Page 117 of Brimstone
“Wait a second. Shouldn’t we think this through? I mean, that could lead anywhere,” Carrion said.
“It goes where you want to go, remember. No matterwhoopened it, it’ll take me to Saeris. I’ll come back for you if it’s safe.”
“No! Fisher, if you’re going, I’m coming, too. I’m not waiting here, not knowing what the hell’s going on.”
“Me, too.” Hayden didn’t sound as confident as Carrion, but he approached the pool along with him. “If there’s a chance Saeris is in danger, I’m not waiting here. I let her down last time I saw her. I won’t do it again.”
Gods, they were infuriating. I didn’t have time to argue with them, though. “So be it. Looks like this is where we leave you, forge master,” I said.
Elroy scratched his beard. “Oh, I’m sure I’ll be hearing from you soon enough.”
He was right about that. I would be back. I still had a queen to kill.
“Think of Saeris,” I told the smuggler and the human, and then I stepped into the quicksilver.
28
SENESCHAL
SAERIS
MY EARS WEREringing.
The air was full of dust.
I opened my mouth wide, working it side to side, unsure of why it was hurting so badly. My throat was raw. Fuck, the back of my head was hurting, too. Why was I on the ground? And where—
The quicksilver was awake.
Holyfuckinggods.
I jumped up, my back screaming, hip thrumming with pain. Broken chunks of stone cut into my bare feet, but I hobbled forward, reaching for my power, unthinking. Ihadto get it closed. Worry sang through me—a plucked string, vibrating in my chest. How long had it been open? It felt like only moments. I had been in the pool, and then I’d hit the wall.
I—
Oh, gods. Something was coming through. The quicksilver reacted quickly when I called it now, quietly, but I was asking it to do something that it could not do. The gate couldn’t close while someone was traveling through it. No one had ever told me that. I justknewit now.
I had to wait.
The crown of a dark head of hair appeared first.
Black waves.
Pale skin.
My panic began to subside.
But then . . .
I knew the face.
I had seen it only once before, but it had stayed with me. The male had barely spoken to me, but I recalled his words all too well.“Do you not bow before a king, creature?”
I couldn’t remember his name. He had sat next to Belikon up on the dais, outraged that I had not shown the proper deference to his master. What had Belikon called him? Orith? Arriash?
The male was tall and rail thin, his nose crooked, his chin square and jutting. With his skin crinkled like old, thin paper and lank black strands of hair falling into his face, he didn’t project a sense of health. In fact, he looked pretty damned unwell.
“Ah. Saeris Fane.” He clicked blackened teeth together. “Thank you for so graciously leaving the door open for us. We’ve been waiting for an invitation into Ammontraíeth for a very long time. You may remember me. My name is Orious. I am seneschal to the king.”
