The Fallen (Hades Castle Trilogy Book 1)

by C. N. Crawford

  Instead of the Free Man, it was Alice kneeling, her head down. Samael stood above her. He was bare chested, terrifying gold tattoos sweeping over his face and arms. Flames danced in his eyes, and dark wings cascaded behind him. Chains of fire writhed over his body.

  Alice put her head on the block, and I kept screaming for her to stop. To stand up.

  The sight made my mind go blank with fear. He was Death and mortals were never meant to behold him, we were never meant to understand that he was coming for us all. This was the knowledge that angels never should have passed on.

  The weight of grief pulled me back under the water, until a sharp and icy darkness enveloped me.

  As I slept fitfully, the cold went down right to my bones, made my teeth chatter. I felt as if frost were spreading on my skin, until something warm and heavy covered me, like an embrace.

  I woke to find that although I was still naked, a second blanket covered me. Warm and heavy. I pulled it up to my chin, wanting to stay in its softness for longer. Sunlight streamed in through tall, narrow windows between the stacks of books.

  When I eventually stood, I found that my nightgown and cloak had dried overnight, and the fire had been lit again.

  I also found clothing laid out on his bed. Women’s clothing, from the previous room, and the children’s reading book. I dressed, then cracked open the book.

  Now, I had some serious tasks on my agenda for the day: practice reading, find Finn to get a message to him.

  And seduce Samael. It would make him mortal, for a time. I didn’t know how long, exactly. A minute? A month? Perhaps I’d have to keep him in a permanently mortal state. Just in case I needed to murder him.

  27

  Lila

  Dressed in a knee-length gray dress with a cute white collar, I stood outside the count’s office. All morning, I’d stayed in his library, working on my first task. Literacy.

  Because if I was going to be some kind of double agent, working with the resistance, it would help to be able to read and write messages.

  With food and coffee laid out before me, I’d practiced reading, sounding out little words over and over. Sourial had come by with more children’s books, and papers with short words I was supposed to memorize: the, and, so. It was difficult, but I was enjoying it.

  Although I was far from reading the enormous volumes stacked around the library, I was not bloody terrible at it so far. I’d even worked out some simple sentences with minimal gnashing of teeth.

  But now I had to get to my second task for the day: finding Finn to pass on a message.

  I knocked on Samael’s door again, waiting for a response.

  I had a reasonable pretext for needing to leave the castle. They've given me a million dresses and a cloak. I had all the food I needed, all the wine I needed.

  What they had not given me was underwear. I was going to propose that I get some.

  If he let me go at all, he would send me with a guard, maybe two. But if I was clever enough, I'd be able to slip away for a moment or two.

  At night, Finn worked at the music hall. But during the day, he often helped out his father selling clothes on Underskirt Lane. I’d buy something from him, and whisper a quick warning for the Free Men. If the Free Men were enemies of lethal angels, then perhaps they were fighting the good fight.

  When the door opened at last, Samael loomed in the doorway. He leaned against the frame, staring down at me. “Yes?”

  I cleared my throat. “I don’t have any knickers.”

  His gaze flicked down to my skirt. In his gray eyes, his pupils dilated rapidly. “Oh?”

  “I mean I’d like to buy some.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “We’ll send a servant for some.”

  He started to close the door, but I touched his arm. “They won’t know what size to get. Or the kind I like to wear. It’s better if I go myself.”

  “You want to leave the castle. The day after I caught you trying to escape.”

  “Just for underwear. You can send soldiers with me.”

  “Sourial will accompany you, and a few soldiers.” His eyes narrowed. “Do you happen to know anything about two missing Clovian soldiers?”

  My heart kicked up a notch. “Why would I know about that?”

  “They were patrolling the castle. Their bodies turned up on the river bank, bones shattered. Completely broken, as if someone had thrown them off a tower.”

  I swallowed. “Well that sounds dreadful.”

  He stared at me for so long I felt the blood draining from my face. “They went missing last night. As did you, for a time.”

