by Bella Klaus
I inhaled a sharp breath through my nostrils. These were the people he’d attacked with his fire the night he’d returned victorious from the battle. They were also the same group of victims he’d raised and ordered killed.
He clapped his hands together. “How wonderful it is to see you safely returned from your missions.”
My gaze darted to Racon, who stood beside Gail with his muscles tensed. His hands had curled into fists, and I turned away, hoping he wouldn’t do anything stupid. Coral remained at my side, breathing hard. I hadn’t gotten the chance to ask her, but I was sure she missed out on yesterday's disastrous mission because Aurora ordered her to take me to the infirmary.
Kresnik continued to the center of the room and placed a hand on Brother David’s shoulder. “Thank you for stepping in during Aurora’s absence.” His fingers curled into his denim jacket, and his muscles rippled as he dragged the soulless man to his feet. “You may leave.”
One of the preternatural enforcers grabbed Brother David’s arm and marched him out into the hallway. I glanced around the room to check everyone else’s reactions. Some of the people standing around were pale and looking shaken from seeing their teammates injured, and others gazed at Kresnik through eyes that shone with hope.
“I’m setting up a team of young elites, and I’d like to test your power to see who qualifies.” Kresnik reached into the pocket of his white cloak and extracted the kind of device enforcers used to measure magic. “Everybody, form two lines behind Coral and Hemera.”
A pulse of panic squeezed my heart, and Valentine’s peculiar insistence that I drink the citrus liquid suddenly made sense. Kresnik had finally acted on the meaningful glower he’d shot me from across the infirmary.
Smoothing my features into an even mask, I strode up to the tyrant and hoped that I still had enough thrall or quell in my body to suppress my magic. My entire body trembled in sync with the rapid beat of my heart. This was the moment Hades had warned me about but there wasn’t a thing I could do to hide my magic apart from holding it deep within my chakras.
I inhaled, drawing my power from the tips of my fingers, up my meridians and into my heart chakra. Then I pushed it down into my solar plexus, letting it pass my sacral and then my root. While I could see Kresnik stabbing me in the heart to get a reading, he probably wouldn’t suspect I would keep that magic at the base of my spine.
The device he held was about the size of five smartphones stacked one atop the other with an LCD screen that took up a third of its surface area, displaying a row of four zeros. Beneath it was an indentation large enough to fit a thumb.
My mind rifled through Istabelle’s teachings and through posters she hung in the crystal shop. A device like that worked by sucking the energy from the meridians and analyzing it for its elemental composition. Which meridians passed or even ran close to the root chakra? Kidney, bladder, stomach, spleen.
Palpitations reverberated through my chest. Small intestine? No—that one started at the little finger and ended by the ear. The heart meridian went from armpit to little finger. Which digit would I offer up? My thumb? It was the end of the lung meridian, which ended beneath the collarbone. My breath quickened. Bloody hell… I needed to stay calm.
“Place your finger on the counter,” Kresnik said, his pale eyes glowing bright.
“Yes, Father.” I offered up my thumb.
“Finger.” Kresnik’s smile widened.
My stomach flipped like a crepe. He knew. He knew I had the phoenix and he knew that I knew that he knew I had the phoenix. My mind twisted into tangles tighter than the knots in my stomach.
With a silent prayer to anyone who was listening, I slipped my little finger into the device’s metallic grove. “Here.”
Something sharp and metallic pierced my finger, and the machine made a low beep. 0.55 flashed on the display and Kresnik’s shoulders sagged.
“Coral?” He turned from me and thrust the device at her.
I held my breath. If he had called her up, that meant he didn’t completely possess her immense magic. When she placed her index finger on the machine, it also made the same low beep.
“Next,” he said through clenched teeth.
Two of the undead enforcers stepped forward. Kresnik handed one the reader, while the other extracted one from his pocket. He gestured for us to stand at the other end of the room, while another pair got tested.
