by Sarah Fine
“The Tanner’s people brought us in here to recover.”
I shifted onto my back, every muscle aching. We were on a soft leather pallet in a cool, windowless room, lit by a single guttering lantern next to the bed. “My mom and Zip . . . they’re gone.”
He sighed. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“Do you think it hurt?” I whispered as I remembered my mother’s wide eyes as she flew into the portal.
“I’m not sure we can know.”
I closed my eyes. “She saved me.”
Malachi kissed the tip of my nose. “And you will carry that knowledge with you forever. Your mother loved you, and in the end, she gave her life for yours. You were the opposite of worthless to her.”
A quiet sob escaped from me as he bowed his head, his arms tightening around me. I pressed my face into his chest and took a few deep breaths to steady myself. I couldn’t afford to break down or dwell in it, not now. I touched Malachi’s face where the Queen had clawed him. The wounds were merely scars now, healing well. “I’m glad they let us be in here together.”
His eyes met mine. “I think they know what we are to each other.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“Right now it’s good.” His nose grazed my ear. “When Zip crashed the cart into the portal, it stopped the battle. The Mazikin were devastated by the loss of their mother. They were easily defeated after that. The Tanner has control of the palace now. We should rejoin them as soon as we can.”
“Did you see Ana anywhere?”
He frowned. “Not after the Mazikin found us in the bathroom. I’d assumed she was with Treasa.”
“What if Treasa got rid of her?”
“Do you really think that’s possible?”
“Ana’s been through a lot, and Treasa knows this realm better than she does. Or”—I paused—“do you think she might have gone after Takeshi, to try to rescue him?”
“I’m sure she’s missing Takeshi, and she would definitely want to save him. But she wouldn’t abandon us.” He sounded so tired.
“How are you?” I asked quietly.
He was stripped to the waist, so I could see that his stab wounds were closed. I ran my fingers over the new scar tissue. At this point, there was more of it than healthy unbroken skin on his torso. I kissed one of the spots where his flesh was smooth, warm. Mine.
“Better now,” he whispered. “Do that again.” His hand slid into my hair, and I whimpered as his fingertips touched a huge knot at the back of my head. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I guess I’m not quite recovered.”
He cupped my face, his thumb stroking my cheek. “Then maybe I need to work harder.” He grazed my lips with his. “I like this. I like being able to give you what you need.”
I smiled against his mouth. “You’ve done that since the moment we met.”
He wound one of my curls around his finger. “No, I haven’t. But I’d like to make up for my failures.”
“I guess that would be okay,” I said with a chuckle, thinking I’d like nothing more.
He propped himself on an elbow. “Let me start now?” His eyes, full of warmth, roamed my face. Slowly, he leaned over and kissed my temple. “She scratched you here,” he murmured, his lips lingering on a spot high on my cheek. His breath was hot on my skin as he trailed tiny kisses down to my neck. “And a guard’s claws pierced your skin right here.”
I gasped as I felt his tongue on my throat, the heat of that touch sending tingles of pleasure streaking down my spine. I wove my fingers into his black hair as my heart beat faster. “How does it look now?” I asked, my voice barely there.
“Scarred,” he whispered against my skin. “But no less beautiful.”
“The same goes for you,” I said. “Remember that.”
He raised his head, and his dark eyes met mine. “I do, every time you look at me.” And then he was kissing me, his lips firm and sure as he took possession of my mouth. I responded eagerly, welcoming his tongue and the taste of him. My hand skimmed up his side and over his back, across the places where the Mazikin blades and claws had pierced him. He groaned as my fingertips slid over the welts and shallow depressions, but not with pain.
“This feels so much better than when Raphael heals us,” he said.
“I was thinking the same thing. I wish this worked everywhere, and not just in this city.”
“Tell me where to touch you.” His fingers gently made their way toward the knot on the back of my head, leaving a trail of cool comfort. It was the opposite of Mazikin venom, spreading strength instead of weakness.
