Page 209 of Brimstone

Where are you?

The question echoed back to me, far away, then near, then far again.

“Come on! I know you’re here. You got your way, didn’t you? I said that you could watch!”

Watch.

Watch . . .

WATCH!

“Osha, what are you doing?”

“Come on!” I screamed.“Show yourself!”

Every bit of hope I had left in me flared and died as I waited for the figure to come floating out of the dark. I had almost given up completely when it suddenly appeared on the snowy mountainside in front of us.

The Hazrax.

Fisher reached for Nimerelle, but I stepped in front of him, shaking my head. “No. Don’t. It’s okay.”

“What is it doing here?” he hissed.

I hadn’t kept the deal I’d made with the Hazrax a secret from him on purpose. Fisher was gone when it visited me in the forge, and there hadn’t been time to explain what had just happened with it in the dreamscape I conjured in Cahlish.

I’ll explain everything, I promise, I said into his mind. To the Hazrax, I said, “I need to ask you a question.”

The creature looked even more sickly and unnatural under the canopy of stars. As always, its coal-black eyes werebottomless voids. With its slitted nose, the gills at its neck, and its hairless, waxen skin, it looked like the kind of creature that lived in deep, inky waters at the bottom of an ocean. I had seen something very similar to it in one of Foley’s books. It was impossible to read its mood normally, but right now I could feel the anger radiating from it like heat. “Our agreement gives me leave to watch you at my leisure, Saeris Fane. It does not give you leave tosummonme and ask questions.”

“Then why are you here?” I demanded. “Why did you even come?”

“I will not come again. I am here now to make this very clear to you. I am not your subject. You do not command me—”

“Please. Just one question! I’ll never call upon you again, I swear it.” I would drop down on my knees and beg. I wasn’t above it. I’d make another deal. I’d let it watch me for the nexttenyears in return. I just needed to know one thing.

“Why would I help you, child? I have no interest in assisting you with your questions.”

I needed to hold my tongue. I just couldn’t. “You’re lying.”

Easy, Saeris, Fisher warned.It’s more powerful than the two of us put together. Can’t you feel it?

Oh, I felt it. The Hazrax’s power flooded the air with electricity and the distinct scent of ozone. The creature was only just taller than your average Fae male, it was true, but the reek of strange magic that rolled off it was so strong that it turned my stomach. But what else could I do? I had to try. “If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t have invaded my dream of Cahlish. You wouldn’t have told me that I needed to change my favor.”

The Hazrax pondered this silently.

“Just tell me.Please.Can you see the spirits of the dead?”

The moonlight threw wild shadows over the Hazrax’s face. It grimaced, displaying row upon row of curved, sharp teeth. “It would be blasphemy to admit such a thing,” it hissed.

“I don’t care about blasphemy. I care about my fox. Is he still here? Right now. I need to know if he’s already . . .” Sometimes, words were steep hills, so fucking hard to summit. “If he’s already gone, then I’ll leave him in peace. But if he’s still here . . .”

The Hazrax clacked its teeth together in a strange gesture that felt disdainful. “What does it matter either way, child? The fox is dead. It will move on eventually.”

The tenuous hope I had lost soared from the ashes of my grief and rekindled at once. “So youcansee him then? Heisstill here?”

“I will not speak on it—”

“Please.”The request was quiet. It hadn’t come from me. Fisher was up on his feet now and still holding Onyx’s lifeless form in his arms. He took a step forward, tucking his chin to his chest and bowing respectfully as he approached the Hazrax. “You do not know me,” he said. “You owe me nothing. I won’t make you promises or strike bargains with you, but if it’s within your power to give my mate the information she seeks, I would be forever grateful. I’m sure that means little to you, but—”