“Youwilldo your part. Or else your beloved interloper becomes another decorated member of our staff. He’s a similar height to Manphry. A pair of footmen would be distinguished, I think.”
“We will kill him a thousand ways. It’s already begun.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would,” said Corvin, nearly against her lips.
Riselda, you evil witch. You’ve either died and abandoned us or run and abandoned us. Either way, you’ve betrayed me. Again.
“Silas—”
“No.” Lux could hardly speak through the grit of her teeth, but Corvin raised his hand when the collector readied to break from the circle. “I’ll do it. But you will swear to not harvest his soul.”
Corvin licked his lips at her agreement. Or maybe it was her demand. But she realized it was neither when he said, “You really are brilliant. I will struggle if you prove to be a failure.”
He gestured her forward.
And Lux, devil take her, could think of nothing else to do but step up. Her fingers moved delicately across the array of ingredients.
She plucked one from the row—
And sealed her fate.
Chapter forty-nine
Shecametobesidethe table. Lux blinked at the wide wooden legs as she gathered her wits. She tipped her head back, and Corvin’s boot filled her vision. He stood beside her head. In that moment, lying at his feet discarded, she knew she would never be more than a tool to him.
A pet—a doll—for a powerful man.
“Welcome back, Alix. We’ve missed you greatly.”
Lux’s eyes widened. It’d worked. How had it actually worked?Alchemy,she fumed. Always ruining the order of things.
Corvin’s voice was creaking and bitter. A voice of nightmares. But the one that answered was quite the opposite.
“Corvin?Death to the Devil! What have you done?”
“Did you see them, Alix? Did you see the Saints in the Beyond?”
Lux slowly pushed onto her knees. Her fingertips buzzed where they met the flagstones.
The society’s first overlord cleared his throat. “I can’t say. Already, it’s faded, and I only recall peace. When did I die? Saints above, Brother, you must tell me what’s happened to you. To us.”
“You’ve been gone nearly two centuries.”
Silence enveloped the sanctum. And Lux stared upon Corvin’s twin as if she didn’t belong to herself again. Only for his gaze to slide to hers, to remind her of what she’d done.
His eyes were as raven black as his hair, even in the torchlight. He sat upon the table much the same as Shaw had those months ago in Ghadra. But his fingertips—they weren’t the relaxed hold of someone relieved to have been brought back into the presence of family. They blanched in their grip. His gaze flicked from her to Corvin, his features such a replica of his brother’s, immediate distrust flooded her chest.
But when his eyes returned to her, they seemed eager to convey something. Something that could not be said aloud. “Congratulations. You’ve always wanted a necromancer.”
The statement reminded Corvin of her, and he glanced down with a flicker of surprise at her kneeling. “A victim ofMania Malus.Her brilliance taxes her, but all will be rectified soon enough. We need something from you, Alix.”
“Of course you do.”
Lux stiffened at the hurt in Alix’s voice and glanced back to where Shaw lay upon the dais. He’d shifted at some point during her revival, the back of his head now resting upon the throne, his throat exposed. Her attention landed on the basin. She wished it wouldn’t have. A bloom of ice unfurled in her chest.
Her attention jerked from it. Landed once again on Corvin.
