by Emma Hamm
She curled her lips in a snarl, baring her teeth. The monsters were still within the walls.
The golden dress was already ruined, so she didn’t feel bad wiping the blood on the silken fabric. She stood and marched toward the Great Hall where she had seen everything begin. The Great Hall where she had lost the first of her people and watched him turn into a beast. The Great Hall where she had first seen the King of the Dread and felt frightened.
But it was also the place where she had first realized he wasn’t as much of a monster as she thought—the dinner where he had shielded her from Vivienne’s hatred.
As if her thoughts had summoned a dark spirit, a shadow passed over the wall in front of her. Amicia froze, her hands curling into fists. Slowly, she turned around and saw one of the Dread standing in a doorway behind her.
Not just one of the Dread, but the general of Alexandre’s armies. The one who would have seen Amicia killed.
“Vivienne,” Amicia growled.
“You’re supposed to be gone,” Vivienne replied, stepping into the weak light filtering through the ice. “And yet, here you are. Once again ruining everything.”
“I have no intention of ruining a single thing. I’m going to save him.”
“Save him?” Vivienne chuckled. She flexed her clawed fingers and opened her wings wide, clearly trying to intimidate. “He doesn’t need saving. He’s accepted his place as King of the Dread for all eternity, which means we shall become even more powerful. This land is ours, human.”
“No.” Amicia shook her head. “It’s not yours, and it never will be. This land is cursed, and I intend to see that curse ended.”
“Won’t you need this?” With a flourish, Vivienne reached behind her and pulled out the jeweled blade that was meant to kill Alexandre. “I was the one who found this blade, you know. The alchemists requested I find it, and I did. Even though I would never have seen you break the curse. I was the one who helped them in the first place, all those years ago.”
“You wanted our people to be cursed?”
“I wanted power.” Vivienne closed her hand around the blade. Blood welled up from the Dread’s palm, dripping down her forearm and landing on the floor in wet plops. “The alchemists are the only ones in this realm with real power, and if you don’t believe that as truth, then you are more foolish than I thought.”
“The alchemists are monsters.” Amicia took a step toward the Great Hall where Alexandre must be. “They want to ruin this land and its people. I won’t let you or them destroy all that I love.”
“How adorable. You think you have a choice.”
Vivienne launched herself at Amicia. Her great wings spread wide and her claws outstretched to rend and tear. This was what Amicia had wanted to avoid every time she was near one of the Dread. They were so much larger than she was. So much faster.
She dove to the side, rolling on the ground to get away from the great battering ram of Vivienne’s body. The other woman’s wings spread wide to slow her down, and she skidded along the marble. Her claws made a horrid screeching sound as she dug them into the floor.
Amicia glanced over her shoulder. Vivienne stared at her with glowing yellow eyes, her teeth bared in a grin that meant the hunt was on. But Amicia had survived this before. She had been hunted by the Dread, and they hadn’t found her then. This one wouldn’t either.
Hauling herself to her feet, she sprinted down the hall. Windows flashed by at the sides of her vision, chandeliers clanked above her as the wind from her pursuer pushed them into motion. But Amicia just needed to get to the statue. The one she had first hidden behind. The one she now knew stood on wobbly feet.
A claw hooked at the back of her dress, and the fabric tore. Amicia spun, her hands just catching the statue and tugging it forward. It crashed not into Vivienne’s skull as she had hoped, but against the Dread’s shoulder and right wing.
The force was enough to make Vivienne stumble. The dagger fell from her hand and skittered across the floor. Landing at Amicia’s feet.
She snatched it, holding the blade out in defense.
Vivienne saw her clutching the tiny metal piece and laughed. “Do you think you can kill me with that? It’s nothing more than a letter opener.”
“I think it was made to kill the Dread, and it can certainly kill you.”
Vivienne’s eyes flashed brighter. “Then come here, human. Let’s see if you are killer after all.”
Amicia turned to run, but Vivienne had anticipated her movements. The Dread flew over her head and landed in her way. She couldn’t slow her sprint and ran directly into the Dread’s arms.
Breathing ragged, Amicia squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the inevitable crush of death. When no pain came, she blinked her eyes open and met Vivienne’s horrified stare.
She felt it, then. The wet warmth dripping down her hands from where the blade had sank into Vivienne’s chest.
Amicia gasped, releasing the handle. She stepped back and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I’m sorry.”
Vivienne released a wet gurgle and then fell onto her knees, then onto her side. Blood dripped from between her lips, and a pool of it grew around her body like a lake had been released.
Blood slicked Amicia’s hands again. This time, warm and new instead of the old blood that dripped from the alchemists. Amicia wiped this blood on her once-golden dress. She had never thought of herself as a killer, and yet…
These were thoughts she would deal with later. When the night had passed and she could mourn the life she had taken. The darkness had spread in her soul and taken root in her mind, but it could be banished. Later. Until then, she had work to do.
She pushed the fear and guilt away, shoving it into a corner of her mind to rest until the right time came.
