Wait, a voice said in my head. A very familiar voice.
Crow? I thought.
You didn’t think I’d let you go into that cesspool alone, did you?
He’s controlling Ryder. Goap is going to make Myra cut his head off.
Stand up,Crow said.
You don’t know. You can’t see…
Little Bridge,he said, using a name I hadn’t heard in years,trust your Uncle Crow.
I surged to my feet and turned to face Goap and Patrick, Mithra and Vychoro behind them.
A wash of wind stroked gently across my skin, as if wings had flown past me.
My eyesight changed, shifting under Crow’s power. The grotto filtered into primary colors. Hidden symbols beneath the paths, across the temple columns, cracking through the sky, glowed.
I could see the magic and power lashing this space into place. Could see how it could be pushed around and changed by the will of demons. We were in a gods damned bear trap and one wrong move away from triggering the jaws.
Patrick’s eyes widened for a moment. Maybe he wasn’t as frozen as he pretended to be.
“What is this?” Goap said. “Does the Reed have a will of her own?”
You need to repeat everything I say, Crow said.And pretend you’re me.
Pretend I’m you?
Yes.
I loosened my stance and squared my shoulders, tipping my chin up.
This is very pretty, the cross, the double cross, Crow said in my mind.
I swallowed to get spit in my mouth, then smiled with what I hoped was a Crow smile. “This is very pretty, the cross, the double cross,” I repeated.
“But now I’d like to throw my feather into the ring.”
Goap looked me up and down and sneered. “Raven. How did you get here, god? In that form?”
“The same way I always do, demon,” I repeated with as much bravado as I could. “Do you think your kingdom has no entrances for a trickster? The leprechaun found his way in, didn’t he?”
“You have overstepped by showing yourself,” Goap said. “Be gone.”
Kill Bathin, Crow said.
I almost choked. I didn’t think I could say that, Crow or no Crow.
Delaney, he said gently.We can do this. Just say it.
“Kill Bathin,” I said, my voice shaking, but strong.
“As if I hadn’t thought of that years ago,” Goap said. “There are precautions our parents put into place so I cannot kill my brother with my own hand.”
“I know,” I repeated for Crow. “I am offering to kill Bathin for you.”
Goap held very still. He looked like a starving man who had just been offered a turkey leg. “I don’t recall you being charitable to demons, old god.”
