She looked up, trying not to hope too hard. Good thing she hadn’t set her heart on it. He was already shaking his head.
“No. Despite her words, if she finds you in her bedchamber, she will not kill you. And you have experience destroying avatars. On the other hand, your time in the Watch makes you ill-suited to speak with the criminal element.”
“And your experience as the City ruler does?” she lifted an eyebrow.
“More than you’d ever believe. Government is filled with the worst kinds of villain. But I must do my task before you do yours. I need time to get the word out. Time for people to evacuate the city.”
“We don’t dare wait, Etienne. We need to destroy the avatar as soon as we possibly can,” Marielle said.
“Why the hurry?” He shook his head. “When you were fighting for Tamerlan’s sanity it made sense. But now, with him gone, what does it matter?”
“We don’t know for sure that he is dead,” Marielle said in a small voice. “And if he is not, then Ram the Hunter has him and Ram is determined to make as many avatars as he can.”
He drummed his fingers on the side of his chair looking out the window.
“I thought this was all so manageable,” he said, frustration in his tone. “If I just made the right choices.”
“Me, too,” Marielle agreed.
“If I just tried hard enough.”
“It doesn’t work like that, Etienne. We’ve been put in an impossible situation. Either people die now while we fix things, or they keep dying forever,” she said fiercely. They’d battled over this before and they were so close to the end now.
And didn’t she know sacrifice? Didn’t the constant breathless ache in her chest remind her that she’d already lost Tamerlan one way or another and she couldn’t even mourn or weep, she had to keep pressing on. She had to finish the job.
“What if there are more dragons than you know?” Etienne said. “What if after you release this one and the one over the sea there are more yet? Maybe there are some we don’t know about.”
Coldness filled her but she forced strength into her words. “I’ll deal with that, if it’s true. If I must be cold, I will be like the ice of the mountains. If I must be hard, I will be harder than stone. If I must breathe fire, I will be a dragon myself. But I will see this through. I’ve lost too much to do anything else. I’ve given too deeply. I’ve cut my own heart out and presented it on a platter. What more is there to do but follow through?”
He sighed, dropping his head into his hands. She’d never seen him like this. She’d seen him edgy and calculating. She’d seen him charming and powerful. She’d seen him brave and self-sacrificing. She’d never seen him defeated.
“Don’t give up, Etienne.” She crossed the room and put a hand on his trembling shoulder. “We are almost at the part where we need you most.”
His scoffing laugh was so close to a sob that she couldn’t say if it might be one after all. “And what part is that?”
Deep despair washed black through the room darkening everything, filling her senses with the scent of licorice.
“The part where you rebuild the Dragonblood Plains and make them better,” she pled.
“From nothing. With everything we have stripped from us.”
“Naked we are born into the world, and yet we grow into wondrous creatures capable of reshaping everything. So, we start naked again? Maybe in rebirth, there is hope. Maybe we can break old chains, make new and better laws. Carve out a new and better set of cities.”
He looked up and she almost gasped at the tears washing down his cheeks. Etienne crying? Etienne emotional? But he was nodding, too.
“Not just anyone can do that, Marielle.”
“Not just anyone will do it. You will do it.”
He was still nodding.
“But only if you stop feeling sorry for yourself,” Marielle said, crossing her arms firmly. “I need some sleep, but think about this, Etienne. The dragon in Yan is still bound. And you know how to access that magic. Maybe you can do something with that, hmm?”
“Yes.
She stumbled to the bed, too wrung from emotions to think about anything else and collapsed into it, asleep almost immediately. The last thing she heard was the door quietly shutting behind Etienne. He was off to find a fence, she was sure.
They had to keep hoping. They couldn’t give up before the end.
23: Thievery and Destruction
Marielle
“This way,” Gansen said in a low whisper, leading her through the dark with his lantern held high. He was a head taller than Marielle and his shadow was long and narrow.
They were both moving more slowly than they’d prefer, their boots encased in flour sacks to muffle any sound they might make. Marielle’s boots were so new they occasionally squeaked if she wasn’t careful and any squeak might give them away. She took every step with care, holding her breath at the risk of a squeak.
Marielle followed him with her heart in her throat. She’d met him for the first time an hour ago when Etienne introduced them.
“Gansen is a loyal man,” Etienne had said as if that was all there was to say. “He’ll get you into the passages and as far as the door.”
Gansen had nodded gravely. “I serve as a butler in the palace, miss. But before the fall of Jingen I was master of the Seven Dragons Brewery, privileged to oversee all the vintages and brews acquired by the Lord Mythos.”
“But can you sneak?” Marielle had asked nervously. His scent was so confident and when he looked at Etienne loyalty and dedication filled her nose with the scent of daisies.
That was enough for her.
Marielle hefted the heavy stone hammer she’d found earlier that day. For an actual stonemason, it wasn’t that heavy, but it was more than adequate to crack or crush the gems of a crown. Hopefully, that would be enough. She’d brought a metal chisel, too, in case she had to split the metal band somehow. She’d never destroyed jewelry before. Hopefully, it wouldn’t prove too difficult. The crown had been made of gold woven to look like vines with sapphire and diamond leaves. She thought that should make it easier to break it – but she wouldn’t know until she tried.