  “You don’t really think I could take down two trained soldiers, do you? I’m just a courtesan. Maybe they were drunk, like the soldiers outside my room.” I crossed my arms. “To be frank, your army isn’t very well disciplined, from what I can see.”

  His gaze penetrated me, and my stomach sank.

  I could feel that I was still alive because of his dream. That was all. And what if he had a new dream?

  Flanked by two soldiers and Sourial, I crossed out of the gatehouse. Outside, the streets were crowded with people bustling around, buying caged birds and pastries and great swaths of cloth from the market stalls. The East End rang with the shouts of cheese sellers and cider makers, and it felt bloody good to be out here again. I’d only been in the castle a day, but it felt like weeks.

  The only unnerving thing was that everyone was giving the soldiers death stares, and I was with them. Sourial seemed unbothered by this quiet hostility.

  He flashed me a smile. “Well I am flattered that you chose me to accompany you to buy lingerie.”

  “I didn’t choose you, and it’s just regular underwear. Not lingerie.”

  “We will make sure you get something that fits your figure perfectly.” His lip curled as we passed a fishmonger. “Though I’m not sure we'd find anything to my tastes in this sort of place.”

  “It’s not really for you, Sourial.”

  The farther we went down Underskirt Lane, the more I felt the hostility crackling the air, and the death glares turned into open insults. I shifted away from the soldiers and Sourial, hoping to go unnoticed. The last thing I needed was someone screaming out my real name.

  It was, after all, only yesterday that one of these angels had been hacking off someone's head in public.

  “Monsters!” A woman yelled from behind a stall of pies.

  I kept my eyes on the cobblestones, a few feet away. If we stayed here too long, we’d become mired in another mob attack.

  Sourial was walking ahead now, drawing his sword. Frankly, he looked like he wanted a fight.

  A man spat right in front of Sourial, and the angel shoved him out of the way with a single hand. The man fell onto his arse, and the crowd started closing in around Sourial.

  This was perhaps the best moment to slip away from him. Already, I could see the petticoats hanging from Finn's market stall, and I could use this chaos.

  Fighting my way through the crowd, I broke into a run, weaving through the rush of bodies to get to Finn. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw his shining blond hair at the market stall.

  Within moments, I was at his table, catching my breath. I shoved a petticoat out of the way to get a good view of his face. “Finn.”

  Shocked, he stared at me. “Lila!" he shouted.

  I put my finger to my lips. Not my name anymore. I stole a quick look over my shoulder. It seemed that the mob was descending on the Clovians. I probably had a few minutes, at least, before Sourial just flat out murdered everyone. "I don't have long. I need some underwear. It's the whole pretext for why I came here."

  His cheeks went bright red as he picked up a stack of silky camisoles, bras and knickers—pale pink, blue, some with lace. And his eyes particularly bulged when he found a pair of small, red underwear and a matching lace bra.

  You'd think that after selling these things for years, he would no longer be embarrassed about it. But he looked mortifi
ed all the same. I saw his throat bob as he swallowed hard.

  “Calm down, Finn.” I pulled a coin out of my pocket and dropped it on his table. “I need to get a message through to the Free Men. You associate with them, right?”

  Screams rang out behind me, but I tuned them out, trying to focus.

  “Yeah. Hang on. Are you okay in there? Have they done anything terrible to you?”

  I shook my head. “No. In fact, I have been sleeping in the most comfortable beds. And the food—” I stopped myself. I was getting off track, and Finn’s expression was darkening.

  “You’re not in prison, I take it.”

  “No. Not at all. It’s been quite comfortable. Look—Count Saklas is Samael, the man writing his name in blood. You can tell the Free Men that he is planning to spy on them tonight—at the music hall. He wants to listen in.”

  His expression turned furious. “You’ve let him beguile you, haven’t you? You’re letting them charm you with their fancy things. I knew this would happen. You don’t belong in there. You belong here.”