Coral and I moved away in silence. It was too early for me to exhale my relief, but the panic squeezing my heart had loosened enough for me to bring some air into my lungs.
We stared at each other through the corners of our eyes, neither of us daring to speak. As we reached the wall, a metallic shriek rang through the air.
Roman stood with his finger in the machine, his face flushed with pride. He turned to Kresnik and asked, “What does that mean, My Lord?”
“You’re the first member in my squad of elites.” Kresnik beckoned him over and grinned.
My heart sank. This didn’t sound good at all. Leman, who stood behind Roman in the line, got a low score, and joined us on the far side of the room. He kept glancing over at Roman, who stared at his twin open-mouthed.
I leaned into Coral. “What happened yesterday with the missions? Did you go?”
She shook her head, confirming my suspicions that she stayed behind in the infirmary. “The other five did. Thanks to the twins pooling their power, they were able to grab their target and return within a couple of hours.”
My brows drew together. “But Leman—”
“I know,” she muttered. “You’ll have to ask why his magic didn’t register.”
Leman reached our patch of wall but he stood a few feet away from us with his arms folded across his chest. He continued staring at his brother, who stared back with the same expression of surprise. I was about to ask him about what was going on, when the device made the same high-pitched wail.
“Yay!” Martika raised her hands in the air. “Shall I stand behind you, My Lord?”
Kresnik inclined his head and stared at her legs as she passed.
My shoulders sagged. The next time Kresnik invited Valentine to another supernatural evening out, a different girl would be kneeling under the table at my side. I lowered my head, mentally willing everyone else to hide their power, but more and more people registered as having magic.
As soon as the last person tested negative, Kresnik turned on his heel and left the room with ten new recruits and his undead enforcers, leaving the rest of us standing about without so much as Brother David for guidance.
“Dinner?” Coral asked.
My stomach rumbled. “Let’s go.”
We walked in silence through the hallway with Gail positioning herself between Coral and me, trying hard not to glance at Racon, who trailed behind Clarence and Leman. Clarence kept trying to get Leman to talk, but he shook his head and sighed.
The other rejects followed us toward the refectory, many of them dragging their feet but a few walking tall and looking relieved at not having been selected. I didn’t know what to think. Kresnik would rob his new recruits of their magic, but what would he do with them afterward? What would he do with us rejects?
Gail pushed open the door to a near-deserted refectory, with a few people carrying their trays toward the exit on the other side. Instead of a carpeted area in the middle, a high dais took up the far end of the space and atop it stood a table and three chairs that overlooked all the other seats.
Kresnik’s ornate wooden throne took up the middle with two regular chairs at either side. I guessed they were reserved for his current favorites. Valentine sure as hell didn’t need to eat or drink.
We continued to the counter, where even the kitchen staff had reduced to four elderly people who stood with their shoulders slumped. Instead of a variety of dishes, there was a cast-iron dish of lamb pieces floating in a red-wine sauce among chunks of potato, carrots, shallots, and sprigs of rosemary. Next to it was the same dish but without the me
at.
Coral and Rita served themselves modest portions, but I shoveled a large helping of lamb stew onto my plate then helped myself to a pair of dumplings that were left on a baking tray.
“Where is everyone?” I asked.
“They’ve all got their tasks,” Racon said from behind me, sounding like he hadn’t slept in days. “Lord Kresnik dishes out the jobs at breakfast, and everyone else gets to sit around on their asses.”
I glanced over my shoulder to find him staring at the back of Gail’s head. “What do people have to do?”
“Assassinations, intel, searching for specific objects needed for the war.” He ladled out a small portion of the vegetarian dish and ignored the dumplings. “There’s a whole group of them raiding Logris for their stores of firestone.”
At the other end of the serving hatch were bowls of fruit, individual portions of yoghurt, rice pudding, and a large chocolate cake, complete with ice crystals from where it had been extracted from the deep freeze. I selected a plastic tub of ready-made profiteroles and a bar of supermarket-brand chocolate and went to the drinks station to find hot water, teabags, and milk.
