Brimstone (Fae & Alchemy, #2)

by Callie Hart

“Nightmares or no, you are whatever I say you are once you’re dead, demon. Maybe I’ll say you’re bonfire ash. Or the remains of a goat.”

“Do you understand?” She squinted at me through narrowed eyes. “Do I understand that I’m only permitted to enter the library for an hour in the evening and an hour before dawn? In my own court? Yes, I understand perfectly.” “Good.” Algat shoved the book at me and left.

“Until you learn how to be gentle, I will not teach you how to be violent.”

“Is a dead person talking to you right now?” Carrion asked. He was bent over by the door with his hands on his knees again; it was probably the only position that helped with his nausea. “Yes,” I told him. “Oh, good,” he said in a high-pitched voice. “I thought that was just me.”

“How do you feel?” “Shitty,” Carrion answered. His voice was stronger now, though. His breathing didn’t sound as labored as it had twenty minutes ago. “You?” he asked. “Shitty,” I agreed. “Are you still seeing dead people?” I took a moment to answer. Then: “No.” “Me, either.” “Congratulations.” “Thanks. Appreciate that.”

For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, I let the smuggler help me to my feet. But this time, I was too tired to scowl at him all that much.

“Will you show me?” “Show you?” “How to close it off. To shut it all down, so I don’t have to feel it anymore?” Sinners. I puffed out my cheeks, unable to look at him for a moment. “No, Carrion. I won’t.” “Why not?” He sounded like I’d just kicked him. “There’s only one way to learn how to endure pain the way I have. You have to suffer through it. Again, and again, and again. It galvanizes you. Tempers you like steel. But I wouldn’t wish the kind of pain I’ve lived through on anyone. I’ve borne it because I had to and for no other reason. Feel the pain you’ve been given, Carrion. Don’t be fool enough to ask for more. It’s a curse I would spare you from, believe me.”

“So responsive. I love how your body reacts to me, Little Osha. It lets me know that you’re mine.”

“The most unique, most beautiful creature in the entire realm, on her knees in front of me, looking up at me like she’s feeling feral and might just like to fuck me? Yes,” he said, “I’d say I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself.”

“I wasn’t thinking anything!” I protested. “I just touched your ankle!” “Hey, it’s okay. Some people have a thing for feet. And mine aren’t as hairy as most people’s.”

“I had no idea what you would mean to me. I had no idea what I would do to keep you safe. When I close my eyes, you are all I fucking see, Saeris Fane. I could be dead in the ground five thousand years and the frosts could have taken my bones, and still no other male will ever have loved another female the way that I love you.”

“Is that why you reek of sex?” he asked flatly. I rolled my eyes, hauling myself up and out of the chair. “And with that, this conversation is officially over.” Carrion threw the cloth he was holding onto the table beside him. “The injustice! You dream of your girlfriend, you’re healed by her, get laid, and wake up brand-spanking-new. Meanwhile, I dream that I’d been turned into a goat, and I wake up with a mouth drier than the glass flats, covered in suspect pox marks!”

I spent a full second feeling sorry for Carrion, knowing how uncomfortable he must be, but then I remembered how annoying he was, and my pity went away.

“I’m sorry, but I think training might have to be postponed today, don’t you? My wildly dangerous magic might just need to take priority. Unless you don’t think anyone will mind if I blow up Ammontraíeth.” “I personally wouldn’t mind.”

“There’s other… physical evidence,” I said, staring straight ahead. Gods, this was fucking awkward. “Okay, okay. I’m gonna take your word for it. I think I have enough information.” He cocked his head to one side. “Are you sure it was him?” “What do you mean, am I sure it was him? Yes, it was him. I think I know what my mate looks like, Lorreth.” A sneaky little smile hovered over his lips. “Wanna hit me yet?” he asked. “Yes. I do, actually. You know what? Fine. Let’s go train.”

“Is that so? Is it as simple as turning a handle and stepping through the door? Or do you kick the door down and fall ass over tit through it as a result?” Slowly but surely, I was beginning to hate this vampire.

I stepped back into the library, holding out my hand, holding in my breath, waiting for the creature’s little paper wings to stir back to life in my palm. But the stargazer didn’t move. The little bird was gone. With a pang of sadness, I slipped it into my pocket and left.

Below the drawing were the words THE BUTCHER OF ZILVAREN. They had to get a little more creative when coining villainous names for me. There were only so many places I could butcher.

“I hope you have a fucking plan.” I’d had one: Put the bastards down as quickly and quietly as possible. Try not to cause a scene. But I wasn’t liking that plan very much anymore. No. That plan was no longer viable. Because boy oh fucking boy, was I going to cause a fucking scene.

They’d taken something sacred from her here, in this awful place. Not her right to have children. But her right to make such an important decision for herself.

Carrion had lived in Zilvaren a long, long time, but he had never been without a Swift.

“I’m not offended, per se. Just a little… outraged.”

Fear would be my undoing. I would cede no ground to it.

You can do this. When you had no one else to lean on, you relied on yourself. When no one rode to the rescue and saved you and Hayden from dying of thirst, you saved yourself. Save yourself now, Saeris.

“You were blind not to have noticed it.” “Hey, I had no experience with magic. I felt something, I guess, but I just thought she was hot.” He winced in my direction, making a face. “Sorry.” An angry rumble filled the cavern, but it didn’t come from me. Hayden looked like he was about to start pummeling Swift’s face with his fists. “All right. Okay, everyone, let’s just forget I said that, shall we?”

