Heart of Ash

by Kim Liggett

  As we stood on the threshold of this cursed palace, I kissed him.

  The scent of sandalwood, mandarins, musk, and sea salt permeated the thin veil of space between us. With my hands in his hair, his lips everywhere, a flood of ravens rushed toward the open blue sky as the black silk ribbon danced all around us.

  27

  WE RODE BACK to Castell de Coronado to find the courtyard swarming with immortals and guards.

  “Something’s happened,” Dane said as he peered ahead.

  I followed his gaze to a body laid out on the ground, covered with a stark white sheet.

  “Stay here—you don’t need to see this,” Dane said as he started to turn his horse.

  “Is it Rhys?” My heart hammered as I spurred my horse into a full gallop, with Dane chasing after me.

  Jumping off the horse, I pushed everyone aside, yanked off the sheet to find Max Pinter, black blood seeping from every orifice, his face frozen in a state of final agony.

  “Where did they find him?” Dane came up behind me, bracing my shoulders.

  “Right outside the gates.”

  “This was a message,” I whispered to Dane. “Whoever’s behind this didn’t want him to speak to us.”

  “Step back,” Lucinda said as she snapped on a pair of surgical gloves. “There’s something in his hand.”

  Prying open his clenched fist, breaking a few fingers in the process, she pulled out a long strand of dark blond hair, holding it up to the sunlight for everyone to see. While everyone was gawking at it, trying to guess who it belonged to, she turned her attention on me, the slightest hint of glee in her eyes. A look that said, Gotcha.

  The rosary beads. That must’ve been the same strand of hair that was coiled around her beads the night I was nearly caught in her room. She was trying to set me up for this. Could Lucinda be the one behind all this, pulling the strings? Or did she just see an opportunity to get rid of me?

  “We’ll have the results back in twenty-four hours,” she said as she placed the strand in a clear plastic bag.

  As Dane took my hand, leading me back inside the castle, Mr. Jaeger followed, spewing accusations.

  “I don’t need to wait for the results”—he pointed at me—“it’s her. I know it.”

  Everyone began shouting over one another, when Dane yelled, “Quiet!” But I could tell it wasn’t Dane anymore. It was Coronado, all the way from his piercing stare to the controlled way he moved his body. “I can assure you, Mr. Jaeger, this has nothing to do with Katia.”

  “If that’s even her real name,” he answered back. “For all we know you found some stray who looks like her, paid your alchemist to make her immortal, coached her.”

  “I’m warning you.”

  “What are you going to do, give her another fake sheet? Make her sniff it like a dog?”

  Coronado pulled a sword from the wall, and sliced Mr. Jaeger’s throat open.

  No one screamed. No one moved. No one dared take a breath.

  As Mr. Jaeger dropped to his knees, clutching his throat, gasping for air, Coronado stalked over to me, slipped the blood-slicked sword into the bow of the black silk ribbon that was holding my hair back, and pulled it free. “That’s better.”

  He met my eyes, daring me to say Dane’s name. As frightened as I was, I didn’t want Dane to come back like this, holding a bloody sword, not knowing what happened. I told myself that I was only trying to protect him, but I knew there was more to it. This show of brute force was necessary to keep the council in check. More and more, I understood the dynamic between the two of them. And I felt awful for even thinking it, but there was a part of me that didn’t really mind. Grabbing me by the back of my neck, Coronado kissed me in a way that made me feel alive and ashamed all at once. My will unspooled around us, like molten fire forming around his touch. And when he abruptly pulled away, the look on his face told me he knew my innermost fear—that on some level, we were one and the same.

  But then I thought of the alchemist’s words: to dance with the darkness . . . to dance with the light . . . which one will you choose?

  I’m stronger than my blood.

  “Dane,” I whispered, a single tear streaming down my cheek.

  I felt him come back to me in a surge of confusion and remorse. He looked down at his hands, dropping the sword in disgust.

  As Mr. Jaeger’s throat began to heal, Dane handed him his handkerchief, but that was as close to an apology as he would get.

  As the crowd dissipated, carrying Mr. Jaeger with them, Dane and I were left alone.

  “I know you probably didn’t realize it was him,” he said. “But when you kissed Coronado, I thought I might shatter into a million pieces.”

  “I’m sor—” I started to say before he stormed off. He couldn’t even look me in the eyes. Coronado wanted Dane to feel that. I felt sick and depraved for hurting him that way. For letting it happen. On some level, wanting it to happen.

  As I watched the maids mop up the blood, I thought of Timmons. The last thing I wanted to do was worry him, but this was getting out of control. I had to tell him what was going on . . . about Max Pinter. About Lucinda. Because it was only a matter of time before the council took matters into their own hands.

  Rushing up the stairs, to my bathroom, I opened the jar of cream to find Timmons had already sent me a text. Meet tomorrow—café 3 pm Urgent. Watch yourself. Lucinda can’t be trusted.

  I’ll be there, I texted back. Can I have any more info? Were you able to get in touch with the alchemist?