I grabbed a peppermint blend, filled a mug, and followed the girls to a table furthest from the dais.
“We haven’t seen you in the refectory,” Gail said as I took my seat opposite her. “Where have you been eating?”
“Coral gave me a few things. And Valentine has a refrigerator in his suite. He took me out last night.” I shoveled a forkful of stew into my mouth and broke off a large piece of dumping to avoid answering any more questions.
“Miss Griffin,” whispered a voice in my ear.
My head snapped up, and I glanced from side to side, looking for traces of Hades’ mist.
Gail leaned forward and frowned. “Are you alright?”
“Try not to make it obvious you’re hearing voices in your head,” he drawled.
I rubbed the back of my neck and turned my attention back to Gail. “Yeah, I’m fine. What have you guys been doing while I’ve been away?”
“Now tell your friends you need to leave for a prior appointment with King Valentine,” he said.
I glanced at Racon, who sat at my left, opposite Coral, and at Leman, who took the seat at my right. Gail turned her attention to Leman and made a show of asking him questions about Roman. The blond man muttered a few answers but turned his attention to Clarence.
I stuffed a large piece of lamb in my mouth and chewed. Whatever Hades wanted to discuss had to wait until I’d eaten. I wanted to work with him, but I trusted him as much as I trusted Kresnik. Even if he didn’t want to start a supernatural war and take over the humans, he still wanted to drag everyone’s souls to Hell.
Hades was desperate and needed the help of someone who wasn’t loyal enough to Kresnik to reveal that his ashes had escaped from one of their containers. I cut off another forkful of dumpling before dipping it into the stew.
“Miss Griffin,” he hissed. “One of my jars has been left unattended. Now is your chance to steal it.”
Swallowing my mouthful, I reached for the mug and dipped the teabag in and out of the hot water, releasing the scent of mint.
“Can anyone feel something?” Coral turned her head from side to side and frowned. “It’s jagged, demonic, and feels annoyed.”
“At this rate, your dawdling will get me exorcized,” Hades said with a sigh. “Would it make any difference to know that your so-called mother is on the brink of death?”
I choked on my mouthful of stew. Why didn’t he say that before?
Chapter Thirteen
I grabbed a glass and gulped mouthfuls of water, letting the cool liquid slide down my throat. Aurora couldn’t be injured—she was probably sitting cross-legged in a ritual room, meditating in another plane. Hades had to be saying that to get my attention.
The chatter around the table stopped, and everyone paused to stare at me. Even Gail, who had been pretending to have a conversation with Clarence and Leman, turned her head in my direction, risking eye contact with Racon.
Coral leaned across the table, her eyes wide. “Mera, are you alright?”
“Fine.” I held up a palm and rose off my seat. “It’s just a bit of food that went down the wrong passage.”
Coral frowned but didn’t speak. I snatched my gaze away from hers, hoping she didn’t link the demonic presence she’d sensed with my choking. While I trusted Coral to remain silent about any attempts to sabotage Kresnik, I wasn’t sure about the others’ states of mind.
Gail stared up at me with red-rimmed eyes. She was still distraught about discovering she was related to Racon, but instead of being furious with the people who had allowed their relationship to blossom, it looked like she’d turned her anger toward him.
“Come along,” Hades said, sounding like he’d waited an eternity for me to come to my senses and help him on his quest.
I picked up an uneaten dumpling and slipped the bar of supermarket-brand chocolate into my pocket, pulled back my chair, and muttered, “I’m running low on blood stabilizers.”
Coral rose. “Do you need me to come with you?”
“No,” Hades hissed.
I shook my head and smiled. “I’m going to walk for a bit and clear my head. See you guys later?”
Her gaze swept down my outfit as though it held a clue to my peculiar behavior. I offered the older woman a tight smile, hoping to convey that I would confide in her later… After I’d worked out a truce with Hades.
