“Hm hm,” Aethra hummed. “I did something like that once. Oh!”
I turned around, looking for what had startled her. She was standing beside one of the cabinets, holding a beautiful lance. Encrusted with onyxes and rubies, wings sprang from the base of the blade. My eyes traced the length of the haft, finding words engraved near the base.
For Set
962 Post Sundering
“Seth never mentioned this,” Aethra said. “Ma’at must have commissioned it for him.” She closed the cabinet door. “I’m taking this.”
“Yes, very subtle,” Phaedrus said. “Let’s carry that back into the ballroom.”
“We’re going to have to flee, anyway. This is a trap, remember?”
Smiling, I grabbed a few more gold pieces and choice jewelry, collectively worth a small fortune. “Let’s not linger,” I suggested.
Grabbing the ladder, I returned to the throne room first, pausing before fully ascending to scan the room.
I didn’t see anyone. “All clear,” I thought to them, finishing the climb.
Piano notes danced faintly at the back of my mind.
Piano.
Panicked, I spun around, searching for Icelus. An organ stood on an elevated platform across the room, but no one played it.
Calming my breathing, I backed toward the throne. Icelus must have already flung me into his nightmare.
Had my fears changed? Last time he’d used his magic on us, I’d seen the echoes of my past sins. Sins I’d since repeated.
Pain erupted in my back, and a force threw me forward onto the floor. I barely managed to catch myself. Twisting around, I saw bloody thorns retreating toward the hatch.
Phaedrus had betrayed us, just as we knew he would.
Shaking my head, I bit my lip.
No. This was just an illusion.
Aethra screamed, a bloodcurdling noise that sent cold waves through my heart. Scrambling to my feet, I lunged for the hatch, but more vines wrapped around my legs and arms, pinning me to the floor.
She screamed again, and I desperately reached for her, but the thorns only dug deeper. Blood trickled onto the tiles, and in its red depths I saw my reflection.
And a truth I’d long denied.
We’d never dispel the Empty if Aethra died.
There was no cure for Percy’s illness.
Even if we reclaimed this city, we could never change Duath Nun.
Everyone believed we labored for naught. That we’d fail. That we’d die trying.
And, gods, I realized I didn’t care. I’d rather fail than lose them.
Than loseher.
The pain of the thorns lifted, and the world spun. Disoriented, I raised my head and felt a spear brush my cheek. A dozen Ma’at guards gathered in a circle around me, spears pointed inward. Aethra was doubled over beside me. Under Icelus’ illusions, I hadbelieved her out of reach.
Gasping, she grabbed my arm, and I felt her thoughts.
