It said, “We’ve entered a new day, Lux Thorn. Let there be no more secrets between us.”
The voice. It was not in her head. Nor did it sound the same even if it were. It was the voice from the workroom. From moments before. Harsh. Rasping. Old. If she would imagine the voice of the devil, it would sound something like this.
“Corvin,” she said, cringing when her voice also rasped up her throat.
How much time had passed?
Hallowed Day, they said. Not eve.
“Don’t fret, doll. I know I do not look so attractive to you now in this form. Soon, it will be righted. Soon, we’ll be the most powerful Overlord and Mistress of Mothlock.” His red-rimmed eyes swept the room. “Nearly two centuries without proper sleep. Our bodies are exhausted.”
Revulsion sickened her. “That cannot be why.”
Hetsk’d, and the sagging skin about his mouth shook. “Please don’t tell me the why of things. You’ve barely lived, and you’ve spent that meager time with the dead. I, however, have lived. Learned.Iknow everything.” He turned away from her and, stepping toward the grave, upheld the pitcher. It tipped. A dark liquid ran from the lip, splashing against the ice with an alarming hiss.
Lux folded over her knees. Until her hand could reach Shaw’s head. Until she could just run her fingers through his locks. His head lolled backward. The side of his face pressed to her leg, but the other, she could see. And it was blackened and swollen. Sheseethed. Digging within the confines of her gown, she searched for her dagger and discovered it missing. She found a berry, instead, round and whole.
Her hand retreated when Corvin spoke again. “Bring her here.”
Lux shoved herself backward into the throne, drawing her knees up, allowing Shaw’s head to fall. Of course, it didn’t matter. Collectors flanked her, their ungloved hands reaching—and Lux realized their skin was the same. Grey. Sagging. Nightmarish. She recoiled.
“Don’t make this difficult,” the one on her left sneered.
Lux’s eyes snapped to the shadowed hood. “Silas. Your voice is as ugly as ever.”
Silas dragged his hood back, and Lux flinched. He did not smile—he seemed incapable—but his bloodshot eyes appeared pleased by her discomfort. His lips, deeply cracked, moved nearer. From her jaw to her temple, he inhaled her scent. “You killed Hildred, didn’t you? I tracked this scent all over the rocks.”
Lux’s veins iced over, a cold sweat breaking out along her brow. “Get away from me, dog.”
His hand gripped the fabric around her middle, and Lux bit her cheek against crying out when he dragged her forward. “Call me that again, Necromancer, and we’ll see how far you can run before Ifindyou.”
“Silas,” warned the other. But he, too, reached for her—the one who’d filled her with rocks.
“What?” she hissed. “You don’t wish to show off your monstrous looks too?”
In response, the mason shoved back his hood. And he wasold.So old, his skin hardly seemed attached to his skull. “Is this better, girl?”
Lux stared at his foul face. Recognized its bones from the portrait of Mothlock’s founders in the morning room. “No,” she said.
She was hauled off the throne before she could say anything else.
“Sew her lips shut for us, Kent,” said Silas. “I’ve been sick of hearing what comes out of them since Verity.”
“We’ll see,” replied Kent, and when he lowered his hood, Lux immediately felt her bodice tighten. She sucked a breath in alarm only to feel the gown release her. He smiled. “Welcome back to the waking world. You lose consciousness so easily—it was almost disappointing.”
Lux’s breaths blew harsh through her nose. She wanted to lunge at him but knew she’d never make it near enough to put her nails to use. She ground her teeth; at this rate, there would be nothing left of them.
“Enough,” rasped Corvin. He did not turn from the dissolving coffin. “Whether our necromancer realizes yet or not, she is tied to the bones of this estate. She will be what settles it. What settlesus.Show your mistress a modicum of respect.”
A low hum of dissent rumbled through the collectors.
Lux’s stomach roiled.
“Come. Time to put your brilliance to use.” Corvin turned, his hand outstretched.
“You must be deluded,” she said, a laugh bordering on hysteria escaping her. “Kill me. I no longer care. I will never revive another for you. I willneverbecome any mistress of this saintforsaken place.”
“Kill you?” Corvin purred. “Mothlock is a place of preservation. We are not so wasteful here.”
