Witch's Pyre (Worldwalker #3)(89)

Lily’s army appeared amid Lillian’s. There was no boom or gust of wind or streak of lighting. The Outlanders, below folk, and ranch hands simply materialized among the open spaces between the Walltop guards on the rocks and cliffs.

Lily appeared next to Lillian, inside her tent. “Tell your soldiers not to panic,” Lily said.

Lillian’s cracked lips were parted in surprise, but she gathered herself and closed her eyes for a moment, sending out a message in mindspeak to all of her claimed. Lily could hear the shocked murmurs coming from outside the tent, but luckily, she didn’t hear the sounds of fighting.

“I probably should have given you more warning,” Lily apologized. “A bunch of Outlanders and criminals appearing alongside a bunch of soldiers could have been bad. I see that now.”

“I know why you didn’t warn me. You couldn’t give me any chance to figure out how to do this . . . feat . . . and go without you,” Lillian replied. She crinkled a wan cheek into a half smile. “What would you call this in your world?”

“Teleportation,” Lily answered. “But that sounds so corny I’ve mostly been calling it jumping.” Her face pinched in sympathy. “You look terrible, Lillian.”

“I told you. I’m dying,” she replied with a humorless laugh.

“I’m sorry.” The words didn’t seem big enough.

Lillian was paper white, skeletal, and the sickly sweet smell of decay clung to her. Her head was wrapped in a strip of linen, and from the bare pink sheen of the skin high on her temples, Lily could tell it was because her hair had fallen out. Even her eyes seemed drained of color. Lily reached out and took Lillian’s hand. She wanted to hug Lillian, but she knew that any contact would feel like knives sticking in her.

They heard voices outside the tent and turned in unison as Rowan, followed closely by Captain Leto, pushed into the tent. Rowan stopped abruptly and made a dismayed sound deep in his chest when he saw Lillian.

“I’m sorry, My Lady,” Leto was saying as he grabbed Rowan’s arm. Rowan didn’t resist. He’d gone boneless as he stared at Lillian.

“It’s all right, Leto,” Lillian said, raising a placating hand. “Rowan is here for her.”

Leto noticed Lily and dropped Rowan’s arm in shock, looking back and forth between the two Lillians.

A long sigh gusted out of Rowan. “Oh, Lillian. Why didn’t you let me help you?” he asked. He took a step toward her and Lillian lurched away from him, her eyes pleading.

“Don’t, Rowan. There’s nothing you can do to help me now,” she said. She turned to Leto. “Captain, would you please escort Lord Fall out of my tent and ask him what his people need? Lily and I will be out in a moment.”

Rowan allowed Leto to lead him away. Lily turned to Lillian.

“You’re still not going to tell him?” she asked. Lillian shook her head. “I think you’re wrong,” Lily persisted. “I understand why you hid the version of River you saw in the cinder world, but Rowan’s changed since you knew him. He accepted that I wasn’t you. He can accept that his father wasn’t that man in the barn.”

Lillian looked down, wringing her hands. Lily watched her, eerily recalling how she was prone to do that when she doubted herself.

“I can’t,” she whispered. “What was this all for if I do?”

Lily felt truly sorry for her. “Do you want me to see if there’s anything I can do? I don’t know much about healing,” Lily said, trailing off with a shrug. She thought of Toshi. He would know how to heal Lillian.

“I can show you,” Lillian said, accepting Lily’s offer.

Lily helped Lillian comb through her cells and kill off as much of the cancer as she could, but there weren’t enough healthy cells left after that to keep her organs running properly. Lily might not have done much healing in her time as a witch, but she knew a failing liver when she saw one. When she had done everything she could to keep Lillian going for a few more days, she sat back on her heels.

“Your rose stone did all the work,” Lillian said. She wiped away the sweat beading on her upper lip. “So it’s true that the different colors are better at different kinds of magic?”

“Yes,” Lily answered distractedly. She heard shouting outside the tent. “Lillian, we need to talk.”

“We do. It was always my intention that you take my place when I’m gone. That’s why I went to find you in the first place,” Lillian said. “I’ll leave instructions with Leto that you are to be treated exactly as they would treat me. Salem is yours.”

“No, that’s not—” Lily stammered. “It’s the Hive. We can’t beat them. Not with the numbers that we have right now.”

“I know. That’s why we need to use the bomb.”

“But that’s insane—you know it is,” Lily said.

The shouting outside the tent grew loud enough to bring Lillian to her feet. She and Lily looked outside and saw people running past as Lily felt Rowan reaching out to her mindspeak.

Things are getting ugly out here. Come quickly.

“It’s Rowan,” Lily said urgently.

She and Lillian rushed out of the tent and followed the sound of a fight to a clearing among the trees, where a year-old rockslide had knocked down a swath of thick timber. Rowan was holding back someone who looked like he was trying to attack Alaric, while Caleb and Tristan restrained two screaming ranch hands. Una, Breakfast, Captain Leto, and some of his uniformed soldiers seemed to be busy with crowd control as waves of people, most of them from the ranches, shook their fists and shouted. At the center of it all was a small Outlander woman with steel-gray hair and skin like leather. She stood stock-still with her hands crossed in front of her, her gaze elsewhere and her expression unconcerned.