As soon as Leander called out to her, the horrible sadness fell off Mara’s carved face, replaced by a look of pure fury as she reeled back and slammed her carved elbow into Alexander’s stomach. That shouldn’t have been enough to hurt a prince by itself, but Mara was also the Princess of Sorrow. The moment she touched him, Alexander’s armored body seized up with a sob, leaving him crippled as she tore herself free and ran for her prince. Alexander recovered the instant she stopped touching him, but by that point, Mara was halfway across the room, reaching out her hands for Leander, who was already there to catch her.
He must’ve teleported. By the time Bex realized he was no longer standing next to her, Leander was sweeping his princess into his arms. She crashed into him with a sob, pressing her carved white lips against every bit of Leander she could touch. That normally would’ve creeped Bex out, but this wasn’t the normal obsessive princess attachment. Every clutch and kiss was filled with what looked like true affection, so much that even Bex couldn’t help but smile.
She’d already signaled Nemini to move forward and help her protect the lovers, though she wasn’t terribly worried. Now that his scheme to bribe Leander into betraying them had failed, the Crown Prince was outnumbered five to one. Bex was hoping he’d just give up since he seemed like such a sad sack, but Alexander didn’t look like he was planning to step aside. He’d already drawn the black sword Bex had noticed him wearing at the beginning, the one she just now realized strongly resembled her own Drox.
“Stop,” he commanded in the language of the Riverlands.
The order fell on the throne room like a hammer. The only time Bex had felt anything like it was when the eight stolen voices of the queens had commanded every demon in the Hells to kneel. She’d been hornless at the time, so it had hit her hard, but even that pressure was nothing compared to this, because those voices had been mere echoes. This was the real thing, because the sword in Alexander’s hand wasn’t a Blade of Gilgamesh. It was the blade Enki had made for Bex’s mother, the weapon Gilgamesh was always holding in his statues while the carvings of the defeated queens sobbed at his feet.
Ishtar’s sword.
“Maranea,” he said in a voice so full of stolen power that even Bex shuddered. “By your sacred name, I command you: Kill everyone in this room except for me.”
Bex sucked in a breath. She had to get that sword out of his hands, but before she could even take a step in the Crown Prince’s direction, Leander cried out in pain as Mara ripped her white-carved arm off his shoulders and stabbed it through his chest.
CHAPTER 15
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THE STAB WAS SOfast it seemed instantaneous, but everything that followed looked like it was moving in slow motion. Leander didn’t even seem to understand what had just happened. He kept clinging to his princess with a confused look on his gaunt face while gallons of white blood—far more than any human body should’ve been able to hold—poured out of his sundered chest and landed on the throne room’s golden floor.
For what felt like an eternity, nobody moved. Even Bex’s feet were rooted in shock. When she finally managed to overcome it, she raced forward and yanked Leander off his princess, whose arm wasstillsticking through his chest. This caused even more blood to dump out of him, but while Bex was trying to get Leander to safety, the prince was fighting back.
“No,” he wheezed, grabbing at Bex with weakened, blood-slicked hands. “Don’t take me from her. I can’t leave her like this.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Bex hissed, pulling him harder. “She’s a Blade of Gilgamesh, the Traitor King! Ofcoursethey used her against you the moment your loyalty went in the wrong direction.”
Leander made another gurgling sound of protest, but Bex had had enough. She hauled him out of danger and shoved him at Adrian, who was already digging his medical supplies frantically out of his coat, before turning to put herself between the wounded Leander and the enemy. She’d just gotten intoposition when Bex caught another glimpse of the Princess of Sorrow’s face.
It was enough to make her pause. The princess might have the same carved body and tooled-gold eyes as all of Gilgamesh’s dolls, but the look of abject horror on her face belonged solely to Mara. If ivory and gold had been capable of producing tears, she would’ve been weeping rivers, but her smooth-carved cheeks were dry. She didn’t even have enough control over her body anymore to open her lips and let out the scream Bex could see building inside her as Gilgamesh’s weapon lifted her perfectly carved bloody hand and swung again.
Bex was fast enough this time. She sidestepped the blow and struck back, swinging Drox like a bat to bash the terrified but still deadly-looking princess with the flat of her blade.
Mara didn’t even try to dodge. She took the hit full across her front, letting Bex throw her across the circular throne room into the wall on the opposite side. She landed with enough force to flatten the golden carving of ancient Uruk, but the real damage came when she slid to the floor, revealing the cracks Bex’s hit had opened all over her carved body.
“No!” Leander screamed, fighting Adrian’s grip as the witch tried desperately to keep him still. “Don’t hurt her!”
“Yes,” Mara said at the same time, giving her sister a desperate look even as her cracked body pushed itself back up with the janky motion of a marionette. “Do it again, Bexa. Shatter me before—”
Her plea cut off as her body shot forward, her carved white feet slipping on the slick gold floor as she charged recklessly at the enemy. Her movements were so obvious that Bex could’ve hit her with her eyes closed, but she didn’t even raise her sword. She spun out of the way instead, letting the Princess of Sorrow run right past. When she was in the clear, Bex turned to Nemini, who was standing directly behind her as usual.
“Can you keep Mara off me without hurting her?”
“Probably,” Nemini said, glancing at the princess, who was already wheeling back around for another charge. “But what will you be doing?”
“Stopping this tragedy at the source,” Bex growled, turning to glare at the Crown Prince, who was still watching from the golden dais with Ishtar’s stolen sword at in his hand.
Nemini’s lips curved into a slight frown. “Be careful. He was War’s prince for a reason.”
Bex didn’t care. She’d already defeated War once, and she’d rather fight Gilgamesh himself right now than keep hitting the sobbing Mara.
“Just keep everyone alive,” she ordered, getting into position. “This shouldn’t take long.”
The Queen of Pride nodded and stepped up to take Bex’s place, facing off against their tragic sister while Bex launched herself across the throne room to drive Drox’s blade into the Prince of War’s heart.
That was the plan, at least. Unfortunately, Drox’s point didn’t get within a foot of the prince’s golden armor before he stepped out of the way. The move was so fast Bex’s eyes could hardly track it, but by the time she slammed her boots into the slick floor to course correct, the prince was already behind her.
“Rebexa,” he said in the same commanding voice he’d used to order her sister, “kill yoursel—”
