Crown of the Queen (The Wardbreaker Book 3) Read online

  Another pause, the silence filled only by the ticking of the grandfather clock. “You put us in the line of fire,” I said. “You let us get hurt, not knowing how things would play out… one of us could’ve died tonight. One of us almost did. But you scarified your home for the cause… a home you happily gave to a bunch of strangers to use for an indefinite period of time. You sheltered us, took care of us, no questions asked. I guess that makes us even.”

  “I’m glad you see it that way,” Becket said, “But make no mistake. I only bought us some time. Asmodius will try to find us, and when he does… when he strikes next, there will be no plan B.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  I didn’t get much sleep. None of us did, except maybe RJ, but he’d worked himself to the bone making sure we were all healed up. He was the backbone of this group. I had no idea what we would’ve done without him last night. We probably wouldn’t have all made it out with our hides intact.

  But we had made it out, despite that mysterious Elemancer’s best efforts, and now we were safe. Becket had assured us. But the attack had us all pretty shaken up. Instead of splitting up and heading into different rooms, we’d gathered blankets and pillows and set up camp in the living room.

  It made us all feel a little more comfortable, but it also made me acutely aware to the others’ constant tossing and turning. It was only going to get worse from here. Harder. The fight, more difficult. We hadn’t even discussed Devil Falls as a group yet. Now we were facing the prospect of having to head into Devil Falls—and beyond—without our solid headquarters.

  That was to say nothing about the fact that we’d lost everything we’d ever kept at Becket’s place. All we had left were the clothes on our backs. Axel, however, had something else. His mother’s necklace. I guess he kept that in his pocket at all times, because he’d been sleeping with it clutched in his hand.

  Morning happened all at once, with Karim waking me up to a fresh cup of coffee and a handful of biscuits. I almost didn’t register what was happening at first. I’d been dreaming, in the short time I’d spent asleep, about fire breathing demons vaporizing a city as it drowned. When the world came back into focus, I took the cup of coffee as well as a reluctant biscuit.

  “Thanks…” I said.

  “Don’t mention it,” Karim said, before heading over to the armchair he’d been sleeping on. He settled, let the feather of steam from the top of his mug warm his nose, and then sipped his tea.

  I did the same. It was delicious. I didn’t think the British knew how to make a decent cup of coffee. Tea was their thing, wasn’t it? But Karim had done a good job, and I was thankful for it.

  “Sleep much?” I asked.

  “Barely a wink,” he said, before taking another sip. “I’m glad to see this place is just as cold as the last one. Part of me thinks we should set this one on fire, also. At least we’d get some bloody warmth.”

  “It could be worse. We could be dead.”

  “As a Necromancer, I happen to know the state of death is an improvement for some people.” Another sip. “Most people, in fact... idiots,” he added, grumbling into his mug.

  Axel started stirring, maybe woken up by our voices. He tried to shoot upright, but I placed a hand on his chest and helped him relax back into his seat. “It’s alright,” I said, “You’re okay.”

  He stared at me, wild-eyed and unbelieving. “It wasn’t a dream,” he said in a daze.

  “No, it wasn’t. But none of us are hurt, at least.”

  Axel ran his fingers across his face. “I was dreaming.”

  “We all were,” Karim put in. “I don’t think any of us had a dreamless night.”

  “What did you dream about?” I asked.

  A pause. “My mother… she was burning.”

  “That’s dark,” Karim said.

  “Christ, it was so real.”

  “I think it’s the demons,” I said, “Becket was able to save his… pets. They’re all upstairs somewhere. I guess the move got them all pretty excited and now they’re messing with our heads.”

  “I hope it passes,” Axel said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “If it doesn’t, I’ll try and… I’ll do something to stop them.”

  “Don’t worry about that right now, okay? Demons are the least of our problems, anyway.”

