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“I’m standing right here,” Royce said. “I can hear you.”
“That’s kind of the point,” I said.
I had to admit, this amused me to no end, especially the part where I realized I was sassing a Scion. Royce’s peculiar talents, in addition to his familiarity with certain destructive spells, were what elevated him to that coveted rank, and, curiously enough, made him fit to be the Lorica’s director of public relations. If you needed half the city to forget that they had just seen a bombastic display of magical skill – fireballs flying through the air, mages calling crackling lightning bolts from out of the sky – Royce was your man.
He was still a douche, though. An ultra douche.
“Enough,” Royce said through clenched teeth. “I’m not here to pick a fight. I’m here to clean up your mess.” He glared pointedly around him. Bastion stuck his hands in his pockets and looked away, whistling. “And I need to speak with you in private, Graves.”
“You can say what needs to be said right here,” Asher said. His hands were suddenly engulfed in green energy.
Oh shit. I knew that Asher had been spending time training with Carver, and that he was starting to like his new power. I’d never quite seen what it was he’d learned to do, but hell, I was starting to like his attitude, too. I was totally ready to stand back and yell “Fuck him up, Asher,” and watch our necromancer buddy totally rip Royce a second, and possibly a third asshole.
“I don’t have time for this,” Royce snarled, stalking straight for me. I lifted my hands, ready to fight –
When a wall of ivory spikes erupted from the ground in front of me. I leapt back, eyes wide. The spikes, made out of something sleek and yellowish-white, rose almost all the way up to my neck, their tips pointed and vicious. Almost like the fangs of some great subterranean beast. Like ribs.
Like bones.
Chapter 5
“Asher?” I mumbled, eyeing the forest of sharpened bones. “Buddy. You did this?”
I could tell Asher was holding back a triumphant grin. This was necromancy? Calling jagged bones to fight for him from deep within the earth? Hot damn. Consider me a fan.
“Call off your guard dog, Graves,” Royce growled. He glared at Asher. “You don’t want to try me, little boy.”
Asher bared his teeth. He clenched his fists even harder, and the spikes of bone grew impossibly taller, longer. Royce dodged out of the way, his face like thunder.
“There’s no need for violence,” Prudence said, pushing her way into our
midst.
“Right, break it up,” Gil growled, placing his arm across Asher’s chest and wresting him away from Royce. “That’s enough for one day, little buddy.” Asher sputtered and kicked at the air, his face red, but he relented. The wall of bones slipped back into the earth.
“All I need is a minute,” Royce said.
His gaze was boring into me, and I had the sneaking suspicion that he was doing his hardest to transmit his thoughts directly into my mind. I set my jaw and resisted. Sure, I didn’t know much about telepathy, but I had a little practice from talking to Vanitas with my mind so much.
I knew that I could block out the noise if I wanted to. And so I did, visualizing a wall being erected in my head, a barrier against his unspoken words. I smiled smugly when Royce furrowed his brow. Ah. So it worked. As long as he didn’t touch me – which was how he could bend the thoughts of others to his will – I would be safe.
“Damn it, Graves, just come with me. I’m not trying to hurt you. This isn’t some sort of trick.”
Carver’s voice cut like an icy blade. “No one is going anywhere unless I say so.”
He stepped over the freshly turned earth, walking dangerously close to Royce’s shoulder as he approached to join me, as if daring the Scion to touch him, to do his worst. I could say whatever I wanted about Carver’s occasional cruelty, or how he seemed to very strongly play favorites in the Boneyard, but as far as bosses went, he was bad-ass as all hell.
“We’ve met, have we not?” Carver said, fixing Royce with a leveled, piercing gaze.
“I, uh, yes,” Royce said.
“Hmm.” Carver clasped his hands together. “And surely you recall how our last encounter went.”
Royce grimaced. Oh, he remembered, for sure
“Do you want me to spike him?” Asher called from somewhere behind me, with a hilariously inappropriate amount of enthusiasm. “Say the word and I’ll spike him.”
“That won’t be necessary, Asher,” Carver said. “Joyce, was it?”
