Page 82 of Under the Iron Sky

Her fingers tightened around the tweezers still in her hand, no doubt debating whether spearing him through the throat with it was worth the risk of taking her own life. From the look in her eyes, he could make an educated guess which way the pendulum was swinging.

Ikarus rubbed his temple. “While it’s true some golems can transport people and livestock through stone”—she sat up a little straighter at this—“Golla is far too small for that.”

She slumped again, the armor on her jacket scraping against the wall. “So we’re stuck here until we’re either found by an Ethereal who can phase us out or you’ve recovered enough to do it yourself?”

Ikarus kept to himself that Serone would’ve flown back to the castle the second they fell through the crack to get help. Hopefully it wouldn’t be long before she sent Aeris to find him—not that it helped him now, of course. “Yes.”

“And how long will that take?”

“I don’t know.”

“Can’t you do something to speed it up?”

Ikarus bared his teeth. “I am not a dog you can order about, and my gifts don’t come with instructions. They’ll be ready when they’re ready.”

Her answering smile was sharp enough to cut. “Fantastic.”

Silence as big as the crater by his hip stretched between them.

Ikarus closed his eyes, trying to find a tiny corner in his mind where she didn’t exist. He couldn’t find any.

“What?”

“I didn’t say anything,” the human spat back.

“No, but I can feel you drilling holes into the side of my head, so there’s clearly something on your mind. What is it?”

For a moment, the only sound was the rhythmic tapping of her knuckle-dusters against her knee guard. “You tell me, or does our blood connection not let you read my thoughts?”

Sighing, he opened his eyes. “No. My job would be a hell of a lot easier if it did.”

Her eyes flickered between both of his, seeming to debate how best to word whatever was running through her mind that had her gnawing on her bottom lip like that. “It’s not hereditary, is it? What happened to your father?”

“That’s none of your fucking business.”

“It is if it’s going to kill you.” She held her hand up against the holographic lights. “Till death do us part, remember?”

Ikarus glanced at the slash across her palm from the blood ritual, feeling the twin on his own burn. She wanted to know him, did she? Know what it was like to live down here? Fine. “We call it the Bane. The thing that killed my father, and no, it’s not hereditary.”

She blinked, seemingly shocked that he’d answered. So was he, if he was being honest. “Does it affect everyone? Can anyone get it?”

“Yes and no. There are four stages. What you saw was the final one.” He met her eyes. “You saw what happened to my father when I tried to do compressions?”

A faint nod. Her throat bobbed. “Why was his chest like that?”

“That’s what the Bane does. It starts as a mild cough, then coughing up blood, and steadily progresses until the victim’s insides turn to stone.” He’d never get that cracking sound out of his head, like punching through a vase. “Some people can go decades from the first signs until they die; others it takes quickly.”

“How many?”

“One in three of us down here will die from it.”

Her eyes trailed to her knuckle-dusters, jaw working as she sorted through what he’d just said. She met his gaze again. “The pyres you were just dreaming about,” she breathed, “does that have anything to do with the Bane?”

Ah, so she had seen that memory of his mother just now then. He had wondered.

“Yes. Mass burnings are common down here, so part of my early training when I was young was to lift those who’d perished from the Bane onto pyres ready for lighting.”

Horror consumed the green in her eyes. “That’s barbaric. Surely there are better ways to hone your magic?”