Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,21
I’d never believed the accounts.”
“Why not?”
“I’m a product of her magic, technically speaking. If she were truly dead, then I would be too.”
“Rather fatalistic today.”
“You suggesting I wouldn’t kill her where she stands if I see her again?”
“No. I think you absolutely would. And that’s part of the problem.” She turned to scrutinize the firebird again. The creature screwed up its eyes and scrutinized her right back. “But why skip King Andrei’s and King Ivan’s birthdays and appear for Alexei’s?”
“I don’t exactly know how to go about interrogating a bloody bird.”
“Why not? You’ve worked together in the past.”
The firebird had been studying Kay carefully. Now it gave him a quick, decisive nod.
“Aye, looks like it remembers me. Ilya didn’t give us enough time to make our acquaintances before it all came down. Y’saved a lot of people, mate.”
The firebird ducked its head and deigned to look modest.
“You’re supposed to find Alex, though, instead o’ going off an’ getting yerself killed. We didn’t wait decades only for you to be chewed up by an army of shades.”
The firebird emitted a haughty little sniff.
“Th’ years must’ve been soft on ye. Y’ve gotten to be an absolute unit, haven’t ye?”
It swiveled its neck and hissed, offended, then promptly ignored him.
“Trust you to insult the one thing capable of leveling this whole town,” Lola Urduja said, tart as tart can be. “Still, so troubling to see shades here when the Invierno curse should have prevented their presence. Never this many nightwalkers in the west before, not since that whole business with the Darling girl. The Snow Queen’s demise has been greatly exaggerated. Question is: Were they after you, or were they after Alex?”
The firebird eyed her doubtfully.
“Alex should have had his ceremony at Maidenkeep, the way it had always been for centuries. You acknowledging him as the rightful ruler of Avalon, unashamed and for all to see. Not him hiding like a fugitive, fearing for his life at every turn. But the Tsareviches no longer control Maidenkeep. I’m sure you’ve seen the frost. You must know what that wretched Snow Queen had done.”
It bowed its head, sorrowful.
Lola Urduja closed her eyes. “I see,” she said softly. “You suffered horribly. In many ways, you did die at Wonderland.”
“Ye can understand it?” Kay asked.
“I do understand it, but not because it speaks a language.” She stroked at its plume, and it purred. “Even the most powerful magic has its limits. It took some time to reconstitute itself, to gain back even a fraction of what it had lost. But will that be enough to protect Alex? He’s got enough problems without the prophecies making things worse. Or are you painting another target on his back, little firebird?”
The firebird indicated, by several complicated gestures with its wings and a lot of glowering, that it was just as capable of protecting Alex as the geriatrics division next door.
“What do you intend to do, then?”
The firebird sniffed. Then it stretched to its full wingspan and flew off.
“Er,” Kay said. “We supposed to let it go just like that?”
“I highly doubt we can force it once it’s made up its mind.” Lola Urduja turned as Baby approached. “Send word to Peets. The firebird’s on its way to Alex, and I want as many eyes on it as possible. Between it and the shades, we cannot leave anything else to chance. Any word on the Banders?”
“They all should be here in another hour.”
“Good. The more allies with boots on the ground, the better,” Lola Urduja said.
“Summon the rest of the cavalry, Baby. We’ve got ourselves a situation.”
* * *
Tala knew nothing of what had happened earlier that morning. All she knew was that her father was being an infuriating jerk about the whole bonfire thing.
Breakfast had been a test of wills. Tala had held out for a four-hour minimum at the desert, but her father had refused to agree to anything above two, which wasn’t an option. If that was all they could spare her, then she may as well not go at all, which was what her father was probably counting on. That was when her mother had offered a solution.
“You’re both going to the bonfire?” Tala wasn’t sure about that either. The average age of people attending generally topped off at seventeen years old, and her parents would stick out like old mold on a tray of really young sandwiches.
Her mother caught the stricken look on her face and rolled her eyes. “Tala, I’ve been to my share of