“Wouldn’t you?” She hadn’t tightened her grip, but Anek was starting to turn puce. “You killed hundreds at the Aequitas. You killed an innocent, grieving woman eleven years ago and forced yourself to believe that you hadn’t done it. You forced me tostay.” A crack in her blank mask. “Don’t play the Saint.”
Noceo crumpled against the banister, mouth working uselessly.
Sarai’s throat ached. “You resented the world for allowing all of it.”
The fracture widened. Dalvia’s fingers twitched, letting color back into Anek’s skin. “I resent everyone.” Wildness flushed her delicate features. “I resent thefoolishthings you all do to appease yourselves while others suffer. The capital has always craved attention. They’ve hoarded yours for years with their tantrums. Now, they get all the eyes they want on them.”
“I’m sorry for what you’ve endured,” she whispered, moving slowly forward. “But what will hurting them,” she indicated Anek, “accomplish?”
“I got you out of this city!” Dalvia snapped. “You should have stayed in the Institute. I wasn’t trying to hurt you until you wanted to stop this. Let Edessa go. Sometimes, in order to heal a land, you must first break it.”
The words struck a bitter pang of understanding, hitching Sarai’s breath. “And what happens to you afterward?”
Dalvia blinked, something faintly confused appearing then vanishing from her gaze. “Anything. Because now, when you reign, you’ll know that it’s all the smoother because of me.”
Sarai took another step and caught Kadra’s eye. He inclined his head in silent understanding of what she was attempting to do. The grave set of his face told her that he would take no pleasure in this kill.
“Why the subterfuge?” Anek asked through gritted teeth. “Was playing the weakling not enough?”
“I wasn’t playacting,” Dalvia said tonelessly. “Méherre could say things that Dalvia couldn’t. She was the honest one, outspoken. She’d save me from harm in a heartbeat. The guise took on a life of their own after a while. It was nice not being me.”
Sarai’s gut churned. “You’re a fool.”
Tears rolled down Anek’s cheeks. “I really liked you. You could have built a life of your own. You bought ahavïdhouse here!”
For the first time, warmth blossomed on Dalvia’s face. “That’s the strange thing. I liked you all too. I thought about stopping all this, but it was too late. I had already promised my goddess this city, and without her, I faced the same fate I had with Noceo—freedom without true power. No,” she shook her head sadly, “there’s no life waiting for me.”
Another step, and Sarai stood before her. She gently gripped the wrist that was holding Anek prisoner. “Won’t you at least try?”
Dalvia studied her. “Wanting something to be true isn’t the same as reality, Sarai.” She dropped her arm. Anek scrambled away, gasping for air. “I just wanted to snap my fingers and fix it all,” she said dully. “It all just never made sense.”
A lump choked Sarai’s throat. “I’m so sorry.” She stepped back. “I wish this could all have been different.”
Dalvia blinked right as multiple cages of lightning domed around her and atop each other, hissing across the ballroom floor. She examined the bars of lightning with mild curiosity and no surprise.
Kadra’s jaw was granite. “Call your goddess away. You’ve convinced yourself that you have no hope of survival here, but there may be a future for you yet.”
“A future where these cages will disappear, and a more permanent one will take me.” Dalvia turned to Kadra and smiled. “I meant everything I said that day. I did get some of this wrong. But not all of it.” She glanced at Noceo, and every mask slid from her face in a silent relinquishing of self. Hatred and yearning suffused her gaze. “I would have stayed every day if you hadn’t forced me,” she whispered.
The man looked like he’d been struck by lightning.
Dalvia considered the bars of her cage once more, and Sarai had the horrible feeling that she knew what was going to happen. She wanted to beg the other woman not to do it. But who was she to demand that a woman who had been trapped in a cage for so long return to a different one?
The same realization coalesced in Kadra’s face. “This is what you want,” he said in the heavy timbre of a man who had seen too much and would now bear one more stain on his soul.
“I knew it was coming from the moment Sarai tried to resolve things with Noceo.” She glanced at Kadra. “I’m tired.” She exhaled. “I’m ready.”
Sarai swallowed. “If it’s death you want, let me do it instead.” She stalked to the other side of the cage to face Dalvia. “This will hurt him,” she said fiercely.
“It’ll hurt you too.” Dalvia’s mouth tilted up. “That’s nice to know. That’s a good way to be remembered.” Before Sarai could speak, she turned to Faragathe, who had been watching them intently all the while. “It seems that I can’t give you a city, my goddess.”
Sadness crossed Faragathe’s inhuman features for a fleeting moment. “I knew.”
“Oh,” Dalvia breathed.
Hot tears washed down Sarai’s cheeks. She clutched her arms to steady herself.
Noceo finally unlocked his knees and stepped forward. “Stop,” he ordered with full Coercive force. “We still have much to discuss, you and I. You can’t do… whatever it is that you’re—”
