Embrace, Entice, Emblaze (86 page)

Why
is
it
he
has
the
ability
to
say
these
incredible
things
at
times
like
these?

Once again, I could hardly breathe. Honestly, who was I

kidding? I couldn’t control this thing between us. I’d be his slave if he asked it of me.

There was another bang at the door. “Rudyard’s coming,” Zoe

whispered through the crack.

“Go!” I said to Lincoln. “I’ll meet you down there.”

He didn’t need telling twice. Neither one of us was up for a

discussion with Rudyard about the seriousness of this choice we were making.

————

When I got downstairs, I spotted Lincoln first on the far side of the room— my eyes would find him anywhere first. He was already looking at me, smiling.

“Oh for Christ’s sake!” Magda, whom I hadn’t noticed standing

alone near the entryway, said between a series of huffs. She gestured toward my still- wet hair. “For someone who needed everyone to

carry her back here, you look awfully…fresh.”

“You know what, Magda? I feel sorry for you. You have the most

amazing Grigori partner, and he’s been carrying the whole load, covering up for you, doing your job even when he can barely find 368

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the time to do everything he has to. Why don’t you just try being helpful for a change?”

She moved in close to me, so no one could hear. Salvatore was

behind her, watching us.

“Just remember who Lincoln came to when he needed someone.

You think you and he have a chance? Well you don’t. You’re sparkly and new right now, but he’ll see through that soon enough— then he’ll see what you really are.”

My eyes widened. Her words splintered through my defenses

too easily.

She smiled, encouraged by my reaction. “Do you think of him

often? Fantasize about being wrapped in his arms? Do you tell

Lincoln about what it was like to share a bed with Phoenix?”

“Shut up,” I said.

“Didn’t think so. It must be hard, impossible even, to forget,” she taunted. “Phoenix is, after all, the son of lust and seduction.

No wonder Lincoln needed to go after Nahilius. He was probably

desperate to regain some dignity.”

I glared at her and tried not to back away. “You know, you’re not looking so great, Magda. Jealousy doesn’t work for you.”

She leaned in, close to my ear. “You think you’re Lincoln’s soul mate? Come on. How could you ever think a soul as tainted as

yours could be a match for his?”

“I…I…” I was trying desperately to hold back the tears. I

wanted to hit her, and before I knew what had happened, I had. I slapped her across the face.

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She stumbled back a step, then I saw her smile as she added a

couple more steps.

Please.

Griffin was at Magda’s side in an instant. Lincoln was at mine, but he wasn’t happy. I could almost see the lingering high from our earlier towel moment disintegrate into nothing.

“What happened?” Lincoln asked, looking between Magda and

me. I could see him drawing his own conclusion before I’d even

had a chance to explain.

“She…She…” But what was I going to say? I could see the smile

in Magda’s eyes as she held a hand to her face like a beaten woman.

I hadn’t hit her that hard. Anything I said was just going to sound childish. I dropped my head.

“Violet, I don’t care what petty arguments you and Magda are

having—we don’t lash out at our own like this. She’s my partner; striking out at her is a strike to me.”

Griffin’s words were like a return slap to my face. I thought for a moment Lincoln might defend me as Griffin had Magda, but he

stayed silent. Magda walked out in Griffin’s hold.

“Everyone load up!” Griffin called behind him.

“Lincoln, I…She started it,” I tried to explain.

“Violet, it doesn’t matter.” He shook his head, disappointed

with me, and my heart sank.

I could almost hear Magda laughing at me, taunting me…
With

a
soul
as
tainted
as
yours.

“You shouldn’t have hit her.”

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“I barely touched her,” I said quietly.

He shook his head at me again and followed the others.

Salvatore walked out beside me. “Carefully, Miss Violet.

Carefully, carefully,
per
favore
.”

Zoe raced up behind us and draped an arm around my shoulders.

“Don’t worry, babe. I had your back. She had that coming.”

Yeah, Zoe had my back. From the farthest point across the room!

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chapter
thirty

“Without darkness, nothing comes to birth, As without light,
nothing flowers.”

MaY saRToN

“Th ey are not here yet,” Azeem said when we arrived back at

Mount Nebo.

His Grigori, the men anyway, had been patrolling and scouting

all afternoon. When I had asked, Rudyard explained that even

though the female Grigori were very powerful, their beliefs still overrode their entitlements. Th e women Grigori were confi ned to securing the home perimeters and healing. It had left me baffl ed.

No exiles had come near the caves. It wasn’t exactly encouraging to hear. Not because I thought they wouldn’t come— more that I

knew they would. And I had a strong suspicion that Jude was not far away. But that was just intuition. I couldn’t sense anything.

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and there was a clear view to the horizon in all directions. It looked as if the flesh- colored clouds with dark gray tops were rising from the ground, encircling us, suffocating the last of the sun’s golden glow with shadow. Closing in.

“How are you feeling?” Lincoln asked. Again.