Already, her hands were sweating and her mouth dry. The last time she’d gone against a Legend, things had not gone well. Anything could happen this time. And she didn’t dare fail.
“We’re at the stairs now,” Gansen whispered back as he carefully set a foot on the ancient wooden stairs, testing his weight.
They were ahead of schedule, if Marielle’s internal clock was correct. Now that they were actually here, she was finding it hard to concentrate. Three days, she’d waited while Etienne found allies in the criminal world of Yan. Three days while they did all they could to organize an evacuation of the common people. Three days while they roped Jhinn and his Waverunners into the mix. They’d taken as many people as they could out of the city already, hidden on boats. The canals of Yan were as empty as a fresh-dug grave. She’d heard complaining in the streets as people struggled to get around the city without their usual transportation.
And now it was time. As she snuck up the stairs, Etienne would be rallying the rest of the people he had warned. They’d be leaving the city in secret. And if their timing was perfect, then she should be at the door of Variena’s room at the same time that he used the magic he managed to siphon from the sleeping dragon to create one final alert to the people of the city. It was the most they could do. It was their best effort. Marielle already knew it wouldn’t be enough.
She felt for the sword at her side and the hammer in her hand. She was ready.
The stairs squeaked under her foot and they both froze for long minutes. Nothing else stirred the darkness except the rustling of mice. If anyone had heard them, they hadn’t decided to act yet.
Marielle forced her feet to keep climbing and then to follow Gansen down the long, narrow corridor at the top of the steps. The dust was so thick that it puffed up with every step and even Gansen
had wound a neck-scarf around his face so he wouldn’t cough and sneeze.
“They’re for emergencies,” Etienne had told her. “Fires. Assassination attempts. Wars. Anything that might make a ruler need to flee.”
“And no one used them during the uprising?” Marielle had pressed.
“They must not have had the chance. Which means that Variena probably doesn’t know about them. The perfect weapon is the one that no one knows you have.”
“But Gansen knows?”
“I gave him a map three days ago and he explored the tunnels. He’ll lead you through to your mother’s door,” Etienne had assured her.
She hoped he was right.
“We’re here,” Gansen breathed, turning only his head to look at her as he leaned as far into the wall as he could so she could slip by.
She barely made it past him, even with her body shoved as far against her wall as she could get it, their bellies pressing together as she passed him.
She let out a long breath, checking to be sure she knew exactly where the latch on the secret door was before Gansen left with the lantern.
“Give me five minutes,” he breathed.
He wanted a head start. And no wonder. He would barely have time to exit the city if she managed to wake the dragon. She reached into her pocket and carefully pulled out the small hourglass she’d brought. The last grains fell through the top bulb and she set it on the ground. She wouldn’t need it now.
“Hurry,” she whispered.
He nodded, his face serious. They’d told everyone that the dragon was going to rise. What they hadn’t told them was that Marielle was the one who was going to release it.
She didn’t hear his footfalls as he hurried away. Instead, she waited for the glow to disappear as she counted in her mind. Hopefully, she’d given him enough time. She set her hand on the latch and gripped the handle of the hammer harder, swallowing as she carefully slid the latch open and cracked the secret door slightly open. Soft light flooded into the secret passage and her breath caught in her lungs, but it wasn’t a lantern or wall lamps. It was too faint for that. She eased the door open just a little more and slipped into the silent room.
The door came out in a sitting area, surrounded by books, disguised as one of the many bookcases. Etienne claimed she would come out into a “private study” attached to the bedroom. There were five rooms in the suite and though they both thought that Variena would keep the crown in her bedroom, it could be in any one of them. Or none of them.
Marielle slid the potato sacks off her boots – they were quiet but too bulky for this work – stashed them back into the passageway and wedged the door with a book. There was no way she was getting trapped in here with her traitorous mother. No way at all.
With a last steadying breath, she crept across the study. There were no drawers or trunks in the room. No place to hide a crown – especially not one as bulky as this with so many gems.
The next room was opulent, but also a poor bet. Plants and cages covered in heavy cloth filled the heavily ornamented room. Birds. Variena had always loved birds. They must sleep under the cloths. Marielle almost held her breath as she slipped through the room. If she made a wrong move. she’d wake them up and alert anyone. If the crown was inside one of the cages, she’d have to check here for it last of all.
There were two doors leading from here. One was larger and more ornate than the others. The way out to the halls beyond, if Marielle was any guess. The other was smaller – the bedroom, perhaps.
There was a sound coming from the next room. Her hand trembled as it rested on the doorknob and slowly turned it. It opened to reveal Variena, standing right in the doorway, one hand on her hip.
She barely managed to catch the scream in her throat at the sight of her mother. Variena was dressed like she was expecting company in a long satin nightdress of rich cherry red.
“Looking for this?” she asked, holding her crown up on a single finger as if it was worth nothing at all.
