Broken Veil (Harbinger #5)(79)

Sera’s heart wrung in misery. Would Christina deliberately poison her own child? Cettie continued to look at Sera with purpose and determination. Though she could no longer speak with words, those eyes did it for her. They were not the cruel eyes of Jevin, or Will, or Cettie’s mother. They were full of compassion. Of acceptance.

Whatever happens, they seemed to say. I accept it. Don’t let them deceive you.

The two kishion gripped Cettie hard, prepared for a struggle. She did not give it to them. Christina, coldly, reached into her own bag and produced a small vial. She nodded to the two men, and they forced Cettie’s lips open. She didn’t resist as her mother poured poison into her mouth.





CHAPTER TWENTY?EIGHT

PRICE OF BETRAYAL



Sera couldn’t look away. She was transfixed by the scene, by her own feelings of helplessness. Why was the Knowing letting this happen? She didn’t understand. Then the pain and convulsions started. It was like Sera could feel them herself as she watched her friend’s eyes squint, her body begin to tremble. The spasms became more violent, and the two kishion dumped her onto the floor to writhe and quake.

Groans came from Cettie as the poison ravaged her. Jevin must have released her voice, knowing the sounds she’d make would wring Sera’s heart. Tears pricked her eyes. Whatever Cettie had done, she knew her friend’s heart. She did not deserve this.

“Stop it,” Sera shouted, unable to wipe the tears away. She looked at Jevin accusingly, but he seemed to be relishing the experience. His expression was hard as stone, yet there was a flicker of triumph in his eyes. He met her gaze, and she felt the awful darkness swirling inside him.

“Release the binding,” he commanded her.

“I won’t,” Sera replied, shaking her head, her voice trembling.

“Another, then,” Jevin said. “Earworm. Now.”

Christina reached into the poisoner bag and withdrew another vial, this one metallic in color. The two kishion grasped Cettie’s head, holding it to the floor while her mother poured the vial into her ear. Sera watched helplessly, and then the shrieks of agony started. Sera tried to rise, to come to her friend’s aid, even with her own hands lashed behind her back, but Jevin intervened. He closed the distance between them, then gripped her shoulder and shoved her back down on the floor.

“If you want this to end, then you know what to do. Release the binding!” he shouted at her. The anger in his voice struck her heart like shards of glass.

Cettie had said they were coming. Could she wait? Could she endure watching Cettie’s suffering, knowing she had the power to end it?

Do you?

Lies. These people told nothing but lies. If Sera released Ereshkigal from her prison, the kishion would likely kill her and Cettie both, and then the vengeful being would be unloosed on the world. Wouldn’t countless more be killed and made to suffer?

“Have you no sympathy for your friend?” Jevin asked in a low voice, between the screams and the gulps for air.

“Have you no soul?” Sera countered.

“Look what you are doing to your friend. She suffers needlessly.” His lips pursed. “Acetane powder is next. You cannot understand, Empress, how it makes one itch. These poisons will all kill her. But not soon. Slowly. And you will watch her die in the end if you do not stop it. The powder.”

Sera tried to sit up again, her heart wrenching in pain as she witnessed yet another round of Cettie’s suffering. Hers was an empire to command. Yet she felt powerless.

Help me, she pleaded to the Mysteries. Do not make me endure this. Send aid. Please!

As Sera watched Christina reach into the bag again, she felt a slight tremble in her heart. A feeling, from the Mysteries, that she was not alone, that her plight was not unnoticed.

But it wasn’t over yet either.

As Christina withdrew a bag of powder, it struck Sera that while Jevin was a heartless villain who would no doubt allow Cettie to die, Christina was her mother. Surely that meant something. Was this task so easy for her, despite the cold look in her eyes?

“Christina,” Sera said. Then her voice choked off, the invisible lash around her neck tightening.

Free me, she begged in her mind. Let me speak.

The strangling feeling began to loosen. Jevin’s brow twisted with surprise. Beads of sweat trickled down the side of his face.

“You are her mother,” Sera said hoarsely, her voice panting. “Why do you let them control you like this?”

“She is not under our control,” Jevin said with disdain. “She is a hetaera! She rules us all.”

“You are their slave,” Sera said, fixing her eyes on Christina’s. She strained to rise again on her knees. “Can you not see that? Every woman in this room is in bondage. Even your queen.”

“Be silent,” Jevin warned.

“You were taken from someone who loved you. Someone who searched for you for years. Mrs. Pullman sent you to the Fells. Do you not remember who you once were? Who you truly are?” Sera felt power pulse within her as she spoke. The words came to her, unrehearsed, revealing information to her as she said them. It reminded her of the Gifting she had pronounced on Lord Fitzroy before his death. “Your love of music. Don’t you remember it? How you would watch him play the cembalo? Music connected you. Music does that.”

Christina was staring at her, eyes widening. The small leather bag in her hand hung in the air.