A violent knock reverberated through the walls.
She shut her eyes.No, not tonight.
It pounded again, harder this time, insistent that she not even glance toward her welcoming pillow.
Lux tossed the blanket back onto the bed in fury, grabbing for her robe instead. Cinching it tight around her middle, she limped through her door to see Riselda opening another. Morana waltzed through, not a hair out of place, and two Shields bearing a collapsed body. Colden. Lux’s irritation swelled.Thiswas her reason for not sleeping? Let him rot.
“I’m terribly sorry to wake you both. Something’s happened to dear Colden. Something horrible!”
Lux had an inkling it was the samehorriblesomething that had claimed him last time.
She shuffled after the party into the workroom, watching as the body was laid out on the table. She hadn’t revived him in some time, but this must be at least the third. She’d been a child at his first, when such habits were unbeknownst to her.
Lux moved to the table as the rest of them stepped back. She sensed Riselda’s presence peering over them all from the corner of the room, but she didn’t look at her aunt. Instead, she pushed back the tip of Colden’s mottled nose.
White powder.
“Something horrible, indeed.”
She could feel Morana’s rage directed toward her. Lux didn’t care. Her cheek remembered the sting of her shadow’s strike. Instead, Lux gestured toward the crock at her back. Morana stomped forward with a scowl, tossing the coins within.
“Time since death?”
“Six hours, five minutes.”
Lux smiled to herself. Maybe Morana did care for someone other than the reflection in her mirror. “As you remember, I don’t permit anyone to watch. Out.” Her eyes met her aunt’s. “Please.”
Riselda gazed at her a moment longer than the rest before following in their wake. As soon as they disappeared from view,Lux got to work. The sooner this was over, the sooner she could sleep.
She yawned widely as she prepared the thick paste, distantly wishing she’d had the time to pull the canines from the dead howler’s jaws before she’d fled. At least this revival wouldn’t require one. She turned and, forgetting her injury, cried out as she put weight on her ankle. The bowl she carried fell to the table with a clatter, where she clutched the worn edges, breathing the pain away.
“Lucena?”
“Fine, Riselda.” Lux pushed herself to standing lest her aunt make an unwelcome appearance.
She should have made Morana undress him for her. Pulling off his clothing while balancing on one foot caused a sheen of sweat to form across her brow. With a final grunt of frustration, she pulled the fabric free, covering his still body with a white sheet in its wake.
Faint, round bruises peppered his neck. Another on his chest looked to be the result of teeth. Lux curled her lip. It may have been Morana, but she doubted it. Colden was never a faithful sort.
Not that she cared about either of them.
She painted the concoction over his body with quick, practiced strokes. She’d forgotten to use something to guard against the smell, but it was too late now and wouldn’t have been worth hobbling around on her ankle for anyway. She would just have to deal with it.
Lux breathed through her mouth the best she could, and pivoted, ready to turn back forThe Risen. But as her hand reached, she thought of Riselda. Of her confidence in her brilliance. Lux’s fingers retracted, curling inward. The words were etched in her mind. She could picture the entire script down to the flourishes adorning the page. Effortless.
She didn’t need it.
Lux breathed in deep, her nose hardly wrinkling, and peeled back his eyelids, preparing to begin.
Her hands stilled.
Her stomach plummeted.
And her uninjured leg wobbled beneath her.
A perfect slit adorned each pupil, slicing through the iris, extending down to where the dark met light. Lux peered closer, and her shock gave way to intrigue. She had never seen it up close, and it was so slight. No wonder it took so long to drain such a small amount.
She told herself she’d planned on touching them anyway.