Marielle swallowed.
“Take it, if you must,” her mother said with a sly smile.
Marielle hesitated. But after all, it was what she was here for. And her mother had just offered it to her. She snatched for it.
Before she could touch the crown, a hand caught her wrist. A hand in a heavy leather glove and bracer.
It pulled her through the door and flung her to the bed. She rolled across it, turning her momentum into motion and popping up on the other side of the bed on her feet, hammer at the ready.
“I told you she would come, Variena,” Tamerlan said.
Icy cold flashed across Marielle followed immediately by a wave of fire.
He was alive!
Not sane, oh no, she could smell the insanity of Legend like she could smell an open cesspit, but he was alive. She could feel her heart melting even as she kept her guard up. It wasn’t really Tamerlan – and yet – it was. He was in there somewhere. There was still hope for him!
The look on his face and the slight sway of his walk was almost identifiable.
“Lila?” she ventured.
Tamerlan’s grin was not his own. It was fierce and crafty. It was matched almost identically by Variena’s.
“Clever girl,” he said.
She couldn’t help the longing that surged through her like a summer storm. Maybe, when she destroyed the crown, she’d get him back. Even if it was just for a few moments.
“I told your dear mother that you would know me. Unlike you, she seems to understand what makes sense in this situation.”
“I know that you’re in there, Tamerlan,” Marielle whispered, locking eyes with him. “Please be strong.”
He’d said once that he thought she might have to kill him someday. She hadn’t really thought he meant it. But perhaps he did. Perhaps that was better than dying a moment at a time as someone stole your body and will?
Variena cleared her throat. “I’m not ornamental here, love.”
She shot a glance at Tamerlan.
“I haven’t forgotten our bargain,” Tamerlan said – or Lila, rather. “Get the ingredients I asked for, and I will make you an access to the Bridge of Legends. You will have power beyond your wildest dreams, only give the girl to me.”
“And it will really work?” Variena’s eyes shone with hunger and something lurched inside Marielle. It had been hard to believe that her mother would willingly sell her before – but it wasn’t hard now. Not with Variena bargaining her price right here in the same room. She could smell the greed flowing from her, burning Marielle’s nose like washing soda.
“It worked for this son of Decebel Zi’fen. You know the family. Watch me move and walk. Listen to me speak. You know this vessel is possessed by a Legend. This is no Zi’fen anymore. And you could have that power, too. You want more than this single city, don’t you?” Lila practically purred. She kept her sword tip aimed toward Marielle, but she leaned intimately toward Variena with a small half-smile as she tried to lure her into freeing more Legends. “You want more than watching your back all the time, not trusting your allies or subordinates. You want a way to finally know that you are unshakable – untouchable. Trust me. I will give you that and more.”
“She’ll drive you insane,” Marielle said, hammer still held out. “She’ll take what’s left of your life and ruin it.”
“There’s nothing here to ruin, girl,” Variena said bitterly. She didn’t even glance at Marielle. “What do you need, Legend?”
“Gather the spices and meet me in the Grand Hall,” Lila said. “I’ll deal with your daughter here and then come below and make you a Legend.”
Variena’s smile was cold and hard as glass. “Agreed.”
“I’ll take that,” Lila said, snatching the crown from her hand. Variena hardly seemed to notice.
Marielle’s stomach twisted at the cold look on her mother’s face.
“Mother. Please.”
Variena never once turned as she snatched a silken robe from a ho
ok, wrapped it around herself and strode out of the room like a triumphant general.
“Please,” Marielle whispered, but it was too late. Her mother had bargained with the devil and she’d lost for them all.
“A lovely woman, your mother. We could have been good friends,” Lila purred. But Marielle saw a flicker behind those eyes. Was Tamerlan in there?
“Tamerlan, please,” she begged.
“Be glad it is me that has you and not Ram the Hunter,” Lila purred. “I’m not so cruel. He was right, it turns out that you must be made into an avatar. Oh, don’t look at me like that. It wouldn’t have come to this if you hadn’t slain all of our friends. Or rivals. Or whatever they were. But we’re running thin, now. We can’t afford to lose anymore, and that means you need to be disposed of. And we have dragons to leash. Two birds and one stone and all that.”
Lila tossed the crown in the air and caught it again.
“All the dragons that were leashed have flown now,” Marielle said tightly. She was calculating how to throw the hammer at Tamerlan as her heart slowly shredded in her chest. She was going to have to hurt him – maim him – maybe even kill him. Could she do that? Her heart sped so fast at the thought of it that it made her thoughts stall and start again as her breath sped so quickly that she felt like she wasn’t getting any air at all.
Inside, her heart felt hollow.
She weighed the hammer in her hands.
“Did you think they lay down quietly for us the first time? Of course not. The sacrifice comes first and then the dragon lies down and you can build on it. We moved the avatars to the cities after, of course. Mine was easiest to move.”
She held the crown up with a smile, gazing at how it sparkled in the light. In that moment of distraction, Marielle threw the hammer.
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