Chapter 21

CHAPTER21

Wynter takes a room to work on patching up Ediye, the quiet murmur of their voices filtering over the sound of Roman’s knife as he nervously whittles a tiny piece of wood. He’s stationed himself in a chair across the hall, he and Urtur stealing wary glances at one another until the jackal grows bored and lies down on the rug in front of the unlit hearth. When Cyrus strides in with Eryx, Davina, Cole, and Aglaope in tow, it’s a welcome relief from the tense silence that’s taken over the suite.

“Where’s Ediye?” Eryx asks through gritted teeth, the burn of the Shadow Realm coating his skin in a sheen of sweat. Cole squeezes the angel’s steaming hand and I give them a worried smile as I point to the door.

“Thanks, both of you. Thank you for looking after our girl,” Cole says, and then the two lumber away down the hall. I can’t help the puppy eyes and pouty look I shoot at Ashen as the angel and demon pass a stunned-looking Roman to enter the bedroom.

“Our girl. I love them,” I whisper as I settle back under Ashen’s arm.

“For an acerbic vampire, you are soft on the inside, my wife,” Ashen murmurs into my hair, my chest brimming with light.

“It’s an angel and a demon and a witch. What’s not to love about a demglowstickelwitchelwich?”

“A dem…glow…what?”

“You two,” I say to Aglaope and Davina, both standing as still and cold as ice statues. Jeez. Not awkward at all. A nervous flutter twists against my ribs. “Come on. Let’s have a chat and get some things out in the open.”

Aglaope and Davina shoot a wary glance at one another and walk around opposite ends of the couch across from Ashen and me. We sit in tense silence as I think about where to begin, and I’ve nearly wrangled my thoughts when a flash of white catches my eye at the window. A large, scaly body drifts past the French doors. The underside of Zida’s serpentine head slides up the window with a long, loud squeak. Urtur’s tail thumps against the rug, a metronomic percussion to Zida’s scales.

“The snake wants in,” Ashen says, his eyes glinting with suppressed amusement as I rub my temples. Zida slides to the next window, another loud squeak vibrating through the glass.

I groan as Zida slides along a third window before backtracking toward the pool. I hear a splash as her giant head hits the surface. “Goddammit, I really wanted to have a bath tonight, and now it’s going to smell like snake.”

Ashen gives my leg a squeeze and stands, heading to the French doors with Urtur on his heels to sort out the unruly serpent. I turn my attention to the two women as Ashen barks muffled orders to the disobedient snake and Urtur just…barks. “So, it seems like we all have a few things in common,” I say, trying to keep my eyes from drifting toward the sound of an angry hiss on the patio. “A demigod, for one. Aglaope, I know you struck a deal with Davina to harvest the body of the demigod. Who struck a deal with you to kill him?”

Aglaope is motionless, her back straight and her black hair draped over one shoulder in a glossy cascade. “He gave me the name Sessum. But I did not see his face. He was masked. He said I would be paid handsomely to deliver the harvested blood, heart and bones, provided they were retrieved by a Scythe and processed by an apothecary according to strict instruction.”

“Why did he not kill this demigod himself?”

“I know not.”

“Did he say what he was going to do with the harvest?”

“He did not.”

“Great.” I try to suppress my growing irritation. A headache rises through my temples and skitters across my skull. “Where is the material you harvested, did you give it to him?”

“I never had the chance,” Aglaope says, her eyes sliding toward the window where Ashen struggles to convince the snake out of the pool. She looks next at Davina before returning her gaze to me. “I had captured the warlock Barbossa Sarno when he passed Anthemoessa, then travelled to Évora to kill the demigod. She portalled me home and was then meant to harvest the body,” she says with a tilt of her head in Davina’s direction. “The Reapers were upon me before we could make any exchange.”

“Davina?..”

“I took it to an apothecary named Franca Duarte with a sealed letter from Aglaope containing instructions for the next steps,” Davina replies. Her eyes don’t leave mine, even when Aglaope turns her penetrating gaze to drill at the side of Davina’s face. “It was so long ago. I don’t know if she still has it.”

