Page 26 of The Curse of Gods (The Curse of Saints #3)

Peaceful. That was how Josie had once described the Maraciana. Even with dread weighing heavily in her gut as she’d made the climb to Viviane’s dormitory, the sea breeze and the dawn sky and the quiet had been…peaceful.

There was no hint of that peace now.

Not as she stood on a small balcony of the Affinities Complex, the pitch black of night shielding her from view. Not that anyone could see this side of the Maraciana. The Affinities Complex followed the curve of the western cliffs, giving the building an unobstructed view of nothing but sea.

The Anath raged on beneath her, slamming into the cliffs below, nature’s own answer to the anger coursing through her. She wished she could harness the might of the ocean and send it crashing down on the Bellare. She would drown every last one of them.

Josie’s hands curled around the balustrade, the wind whipping the loose fabric of her cotton pants around her ankles. Natali had managed to find her clothes and a bath, and though she’d scrubbed her skin raw, she could still feel the phantom touch of the rebel’s hands around her neck.

“They’ll search the Maraciana,” Josie had insisted when Natali had told her of their plan to sneak her through Rinnia under the cloak of night. “Viviane has ties to the Bellare.”

“Viviane has not left the Maraciana since her arrival months ago.”

That meant nothing to Josie. She did not trust that Viviane didn’t have some way of contacting the Bellare, that she wasn’t relishing in their new advantage in the city.

Banish her , Josie had demanded of Aidon. She wondered if he had planned to, if it was simply another order he had yet to give before war came calling.

“The Maraciana is one of the most respected establishments in the realm,” Natali had stated with surety.

“Not only is there a history of neutrality when it comes to the libraries, but we also hold sacred knowledge—knowledge the Bellare could leverage should they wish to. They would do better to seek our help rather than attack us, and right now, their attentions are elsewhere.”

“And will you?” Josie had prodded. “Help the Bellare?”

“The fact that you are standing here should be proof of my loyalties.”

It was. And yet Josie still didn’t understand why . The Saj of the Maraciana were notorious for valuing knowledge over most else. They were not particularly loyal to one monarch or another, nor did they hold any sort of true devotion to Trahir.

Why, then, had Natali continued to lend their help?

The Saj had risked their life twice today alone to get Josie to safety: first in bringing her to the cottage in Rinnia, and then in sneaking her through the streets to the Maraciana.

But Josie was too exhausted, too frayed at the edges, to question them. Besides, after all they had done for her, it seemed the worst sort of insult.

“I will see if I can fetch word on the Visya force,” Natali had assured her, as if they could read the way fear still had her thoughts in a vise grip. Their words did little to ease it.

Even now, Josie could feel it churning in her stomach as she stared out into the night. How many of the Visya elite force had they lost?

Had Aleissande made it out alive?

Had she found Cole?

Josie squeezed her eyes shut as she thought of her friend. She should have tried harder to find him in the water. She should have kept looking, should have stayed on the beach until she could be sure he was—

“Josie.”

Her eyes flew open. She knew the rasp of that voice. It used to bring her comfort, used to warm that place deep in her chest until it was something molten.

Now, it only brought the heat of rage.

Josie turned to find Viviane standing on the balcony, a small torch in hand. The light of it flickered across her face, illuminating her features in soft shadows.

Josie’s throat burned as she stared at her former partner. It was like looking at a memory.

Viviane had cut her black hair into its former cropped style, and it was thick against the curve of her head. Her skin, wan the last time Josie had seen her, was flush, its usual peach tone returned to her cheeks.

She looked the picture of health, and Josie hated her for it.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Viviane breathed, taking a step toward her. Josie took an immediate step back, keeping the distance between them.

“Are you?” she questioned, her voice low. “Why? So you can be the one to hand me over to your friends?”

Hurt flickered across Viviane’s face, but Josie felt nothing at the sight of it. “I didn’t know about the attack—”

“Spare me,” she hissed. “You betrayed my family months ago. You as good as set this in motion.”

Viviane’s chin trembled, her lips pressing together in a tight line as she fought off her tears. “I did not think it would be like this,” she whispered. “I did not think people would get hurt.”