The smug smile died on Orious’s lips. “Fuck,” he whispered. “Yeah. Fuck.”

“We need to send him back,” I whispered. “Belikon needs to know what I’m now capable of. That he will never bend us to his will. All of this and more.” Fisher didn’t blink. “Does he need his fingers to impart that message?”

“Ahem. Hello? Could you… just, uh, save this part for…”

“What are we supposed to call you, then?” “You should call me Saeris. It’s my name.” Archer wobbled like he might fall over.

“The ornament’s fine. It’s back on the shelf. We all know now not to touch it.” But Archer wouldn’t be consoled. One of the sprites helping to heat the bath dropped the stone he was holding into the bathtub with a splosh, and that was it. “Out! Get out, all of you! Go! I’ll leave you out in the snow,” Archer cried. “I’ll turn you into doorstops. Go!”

“When you single-handedly took down five guards with those pretty new short swords of yours. That was really…” He trailed off, eyes burning. “Stupid?” “Hot,”

Does it hurt? he asked. I shook my head. No. Do you feel… He narrowed his eyes a fraction. Unwell? Unwell was a tactful way of asking if I was being plagued by a million voices that were gradually driving me insane.

“My soul is on the winds,” I panted. “You’re carrying it away.”

My prince of shadows. I had been born into the light, but my salvation had been waiting for me in the dark.

“Oh, y’know. ‘I am so in love with Kingfisher. Kingfisher is so handsome. Look at his ass in those pants—’” “Hey!”

“It’s okay, Osha. Many women have appreciated my posterior in a pair of leathers. I don’t let it go to my head.”

“What about you? Are you ticklish?” Fisher sniffed, his hair tumbling into his eyes. He lowered himself so that his face was only a couple of inches from mine and butted the end of my nose gently with his own. “I’m afraid I’m not going to answer that question.”

“I’d spend the fortunes of the universe to protect you. I’d drain the seas dry. Fell every tree. I would sacrifice the sun from the fucking sky and surrender the stars, too, if I could. But those things aren’t mine to give. All I have is my life. It isn’t much, but I’d spend it and consider the price small if it meant keeping you safe.”

“There it is,” I whispered. “What?” “The way that you love me. Some would say that is your weakness.” The lines of his face softened. “Some would say that,” he agreed. “But they would be wrong. It’s my strength.”

Let him come to Ammontraíeth. That was the thought I was going to send to Fisher… but I didn’t get the chance. “Shut up, Carrion,” Fisher said. “You’re coming with us.”

Carrion squinted at Fisher, hand in the air. “Is it weird, knowing that people’s balls retract up into their bodies whenever you’re around?” He made a cupping motion of something being sucked upward.

“Wait. Speaking of your blade, where is Simon, by the way?” Over the years, I’d seen Carrion successfully hide an array of emotions. He was too slow to hide the color that leaped to his cheeks today. “Don’t you concern yourself with Simon,” he said. “I know exactly where my god sword is, thank you very much.”

“I do have a connection with Fisher, yes. And yes, I can sense where he is. It… just isn’t the same. The connection I share with him feels like a deep well. Calm and peaceful.” “And what does the connection with Tal feel like?” I gritted my teeth, reaching the bottom of the stairs. I turned right. “A leash.”

Oh ho ho, boy. She wanted to play. “I suppose I have you to thank for that honorific, Zovena. Is the name supposed to upset me? Because, personally, I’m rather proud of that accomplishment. Tell me,” I said, before she could reply. “In Ammontraíeth, is it considered incest if you sleep with your maker? ’Cause it sounds to me like someone was fucking Daddy.”

“He can come down to my chambers and fetch them like the dog that he—” “You will deliver them to the library. Personally.” I spoke slowly, enunciating every single word. “Or I will come and find you. And when I’m done with you, there will be nothing left of you but your fucking teeth. Are we clear?”

THE FOX SMELLED like wild winter and frost-bitten mornings. I held him tightly under one arm, humming a lullaby that my mother had sung to me as an infant quietly under my breath. Not to the fox. I wasn’t humming to the fox. That would have been weird. I just liked the song, and I had a feeling he did, too. There was nothing wrong with that.

“Is that… for me?” Onyx nudged the little spiked pine cone, butting it with his nose again, until it rolled and hit the toe of my boot. It was for me. A gift. I bent and collected it, tucking the memento into the inside pocket of my leathers. Before I turned and left, I scratched the little fox between his black-tipped ears, trying and failing to pretend that I was unmoved by the gesture. “Thank you, little one.”

“Seven hundred years ago.” “And did you eat that person?” “No.” “Gods alive, Foley. You’re so fucking… urgh!”

“It’s commendable that you’re trying to protect my modesty, Saeris, but Carrion’s right. I have none. I really don’t care if he’s checking out my ass. Unfortunately for you, Swift, my sexuality doesn’t lean in your direction.” “That’s okay. The thing about leaning is that it’s very unstable. The ground could shift, and you find yourself leaning in a completely different direction at any moment. I, myself, have experienced all kinds of leanings.”

“Fae females, Tal?” The vampire met my eye, unabashed. “Absolutely. I prefer my bedmates warm,”