2. Tez

2

Tez

I was on my fucking knees, in some weird alien-realm alley, cradling my grandmother.

As she wrapped a blood-soaked hand around mine, warmth drained from her into my thick cloak. She'd revealed what I actually was, which should've blown my mind, but I didn't care.

I got one foot beneath me, intending to lift her.

"No, Nokoneuh," she whispered. "Leave me here, with the feathers."

My son. The word in the old language sent pain piercing through my heart. She'd always called me her son, cared for me like her son, and berated me like a son, even though I was one generation removed from it.

"I'm not leaving you here," I said. "We have to get you to a Watcher."

Her hand squeezed again. "Would you not die for me?"

It was as though a fist closed around my throat. "You know I would."

"Then let me do this for you. It is the only way to keep you safe."

"No!" I choked.

A bead of blood trailed from the corner of her mouth. "Do not grieve for me," she said. "Most of me died with your grandfather. Your mother took another piece of me when she went." Her hand squeezed hard. "I have endured, for you. But it is time to set you free. And you must do the same for me."

Her voice had grown so weak I could barely hear her. "Don't go," I pleaded.

Her lips wrestled into a smile. "I have taught you everything I know. It is time for my tiger to prowl alone." Her eyes pierced straight through to my soul. "Be true to your heart , Tezcacoatyl. If you betray that, survival is pointless."

Feathered Serpent. She'd said it was what I was, but I didn't care. She coughed, and then she couldn't seem to draw breath. Her eyes flickered?—

And just like that, my choices were reduced to none.

As the life left her, it was like someone sank a blade clear through me. I couldn't breathe. The thing inside me crashed around as I cradled her to my chest, and I had to wrestle it back. She was dead, because I couldn't control the monster. But the pain demanded release, so with a stranglehold on what lay within, I flung back my head, and screamed my agony to the heavens above.

The outcry was a deep thing of the soul, but despite being determinedly human, heads that had been poking out of the windows above ducked back inside. And Nemi dropped to hover in front of me.

She wasn't alone. A rustling from above drew my eyes up—every horizontal windowsill or rooftop, for as far as I could see, had a feathered form sitting upon it. They all regarded me solemnly.

Nemi twittered at me. As if to say, you are still alive, and free, because of her .

I wanted to shred something. But it would change nothing. My grandmother was dead. I couldn't change that.

And if I stayed here, her sacrifice would be in vain.

I stood and began to gather the feathers. I wasn't careful. My fingers bled as I let them drop from my hands to land around her. It was as though my heart leaked out from me to rest with her.

Then, with an aching void within me, and Nemi a muttering hummingbird presence on my shoulder…

I turned and walked away.

I left the only person I'd ever truly cared about lying dead in an alley.

Every step I took was harder than the one before. I wanted to gather her up and carry her away. To bury her with respect.

But none of those things could happen if I were to honor her wishes. If I were to make her death mean something.

Blood now saturated the front of my cloak. So I almost welcomed the rain when it started to sheet down. I squeezed the moisture into the heavy fabric, and red-stained drips ran through my fingers.

My hands shook. I needed to get a grip, or I wouldn't survive her by much.

Nemi hovered in front of my face and chirped at me. I pulled my hood wide, and she darted in to curl up against my neck. When she stroked her head along my jaw, my pulse rate dropped, just a fraction.

I re-entered the marketplace. The rain, a common occurrence in this jungle city, was largely ignored by the locals, but the visiting shoppers shifted to beneath the tents and overhangs. It left the aisles a little less populated than usual.

Which was why, even walking in a daze, I spotted the flash of crimson. I ducked into a booth selling fruit, and peered through the baskets hanging from the ceiling.

Fucking hell. Two Gretik Priests. And they weren't there to shop. For just an instant, the rage rose and threatened to choke me. I wanted to kill them, for what their brethren had done.

Nemi chirped and poked me with her beak. I took a deep breath, and another look.

They were walking side by side, but a perfect distance apart to fight if they needed to. As I watched, one pulled something from a pocket, and they both paused to stare at a crystal that glowed red.

My pulse accelerated. I bolted through the booth, past the startled vendor, and out the back of the tented space. I didn't stop moving until I'd reached the end of the market. Then I stepped into an alcove, and watched.

They didn't follow. But their presence was a clear indication that they were looking for me. Or rather, for the surge their crystal had sensed, when I'd called on my power to kill.

I couldn't stay here. Even with the distraction of my grandmother's death—and the feathers I'd left scattered around her—if their crystals detected me in the proximity, I was toast.

