Heart of Vengeance (Alice Worth #6) - Lisa Edmonds Page 0,147

had once been Mariela. With the smell of the poison I’d pulled from Ronan’s body still fresh in my nose, I barely noticed the odor of her mostly liquid remains. It was still about a twelve on my personal gross-o-meter.

“Want me to do it?” Ronan asked, making me jump. I hadn’t realized he’d followed me.

“I’m going to put a bell on you.” I sighed. “I’ve got it.” I braced myself, crouched, and felt around in the slurry of blood, dissolved bones, and flesh. “Eww, eww, eww,” I chanted under my breath.

I thought I heard Ronan chuckle, but when I glared up at him he just raised his eyebrows.

I pulled her clothing out first and searched it, then used a rock to nudge several amulets out of the puddle, not wanting to touch them and risk falling victim to whatever magic or spells they held.

When I found her leather bag, I opened it and carefully dumped its contents onto the ground: dirty clothing, a bottle for water, dried meat and fruits in small bags, some toiletries and other odds and ends, and a leather-wrapped bundle so completely devoid of magic that it had to be magical and protected by strong wards.

The problem was, I had no way to know what those wards were or what they would do if I tried to open the parcel. They might destroy the contents, kill me, nuke the entire vicinity…the possibilities were endless. I’d bet the wards had deadly landmines that would try to kill me if I tried to unweave them. I didn’t want to leave the Underworld until I knew if the scroll was in the parcel, and the apparent accuracy thus far of Torryn’s prophecy made me uneasy.

Ronan held out his hand. “May I?”

I hesitated. “There’s bound to be some very bad magic in here.”

“I know.” He continued to hold out his hand. “I’m willing to take the risk. I doubt she thought she’d need to ward it against me.”

“She knew she was coming down here to see them,” I reminded him, indicating Tis, who watched us without expression. “She had the foresight to bring that angel-killing knife.”

“Alice, I know all that,” he snapped. “Will you just give me the damn thing and accept help when it’s offered?”

Damn it. Of all my many neuroses, that one drove Malcolm and Sean crazy the most.

“I’m not very good at that,” I said.

“No shit.”

We eyed each other.

“Okay,” I said reluctantly. “Be careful, Wings. I’ve already had to save you once. I don’t think I’ve got another miracle in me today.”

His mouth turned down. “Since you did save me, I’ll let ‘Wings’ slide. This time. Step back, just in case.”

I moved back about ten feet. Lucy and Daisy joined me, with Esme nestled in Lucy’s arms. Tis stayed where she was.

With his boot, Ronan made a circle around Mariela’s remains and the bundle, then crouched to mark glyphs in the ash along the perimeter of the circle. The circle flared with silver-blue magic. My skin prickled.

Ronan used one of his knives to cut the rope around the bundle. The blade blazed blue as some kind of spell or curse flared, but Ronan seemed fine. The knife must have absorbed the curse. I let out a breath.

With the tip of the knife, Ronan unfolded the top layer of leather wrapped around the contents of the parcel. Another flare of blue magic on the blade, much more faint. The protective spell on the knife had reached its limits. Ronan flinched as the remaining part of the curse hit him, but it didn’t seem to do much to him.

Though the knife had no more protection, he used the blade to flip back the other part of the leather wrapping. He stared and jerked in surprise.

Several things happened seemingly at once.

Red and black magic flared so powerfully that I covered my eyes instinctively to protect them. Lucy gasped and turned away from the intense brightness.

Something flew past me with a great flapping of wings, moving so quickly I saw only a blur and smelled the sea. Silver-blue magic seared my skin, but it wasn’t Ronan’s. I recognized it from the tavern. Tis.

I lowered my hand and squinted.

Radiant with power and magic brighter than anything I’d seen since we arrived in the Underworld, Tis crouched in the center of Ronan’s circle, her wings folded to form a shield over the bundle. Ronan lay a few feet away, his body over the line he’d drawn in the ash. He appeared stunned, but