3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A ya had no intention of going to Lilibet. She planned to wander the forests, listening to the dead and the trees, until all thoughts of possible insanity bled away into the night. Then she came across her mare grazing nearby; dark eyes found hers, ears twitching in a way that felt as though she was read like a god's cursed book. Something inside of her broke. She stalked to the tack shed, dragging out the gear with a string of curses. At least her damn horse had the decency to still be there when she got back, and remained patiently still until she was settled on her back.

"Don't you say a damn word," she warned.

One tiny flick of the ear and that was it.

She shouldn't be going.

It was madness.

Shaking her head, she gently nudged her horse forward when an awareness prickled the back of her neck. A sense of being watched. One she recognized immediately. She lifted her gaze back to the house, to the window of her bedroom—the one she shared with Elaine.

And there she was. Watching her with those luminous eyes that stripped Aya bare.

Elaine offered a single nod, a silent message passing between them.

Be safe.

Aya dipped her head in response then clicked her tongue and set off into the dark.

It would've been faster to fly but Aya wasn't completely comfortable with the idea of flight. Her body was still getting used to the wings, which left her back aching most days. Tobias seemed to think it should ease, once her muscles adjusted. She wasn't so sure. It felt like every day hurt the same as the last, regardless of how she massaged them or draped them over chairs to ease the strain upon her back.

Short flights were fine, but she felt so damn clumsy with them. The last thing she wanted was to let anyone see her make a fool of herself.

After a couple of hours, she made it to the edge of town. The council building loomed ominously in the distance. Dark windows like eyes of a monster hungry to devour. Walls that reminded her of a fortress, concealing a plethora of dangerous secrets. It had never been welcoming to her, but of late, her instinct screamed at her to stay away.

Though the charges against them were dropped, she still felt uneasy as she trotted out onto the main road. As though soldiers might appear at any time. She'd fight and kill them, and then they wouldn't be any closer to any kind of peace. And that was all she wanted for Elaine, a life of comfort and peace. No more running or fighting, no one trying to kill her.

It felt… odd.

Being the middle of the night, the streets were hauntingly empty. The streetlamps were unlit, leaving the shadows to stretch out their gnarled fingers across the cobblestone. No windows were aglow, no music drifting out through the shutters or beneath brightly painted front doors.

She dismounted and, reins in hand, continued along the main road. Only upon the final stretch, where the council building emerged unobstructed from the gloom, did a little thread of unease worm around her heart. At the main doors, two bleary-eyed guards snapped to attention. In the shadowy light, they appeared not to recognize her.

The moment her face passed into a band of moonlight, the points of her wings proud above her shoulders, the color drained from their faces.

She did not slow—truly, their attempt at intimidation had her smiling and bore the faint desire to whistle. Only when she stopped before them, scarcely a few feet away, did she drop the reins. Her horse wouldn't wander far.

"There are no visitors at this hour, Miss Sinclair."

"I'm aware." She eyed the building, then the guards. "If you desire for your spines to remain inside of your body, might I advise you to step aside. "

The guards hesitated, then moved.

With a feral grin, she swept by. "Good choice."

She pushed through the heavy doors, the ancient metal groaning deep into the hall. Shadows greeted her, cold and familiar, beckoning with whispers and dark ribbons twining through the halls.

There were more guards when she reached the entrance to the cells. One moved to stop her, but her eyes bled black, shadows rushing in. He flinched and shrank away. She stopped, staring them down, waiting with such terrible silence, a promise of violence thick in the air. The other moved quickly and opened the door, eyes downcast.

Wordlessly, she passed him by.

A blanket of cold, damp air cast over her. Something wet and rotting greeted her as she rounded the corner onto the first row of cells. Rows of weak witch lights sparked to life at her approach, scarcely chasing back the syrupy darkness. Weak moans, men stirred to life by the sudden light and sound of her boots light against the stone, sounded close by. A few pale, spindly hands reached out, too slow to grab her as she glided past.

She couldn't stop, could only push on until she came to the cell in question.

"Lilibet."

A long pause stretched out; then: "Hello, Aya."

