Page 19 of Brimstone

Lorreth sipped from his beer. “I mean, honestly, that might make him evenlessinclined to help her.”

I shrugged. “We have to hope. Weneedhim. His grandfather was one of the last Alchemists. Foley knows more than anyone else about Alchemical magics and practices. Belikon burned all the Alchemists’ texts when he seized the crown. The few books that my father collected back at the library in Cahlish don’t explain much of anything at all. So that leaves the knowledge that exists in Foley’s head. If he won’t share that with her . . .”

“Then Saeris will never be able to realize her full potential. We’ll never be able to destroy Ammontraíeth for good. And we’ll never be able to put an end to Belikon once and for all and stick Carrion Swift on the throne,” Ren admittedly grimly. “I suppose we’d all better hope and pray that Foley changes his mind and wants to be found, then. Because I, for one, wouldloveto see peace in my lifetime.”

Hah.

Peace.

What would that even look like? Would any of us know what to do with ourselves? I doubted it. Absently, I realized that I hadn’t put my bracer back on after I’d let Saeris feed from me. I ran my fingers over the two small puncture wounds at my wrist; they were healing rapidly and would be gone by morning. Sighing, I removed the other bracer and set it down on the table, then unfastened the gorget, too, freeing myself of its weight around my neck. I was rolling up my shirtsleeves when I realized that my brothers were staring at me.

“What?” But I already knew what they were staring at. I had been careful to conceal the rune work that stained the backs of my hands and looped around my wrists ever since Saeris had accepted me as her mate. My hands had always been inked. The runes forvengeanceandjusticehad been marked into my skin for a very long time . . . but now there were other runeslayered over the top of them. So many runes, in fact, that they were impossible to differentiate from one another. The runes and script that wound their way up my arms—the God Bindings that matched Saeris’s own—were beautiful and terrifying, even to me.

I looked down at it all, staining my skin, and smiled ruefully. “Yeah. It’sa lot.”

“I mean, we knew,” Ren said breathlessly. “But knowing is one thing. Seeing it in person . . .”

“Seeing it in person iswild,” Lorreth agreed. “Does this mean the two of you are going to . . . y’know.” He seemed to be struggling to get the words out. “Will you perform the rites now? Get married?”

A jolt of adrenaline zipped up my spine. I shoved away from the table, quickly rolling down my shirtsleeves, covering the ink. “No. We won’t be doing that,” I clipped out. “She’s not—”

The war tent’s flap opened, and Danya burst into the room. “Ren! Oh. You’re here.” Her eyes landed on me, full of panic. “You need to come outside now. All three of you. Something’s wrong.”

Ren was already on his feet. “Feeders at the river?” Panic tinged the question; after Saeris’s decree earlier, the feeders had been recalled back to Ammontraíeth. They were to be garrisoned a mile from the Black Palace, far from Sanasroth’s border with Cahlish.

“No,” Danya answered. “Yes. I—I don’t know what’s happening. I can’t explain it. It’s best if you come and see for yourself. Hurry.”

4

114

KINGFISHER

EIGHT OF THEMstood in a line along the embankment.

They were still as the dead—theactualdead, rather than theundead. They didn’t snarl at the Fae on the other side of the river watching them. They were like decomposing statues, so still that for a second, I wondered if someone had propped them up there.

“What are we looking at?” I asked.

The things Danya had witnessed over the years had made her just as unshakable as the rest of us, but her face was deathly pale as she jerked her chin toward the feeders. “Just watch.”

A minute passed.

Another.

And just as I was losing patience and about to demand that Danya explain what was going on, they moved.

Together, they scrambled down the slope toward the river, moving in unnatural unison. Left foot first. Right. All eight of them skidded, losing their footing in the mud. They fell forward, onto all fours, threw back their heads, and screeched.

The sound had every hair on my body at attention.

As one, they came forward, crawling death on hands and knees.

“Do we break the ice?” Danya breathed.

“No. We wait.” If they were swept away with the river, we wouldn’t be able to inspect them once they were dead. These creatures were different, and we had to know why. As if reading my mind, Ren gathered his magic, forming a blue-white ball of power in his hands. My shadows coiled around my feet, pooling, prowling, ready to be unleashed.

“As soon as they reach halfway . . .” Ren murmured.