by Becca Andre
Briar’s heart beat quicker. “Like Medusa?”
“Exactly, but the legends have it wrong. Gorgon was the name given to constructs made from a ferra soul. It was their attempt at immortality.”
“Oh.” Briar kept her attention on the road ahead of them. “You’re the original Perseus, aren’t you? The one from Greek mythology?”
“In every myth, there is a grain of truth.”
She stopped.
He took a couple more steps, then turned to face her. His eyes held hers, and she fancied that she could see the knowledge of ages in those blue depths.
“We are on the cusp of battle,” he said. “You need your wits about you. Now is not the time to be distracted.”
“All right.” She started walking once more. “That’s probably best. You need to tell Kali before you tell me anyway.”
“You shouldn’t play matchmaker.”
“I’m not. Despite your efforts to hold her at arm’s length, the two of you are close. If you value her friendship, you should tell her. You were willing to tell me.” Her voice trailed off as she came to a new realization. Perseus had once told her that admitting his true age didn’t end well. Briar suspected it chased people off. He didn’t want that to happen with Kali.
“I might be immortal,” he said softly, “but I am still a man.”
She smiled as he seemed to follow her train of thought—most likely because she’d gotten it right.
“And we have digressed from the matter at hand,” he added.
“Maybe I sought a distraction.” In the distance, she could see the steamboats moored along the river bank.
“Glad to be of service.” A hint of sarcasm slipped into his tone.
She continued to smile as they walked in silence toward the boats, both absorbed in their own thoughts.
Arriving on the shore of the Ohio River, they stopped to study the boat that only a short while ago they’d struggled to escape. “Lucrezia’s guardsman, Durante, is sympathetic to me.”
“Sympathetic?”
“He helped me escape with the soul box. Actually, he wants me to kill Lucrezia.”
“Huh. Unusual attitude for an oath-sworn.”
“I wonder how many willingly gave their oath. Lucrezia seems to take what she wants.”
Perseus faced the boat. “I will evaluate the situation.”
“Are you about to tell me to wait here?”
His gaze returned to her. “You said that these ferra want you dead. As captain of your guard, your safety is my number-one priority.”
“I don’t have a guard, and I happen to think of you as a friend.”
He studied her as he seemed to contemplate what to say.
“Have you never been friends with the ferra you served?” she asked.
“Once I swore my loyalty outside my family, no.”
“Then why swear it?”
“There were always reasons.” He lifted a hand to forestall any further questions. “Please allow me, as your friend, to evaluate the situation and determine if it is safe for you to come aboard. It is not a weakness on your part, but a strength to use all the assets at your disposal to your advantage.”
“So you’re now an asset?”
He didn’t comment. He lifted his eyebrows, waiting for her to give him permission.
“Fine.” She made a shooing gesture. “Make yourself useful.”
With a brief grin—it was still strange to see Perseus smile—he hurried away.
Briar debated taking a seat on a nearby stack of crates, but decided she couldn’t sit still. Instead, she paced along the bushes lining the road. The fading light and the distance should obscure her identity from the deck of the steamboat—not that she saw anyone on the deck.
She was considering going after Perseus when he finally appeared, crossing the gangplank and jogging along the road to join her.
“What is it?” she asked, alarmed by his rapid pace.
“There were no ferra or guardsmen aboard that I could find. A question to a member of the boat’s crew revealed that the passengers had left en masse earlier this evening, renting several carriages to take them into town.
“Do you think they learned the location of the gala?”
“I see no other explanation for all of them to leave.”
“Let’s go.” She turned toward town, Perseus falling in beside her.
Briar stood beside Perseus, eyeing the Biggs Hotel. The building had been repaired after a fire, but wasn’t yet open for business. It was a good location to host a gathering of those who didn’t want to be seen. Had the rent been so exorbitant that Andrew had needed to sell her boat to finance it?
“I momentarily lament not having Kali with us,” Perseus said. “She could tell if they were inside.”
“The ferra or the ferromancers?”
“Definitely the ferro, but the rest wouldn’t surprise me. She has a sensitivity like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
“And that’s saying something.”
The comment might have amused him, but he remained silent.
“Let’s go in through the service entrance around back,” Briar suggested. “I’m sure there won’t be any staff.” There were probably a lot of devolved ferromancers present.
Perseus nodded and set off for the back of the building. Rounding the corner, he pressed his back to the wall and she imitated him. He silently drew his short sword as he eyed the wide loading dock.
She was about to ask if he sensed something when he sprang through the opening.
Heart in her throat at the sudden move, Briar looked around the corner in time to watch Perseus take a man to the ground. He had shoved his sword into the man’s stomach, violet bolts of lightning dancing along the small section of blade still visible below the hilt.
Perseus shoved the sword upward, the movement accompanied by the brittle snapping of the ribcage bones. An instant later, the man threw back his head, but no sound emerged. Instead, flickers of silver light danced within his open mouth—then abruptly winked out.
With a jerk, Perseus pulled the blade from the body and rose to his feet.
Briar moved to his side. “Soulless?” she whispered.
He nodded, then gestured for her to follow him.
