“Hello, friends,” Ruslan said, smiling.
PART V
31
LAILA
Laila’s heart had never beat so furiously. Moments ago, she had been savoring that very feeling. When they had entered the temple sanctum, Laila had felt as if her whole body had been rinsed in myths and honeyed light.
She had returned to her senses to find them sharp, honed as if by a jeweler’s lathe so that every sensation felt like a polished jewel. Even her blood moved sleekly in her veins. And perhaps the temple had changed something within her because the moment she touched the Forged box, sheknew.
Ruslan had laid a trap for them.
But however the temple might have enhanced her abilities, it had not done so fast enough. Laila looked down to see a hovering, golden dagger pressed against her heart.
And she was not alone.
Enrique, Zofia, and Hypnos were similarly trapped. Séverin alone was untouched.
Not three meters away, Ruslan came into view. He held out hisgolden hand, and she realized he was somehowcontrollingthe daggers. Behind Ruslan stood six members of the Fallen House, and something was wrong with them. Theirvoltomasks looked scorched and dented. When they moved, their gestures were too stiff. Flies buzzed around their heads.
“My, my,” said Ruslan softly. “What a wonder to behold… I suppose I should thank you for doing all the difficult bits, but it wasveryrude of you to try and kill me like that, Séverin! I thought we truly were friends.”
“Ruslan, I—” Séverin started to say.
“Shhh. Let me bask, first, in the threshold of my godhood. I want to remember this moment.”
As the smoke cleared, Ruslan’s face came into focus and Laila froze.
Now, half of his face shone unearthly and strange and… gold. Part of his skull was smashed in, and light glinted off the golden dent.
“Do you like my new look?” asked Ruslan, smiling.
His teeth were either chipped or missing. What remained appeared to be smeared red with blood.
“It is, admittedly, a touch gaudy,” he said, sniffing. “But itwashard to reconstruct myself after you tried to blow me up.”
“You should be dead,” growled Enrique.
“I should, shouldn’t I?” said Ruslan. “But you see… that’s the thing about my inheritance. The ‘Fallen House’ is such an ugly name. Its true one is so much better. We are and have always been House Attis.”
At the name, the gold knife in Ruslan’s hand shone. Behind Ruslan, thevoltomasks on the members slipped sideways revealing something sunken. Somethingstinking. Something far from alive. Laila’s stomach turned.
“You see,wealone had a hint of the power in the temple.Wecould not create new life, but we could always revive it… in some fashion.” Ruslan grinned as he gestured at the dead Fallen House members behind.
Ruslan dragged his knife across his own throat, laughing as the line bled gold instead of red. “So you see, my friends, you cannot kill me. In many ways, I’m practically dead already and it hasn’t stopped me yet.”
A shiver ran down Laila’s spine. She glanced to her right and saw Séverin staring at her, the lines around his mouth tight with worry. The moment she looked at him, the golden dagger at her breast dragged up slowly, with all the languor of a lover’s touch. It tapped beneath her chin, forcing her head up.
“Now, now, don’t be so distracted, Séverin!” Ruslan laughed.
Laila swallowed hard. The dagger did not move from its new position at her throat.
“Gold and alchemy, transformation and ichor,” said Ruslan, gesturing with a flourish of his wrist. “The use of such treasures always comes at a cost, you know.” He paused, tapping the side of his golden skull. “But I was willing to pay anything to save myself. I’m afraid the same could not be said for my men however.”
Ruslan snapped his fingers. As one, the six members of the Fallen House lifted theirvoltomasks. A sweet, rotten stench filled the air. Beneath their masks was a ruined mass of flesh, mouths pulled into rictus grins and covered in a thin layer of gold.
“Not quite enough to call them living, but certainly enough to be useful,” said Ruslan, shrugging. “And perhaps when I am a god, I will use my infinite mercy and ability to restore them to full life… maybe. That is what you want too, is it not, lovely Laila?”
