An Affair of Poisons(24)

“Still think I should show His Royal Highness a little respect?” I growl. Then I take off in the opposite direction, as fast as my exhausted body will allow. If escape is out of the question, we must keep the Shadow Society away from the hidden sewer entrance. Far away.

We run. Down one alleyway after another. My legs turn to feathers and everything is on fire: my muscles, my watering eyes, my burning lungs. The broken cobbles jut from the ground like pikes, biting my ankles and threatening to bring me to my knees. A few steps more and we’ll reach the Pont Neuf. We can cross the stone bridge and take cover in the overcrowded ?le de la Cité, with its countless houses and chapels and narrow, twisting streets.

We are steps away from safety, and I’m so grateful I’m practically weeping, when a shadow moves beneath the bridge. An enormous shadow. Desgrez and I barely have time to stop before a dragon made of smoke rears up from the Seine and slithers across our path. It’s taller than a two-story building, with orange and yellow scales that flare like sparks. Its colossal head and long, pointed snout remind me of a crocodile, and the heat of its breath is so intense, my skin bubbles like candle wax.

“Move!” Desgrez shouts as fire pours from the serpent’s teeth. He grabs my tunic and yanks me back, saving me from the worst of the blaze. I gape at the cobbles—charred black where I stood just seconds before.

While I stand there reeling, Desgrez springs to action like the captain he pretends to be. “You go right and sneak across the bridge. I’ll draw it left.” He sprints away before I can stop him and slashes his blade across the dragon’s hind leg.

Inky blood oozes from the cut; the creature growls and turns fully on Desgrez. He waves for me to run, but my feet are cemented to the cobbles. Only a rutting coward would leave him to face this monster alone. I can’t bear to lose him, too. I crouch to extract the dagger from my boot, and in that split second a flash of green crackles overhead, so close it would have slammed into my chest had I been standing.

I whip around and shout at Desgrez, “Get down!”

The smoke beast rolls sideways and contorts its long neck, but Desgrez is not so quick. The green fire hits him square in the gut. His eyes go wide and his breath wheezes out in a grunt. Ropes of electricity snake up and down his torso, and he strikes the ground like a felled tree.

Blood rushes in my ears. My feet tingle as I stumble to where he lies. His skin is cold and chalky, and his face is frozen in a scream. “Don’t be dead, you bastard,” I whisper, holding my fingers to his neck. I heave a sigh when I feel a faint, fluttering heartbeat.

But my relief is short-lived. Orange sparks flash in my periphery.

The smoke beast rears above us.

A vicious calm settles over me, same as when I gutted the intruder in the dauphin’s apartments. I don’t think; I just move, prying Desgrez’s rapier from his fist and swinging to face the creature. If I must die, let it be defending my friend—in the name of my sisters.

The dragon rears up on its hind legs. I bellow and charge forward. Seconds before we collide, another bolt of lightning whizzes past my head. I flatten against the ground. Once again, the creature dodges too, twisting to avoid the flame.

The beast quickly regains its feet and turns on me with a hiss. Instead of hefting Desgrez’s sword, I glance up at the bolts of aqua lightning smashing into the ground like hailstones. Then down at the rubble from the obliterated shops. The smoke beast lowers its head and opens its jaw. I roll and grab a ragged slab of tin roofing. But instead of using it as a shield, I dive to the left—directly into the path of a green lightning bolt.

The force slams me into the muddy ground and pain jolts up my spine, but I manage to keep the scrap raised. The lightning rebounds off the metal and smashes into the smoke beast’s belly. It’s yellow, feline eyes widen, and a second later it explodes into millions of tiny ashes that glow as they flutter through the sky.

I sit there, stunned and gasping. I killed the creature. But the pit in my stomach still feels deep enough to drown in. If the lightning is powerful enough to kill Lesage’s monsters, Desgrez and my sisters are doomed.

Don’t think like that. They’re still alive, which means there’s still a chance.

I stagger back to where Desgrez lies, grip him beneath the arms, and drag him onto the Pont Neuf. The man is heavier than an ox. I barely manage a hand’s breadth with each tug. Ribbons of aqua lightning continue to fly back and forth beneath the clouds, striking all around us. Chunks of rock and mortar whir through the air like throwing knives.

There’s no way I can carry him. Not fast enough to outrun Lesage’s magic.

“I’m sorry,” I choke out, thinking of all the fights he picked on my behalf, of all the nights he went without sleep, teaching me how to toss a dagger and throw a punch. He’s the brother I never had, and even though he’s barely three years older, he’s far braver and more capable than I’ll ever be.

If our roles were reversed, Desgrez would find a way—get us to safety. The least I can do is continue trying until the smoke beasts devour us or Lesage buries us in a coffin of verdant flame. I steady my grip and brace my arms to tug again, but something rustles behind us.

I spin and draw the rapier, ready to slaughter whoever—or whatever—stands between us and freedom, but my hand falters.

It’s a girl.

A lone girl, wearing an oversized purple Shadow Society cloak. If she’s supposed to be guarding the bridge, she’s doing a piss-poor job of it—leaning against the wall and wheezing. Her face is haunted, and she looks from Desgrez’s stiff, glowing body to the colorful streaks of light exploding overhead.