Page 38 of Skyshade
She ripped her hand from the augur’s in the middle of the pool. “How does this help me get answers?”
Quick as a serpent, he struck. Metal glinted in front of her, then disappeared. Her cheek burned in pain. He had cut it with the talon on his thumb. She gasped, nearly tripping back in the pool. Her hand rose to her face, her fingers slick against a small trail of blood.
The augur brought the talon to his lips and slowly licked the blood off it. His eyes seemed to grow even redder as he said, “Interesting.” He began to laugh. “You are the greatest thing that has ever stepped foot into my cave, Isla Thorn-tide.”
Then she was dragged down through the blood.
An invisible grip clutched her ankle, forcing her to the bottom of the pool. She kicked, but her foot didn’t hit anything solid. Her mouth opened with a silent scream, filling with blood.
I shouldn’t have come. She reached toward her necklace—but before she could touch the stone, spectral ties seized both of her wrists too.
She was drowning not just in blood but also in power. It was everywhere, flaying her skin, calling to something deep inside her chest, an incessant knock on a locked door.
Flashes of something, obscuring her vision, intruding on her mind. Memories. But they weren’t hers. Voices filled her head, so many voices. There were laughs and sighs, but then there was screaming. Everyone was screaming, all she felt was pain, and anguish and—
One moment she was fighting for her life at the bottom of the pool of blood. The next, she was gasping for air, her fingers clawing at her throat. The snake crawled across her chest, as if trying to wake her. She opened her eyes to find herself on the smooth stone beside thepool. Blood muddled her vision. It filled her ears, cloaked her lips. She turned to the side and retched once. Twice.
When she looked up, blinking away the blood, she saw the augur pacing just a few feet away.
A moment later, she was on her feet. Her blade pressed against the tattooed skin of his neck. “You tried to kill me.”
He looked amused. “I would love to kill you. But, sadly, I cannot.”
“Why?”
“I know what was written, and I am but a servant of the book. Your fate is on one of the very last pages. I’m curious to see where your future goes from there.” He smiled, revealing teeth that had been shaved into spikes. They were still tipped in her blood. “You felt it, didn’t you? The power of your blood, calling to the rest? The strength of it all?”
He spoke of it with such relish, it nearly made her sick. His robe, previously white, was now stained crimson.
“Your blood spoke to me in many tongues. You wear your fate like a crown of blades. Doesn’t it hurt?”
Her snake hissed, slithering farther up her forearm. Isla frowned. Part of her screamed to slit the auger’s throat, to be done with it. All he was doing was speaking riddles and nonsense. “What?”
“Your blood...all that power, stirring beneath your skin. Doesn’t it burn?”
It had. But not anymore. “My bracelets keep it contained.”
At that, he laughed. It pealed through the cave. He shook his head, skin slicing slightly against her dagger. He didn’t seem to care. “You can defang a snake, but the poison remains.”
Perhaps he was right. Perhaps she was lying to herself if she thought the bracelets changed who she was. What she had done. Or her fate.
Enough. She had come for answers and, so far, had gotten nothing. “How long do I have?” she demanded, digging the blade, madesticky with blood, into the top layer of his pale flesh. More blood joined it.
He sighed. “Yes, your lifespan. You died. Life was given to you, leeched from another.”
She nodded. She knew that. “And?”
The augur frowned. “In your current state...you won’t last past the storm season.”
She stumbled back. Her hand trembled as she sheathed her dagger. Grim said it would likely last the entire winter. They were already weeks into it. “You’re certain?”
He nodded.
Thousands dead. All because of her.
No. “I need more time. How do I get it?”
A slow smile formed across the augur’s face. It stretched his pale skin too taut. His pointed teeth glimmered. “You asked several times what I do with all the blood. It helps me with readings. Amplifies my power...but also gives me time.” He motioned toward himself. “You can see the price paid. Every method to extend life has one.”
