Something in her voice made him stop.
“I know where the lyre will take you,” she said. “It will lead you to a temple far away from here… There might still be ancient Tezcat routes that lead to it, but I don’t know where those are. All I know is the location of this temple activates that lyre. Once its true power is ripe, all the Babel Fragments of the world are at risk of being torn out of the earth and joined once more. It was what the Fallen House always wanted… that they might rebuild the Tower of Babel, climb it, and claim God’s power for themselves.”
Séverin did not turn around.
“How do you know this?” he asked.
Delphine paused and then exhaled. It was a sound full of relief, as if she’d finally shoved off the weight of this secret.
“Your mother told me,” she admitted. “Your mother wanted to make sure I would be able to protect you, and that—if you needed—you would know the secret she carried with her.”
Your mother.All this time, Kahina and Delphine had known that the cost of protecting him meant harming him. And for the first time, he felt like he could finallyseeinside the choices Tristan had made.
For too long, Séverin had wondered whether Tristan’s… habits… would have turned on them. But what if his habits were his version of mercy? All those demons at Tristan’s throat, pushinghis hand, warping his thoughts. What if it meant that all he could do was displace his horror onto something else rather thanthem?
Tristan’s love had worn the face of horror.
Delphine’s love had worn the face of hate.
Kahina’s love had worn the face of silence.
No sooner had he thought that then he felt the pressure of his brother’s blade against his chest. The knife was all he had left of Tristan. Since he’d died, Séverin had held the knife close like a ghost he could not let go, but now he saw it as something else… a gift. A final blessing. What he would do next was no less monstrous than Tristan’s actions… and yet it held its own version of love. Séverin touched his Mnemo bug and breathed deep. For the first time in a while, he no longer caught the scent of dead roses. He smelled the freshness of fallen snow, the scent of a new beginning.
“Whatever my mo—” Séverin stopped, his mouth still not holding the shape of that word. He swallowed hard. “Whatever Kahina told you about the temple’s coordinates, I need you to tell Hypnos, so we can get there before Ruslan. But for now, I have to get to the grotto.”
“The leviathan won’t hold,” retorted Delphine. “Soon, its tether will break, and I need to get us out of this machine in the next few minutes! You might not make it to the top, and if you fall with the machine, you’ll drown.”
“Then I must move quickly,” said Séverin, making his way toward Hypnos.
From his jacket pocket, Séverin pulled out Tristan’s knife. He turned it over in his palm, tracing the translucent vein on the blade where Goliath’s venom shone in the half-light. One slice from this side of the blade was no different from the blood Forging paralysisplaguing the Order of Babel. For a couple hours, it could make even the living look dead. In Séverin’s other hand, he weighed the raspberry-cherry jam that looked so much like blood. His plan crystallized. Against his palm, the hilt of Tristan’s blade felt warm and reassuring, and Séverin wondered whether his brother was trying to show him that they had far more in common than once imagined.
Séverin knelt beside Hypnos and shook him awake. Hypnos yawned, stared up at him, and then gradually saw where he was. He jolted upright, skittering backwards and raising himself up on his elbows.
“Wh-what’s happening?”
“Do you trust me?” asked Séverin.
Hypnos scowled. “I already hate this conversation.”
“No need to participate, then,” said Séverin. “Just listen closely…”
FIVE MINUTES LATER,he headed up the stairs. He heard Ruslan’s voice, the crackle of ice as the leviathan listed from side to side, whipping against the underside of the ice grotto. He grasped the handrails for stability. With every breath, he inhaled the terrible metal of the leviathan’s belly and repeated his plan over and over inside his head.
By now, he expected Delphine and Hypnos were safely ensconced inside their pod, waiting in the waters. Near the top of the stairs, he took a deep breath…
He was about to step outside when he heard a voice call out to him.
Séverin whirled around, shocked to see Delphine a few pacesbehind him. She was out of breath. In one of her hands, she held out his great black coat. Tucked under her arm was a coiled rope and a single Shu Gust helmet.
“You forgot this,” she said, shoving the coat into his hands. “And it’s very cold.”
He stared numbly at it, then quickly recovered.
“What do you think you’re doing? If you’re not out soon, you’ll—”
Delphine waved her hand nonchalantly, then shoved the Shu Gust into his hands. “I know. I couldn’t risk something happening to you. I made a promise to keep you safe, and I intend to keep it. If I stay in the pod, I know the leviathan won’t run aground.”
Séverin stared at her. Without the Shu Gust… she would die. She was going to die. Forthem.
