‘“My lion.”
‘“My life,” I sighed. “How did you—”
‘“Always, Gabriel. I will always find you.”
‘She looked at me across that dark and frozen gulf. My boots edged closer to the fall. The sun was struggling to raise its head over the worldsend, through the daysdeath shroud. All the horizon was the colour of blood, as if the whole world were drowning in it. Beautiful. Horrifying. And I realized I couldn’t remember what real dawn looked like any more.
‘“Tell me you love me.”
‘“I adore you.”
‘“Promise you will never leave me.”
‘“Never,” I breathed. “Never!”
‘Her hand drifted up to her face, one long fingernail tracing the arc of her lip. I realized she was weeping, tears of blood streaming down her face.
‘“I miss you so much …”
‘“Hero?”
‘I turned at the call, Dior’s voice echoing within the cave behind. I looked back to Astrid, standing on that bleak shore, the wind blowing long locks around her pale curves. For a second, it was all I could do to not fling myself off that edge, swimming back across that black expanse and throwing myself into her arms.
‘“If I can find you,” she warned, “Danton can too.”
‘“Next time, I’ll be ready.”
‘“Hero?”
‘I could hear the slight tremor in Dior’s voice now. Glancing to the cave.
‘“I have to get back,” I whispered. “She sounds frightened.”
‘“She’s not your concern, love. Remember why you left us.”
‘“Astrid, I …”
‘My voice failed as she turned, slipping away like a ghost, bare and pale between the trees. Nothing but an empty shoreline and the drop into the Volta below. Hands shaking, I wiped the tears from my face, dragged my hair back, squeezing through the crack and into the warmth of the cave beyond. Dior was by the flames, huddled inside my greatcoat.
‘“There you are,” she said.
‘“Here I am. You aright?”
‘She shrugged, like she was donning a suit of armour. “I thought maybe you’d …” Dior frowned, noting my bloodshot eyes. My haggard face. “Are you aright?”
‘“No. I’m thirsty.”
‘The girl looked at me, suspicious. “You know … you talk in your sleep.”
‘“And you snore. But you don’t hear me complaining.” I glanced to the breaking dawn outside while Dior made small noises of outrage. “If you’re awake, we should get moving. It’s a long walk to Redwatch. And I need to find something to smoke.”
‘Her face soured at that, all concern vanishing. “Have to feed the need, eh?”
‘“It’s not like that,” I growled. “I’m not your mama. I’m a paleblood, girl.”
‘“Maybe. But I can still see a shadow on you.”
‘“This thing is in my veins. It makes me what I am. I don’t do it for fun. I do it because I have to. You give the beast his due, or he takes his due from you.”
‘“But … your foundry, your chymicals, they were in your saddlebags.”
‘I sighed, throwing a mournful glance back across the river. “Oui.”
‘“We could go back to San Guillaume? Jezebel is still in the stables. We cou—”
‘“No,” I said flatly. “Too dangerous. Jezebel broke loose during the battle anyway. She’s fucking miles away by now. I visited Redwatch years back, and there’s folk there who truck in dark places. We get to the Night Market, I’ll find what I need.”
‘“What happens if you don’t?”
‘I swallowed hard. The burn was already beneath my skin, soon to spread out through my spine, all the way to my fingertips. I glanced to Dior’s lips, the pointed chin beneath, that thin, throbbing vein just below her jaw.
‘I snatched Ashdrinker from the wall.
‘“Let’s get moving.”’
III
BLAME THE BLACKSMITH
‘THREE DAYS LATER, we were barely moving at all.
‘Freezing. Stumbling. Nothing to eat but a few frozen mushrooms. Nothing to smoke at all. As ill fortune would have it, we’d been hit by wretched on the second day – a pair of them coming at us through the dead trees. Farmer folk – mother and son by the look, seen off by me and Ashdrinker without too much drama. But with nothing to collect their blood in, no way to cook it, I had to waste it in the snow.
‘My wounds had healed, but the thirst sat in my belly like a knot of flame now, roiling ever wider. We followed frozen banks, me staggering in front, Dior stumbling behind. The deadwood was silent, the river sluggish; a grey dress hemmed with frost. Wintersdeep was biting at our heels now, and even a river mighty as the Volta would soon freeze solid.
‘If we didn’t reach Redwatch, we’d be frozen long before.
‘Dior was huddled in my greatcoat, shivering and miserable. She didn’t complain, which was a mark in her favour, but she seemed possessed of an irrepressible need to chatter. To question. About the Silver Order. About San Michon. About vampires, the capital, anything that entered her damned head. I don’t know whether she did it to keep her mind off the cold or my mind off my thirst, or simply to torture me. But you remember what I said about the problem with most men being they never shut the fuck up?’
Jean-Fran?ois nodded. ‘Oui.’
‘Turns out that’s also true for teenage girls.
‘“How can she do what she does?” she asked on the third day.
‘“Eh?” I growled, stumbling along the riverbank.
‘Dior’s eyes were fixed on the sword at my waist. “Ashdrinker. How can she hurt the Dead so easily? When you fought that masked vampire in San Guillaume, those wretched in Winfael, it looked like her blade burned them. I thought only silver did that.”
‘“She’s magik,” I growled, breathing a cloud of frost. “And I’m talking true magik, now. Forged from the heart of a fallen star, long before the empire was born.”
‘“She’s … impressive to watch.”
‘“You should’ve seen her when I was younger. She could cut the night in two.” I sighed, my gaze roaming the silvered dame on the hilt. “She never used to stutter, you know. But she’s not what she used to be since she broke. She gets confused sometimes now. About where we are. Or when. Truth told … I think she’s gone a little bit mad.”
‘“How’d she break?”
‘“I pushed her down the stairs after she asked too many questions.”
‘“Is it true what Bellamy said?”
‘I sighed. “Probably not.”
‘“About you finding her in the grave of a dead barrowking?”
‘“Barrowking graves are called barrows. Hence the name. And no. Utter bullshit.”
‘“You won her in a riddle contest in the Everdark, then?”
‘“Never been to the Everdark. I’m not that suicidal.”
‘“So … you sexed some deadly faequeen so expertly that she passed out and—”