Chapter Forty

I t was too much.

It was too much, and too wrong, and the scent of cloves scorched her throat as she heaved in air, desperately trying to get her feelings under control.Whatever this was, it was so much worse than anything she could have imagined.

Orion stood by her, his furry body pressed against her hip in support. She put her hand on his massive feline head, digging her fingers into his thick coat, grounding herself in the sensation against her fingertips.

She lifted her eyes again to the monstrosity sitting across from her. The red mass pulsed with energy, solid but not, shifting under her gaze. It sat on a low silver pedestal, and thick copper wires came from above the mass to connect to the base.

She didn’t know how she could tell, but she knew without a doubt that dark magic had been used to create this abomination. It called to her power, her senses picking up the horrible thing as if it were many living beings crowded into this small room.

Evienne, for once, had no idea what to do. They had found this awful secret, whatever it was, but she still didn’t understand how everything connected. It was too risky to do something rash like destroy this thing —no matter how awful it was. They needed to understand the implications.

In spite of her horror, Evienne ran the logical choices through her mind, calculating possible outcomes, pitfalls. After a moment she decided the best option to mitigate risks was to simply walk away. They had seen it; they knew what Dominique and Aldith were hiding down here. They knew Léhiona’s binding was connected somehow, and they suspected it would all lead to understanding what Ichorna had done with the Tuanadair’s magic. But right now, they needed to get out of here and regroup.

“ What are we going to do about the Sangviere?” Orion asked into Evienne’s mind.

“I think it’s time to put my Contrapensae gifts to the test, and see if my memory walking can get us out of this bind,” she responded, steadying herself now that she had a purpose.

“We’ll deal with the mage, and then we need to get out of here for now,” she said quietly to Orion. He shifted back into his human form and took her hand, squeezing lightly in encouragement.Evienne was grateful to have him by her side in this moment.

They stepped back into the entry room and found the other Sangviere still unconscious. Evienne stepped up to them and focused, spearing her mind toward them and focusing on her own face as an anchor to the memory she sought. Suddenly, she was looking at herself through the other Sangviere’s eyes, fire in her palm and cold determination on her face.

Time moved slowly as Evienne took control of the moment; she acted on instinct, her will pulling at the corners of the memory. It began to peel back, disintegrating as Evienne pushed, focusing on emptiness, darkness. Slowly the scene before her fell to dust and only all-encompassing darkness remained.

She retreated then, thinking of her own mind from where she stood in the nothingness, her own seconds ticking away. Her eyes opened and she was back in her own body, staring down at the still unconscious mage.

“I think I did it,” she whispered to Orion. “I think I stole the memory,” Evienne said with a tinge of horror on her face. She didn’t know what the Contrapensae had seen in her to make her worthy of these abilities, but she was quite glad there were not many others with the same magic. Orion only said, “Good, now let’s get out of here before anyone else sees us.”

They retraced their steps through the facility, barely making a sound. Evienne’s mind swirled with all that she had seen, that horrible thing beneath them. She knew they had to pull on this thread until the whole miserable truth unraveled.

Evienne closed Dominique’s office door behind them, and as they turned to make their way down the hall, they heard it. The sharp clicking of heels echoing down the hall, moving toward them.

Evienne felt Orion tense next to her, readying for a fight, but she caught his gaze and gave him a look that assured him she would handle this, not to panic.

Evienne did panic, however, when Dominique herself rounded the corner at the end of the hall, a vicious smile on her face.

“Right on time, it seems,” Dominique sighed as she continued toward them. Before Evienne could get a word in, Dominique continued, “Don’t even try to talk your way out of this, I know why you came snooping down here. Too curious for your own good, and too stupid to avoid getting caught.”

Evienne had long since let go of her grief over the end of her marriage to Dominique, but her harsh words still stung. She had known Dominique since they were both children; did their past friendship, at least, mean anything at all?

“I saw the alternate guard rotation document in your office, and as High Sangviere, I felt I needed to know what it was about,” Evienne said evenly. She could at least try to salvage this.

“Oh I know you found it; I saw you leaving my office that day. In your rush to flee, you left the paper sticking up slightly out of the file. I would never do that. I value order and precision in a way you never did, and it will be your downfall,” Dominique spat.

“What is that thing? ” Evienne asked, not taking Dominique’s bait. No point in avoiding the topic at this point; she wasn’t about to ask further questions and give away that she had been rifling around in Dominique’s memories of all things.Evienne’s abhorrence at the monstrosity she had just seen was turning into a simmering rage in the pit of her stomach, and she fought to keep herself composed, alert.