Anger drove Josie forward, her strides short as she closed the distance between them. “Then you are not only disloyal, but also naive!”

She stopped just before Viviane, letting the firelight illuminate her face, so that she might witness her fury.

Let her see what her betrayal has caused , Josie thought viciously.

“And what of my family, hm?” Josie pressed. “When you were so sure your precious rebels would cause no harm, did you consider us in such calculations, or were we always meant to be collateral damage?”

A tear slipped down Viviane’s cheek. “Josie, please—”

“ I loved you! ” Josie fought against the tremor in her voice as she scrubbed the back of her hand across her eyes. “I loved you, and that love cost my family everything. That love hurt me.”

She shook her head as she sniffed, her jaw clenching as she tried to stop her tears. She would not waste them on Viviane. “If you truly believed this was not where we’d end up, then you are a fool, Viviane—one I refuse to continue to suffer.”

Vi opened her mouth, a broken sound falling from her lips. Her throat bobbed, and she tried again. “I—”

“Josie!”

The sound of her name again sent her reeling, but this time, it was joy that flooded her, joy and relief, as she peered past to Viviane.

“Cole,” she breathed.

She pushed past Vi, her legs trembling as she rushed to her friend and threw her arms around him.

“You’re alive,” Josie breathed, holding him tighter. “You’re alive.”

Cole’s wiry curls tickling her cheek as he tucked his head against hers. “I won’t be for much longer if you keep squeezing the life out of me.”

A strangled noise escaped her, half laugh, half sob, her tears flowing freely as she pressed a kiss to the side of Cole’s head. She kept her hands firmly planted on his shoulders as she pushed him back so she could inspect him fully.

She couldn’t see much in Viviane’s torchlight, but she could see he was filthy, his fighting leathers still wet with salt water, his skin caked in sand and blood.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, her eyes tracing the blood on his face.

Cole lifted a shoulder. “Nothing permanent.”

“How did you know I’d be here?”

“Aleissande,” he answered.

Josie frowned. How did the general know this was where she would be? She started to ask Cole that very thing, but the pained look on his face stopped her. Cole wrung his hands together, his teeth digging into his bottom lip as he let out a heavy breath.

“She’s hurt, Josie. Badly.”

Josie’s arms went slack, her hands falling from his shoulders as she took a step back.

“Where is she?” she demanded.

“With Natali. They were fetching one of the Anima studying here to see if they could help.”

Josie let out a hard breath, her shoulders rolling as she tried to keep herself steady. “Can you take me to her?”

Cole dipped his chin. “Of course.”

He turned toward the door, and Josie took a step to follow him, but she paused when she remembered who stood at their backs.

She glanced over her shoulder to find Viviane watching her, that same sadness still lingering on her face.

“I don’t know why Natali seems to think keeping you here is wise. But I’ll say this,” Josie muttered. “Betray me again, and I will kill you myself.”

She didn’t wait to see Vi’s reaction as she turned back to Cole and followed him inside.

***

She heard Aleissande before she saw her.

Her shouts of pain echoed throughout the dark hallway in the bowels of the Affinities Complex.

How they even managed to get her down the winding staircase and into one of the small rooms was a mystery until she took a closer look at Cole in the torchlight that illuminated the hallway.

His arms were smeared with blood, as was his leather-clad torso and chest.

“You carried her?” Josie asked as they rushed toward the end of the hallway. The shouts were growing louder.

“I’m quite strong, you know,” Cole remarked lightly.

That tightness in her chest loosened slightly at the familiarity of Cole being Cole. Gods, she was so glad he’d survived.

They pushed through the thick driftwood door, which was doing little to keep Aleissande’s pained noises quiet.

A quick glance told Josie it was an ordinary training room, just one that was smaller and tucked away in a corridor with no windows.

Torches lit the space, casting a bright glow on the table that had been dragged to the center of the room.

A woman stood hunched over it, healing light spilling from her palms while Natali stood beside her, a grave look on their face as they held a bloodied rag in their hands.

Aleissande was prone on the table, her body writhing in pain.

Josie rushed forward, her hands hovering uselessly over Aleissande. The general’s golden skin had turned a sickly gray, a thin sheen of sweat coating her face like sea mist.

