A corpse made up of mostly bone and rotting patches of skin bit into the side of Vex’s neck. He flailed around, trying to sling it off. Nearby, Isla stood idle, gawking at him, stuck under his divine charm.
Another corpse, lodged in the ground mid-torso, caught Astrid by her shin. She puffed in and out of sight, throwing up a vortex of flower petals to surround the other woman lying motionless on the ground. Cassian assumed she, too, had succumbed to a sultry charm. The undead creatures minded the two women with no attention, though.
Malik swiftly cut through Finnian’s shoulder with one of his blades.
A deep grunt escaped Finnian, and he hung his head forward.
With a firm grip on Finnian’s separated limb, Malik swung it forcefully, using it like a club to crush the jaw of another walking corpse. Simultaneously, he threw his second blade into the skull of a fierce wolf, saving the defenseless mage.
“Protect the mage!” he snarled, reaching for more blades sheathed around his waist.
“Our charms do not work on them!” Vex countered, scooping up a handful of gravel and hurling the stones through the corpses’ frail flesh.
“Make him” — Astrid staked her fingertips through a corpse's chest, lodging her arm in elbow-deep — “undo his wretched spell!”
“Such beautiful ruination.” Acacius chuckled, patting Cassian on his shoulder. “Leave with me, Brother. They will handle this amongst each other. The situation will be dealt with. You will not have to curse him. The problem will be solved.”
It felt wrong to imagine a world without Finnian. Something worse than death, for Finnian would be out of his sight. Somewhere Cassian could not look after him, check in on him. The distance, the unknowing—it would drive him mad. Cassian would be forced to act. He did not know the lengths he would go to in order to free Finnian from his entrapment; however, he was certain that he would cross every one of the Council’s lines.
Malik jabbed his blade through Finnian’s gut and twisted. “End the spell or I will carve up your precious apprentices next.”
Cassian watched the uneven stride of Finnian’s chest rising and falling as the back of his head met the exterior of the vault. He was coughing and spitting up blood through his teeth, lip curled, eyes cut down on Malik. Defiance was sharp inside the emerald darkness of his irises.
Cassian’s heart sank into his stomach, knowing whatever Finnian was about to say would only enhance Malik’s bloodlust.
All sense of rationality flatlined as he rolled his shoulder, knocking Acacius’s hand off.
Acacius was stealthy and just as skilled in speed. Once again, he clasped onto Cassian’s arm before he could take another step.
Cassian glared over his shoulder. “Acacius, if you do not unhand me, I will?—”
“I know of the quarrel you have with Ruelle.”
Cassian’s gaze narrowed on him. He did not know what to say. Ruelle was a viper and there was no telling whatdeception she’d fed to Acacius to twist him in her favor.
Finnian’s magic rose back up from the dirt, reforming the magnificent, neon blue mushroom cloud over the cemetery.
Cassian looked up at it, watching the spell reverse. Slowly, its form separated, a miasma gathering in the sky and parting into mist. It coated the crisp leaves on the ground, dampened Cassian’s hair, nipped at the skin of his arms.
The swarm of corpses stalled in their steps before crumbling into a carpet of bones and decaying flesh. The cool, white fire of their souls gathered one by one beside their mortal frames, resting.
“It is none of your concern,” Cassian said to Acacius, refocusing his gaze on Finnian. The young god buried his chin in his chest again. His surrender unsettled Cassian. Nausea bubbled in his stomach with a need to get to him as quickly as possible.
“Do not give Ruelle someone to hold over you again.”
A bitter scoff burned up Cassian’s throat as he turned to Acacius, boring into the same golden gaze as his own. “Do not think I am naïve to your feelings of Ruelle. You are only here, begging me to stay within the lines, because you do not wish to stand on the sidelines of our war. Unhand me, Acacius. I will not say it again.”
The muscles in his jaw flexed and the look in his eyes grew stale. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Brother.”
Releasing Cassian’s arm, a midnight blue shadow banded around his backside. He slid the animal skull over his face as its tendrils coiled around his frame.
A disfiguredslicesounded, and he was gone.
“Good boy.” Malik jutted the sharp end of his knife against Finnian’s cheek. “Now, wake the mage. You know how to counter whatever spell your nasty little apprentice cast.”
“Go…” Finnian croaked, lifting his chin, “fuck yourself.”
“Very well.” Malik twisted his torso to face Astrid, beckoning her with the jerk of his head. “Bring her to me.”
