small hand. “Just as you will spread it here. Your Others will be cured.”
“All of them?”
“Yes.” He hesitated. “Those who remain.”
Shit. She closed her eyes, then opened them to look at Brasque. She was pretty sure he could read the hatred in her stare. “You murdered so many people. And if Lex dies because of you—”
His face became expressionless. “Alexis will not die.”
She shuddered. “You know her? She’s still alive? How do you know?”
“She…” But he pressed his lips together and would say no more about Lex. “You only need to know that I did what I had to do for the sake of the worlds, Princess. All of them. Sacrifices had to be made.”
“You created a disease to force me here,” she said. “You’re the fucking devil.”
“Damascus wants to destroy everything we know and rule unchallenged forever.” He pressed his lips together and held up his hand. “I’m not interested in trying to convince you, and I’m not interested in arguing about it further.”
She put her fists on her hips, though every part of her wanted nothing more than to slam him into a wall. “You got what you wanted. I’m here. Now I’m going to go kick the witch’s ass and get back to my world where I belong.”
But a vivid image of Z appeared so suddenly and sharply in her mind that she gasped.
I can’t go back. I don’t want to go back.
He frowned. “Are you well?”
“Let down your walls, Dray. Order your army to follow me to Magic Shimmer. I’m not taking her on alone. Now you’re going to have to sacrifice some of your people.”
A glint of anger appeared in his dark eyes. “You know nothing of my sacrifices, Princess. You are the one created to destroy the witch, and so you shall—but I’m already tired of your insolence. Of course my people will help you do as fate bids you.”
She said nothing, but neither did she look away from him.
He nodded at Matthew. “You can go.”
“Wait,” Rune said, as Matthew turned to leave the room. “You know things.”
He stared at her for a long, long moment. Finally, he smiled. “My father loves you, Rune Alexander. Not your blood.”
Her legs turned to water. She pushed her fist into her abdomen hard enough to hurt, hard enough to force back the tears she so badly wanted to release.
Berserker.
And then little Matthew, the boy who saw things, turned and left the room with the woman in the suit.
“Come,” Brasque said. “My soldiers await the order. You have only to relax until your friends arrive.” Something glowed red in the dark coals of his eyes.
For a short moment, she thought he might burn her with his stare. “If they’re not here in the next hour, I’m going out to look for them.”
“It’s not safe for you, Princess. I understand the crawlers have your scent.”
She frowned. “How did you hear that?”
“I’m kept informed.”
As she walked with him from the room, a man met them carrying a lidded container. “Coffee?” she asked, and everything else dimmed in importance.
He smiled and handed her the container. “Very rich and very hot.”
She drank half the coffee before she could make herself stop. It seemed to run through her veins, fixing her in a way even Brasque Dray’s doctors could not. She twisted the lid back on as she strode through the castle.
“Now I feel better,” she said. “Where is my army?”
He guided her through the immense castle, ignoring people who stopped to stare, and, at times, point.
“I’ll show you. They are in holding, waiting for their day.”
“And training, I hope.”
“This army does not need to train, child.”
“Everyone needs to train.”
He nodded for the guards to push open the heavy double doors leading outside the castle. They walked in silence across beautifully well-kept grounds, full of statues and gardens and fountains.
People walked, ran, and rode horses over wide paths, and all of them paused to watch Rune and the shimmer lord walking side by side across the courtyard.
Most of them bowed their heads as the shimmer lord passed by, a few of them actually falling to their knees.
He ignored them all.
“It’s beautiful here,” Rune murmured, but the words were barely formed before she saw something distinctly unbeautiful.
“What’s in that building?” She pointed at a squat brick building unattached to the castle. Guards stood silently at the front, on either side of a recessed door.
A flagstone path led to it, and even the path was dismal. No attempts had been made to beautify that area