“What can I do?” Josie asked the healer as she searched for a way to staunch the blood. Cole grabbed a spare rag and pressed it to where Aleissande’s fighting leathers were ripped at her thigh, adding pressure with Natali.

“Keep her still so she doesn’t bleed out,” the Anima ordered. Her hands were pressed against Aleissande’s stomach, her healing light pouring into a wound there that sent rivulets of crimson blood over her hands. “Distract her.”

Josie grabbed Aleissande’s shoulders, using her strength to pin her to the table as Aleissande screamed.

“Can’t you give her something for the pain?” Josie asked desperately, her heart racing as she watched Aleissande’s eyes roll toward the back of her head. She’d never seen the general look so fragile, so close to death.

“No time,” the Anima answered. Her power continued to mend the wound to Aleissande’s stomach, and Aleissande’s face went even whiter as she dipped her chin to watch the healer work.

“No,” Josie commanded, her hand cupping Aleissande’s face and forcing her gaze to her. “Focus on me.”

Aleissande’s chest rattled as she tried to suck in a breath, but it was cut short, a frantic pant bursting from her.

Josie grabbed the general’s hand and squeezed.

“Breathe, Aleissande,” Josie urged, tightening her grip until she could feel the bones in Aleissande’s hand shift against the press of her fingers. “Breathe.”

Aleissande’s jaw clenched, but her hold on Josie’s hand tightened, that haze in her eyes clearing slightly as she sucked in a sharp inhale.

“Good,” Josie soothed.

A tear slipped traitorously over Aleissande’s sharp cheek bone, and Josie brushed it away with her thumb.

Distract her .

“Did you repay the one who did this to you?” she asked, her arm shaking as Aleissande squeezed, and squeezed, and squeezed.

“Going to avenge me, princess?” Aleissande wheezed, tears cresting over her lids as the healer sent another bright pulse of light into the wound. Josie’s fingers wove through her blond hair, gripping the back of her skull tight as she fought to hold her still.

She would gladly take a sword to whoever had caused this.

“Always doubting my abilities,” she murmured instead. Her hand ached under Aleissande’s grip, her arm shaking with the force she used to squeeze back, but she didn’t dare let go.

“I don’t…” Aleissande rasped. Her lips, usually a rosy pink, were white and cracked, and they pulled tight as she let out a pained sound. “Doubt you.”

“A first,” Josie teased, her voice trembling as Aleissande’s eyes went hazy. The general blinked, her lips moving silently before she found her words.

“Not a first.”

“Almost done here,” the healer reassured as she continued to knit the gash at her abdomen together. “Keep applying pressure to that leg,” she ordered Natali and Cole. “I’ll heal that next.”

Josie didn’t look away from Aleissande’s face, not when the general’s gaze was locked on her like a lifeline. Her breath was coming in shallow bursts, her eyes fluttering shut with more frequency.

“You can’t die,” Josie said, her teeth grinding as she tried to rid herself of the tremor in her voice. “I forbid it.”

The corner of Aleissande’s lips twitched, a weak, breathy huff of air escaping her. “I am…your general…”

“And I am your princess,” Josie shot back, adjusting her grip on Aleissande’s hand and dragging it between them. “As such, I command you to survive.”

Aleissande had no idea just how stubborn Josie could be.

Her hold on Josie’s hand loosened.

“Aleissande!”

Aleissande’s eyes fluttered shut, her head going limp in Josie’s hold.

“Do something!” Josie begged the Anima. The woman sent one last glow of healing light over Aleissande’s stomach before moving to her chest. Her hands pressed there, gentle, her eyes closing as she focused on the matter at hand.

“The pain rendered her unconscious. Her pulse is weak, but steady.” She moved to Aleissande’s leg, brushing Natali and Cole’s hands out of the way as she set to work there. “The more we can staunch the bleeding, the better.”

Josie slowly released her hold on Aleissande’s head, but she could not bring herself to release her hand.

“And then what?” she asked, watching as the healer scrubbed an arm across the sweat beading on her brow. The Anima’s face was grim as she met Josie’s gaze.

“And then we pray Mora takes favor on her.”