Zera sipped the tea and grimaced.
Kreya retrieved a small pot of honey from a dusty table, beside a pile of scrolls. She added a dollop of honey to Zera’s cup and then took a breath and said, “Would you like it if I said I’m afraid of you? You could save me or destroy me.”
So far, Zera hadn’t moved from her chair, but Kreya was aware of how much power her old friend had tucked into her coat. Without talismans of her own, Kreya had little defense. Her run-down contraptions were no match for a bone wizard at the height of her strength.
Zera stirred her tea. “Have you been murdering people? For their bones?”
“What? No!”
“It’s not so shocking a question, Kreya, considering what you’re doing. So you’re stealing them, then.”
“I never had any involvement in their deaths.” What kind of person did Zera take her for? She still had a moral compass, though she was aware she had fudged certain boundaries. Still... she was no murderer!
For one thing, Jentt never would have stood for it.
“I swear, I haven’t changed that much,” Kreya insisted.
“Except for the fact you’re a thief now,” Zera said. “That’s a new hobby for you. Or should I say ‘profession’?”
“And what about you? You’ve taken up a career as a decadentprofligate. What happened to the Zera who wanted to make the world a better place for all? Do you ever even leave the fifth tier?” Kreya remembered Zera used to talk derisively about bone wizards only interested in amassing wealth. She’d said she wanted power and wealth so she could use her influence for good. How much good was she doing, surrounded by her fake waterfalls and fake lovers?
“I’m here, aren’t I? Though that was an obvious mistake.”
“Clearly a mistake,” Kreya agreed. “I didn’t invite you to come and judge me. I asked you to help me.”
“Help you break the law?”
“Help me save a friend.”
They glared at each other.
Kreya broke the stare first. “I don’t enjoy stealing bones. That’s why I wanted... I have a plan. One that will hurt no one. And one that will bring Jentt back for good. But I can’t do it without enough talismans.”
“What plan?”
Kreya hesitated again, just as she had in Cerre, weighing the risks. Zera had already seen Jentt. How much worse if she knew it all? Perhaps more damning, it wasn’t as if Kreya had a chance of executing her plan without Zera’s help. She looked her friend in the eyes and hoped the term “friend” still applied.
“There are human bones unburied and unburned beyond the mountains. On the plain.”
Zera shot to her feet, dropping her teacup.
The cup shattered. Tea splashed onto the carpet, Zera’s hem, and a stack of books. Kreya didn’t move. By the window, her bone-bird construct whirred anxiously. She knew her dolls would be in the stairwell, listening, ready if she needed them.She also knew they wouldn’t be enough if this went sour. Zera’s coat had many pockets.
Keeping her voice calm, Kreya said, “The bones rot. Unclaimed. Unmourned. If I were to take enough of them, I’d only need to cast the spell one more time. No more thefts. No more atrocities.”
“Until the next time a bone maker figures out this spell of yours.”
“I plan to destroy all record of it. The knowledge of the spell will die with me, when it’s my time. All I ask is for enough talismans to get me safely into and out of the forbidden zone. And then this ends.” She managed to keep her eyes from sliding to the shelf where Eklor’s journals were hidden.
Zera laughed, shrill. “All you ask? You want to go back to the place where...” Her voice faded, and her eyes looked haunted. Kreya knew she was remembering. Because she was doing the same.
It was the smell that Kreya remembered the most. A stench of rot that filled your nose and mouth until it was all you breathed. It was so strong it seeped into your eyes and made them tear. It felt like it was permeating your skin and you’d never be clean again. You felt coated in it. Even when the memory of the screams faded, she’d still remember that smell.
It was the same smell that lingered on Jentt now.
“I have to.”
Fetching a towel, Kreya mopped up the spilled tea. She gathered the shards of the cup and deposited them against a wall where she wouldn’t step on them. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Zera finger a pocket.
