glared at her, saying nothing, intending his silence to say everything. You did this. You made this his life.
Her expression betrayed no emotion. Alec ignored her.
Dorothea motioned Pica closer. The normally stoic and unconcerned ex-demon came without question, and the faint worry lines that marred the corners of her mouth made Alec suddenly appreciate her presence. “He is deep in the myst,” Dorothea said. “Very deep. I will need more than just my own blood to get him out.”
Alec extended his arm without question. So did Pica.
“Well done.” Dorothea cut them both with a blade she withdrew from her pocket. “That damned child thinks he is cleverer than me, but he is not. Overly confident. Talented he may be, but I am still stronger. But now I ask you this,” she turned to Alec, “I can wrench him free of the myst. Something there is holding him, tightly, but I can break it. However, I do not know exactly what will happen when I do so. It could be violent, it could be painful, it could be damaging. If I leave him as he is, he will live, like this, vulnerable to the power of that creature that came through here tonight until I find a better way. Be certain before I pour your blood onto this child’s back.”
Hesitation died the moment Alec thought of that twisted smile he had faced downstairs, as the imposter had declared that Bri belonged to him.
“Do it.”
Carma stepped forward. “Do I not get a say in this?”
“No.” Alec slammed his free fist into the floor. “No, you do not get a say.” He looked back at Dorothea. “Do it.”
Dorothea nodded and gathered both his and Pica’s blood in her hands. “Prepare yourself then.”
She spilled the pool of blood onto Bri’s cold back. With the knife, she cut a new rune into his flesh, just over his spine, between his shoulder blades. Then her fingers went to work. She scribed with an unnatural speed, turning the shapeless mass of blood into twists and turns that meant something. A new design appeared at the very center of the old labrynth, its edges curling outwards to meet the lines that had become old scars. She drew until Alec had held his breath so long that his chest ached, lungs burning. Then, with a slowness that contradicted the speed with which she had been working, she took one single finger and placed it at the center of the bleeding rune. “Ready?”
With Alec’s nod, she released her power. The entirety of Bri’s back flashed with living light.
The scream rent Alec’s heart.
— CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE —
That scream cut off as quickly as it had torn through the room, leaving a deafening silence. Time dragged, the stillness of the body on the floor unnatural and frightening. Alec’s heart hammered away in his chest as he reached for Bri, but Dorothea grabbed him by the wrist, stopping him.
“No. Not yet. Wait.”
“Wait for what?”
Her ancient grey gaze held him still as well as any bindings.
“Give him time.”
Alec stared, unsure Bri was even breathing, his whole body tense in resistance to the witch’s order.
Then Bri’s eyes flew open. He gasped, pulling air into his lungs with such force he nearly sat upright. He jerked, thrashed, back arching as another desperate breath entered his lungs. Dorothea released Alec. “Now. Touch him. Drive away the myst.”
Alec had Bri in his hands before she was done speaking, turning him onto his back and leaning over him, fighting for his attention as the boy struggled. “Bri. Bri, look at me. Look at me.” Alec gave him a gentle shake and finally those silver-brown eyes locked with his. But there was something missing. That spark of recognition. Gods, Dorothea said it could be damaging… Cel-Eza, please. “Do you see me? Do you know who I am?”
Bri stared, panting, then swallowed, took a slower, calmer breath, and nodded once. “Alec.”
Breathing became easier. “That’s right. Good. Do you know who you are?”
When Bri struggled to sit up, Alec helped him. Bri stared at his arms, taking turns running his hands over the skin—skin that looked like it had been rubbed raw. Alec waited patiently for him to answer, waving a silencing hand at Pica when she seemed about to speak up.
“Bri. I’m Bri.” He reached for Alec’s hand and began turning it over and over in his own hands, his breath speeding up.
Alec let him do whatever he needed. “Do you know what happened?”
“I was in the myst. It was so dark. It all came so close and I couldn’t get away. He left me there. Trapped.” His gaze fell to his abused arms.
“Who? Bri, who left you there?”
“Kai.” Bri looked up at Alec for the first time since he had regained consciousness, tears filling his eyes, but not falling. “My brother.”
Alec almost let his hand fall from Bri’s grip. The others moved closer in unison. Bri closed his eyes, ducking his head.
“Your brother?” Alec wasn’t sure he had heard him correctly.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you, but he asked me not to, and—”
Dorothea cut him off. “This boy, this brother of yours, what did he want?”
Bri continued to stare at the floor. “A shard. The shard from the box you took from the ritual.”
Carma was gone from the room in once furious sweep, the door slamming closed behind her.
Pica sat on the edge of the bed, arm still bleeding, though she paid it no mind. “He wandered the manor all morning, and no one thought anything of it.”
Alec shook his head. “Why would we? He looks just like Bri, and we had no idea.”
As his fingers tentatively touching the fresh cut on his chest, Bri squeezed Alec’s hand. “I’m sorry, Alec. I really am. I didn’t know he would do something like this.”
Alec fought the urge to raise his voice, and forced himself to remain calm. For now. “The real problem is the shard. He had something in his hand when I found him in Carma’s rooms. I think he found it. And if he did, then Lillianna can most likely repair the box.”
“And her ritual will be back to full power,” Pica said.
“That’s not all.” Bri sounded small, his voice tentative. Everyone looked at him. “There’s something wrong with the myst. Kai said he blocked parts of it. There are whole sections that have gone dark. All I could see was blackness, but I could feel the remnants of what used to be there. He’s hiding something. He doesn’t want the seraph to see what he and Lillianna are up to.”
Dorothea had settled back on the floor, her aged body looking uncomfortable. “Tricky boy. He thinks he has all the power in the world.”
