for me. Like I said, an excellent start to the day!” Valaine said, laughing with brilliant delight.
“Wait, your father has yet to do what?!” I yelped, my blood running cold.
“I’m kidding! Take the joke! We’re onto something good, Tristan!”
Oh, she was in a most wonderful mood. Perhaps the brightest I had ever seen her, since I’d first come to Visio. The idea of getting so close to catching the very people who were trying to kill her made Valaine into a whole different person. I certainly enjoyed the darker, more brooding side of her. But this version I was seeing now… she was taking my breath away.
She was also right. A lot had happened in Astoria, of which we knew very little. I couldn’t bring myself to spoil her brightness with my own concerns regarding death magic and ghouls. I’d save that for Derek and the rest of our crew, who would soon hear about it. But we were headed in the right direction, even with this new development. We had something to go on. Most importantly, we had each other, willing to face whatever odds that fate might throw at us.
Nethissis
We went through Astoria first, just to see what the Darklings had left behind. It was pretty hard to imagine that, less than two hours ago, all hell had broken loose in this place. It seemed so quiet, with gold and silver guards gradually gathering on the north side.
Tristan and Valaine had already taken the Crimson guards forward, having caught a trail for the Darklings. I trusted their judgment and determination, but I worried they didn’t have all the information they’d need, especially where Valaine was concerned.
The body parts had been piled up and set on fire. The blood would dry, the grass would grow, and soon enough, no one would even remember what had happened here. Astoria was a lost city, defeated by the Black Fever and by time itself. It would never truly recover, as the mark of death and devastation continued to linger over it.
I watched Corbin for a while as he consulted with some of the gold guard lieutenants. He seemed eager to catch up with Valaine, but he had to deal with the Darkling prisoners, as well. I’d learned a lot in the past fifteen minutes, just by eavesdropping.
“Milord, it’s better if you handle the questioning,” one of the lieutenants said, as they watched the carts being brought over from the west side, the Vision horses pulling each set of weights. They had blood and first aid supplies in two voluminous loads, along with a cage filled with captured Darklings. “Lady Crimson’s methods were too… much for this lot.”
Seeley stayed close to me, staying quiet, as did Rudolph. Lumi, Sidyan, and Maya weren’t too far away either, checking the engraved symbols on various monoliths and confirming to one another that the Darklings had access to some pretty powerful death magic—definitely the kind that only the Spirit Bender could’ve provided.
“I should’ve seen it coming,” Corbin muttered. “She’s very capable, but she has little control over her ability. It worked with one or two Darklings, but she’s quick to go overboard without even realizing it.”
“Do you think it’s why the Darklings want her dead? Because they fear her?” the lieutenant asked.
“No, it’s because they’re convinced she’s the source of the Black Fever,” I grumbled, crossing my arms and wishing we could break Death’s rule for a minute or two, just enough to at least tell Tristan about what I’d heard from Zoltan.
“You know they can’t hear you, right?” Seeley replied rhetorically.
I shot him a cold glare. “Duh. We should really find a way to tell them,” I said. “They deserve to know.”
“I agree, but you know how Death can be. One way or another, she will find out if we break her rules.” Seeley sighed, holding his scythe up to his chest. He’d missed it, for sure, now unable to even put it away.
“What’s the worst she can do? It’s just a minor offense if we reach out to Tristan,” I insisted.
Sidyan joined us, along with Lumi, while Rudolph and Maya circled us, sniffing around and whispering to one another. “Death can get pretty creative, in terms of punishment,” he said. “She won’t have much to do to you, but for Seeley and me, well… we’d get the brunt of it.”
“This is so annoying. Ridiculous!” I snapped, anger swelling inside me like fire. “We have information, and Tristan needs it.”
“We’ll figure out a way to get