  Axel unfurled his palm and looked at his mother’s necklace. I hadn’t noticed until now, but the charm had broken apart; the hook keeping the amber gem attached to the necklace had snapped. He looked at it for a moment, confused. I watched him go to fiddle with it, but I stopped him.

  “Let me,” I said.

  He nodded, opened his palm again, and presented the necklace to me. I held one of his hands in mine, and with the other, I touched the broken hook. With a little concentration, and the faintest of whispers toward the Tempest, I drew into myself just enough power to fuse the two broken pieces of metal together, making it good as new.

  “Thanks…” he said.

  “I’m glad you didn’t lose that,” I said.

  Axel shrugged. “It’s the only possession I have that truly matters to me.”

  “I’m sorry. I really am.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t care about any of it. I have what I need.”

  I thought he was talking about the necklace, but then I saw his eyes. He was looking right at me, his gaze fixed on my face. I wanted to dismiss the notion that he meant me, but I decided to stick with the more logical explanation—he in fact meant his mother’s necklace. That made more sense. She was the most important person in his life, and that meant the necklace was the most important thing in his life, and he’d saved it from being incinerated.

  Yeah. Let’s go with that one.

  “Bloody heterosexuals,” Karim groaned, rolling his eyes.

  I flipped my middle finger up at him without casting a glance his way. “Anyway…” I said, “Last night could’ve ended up a lot worse. I’m happy we’re all in the same place, and safe.”

  “But for how long?” Danvers asked. I had noticed her waking up.

  “I don’t know, but Becket says this place is safe. For now, that’s good enough for me.”

  Danvers scowled, but bit her lip. I could tell the attack had shaken her confidence in Becket a little. I couldn’t blame her. She wasn’t as close with him as I was; she didn’t understand. The last thing we needed right now, though, was distrust. I stretched my aching muscles, stood, and scanned the room.

  “Okay,” I said, “Last night sucked; I’m not going to pretend it didn’t, or that everything’s fine. But we need to see this for what it is.”

  “And what exactly is it?” Karim asked, “Because it’s not a party.”

  “We wounded Asmodius that night. Wounded him so bad, he’s pulled out all the stops to make sure he could hit us where it hurt.”

  “Do you really expect any of us to believe he broke a sweat putting that attack together?”

  “He did,” Axel said, “I can promise you, that wasn’t easy. I’ve never heard of an Elemancer with the kind of power Izzy described working for him. Whoever that is, they were new, and that meant my father has had to make a couple of compromises in order to get them to work for him.”

  “So, he made a compromise,” Danvers said, “Big whoop. That doesn’t mean anything.”

  “It means he has less authority than he had before. He’s had to go outside of his circle to look for help.”

  “Doesn’t he have infinite money?” Karim asked, “Everybody’s got a price. I’m sure he just paid them off.”

  “No…” Danvers said, trailing off, “It doesn’t work like that. Mages don’t just carry out hit jobs in the middle of New York City; not for something as mundane as money, anyway. He had to give something else up.”

  She didn’t have to say it, but I knew she was speaking from experience. Danvers was, after all, living with a bounty on her head. If claiming it was as easy as finding her and killing her, then any number of Mages would’ve come after h
er by now. But Mages were cleverer than that. To attack a Mage on Magistrate territory was a crime punishable by banishment.

  And banishment was a big deal.

  For starters, they didn’t just kick you out of the city. They also branded you, with magic, forever marking you as a rulebreaker to anyone else with the sight. No matter where you went, other Mages would know not to trust you; they would know without you having to tell them that you’d committed unforgivable offenses against a previous Magistrate, and you’d become a pariah.

  I was going to catch that Elemancer, and then I was going to watch while they got branded for life for what they did to Becket.

  To us.

  “Asmodius had to give something valuable up,” I said, “That means he’s angry, and angry people make mistakes.”

  “More importantly,” Axel added, “It means that Elemancer is probably still in the city.”

  “What makes you say that?” Karim asked, “Becket can open portals. For all we know, this Elemancer can too. They could be anywhere.”