Bri shook his head. “Not quite. He wants me. That’s why he trapped me in the myst, until he could come back for me. He says we’re meant to be together, that we’re stronger together.”
Alec heard the guilt in Bri’s tone. “You sound like you agree with him.”
“It was better with him. Easier. He could work labrynths that helped me focus, helped me forget the pain.”
Dorothea huffed and struggled to stand. Pica stood and helped her, but the sound of popping joints filled the room. “Foolish girl. She didn’t know what she was doing. I am going to rest. Then I will track the child and his spells.”
Alec reached for her hand. “Wait. That’s not the first time you’ve muttered things about a girl when talking about Bri, or this Kai. You know something. What is it?”
The old witch stared down at him, and there was nothing aged or confused in that gaze. “I know their mother was a fool. And their father was too. Nothing else matters.”
Bri stood quickly, but his knees gave out and Alec had to catch him before he hit the hard floor. “You knew my mother? And my father?”
Dorothea kept walking towards the door, her movements stiff. “Knew your father. Met your mother.”
“Why didn’t you ever say anything? Tell me about them. What were they?”
“They were fools, is what they were.” She opened the door, her gaze forward. “Love struck fools who didn’t think of the consequences. I will rest now. As you should do.”
Bri called after her again, but she did not stop. Dorothea disappeared into the hall just as Carma returned, her silver hair red up to her shoulders.
“It is gone,” she said. “He has taken the shard.”
“Then Lillianna will act quickly,” Pica said, heading towards the door. “I will go with Dorothea, make sure she finds her way to her room and rests. We will need her to track them soon.”
Carma nodded her approval, but her sapphire and gold eyes were focused solely on Bri, and her anger was tangible. She spoke only when the three of them were alone. “You allowed a spy into my home.”
“I didn’t know. I swear.”
“A brother you knew nothing about shows up after fifteen years and it doesn’t occur to you to share this knowledge?”
“He asked me not to. He said the people he lived with were dangerous.”
“Well then, that would seem to be the only truth he told you. A twisted one.”
Alec felt Bri trembling as they both knelt on the cold floor. “Leave him be, Carma.”
“Do not tell me what to do, Alexander. I am in charge here. This is my house, and you are all my subjugates. You will do as I say. And from this moment on, I forbid Bri to go anywhere alone. Anywhere. Not even here in his own room. This brother of his can find him in the myst, and so he will do his utmost to remain out of it. I will not have a repeat of this morning, and I will not have that cursed creature getting his hands on what is mine. Am I understood, Bri?”
Bri had hung his head, his gaze downcast. “Yes.”
“And are you going to argue the point with me, Alec?”
“No.” Harsh as it was, he agreed with her completely. It was too dangerous for Bri to be alone, not while he had no defense against this brother. “Did you know?”
“Know what?” Carma’s hair was half red.
“That there were two of them.”
“I truly did not. I will go to Hell to learn what I can. I do not know how long I will be gone. I trust you will take care of things while I am away, Alec.”
“I always do.”
Basking outside in the heat of Hell, Lillianna sipped from her glass of freshly acquired blood as she watched the snake head roses bloom. Such plants signaled the coming of spring in the Mortal Realm, leeching their strength from the life energy of new flowers and blossoms in the realm above. Spring meant so many things. Life anew, warmth, sunshine—and the perfect timing for ascension. She marveled at her supreme luck. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought the Grand Plan had aligned all the pieces just for her. All she needed was that shard. All she needed was for Kai to return.
She thought she had heard his familiar, irritating footsteps earlier, but then the sound had disappeared. Olin claimed not to have seen him since the evening before, when he proclaimed he was going into the myst to check on his labrynths and his brother. That had been nearly a full turn
ago, and Lillianna’s patience was wearing thin.
So when the whole of her estate rocked with an explosion and a cry of anger, she was strangely grateful. At least he had returned.
Olin was standing in the doorway of Kai’s workshop when she arrived, arms crossed over his broad chest though smoke filled the corridor. Lillianna waved it away, coughing as an expression of her irritation. “What is he doing?”
“I haven’t asked him, but from what I can tell, he is lashing out randomly. I’m not about to step in there until he has finished.”
“A master of self-preservation, you are.”
“A point of pride,” Olin said.
“Well, I don’t have time for one of his tantrums.” Gathering her newly acquired power, Lillianna lifted outstretched hands and made a pull for the only living creature in the room. He gave no resistance; in fact, she felt his shock at the sudden application of strength on his body. Kai appeared through the smoke, stumbling as he was pulled like a fish on a hook straight to Lillianna’s waiting hands. Holding his shoulders tightly, she smiled. “Something bothering you, pet?”
Kai tried to jerk away from her grasp, but was unsuccessful. He settled for tensing and twitching, testing her hold. “He’s gone!”
“Who’s gone?”
“Bri! I had him! I had him trapped in the myst, bound there until I came back for him and he’s gone!”
“How did he escape?”
“I don’t know! My labrynth was flawless! It must have been that damned witch. The one who took apart my workshop.”
“Must have been. But now, where is the shard? I sent you to get the shard.”
Kai dug into his pocket and thrust the piece at her. “It’s right here.”
Lillianna released him. The shard sat coolly in her hand, its sharp edges teasing her fingers as she rolled it over her palm. “Excellent. Now everything is in place. Repair the box, unbind yourself from my hearts, and prepare for the final scribing. The next full moon is in three days. I want to be a god by the time the sun rises on the fourth.”
Kai did not take the shard when she offered it back to him. “Did you not hear me? He’s gone. Bri is gone. I have to get him back.”