Running again, she sprinted toward the man she needed to save. The only one who had set her soul free and made her feel as though she were something more than a tinker’s daughter. That she could be anything.
Amicia slid to a stop just outside the Great Hall doors. She stared up at the imposing carvings. This was the moment where she could save them all, or she could fail them again. The moment when she could finally prove herself to him, to everyone, that she would do anything for her people.
That she belonged. Even if those words hadn’t been his, they haunted her still.
She placed her hands against the doors and shoved them open.
The Great Hall was covered in ice. Coated from top to bottom with the strange slickness. Alchemists lined the walls and the balcony, their dark cloaks undulating and streaking the ice with blood. The Dread filled the room, each more terrifying than the last. But they appeared to be in a line leading up to the throne where Alexandre sat. He was larger than she’d ever seen him. His horns stretching back from his skull with a dark crown lodged between them.
One of the Dread strode up to him, the first in the line, and knelt before the king. Alexandre reached out as if he would place his hand against the Dread’s shoulder, only he didn’t. Instead, he slit the throat of the Dread and watched as the dark blood pooled on the ground.
The lifeblood traveled up the throne and seemed to sink into Alexandre’s body. As she watched, another set of horns appeared to the side of the first two.
Amicia gasped. The alchemists were turning him into even more of a monster and forcing him to sacrifice those he loved. Two birds with one stone.
They were getting the dark king they so desired and killing all the people who could convince him otherwise.
“Stop!” Her voice rang clear and true through the room. The word bounced off the icy structures and rained down upon all those in the room like snow.
Everyone paused as if time itself had stopped. She stared at the man she loved, the one who should have remembered her, and saw no recognition in his gaze. Instead, a low growl was her only response.
One of the alchemists stepped forward, only to be halted by one of the Dread. Her people wanted to see wha
t she would do.
She planned to save them. Even if that meant sacrificing herself.
Alexandre stared her down, blood soaking his feet where he sat on the throne. The body of the Dread before him shook in death throes. Her heart stuttered at the mere thought it might be Bernard, but when she grew closer, she did not recognize the Dread’s face.
No one stopped her as she knelt before the throne. Not a single alchemist approached when a wall of Dread prevented them from moving. She had the distinct feeling the entire room was holding their breath, waiting to hear what she would say.
“You don’t have to do this,” she said, staring up at the man she loved and seeing no one other than her Alexandre. It didn’t matter he looked more monstrous than ever before. He was still hers. “Take me if you must kill someone, but leave our people alone.”
He glanced at the man dying beside her. “What care do you have for them?”
“All the care I had for them when they were human. All the love I shared for every individual who is the Dread now. None of that has changed.”
“And yet, you abandoned them.”
“No,” she replied fiercely. Amicia reached out and touched a hand to his knee, holding onto him as she would never have dared before. “No, I did not abandon you. Trickery warped my mind, but you were never far from my heart.”
The red glow of his eyes died down to orange. “They were never far from your heart.”
“You were never far from my heart, mon amour.”
Alexandre shook his head as if clearing dark thoughts from his mind. He shook himself like a dog and leaned forward, closer to her. “A being of light such as you could never love a monster.”
“A beast is no longer a monster when he is loved,” she whispered. Amicia shifted closer to him, still kneeling, but both elbows braced on his knees. “Come back to me, Alexandre. I don’t care what they’ve done to you.”
A voice interrupted them, cruel and harsh from the balcony above. “You are too late, human. He has accepted the deal and will become the true King of the Dread.”
She stared up at the dark waves of red. Blood dripped from the balcony in sheets of liquid, as if they knew just by her being here that their very intent was threatened.
“I’m not too late,” she replied. “I would never be too late.”
“Then kill the King if you must,” the leader of the alchemist called out. “Try your best. But we have made him far stronger than the blade.”
She turned back to Alexandre. His eyes had died down to the molten gold she knew so well. She reached out and cupped his cheeks in both her hands.
The words on her tongue became a whisper, although they rang through the room as if they were a shout. “Then it’s good I’ve never been talented with a blade.”
Amicia drew his face toward her and kissed him. She lingered on the mouth warped by fangs. She kissed away the sharp points and dulled them back to the teeth she knew and loved so dearly. Without thought, she ran her hands up his arms to the horns on his head and pressed down upon them. They shrank under her touch, flattening against a head full of curly locks.
She drew back and stared at a face kissed by the sun. No more horns, nor claws. He was a gilded, golden man staring at her with so much love in his eyes it hurt to look upon him. Curly blond hair cascaded down his broad shoulders. Great, white wings spread out behind him.
“I love you,” he said. Alexandre reached up and tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. “Why are you always arriving at my chateau covered in mud?”
“I’ll answer that question in a moment.” She grinned at him, then leaned close for another quick kiss. “But first, I love you, too. More than I could ever express in words.”
“Then let’s finish what you set out to do, petite souris.”
Alexandre stood, holding out his hand for her to take. Amicia let him lift her up then turned to stare at the Dread who held back the alchemists. The blood red figures were trying hard to push through their ranks, but they had created monsters stronger than themselves.