A short entryway led to a large kitchen. The scent of food hung in the air, but none of the stoves had been lit. A collection of warming trays sat on one end of the counter beside a stack of plates. Perhaps Andrew had a caterer deliver the refreshments and the soulless served as waitstaff.
Perseus suddenly gripped her arm and pulled her into a nearby curtained alcove that turned out to be a pantry. Enough light filtered through the gap between the curtains to illuminate the empty shelves.
Quietly, she set her fiddle case on the nearest shelf and opened it.
A metallic clatter carried from the room. Perhaps the lid on one of the warming dishes she’d seen.
Wrapping the pillowcase around the soul box, she shoved it into her dress pocket. It barely fit, but it freed up her hands for her fiddle. She picked up the instrument and bow, but when she turned back to Perseus, she was just in time to see him slip through the curtains.
She followed him, already lifting her fiddle to her shoulder, but she hesitated.
Perseus was closing with the new man who was loading a plate with bite-sized food items from the warming dish. He didn’t even notice Perseus until he seized his shoulder from behind.
The plate fell to the floor and shattered, causing Briar to cringe at the loud sound. Oddly, the man made no sound, and she noticed that Perseus had shoved his sword between the man’s shoulder blades. Like the other man, he threw back his head, and light erupted within his mouth. A moment later, Perseus jerked his sword free, and the man crumpled silently to the floor.
Briar realized that Perse
us was using his sword to reach the iron heart of the soulless and dissolve it. Without the heart, a soulless couldn’t be reanimated by its master.
“I could have played for him,” Briar whispered as she joined Perseus.
“Then all might hear.” He tucked away his sword. “Let us evaluate the situation first.”
“All right.” Briar glanced down at the body at their feet. It had been a wise move to bring Perseus along.
He led her across the room and into a dark corridor. Briar thought it odd that the sconces along the walls hadn’t been lit, then she remembered Andrew’s comment that time they’d gone after Grayson in Cleveland. He’d claimed that he could see as well as an animal in the dark. Maybe the soulless waitstaff didn’t need any light.
The hallway led to a closed door, and as they drew near, she could hear the sound of raised voices.
Perseus laid a hand on the doorknob. “We’ve found the ferromancers. Ready yourself.”
He pushed open the door to reveal a large room. Cloth-covered tables were arranged around the room as if for a banquet. Perhaps two dozen men were on their feet, most dressed finely in evening wear, while a few wore hooded cloaks. In the flickering light from the wall sconces and chandeliers overhead, Briar caught the occasional glint of metal on the faces or hands of the men. Ferromancers, assembled for Solon’s gala.
Her attention was drawn to the dais on the far side of the room, and she gripped Perseus’s arm and nodded in that direction.
Solon stood on the raised platform, and at his side, Grayson.
“I’ll kill him,” Briar whispered, struggling to speak around the tightness in her throat. Grayson was stripped to the waist, allowing him to open his wings. Those intricate appendages weren’t the only visible metal he displayed. His collarbones were silver once more, as was the upper portion of his sternum. He had one hand, tipped with silver claws, resting on the head of a man who knelt at his feet. A ferromancer whose devolvement he was stopping?
“That’s not our only problem,” Perseus whispered.
She followed his nod toward the wide steps that led to the foyer before the exterior doors. A group of women were gathered there, and in the lead, Lucrezia.
Briar’s grip tightened on her bow as the room fell silent.
“Lucrezia,” Solon growled her name.
“Leon.” Lucrezia smiled, and even from across the room, Briar could see the crazed light in her eyes. “You have been a thorn in my side for far too long.” She lifted her arms, then opened her closed hands. Two silver balls fell to the floor. “Bring me the drake and kill the rest.”
“Lucrezia!” Agatha stepped up beside her. “You can’t—”
“Silence!” Lucrezia turned her glare on her.
A momentary stare off and Agatha stepped back, bowing her head. “Sorry, my lady.”
“She’s turned her magic on the other ferra,” Perseus whispered.
“That’s possible?” Briar asked.
“Difficult, but possible.” He once again pulled his sword from its sheath. “We’ll see how well she can control them while also controlling the chimera.”
“The—” Briar’s gaze returned to Lucrezia, and she saw that the two silver balls had morphed into a pair of waist-high creatures. The one on the right she’d seen at the train yard, but the other was new. It sprouted two heads.
The head on the left opened its mouth and roared.
Chapter 18
“Chimera!” several ferromancers shouted at once.
The creatures sprang forward, and the ferromancers scattered.
The two-headed chimera leapt onto a table, bunching the crisp white fabric as it slid across the surface. It extended its claws to grip the table top, gouging the wood in the process.
A chandelier dropped from the ceiling, but didn’t hit the floor. Instead, it took an abrupt turn and hit the two-headed chimera broadside. It slammed into both the creature and the table, and sent them tumbling across the room to slam into the far wall.
Solon was lowering his arms. He must’ve been the one who threw the light fixture.
The chimera immediately sprang to its feet, shaking off the twisted iron and the shattered remains of the table. It opened its mouth, exposing the red glow in the back of its throat.