  As I sat there waiting for a reply, I glanced in the mirror. There were tiny dots of blood spatter strewn across my face. I scrubbed it off with a washcloth. But I would never be clean. I could still smell Coronado on my skin . . .

  Shaking off the guilt, I had to figure out how to get into town tomorrow without drawing attention. I needed to talk this out. Rhys was usually my voice of reason, but Beth would have to put down her book and churros long enough to hear me out, because all I could think about was being immured. Walled in with no one to hear me, nothing to do but replay my mistakes over and over again in my head. Go mad. Dane had told me every estate had an immurement chamber. I wondered whether there was one here. And what would happen to Beth and Rhys if Dane and I just disappeared? The thought made me sick to my stomach.

  As I walked to Beth’s room, across the breezeway, down Lucinda’s corridor, every creak, every shadow made me feel like someone was going to jump out and take me.

  I eyed the guards as I stepped into Beth’s room. What if they were more loyal to the council than to Dane? What was to stop them from turning on us, too?

  But my paranoia took a backseat when I saw Dane sitting on the bed, next to Beth, holding her hands.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked.

  Beth looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “They’re keeping him underground.”

  Dane explained, “We followed your lead from last night and just got word that the same company who brokered the gold for Spencer rented medical equipment. A hospital bed, IV apparatus, hazmat suits.”

  “Underfoot,” I whispered, thinking of the word I’d scrawled in the wax.

  “You were right.” He looked at me in anguish. “Rhys isn’t doing this by choice.”

  “Where is this place? We need to go there. Now.”

  “We interviewed the men who worked the job, but they were blindfolded and then taken to the location. They remembered going down two flights of stairs to a windowless room with concrete walls. It was unusual, but not unheard of. Some of their wealthiest clients do this when they’re setting up safe rooms.”

  “So they’re using him. Keeping him prisoner,” Beth said with a trembling breath.

  “We’re going to find him. It could be a matter of hours or a few days, but I’m going to make this right. I will protect you and Rhys and
Beth . . . no matter what.”

  Beth hugged us both. It was heartbreaking thinking about what Rhys has had to endure over the past year, but I had to believe that Beth’s vision would come to pass. And Dane was somehow the key to its happening. I believed in him. And for the first time since Quivira, I believed in us.

  “You’re needed downstairs,” Lucinda said as she slipped soundlessly into the room, making me flinch.

  I tried not to make it too obvious, but I had to talk to him about her. Warn him. “Dane, I have to—”

  “Soon,” he said as he kissed me on the cheek.

  I stayed with Beth, listening to her talk about Rhys. She asked me what was wrong, but I couldn’t bring myself to burden her with anything else.

  Instead, I hugged her and we stayed like that until her body stopped trembling, until she’d fallen asleep in my arms.

  • • •

  I knew it was late by the clang of dishes being scrubbed in the kitchen, the midnight sky seeping through the heavy leaded-glass windows. I went to Dane’s study, and when I raised my hand to knock, I heard voices.

  I heard a struggle, followed by a grunt of pain.

  I tried to open the door, but it was locked.

  “One moment,” Dane called out, followed by a shuffling of feet.

  And when Lucinda answered the door, she pushed past me. “Leave this place and never return, or you will suffer the consequences.”

  I entered the room to find him bracing his wrist. “Are you okay?” I rushed over to him. “Is it broken?”

  “I’m fine. It was probably an accident,” he said as we watched it heal. “She’s stronger than she looks.”

  “This isn’t right.”

  “I’ll deal with it. I promise. But I want to know how you’re doing with all this?”

  I was speechless that he was just going to brush this off.

  I wanted to tell him my suspicions about Lucinda, but that’s all they were at this point. I needed proof. Maybe Timmons would be able to provide that. After everything that’d happened, Dane still trusted her. She’d seen him through a difficult time, and it was going to take something undeniable to make him see her for what she really was.

  “How’s Beth?” he asked.

  “She was pretty upset, but she’s asleep now.”

  “That’s good.” He nodded, but he seemed distracted, like he was gearing up for something. “I’m sorry . . . about earlier. I don’t know how things got so out of control. But I don’t blame you for being curious about Coronado. He’s a part of me and however you need to make peace with that, I’m okay with it.”

  I wasn’t sure what my face was doing, but I was so embarrassed, I felt like my cheeks might burst into flames. “It won’t happen again,” I assured him, but even as I said it, I didn’t know if I could keep that promise. “I need to go into town tomorrow. Do a little shopping.”

  “Of course,” he said as he crossed over to me. “What time shall we go?”

  “No. It’s for undergarments.” I glanced up at the portrait, thinking she could really use some, as well.

  “Well, in that case, I insist,” he said with a weak smile.

  “Nice try, but this is a solo trip.” I pulled my hair back into a low ponytail, securing it with the ribbon. “I won’t be long. Just a few hours.”