  Was he even listening to me? I narrowed my eyes at him. “Have some faith in me, Finn. I’m not beguiled. I just had a nice place to sleep for once.”

  His jaw worked. “But how do I know you’re okay in there?” He looked agonized. “Is there a place you can get to? At night maybe, so I can come look at you? I just want to know you’re okay. If you’re not in prison there, you should be able to get somewhere to wave at me.”

  “It’s too risky. What if I just send a mark back on the notes from Ludd? A symbol.”

  “And what if it’s intercepted? And they learn the symbol? How will I know it’s really you?”

  I thought for a moment, then nodded. “There’s a fragmented bridge that once connected two towers. You know, the one that juts out over the dark river, on the western side?”

  He nodded. “Of course, yes. Like a dark tooth.”

  “At nine p.m. every night, I’ll come wave to you from that bridge. Okay? But just don’t freak out if I’m late, or miss a night. The count has me sleeping in his room, so I can’t always get away.”

  The color drained from Finn’s face. “He what? In his room? Lila, you’re not … You can’t …”

  I didn't really have time for his opinions on that matter. I turned to look behind me. The Clovian guards were still caught in the throng of people. But I could no longer see Sourial at all. The mortals seemed to be trying to flee, terrified. Someone screamed, and a sense of unease rippled up my spine. Absolute chaos. “Finn, it’s not important.” This conversation had gone very off track, and I felt like Finn was judging me somehow.

  “It’s not right.” He looked around furtively, then leaned in to whisper. “I’ve been talking to the Free Men. They think Samael killed the servants.”

  My mouth went dry. “And Alice? She was one of the servants. Did they say anything about her?”

  “No one knows for sure. She could have escaped. We’re working on getting more information. But they think the angels are going to start killing more and more women. There’s a man they call the baron. I don’t know his real name, but he’s the leader of the Free Men. Only he can stand up to the angels. He’s the only one.”

  “You will pass on the message, right?”

  “Listen, Zhara, the angels want Armageddon. The count is going to cause this apocalypse. It’s starting soon, and we all have to be ready. The Free Men say nothing can stop the coming storm. They say they’re the only ones who can fight back to end this once and for all. We have to root out every last one of them. Don’t let them corrupt you, Lila. And you have to be ready to fight back against them.”

  I wouldn’t mention to Finn what “fighting back” entailed. That I’d have to shag the count.

  “Of course I won’t be corrupted.”

  The sound of fighting was growing louder and more frantic. When I looked behind me, I caught a disturbing glimpse of Sourial swinging his sword at a man, blood dripping from the blade.

  I turned back to Finn. “Finn, listen. You heard what I said, right?”

  Except Finn was already putting a finger to his lips, his gaze over my shoulder. He’d wasted my time bloody interrupting me the whole time.

  Another loud scream rent the air. And in the next heartbeat, I felt the iron grip of the soldier’s hand on my arm. “You’re taking too long, Miss. What are you chatting about, then?”

  Finn looked like he wanted to leap over the table and fight the soldier.

  When I turned, I saw a street of people fleeing, desperately trying to get away. A sense of unease trembled up my spine. What exactly had Sourial done? Screams rang out all around. A woman was vomiting by an overturned table of pies. Market stalls had been tipped over, eggs smashed in the street, jars shattered. I clung onto my silky underwear, a deep feeling of dread building in me.

  Where had Sourial gone?

  Another high-pitched scream peeled through the air and sent a shiver through my bones. It was a scream of pure terror. It was coming from Leather Apron Alley.

  I started running for the alley, but the Clovian soldier grabbed my arm again. “Where do you think you're going?"

  "You're supposed to be controlling the city, aren't you? Don't you want to know what's happening in it?”

  He kept his grip tight on my arm, and started dragging me over to the mouth of the alleyway instead of letting me walk, for some reason. When we got to the opening, I broke free.

  Leather Apron Alley was a crooked street that wound through East Dovren, so I couldn’t see the problem at first. Then I rounded a corner, and saw a sight that turned my stomach.