“There is good,” I said in a strained voice. It hurt, but the discomfort was lessening with every second. “And . . . my back. My shoulder, too.”
He laid his forehead against mine. “Show me.”
I reached up to the strings that held my tunic shut at my neck, undoing them with fumbling fingers. I tugged at the material, moving it away from the itchy, achy place on my left shoulder. I was still mostly covered, but I felt like I was baring myself to him.
Malachi brushed his fingers over the spot where the guard had stabbed me. “You’re shaking.”
“I know.”
“Because you’re scared?”
“I don’t know.” I closed my eyes. “I am, but I’m not. I don’t know how to explain it.”
“I don’t like to think that I’m reminding you of things you’d rather forget, just by being close to you.”
I tucked my face against his chest. “I don’t know how to do this. Any of it. It feels good. You feel good. But it also terrifies me.”
“Hey,” he said softly. “Look at me.”
I slowly raised my head, melting inside at the sight of his harshly beautiful face. “I’m sorry for making this so complicated.”
“Isn’t being this close to another person always complicated?” He gave me a shy smile. “Then again, I wouldn’t know.”
Juri’s cruel words right after he’d taken over Malachi’s body came back to me. Did you know he died a virgin, Lela? Twice! Malachi was feeling his way through the dark with this whole relationship thing, and he was trying really hard—for me. I drew his face to mine, kissing him with all the tenderness I had. “I wouldn’t really know, either. But I know that I trust you.”
“And that is precious to me.” He lowered his head and gently pressed his lips above the spot where the Mazikin had stabbed me straight through. It was a movement so full of adoration that a tear leaked from my eye. No one had ever made me feel this treasured. I wrapped my arms around him, never wanting to let him go. We stayed like that, shutting out the rest of the world, letting our fingertips and mouths linger softly over the broken places, healing each other the best we knew how. His hands skimmed over my bare skin, reverently, like he was mapping every inch. It wasn’t about sex, though I couldn’t help the desire I felt as I looked at his body, as I saw the heat in his gaze whenever his skin touched mine. That only made it sweeter, because I knew I wanted that at some point, someday, but neither of us would push it now, because this was about more than that.
The aching in my muscles subsided, the throbbing in my head faded, and the scars on my body went from pink to silver. One look at Malachi told me it was the same for him. And with every moment that passed, I knew he loved me, knew it was real. The things that were invisible in the land of the living, the quiet concern, the silent longing, all of it was tangible here, as good as stitches and antibiotics—the most powerful kind of medicine.
When we felt strong enough, we forced ourselves to get up, knowing the mission was not over. The Queen was dead. She’d been destroyed by her own portal, sent into nothingness by the swirling blue. My mother and Zip had made it happen. A gnawing sense of loss made my gut feel empty. My mother, who’d abandoned me and lost herself, had gathered enough strength in hell
to save me. And now I would never see her again.
“How are we going to destroy the portal?” Malachi asked as I climbed off the bed. We were in an ivory-hued room, a beautiful tomb of bone built from the remains of humans who had suffered and died, again and again. It gave me the creeps. I wanted this palace to crumble.
“The plan had been to use one of the grenades. We had six left.” I tucked a loose curl behind my ear. “But Takeshi said he left them in the square when the Tanner’s people captured us. Do you think the Tanner would send a few people with us to go get them?”
I strode toward the door with purpose. As soon as we destroyed the portal, we could leave. I had no idea how we’d manage it, but I knew there would be an opening in the dome, and I was determined to get us all through it.
I yanked on the door. It was locked. “What the hell?”
Malachi joined me and pounded on it. A second later, it was opened by an armed guard, a burly guy with only one eye, his other merely an empty socket covered by a sagging lid. “You look better,” he grunted, then licked his lips with his bright-red tongue.
“Why were we locked in?” I asked.
He shrugged, his daggers clinking dully at his belt. “For your own safety.”
