I felt. “How long have you been doing this to us?”
“Annaleigh,” Cassius cautioned, reaching out to stop me.
“No, I have a right to know. You said you make us see things—was that what Elizabeth saw? We all thought she had a touch of madness in her—was it you all along? Did you use Fisher to push Eulalie from the cliff? Octavia from the ladder? When did he stop being my friend and become whatever that was?” I pointed to the festering pile of body parts. “How many of my sisters are dead because of you?”
“You mortals are all so ridiculous, trumped up and puffed out with your petty importance. Who are you to question me?”
“Tell me!”
Her eyes narrowed, still and contemplative, before bursting into a skittering, jittery blur. She was on me in an instant, mottled thighs straddling my chest. Her knees pressed into my collarbone, cutting off my air supply. Though she was smaller than me, her weight was crushing, pressing me into the wooden floor until I thought my bones might shatter. As she leaned in, two giant moths—just like the ones I’d seen that night in the gallery—crept out from her hairline. They crawled over her forehead before reaching out with hooked feet to latch on to my hair. Moldering wings brushed against me, and I felt one’s spiral tongue uncoil, licking at my cheek.
“Just two,” she hissed. “For now.” She snorted in amusement. “Plus the little clockmaker.”
Cassius drew up the dagger once again. “Let her go, Kosamaras.”
She looked him over and laughed as more tears fell down her face. “Maybe I’ll just finish this one off now. Especially as she knows so much.” She tightened her grip, and I groaned as the room blinked in and out of darkness.
“Please!” His voice quavered, contorting with anguish. “This girl means the world to me. Name the price and it’s yours.”
Just before my ribs cracked, she rolled off me, striding to the other end of the room as if nothing had upset her. I struggled to sit up, gasping for breath. Cassius rushed over, stroking my hair, finding my heartbeat, whispering reassurances. I sensed the pressure of his lips on my forehead but didn’t truly feel them. Everything inside me had gone numb.
“Spare me your offerings. You’re never going to save her. This will not have a happy ending for you. Especially you,” she said, winking at me.
“I’ll tell my sisters everything. They’ll know not to—”
“Not to what? Not to sleep? Not to dream? We’re past that point, Thaumas girl. Now that I’m in here”—she pirouetted back to me and tapped my forehead—“I don’t need you to sleep. I don’t need you to dream. I’m with you everywhere.”
I watched in horror as her skin peeled away, leaving bloody fingerprints on everything it touched. Including me.
Cassius swatted her hand away. “Who summoned you? Who started this?”
A roll of thunder shook the island, rattling the glass panes of the gallery with an angry ferocity. The beacon’s flame flickered, pulled into an eerie dance by a draft. It caused the shadows in the room to loom around us with menace before retreating back to the edges. Almost like…
“The dragon man,” I whispered. “I know who summoned you,” I said, raising my voice. “The man with the three-headed dragon.”
Cassius blanched, his eyes darting to Kosamaras. “Three-headed dragon? A Trickster? Is this true?”
I felt her black eyes roll over me, examining me with fresh interest. “Your sweetheart sees more than I thought. It was stupid of him to come dancing.”
“Who?” Cassius demanded. “Say it out loud.”
“Viscardi,” Kosamaras rasped, drawing out the s and r into a long roll. A boom of thunder rumbled over us, echoing her tones.
“That’s not possible. The Thaumases would never traffic with him.”
Her face broke into an unnaturally wide grin. “Shows how little you know, nephew. You think everyone in that house is such a stalwart human, a pillar of the community? Viscardi was needed. Viscardi was called.”
“Call it off, please, Kosamaras. I know you have sway with him. If anyone could do it, it’s you.”
She threw her head back, laughing. “This is the most exciting bargain I’ve ever been a part of, and you think I’ll end it just because you asked politely? No.” She paused, listening to something we could not hear. “I’ll leave the girl alone—”
“Thank you, Kosamaras,” Cassius started.
“—for this one night only,” she continued. “But come the dawn, all promises are off.” She turned to me, fresh tears falling from her eyes, painting