Alexandre pointed toward the beings in red, his voice thunderous and shaking the chateau. “Begone from this place, cursed creatures. You are no longer welcome here.”
The leader of the alchemists stepped forward, his words a crack of lightning against the thunder. “We are not yet finished, King of the Dread!”
The knife appeared in Amicia’s hand once more. The same knife she remembered leaving in Vivienne’s breast. She stared down at it in shock, only to hear a voice whispering in her ear.
“You don’t know what the Celestials can do. You don’t know what they’re capable of. He fell into temptation once, and you are nothing more than the daughter of a tinker, a peasant girl. Do you think you can hold him at bay when all his powers return?”
She knew it was the voice of the alchemist, although it sounded like her father. Amicia swallowed and tried to release her hold on the knife. The handle burned against her fingers, fusing into the flesh.
“Kill him now, or all will be lost.”
The room warped. Twisting to the side like she was looking through a broken mirror. Alexandre stood before her, all the other Dread as well. But the figures in red… she was meant to be looking for figures in red.
Her head swum as though she had drank too much wine. She couldn’t quite see straight, or maybe it was that everyone in the room wasn’t formed correctly anymore. Why couldn’t she see?
“Kill him, Amicia. Do it now.” The voice whispered in her ear, but this time she knew what to do.
She turned on her heel, lifted the blade, and struck out blindly.
The thick blade sank into flesh, digging deep into the heart of the alchemist standing behind her. Her world settled, and she stared into the vacant, flat eyes.
He let out a soft burbled word, perhaps a half hearted curse he couldn’t give life. He reached up and wrapped his fingers around hers. The blood covering both their hands was too slick, however, and he dropped to the side in death throes.
She had no time to apologize or realize she had killed a man. Instead, Alexandre stepped forward and wrapped her hands in his.
The blood disappeared underneath his gilded fingers. Amicia stared up into his livid gaze and watched as he turned to glare at the remaining alchemists.
“I said, begone.”
A gust of wind punctuated his words, then thunder rocked through the Great Hall. The marble beneath her feet cracked and split, fissures racing toward the alchemists. Some did not move in time and were swallowed by the sudden gaping wound in the middle of the chateau.
Her jaw fell open. How was he doing this? She glanced up at him to see a grin on his face.
He winked. “We’re not done yet. Look.”
Amicia turned back to their people and saw a gold, glittering light pass over the nearest Dread. The monstrous visage fell away to reveal a man she’d seen once before. The baker in Little Marsh, with a smudge of flour on his nose.
The light chased down each of the Dread, turning them back into weavers, farmers, fishermen. Over and over again, it revealed more of her people until she could only see hundreds of humans. People she loved and had never forgotten.
The cracked floor surrounded their people, and the alchemists fled in the wake of a Celestial’s power.
“Alexandre,” she said. “You’ve saved them.”
“No, petite souris, mon amour.” He drew her into his arms, tucking her against his heart and squeezing her tight. “We did this together.”
“Now what?”
He reached between them and tilted her chin up so she could look at him. “I want to show you something. One more surprise.”
“Should we leave them so soon?”
His gaze swept over their people before he nodded. “They know the way. And we will not be long. But first, I have much to explain.”
Amicia only had a moment to nod before he spread his wings and, together, they flew out one of the broken windows into the fri
gid air outside.
Chapter 37
Amicia stared at the golden plates of his wings, the individual feathers as they worked together to keep them aloft. She’d never thought metal could fly. It must have been too heavy and yet… here they were. Aloft.
His wings flexed with each movement. His strong arms were wrapped around her, holding her against his heart as though she were the most precious thing in the world. And, for the time being, she felt very much as though she were.
Amicia rested her head on his shoulder, breathing in the clean scent of him. Before, he’d always smelled like earth and metal. But now, he smelled like a fresh spring in the mountains. Clean. Welcoming. Comforting.
“We’re almost there,” he said, the base of his voice rumbling against her chest.
“I’m not afraid.”
He chuckled. “Of course, you aren’t. When are you ever afraid, petite souris?”
She could list a hundred times when he and his people had made her afraid. When she’d cowered in the walls of the chateau because she didn’t know what they might do to her.
Things had changed so much since she had come here. Now, she had a people. Now, she had a man she loved more than life itself. Fear wasn’t an option when she was no longer alone.
Alexandre shifted her in his arms, and then she felt him settle onto something solid. But that wasn’t possible. They were so far in the air, there wasn’t any way for them to be standing on anything. Even the mountains didn’t reach this far.
She opened her eyes and glanced around them, staring at wispy mist of clouds. The rolling columns appeared as though they were solid, but she knew it was impossible to stand upon them. However, much of what she believed to be true of science she had found she needed to let go.
“We’re here,” Alexandre said. His arms tightened around her before releasing her from his arms.
Amicia let out a squeaking sound of fear, one she’d never heard come out of her mouth, and one she hoped to never hear again. She frantically grasped onto his neck and held herself tight against him. “Don’t drop me! Are you mad?”