“Tracking skills and a helpful baroness.”
When Katya turned, the others were saying their hellos, all except Redtrue, who held her darkened pyramid in Starbride’s direction. “Did you do this?”
Starbride’s mouth worked for a moment. “I’m sorry. When I sensed a pyradisté—”
“Adsnazi,” Redtrue said through clenched teeth.
Starbride dipped her head, but Katya could read her less-than-pleased expression. “I apologize again.”
Before Redtrue could open her mouth, Katya said, “Why don’t we step into one of these rooms?”
Redtrue turned stiffly, muttering, “Cancelling pyramids,” as they all shuffled into a room just down the hall from the library.
Katya’s gaze locked with Starbride’s as they moved, and Starbride’s hand didn’t leave her own before they were behind closed doors. Then Starbride shifted out of the way and revealed Maia standing behind her, a soft smile on her young face. “Hello, coz.”
Katya’s breath left her. Here was another balm to drive bad thoughts away. She swallowed Maia in an embrace. “I thought I might never see you again, cousin.”
Maia held her hard, making her wound ache, but Katya didn’t protest. “I’m trying not to cry,” Maia said into Katya’s chest.
Katya pushed her gently to arm’s length. The tears made her seem the same old Maia, but there were dark circles under her eyes and a permanent line between her pale brows that spoke of hard times. Katya squeezed her once more before letting go. Ma took her place, grasping Maia’s shoulders.
Dawnmother greeted Katya with a nod. Katya clapped Hugo on the back, welcoming the sight of his grinning face. “If you’ve met the baroness,” Katya said, “then you know about Brutal.”
They all nodded. Katya squeezed Maia’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, coz, but he, he might not—”
“Later,” Maia said, but she didn’t seem as agonized as Katya would have thought. Well, they all had a lot to think about.
“And who are these others?” Katya said, nodding toward the strength monk and the red-haired man. “And where’s Pennynail, skulking about?”
“Well,” Starbride said.
Katya whirled on her, her heart sinking. “He hasn’t been killed?”
“No! It’s just, well, Freddie, do you want to…”
Katya turned to the red-haired man. The closer she looked, the more familiar he seemed. “Freddie, did you say?”
He nodded, his face deadly serious, and a memory popped into Katya’s mind: searching the library at the command of one of her tutors. She’d been ten? No, eleven, and sent to fetch some dry volume on the history of Farraday. She’d wandered between the shelves, bored, wasting time. One of the knowledge monks who were always prowling around had asked if he could help her find something.
“No,” she’d said with a dramatic sigh. “Books are so boring.”
He’d chuckled and pulled a small, soft-bound volume from a high shelf. “You might like this better.”
She’d taken a peek. It was important to be polite, her mother was always saying. And then she’d spent the next few hours immersed in Murderers and Scoundrels: A Bloody History of Farraday. When her tutor had scolded her, she’d said she was researching history, just like he’d told her. He’d ordered her to put the book back, but she’d hidden it under a heavier tome and carried it to her room where she read it over and over until she’d lost it, or one of the servants had spirited it away.
“Freddie Ballantine,” she said, “the Dockland Butcher.” Excitement and anger and a tingle of fear raced through her. It was him down to the scar. All he lacked was the feral snarl from the illustration, that and the sharpened teeth, the better to eat his victims with. “You’re not as terrifying as I imagined.”
Pieces tumbled together in Katya’s head. Why Crowe would never tell her who Pennynail was and why Starbride had done the same. Why he’d had to wear a mask and cover the ghastly scar at his throat.
“Will someone tell me what is going on?” Redtrue said loudly, spoiling the mood. Castelle whispered to her.
“You’re Pennynail,” Katya said. “Why would you serve the crown? Did you think it would get you a pardon?”
“I won’t turn down a pardon if you’re offering,” he said, his voice not much more than a rasp. He watched her as if waiting for something, maybe for her to kill him.
But her mind was still working. She stepped close and touched his ragged scar with one finger. “You’ve been fighting by my side for three years, and in all that time, you didn’t trust me enough to tell me who you are? Did you think I’d cut you down?”