Aya pushed back the shadows to reveal Lilibet; small, withered, a pale shadow of the stunning creature she had been before. Once glossy curls were matted, framing her bruised, weary face. But the eyes, oh the way they speared the dark, those were as clear as ever.

Lilibet stared at her, silent. Her body tensed, the quiet flicker of fear burning in those jeweled depths. At her. Someone Aya had never wanted to be afraid of her, but there it was, and she realized it was the first time seeing each other since the change.

"You look good with wings."

A knot lodged in Aya's throat, the compliment throwing her off. She didn't know what she'd expected…but not that. It left her drowning, reaching for the only weapon she knew so well—venom.

"You're going to die soon."

Lilibet tilted her head. "I suppose you are here to promise me eternal damnation?"

"Do you think you deserve a peaceful afterlife?"

A bitter smile twisted her lips. "Do any of us?"

Aya's soul was as stained and cursed as the next murderous wretch in Purgatory. She never pretended otherwise, but at that moment, she didn't like how it felt as though she and Lilibet were the same. They weren't. They couldn't be.

Aya stepped up to the bars and let the anger—that dark, vicious beast within—bleed out.

"We are not the same. I trust my family. I fight for them. I bleed for them. I don't sell them out."

Lilibet glanced away, her gaze shuttering. "And you never make mistakes, do you?"

Aya said nothing, refusing to be baited, to be drawn into another pointless argument. This wasn't why she had come.

Bitterness burned in Lilibet's eyes. "Mistakes are what I seem to do best. There isn't much I can do about that now."

"You could tell the truth."

"No point confessing to that den of vipers. Not when one of them is a traitor."

Lies. Aya's mind whirred at the statement. It was the final words of a dying woman, not worth a damn. Certainly not from a fucking traitor. She stupidly found the question crawling up her throat anyway, dancing along her lips before she had a chance to swallow it.

"Who?"

"I don't know." Aya's eyebrows rose, but Lilibet sat up, continuing in a low voice, "I overheard Honoria and Marisol once. They spoke of another working with them, someone from the council. Marisol wanted this other member to be more active, but Honoria said they were to work in the shadows. Just in case."

If they both died…

Aya's jaw tightened. Her sudden innocence didn't make her trust the council but to suspect there was still another working against them? She'd hoped the danger was purely the barrier. Of course, it was never going to be that simple.

"Watch your back, Aya. There are clearly more players than either of us were aware of, and they are no doubt still playing you all for fools."

She stepped back from the bars, sinking deeper into the shadows. To the comfort they offered. Lilibet still watched her, unreadable, unrepentant. It dug a knife into her heart. Lilibet was the one she'd turned to when she needed a break from the others, when the demons in her own mind were too loud.

"You were my friend," she murmured. "Someone I considered family."

"I know."

Aya's cheeks flooded with fire. "Then why. I would've done anything to help you."

"I didn't need a killer," Lilibet replied with a sad smile. "I needed a witch, someone with knowledge of the realms, of ancient magic."

"And I would've robbed the fucking temple for you!"

Lilibet finally arose, swaying a little on her feet. She took a step forward into the flickering torchlight. The amber glow danced in her eyes, whispering of regret in all its bitter threads.

"And that would've started a war with Honoria. A real one. She would've had all the grounds she needed to go after you."

"She went after us anyway!"

"I didn't know that at the start and when I did, when Elaine came to Purgatory, I knew I was past the point of no return. Even if I had told you, you would've looked at me as you do now. Then I'd be without any chance of going home."

Aya's chest was tight and filled with a raging inferno. Her own hands clenched so tightly into fists, her nails bit half-moons into her palms. Hard enough to draw blood. Thick droplets ran down her skin, dripping onto the floor. That feral darkness within her howled to kill Lilibet, to rip her apart, make her beg for mercy. The council might not even punish her for it. Perhaps they even hoped she would do it, sparing them from having to spill blood.

To be the monster they all saw her as.

She turned away, scowling into the dark. "Now you've lost it anyway."

As she started to walk away, chains and footsteps scraped over stone.

"Keep those you love close."

Aya stopped a few feet away, looking back over her shoulder. "If anyone dares touch any of my family, I will give them a fate worse than death."