The Shadowglass (The Bone Witch, #3)(87)

“So it was you back then,” she said, and her voice broke my heart. “I wondered if I had dreamed it out of longing. Or if I’d gone insane, as you feared.”

“Tea—”

She stepped away. “Don’t,” she begged. “Later. Please.”

Her brother’s mouth curved down at the corners, scowling, worried.

She smiled wanly at King Kance. “Drycht,” she says, “is kingless.”

“Did you kill him, Tea?”

“We have very different interpretations of what death means, Your Majesty.”

“Tea, you look unwell. Please, let me—”

“Nothing is happening that shouldn’t be, Your Majesty.” She moved toward her azi. “I must go.”

“No!” Lord Fox grabbed her arm. “You will not leave until I’ve had every answer out of you!”

“Fox is right.” The Odalian noble was tired and adamant. “We have many questions—”

The Dark asha laughed. We were all taken aback by the unnaturally loud, high-pitched strangeness of it. “Have you finally decided to take my head, Your Majesty?”

“I am more interested in your answers.”

“And if I refuse?”

“Do not make it harder for us, Tea.”

“On the contrary, it will be quite easy.”

Lethargy stole into my bones. My lips moved, but no sound came out. I could not walk. I could not speak. Instead, my knees sank of their own volition into the hard soil. I saw King Kance’s eyes widen as he did the same. So did the generals and soldiers, the wounded and the healthy, the asha and the Deathseekers. The bone witch’s mark was on us all, and we were helpless in the face of her Compulsion. Only the Gorvekai remained on their feet, proving their duplicity. Lord Fox was upright too, but he made no move.

The bone witch let out a gasp, her hand flying to her chest. Lord Kalen took her in his arms, his own face grim and strained. “You’re overexerting yourself again, love.”

She grinned wanly. “Nothing you wouldn’t have done in my place.”

“What are you doing, Tea?” Lord Fox whispered.

“What you wouldn’t let me do if you had your way.”

“Tea!” Lady Zoya burst through the crowd but stumbled and fell to the ground as well, her hand dropping. Still she mustered strength to blister the air with words. “Let—us—go! You cannot do this!”

“Zoya. For once in your life, shut up and listen. You want answers?” The Lady Tea’s voice rose, mocking. “You shall have them. You intend to invade Drycht after this victory at the Hollows, to depose Aadil once and for all. Instead, you will face civilians and innocents with the blight. As soon as the first of you sets foot on Drychta soil, they will turn, and you will find nothing to save, only a city of monsters hungering for your flesh. Druj has cast a large net. The Faceless will have the people suffer to kill as many of you as needed. Druj doesn’t intend this to be a war—he intends it to be a massacre.”





21


To his credit, King Kance said nothing of my pale, tear-streaked face, though his heartsglass beat quick, erratic patterns of blue. He had drawn his sword during the battle, its tip bloody, and I wondered if he’d been fighting long, though it was doubtful that General Lode would allow many to get past him.

The bulk of the casualties had fallen to the Drychta, but many of the Odalians were caught in the indar’s deadly acid attack. One look at their heartsglass was enough for me to gauge fatal wounds from the less grievous, and it was a difficult task to move from one fallen fighter to the next, compelling them into sleep knowing they would never wake.

Likh had the runic wards wrapped around herself again as she bustled about, dressing as many of the soldiers’ wounds as she was able to. She, Khalad, and I all knelt side by side, tending to patients as Kalen and Kance remained deep in conversation, planning their next move. General Lode was coordinating transport to send the wounded back to Odalia, where they would receive better treatment in better facilities.

Althy had helped arrange most of those travel details. Now she was on the other side of the camp, healing other wounded. The older asha had taken great pains to avoid me since she’d arrived with her circle of asha, and the snub added to my worry, unsure if I would be arrested and if she would be doing the arresting.

Sadly, I wove another set of Compulsion, giving my patient a small measure of peace in his final moments, and tearfully closed his eyes after he had passed, mercifully, without pain. I gave quiet instructions for his body to be carried to Althy, and turned to Knox, who suffered from a broken arm.

“We were careless,” Knox said hoarsely, watching the other Kion asha remove the body. “Didn’t have much experience with daeva beyond the nanghait, and to see that black poison spurting out of that creature was a nightmare.”

“I’m sorry for your losses, milord.”

“No sorrier than I am. We ought to eliminate these bloody-assed demons, Lady Tea. We can’t live in the same world as they. If one of us’s gotta go, I’d rather it be them.”

“The daeva was being controlled by a Faceless. I doubt it would attack on its own.”

“The fact that it can be controlled makes it a danger. Begging your pardon, milady,” he added, with a nervous glance at the azi flying overhead, who patrolled against any unexpected assaults. “I know you’re fond of them. Or one of them.”