Malachi cleared his throat. “We need to see the Tanner now, please.”
“Of course. He told me to bring you.” He turned on his heel and stalked down the hall.
Malachi took my hand. There was a tension in his grip that increased my own alertness. The guard led us down a set of steps that opened up to the corridor, which the Queen had been trying to escape down. We passed an opening to another hallway, from which echoed sharp, mewling yelps and animal shrieks. The one-eyed guard grunted. “They’re killing the cubs. Too many Mazikin in this city already.”
The shift in power was startling but clear. The humans controlled the palace now. I wrinkled my nose. The whole place smelled like roasting, burning meat, which was strange, since the humans here didn’t eat. We entered the throne room, which was full of activity. People everywhere. And the Tanner was sitting on one of the skull thrones, watching the show while the grisly tooth mosaic loomed behind him. The guard walked us over to the base of the wide steps.
The Tanner gave us a huge black-toothed grin. “Here you are! Treasa was correct when she said you’d heal each other.” His eyes glinted. “How nice.”
I glanced around. “Is Ana here?”
His smile didn’t fade. “Treasa was the last to see her.”
“What does that mean?”
He arched an eyebrow. “It means exactly that.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I need to know what happened to her.”
“You need to know?” He chuckled. “Are you in charge, little girl?”
“Not of you, but I am the ranking Guard now, and we have a mission—we need to destroy the portal as soon as possible so all of us can leave the city.”
He stared at me for a moment, and then that phlegmy laugh boiled up from his throat. He slapped his thigh and stomped his foot, drawing questioning gazes from the humans who had been mopping the floors and sweeping up rubble from our earlier battle. “Oh, we’re not going to destroy the portal,” he said between wheezing chortles.
Icy fear sluiced through my veins. “What? You said you wanted your people to be free. Destroying the portal is the way to do it. The dome will open.”
He shook his head, and his smile turned nasty. “No, my girl. The portal itself is the way to escape.”
“You . . . can’t get out that way,” I said, confusion making me stammer. “You’re . . . human.”
“Am I?” He ran his creepy red tongue over his black teeth. “I’ve been here for so long that I’ve forgotten what that means.” He patted his belly as it growled.
That sound was the key I needed to unlock a new, horrible understanding.
The city won’t nourish you, Raphael had said. But the Tanner . . . he’d grown hungry.
He belonged here.
“How long have you been like this?” I asked, hating the tremors in my voice.
“So long,” he said with a sigh. “And my best men, they’re like me. Good thing we have an endless supply of meat.” He gestured at the main corridor as a cowed-looking Mazikin, its ears pressed back against its head, wheeled in a huge cart, atop which lay what appeared to be a roasted carcass . . . and it definitely did not look like a goat.
This was why the Tanner’s people looked so strong, so hardy in a city that sapped the strength out of its human inhabitants. They’d let the city own their souls, and then they’d eaten what it had to offer.
“You’ve turned into one of them,” Malachi said, his voice cold with hatred. “You might not look like an animal, but that’s exactly what you are.”
“I suppose so,” the Tanner said, though he didn’t look sad about it. “But I think it’s time for a fresh start.” His eyes lit on the portal. “I plan to make that start in the land of the living. It’s high time I returned. Thank you for helping me.”
Malachi and I flinched as steel pressed to our necks and chests. Guards surrounded us as the Tanner slowly descended the steps, looking every inch the malicious predator, his ruby lips moist and gleaming. “And thank you in advance for providing our entertainment as we wait for our ticket out of this place.”
TWENTY-ONE
MALACHI AND I CURLED against each other within a heavy metal cage in a corner of the throne room, where we’d been brought to wait as the Tanner and his people chowed down on their feast. Malachi held me snug between his legs, his arms wrapped firmly around me, my hands over his. It was partly because there was barely room for the two of us in here and partly because we felt stronger this way.
