Page 22 of Mistress of Bones
Unless the emissary’s death caught up to them.
Azul shoved the thought away as she tried to get comfortable on the bed she was sharing with Nereida.
De Guzmán slept with a dagger.
Azul wished she had one to do the same.
How many ships crossed the sea every day? How long would it take for someone in a hurry to secure passage? Of course, an emissary wouldn’t worry about such mundane things. They could simply demand a spot, and who would say no to Death’s own?
Hard to believe the Lord Death still had such control over his land. Did the other gods reign over the rest of the continents like he did?Were they angry their subjects had never thought to create emissaries for them, or did they laugh at those who lacked faith in them?
She wondered idly how other countries treated the gods. Did they tie up their wishes to the Lord Life’s legs in Divinad? What about Bixe, where they favored the Lord Nightmare? Did they spend their days hoping their deity would avoid visiting them at night? Or perhaps they celebrated their god in other ways—wishing them onto others or trying to become a nightmare themselves through fights and words and fearsome acts.
Did they spend their days wondering if the gods were even real or just another tale, or were they fervent believers like the Valanjians and their emissaries?
She had heard stories of traditions beyond Sancia, but they rarely mentioned how they dealt with their gods. Azul had always assumed this lack of information was because their praying wasn’t that different, that there wasn’t so much difference between tying up your hopes to the Lady Dream’s legs and hoping for a loved one’s return in front of the Lord Life.
“Why did you believe me so easily at Diel?” she whispered to the ceiling, dark and austere in the early summer night. Her fingers toyed with the fabric of her borrowed nightgown. “Had you heard rumors about me before? The… the emissary knew about me.”
Nereida, lying on her side and facing the door, took some time to answer, and when she did, Azul was surprised she’d answered at all. “I believe there are grains of truth in every old tale.”
“There are tales?” Azul asked, astonished. “About what I can do? You called me something. You know the name of my gift?”
“Necromancer.”
“Necromancer,” Azul repeated, tasting the word on her lips. It sounded no better thanmalady. “What does it mean?”
“Death riser.”
The words sent chills along Azul’s spine. Such a bleak choice of words when all she did was bring beings back to life. “Why have Inever heard of something like that?” Azul knew all kinds of scary stories, and she had never heard one by that name.
“It’s an obscure tale in the North. I doubt many know of it.”
“You did,” Azul pointed out.
Nereida didn’t respond, and Azul felt the silence press on her, forcing her thoughts to meander once again.
“We should’ve left this evening,” she murmured. “Whoever they send after us might catch up if they ride fast.”
“They won’t. It will take time for them to figure out what happened and decide what to do. We don’t know if the emissary knew of our destination.”
Azul winced. “I let it slip when he was questioning me.”
“It is of no consequence. If they send someone after us, I will take care of them the same way.”
“And if it doesn’t work?”
“I’ll use my rapier.”
Azul’s head snapped to look at Nereida, then relaxed. There was something comforting about sharing a bed with someone so self-assured; it made her feel at home. Azul and her sister had shared a bed until they moved into the bigger house in Agunción and earned separate bedrooms.
What a terrible feeling, knowing Isadora wasn’t a knock away, that if Azul slipped out of bed and made her way to the next room, there would be no sister to welcome her. No late-night talks or wonderful nights lying next to vibrancy and warmth.
Azul closed her eyes and allowed her thoughts to wander. There was a tug now in her mind, and she hadn’t noticed how much she missed having a link like that.
Following it, she touched the bird’s consciousness, so far away now, and felt its mind acknowledge the nudge and open to her intrusion. With animals, such a link was easy. Azul had tried it with Isadora once, in a fit after a sibling fight, and found that human brains were too complex for the link to be used in such a way. Maybe withtime and prodding, such things might be possible, but Azul had had no wish to do it. Azul wanted her sister, not a doll.
The bird was perched on a low tree branch, and the sight of a building sprawling ahead felt familiar enough that the animal must’ve been looking at it for a while. It had the makings of a Sancian building rather than Valanjian. Lamps shone bright in the night, spilling light from the windows and wide-open door. Sudden neighing startled her, and the bird burst into flight, chirping in alarm. The land fell below, the dark shape of the building took form, the few treetops, the path leading up to the road, the vast blackness of the fields in the distance.
