“Save your proselytizing for Willard and get on with it.”
Before she could jab him again, Oliver started forward and kept his eyes on the worm-eaten boards ahead.Take me to my mother,he thought. Holding the image of her face in the photograph and the face in the gnarled bark in his mind, Oliver hoped it would be enough. The treads under his feet dipped into the spongy ground, and fog obscured the path ahead, but the moment Felipe entered the Dysterwood and the strange slack in the tether disappeared, Oliver knew where he was going. Releasing a relieved breath, Oliver quickened his pace.
Protect Felipe like you protect me,he silently pleaded as he headed deeper into the labyrinth.
***
Felipe didn’t like the Dysterwood from the moment he set foot in it. He had been in murder towns before, and while Aldorhaven had been tame, apart from the necromantic worms, the Dysterwood was closer to what he had expected. Everything about it felt wrong. It wasn’t as strange as the desecrated cathedral, but the trees were too large and too perfect. The longer he stared at the ferns growing along the edge of the path or the beetles crawling up the tree trunks, the more obvious the uncanniness became. He pulled his socks higher up his calves before stepping on the first tread. The smell of rot and bloodflooded up with each step as Felipe trained his gun ahead and moved as quickly as he dared through the woods.
All around him creatures stirred. He could feel their eyes on him in the treetops and brush, a million eyes for one entity. Whatever the Lady was, he could feel her presence lurking in every shadow and creature. As the sky darkened into a stormy evening, the noises and shadows began. Just beyond the trees on either side of the path, Felipe heard unseen things crunching through the brush. His instincts screamed at him to hide or stop, but if he left the planks of bone and wood, it would give the woods an excuse to claim him.Trust the path,he reminded himself. The deeper he got, the more the creatures tried to lure him. More than once, he thought he heard Oliver crying or saw a shadow that looked like Teresa or Louisa running, but it couldn’t be them. Oliver was right; the trails were Orpheal. One look back or one foot off the path could spell doom.
When he passed through a copse of bare, jagged pines and heard voices, he suspected it was another trap until he found Lucien Stills trying to drag Will Jarngren to his feet. At first, Felipe merely watched them from the shadows a few paces away. Will let his pale head fall back and his legs buckle under his own weight. He was dressed in a robe and trousers, but he looked even more disheveled than before. Lucien chastised him and tried to coach him on how to walk as one might do to a drunken friend, but Will wouldn’t cooperate. Felipe couldn’t tell if he was drugged or if he was purposely going limp as a ragdoll as Teresa had often done as a child when she didn’t want to go somewhere. When Lucien dropped Will in frustration, Felipe stepped closer.
“Where are you taking him?” Felipe called, tucking the gun close to his leg out of sight.
Lucien spun in search of the source of the voice and nearly dropped his cousin again in the process. Relief and confusion flashed across his face when he spotted Felipe standing between the trees.
“Inspector Galvan, what a relief, though if you’re here, you must be as lost as we are. I don’t know if you know this, but only thedescendants of the Jarngrens can walk in the woods unscathed. If you come with us, we should be able to keep you safe.”
Felipe doubted that, but at least Lucien hadn’t noticed the signet ring. “What’s wrong with Willard?”
“Mother sedated him again this morning, and she must have given him too much. We are supposed to meet her in the Dysterwood, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to get Will there if he’s like this. She forgets I don’t know the way. Going into the Dysterwood is her and Will’s thing, not mine, and if he’s knocked out, he’s not going to be able to give me directions.”
Will murmured something that sounded like, “She’s going to kill me,” as he sank to the moss again.
Lucien rolled his eyes and hauled Will onto his feet. “She is not.”
“I don’t think he’s wrong, Mr. Stills. You two need to get out of the Dysterwood.”
“Get out? Inspector, even if I wanted to get out, I don’t know the way. Mother will know. I just need to find her. I assume the path will get us there or lead us back home eventually.”
Will gave Felipe a wild-eyed, pleading look. Daphne Stills had Oliver, and she was either going to try to sacrifice him or make a new covenant, whichever worked first. The only reason she would bring Will was as a sacrifice in case she couldn’t kill Oliver. He knew her sins after all. Felipe stared at the two men. He had to do something before they interfered with their plan. Will probably wouldn’t stand in their way, but Lucien— Felipe needed to take care of that. Pulling out his gun, Felipe aimed it at Lucien. The other man’s eyes went wide as he let go of his cousin’s arm.
“Let me make myself clear, you have two choices. You can either take Willard and get out or you can help me stop your mother from killing my partner. I can do the latter with or without you, but if you interfere, I will not hesitate to shoot you.”
The color drained from his face as he stared down the barrel of the gun. “Why— why do you think Mother is going to kill Dr. Barlow? What reason would she have to do that?”
“Because he’s our cousin,” Will answered, his voice slurred. “She’s killed all the others. Why not him? Why not me?”
“Stop saying that! She hasn’t killed anyone. Mother would never do that.”
“Your mother kidnapped my partner this morning and marched him into the Dysterwood when she realized he was Stephen’s son if that’s any indication of her character.”
Lucien shook his head. “That can’t be. Mother would never do that. The stress of all this, of almost being killed, and the dead, and Father’s unpleasantness… She must be having some sort of nervous breakdown. She must not be in her right mind.”
“Lucien, wake up,” Felipe snapped. “Your mother has been killing people for years right in front of your eyes. Do you think your entire family tree dropped dead without help? Your aunts, uncles, cousins, Will’s sister, she killed them all.”
“But why? Why would she do that?”
“Greed. Power. You need to give the Lady blood to make iron. If she wasn’t making enough iron, Aunt Daphne simply gave her more blood, our blood.” Will rose to his knees with a watery laugh. “Grandfather told you being a Jarngren requires sacrifice. What did you think that meant?”
“Hard work and discipline! What person in their right mind would think he meant murder?” Lucien’s auburn brows furrowed in confusion. “How did you know it did?”
“Because your mother made me help!” Will yelled, his voice raw. “She couldn’t let you get your hands dirty. You were too sensitive and dense not to tell everyone. She knew I could keep a secret, and even if I couldn’t, she made sure no one would believe me. She couldn’t do that to her perfect son, the next mayor. She needed you for plausible deniability and to do her bidding.”
Lucien froze as if he had been slapped. He backed away from his cousin and nearly stepped off the path before catching himself. Felipe thought he might be sick, but he just stood there, staring at the trees. Helping Will to his feet, Felipe tried to catch Lucien’s eye.
“You two can finish this conversation later. Right now, I need to find Daphne Stills before she kills Oliver. Are you coming with me or leaving the Dysterwood?”