  “In theory, yes, but the art of opening portals, or even teleportation, is incredibly powerful and rare. Only a handful of Mages can do it properly. This Elemancer would’ve had to retreat after last night’s attack, their body would’ve been singing from all the magic they’d used. There’s only one place someone like that can hide.”

  She groaned. “Not this again.”

  “Tonight,” I said, “We have to go tonight, Cassidy. We need to find the person that did this, and Devil Falls is our best shot.”

  “I agreed to go into Devil Falls with you to find Aetherglass, not to settle a score.”

  “Can’t we do both?”

  “No. We can’t. The longer we spend in that neighborhood, the harder things will get for us. Don’t you understand? We don’t belong there. Like, at all. They’ll figure that unavoidable fact out quick, and once they do, they’ll be on us like piranhas. We need to get in, find my contact, get what we need, and get out.”

  “Wait… contact? What contact?”

  “Okay, it’s not really a contact—just some guy I used to know. But did you really think I’d agree to go back to that wretched place without knowing who to talk to?”

  “Well…” I shrugged, “I don’t know. I guess I never thought to ask.”

  “So, you thought we were gonna just head down there, muddle around a bit, maybe ask the locals if they happened to know anyone selling black market Aetherglass?”

  “Alright, alright. I get it. How likely is this contact to know where we can find the Aetherglass maker?”

  “I don’t know yet. I also don’t know if he’ll even help us. We aren’t exactly on great terms, and I haven’t spoken to him in a long time. But of all the people in the Falls, he’s the least likely to be… hostile.”

  More like, the person least likely to want to claim the bounty on Danvers’ head. Got it. “Tonight, then. We’ll make whatever preparations we need to make, and we’ll get this show on the road. The faster we find what we’re looking for, the better.”

  And if we happen to come across the person who burned Becket’s place down… all the better.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Becket wanted to see me before we headed for Devil Falls. I couldn’t say I hadn’t been looking forward to talking to him. Becket had a way with words… he was soft spoken, and incredibly intelligent. He always settled my nerves; despite being someone who kept demons as pets.

  I knocked on the door to his new office, entering after he had called out. It was a quaint little space, modest, spartan. There were no decorations on the walls or on his desk, no bookshelves, not even a computer. There was, however, an unexpected guest with us in the room; that damned demon doll.

  It was sitting upright on his desk, seeming to stare at me as I headed into the office and sat at one of the chairs across from Becket. I had taken my eyes off it only for a second as I sat down, but when I looked at it again, it had shifted slightly so it could continue staring at me. I could almost feel the malice oozing off that thing. I wanted to toss it in the bin and set it on fire, but I doubted if that would do anyone any good.

  “You wanted to see me?” I asked Becket.

  “Yes,” he said, opening his notebook and pulling what looked like a polaroid out. He handed it over to me. “This is the man you need to find. On the back of that polaroid is his name, his last known location, and any information I have been able to uncover regarding his contacts and social circles.”

  On the polaroid was a candid photo of a man with grey hair, dark, tired eyes, and a square jaw. He was on a street corner somewhere, pointing at someone and snarling at them, his face twisted with anger, a gap between his two incisors. He didn’t look like the friendliest of people.

  I flipped the polaroid around and saw only a name. “Hugo West,” I said, “You’ve only written his name… where’s the rest?”

  “There is no rest. Hugo has successfully become a ghost. I don’t mean that in the literal sense, of course. I doubt if anyone has been able to kill him. But he has, however, managed to stay off the grid enough that I have not been able to trace him via traditional means.”

  “What about extra-traditional?” I nodded at the doll.

  “Demons are soothsayers and future-readers, not private investigators.”

  “Does that mean it knows if we’re going to find the drowned city or not?”

