What had her coronation been like? Had she stood before the palais on Ecstatica and accepted the clamorous love of her people? Or had she, like me, opted for a small ceremony, friends and important courtiers only, to hide the misbegotten nature of her rise to power?
Had she liked the feel of that crown on her brow? Or had it felt too heavy to her too?
Had she ever woken from nightmares that gripped her heart and pummeled her soul?
I slid my hand to her neck—more out of habit than anything else. I squeezed.
Perhaps we had both been caught between worlds. She, between life and death. Me, between dark and light, hatred and love, reality and fantasy. I’d finally fought my way out of that confusion, charting a perilous course toward the world I’d always dreamed of. But Severine? She wasn’t going to wake up. And if she did, it would only be to upset the fragile peace I’d fought for.
Perhaps she’d earned a peace of her own.
Lullaby’s voice echoed through me:It would be a mercy.
Slowly, hesitantly, regretfully, I hefted the sword and laid the blade against her throat. Light from the joined Relics painted her in gory shades from collarbone to jaw.
Her pulse fluttered in her throat, then ratcheted against the blade.
She jerked, convulsed. Horror moved me to snatch the sword away, but her limp hand clutched the blade. Blood burst along her palm and drenched her unvarnished nails in red. Her pale thin eyelids slashed open; staring violet eyes found mine.
“Hello, little sister,” Severine said.
Terror shoved me away. Memories of our last confrontation slicked my mind—blood and mirror glass, her hands at my throat stealing my legacy. But hiding beneath the fear was something else, something I didn’t expect: a childlike wave ofhope.
Severine began to cough violently, explosively. She seized on the bed, her torso convulsing with the force of her coughing. Droplets of blood burst from her mouth, staining her lips and splattering the pristine bedspread. She coughed until I thought she would come apart at the seams.
She wretched. Gagged. The corners of her mouth bent around something—anobject—wedged between her teeth. She spat it out onto the mattress, choking on the spume of its ejection. I stared at it, but it was impossible not to recognize. I had seen it in my nightmares, in the memory of my blood. I had held it aloft, no more than a dream. I knew it because it had been meant for me.
It was the diamond Soul Relic. Blood spattered. Spit-frothed. Shining like a moon. Unmistakable. I stared down at it and fought the urge to snatch it up.
“You know it,” Severine croaked, around a smile like death. “Of course you know it—you have brought the rest together. They called you to it as it woke. And so you came.”
She choked and coughed again. This time, the cough sounded dangerous—a sound beyond illness, edging toward death.
“You—” Shock and disgust made my words slow. “You—youswallowedit?”
“How else could I keep you safe?” she rasped.
“Me?”
“All of you.”
Old fury spangled through me. “You tried tomurderall of us.”
“Better dead than shackled with this burden,” she groaned, her eyes fixed on the diamond. Her hand snapped out, tightened around my wrist. She dragged me closer. “Listen—don’t you dare give it what it wants.”
“What does it want?” I heard myself ask.
“It wants to take,” she said. “If you let it, it will take and take andtake. Whatever you want—whatever your soul desires—it will feed off that want and transform it into power.”
Revulsion gripped me. “What are you talking about?”
“You think you can control the hunger of the Relics?” She stroked a hand along my cheek and smiled bloody. “Perhaps you can. You were strong enough to win, after all. But you were also weak enough to listen to their call. They want to be together. And you—youjoined them.”
Her eyes found the sword, dangling forgotten in my hand. Her fading gaze blazed with mad light.
“Meridian’s gifts all have teeth,” she hissed. “But his soul is worst of all. You think I wanted to steal? Steal lives? Steal powers? Once upon a time, I just wanted to feel what they felt, experience what they experienced. But that wasn’t enough. The Relic sank its fangs into my throat and never let go.” Her fingers moved to my cheek, finding the chips of diamond embedded in my neck, my collarbone. “But—oh.Sister. You have already tasted its bite.”
I slapped her hands away, but her words had their own sharp fingernails. “Get your filthy hands off me.”
