What Lurks Between the Fates (Of Flesh & Bone, #3)(41)
The other shackle released, falling from my skin as a full, clean breath filled my lungs. The air was crisp, cool, as if I breathed it for the first time. My chest expanded with it, a rush of warmth flooding my body in the absence of the iron. A flicker of light shone in the corner of my eye, drawing my gaze to where my fingers glowed with a soft golden glimmer. The blood faded away, disintegrating into the air as the injuries healed.
I followed the path of light up my arm, watching the whites of my Fae Mark turn to gold. The rush of it moved beneath my skin, rolling forward like a wave within my blood. I watched the gold work a path from my fingers, up each swirl at my wrist as the burned, charred flesh mended itself slowly.
It continued up my arm, rolling into the side of my neck and filling my head with the rush of strength. My headache faded, the lingering effects of Malachi’s assault in the bath vanishing as I rolled my neck in a circle.
I stood slowly as the flesh of my back healed, all too aware of the way Malachi stepped away from my side hurriedly. I felt him move, felt the cord of life where it kept him tethered to this world. The room shook as my feet pressed into the stone beneath me. Those cracks grew and spread like fissures upon the earth.
I opened my eyes, staring into Mab’s shocked gaze as she kept her mouth pressed firmly into a line. She gathered shadows at her side; her worry and curiosity pulsing off her in waves. It tasted bitter on my tongue, coating the air with the stench of her fear. I wanted to feed on it, to turn it into ash and dust until nothing remained of the queen who shouldn’t have been.
“You have something of mine,” the creature within me murmured, and I could practically see the fuzzy, blurred form of her standing amid the stars. She was nothing but a silhouette in the darkness, a golden, glowing woman who was not meant to be contained.
She found freedom in the dark.
She and I remained separate, two minds within one body. I couldn’t grasp her thoughts, couldn’t wrap my fingers around the parts of her that she kept hidden from me just yet. I tried to sink into her, to connect in a way that might offer me some protection.
I took a single step forward, my skin tingling as I moved. Everything felt new, as if my entire being was remade all over again. Mab raised a hand in warning, her shadows dancing upon her palm. They were so dark compared to the single golden thread that spread across her chest. It was frayed at the end, extending toward that skull on her throne that I’d moved the day I woke up.
I raised a hand to play with it, to capture it between my fingers and pull and find out what I could do with the thread of a Goddess in my palm.
A horrible screech came from my throat. A band of iron wrapped around my neck.
I pulled away from Malachi where he’d stepped up behind me, the click of a lock snapping into place. It was too late to undo. The iron scalded my fingers as I raised a hand to try to pry it open. I could not find the lock itself, fumbling to free myself as Mab smirked at my struggle.
The beast within me recoiled, sinking back down into that hollow place where she slept. It wasn’t safe for her to come out, I knew, but I missed the euphoria she filled me with. The knowledge that she would protect us at all costs.
“What the fuck was that?” Malachi asked, his very breathing irritating me as I turned a sharp glare to him.
My neck seemed to crack as I turned, a growl upon my lips proving that the beast had left a lingering stain of something other behind, even though she’d abandoned me.
“I have no idea,” Mab admitted, taking a step forward.
Her feet brought her to stand before me, the perfect poise of a queen as she studied my face. Her clawed fingers touched my skin, rubbing over the top of my wrist where the iron had scalded me. “You should find your collar far more comfortable. We lined the inside with cloth so it would not burn you, as I believe you’ll be wearing it for some time.”
“Take it off,” I snarled, leaning forward to murmur the words so softly that I doubted anyone but Mab heard them. The wind seemed to carry them away, a threat from one female to another, a promise to repay all the wrongs done in blood.
“Welcome to the Court of Shadows, Estrella Barlowe,” the Queen of Air and Darkness said, dropping her hand away from my wrist.
She spun on her heel, making her way to the massive stone doors at the end of the throne room. She paused just at the exit, turning to look at me over her shoulder. No one existed but the two of us, not Caldris or Malachi. We both knew they had become nothing but pawns in the games we would play with one another.
“We’re going to have fun together, you and I.”
The train of her dress trailed behind her as she stepped through the doors, and then she was gone.
13
Estrella
Malachi shoved open the door to my room, motioning for me to walk inside. The iron at my throat made my body sink heavily, even without the scalding burn touching my flesh directly. Compared to the moments where that creature had danced just beneath the surface of my skin, her magic coursing through my veins, the inevitable feeling of being completely powerless was a nightmare in itself. I wanted nothing more than to revel in that power again, to feel my body flood with the cold hollowness as it surged toward the surface.
Staring down at her felt like looking into a pit, a well of something unknown lurking inside of me. If I ventured deeper into that pit, I might never emerge again.
A woman stepped into the room, raising her hands to fill the bath with water for me. She deposited a bundle of clothing on the bed once more, standing in front of it with her hands clasped before her as Malachi tugged the door shut. Her clothing was finer than the servants who had tended to my bath previously, deep blue in color and adorned with delicate embroidery. The bodice of her corset glimmered with tiny stones set into the threading, and a cloak was clasped around her shoulders with a shimmering golden broach.