“Any idea what was in the letter?” I ask, looking back and forth between them. Both women shake their heads. “Do you know why a masked man, presumably a Nephilim, would want this harvest?”

“No,” they reply in unison.

I sigh as Ashen strides in, grumbling something about too many fucking pets as Zida slides through the door after him, leaving a wet serpentine trail across the floor. “We need to find an apothecary named Franca Duarte,” I call to him as he pours a glass of fangria from a pitcher and brings it over to me. His eyes narrow before he turns and heads back to the sideboard to gather glasses and a bottle of bourbon.

“That might take time.”

“I figured.”

“I mean, your time,” he says, casting a glance over his shoulder. “Ember reaped her soul a few centuries ago. She’s here…somewhere.”

A groan rumbles in my throat as I take a long sip of my drink and lean my head against the back of the couch. Ashen passes my way to lean over it and press kiss to my forehead with an apologetic smile before heading toward Roman to intrude on his vigil outside the door.

I turn my attention back to Davina and Aglaope as a heavy blanket of weariness settles into my bones. “Whatever the masked man wanted with the harvest, he either has the material already or he’s in the same boat as us, so we’ll have to leave it for now. We’ll search when we can, but we have a greater problem with the stones. The Nephilim obviously want those with urgency,” I say, zeroing all my attention on the two women before me, even despite the snake sliding behind my couch. “In the meantime, I know it feels like barely any time has passed for the both of you. I don’t know what kinds of conversations you had back then or since you’ve seen each other again. All I ask now is that you make space for one another while you’re here. You mean a lot to me,” I say, my eyes landing on Davina. “Both of you.”

Davina gives me a relieved smile, and Aglaope a look of pride with a demure bow of her head.

“Cyrus, can you please show my sister to her quarters?” I ask, and Aglaope hesitates for a moment before standing to follow Cyrus out the door. When she’s gone and out of vampire earshot, I sit forward a little on the couch, for some reason a bit more relaxed now that she’s gone. The truth is, I don’t really know what she was up to in the days before Ember stole her soul, and I feel unsettled by it. Oddly, I’m more comfortable with Davina on her own, which makes no sense as she was up to some shady shit too in her final days. And yet, when I look at her as she is now, still sore from the loss of Cassian, out of place in every realm, I feel a certain warmth for her that fuels my next words. “I have a favor. It’s a big one. But you can say no, and I won’t hold it against you. I promise.”

Davina swallows and presses her thumb into her fist, the only outward sign of her nerves. “Okay…”

“I want to be able to bring more souls back in the same way that you were returned. I can see impressions of what kinds of creatures the souls once were, but I can’t make them whole. We need a Resurrectionist to do that. Since I killed Imogen, there is no one who can.”

Davina’s eyes widen as she works out what I’m angling for. “You want me to be the Resurrectionist?”

“Yes. Cole volunteered, but…” I trail off as I look toward the hallway where Ashen sits with Roman. My gaze shifts back to Davina and I swallow. “It’s not so much because I want to protect Cole from too much responsibility. He has an important role to play on the Council, if he accepts. It’s that you are the one person here that knows what the souls of the Shadow Realm have experienced. I think you could help to guide them in a way no one else can. And I want you to know that you have a place here, and it’s more than what was done to you.”

Davina’s eyes are the brightest I’ve seen them in weeks. They may have a bit of a shine, but she blinks it away before I can be sure. “Yes. I will do it.”

“Are you sure about this, Davina? It’s not the kind of thing that you can easily walk away from. Once you do this, it’s for a long time. Maybe all time.”

“I know.” Davina stands, her shoulders a little straighter than moments before. She smiles. “I won’t let us down.”