He swallowed, and her finger jumped, but she didn’t remove it.
“Crowe and Starbride would never work with the Butcher,” she said, “the animal who sneaked into the bedrooms of random citizens and cut them to pieces. Crowe would say that such a creature would never help anyone but himself. Therefore, you cannot be the Butcher. Did you think I wouldn’t be smart enough to figure that out?”
“Katya—” Starbride said.
“Please, Star. I want to hear it from him.”
He took her touch from his throat, that simple reminder that she could have him hanged all over again. He didn’t toss her hand away but held it between his gloved fingers. “I was afraid at first, of mobs looking for retribution, of children who’d run from me, of Watch officers who’d kill me on sight. I needed to remain hidden to separate myself from the Butcher, mostly in my own head, but then you got to know Pennynail, respected him. Perhaps even liked him?”
Katya nodded.
“I didn’t want to risk losing that, not from you. Crowe knew me from the beginning, before I started wearing the mask, and I didn’t tell the others in the Order because I thought it might hurt you to be left out. I might not have told Starbride if she hadn’t stumbled on my room.”
Katya smiled. “No secret is safe from Star.”
He grinned crookedly. “So I’ve found out. I should have told you.”
Dawnmother cleared her throat. “As Horsestrong said, the past is a horse dead and buried. Why dig up what you can no longer ride?”
“I was just thinking the same,” Redtrue said. “And we might all be dead and buried if we linger here much longer.”
Katya slipped free of Pennynail’s, no, Freddie’s grasp. Betrayal beat within her, but she would deal with that later. She was just happy that some of herself had come back. Averie’s face still lurked in her mind, but Starbride and her friends didn’t know about that. Katya didn’t have to tell them for a long time to come, giving her room to pretend it hadn’t happened.
“Redtrue was just leading us to our next target,” Katya said.
Starbride and Maia exchanged glances. “If we want to save Brutal,” Starbride said, “we have to hurry.”
“You know a healer in the palace?” Katya asked.
“I did what I could,” the strength monk added. When Katya glanced at her, she made a very awkward bow. “Highness. I’m Scarra, by the way.” She bowed again.
Katya waved at her to stop. “But you know someone else who can do more for him? Or are you offering to get him out and to a healer?”
When Maia and Starbride shared another secretive glance, Katya almost shouted at them to get on with it. Her face must have betrayed her because Starbride squeezed her arm. “We need to get to Crowe’s office. I’ll explain on the way, but we can save Brutal and cause more problems for Roland at the same time.”
Chapter Eight
Starbride
Starbride wondered how silly it would look if she and Katya sneaked through the palace hand in hand. But maybe it was better to throw pride out the window and be silly. After months apart, they’d had one night together, and it hadn’t been enough. And now Katya was right there, and it took every ounce of Starbride’s will not to touch her at every opportunity.
“Focus,” Hugo whispered. When she glanced at him, he winked.
“I wasn’t doing anything wrong
.”
“You were staring,” Dawnmother said from her other side.
“What’s this?” Katya asked, looking back at them.
“They’re just pointing out that I’m admiring you when I should be watching where I’m going,” Starbride said.
Katya squeezed her hand. “Admire away, just as long as someone tells me what we’re up to and soon. Brutal doesn’t have much time.”
Starbride pulled on Katya’s arm, slowing her and letting Dawnmother creep between them and Redtrue. “Not everyone is going to like it.” She didn’t care about any objections, just what Redtrue would do to back those objections up. Starbride would sooner marry Darkstrong than cease using the powerful weapons she’d learned from the Farradains.
“Just tell me,” Katya said.
There was no way to sneak up on it. “Maia is going to give Brutal a Fiend.”
Katya’s grip tightened, and she stumbled, her court persona blown away by surprise.
Starbride laid a finger over her lips. “He’ll die if we don’t.”
