Page 72 of In the Ravenous Dark
“Rovan’s not using me,” Lydea says. “She’s my friend. And more. Because weareallowed. Or rather, we don’t care enough about the rules to bother with them.”
Bethea stares at our entwined hands, and then at me. “So that’s why you didn’tbotherto remember me. Why think about a commoner when you have a princess—”
Crisea scoffs. “I’m a princess, too. Trust me, it’s not all it’s made out to be.”
A smile, as brief as it is, breaks the pall over Bethea’s face, and for a second she looks as I remember her: bright, happy, beautiful.
“Bethea, I’m sorry,” I say. “I was so caught up in my own misfortune that… you’re right. I was completely selfish. Iamstill selfish.”
More than I want to admit, especially as I’m holding Lydea’s hand and yet hiding what I’ve discussed with Alldan about her.
Bethea doesn’t say anything, only stares back at me. Her smile chased away some of the shadows on her face, but she still looks hollow.
Crisea cuts in again. “Don’t worry. Rovan will forget Lydea, too, as soon as she’s done with her.”
Lydea’s eyes flicker to me. There’s not doubt in them, exactly, just the slightest hint of a question.
I should speak up, reassure her, but I’m frozen. It’s like Crisea has found the beating heart of all my guilt, taken it in her hand, and squeezed.
It’s Japha’s turn to burst. They throw up their arms. “Dear goddess, can we do what we came here to do? This romantic drama is killing me piecemeal! No offense, death acolytes. But can we get on with it?”
“Yes,” Crisea says. “What do you want to say to us?Allof us? Because I’m not leaving, in case you were going to ask.” She lets go of Bethea’s hand to fold her arms, the picture of stubbornness.
Japha throws a cautionary look at me and Lydea. “Maybe we shouldn’t…”
But if we can’t talk now, when will we ever be able to? Lydea must be thinking the same thing.
“If you try to betray us, I’ll say you’re lying,” she pronounces. “And that you were breaking the rules, to boot. Rovan, Japha, and Delphia will support my claims. Who will they believe? At the end of the day, we have more power than you.”
“Well, then,” Bethea says wearily. “What do you want with Delphia?”
“We want to leave, and we want her to come with us. You, too, Crisea, if you want.”
For a moment, Delphia brightens so much I think she might lift off her feet. She truly doesn’t belong here, if anyone does, surrounded by so much heavy darkness. But then her silver eyes dim. “Father will never let us go,” she says quietly. “He put me here himself.”
I can see how much that knowledge hurts hers, and I hate King Tyros all over again.
Lydea’s voice is almost gentle. “It won’t exactly be with his permission, little dove.”
“How do you propose to manage that?” Crisea demands. I wonder how long it would take the necropolis to snuff that fire of hers, and the thought doesn’t give me any pleasure. “You have guardians, remember? I can’t believe they even let you come in here where they can’t follow.”
“Why should their guardians care?” Bethea asks, distantly, bleakly. Even an extra week in the necropolis has faded her so much in comparison to Crisea. “What can they even do in here?”
“We canscheme,” Japha says.
“It doesn’t matter,” Bethea says. “You’re bound to your shades forever. When you leave this room, you still will be. Nothing can change that.”
“That’sonething I wanted to ask,” I say hesitantly, stepping up to the stone slab. “How long is forever? Is there a way to be rid of them, even if it means using death magic?”
Bethea shakes her head. “Death is the only way. Yourseconddeath, or your guardian’s. You’ll still be bound to your guardian even in the afterlife. The bond is deeper than the flesh—it’s of the spirit. Pneuma. And only with the dissolution of pneuma will the bond break.”
It makes a horrible kind of sense. Blood magic dies with the flesh, death magic with the spirit.
That’s it, then. There’s only my father’s special set of sigils. I can only block what I can’t sever. It will have to be enough. Because for some reason I don’t want to think about, I can’t imagine giving Ivrilos his second and final death. If even such a thing could be done, I don’t think I could do it. I wouldn’t wantanyoneto do it.
“Okay, say we have a way to avoid them anyway, however we manage it.” I take a deep breath. “We’re going to leave Thanopolis. Will you come with us?Allof you?” I ask, looking straight at Bethea. Lydea, Japha, and I never talked about her coming, because they didn’t know she existed. But I’m not about to leave her here.
Delphia barely lets me finish speaking before she squeaks, hopping on her toes, “Yes!” She looks ready to leap over the stone slab and head for the door.
