The mask fell from Nico’s face, clattering on the stone floor, and he drew in a deep, shuddering breath. Livid red lines marked his throat and face. He gasped for air, great racking sobs, but Jason held him close, murmured words she couldn’t hear. Nor should she. They weren’t for her.
As fast as she could, Ari grabbed the cursed mask and hurled it away from them. She heard the noise of it clattering on the stones and prayed it would smash into a million pieces.
‘Jason…have to go,’ Nico murmured, as if still caught in a dream. ‘The voices said. The voices in the mask. She’s coming and she’s angry. So angry. You can’t be here. Death comes with her. Surrender to her.’ His eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks as he went limp.
Ari grabbed her brother and shook him hard. ‘Get him out of here,’ she told him. ‘Get him back to safety. There are marks on the rocks. Follow them.’
The ground shook again. They could hear the rocks shifting and in the distance a sound like a sonic boom coming through the water. The gates of Ys opening, the coming of Dahut.
‘Ari, this place, this find—’
‘Is worth nothing if we’re dead. Get Nico out.’
He didn’t argue again, didn’t dare perhaps. He manhandled Nico to his feet and half carried, half dragged him back down the tunnel.
But when Ari looked for Rafael, both he and the mask were gone.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
Rafael stepped out into the cavern. He knew he needed to buy the others time, to let Ari and Jason find a way to help Nico. And escape. God, he prayed they would escape.
‘Laure, what have you done?’
‘Me?’ She laughed, that light little trill of satisfaction he found so irritating, so artificial. He didn’t know when she’d learned it, but he hated it. ‘God, you’re such a fool, aren’t you? Pretty but dumb. Maman always said you were just like Papa.’
‘What are you talking about?’
She surged to her feet and real anger filled her beautiful face. ‘Don’t talk down to me, Rafael. You aren’t in charge here. You aren’t in charge of anything anymore.’
He heard a noise behind him and something hit his feet. Glancing down, he saw the mask lying there, waiting.
Laure’s smile grew even wider. ‘Pick it up,’ she whispered in delight, her voice echoing around the chamber.
He bent before he thought better of it. Suddenly, the cool weight of it was in his hands.
‘Put it on. You know you want to. It’s been calling you, hasn’t it? And then we’ll find the truth of you. That’s what it does, did you know that? It makes you tell the truth, no matter how harsh. And if you lie…’ She ran her perfectly manicured fingernail over her throat and grinned like a hyena. ‘It takes you.’
The rocks shook again and the water in the pool surged, slopping over the edge as if something huge had stirred underneath it.
Rafael’s mouth had gone dry as he swallowed and fought every instinct in his body telling him to obey her. Put on the mask and he was lost, he knew that.
So did his sister.
But why? Why was she doing this?
Truth was not his forte. Not him. Not anyone in his family.
Everything was quiet. All he could hear was his own breath and the water of the pool, as if he breathed in unison with its movement. The mask was just a cold weight in his hands. He felt nothing of the obsessive need to put it on he’d felt the last time. There were no voices, no whispers. Almost no magic at all.
‘Laure,’ he tried again, schooling his face and his voice to patience. ‘I don’t know what’s happened to you or why you think—’
‘Don’t you dare try to talk me around. You’ve always dismissed me. Stupid, vapid little Laure, who can’t be trusted to do the simplest thing. You stormed in on every project I tried to run, took credit for every idea I had that worked. You’ve done this all my life, the bloody golden boy of the du Lac Foundation. Mémé’s favourite, Papa’s favourite, always destined to lead. If only they knew your real destiny, brother. The destiny of all the du Lac men, to kneel here and give themselves up to her.’
The sheer force of resentment took him aback. Had he really done all those things? He knew he’d been forced to step in and rescue any number of her bright ideas which had gone spiralling out of control over the years. As for taking credit, no, he’d always made sure she was acknowledged. He was sure he had.
‘Laure,’ he tried again. ‘Let’s just talk about this…’
‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ She pulled a gun from somewhere and pointed it at him. That explained how she got Nico down here, he guessed. Or had she just promised to show him wonders? Anything was possible, or so it now seemed. He didn’t really know his sister at all. ‘Put the mask on. I want you on your knees and ready when she gets here. Then she can deal with you and we can all move on. Maman and I will make sure Mémé’s taken care of, if that’s worrying you. You always cared more about her than us.’