  Three dead women lay on the ground, their bodies ripped open from pelvis to breastbone. Horrified, I staggered back, my mind a blank canvas of fear.

  Words had been written in blood, but I couldn’t read them. One of them began with an S. Sourial? Samael?

  Sourial stood above them, staring down.

  Blood covered his cloak, and when he turned to look at me, his eyes were dark as night.

  My legs felt weak, and I turned away. Were they three women from the crowd? I stifled the urge to vomit, covering my mouth, then turned back to Sourial. "Did you do this? Did you kill these women?”

  He didn’t answer. He only went still, staring at me. Darkness whirled in his eyes, and wings cascaded behind him—the feathers a deep bronze, fading to copper. They seemed to radiate an unearthly light.

  In the next heartbeat, the wings were gone again.

  From the other side of the alley, three cops ran closer, dressed in black with their nightsticks out. “Oi! Stay where you are!”

  I wanted to tell them to be quiet. If they annoyed the angel, he’d only kill them. He wouldn't even spend much effort doing it.

  Sourial ignored them completely and walked past me, his arm brushing against me as he did. "Let's go,” he commanded.

  Maybe Finn was right. Despite what I’d learned in the Tower of Bones, I’d started to feel just a little too comfortable with the angels. They had beguiled me.

  And I wasn’t ready to leave with him just yet.

  I looked at the cops and said, "I didn't see what happened, but when I got here, he was standing before them.” I pointed at where Sourial had just been.

  Whatever was written on the wall, the red blood was fresh, still dripping down the stones.

  One of the policemen swiped a finger through the blood, then shot me a furious look. “Your Clovian friends did this. We can’t arrest them, but it’s what they do. You know that, right?”

  “They’re not my friends,” I said quickly.

  He looked me up and down. “And what's an Albian woman like you doing hanging around their kind?”

  I didn’t have an answer for him. He took a step closer, gripping his baton, his voice a sharp whisper. “Listen, girl. There’s a war coming, and you’d best be on the right side of it. Nothing can stop the coming storm.”

  Ah … he was one of them. A Free Man.

&n
bsp; I glanced down at his cufflinks, and there it was—the silver and the bolt of lightning. I touched his arm. In case Finn hadn’t been listening, I whispered, quietly as I could, “Tell the baron the Clovians plan to spy on the meeting at the music hall. They will be watching.”

  If Finn was involved with the Free Men, I really didn’t want them snared in the angels’ net.

  The cop’s eyes went wide, then he nodded. “You see any other women consorting with them, you make sure to report them.”

  I turned to cross out of the alley again, and the soldiers and Sourial were waiting for me just around the corner.

  I followed them back to the castle, screaming inside. Albia needed to get rid of them.

  But spying like I was, I was playing a very dangerous game. One that I might not survive.

  Still, someone had to stop the angels. Might as well be me.

  28

  Lila

  As I sank into the warm bath, I wondered if my message had got through to the Free Men. Maybe they’d cancelled the whole thing now.

  I’d taken a risk, but I’d done what I needed to do. In a few minutes, I needed to get ready for my mission with Samael. I was supposed to hide in the music hall and try to read lips, to report on what the Free Men were saying. But I hoped the whole thing would come to nothing.

  I stared through the stone archway into the enormous stacks of books around the room, still in complete awe at this place.

  And maybe Finn was right about me getting comfortable here, even if it had only been two days. Because if I was honest, part of me didn’t want all this to end. The longer I stayed here, the harder it would be to go back to the real world where I belonged.

  I rose from the bath and grabbed a towel to dry myself off. I’d wear something simple, I thought. With the towel wrapped around me, I crossed to the wardrobe where my clothes were being kept.

  Except just as I was about to get dressed, I heard the door slamming opening at the far end of the library. I turned to see Samael walking closer, his cloak pulled up. I held the towel close around me, flustered by this interruption.