said a soft voice above her.
Topaz looked up, and felt a comforting warmth wrap around her, like wings protecting her from the storm. ‘Don’t want to leave you again,’ she muttered.
‘Sweet child. You always had more faith than I deserved.’
It was Livilla. Of course it was. She felt different, like the fire inside her had been replaced by something else: cool water and the crackle of an electric storm. But it was still Livilla.
‘You’re my Lord,’ said Topaz. ‘Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?’
They had quite a view from up here. The rain was falling upwards, and when it struck the devils and angels, they screamed in pain.
‘I don’t think I’m a Lord any more, dearling,’ said Livilla.
It was getting lighter. That wasn’t Topaz’s imagination. She could see the outline of Livilla now, and her real face beneath the mop of wet, tangled hair. She looked younger than Topaz had thought. More like an older sister than a mother figure.
‘Are you a King?’ Topaz asked.
‘Not that, either. I don’t know what I am. But I’m myself now.’ Livilla smiled a beautiful, sunny smile. ‘I’m not pretending to be less than I am. And I’m not afraid.’
Topaz shivered, the salamander inside her not liking the icy bite of the rain.
‘Dawn is coming,’ she said. ‘So everything’s going to be all right. Isn’t it?’
‘Dawn is coming,’ Livilla agreed, and she leaned down and kissed Topaz’s cheek. ‘Let’s see if we can make it there in one piece.’
51
Isangell sat on the edge of her floral sofa, fingertips pressed to her temples. ‘I can see it,’ she said. ‘The battle. All of it. I can’t unsee it.’
You might want to get used to that, Heliora advised her.
Kelpie had left her swords crossed on the floor. She sat on the window sill looking miserable, though there was no way she could see out through the blurred seal that covered the glass. ‘Hate this,’ she muttered. ‘I should be there. I should be fighting.’
‘What’s the point of me being the Seer if I’m separated from the rest of them?’ Isangell asked, and they looked at each other.
‘I don’t know,’ Kelpie said finally.
‘So open this nest of yours and let me out.’ Isangell didn’t know what to believe. But she could see soldiers with bright swords falling and dying, she could see her Forum awash with demons and angels, and there had to be something better to do than sit here and wait for it to be over.
Kelpie shifted a little and then shook her head. ‘I can’t. I don’t know if it was Rhian or that bitch you have in your head, but I can’t move. I don’t have a choice.’ She was furious, her hands clenched into fists. ‘I never have a fucking choice. As if I might turn tail and run the second they test me. I’ve always been loyal!’ She was yelling at the ceiling now.
Isangell stood. She could move. She still had a choice. The voices in her head tried to interrupt her, but she pushed them swiftly aside. She had been ignoring meaningless chatter from inferiors all of her life.
‘We will make our own path,’ she told Kelpie firmly. ‘We will get out of here.’
She opened her mouth to say more, but was overwhelmed by the images of the battle, the taste of dust and the light in the sky, and something almost but not quite like that feeling in the air before snow fell.
She saw a boy in a brown cloak fall against the arch of the Forum, and she knew him. She could not hide her reaction from Kelpie, who sat up straight and stared at her.
‘What did you see?’
‘Crane,’ Isangell said softly.
He meant nothing to her, except that he was one of those who would have killed her that nox because the wrong person had been named Seer. But he meant something to Kelpie, she knew that much.
‘Dead,’ Kelpie said, to be certain of it. When Isangell nodded, she turned away and rubbed her sleeve roughly against her face. ‘Damn it. I promised this fucking Court would never make me cry again.’
Isangell wanted to touch her, to say some words of comfort, but what was there to say? Nothing she knew anything about had any meaning in this new world.
The Palazzo shook from a direct blow, and she felt it break apart.
‘Saints, no!’
Be brave, Heliora told her, and then the voices in her head fell silent, though the images did not. She felt every blow, every bolt