“Selene told me Nickelova might react to the proximity of the heart,” Jason said. “Try it, Silas.”
Cupping the large throbbing ruby in both hands, Silas passed it over the cocoon, stopping where he’d expect Nickelova’s chest to be. Loud and clear, he said, “Come out, Nickelova. I have something for you.”
The egg vibrated again, and the giant plates began to shift. With a sound like grinding gears, the scales slid and stacked one on top of the other like some giant puzzle box. As the hard, metallic shell folded away, a leathery snakeskin was exposed. It writhed as if the serpent within had swallowed a giant rat.
Silas squeezed the heart. “Come on, you bitch, come and get it.”
The snakeskin split down the middle, the sound of tearing leather making Silas feel queasy. A puff of foul-smelling steam rose from the broken flesh. “Ugh!” Silas covered his nose and mouth with the back of his arm. The skin shriveled and rolled, the cocoon opening like some gigantic fleshy baked potato.
Polina crept forward, wand pointed menacingly toward the opening. The steam was too thick to see inside. Jason waved his hands in a ridiculous effort to fan the haze away, while Silas squinted his eyes in the hopes of confirming a visual of Nickelova. The heart tightly within his grip, he leaned over the opening.
A pale round sphere broke through the fog. No, not a sphere, a head. The bald head of a corpse, with shriveled skin and receding lips. Skeletal arms splayed over the sides of the cocoon, one bony hand reaching for Silas and the heart.
“Miiine,” the thing rasped, its dried tongue protruding between its teeth.
“Is that Nickelova?” Jason stepped back in repulsion.
Polina grimaced. “She is mortal. Suspending herself may have prolonged her life, but without food or water, she has fed on herself these months. She will die here if we don’t get her help.”
“Heeaaart.” The skeletal fingers clawed at Silas.
“Sorry. No.” Silas lifted the heart out of her reach.
“The fae hospital will never take her, not after what she’s done,” Jason said.
“Then we bring her to St. John’s. Grateful will help us,” Silas said.
“I must warn you, I’m not at all sure she’ll survive the journey,” Polina said.
“Take her separately. Then come back for the two of us,” Silas said.
Polina scowled. “Me? Take her alone? Sure, send the witch along with the dragon woman. Make the witch do it. She won’t mind. It’s not as if the dragon is a killer or anything. Oh wait, she is, and the past lover of the man who almost murdered my husbandandmy familiar—”
“Polina!” Silas raised his voice to stop her rambling. “She won’t hurt you. She’s… decimated. Besides, she can’t do magic as long as I have this.” He held up the heart. “And she’s not strong enough to do anything else.”
Nickelova’s distended eyes locked on the heart cradled in Silas’s hand.
“Fine,” Polina said bitterly. “Help me lift her out of this thing.” Because Silas had the heart, Jason took the lead, lifting Nickelova from the silver scales. Even from a distance, Silas could see she was too light. She looked like a mummy, barely more than a skeleton. Nothing like the woman Silas had known. Nickelova’s body once contained a dragon. Now, it seemed barely capable of containing her life.
Polina wrapped an arm around Nickelova’s chest and glanced between the two brothers. “Don’t get comfortable. I don’t plan on staying with this one any longer than I have to.” She released a handful of gold dust over their heads. The two came apart and melded into the mountain.
“You know what this means?” Jason crossed his arms over his chest, and blew out a deep breath.
“Huh?”
“Whoever attacked Laina wasn’t Nickelova. Which means, our sister was duped, and someone else is helping Alex. Someone who’s not even on our radar.”
By the timeSilas arrived in Carlton City with Polina, the others had transported Nickelova to the hospital. Grateful had her in isolation, hooked up to so many wires and tubes Silas wouldn’t have recognized her if he hadn’t known who she was.
“It doesn’t even look like her,” he said.
“It’s her.” Grateful hooked her finger inside the cuff of one of her rubber gloves and stripped both from her hands. “I’m disappointed Bojingles Fae Hospital wouldn’t take her. The woman doesn’t have a heartbeat. You have no idea the steps I had to take to keep her identity a secret.”
“Can I interrogate her?”
“You can try, but keep in mind, she’s fragile. I’ve got magic and medicine propping her up. I’m not at all sure she’ll live through this.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “She could still die? You’ve got her pumped full of everything under the sun, and we still might lose her?”