As the minutes and hours passed, humans arrived in a steady stream. The Tanner must have sent word, because they were crowding in from the main corridor, probably having hiked along the underground trail near the river from the tannery. Many of them had the same weirdly crimson lips, men and women who eagerly eyed the meat and leaped at scraps thrown from the Tanner’s carts.
Chained outside our enclosure was Sil, his thick, hairy wrists and ankles bound, his snout still oozing blood from Zip’s earlier attack. He glared at us with a hatred so intense I could almost feel the burn. Malachi ignored Sil, one of his oldest enemies; he was too busy watching his new enemies.
The Tanner sat on his throne, tearing his way through a platter of meat, and several of his men sat around him, gnawing at bones he tossed away. I squeezed Malachi’s hand. “I feel so stupid for thinking he was an ally.”
“We had no idea it was possible for a human to actually turn into a Mazikin, Lela.” He drew me closer. “Focus on what’s next, not what came before.” He kissed my temple. It didn’t make me feel any better. We were in a terrible situation that was obviously about to get worse, and I had no idea how to get out of it—or how to protect him.
Treasa stood next to the Tanner’s throne, wiping his mouth between bites. She saw Malachi staring and nudged the Tanner with her elbow. He smirked. “Don’t look so impatient, Captain,” he called. “I’m nearly finished with my meal, and then you can put on a show.”
He gestured to his guards, who grabbed Sil by the ankles and dragged him away from the pen, to the center of the throne-room floor. The Tanner looked down at him fondly. “I’ve dreamed of meeting you like this, old friend,” he said to the Mazikin. “Every time you lorded it over me, delivering your orders from the Queen. I’ve wanted you on a leash for the longest time.”
“The Mazikin will never let you keep the Bone Palace,” Sil snarled in guttural English. “Ibram will come, and he will bring his enforcement squad.”
The Tanner laughed. “You’ve been blinded by your position of power, so close to the Queen,” he said. “I’ve already sent word to the Mazikin enforcers in the city that she’s dead, that I control the
portal. They’re perfectly willing to work with me. Ibram was quick to pledge his loyalty in exchange for another trip to the land of the living.”
“But you will not fool Juri,” Sil roared. “You may be able to possess a live body, but Juri will not let you keep it for long. He can see who enters the portal. He’ll know.”
The Tanner nodded. “So imagine how eager he’ll be to cooperate when he knows how easily I can destroy his body. I’ve got the tools. I could fish him out of the well and drive a dagger right through his heart.” He grinned when he saw the realization in Sil’s eyes. “You Mazikin live such incredibly long lives. Far longer than humans in the land of the living. Juri might enjoy being human, but he won’t want to spend the rest of his existence in the same body as it grows old and sick. He’ll need to trade up, and in the meantime, he’ll give a lot in exchange for the safety of his hairy hide.”
Sil struggled against his bonds, baring his fangs. The Tanner leaned forward. “What would you give for a chance to enter the land of the living again, my friend? I can offer it to you.”
Sil became quite still, blinking at the Tanner. “In exchange for what?” he growled.
“Defeat the Guards and you can have your pick of bodies. I promise you.” The Tanner waved a broad hand at us, and Malachi cursed under his breath.
“You want me to fight both of them?” Sil asked, his ears twitching.
“One at a time.” The Tanner’s gaze flicked between me and Malachi. “So they can watch each other die.”
“I’ll go first,” I whispered. “I—”
“Stop it.” Malachi gave me a sharp squeeze. “One of us should stay whole for as long as possible, and that’s you.”
I pressed my face into his neck, feeling the pulse there, steady thumps followed by a few weak skips.
“They’re coming,” Malachi murmured.
Tears welled in my eyes as the crowd parted to form a path between our cage and the spot in front of the throne where Sil lay. I couldn’t let this happen. I couldn’t watch Malachi be hurt again. “I know this seems stupid and all that, but I need you to let me fight first,” I babbled, putting my fingers over his lips when he started to argue. “See if you can get free. See if you can make it back to—”