Page 40 of Brimstone

Where the black ooze spread, rot and decay followed after it.

9

HIDDEN

SAERIS

SHE WAS ASbeautiful as ever.

Her thick blond hair fanned across the pillow beneath her head. Cheeks as pale as porcelain, lips a blush pink, Everlayne didn’t look as though she was still battling the remnants of Malcolm’s venom. But I knew better. Along her jawline, fine black tendrils of poison marred her perfect skin. Her hands had been stacked one on top of the other over her stomach—a restful pose—but her fingernails were too long. Tinged black.

Onyx lay sleeping at her feet by the bottom of the bed. I’d assumed he was darting off to hunt last night when Fisher carried me into his room, but it was nice to know that he’d ended up here with Everlayne. She didn’t deserve to be alone . . . though it seemed Onyx hadn’t been the only one keeping watch over my mate’s sister.

The seat Ren had been occupying when I’d entered Layne’s room earlier still sat pushed back from the bed, abandoned. The general probably had a room of his own here at Cahlish. I sincerely doubted that he’d slept in it at all since Everlayne had fallen through that shadow gate and come crashing down onto the table in the library, though. I had a feeling that he’dspent quite a few long nights dozing uncomfortably in that chair, waiting for the female in the bed to wake up.

The white fox had fallen asleep right after I’d settled in to keep Layne company. Now, the soft sounds of his snoring filled the bedroom. He kicked his legs fitfully, running in his dreams.

The room that had been prepared for Everlayne’s recovery was beautiful. The windows overlooked a sweeping snowy field that dipped down a shallow hill to meet the tree line of a sprawling evergreen forest. The trees were dressed in white, their boughs bent under the weight of fresh snow. Beyond, the mountain ridge scraped the sky. The sleeping giant, Omnamerrin, with his sheer face turned toward Cahlish, glittered as the first light of dawn crept over the crest of his peak.

A thrill of mild discomfort hit me as those very same pale rays washed the walls of Everlayne’s bedroom, painting them orange. The light held no warmth this early in the morning, but a rising heat grew in my hands as I watched it dapple my skin. I would need to retreat from it soon. But not yet.

“I owe you an apology,” I said softly, lifting Layne’s topmost hand from her stomach and taking it in my own. Her skin felt cool to the touch—a little too cool. “I didn’t mean to leave without saying goodbye, y’know. But there were extenuating circumstances,” I said dryly. “Your brother wasn’t exactly the easiest to deal with. I wound up having the choice taken from me, I’m afraid. We’ve moved on from that now, but . . . still. It didn’t feel good, going without thanking you, at least. You took care of me, Layne. You watched out for me. If it hadn’t been for you then, the gods only know who would have been charged with watching over me at the palace. I’m sure it would have been a much scarier experie—”

She hears you. She feels you. Open the gate. The gate . . . The gate . . . The gate. Open it. Open the gate.

I jerked back into my seat, tipping my head to one side.

The susurrus of sound was very familiar. It was the quicksilver. I knew the cadence of its voice. Was used to being bossed around by it now. It had spoken to me . . . but there was no one here with me. I didn’t have Solace with me. Ren didn’t evenhavea god sword, and he hadn’t left anything behind, anyway. It was just me and Everlayne, and Layne didn’t have a weapon on her. Nothing that could possibly contain any quicksilver. Not that I—

My mind stilled.

Oh.

By the gods, but shedidhave quicksilver on her body. I hadn’t noticed it before, but her tiny earrings flashed in the pre-dawn light, didn’t they? Simple. Plain. The metal was cast into flowers, their petals pointed upward like tiny daggers.

“Youaren’t supposed to be here.” I leaned closer to inspect the earrings.

We are, we are, we are, came the quicksilver’s indignant response.Always have been.

“And how am I supposed to open a gate when there’s so little of you?” I asked.

I reached for the metal in Layne’s earlobe, but as soon as my fingers touched it, the earring liquified and dripped into my palm.

“Fuck.”I hadn’t willed it to change. I wasn’t wearing a relic, and it was touching me. Panic rose up, ready to come crashing down on me, but before that could happen, a droplet of the quicksilver landed on Layne’s shoulder. As soon as the liquid metal touched her skin, her eyelids flew open, and Fisher’s sister drew in a wheezing breath.

It is done, then. Done, done, done, the quicksilver chanted excitedly. Only this time, the layered voices of the quicksilver came out of Everlayne’s mouth. Her eyes were green. Unfocused. She blinked, and when she opened them again, they were aperfect white. Her head snapped to the left, facing me, her jaw working from side to side.

“At last,” she sighed. “You’re here.” The voice was a lot like Everlayne’s, but it didn’t belong to her. It was deeper than it should have been. Richer. A tremulous smile spread across her face as she stared at me with those white eyes. “I’ve been waiting a long, long time to speak with you, Saeris Fane.”

Her hand snapped out and closed around my wrist, her grip unnaturally strong.

“Everlayne?” Her name was a question on my lips, but I already knew that this wasn’t Fisher’s sister. The thing that was occupying Layne’s body blinked at me slowly, as if it had forgottenhowto blink, shaking its head.

“No. Everlayne isn’t here, I’m afraid. I don’t—I don’t know if she will be strong enough to return.” I tried to pull my hand back, fear climbing my spine, but the thing inside Layne’s body held on tight. “Now, now, now . . .” Layne’s teeth chattered.

“Let me go!” I didn’t want to have to break Everlayne’s fingers, but I would if I had to.

The thing puppeting Layne released me. “At last,” it sighed. “I’ve . . . waited so . . . long. Waited for cen-cen-centuries.”