Scarra had said she’d seen a wound like Brutal’s before, and the victim had only been saved because the monks had a surgeon close by. With the bubbling sounds in Brutal’s breath, Scarra feared the arrow had lodged in his lung. By his pallor, she was certain he was bleeding inside, maybe to drown in his own blood, especially if they tried to move him anymore.
While Maia had cried over him, Brutal’s eyes fluttered open, and he muttered her name. Starbride had thought to leave Maia there, but she’d gone quiet at the sound of his voice, and Starbride knew she’d thought of a plan.
“If we find the pyramid we’re looking for in Crowe’s office,” Starbride said to Katya, “I can perform the ritual while Maia passes the Fiend to Brutal.”
“You know what ‘passes the Fiend’ means, don’t you?”
Starbride shuddered at the images of Maia and Darren, Maia and Hilda. “Yes.”
“And how is Brutal supposed to perform if he’s half-dead?”
“Maia says the pyramid ritual heightens the experience. She said it’s impossible not to perform under its influence.”
“And how does she know unless…” Katya blanched. “Oh spirits, no.”
“I’m afraid so.”
“With Darren?”
“And Hilda.”
Katya wiped at her mouth. “My poor cousin.”
Starbride glanced back. Maia walked near the rear of their column with Scarra, too far away to have to participate in this conversation again. “I think she takes some comfort in the fact that Roland had already unlocked her Fiend. The creature was happy to do his bidding, at least in that respect.”
“But her Aspect isn’t out now! If she performs the ritual with Brutal, it’ll just be her and him.”
“She wants to do this, Katya. She’d rather he live.”
“And after it’s done? He hasn’t Waltzed. How can his Aspect present and heal him?”
Starbride took a deep breath, less firm on that territory. “According to Maia’s memories, Roland used a pyramid to make her Fiend come out without Waltzing, the same as he did with Darren and Hilda. I’ll have to use the same kind of pyramid, and we’ll find a way to restrain Brutal while he transforms. Then we wait until he heals, subdue his Fiend, and make him human again. The Aspect shouldn’t be able to present again without help or unless he Waltzes.”
“And people accuse me of planning around lots of ifs,” Katya said.
“At this point, it’s all we can do.” Starbride had already gone through this conversation with Maia, already dealt with her shock, doubt, and distaste. And she’d brought up that the ritual itself might kill Brutal before the Fiend could be passed, but Maia had been right. He’d be just as dead if they didn’t try.
“Our biggest obstacle is Redtrue,” Starbride whispered.
Katya grimaced. “She probably thinks we’re going to Crowe’s office to cleanse all the pyramids.”
“It’s Roland’s office now. That’s what Maia remembers. And I think you’re right.”
“I can handle her, if it comes to that.”
“By stabbing her?” Starbride asked, remembering all the times Redtrue had cut their mind conversations short.
Katya gave her a wry grin. “If she becomes a problem, we’ll send her to take care of another hypnotizing pyramid while we heal Brutal.”
Starbride squeezed her arm. “I knew you were in charge for a reason.”
*
The hallway leading to the royal apartments was just as Starbride remembered, complete with the Guard watching over it. As Castelle and Freddie reported, these guards didn’t seem inclined to abandon their posts, which meant they’d been mind-warped instead of simply hypnotized.
“I’d have to enter their minds to free them,” Starbride said. When Redtrue made a noise of disgust, Starbride tried her best to ignore it. “And I might not find anything to save.”
“Knock them out if you can,” Katya said, “but do it quickly. I’ve had enough death for today.”
Starbride stepped into the hall, and when the eyes of one guard settled on her, she held her mind pyramid aloft and pounced on his thoughts, subduing him as the others piled on the remaining guard. Starbride pressed a pyramid to her guard’s forehead, and he dropped to the carpet. The other lay unconscious from the blows he’d taken, but Starbride put her pyramid to his forehead anyway, guaranteeing he’d stay down.
“Leave them for now,” Katya said. “They should stay asleep until our business is done.”
