But I knelt anyway, pressing my palm to the stone floor.
“Aperio,” I whispered, drawing on magic as a thousand eyes watched me in silence. Including Wickett’s. Who hadn’t made a single move to stop any of this. But then, what could he do? Nothing. We were all prisoners of this showcase.
Silver light erupted from beneath my hand, racing outward in thin, blazing lines. Not a massive display. This was smaller, tighter, contained only to the space around us. But the symbols were the same as in the arena, script spiraling in the language the Furies had brought to this world, connecting outer and inner boundaries with precise line work.
When the light faded, the demon prince and I stood inside a spell circle carved directly into the palace floor. Crafted as quickly and as perfectly as every other time I’d done this in my life.
Good, the demon prince’s voice purred in my mind.Now the blood. The blade. The water. Combine them within the circle and speak your release.
I did as I was instructed, reshaping the water into a sphere that held Vitoria’s blood suspended in its center like a trapped star. A copy of the Starfall stone we’d all held to complete the Mortalis and become Venatori.
My voice came out quiet. Certain. “Absolvo.”
The sphere expanded, blood diffusing through it like ink, turning every drop crimson. I let it separate. Droplets formed, hovering. One for each of us bound by that cursed oath.
Wickett. Pip. Calder. Myself.
And Lucy, wherever she was. If this worked, if the demon prince’s power was enough, if she wasn’t already dead in the Ash somewhere while we stood here playing games with ancient monsters, then maybe she’d be freed of this too.
I felt the oath break.
Not dramatic. Not explosive like the Starfall stones had been. Just... gone. The pressure that had been building for all these days released at once, leaving me gasping like I’d been drowning and only just realized.
Free.
We were free.
And I’d never felt more trapped in my life.
I looked at Vitoria, really looked at the woman I’d called sister, who I’d defended and protected and loved.
“I’m going to kill you,” I breathed. “Oath or no oath.”
Her smile widened. “I’d like to see you try.”
The throne room doors burst open with enough force to crack stone.
Tiberius Veyne shoved through the crowd like a man possessed, dragging something, someone, behind him. A frail old woman with long white hair, stumbling to keep up with his brutal pace.
What the fuck was he doing here?
I spun toward Wickett without thinking of the attention it would put on him. I needed to make sure he was okay, that seeing his father wouldn’t break something in him that had just started to heal.
But Wickett wasn’t looking at Tiberius. He was staring at Vitoria with an expression I couldn’t read. The blood oath was never the reason he wanted the Phoenix dead. He still wanted to see her death through. I guess in that, we were the same.
“Despite your witch’s curse eating me alive,” Tiberius announced, his voice carrying through the massive space. “I’ve still managed to bring you the Phoenix bloodline as a gift.” He yanked the old woman forward viciously. “Tested her myself on the Erelith flames. She didn’t burn. The blood is real.”
... But didn’t he believeVitoriawas the Phoenix? Unless he knew she wasn’t the whole time. And who was the poor woman on the floor in chains? Another of his scapegoats, most likely. Poor thing.
The demon glared. “As I’ve told you in all of our correspondence, Vitoria Nindle did not curse you. Putting a superfluous target on her back for your Venatori to follow was awfully bold. And the Phoenix line is already mine to control. I don’t need a useless old woman who bears no mark.”
I’d thought the Magistrate would always be the scariest man in the room, but watching him walk toward a demon prince had completely changed my perspective. I took the distraction as an opportunity to sneak away, stepping down from the raised platform as the Magistrate closed in. Pip slowly flew to my side, and I’d never in my life wished I had bigger pockets than right now, just to give her a place to hide.
Tiberius scowled at the demon. “I’ve funded you for years. And when your little pet failed to deliver the Rune Eater to you, I stepped in. Here he stands at your side, exactly as you wanted. That was our agreement. His capture for my residency here when the world burns.”
But I couldn’t hear the rest.
Couldn’t hear anything past the roaring in my ears as I finally looked at the woman on the floor when she’d lifted her face to me.