“I’m fine,” I said, a little sharp. I was still angry about the Magda situation. And I
was
tired, but it wasn’t going to help admitting to it. He kept his attention on me, wanting me to say more. I

pretended I was interested in something to the side and angled

myself away from him.

Griffin herded us all down the back of the mountain. He had

decided, even though we might be walking into a trap, it was better if we were in the tomb. It was now completely dark and I heard

Spence swearing every few steps as he tripped.

“If it’s a tomb, how come there’s no coffin?” I asked, putting a few steps between Lincoln and me.

“It is likely Moses was laid within the earth,” Azeem answered.

I felt uncomfortable around Azeem now, like I should speak

up on Ermina’s behalf or something. You know, feminism and all.

But then again, Ermina hadn’t done anything to suggest she wasn’t happy with the way things were. Maybe it only seemed backward

to me.

The entrance to the tunnel was easily visible this time, as if now that our eyes had seen the truth, they would not again be deceived.

I hoped the same would apply inside the cave, but the rules here seemed to be a bit different. The tunnel glowed with the eternal 373

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golden flames, which burned silently from torches dotted at inter-vals. I noticed no one else was particularly fascinated by the perpetual flames like I was. There was probably some class at the Academy that covered it. I surprised myself with a small smile as I envisaged turning a page in one of my textbooks to see a chapter named “Fire That Ignites, But
Never
Burns.” For the first time, I wondered if I’d made the right decision vetoing my education at the Academy.

Azeem’s men remained outside at their posts, though Azeem

joined us. By the way he watched us, I got the impression he was more concerned with preserving the site than anything else. That is, until I saw him pull out a machete from beneath his robes.

“That work?” Lincoln said.

“We are each given the tools of our culture. This is mine.”

“I didn’t know the machete was ever an Arab weapon,”

Lincoln said.

Azeem spun the heavy blade like it was a butter knife. “I was

not always from these parts.” He smiled a different smile from his standard— more tooth showing, catching the firelight. It sent a shiver down my spine.

“Impressive,” Lincoln said with a nod.

“Yes,” agreed Azeem, looking ahead.

I’d be impressed when I saw him put it to good use.

Not
that
I
can
comment
, I thought, unconsciously brushing my hand across the hilt of my own dormant dagger.

The tunnels had the same musty smell and there was a new

energy within the walls that I couldn’t quite identify.

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When we piled into Moses’s tomb room, I let out a small

gasp. Unlike the entrance to the cave, in here the room and all its imaginations had restored themselves. Once again we were in the smaller space that looked completely real, even though we knew

it wasn’t.

“I thought once we knew what to look past, we could do it?”

Zoe said.

Everyone was looking around the room in awe, as if seeing it for the first time.

“We usually can,” said Nyla. Spence took a running jump at one

of the walls, slamming his shoulder in the process. It was futile, so I was a little annoyed when I saw Salvatore line up and do the exact same thing.

“It’s because the room is not under the typical glamour of exiles,” I said, unable to hide my frustration.

“Explain please, Violet,” Rudyard said, in a teacher’s voice not unlike how Griffin’s could be.

“This room was created by angels to hide its contents. Only

when Grigori or exiles are here will the room be revealed. Each time we leave, the layer of imagination is reinstated.”

Griffin, who’d clearly worked this much out himself, only

nodded. “Violet, do you think you can?”

I looked around the room again, feeling something I couldn’t

see but knew wasn’t the same as before. I resisted the urge to wrap my arms around myself and shiver.

I hoped it would be easier the second time round.

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Lincoln took my hand. “Together,” he said, squeezing my

hand tight.

“Okay.”

I took a moment to center myself. No one pushed, not even

Spence. I pulled within myself and sent my will into the room.

It was easier this time. My power, the frosting of amethyst, rolled over the room, followed closely by Lincoln’s many colors led

by green.

The metallic markings around my wrists began to churn rapidly.

The walls that surrounded the room started to evaporate, first in my peripheral vision and then everywhere. The weight of the mask seemed easier to shift, as if recognizing our return.

As the last of the pretense faded away, I had to close my eyes.

The senses bombarded me in my fragile state. I swayed. Lincoln

had a hand at my back instantly, steadying me.

“Senses” was all I could manage.

“I know,” he said, as I fought the urge to collapse and opened

my eyes. Jude was sitting in the corner of the room. He had been there all along,
within
the glamour.

“Oh.”

Azeem already had his machete out and pointed at a side angle

to Jude’s neck. I was about to say something, ask Jude how he’d hidden within the angelic facade, when I heard clapping.

I spun, more slowly than I wanted, to see Phoenix standing at

the entryway, a platoon of exiles behind him.

“You’re truly inspiring, Violet. It took me a week locked in this 376

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damn room to finally break it down and you did it in just minutes,” Phoenix said. His eyes were frighteningly devoid of emotion.

I stood tall and was grateful that Lincoln was quick to take his hand from my back. Phoenix noticed anyway. For a moment, I

thought I saw the smallest flash of something, concern perhaps.

Whatever it was, it was quickly covered as he moved into the