But where could I run? I didn't even know the realms' names. I could return to my grandmother's friends, Sama and Byrt, and get more information from them as to where to hide… But I couldn't risk bringing danger to their doorstep.

If I was going to survive, I needed to man up and forge onward.

I had resources. My hand slipped to Byrt's moneybelt beneath my cloak?—

My thoughts slammed to a halt. Because until that moment, I hadn't recognized my grandmother hadn't been wearing hers.

The Priest had sliced her wide open—I'd have seen it if she'd been wearing it, or if he'd pulled it off her. But it hadn't been there.

She never went anywhere without it, and now I remembered how she'd paid for our breakfast by pulling money out of her pocket. Why hadn't she been wearing her belt?

I moved out of the alcove and down the street, heading for the hotel. Because if it hadn't been on her, she must have left it there. But why?

My thoughts tumbled over and around each other as I made my way to the inn, and they switched from why to where ? My grandmother wouldn't have left it in the room. There was no doubt the rooms were rummaged through regularly, so nothing of value would last long in there.

By the time I reached the inn, the where had turned to a whom .

The bar was as yet closed, but I wasn't about to go parading through the back door. I didn't want to run into the owner and have to explain that neither my grandmother nor I would be remaining in his employ. So I slipped down the alley running alongside it…

I'd escaped out the hall window once before, but down was easier than up. Climbing the exterior wall would be difficult so I looked for another way. Fire escapes were not common in this realm, but ladders to the roof were. The inn's wasn't in the best state of repair. After a few hairy moments with creaky rungs, I reached the roof and used my lockpick to jimmy open the stair access door.

Darkness lingered in the stairwell. I descended one level and entered the first room off the hall.

Our room.

As expected, the moneybelt wasn't there. I turned away from the shirt my grandmother had left on the bed, grabbed the pack, and shoved the few clothes I'd brought with me into it.

I then stood in the center of the room, looking at her bed. All my life, she'd been there. And I had nothing of hers to show for it.

Nemi trilled at me. I turned, left, walked down three doors, and then knocked.

I knocked again, harder and faster, before she answered. With hair radiating in a cloud, and a sleep-lined face above a loosely wrapped robe, Cuatro Knockers blinked up at me.

Then she smiled. "Hiya, handsome. Don't need rescuing at the moment, but you're welcome anytime."

Only hours ago, I would have eagerly accepted her offer. But now, I asked, "Did Lucy leave anything with you?"

Her brows dropped as she examined my face. "Is she okay?"

I swallowed and took a gamble. "She sent me to get her belt."

Her face cleared. "Oh, yes. I wondered why she left it with me, but I owe you guys for saving my skin. I have it hidden in a special place." She opened her robe, giving me a tantalizing glimpse of all four breasts harnessed by a sheer bit of lace…

My grandmother's moneybelt was around her waist. Much jiggling ensued while she undid it and handed it to me.

"Sure you don't want to come in for tea?" she asked.

I quirked a brow. "Do you actually have tea?"

She opened the front of her robe wider. "No, but I have something else."

I sketched up a smile. "Another time, maybe."

She pouted and then tilted her head. Her eyes examined my cloak. The blood had mostly washed out with the rain, but that part of the cloth was still suspiciously stained. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

"I'm good, thanks. Go back to sleep."

She yawned and smiled at me, but didn't pull her robe closed. I turned away, headed back toward our room, and waited for her door to click shut before redirecting to the stairs.

Moments later, I was crouched on the roof, opening my grandmother's moneybelt. In it, I found coins, and her backup set of stilettos, sheathed in the pins she'd used to bind her long hair.

And wrapped in a note, the earcuff.

I hadn't even realized I no longer had it in my pocket. She'd never commented that I wasn't wearing it—when she'd bought it, I'd assumed she wanted me to change my mind about wearing ornamentation.

Now, I stared down at it. The metal warmed in my hand, as though it was alive. And for the first time, I noticed the shape twining around the metal wasn't a Dragon.

It was a serpent with feathers, coiled around a sword.

The note simply said, "Follow your heart, Nokoneuh."

Follow your heart, my son.

That very heart now constricted, and my eyes pricked with tears that I refused to shed. I would wear it—to honor her. Raising the earcuff, I fastened it in place using the flexible metal clips along the inside.

It wrapped around my ear as though custom-built for it, and it seemed to absorb heat from me, growing even warmer. The ache in my heart eased, just a little, but my mind raced.

My grandmother had left the moneybelt for me to find because she'd known . She'd known the Priesthood would not stop looking until they found something.

We'd gone out for breakfast because she'd been sure the fucking Priests would come.

They'd found her.

And now, I walked the realms alone.