Page 53 of Kiss of Smoke

I bit down hard on my lower lip, tasting blood.

Everything was coming full circle.

“Her letters grew less and less frequent, until they finally stopped coming at all. A year later, I received an official notice from one of the Garda—my Aurora was comatose. Her mind was completely gone. They determined that she had been fed evanesce and faerie fruit until there was nothing left of her but an empty, breathing shell.”

I didn’t want to look into Carabosse’s eyes. I didn’t want to see the silent tears pouring down her face. I didn’t want tofeelfor her.

“I was truthful when I told you that I came here to find a way to heal her. I left my entire life behind, bought this building with the last of my savings, and began my practice. I was a doctor back in the human world, you see. It wasn’t a long jump to learning herbalism and Fae magic.”

“Butsouls?You needed to kill us for this?” I averted my eyes, knowing that if I looked into Carabosse and saw her raw pain, I would fall under her spell.

“I tried everything, Briallen dear. And when I finally got my hands on a soul lamp, I discovered that I could feed them back into her. Restore her to what she had been.” Carabosse circled the coffin, looking over her daughter with a horrible mixture of pain and satisfaction. “When the Unstained Souls approached me, I knew they were what I needed. Steady, dependable hands to keep the Garda busy while I continued my work. When your people christened me the ‘Ghosthand’, it was quite amusing, but… not inaccurate. Because your ghosts, your souls, will restore what you stole from me.”

A shiver ran through me. She sounded so lost, yet so cold. “I never stole anything from you, Carabosse.”

“No.” She looked at me over the coffin, the light of the lamp giving her face an eerie, craggy look. “No, you helped me, in fact. When you went after Brightkin, and had that bastard’s head cut off… well, I could’ve adopted you on the spot. Do you see how odd that might be? That the girl who reminded me of my daughter would be the one to destroy the prince who had caused this… which made me even less inclined to harm you. I did try to convince you to leave for your own good.”

“Everything happens for a reason,” I whispered. “But Carabosse…there has been so much death. So much.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “And it won’t stop. Because I can’t forget my original purpose, no matter how fond I am of you personally. I traded, bought, and sold to get as many Fae indebted to me as possible. I sold cold iron flakes to that blue Hunter, Hellekin, and poisoned your nice young man, just to take Hellekin’s soul.”

“But you healed Gwyn, too!” I said desperately. “You’re not irredeemable, Carabosse.”

Even as I said it, I couldn’t bring myself to actually believe that. She’d gone too far already.

“Maybe I did, but I’ve gone much too far on this path to ever return,” she said with a crooked smile. “And yes, I had to heal him. I didn’t want to take him from you, and besides…” Carabosse let out a little snort of laughter. “I didn’t give Hellekin enough cold iron to actually kill your man. That idiot traded his soul away for no reason. Gwyn would’ve been sick for a few days and then recovered on his own.”

It was a sign of how much I still cared about Carabosse that I had to fight not to smile. That was exactly the sort of thing I would’ve found humorous, considering how much I hated Hellekin, if… if she was anything other than what she was.

Thinking of Hellekin brought something else to mind, and I was determined to keep her talking, give the guys a little more time to get here…

“So, you hired him to take Nicnevin’s head. Why the queen? Did she hurt Aurora, too?”

I hoped I didn’t sound utterly desperate, but fortunately, Carabosse didn’t seem inclined to get to the part where she sucked my soul out and left me a charred husk. She was just watching the last orb swirl in the soul lamp.

“Oh, no. But look, Briallen—you clearly know what this is.” She gestured to the lamp.

“A soul lamp,” I said evenly.

Carabosse nodded. “Yes. But not all souls are created equally.” She traced the coffin again, her fingers touching a large bronze latch. “I began with small Fae—Lessers, as you call them. We would collect stragglers from the Undercity as we dug our new warrens, and I began my experimentation with the soul lamp on them. Those first trials taught me more…efficient ways of filling the lamp.”

I had completely forgotten Ioin as Carabosse spoke, but I was so caught up I tried to take a step forward, as though we were just old friends having a nice conversation.

It was the brutal tug of the chain on my wrists, drawing a gasp from me, that reminded me of Ioin’s existence.

The stinging pain shot through my arms, and Carabosse gave Ioin a stern look. “None of that. The girl is chained. She can’t hurt you now.”

Blessed Branches, she was twisted. How could she care about my comfort, and yet be ready to consign me to a terrible death?

I stood still, and let Carabosse speak. Ioin slowly relaxed the cold iron until the pain grew more manageable.

“A goblin might take away one of her age spots,” she continued. “A nymph would restore a small bit of skin, or darken an eyelash. It wasn’t until I came across a lone Gentry Fae, late at night, when I discovered thattheirsouls—and the inherent magic contained in them—pack much more power. I fed one to Aurora, and it took five years off her age.”

I kept very still as she walked by me, not making any threatening movements. Ioin was tense at my shoulder, and I felt his breath ruffle my hair. It disgusted me.

“Ah, I see. And a queen’s soul…that would’ve done the work of hundreds of Gentry souls.”

“Oh, so much more,” Carabosse assured me, her eyes brightening. “A Gentry could give her back a decade, but a royal Fae couldawakenher.”

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