Dominique smiled. She smiled and said, “The Sangroche is the legacy of our people; our greatest secret, our greatest triumph, the source of our progress. For generations, our royals and those closest to them have guarded this secret. It is the cost of our innovation. We owe everything to Bastille du Pont. Without his creativity and cunning, Ichorna would still be in its dark age,” Dominique explained.

Evienne’s mind spun to process each of Dominique’s words, but alarm bells clanged in her head, drowning out everything else. Dominique shouldn’t be telling them this without a fight, especially not Orion. Evienne’s blood ran cold with the realization that Dominique did not expect them to leave this place with their lives.

Dominique continued, not noticing Evienne’s shift in demeanor. “The Sangroche acts as a sort of… funnel? I suppose that’s the closest thing, a magical funnel. It’s crafted with the truest blood magic—the art of Valsang—created originally by King Bastille and maintained by each subsequent monarch feeding it lifeblood. Its sister stone sits far beneath the capital of Beitar, in the catacombs, and has yet to be discovered or disturbed all these years. The sister stone calls to the magic of the Tuanadair, pulling their power into itself and portaling it here, to the Sangroche, where we channel it into Lucinne’s power reserves.”

Dominique was being reckless, so convinced that she could control this situation. Evienne had to get answers while she could; she would worry about getting them out of here later. She didn’t hesitate before she asked, “And how exactly does binding Léhiona come into this?”

Brow furrowed slightly, Dominique looked as if Evienne had caught her off guard for the first time in her life. “Isn’t it obvious?” She began, her bravado winning over any misgivings. “In order to keep the Sangroche connected with its sister stone, we need to regularly feed it with Tuanadair blood. What better way to keep one on hand than to have them here publicly, in a position so far removed from the every-day people of Ichorna that no one will ask questions? We have to bind their magic so no one is suspicious. If we hadn’t she would have gained her magic back being so far from the sister stone in Beitar that is keyed to harvest her magic. The stone here only releases the captured resources; it wouldn’t have done the job.”

“You and Aldith have kept that horrific thing here, right under our noses, practicing forbidden magic using blood sacrifice and slowly draining the life from our friend, all for what? The fucking Railway?!” Evienne lost her composure, yelling the last part as she took a step toward Dominique. Orion shifted at her side, ready in a moment to pounce.

“No no, don’t come any closer—and keep your cat away from me as well. It was a kindness to you for me to explain; consider it my last favor to you as your wife , though I never truly chose the role,” Dominique raised her hand as she spoke, and Evienne spotted a small vial of red liquid clutched tight in her palm.

“What do you mean you didn’t choose?” Evienne froze.

Dominique laughed, her tone pitying as she answered, “Oh Vivi, you always were so gullible. Of course I didn’t choose. Aldith knew even when we were children what she would one day have to do, what was her father’s legacy to protect. As you rose in power, she knew she would need to keep a close eye on you, and who better than her dearest friend and confidant? My family has been aiding the royal line of Ichorna in this endeavor since it began, the secret passed down through our line to ensure loyalty and silence. You were alright, I suppose, but I never wanted to be with you romantically. It was my duty, and a Malanois never shirks her duty,” Dominique said, so casually that it sounded as if she had just commented on the weather.

Evienne’s heart shattered. Everything she had known had been a lie. Ichorna wasn’t some bastion of innovation and progress; it was built on forbidden magic and the blood of innocents, allowed to flourish on its theft of a whole nation’s power. They were parasites, feeding off of the Tuanadair’s magic to achieve their own advancements.

Aldith was not the stoic but virtuous queen she had thought. Dominique was not her domineering former wife, but a liar who had taken a torch to Evienne’s self-worth, who had never even wanted her to begin with. Just like her parents when they sent her away, this woman Evienne had planned to share her life with hadn’t wanted her at all. It had all been a horrible lie.

The rage hit Evienne swift and hot, searing through her veins as her lips curled into a snarl. She punctured her palm, calling her magic, but before she could even think her flames into existence, she felt every muscle in her body locking up.

Her knees hit the cold hard floor with a crack, and she couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe.She fought down the panic curling through her. They would make it out, somehow.

Orion leapt then, a graceful arc toward Dominique. Evienne looked at her then, and noticed blood running down her wrist and forearm. Ringing filled Evienne’s ears as she realized what was happening; the smell of cloves, sickly and sweet, filled the hallway.

Orion landed a split second later only to drop to the ground, his legs splayed around him unnaturally, trembling.

Dominique chuckled and said, “Oh no, you two won’t be touching me, and you certainly won’t be leaving.”

Evienne began to feel lightheaded, her vision going hazy. She noticed Dominique’s fingers making a downward motion and realized, in horror, that Dominique was forcing the blood out of her brain. Blackness edged in. The last thing Evienne heard before the darkness claimed her was Dominique laughing, saying, “Have a nice nap, you two.”