A pearly crown rested on her head, and the pale veil of a bride draped behind her hair. She was the one I was supposed to choose, though I didn’t know why. She was only a mortal. How could a mortal be so powerful?
She loathed me because we’d invaded her land, taken over. But what could she know of real loss? She’d never felt what it was like to plummet from Heaven, your soul ripped from your body.
She wouldn’t know how it felt to slaughter all those you ever loved.
It didn’t matter what she thought of me. She was a means to an end, and that was it. Whether she knew it or not, she would help me rid Albia of the mortal scourge. As I moved closer to her, I felt an inexorable magnetic pull between us.
I was running out of time.
My eyes snapped open, and I flung off my blankets. Every muscle in my body had gone tense.
Outside, the sky was clouding over a little. I rose from the bed. I stretched my arms over my head and crossed to the window.
From here, I had a view of the churning Dark River.
I had much work to do now. So many lives to end.
And my journey began with that dark-eyed woman.
10
Lila
Unable to walk in high heels over the cobbles, I’d been forced to carry them. I walked barefoot along the wide, crooked road that led to the castle.
Nausea had climbed up my gut after what Finn told me. I wouldn’t have been able to eat breakfast even if I’d wanted it. On the brick buildings around us, the wooden shutters remained closed. The bakeries, the coffee houses, the apothecary—all of them locked up. Normally, at this time of day, Underskirt Lane was crowded with stalls, bustling with shoppers. Near the tower, this was where people went to buy petticoats, dresses, anything you’d want really.
Today, an eerie calm reigned over the market.
The only sign of life was outside the bird seller’s, where cages of songbirds and pigeons cooed quietly, fluttering their wings.
I leaned closer to Finn, whispering, “Everything is shut.”
He shook his head, frowning. “Maybe they heard what happened.”
“I don’t think that’s it, Finn. I’m sure it was terrible, but people don’t care that much about a woman getting murdered. The streetwalkers are killed all the time.”
“Not like this.”
Behind us, a door slammed, and I turned to see two blond kids running out, grinning ear to ear. They were shouting at each other to hurry.
Rushing forward, I grabbed the girl by the arm. She looked up at me, startled.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Why’s everything shut?”
She tried to jerk her arm away. “The count is going to kill someone today—outside the castle. All the foreign soldiers are out there.” The delighted gleam in her eyes was positively demented. “He’s going to chop off someone’s head and hold it up for everyone to see.”
I stared at her, still clasping her arm until she kicked me hard in the shin. As soon as I dropped my grip on her, she ran off.
Finn had gone completely pale.
“Alice might be in there,” I said quietly.
“I wish it were me going in instead of you.”
“Not sure you’re his type.” I heaved a deep breath. “All my options were bad,” I added. “And I just had to make the most of it. Frankly, that’s a state of affairs I’m used to.”
“You are pathologically optimistic. It will be the death of you.”
“Shut your mouth, Finn! Mentioning my death is bad luck. Now tap the brick three times and ask the Raven King for forgiveness, or you’ll be responsible when my neck breaks.”
Dutifully, he crossed to one of the brick buildings, and knocked on it three times, muttering under his breath.
I hugged myself as we walked. Dread hung in the air, heavy as the thunderclouds above us. It occurred to me that I was walking slowly, delaying the inevitable. But as the sky opened up, and fat raindrops started pelting us, we picked up the pace.
Underskirt Lane opened up into Castle Road, the wide thoroughfare that swept around the base of the fortress. Throngs of Dovreners filled it today.
Across the street from us, Castle Hades towered over the Dark River, and the dark stone walls surrounding it dominated the landscape.
When I looked to the right, at Gallows Hill, my stomach churned. A row of Clovian soldiers stood around the scaffold, their uniforms a beautiful sky-blue material that must have cost