“Soul fire!” several ferromancers shouted.
Meanwhile, the other chimera sprinted across the room, darting between the tables as it ran toward the dais. Just before it reached the elevated platform, it morphed again. Taking a two-legged, hominid shape, it leapt up on the dais.
The creature maintained its bulky torso and lower legs that bent backward at the knee, like an animal’s. Its long arms were out of proportion with its body, as were the claw-tipped fingers, but the odd shape of the creature didn’t slow its lightning-quick reflexes. It seized the kneeling ferromancer by the throat and lifted him from the ground as if he weighed nothing.
The first chimera hadn’t moved, and the glow within its throat was considerably brighter. Without warning, a bolt of red light shot from its throat and struck the nearest ferromancer in the chest. The cloaked man slumped to the ground, but whether unconscious or dead, Briar couldn’t tell.
The two-headed chimera on the dais had gripped its captive by the head and before he could blink, ripped it from his shoulders.
Solon leapt from the dais while the chimera faced Grayson.
Using the nearest chair as a step, Briar climbed up onto the table beside her and brought her fiddle to her chin. Without even having to think about it, she launched into that dissonant melody she’d once used on Farran.
“No!” Lucrezia screamed. “Get her!”
Both chimera turned in her direction. The one on the dais seemed to study her. In the brighter light of the room, she could see that it had gemstone-like eyes, reminiscent of Lock’s. Except something seemed to move behind the eyes. The faint shadow of a pupil, as if someone looked out from within. Those eyes focused on her.
As the chimera started toward her, Perseus stepped forward and his sword burst into light as arcs of purple lightning crackled across the metal’s surface. He took a step closer.
“I’ve got them,” Briar said. “Let them come closer.”
As if to deny her claim, the four-legged chimera sprang up on the nearest table, then leapt to the next.
“You’re certain?” Perseus asked.
“Yes,” she repeated. She didn’t get to elaborate as the same chimera bounded to another table and in the same motion, sprang at Perseus.
Acting purely on instinct, she lashed out with a harsh melody that had a very similar sound to nails on a chalkboard.
Perseus stood his ground and lifted his sword, squatting a little as he braced for impact. But the collision never came. Violet arcs of lightning erupted across the creature’s metal skin, but before its momentum could carry it into Perseus, it exploded in a burst of white-hot light and vanished.
“Briar!” Perseus shouted.
In the time it had taken her to dissolve the pouncing chimera, the two-headed one had somehow cleared the space between them, though she hadn’t even seen it move. It now stood beside her table, its arms and fingers plenty long enough to reach her, though she stood above it.
Perseus lunged toward it, his blazing sword leading, but she was already redirecting her song. Like the chimera she’d just dissolved, it never made contact with its intended target. It vanished in another burst of Briar’s true magic. Scourge magic.
With a final flourish, she finished her song and lowered her fiddle. A wave of dizziness washed over her and she dropped to a knee.
“My lady?” Perseus muttered, moving closer to the table.
“I’ll be all right,” she whispered, hoping that was true. She had passed out after dissolving Farran.
“What the hell was that?” a male voice asked in the now-sil
ent room. It took Briar a moment to locate Orson standing by Solon near the dais. “I thought you said she was a soul singer.”
Lucrezia barked a laugh from her place on the steps. “She is most definitely not ferra.”
“That was Scourge magic,” another ferromancer said.
“That’s right, it was.” Perseus sprang up onto the table beside her. “Now back off before she turns it on you.”
“No!” Agatha stepped forward once more. “Don’t let her, Perseus. This isn’t—”
“What did I tell you?” Lucrezia snapped at her. “Send in the Scourge.”
Agatha’s face paled, but she nodded.
“If you are strong enough,” Perseus whispered to Briar, “you need to take control of the situation.”
Briar pushed herself to her feet, and Perseus gripped her elbow when she swayed. He took a breath, as if to speak, when the sound of footfalls echoed around the room. Suddenly, well-armed men were running through the doorways around the room, leaping down from the elevated walkway along one side of the room, and even running past Briar’s table as they entered from the back.
She caught a glimpse of a few familiar faces, but it wasn’t until she recognized Gordon’s large form that she remembered them from the lock above Waverly. It was the Scourge Liam had gathered.
Glancing toward the steps Lucrezia stood on, Briar saw Liam stop beneath her. But he wasn’t looking at Lucrezia. He watched Agatha, the ferra who held his oath. No wonder Lucrezia had gone along with Agatha. She’d been biding her time to take control of Agatha, thereby taking control of the Scourge.
The Scourge engaged the ferromancers, flashes of purple light glinting around the room, and the two forces engaged. The ferromancers were stronger and quicker, and as Briar had witnessed when Perseus and Kali fought Farran, surprisingly resistant to damage. The ability to dissolve soul iron was most effective when used on a ferromancer’s construct. That would end him. Facing a ferromancer in hand-to-hand combat was not a winning proposition.
“Briar, you must stop this,” Perseus said to her. “Can you—”
“Yes.” She brought the fiddle to her chin and started to play.