“Okay, Sparky,” he drawled. “Tell me of this magical, brilliant plan you’ve cooked up.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
EMMERY
The creatures’ laboured, putrid breaths clouded the air. Their vines twisted around their bones as they dragged Emmery and Vesper along the unforgiving stone floor. For the tenth time, she tested her restraints to see if she could slip free, for even a moment's advantage, but the rope only burned more than those damn iridescent marks already did. However, her magic hummed beneath, ready to shatter them at her command.
She’d replayed the same scene in her head all day as she lay in the cold, dank cell. This was the only way: lulling her enemy into a state of false security at his unearned victory. Once sheknew where everyone was, she would make her move, because she couldn’t take all of them. That much was clear.
The creatures paid them no mind as they hauled them by their shirts, their iron grips unnaturally strong. Vesper tried to catch her eye, but Emmery stared ahead, not willing to let him see her unease.
She assured herself this would work, but as the seconds ticked by, doubt crept in.
Up the stairs they went. A dull pain reverberated through Emmery’s shins as they knocked against the stone steps. They passed the room in which she had taken on the mob of creatures. Her lip curled in disgust as she spotted the black sludgy blood slathering the floor, and ashen flakes of sinewy skin stuck to the charcoaled brick.
When they reached the top, they entered the dining hall filled with those lumbering creatures all crouched, leaned, or slumped. At Vesper and Emmery’s approach, they scented the air like a pack of beastly hounds.
A row of chairs lined the space before two large thrones at the head. One was a cold steel, similar to the ancient etchings in Thellonius’s crown. Beside it sat a throne devoured in those same dark vines that consumed the creatures. Behind the thrones, a large window revealed the snow dusted mountains in the distance and the swamp below.
Emmery regretted not scaling the wall and blasting through this window to take down those creatures when she had the chance. Because everything about this and the thrones made her skin crawl, especially as the setting sun cast the room in a bloody orange haze.
The creatures parted and surveyed them like a sea of sharks watched their chum before they feasted.
Dropped at the head of the room before the thrones, the impact of the stone floor sang through her bones. She gritted her teeth.
Beside her, Vesper grunted and face planted, unable to brace himself with his bound hands. Her fingers itched to heal him. Between his dislocated shoulder, his crooked, blood-crusted nose, and his split lip, he looked moments from death. His bruised, swollen eyes slid to her. She gave him a tiny nod as her brows drew together. He returned it.
Despite the grim circumstances, they were in this together. They would die side by side or fight their way out, back to back. And when she’d told him her plan, he’d called her brilliant. At the time it had filled her with confidence. Now that confidence lay inside her, faded.
The creatures roughly hauled her onto a rickety wooden chair and bound her ankles to the legs with rope, cinching it until it bit into her flesh.
Emmery’s stomach roiled at the ungodly smell of them. The rot and pestilence within those vines held something truly sinister, like these creatures were long dead and yet remained as puppets.
They tied Vesper to a chair too, and his eyes darted around the room as he no doubt made note of the exit to their right and another behind them among the throng of creatures.
Eerie silence swept through the room as one of the mountainous wooden doors creaked open and three beings entered. She craned her neck to see them, and when she did, her heart slowed.
Their unnaturally graceful footsteps were soundless, like they floated on air. Red robes garnished in gold accents flowed down their bodies and sheltered their faces. And she knew those robes. She’d seen them once before.
The Council.
They lowered their hoods and Emmery was struck speechless. Because their eyesockets wereempty. Black. Hollow and gaping. And between their clawed hands with dirty jagged nails and needle-sharp teeth, fear gripped her. As they walked past, they carried that same bone rattling power Emmery had felt that day at Blackdawn Castle. How Dez had handled these beasts and not shrank away was beyond her. Especially with the power they held over him. She had made the right choice in not telling him she would be here, especially with the Council and Thellonius’s presence.
This was far worse than she could have imagined.
Emmery swallowed the bile climbing her throat.
“Gravers,” Vesper whispered, maybe to himself.
What in the world was a Graver? She shook her head and murmured back, “No, they—those are the same cloaks the Council wears.”
His eyes widened, and he hissed a curse under his breath.
Her attention darted back to the doorway as Thellonius entered, the attention from the creatures seemingly focused entirely on him. He wore the same robes over his silver armour, a smug smirk on his face as he stood before the throne that matched his crown centered at the head of the room. At his side, the crimson-robed beings faithfully joined him.
Thellonius lifted his hand, and all the creatures rose to their feet before him. “Good evening to all,” he boomed and glanced at Emmery and Vesper with a nasty grin. “Shall we begin?”
Two creatures dragged a woman’s petite body, her teeth bared as she fought. Blood soaked her puffy black dress, those plum-coloured eyes weary, and her usually vibrant sapphire skin dulled. The world seemed to slow. Gods, this couldn’t be happening.