Chapter 30

Oh, my sister so wanted me dead.

Murder turned her smile brighter than the sun, those clawed fingers growing worrisomely sharp.

"Corvus has to be stopped," I argued. "Even you must see that."

The wind whipped unchecked through the room, not a single window left intact, puddles of water spilling across the floor. How easy would it be for one of us to slide across this slick marble and plummet into that deep ravine below?

Too fucking easy.

"I already told you—I can survive this world if it's a bare husk of rock. You cannot."

"And that's enough for you?" I asked, moving away from those gaping windows to the center of the room. "To survive?"

Her silence was answer enough.

"Help us save this world. I will drop the wall between Varitus and Caladrius if you tell me how to stop him. Surviving. Existing. Is that really enough for someone like you?"

Bile burned up my throat as I made my offer, this hideous bargain I'd strike to buy us a little more time.

Even now, my magic was sorting itself out, settling into layers and threads, Fae and witch magic wending together into some new order, my darkling shadows curling into a corner, cautious of the vast well of power that had opened in my center.

"What would you know of anything? You're like a babe taking its first steps."

"Compared to you, yes, I am." I cocked my head at this twisted, awful creature, shoving back the hair lashing my face. "But the fact remains—if your brother isn't stopped, this world will end. Has this ever happened before? Has he ever gone too far?"

No," she snapped. "Because none of our other re-creations of Amalla were foolish enough to upset the balance." Her claws clicked sharply like the pincers of those Night Crawlers. "Corvus can't be stopped." Her expression turned as smooth as glass. "He's too strong. This world will die because you set a monster loose."

"Nothing is unstoppable."

"He is." Her lips curled up in a parody of a smile.

"You did this," she repeated, and the truth speared through me like shards of glass. "If not for you, the balance would have been maintained. You might have claimed the power, but I would have taken the Fae magic back eventually, like I always do." Her smile turned secretive.

"We might have spent a few decades locked in battle while the world recovered and a generation of Fae lived and died their little, worthless lives, but now…"

Outside, the sun broke through the dark clouds, the storm blowing away to the east, taking their wind and rain with them. The roaring of the waterfalls seemed amplified, the Oracle raising her voice to be heard.

"Now even that dream is as dead as your precious forest."

"He has to have a weakness."

"After devouring half the wild magic in Caladrius in a matter of days?" She shook her head. "He's so glutted on power right now, even I wouldn't dare go near him. My brother is a sponge, absorbing everything around him, and the more he devours, the stronger he becomes. So yes, Princess…this is already over."

Surprisingly, I stayed upright after hearing such terrible news.

"So the magic in Varitus? That's just, what…your reserve to get you through until the end?" My voice cracked on that last word. "Why bother playing games if this is already over?"

"Because," she said carefully, her fingers growing shorter, paler. "There is a slim chance with that extra boost of magic I could force him back down into his hole and cut him off. After all, it's been done before. Once."

She was talking about how we'd stopped them on our home world, though that imprisonment hadn't lasted forever.

"The world would take time to heal, of course, a feat that might take decades, if not centuries, but the world would…go on."

A lie, of course, but…

A wave of déjà vu hit me, recounting that terrible vision where Tavion and I stood on the edge of that ravine.

"So if I freed Varitus and handed you back the magic, you would stop Corvus?"

The Oracle hugged her arms around her body, her shadows wrapping around her tightly enough I couldn't see a sliver of pale skin as she gazed forlornly over the blackened forest. "It's one thing to watch this world wither over a thousand years, knowing it will be remade. Quite another to watch it die the moment it was born."

"Yes or no? A simple answer will suffice."

Something peered sharply out of that deep well at my center, a watcher with no eyes, no ears, only a sentient presence focused wholly on the creature before me. As if telling me to pay close attention.

"Defeating him will take more than the Varitus magic. I need all the magic you stole." Dark eyes brimming with hate met mine and held.

"Every last drop, Princess. Only then can I face him and hope to succeed. It will be no simple matter to contain Corvus to that cave. You've seen how fast his rot moves; he's unstoppable. Shoving him back into his box will take everything I have." Her words echoed through my blood.

An obvious trick to finally get what she always wanted.

A trade I might be desperate enough to make.

I paused, peering into the dark hole inside me. Give her what she wants, a soft voice seemed to whisper. Make the trade you know you must make to save this world.

That had, after all, been my sworn promise made by a na?ve slave who hadn't seen the world she'd hoped to save.

"Until I free Varitus and our bargain is complete, my friends are all off-limits," I stipulated, choosing my words carefully. "Everyone, including Torin and her men, everyone in Blackcastle is under my protection. You touch a hair on anyone's heads, you so much as look in their direction, this bargain is off."

Her arms squeezed tighter, her expression sharpening. "You're learning, Princess. I agree to your terms."

"Tell me how you plan to stop him."

