‘Melek—’
‘I know. I saw it too.’
‘That isn’t Gall.’
Melek tensed at my back.‘I refuse to believe my son is beyond hope,’he said, his voice deep and granite-hard in my head.
I squeezed his hand. It hurt so badly to see Gall misused this way. Still, I wasn’t convinced that Gall was blameless in this, as Melek believed. I was terrified he’d truly given himself over. Could there be any recovery from that?
Unaware of our scrutiny, Lucifer took the deep-red rope and began to knot it, smiling as he spoke, his words once again not loud enough, yet still heard between the echoes of the other men’s voices.
“When the Red Knot tightens under the veil, and the Maiden’s Sigil warms the skin, her seed shall awake. Her blood will alight.”
Istral jolted upright, her hands snapping to her sides as if they’d been pulled from her face. Tears still coursed down her soft cheeks, and her eyes went round as plates, but she barely twitched as Lucifer reached for her cloak with his now-bloodied hands, fiddled with something on the front, then threw the lapels aside so the thick fabric snapped and Istral was revealed.
Oh God.
She’d been dressed in beautiful, white lace—a sweeping skirt rounding her hips, then flaring to the floor, her breasts covered, though any watcher’s eye was drawn back to the hint of a shadow under the tight bodice, where her nipples might be.
Everything about the dress might have been modest if there was no hint of the sheer space in the lace—it circled the base of her neck and covered her arms, hugging her breasts and pushing them high. Yet, her stomach was bare.
Silver chains attached at her ribs and hips, crossed over her belly, each looped around a thick, bone ring, etched in concentric lines of writing. From this distance I couldn’t read the words, but I suspected I didn’t want to.
Lucifer took the reddened rope and twisted it around that bone circle, the blood seeping into those carved letters, his voice deep, but full of ecstatic thrill.
“By copper and knot, by fire and shadow, the queen shall bear a child of thunder…” Lucifer’s voice boomed through the chamber and Gall tensed, growling as hisgrandfathercontinued to touch his mate, twisting that rope through the circle and around, then threading it through again, leaving red smears on the bone, and Istral’s stomach.
I begged God to give my sister strength, to give her peace, to not let this be the moment when her control failed her, and she panicked.
She seemed transfixed, though. Her wide eyes still seeping tears, but locked on Lucifer. Her body trembling from head to toe.
‘Melek, we can’t let this go on—’
‘He isn’t hurting her.’
‘He’sterrifyingher!’
‘She’d be killed the moment we intervened. Look at him, Yilan. Look at Lucifer.’
I didn’t want to give that creature another moment of my attention, but my eyes were drawn to his face, his skin near-glowing in the strange light of the black flame, his eyes reflecting that glow in strange ways that made no sense.
“…born the Heir to the Fallen Throne, Ruler of the Kingdom of the Krow, he willrise.Eyes like dawn’s first ray, voice that bends shadow to will.He will rise!”
Poor Gall shuddered and swayed, fighting the urge to lay hands on the Fallen who was still touching Istral. Thank God, she hadn’t looked down. Hadn’t seen the blood drying on her own skin, or the strange, sickly light now emanating from those words, etched on the bone and filled with transferred blood.
“The blessing of the Heir carries heavy debt. The power borne of the virgin queen will ride in his blood, and the debt will seek its owing.”
I didn’t understand the words. Couldn’t make sense of them, I could only watch on, helpless and grieving, as I watched my sisterunifiedto her God-given mate… but through a ritual born out of the dark. Andvirgin?Didn’t he know? Or was this just another of his pageants?
‘Melek, we can’t just stand by!
‘You must. We must! We have to let him believe we’re powerless—’
The final loop of the rope covered the last of the words cut into the bone warmed by my sister’s skin. Lucifer cackled and finally stood back, taking his reddened hands off of her.
“She stands! The Pure! The Untouched! Receiving the sacrifice, she stands! And by every authority in my possession, she will bear the strongest Heir! She is your Ruler—bow and give the Queen her due!”
Every man—all the Advisors, and even Gall—knelt, bowing their heads to Istral, who remained frozen in Lucifer’s glowing gaze. Their incantation reached a feverish pitch, their words coming faster, drawn through tight lips. The cries of the other women sprinkling through their chants like salting a wound.