  “With everything that’s going on,” he said as he settled on the sofa in front of the fire, “I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

  I knew he was right, but I needed to meet Timmons. If my gut was right and Lucinda was the one behind all this, Dane was in a lot more danger than I’d even imagined. It was time to protect him for a change. I hated being mean to him, but it was the only thing that would get him to back down.

  “I don’t think you understand. I’m not asking for permission.”

  He looked at me curiously.

  “I can always call a taxi if it’s too much of an inconvenience.”

  “No.” He softened. “It’s no trouble. A car is always available to you. But it’s dangerous out there right now, especially with Max Pinter’s death so close to home.”

  “I’m not susceptible to Rhys’s blood. You know that. I’m in no danger.”

  “There are worse things than death for an immortal.”

  “Keeping me here is walling me in. I have to be free to come and go as I please. I have no desire to go back to compound living, like in Quivira.”

  “I don’t want that for you, either, but what will I tell the others? They need to believe you’re in as much danger as they are.”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m full of black magic, remember?”

  “You’re right.” He swallowed hard as he turned back toward the fire. “I’ll take care of it.”

  I felt awful for putting him in this position, but it was necessary.

  “Are you coming up soon?” I asked, running my hand over his shoulder.

  “I wish.” He glanced down at my hand. “I have a few more things to deal with and then I might take a ride. Clear my head.”

  I sensed a chill between us. Maybe I’d overplayed my hand, but I didn’t want to clue him in until I was absolutely sure.

  “Well, good night,” I said.

  He reached up, squeezing my hand. “You are the most important thing to me. I won’t apologize for wanting to protect you.” He kissed the palm of my hand and folded my fingers into a fist, just like he did before we walked the corn together to face Katia.

  It made me feel as if he were preparing me for battle.

  28

  AFTER A RESTLESS night watching the door to my room, waiting for Lucinda to creep in and hack me into a million pieces, I got up with the sun. I’d hoped to sneak out before anyone woke up, but when I went to grab the phone from the jar of cream to see if I had a new message from Timmons, it wasn’t there anymore. I tore through the bathroom hoping I’d just forgotten to put it back, but I knew I had. I also remembered the look Lucinda gave me as she was leaving Dane’s study last night. I wondered if she went into my room and took it. Wouldn’t put it past her. I thought about using a house phone, but like an idiot, I didn’t write down the number.

  Since I’d already blown my plan of an early getaway, I checked in on Beth, before heading downstairs.

  The immortals were unusually quiet. I wondered whether the hair analysis had come back early, but I couldn’t worry about that right now. The only good thing was that Lucinda was nowhere in sight. I couldn’t stand to look at her traitorous face this morning.

  Walking down the long seashell path, past the gates, I found a car waiting for me. There was a driver already inside. Dane’s personal guard opened the back door for me.

  “I can drive myself,” I said.

  The guard looked past me, toward the gates, giving a slight nod.

  The hint of mandarins and sandalwood slipped over my senses, making my blood come alive. Dane.

  “Did one of those vipers tell you I was leaving?”

  “I wouldn’t need anyone to tell me that,” he replied. “I could feel you walking away from me. The ache in my chest.”

  Peering over my shoulder, I tried not to get caught up in him—how good he looked, strolling through the gates, in a button-down, his hands thrust casually into the pockets of his linen trousers.

  I wanted to tell him my suspicions about Lucinda, but I didn’t want to start tearing his world apart until I was absolutely certain.

  “Is this really necessary?” I asked, nodding to the two Arcanum guards now in the front seat.

  “I kept my promise. You’re lucky I’m not sending you in a tank.”

  “But—”

  “You can always call that taxi. They should be here in a few hours, three tops,” he said as he ran his hand down my arm, giving me goose bumps.

  “Has anyone ever told you that
you play dirty?” I said.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said as he maneuvered me to take a seat in the back. “I’m an angel. You won’t even know they’re there.”

  “Doubtful,” I said as I glared at the back of their heads.

  “Take her to Mersilla’s,” he said to the driver. “It’s the finest lingerie shop in Barcelona. It’s in the Barri Gòtic. Very discreet. Oh, and this is for you.” He handed me an American Express black card.

  “Thanks, but I can buy my own underwear,” I said as I tried to hand it back.

  “The pleasure’s all mine.” He held his hands in the air, refusing to take it back. “Truly.”

  I wasn’t sure if I wanted to punch him in the mouth or kiss him. But that’s how it always seemed to be with the two of us.

  As soon as we pulled away, I noticed an identical car following. No doubt it was full of Arcanum guards.

  He wasn’t going to make this easy.

  29

  THE RIDE BACK to Barcelona was tense. The silence. The wondering what would happen. I never put the café’s address in the phone or Timmons’s full name, but whoever took it knew that I was meeting someone.

  The lingerie shop couldn’t be far from the café. I could always go inside and ditch them, crawl out of a window or something.

  As we pulled up in front of the shop, I thanked them for the ride and tried to hop out, but of course they had the safety locks on.

  Dane’s guard slowly got out and opened the door for me.

  I looked around to see if the other Arcanum car was close by, but I didn’t see anything. Maybe I was being paranoid.