| |
Quayla
I collected Ignis’s ashes even though I wasn’t sure how well they’d work mixed with the fire balls’ chemicals.
Maybe I can run them through my essence like a filter.
Since I had no illusions about facing Ignis again, I returned to the locker for another couple extinguisher balls. I might not be able to sucker him into a small room again, but it was worth having them.
Paramedics were tending Sabrina when I exited. I inclined my head toward her and strode toward the edge of town where she could see me go. She’d follow or not at her choice.
If she’s smart, she won’t, but I hope she’s as stupid as I am.
The walk back to Terrance’s house took more out of me than I expected. Even transmoging, rebalancing and essentially recreating my human skin didn’t manage to wash away the pain left by Ignis’s strikes. Maybe it was phantom pain and maybe his essence just had the ability to harm me.
I didn’t want to think about it, so I didn’t.
Terrance’s house was whole when I arrived. There was no police tape, no burn damage to the nearby fences, not even scorch marks on the lawn.
I went around back to find the back wall repaired, but the garden still a ruin.
He said he was a putto.
I found the bronze statuette on the kitchen bar. Anima’s voice nearly shouted from it the moment I came into line with its astonished expression.
“Creator, Quayla, you were amazing!”
I shook my head. “I nearly lost.”
“But you didn’t,” Anima said.
“She’s right, Quayla.”
Panic flashed through me as I recognized the voice. I whirled around, blades at the ready.
Viviane lifted her hands in supplication. “I’m not here to fight.”
“What do you want?” I rasped.
Her expression hardened. “Dunham has gone off the rails.”
“Boo hoo for you.”
“He-he killed Caelum—True Death,” she said.
A hollow in my core ached for him. “I heard.”
“I tried to stop him.”
“If you say so,” I said.
Viviane crossed the distance impossibly fast and slapped me so hard I hit the floor, then she kicked my hilts out of reach. “I didn’t come all the way out here offering help just to be disrespected, little bird.”
I struggled back to my feet.
She didn’t try to stop me, but she didn’t help this time either.
“Why did you come here then?” I asked.
“I need your help.”
I laughed, but in a few seconds it transmog’d into crying. I was too tired, too heartsore for Sidhe games.
Maybe if I stab her in the head.
Viviane slapped me again. “Snap out of it. This is important.”
A growl rumbled out of my throat. I pushed on my essence, sharpening my fingertips to talons.
“If you attack me, this deal is off.”
“What deal?” I barked.
“I can get you the eggs. Ignis, Terrance and Vitae. I can even get you essence to fill replacement nests.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Dunham’s vengeance is interfering with my plans.”
“What do you expect me to do about it? Kill him?”
She shook her head. “No, he’s too dangerous. I know. I made him that way. You need to help me thwart the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Do your job, just when and where I tell you. That’s all.”
“I don’t think so.”
Viviane darkened. “Right now, I’ve got my people covering up all the incursions and all of Dunham’s attacks on the city. If you don’t help me, I’ll stop keeping things quiet.”
I looked around Terrance’s house.
Did she do this?
“I don’t believe you. Why would you even want to cover up things? Sidhe live to create Fae Kissed.”
“I don’t want the other Courts to know I’m in play until I have the upper hand.”
I frowned at her, unsure what she was talking about.
“Helping Dunham was the last straw. The other two queens ganged up on me to stop me from screwing with their games. They exiled me from the Dark Trinity and forbad my people a ruler. Mortality has suffered because of it.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, I’m sure one less Court playing with mortal lives has really made things worse.”
“Ever tried getting two people to keep a secret?”
“Yeah, but I don’t see the correlation.”
“Think about it. All three of us are trying to collect power. When three of us are in the game, it’s damn near impossible to trade and treat for an unchallenged run at Creation. Reduce that balancing point to only bargaining with a single queen and humanity suffers far more often.”
“Why would you give me the eggs?”
“So you can convince your Shield to help me by destroying our shared enemies.”
“Shouldn’t that include Dunham?”
“The boy’s gone rogue, but he’s not my enemy yet. Besides, empowered by your Divine One, you’ll never beat him.”
“Don’t you think recruiting me will change that?”
“He’ll never learn of this.”
I considered her and her offer. Regaining the lost eggs would make a huge difference There’d be no way for Dunham to just kill my brethren outright. Anima could probably help remove the spells from the eggs or we could destroy and recreate them. Either way, so much would be better if I agreed to help her—a Sidhe queen who’d let Dunham murder Caelum.
“No.”
“No?” Viviane’s brow rose. “This is the only way you’ll ever get those eggs back. The only way you’ll save your friends.”
God help me, but I can’t make myself beholden to one of the Dark Trinity—not even to save my Shield.
“No.”
“You’re going to regret this decision.”
I shrugged.
She was probably right. I’d probably regret turning her down, but enlisting under her command—even to destroy Sidhe like I was meant to do—felt so wrong.
Like selling my soul.
I’d managed—if barely—to defeat Ignis. Maybe I had a chance against Dunham.
Quayla
Sabrina turned up two hours later with the stone basins from Vitae’s warehouse. I wasn’t sure where she’d come up with another car, and I was just too tired to ask.
I stared at the ashes piled in the basin Sabrina retrieved. There weren’t enough for a rebirth and after learning of Caelum’s True Death I feared defeating Ignis had sent him back to a similar fate.
Three other nests rested in line with the first on the tiles of Terrance’s foyer. The caches of essence Terrance had left around the city neared enough for a rebirth once collected. Until they were assembled, his was one of three empty nests. The fourth—Caelum’s nest—wouldn’t ever be filled just like I’d never again hear his horrible jokes.
Fortunately, I was too emotionally wrung out to cry no matter how much I felt like I should.
“What now?” Sabrina asked.
I shook my head.
I didn’t have any answers.
“Will these be safe here?” she asked.
“Probably not.”
Her hand slipped into my own. “Quayla?”
I looked down at her strong fingers gripping mine then up at the concern in her face.
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
“Didn’t you say you contacted a supervisor? Could they help?”
I shook my head. “He’s not answering. I’m on my own.”
“You’re not,” Sabrina said. “I’ll help you. If you woke them up like you did me, Mrs. Cox and Dylan would help you too.”
“Dylan’s dead. Vit—Vitae killed him.”
Sabrina’s expression hardened.
“Leave him to me,” I said. “Take the nests and hide them at your place. At least there, no one will come looking for them.”
“What are you going to do?”
The sound of the ocean rose in a slow crescendo as a fire kindled from the ashes of my sorrow. “If Vilicangelus won’t come to me, then I’ll go to him.”
“How? Where?”
“England.”
Sabrina’s brows rose. “There’s no closer help?”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s responsible for this mess. It’s high time he helped fix it.”
Sabrina squeezed my hand. “Good luck.”
The Story Continues...
Thank you for reading Vengeful are the Drowned.
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!
Keep reading for more about the Blood Phoenix Chronicles, including an excerpt from BPC #4: Rise of the Exiled Lady