  “If it does, it’s not telling me. Unfortunately, our little friend here is only a hair in status above your rank and file demonic spirits, which limits its reach. I suspect any attempts at trying to divine an answer to that question would fail no matter how adept the spellcaster is. The drowned city didn’t just drown, it was also hidden with magic. That’s why no one has been able to find it yet. The scroll is the only way.”

  I pocketed the photo. “If that’s all we have, then that’s all we have. Danvers says she knows someone who may be able to help us.”

  “Be extremely careful out there. Devil Falls is a den of liars and snakes, no one will help you for nothing; everyone is out for themselves. You need to be ready to become just as ruthless.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  Becket shook his head. “Never mind…” he trailed off. “I suppose I should simply bid you good hunting. Trust your instincts, Isabella. They’re strong, and they’ll serve you well.”

  “I’m not gonna lie. I kind of wish you were coming with us tonight.”

  “As do I, but there are spells prepared to alert certain individuals should I ever set foot within the district. You still have a chance of flying under the radar, at least for a lot longer than if I were accompanying you.” He paused. “Know that I’m not the kind of man to send others to do his bidding.”

  Nodding, I stood. “Trust me, those red eyes of yours are all the proof I need of that. I guess I’m just glad you’re on our team and not on somebody else’s.” I walked over to the door. “Hold the fort until we get back.”

  “Don’t get killed.”

  “Good advice.”

  I headed out of the room and went downstairs, where the others were waiting—all of them except Karim. It turns out Becket spent the days leading up to the attack filling this safehouse with new clothes and equipment for all of us to use; that included weapons, and even a makeshift lab for Danvers to make her magic potions and powders.

  “It’s good to see you up and about,” I said to RJ. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like a lion,” he said, grinning.

  “Good. We’re gonna need all the teeth we can get. This is your last chance to back out, though.”

  “Back out?”

  “Danvers said this place isn’t good to Legionnaires—not even former ones.”

  RJ shrugged. “I don’t give a shit about that, and I sure as shit ain’t backing out. You just said you need me.”

  I put my hands up. “I was just checking.” I turned to Axel and Danvers. “You both ready?”

  “I never though
t I’d be going back there,” Danvers said. “I mean, I did, but I always kind of figured I’d have the Magistrate hot on my tail for having broken the Magus Codice.”

  “It’s probably not too late to break a couple of rules, but I wouldn’t recommend it—oh my God, what in the hell is that?”

  “What?” Karim asked.

  He had come into view behind Danvers, and he was wearing the most ridiculous outfit I had ever seen. First of all, no one had legitimately rocked a black leather duster since the nineties, and those who did were substantially more muscular than Karim. Second of all, he was wearing black beret, a black turtleneck, and a freaking eyepatch.

  He looked like a beatnik pirate out of the Matrix… and it suited him.

  “What are you wearing?” I asked.

  “This?” Karim examined himself. “What about it?”

  “We’re supposed to be blending in. Why did you go with… all of this? And an eye-patch? I mean…”

  “Excuse me, but I look fabulously sinister.”

  “You look like a 1970’s Bond villain, number one. Number two, the aim is to not attract attention. Couldn’t you have worn… normal clothes?”

  “Are you asking me to go back upstairs and change?”

  I had a feeling answering with yes was likely to get me stunned again, so I decided to pick my battles. “Fine, wear your pirate spy outfit. I still think it’s ridiculous.”

  “Believe what you want. I’m feeling myself right now.”

  “I’m down with it too, if it helps,” Danvers said.

  “Yeah man,” RJ put in, offering Karim a fist to bump, “You do you.”

  I glared at them both. “Don’t encourage him. Anyway, if we’re all good to go, we should probably get out of here. The sooner we do this, the better.”

  Axel nodded. “I’m going to cloak us all with magic once we get near the neighborhood. There’s magic all over Devil Falls, so my spell won’t set off any alarms. But you can bet there are going to be all kinds of things in there that can scan your thoughts, and that’s the last thing I want happening to any of us.”