Her hold on me slackened slightly. Her pupils contracted almost imperceptibly. After several strained beats, she nodded.
“Do it,” Azrames prompted.
Her hands fell limply to her sides. She looked beyond me to Caliban as she said, “It’ll affect Marlow’s blood.”
My heart skipped a single beat. I looked at him reflexively, anxious for his answer, though I regretted it a moment later. It shouldn’t have mattered. I was with Hell. I’d already washed my hands of the Nordes.
“Will her sølje still work?” he asked.
I turned to watch her close her eyes, dipping her chin once.
Fauna said, “She’s circumvented all bonds between her tattoo and her broach. She doesn’t need citizenship.” She bit her lip, then took a hesitant half step toward me. “But you have it, Marlow. If I take the bloodline, you still have me. You can join the Nordes at any time.”
I didn’t look away as I said, “All I want from you is to take away my mother’s ability to scheme with the enemy. That should align with your master plan enough that you don’t bat an eyelash.”
Fauna looked at me for a long moment, hair tufting gently as northern winds moved the hair around her shoulders, her oversized pants and cropped shirt molding to her body as they flowed with the breeze. She didn’t fight me further as she stepped toward my mother.
Lisbeth winced as if to bolt. Caliban planted a hand on the corner of the house, freezing her in place without so much as touching her. My mother’s lips moved in silent prayer as she petitioned her god.
“Pray all you want. He isn’t coming,” Fauna said. “We would have, though. We would have shown up in ways you’d never thought imaginable from your King of Heaven…if you weren’t such a cunt.” She planted her hand on my mother’s forehead, forcing it back enough for her skull to thud dully against the brick as Fauna locked her arm in place. I could have been imagining it, but I could have sworn my mother shimmered slightly, a luster leaching from her as it drained into Fauna’s arm.
All at once, I began to feel woozy.
Fauna shouted something just as the clouds parted, revealing a harsh beam of sunrise as I tumbled backward toward the earth.
