“And it will put my son back together?” Andrew said, his voice wavering.
“According to Isadora, it will.” Clara glanced down at the frozen face of the Soho priestess. “Whatever happens, you must keep this vision in your mind. Let us begin." She paused, then spoke, “The clay steals the clay.”
I chanted the words along with the others, forcing the power through my hands. A noxious smell wafted across my nostrils. It reminded me of the time last year when Obelix hid a dead rat in the cellar and it took me three weeks to locate the source of the stench.
This was a hundred dead rats. A thousand rotting rodent buggers all being shovelled at my mouth. I stumbled on the words as the malodour closed my throat and poured tears from my eyes.
“Don’t break the circle,” Clara screamed. “Keep chanting.”
“The clay steals the clay. The clay steals—” I choked as my mouth crawled with rot. The reek grew form, burrowing into every pore and soaking me in horror. I mashed my lips together in an attempt to hold out the fetid decay. If I opened my mouth again, I’d drown in it.
Keep going.I forced myself to picture that cone of power, to imagine it pulled my loved ones up from the earth.Do it for Maeve, for Corbin, for all of them.
I squeezed my eyes shut and tore my lips apart. Instead of being flooded by the unforgivable stench, I got a whiff of Maeve’s sweet perfume, Corbin’s leathery book smell, and Blake’s crisp autumn scent.
“I can feel them,” Clara yelled. Magic surged through my fingers as the cone of magic over us vibrated. “We’ve got them. Now, everyone, pull!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
THIRTY-EIGHT: MAEVE
“Why did you do that?” I gaped at Aline in horror as she ascended the steps of the throne, the crown gleaming under the flickering firelight. It sat askance on her head, too large really to fit her properly.
“Because it’s time the underworld stopped standing apart from the world, and pretending its problems didn’t reverberate through these walls.” Aline smiled down at me. “Do not be afraid, daughter. I will bring so much joy to these halls that humans will find joy in death as they never had before. The same kind of joy as you have given me in death, for you reunited me with my love, and I got to see what a remarkable woman my daughter has become.”
Robert scurried over to kneel before her. “I will serve you forever.”
“There will be no servants in my house.” Aline reached up to the crown and wrenched free one of the horns. She placed it in Robert’s hand. “This is yours. Take its power and do good with it.”
To my surprise, she turned and kicked Daigh’s outstretched hand, turning it over so his palm faced up. She dropped another, much tinier, piece into his fingers. His eyes widened in surprise.
“What are you doing?” I moved to wrench that piece of bone from Daigh’s grasp, but Blake held me back.
“More than anyone I have ever met, you have embodied true chaos,” Aline said to Daigh. “I can’t pretend that I haven’t hated the things you’ve done, especially to our daughter who you professed to love, but I cannot hate you. If you rule with me, you do so because you love me, and you obey me and the rest of my harem, do you understand? In return, I will give you a small kingdom where your chaos can have free reign.”
Daigh’s lips moved in a silent agreement. His fingers curled around the bone. Robert waved a hand, and a jet of water shot out, breaking off the shaft of the arrow wound and cleaning out the wound. Daigh crawled to his knees and came to kneel beside Robert, his forehead touching the ground.
“I will obey you and love you,” he murmured. For the first time, I detected true emotion in his voice. Defeat, yes, but also affection. Was it truly possible that even a fae like Daigh was yet capable of love? “You have always been my queen.”
“This is ludicrous.” Liah reached for her bow. “We’ve only just deprived him of his power and that witch has given it back.”
“He has no power without her now,” Blake said. “I think that’s as it should be. Do you agree, Maeve?”
“What do you think?” My mother stood and beckoned me to climb her throne. “I loved these two men once, and our love produced you. No matter how many evil things Daigh has done, I can’t forget that. Together, I believe we will be just what the Underworld needs. I will have my very own harem. At least, if Isadora will join us?”
She tossed another piece of the crown across the room. It sailed through the air before it was ensnared in Isadora’s talons.
“I accept,” she said, sashaying toward the throne. I noticed that the first thing she did as she grasped that power in her hand was sculpt herself some new red pumps.
Aline grinned at me, her arms wide. “Like mother, like daughter.” I grinned back, allowing her to embrace me.
She held me for a long time. I tried to imprint her body on my mind. She felt so familiar and yet completely foreign. I never knew her as a mother, but I knew now I could count her as a friend. Her lips pressed against my forehead, warm and still tingling with residual magic. “Keep a mirror with you always, so I can check in on you from time to time.” She glared at Blake and Corbin. “Just don’t put it in your bedroom. There are some things a mother doesn’t need to know.”
“Deal.” Blake grinned.
“Uh, guys?” Corbin held up his hand. His forearm was still solid, but his fingers had faded into black tendrils. “I think it’s time.”
I knew the guys would find a way!