By now, a few more residents of the Flame sat around the tables, but the place wasn’t even close to being a quarter-full. More people crowded around the refectory’s serving hatch, but there were no signs of Roman, Martika, or the others who had tested positive for magic.
As I walked toward the exit, I passed a group of little children sitting with four women I recognized from around the Flame. Petra sat between a pair of twins with hair as red as hers, and my heart sank. Would Kresnik move on to them as an energy source now, or later?
“Where are we going?” I muttered under my breath.
“Infirmary,” he said back.
The hallways were deserted, and I jogged past the closed doors, feeling for the familiar thrum of Healer Calla’s magic. Hades had almost certainly lied about Aurora, but I was only going along for the opportunity to speak to him alone.
I needed to discover the location of Valentine’s heart, because his soul was the only one in this situation who might be able to explain how to navigate this situation without falling prey to the machinations of the Demon King.
When I stepped into the infirmary, Healer Calla wasn’t standing behind her counter, but a few women Aurora’s age sat on the seats along the back wall. They all wore white dresses, all stared at me with grave features, and appeared shaken.
Maybe Hades hadn’t lied, after all.
“Has anyone seen Aurora?” I asked.
A woman with ebony skin and elegant features that reminded me of Clarence cleared her throat. To her left was another woman with the same pale blonde hair as the twins. The power radiating from each of them indicated that they were mages. Before I could wonder if they were the mothers of my team, the dark-skinned woman pointed at the door on the left, next to the room Father Jude used to occupy.
“Healer Calla is tending to Aurora’s injuries,” she said.
“She got hurt during a mission?” I asked.
The woman shook her head and turned her gaze to her lap.
“Never mind them,” said Hades. “One of my jars is here.”
I glanced around the reception area. The shelves that used to contain the crystals and Tibetan singing bowls still lay empty, but books still filled the shelves on the right. My gaze skipped over a wooden box with an ornate symbol, but there was no sign of a jar.
“Last door on the right,” Hades whispered into my ear. “The healer’s keeping my ashes in her private quarters. Go now, while she’s distracted with your mother.”
I rolled my
eyes and continued toward the room on the left. If the women sitting around the infirmary were the mothers of my teammates, they’d almost certainly tell Kresnik I’d stolen the ashes of the Flame’s biggest enemy.
“Where are you going?” he hissed.
Ignoring him, I pushed the door open, letting out the scent of burned meat.
I flinched at the doorway, steadying myself with a hand on its wooden frame. The room was darkened with a single candle on a high shelf illuminating wisps of smoke curling from behind Healer Calla.
“Back away,” Hades said. “Before she notices you.”
The healer turned around and met my eyes with glistening eyes and slack features that looked as white as death. To her left, a treatment table stood against the wall with a still figure whose bottom half was wrapped in a white sheet. Slash marks crossed her back, the flesh inside shining as brightly as freshly spilled lava.
My stomach dropped, and I placed a hand over my chest. This didn’t appear human. “What’s happened?”
“The flame whip,” Healer Calla said with a sigh.
“Why?” I whispered.
“Leave us,” Aurora croaked from the table.
Hades groaned. “You’ve ruined our big chance. Now how are you going to steal back my ashes?”
I was about to back out of the room, when Healer Calla inclined her head and walked toward me, averting her gaze from mine. My throat dried. Had Aurora meant that she wanted to speak to me?
“Please don’t agitate her,” the healer murmured as she passed.
A series of tight knots twisted from my belly to my gut, and my heart thudded against my ribcage. What could Aurora possibly want to say to me? The wounds on her back split, revealing orange magma that shone brighter than the candle flame.
I hurried to Aurora’s side on legs that wouldn’t stop trembling. As I approached her bedside, the scent of burning flesh gave way to brimstone, and heat radiated from her back.
“Did you get this from traveling to another realm?” I asked.
Aurora chuckled, but there was no mirth in the sound. “It was my punishment for failure.”