Davina leaves for her room in House Urbigu and I watch her go, then sit in almost peaceful silence aside from the sound of scales sliding across fabric as Zida’s giant wet head drifts over the back of the couch. I watch Ashen and Roman conversing in hushed tones down the hall, Ashen refilling the newcomer’s drink as they talk. After a while, Eryx and Cole exit the room, Eryx looking much relieved from his earlier torment. Cole stays in the hall to whisper with the other men as Eryx joins me in the living room, the razor-sharp plumage of his wings folding beneath him as he sits across from me.

“Cool snake,” he says as Zida flicks her tongue in his direction with a metronomic cadence.

“Yeah, she’s great when she’s not making the pool dirty,” I reply, which earns me a low, disgruntled hiss. I turn my attention away from Zida’s shifting white scales and train my gaze to Eryx. He seems weary, but relieved. “Are you okay?”

“Better now,” he says with a smile as he holds up his wrists. Black bands glow in his skin. Contentment falls over his face as he leans his head back against his wings. “Ediye’s going to be okay.”

“I know,” I say as I smile and nod. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Eryx grins, though he looks much less vibrant and glittery than usual. “I’m not sure I can say the same yet, you know? I never thought I’d be in the Shadow Realm.”

“I know what you mean. A few short weeks ago, I didn’t really think I’d be back, and look at me now,” I say, throwing my arms wide, patting Zida’s head next to me. She gives me an annoyed hiss.

Eryx snorts a laugh. He crosses his arms over his chest and we smile at one another. “Guess it’s a good thing Wynter was able to sort me out. It sounds like it might be best to stay put for a few days given what happened to you in Cairo. I’m sure the Nephilim must be lurking, watching as many corridors to the Shadow Realm as they can find.”

“Yeah,” I reply with a furrowed brow. “We’ll let it die down for a few days. I do need your help though. We need to see if you can find records about the Nephilim in the Realm of Light. Do you know where those might be held?”

Eryx nods. “I do. There’s a library in the ziggurat of Esagila. I can check there. If anyone asks, I can say I want to brush up on the classics.”

A huff of a laugh passes my lips, my chest feeling lighter as we exchange a smile. “About time, Glitterballs.”

We both hear Ashen and Roman laugh down the hall at something shared in their own quiet conversation and turn toward the sound before eyeing one another in surprise.

“That’s rare,” Eryx says.

“No kidding.”

The lightness in Eryx’s expression fades as his eyes search mine. “He was a mess when you were gone.”

“I know,” I reply with a melancholy smile. “I saw the whole…wait, does Ediye’s angel-no-fainty spell still work on you?”

“I’m not sure, actually, I—”

“Let’s just assume it does, because it was super cool. I snuck into the room when I got back and Ashen had another demon’s bottom jaw ripped clean off, like head in one hand, jaw in the other, blood everywhere kinda deal. And I was all like ‘dude, you’ve been busy’, and he was all like ‘my Lu, ohmigoddddd’, and then he cried but he’ll swear he didn’t and it was so hot.” I narrow my eyes at the angel and he looks a bit perturbed, but otherwise fine. “Damn, I thought the jaw thing would do it.”

“Guess not, LuLu. Isn’t Ediye the best?”

I look toward the hallway where the voices have gone quiet from behind the door. Only Ashen and Roman’s whispering flows toward us now, and the periodic shing of Roman’s blade against the wood. “Yeah. She really is.”

Eryx’s wings clink as he settles deeper into the couch. “So are you,” he says as his eyelids grow heavy when he yawns.

“And so are you.”

Our warm smiles fade with the heavy press of exhaustion. I lean against Zida’s muscular body, folding my arms across her scales. Eryx and I fall into silence, and then into sleep, me into dreams of walls and stones, fates and foes.

My dreams clear with the feeling of hands sliding beneath the weight of my body. I hear a quiet hiss and smell Zida’s scales mixed with unsmoked tobacco.

“Hush, snake. She’s mine,” Ashen whispers.

Zida hisses once more as I’m lifted into Ashen’s arms and carried away. I start to fall back asleep with my face pressed against his chest. His kiss warms my forehead.

“She’s my Queen. My wife.”