“But now the difficult part begins,” Starbride said. The entirety of the royal quarters, including the path to Crowe’s office, was guarded by pyramids, both in the secret passages and in the halls. Starbride remembered what a pain it had been to break in the first time. They hadn’t had time to defeat all the pyramids that led to the king’s and queen’s quarters or to Crowe’s office, and she’d had three other pyradistés with her.
“Difficult part?” Redtrue asked. “How so?”
Starbride gestured at the hall. “If you use a detection pyramid, you’ll see what I mean.”
“I do not need a detection pyramid so close to a target.” She spoke slowly, as if to a child, and Starbride almost chucked a pyramid at her. “And these trap pyramids go against the adsna. If you turn them to the adsna’s natural order, they cleanse immediately. The adsna wants to flow as it should.”
“Wants to flow?” Starbride said, just as slowly. “You think pyramid magic is alive?”
“Perhaps the philosophical debate can wait until later,” Ma said.
“It’s not philosophy!” Redtrue said just as Starbride shrugged.
Katya touched Redtrue’s shoulder. “Just show them.”
Redtrue turned toward the hallway. Starbride fumbled for a detection pyramid and fell into it just as Redtrue raised her pyramid.
In Starbride’s augmented sight, waves of pure white radiance rolled from Redtrue’s pyramid like the tide, curling and flowing to crash into the traps and alarms dotting the walls. Redtrue didn’t strip the magic away like Starbride did. Her white tendrils filled the pyramids to the bursting point, pushing their natures aside and engulfing them until they were wells of power.
And she did it so fast! One after another, the waves rolled down the hallway and washed all the pyramids clean as far as Starbride’s augmented sight could see.
She knew her mouth was open, and she shut it quickly. “Very impressive.”
Redtrue dipped her head. “Later, I will teach you.”
Starbride thought combining Farradain and Allusian magic seemed a fine idea, but she feared if she said it out loud, Redtrue might rescind the offer.
When they neared their destination, Katya said, “Don’t cleanse anything in the office itself.”
“Why?” Redtrue barked. “We do not need any of your usurper’s pyramids.”
“Until you get a chance to teach me,” Starbride said, “I need those pyramids in order to be effective. You don’t
have to come inside if you don’t want to.”
Katya cast a glance Starbride’s way. “I still don’t get why Farradain magic is so wrong.” When Redtrue began an impassioned speech, Katya waved behind her back, urging Starbride to go into the office without them.
As nonchalantly as she could, Starbride edged past the office door with Maia in tow. She scanned for traps, but found none in the office itself. Roland must have trusted what he had in the hall. And those pyramids would have been enough to stop them if not for Redtrue.
“She’s really good, I take it?” Maia asked.
“At cleansing pyramids. At everything else?” Starbride shrugged.
Maia took a small box off one of Crowe’s shelves. “He kept the pyramid for the ritual in here.”
It was probably where Crowe had kept it, too. All the times Starbride had been in this office, she’d not had the time to nose around. After Crowe had died, she’d stripped the cabinets of most of his ready-made pyramids, but she hadn’t gone poking through his scrolls and boxes. She supposed she would have at some point, especially if she’d stayed on as the royal pyradisté.
Inside the velvet-lined box sat two exquisite pyramids, their edges set with gold filigree that bore minute crystal pyramids along the surface. For something that passed on a creature as foul as the Fiends, they were beautiful. The insides were heavily faceted, all the way to the core, and cast hundreds of tiny prisms as the light struck them. Starbride used her detection pyramid and found them to be a delicate combination of Fiend and mind magic, but she’d have to fall into one and experiment to use it, and she couldn’t do that until Maia and Brutal…
“Are you sure you want to do this, Maia?” Starbride asked.
Maia turned away. “I don’t want to talk it to death.”
“Understood. Do you know where your father, I mean, do you know where he kept the pyramids that helped you transform into a Fiend?”
Maia dipped into a pocket and pulled out a tiny pyramid, its small sharp edges bearing rust colored stains.
“Is that from your neck?”
“I kept it.” She rolled it around in her palm. “For luck or something, I don’t know.”
The Fiend Queen Page 7