"A fire can be snuffed out just as easily by too much fuel as by not enough. That is all I'm willing to tell you until you hold up your end and drop the Varitus ward."

"So I get a riddle and you get all the magic of the three realms?" I wanted to chuck her out the window into the canyon below. "Not exactly an equitable trade."

"It's not my fault you mortals are so dense. Perhaps between the lot of you, if you put your heads together, you can figure out the answer. Go free Varitus, Anaria, and I'll save what's left of this world," she murmured, turning back to the view.

"No deadline this time?"

Her laugh was as brittle as the drag of a match across a flint. "Take a look outside, Princess. That's all the deadline you'll need to get this done quickly."

The air shifted, lost its cloying darkness, and then I was alone, wondering if I'd signed our death warrants.

I rushed through the palace,counting down the seconds, scribbling a note to Zor, tossing it onto the rumpled bed before I retrieved the keystone from the bedside table and changed into my fresh set of leathers—the black ones—which would have been far more pleasant if I'd had time for a bath, then headed outside to find my men, who really deserved a lecture.

I found them on the northern side of the palace, Tavion flat on his back, bare feet sticking out of the overgrowth, Raziel frantically feeding healing magic into him while Bexley tentatively mumbled suggestions.

"What happened?" Panic clogged my throat. "A few minutes ago, he was in his wolf form sneaking around the back of the palace."

"Well, he's not sneaking now," Bexley muttered.

Raz stopped long enough to scan me from head to toe, lips pinched into a tight line. He must have deemed me intact because he went back to work, his ministrations frantic enough I fell to my knees beside them.

"Was he attacked?" I scanned Tavion's face, his bloodless lips parted enough for me to tell he was barely breathing. "Reapers? Or something else?"

An icy calm fell over me and I pulled up my magic, waiting for something horrid to spring out of the dense undergrowth, pincers or claws or talons snapping at our faces.

"We weren't attacked. He touched that." Bexley jerked his head toward the carved box clutched in Tristan's hands. Tristan was barely standing, draped in an old horse blanket and swaying on his feet.

Oh gods, what had I missed?

"That…the knife? He touched the knife?" I lifted Tav's hand, his stiffened, gray fingers cold to the touch. From what I'd seen of the Oracle's memories, that knife delivered certain death.

Except…he wasn't a crumbled pile of dust.

"He's unconscious but alive," Raz muttered, feeding more magic into him. "He dropped like a fucking stone. Was joking one minute about using that to kill Corvus, the next he was flat on the ground. At least he's breathing now."

Now?

"You fool," I scolded Tavion, rubbing his frozen fingers between my palms before I lifted his hand toward Raz. "The knife…sucks the life out of you. Try concentrating your power on his fingers, Raz."

The moment healing magic skated over Tavion's hand, cold gray flesh turned warm pink, and Tav's bleary eyes fluttered open, aware enough to bounce from face to face. "There you are, dumbarse. Don't you know better than to mess with magic?"

"I wanted to be a good husband," he slurred with a dazed, sloppy grin. "Thought I'd take Corvus out myself and save you the trouble."

"Idiot," I muttered, picking leaves out of his tangled hair.

"Where is the Oracle?" Bexley squeaked, craning his neck around the corner. "Should we be running or is it already too late?"

"You are such a chickenshite," Tristan murmured, hopping from one bare foot to the other.

"We struck a new bargain," I told them, slipping my arm behind Tavion's shoulders and lifting him up to a sitting position. "One that buys us a little more time. Enough, hopefully, to figure out how to use that." I nodded to the box Tristan held. "And we need time to secure the pendant from Blackcastle and unite the two pieces into something useful."

"We don't have time to go to Varitus, Anaria." Raziel shoved to his feet, offering Tavion a hand up. "The blight isn't slowing and there's no telling how much time Blackcastle has left before the city's overrun," he added gently. "It might already be too late."

"I don't care where we go, so long as we put some distance between us and the Oracle," Tristan muttered through chattering teeth. "Before she goes into one of her rages and decides to kill us for fun."

"The Oracle is long gone. We need to get you and Tavion warmed up." I took the box from him and tightened the cloak around him, his skin like ice to the touch. "You're half frozen, Tristan. We should get inside and build a fire. Regroup. I need to fill you in on what happened."

His hazel eyes drifted over to Raz and Tavion, and he gathered my husband's sopping wet clothes up off the ground. "The only thing that matters is we're all still alive. For the record, coming back to the palace was Raz's idea."

"Thanks a fucking lot, arsehole."

I smiled at that, cradling the box in my arms. "Of course it was. I'm glad you're here. I wish I could have used this and ended her for good instead of making another bargain with her."

"Whatever deal you struck…I trust you, Anaria. We all trust you did the right thing, although…" Tristan's smile, filled with such certainty, warmed the coldest part of me. "I wouldn't say no to a fire. It's cold enough I'm freezing my?—"

"Oh, for the love of all that's holy, stop talking," Raz and Tavion grumbled together.