The Secret World of Briar Rose(66)
“What did you do?” they asked.
“You already know the answer to that.”
Even though Malicine had kicked down his throne moments ago, he’d already back together, tapping his fingers across the ribbed armrests. The bones were chalky white and jagged, carved so that they could fit Oleander’s arms like a sleeve.
Malicine couldn’t help but smile. “No wonder he was so satisfying to kick.”
“These fairy tales are merely lies humans tell themselves to feel important. I shall write an even better story. A story about how a demon discovered his true worth, left behind a false book, and came back to kill the one who betrayed him. I am the king now, and this world is only the first of many.”
He stood up from his seat, his goblet untouched, and crossed toward the rows of windows. Something pulled Malicine to follow him, the way a child would a father. They moved like someone who started to believe that things could be better.
“Let me join you,” Malicine said, “and we’ll repair this world to be ours again.”
They looked up at the sky. Thick smoke permeated outside the fortress, the smog so dense they could hardly see beyond the barrier. Malicine wondered if it would have been possible to hear the cries of anguish within their bubble, the screams of demons burning within the flames in the forest across the sea. The sky must have lit up in orange. Perhaps one day they could paint it blue again.
Light flickered in his eyes as Oleander looked at them. “You’ll help me create a new world.”
Power hummed through Malicine’s veins. Oleander’s amulet glowed brighter, responding to kindred blood. In the fractures of light, something else caught their eye. Below the tower, amid columned rocks and fog, the glass sheen of Amelia’s skin reflected.
Malicine grabbed the window ledge and gaped at the girl. Wider cracks had formed across her limbs. Her footsteps were uneven on the choppy rocks. She roamed aimlessly around the terrain, scanning the columns and calling for Malicine’s name in a voice so frail the demon could barely hear her.
They didn’t know whether to laugh or scream. How could she be so stupid? They’d left her behind, and here she was, still searching for them as if her body wasn’t falling apart.
“She is like the king she descends from.” Disgust tinged Oleander’s voice. “She wants to use you and keep you as her little pet, as Samael did with me. But do not worry. I have other plans for her.”
His gnarled finger pointed ahead where Amelia walked. Streaks of red light radiated from his amulet. Dead leaves swirled around the princess, trapping her in place. Sticks rose in the air and curved into the shape of a circle as large as her body. The circle’s surface turned opaque, an oily iridescent sheen that contained light. Once she saw whatever was inside, her eyes turned glossy, her mouth parting in awe. She stretched an arm toward the portal and walked like someone under hypnosis.
“Where is she going?” Malicine asked, trying to contain the alarm in their voice.
“Nowhere. She thinks she sees an ideal world, but she will be trapped in nothingness.”
Malicine’s heartbeats slowed as they watched Amelia place her hands at the edge of the portal, peering inside with wonder. Light shimmered through her glass silhouette, as if she would disappear into the stars.
But wasn’t that what Amelia wanted, after all, to no longer exist? If anything invited disaster, she’d already willingly accepted it. Malicine didn’t need to stop her. Yet a heavy anchor brought them forward and made them grip the window. Their movements were slow, as if they were drowning. A bitter aftertaste lingered on their tongue, the familiar scent of wine.
“Wait,” they said, but it came out as a whisper.
The light from the portal dimmed, only for Malicine to realize it was their own vision, dark blotches blooming in the corners of their sight. Amelia became a blur, and when they turned to their father, they could barely see his face. They sought out Talon for help, yet the raven was limp and motionless on the dining table, half-eaten grapes rolled aside their beak.
Something was wrong. Malicine’s eyelids were too heavy, their mouth too dry. The edges of the vaulted ceiling pulled in. The room spun, and they couldn’t stop it. The last thing they felt was the hard crack of their skull against the floor before their body turned limp, their limbs in a fixed position, unable to move. Their eyes caught the glint of Oleander’s fangs as he stared at her, smiling, the both of them knowing that Malicine could do absolutely nothing to escape.
CHAPTER 29
CORIN GASPED FOR air, limbs thrashing to hold on to the rocks at the river’s edge. She crawled a few steps onto solid ground before heaving water. Her throat burned, but as she wrapped her necklace around it, the pendant pressed against her chest and slowed her heartbeats.
She lay on the ground of rotting leaves and bumpy roots. There was a tree next to where she’d rolled over, so she pressed her face against the bark and let the ridges bite into her cheeks. She needed everything to slow down, to stop feeling the motions of the river carrying her to her own death. She needed, for a moment, to let it sink in that she was still alive. Even though she didn’t want to be.
All because Malicine had saved her.
The demon was nowhere to be seen. The tides had separated them after Malicine lost their staff, and Corin was stranded in some indiscernible part of the woods. She shouted for Malicine, only to be met with the howl of wind through the oaks.