I know she speaks the truth. Nimue told me the device can only be used to travel to a place one has been before, one the user can see clearly in their mind’s eye. Zara has been at the church since last night. There are numerous places she can show up, numerous faces she can wear to get close to Dorian again.
“No matter what,” she says through her teeth, “I’m getting back to Dorian. I’ll walk if I must, wear every disguise I can think of to get inside that church. I’ll even kill him where he stands instead of gifting his body to the sea. Either way, I can’t let you keep that.”
Keeping my palm closed, I place my fist in my lap. Only the merest flash of silver shows between my fingers. “What will you do for me if I give it to you?”
She scoffs. “You’re not in a position to bargain with me. You’re weak. Pathetic. I could bite off your fingers one by one and you’d have nothing to fight me with.”
“I was clever enough to take it. Don’t I deserve something for that?”
“Clever? Hardly.”
It takes all my restraint not to glare at her. “I wouldn’t write me off so soon. If what you’re saying is true, Nimue will soon make me one of your Sisters. That means, if she loves me as much as you claim, I could make things hard for you in the future. I think that puts me in a fine place to bargain.”
Her eyes darken but she says nothing.
“How about this?” I lift my fist ever so slightly. “I’ll hand this over without a fight, if you promise to kill Brother Dorian within five minutes of arriving at your next destination.”
She tilts her head back. “What kind of bargain is that?”
“A challenge,” I say, a corner of my lips curling up. “A dare.”
“Are you suggesting that lovelorn act was exactly that? An act?” She huffs a laugh. “I think not.”
“My feelings or lack thereof are none of your business. What matters to you is I don’t think you can do it.”
Her lips curl with indignation. “Even if I travel back to the same room we just left and find it empty, I can carve through every man that stands in my way of finding him. He was wounded. He can’t have gone far.”
I shrug. “Do you honestly think you can fight the men of Saint Lazaro? The church has a history of violence against the fae.”
“The church is soft. They’re nothing but a shadow of the men who rebelled against our kind. They will break beneath me. I wouldn’t even need a weapon to kill every man in that church. I could kill them all before they know I’m there.”
“Prove it. Show me what the Sisters of the Black Eel are made of. If you succeed, I’ll ask Nimue to go easy on you for stealing my kill. Otherwise, you can fight me for this. Maybe you’ll get it back and finish what you started. Or maybe you’ll find I’m made of more ferocity than you know. Maybe my lips will find yours. This time, Nimue won’t be here to bring you back.”
She curls and uncurls her clawed fists. Silence stretches between us as she studies my face, weighs her odds against my dare. Finally, she lifts her chin. “I agree to this bargain.”
I raise my fist out to her and give her what’s inside.
Her lips peel back, a hiss escaping her teeth as she stares down at my shell comb.
Silver inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
Silver she mistook for the Chariot.
Silver that absorbed her attention, making her ignore the hand that had been hidden in the folds of my skirt. The hand that flipped open the Chariot seconds ago, its face pressed to the ground, its light smothered. Only now does its illumination grow bright enough to be seen through the layers of damp fabric.
Zara’s eyes go wide.
I lunge forward, wrapping my arms around her leg and sending her sprawling.
In my mind’s eye, I form a vision of thick metal walls, sealed by a heavy door.
The light swallows us whole.
When it goes out, I find us in darkness. Or close to it. Damp rot invades my senses. Zara kicks me away and I release her leg. She looks wildly around, but walls close in on every side, the single door sealed with only a tiny, barred window for light. There’s nowhere else to go.
“Where are we?” she roars.
I rise to my feet, finding my legs solid beneath me. “The Lumenas City Jail. I was locked up in this very cell once before.”
