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“You were perfect,” I muttered.
I beckoned to the Dark Room, and again it obeyed. Blades of pure, solid night burst from every wound in my body, skewering the homunculus like an iron maiden. He croaked, his throat gurgling, and he shuddered against me, but I held him tighter.
Other Dustin died slowly in my embrace. I held my brother until every breath had left him. The life ebbed from his body, his blood dripping down the spines of the Dark Room, running thick against my skin.
It felt warm. It felt familiar. It felt like home.
Chapter 34
“And he defeated them?” The man with the beaded dreadlocks paced up and down the clearing, his face twisted with disbelief. He thrust a finger out at me, hardly restraining a grimace, as if he was pointing at a slab of day-old meat. “This one?”
Old habits die hard. I clenched my fists, thrust my chest out, and turned up my lip. “Yeah. Me. I did it. With my friends. No thanks to you Scions and your precious Heart.”
The ring of people gathered around me muttered to each other, aghast, but here and there I caught flashes of teeth as some of the Scions grinned in apparent amusement. I scowled at them all regardless, straining to memorize their faces, but it was no use. Their features kept shifting, the way that Hecate’s would. Clever. All of the Scions were wearing an unusual sort of glamour to hide their true faces, perhaps in some effort to shroud the true nature of the Heart and of the Lorica’s leadership.
Royce and Odessa got in touch with the Heart when the battle ended, and the Scions arrived even faster than their Wings did. They’d surrounded us at the glade, only letting the others leave the circle they had formed after they identified me. The shadow mage, they called me, like they already knew who I was. I did have a dossier at the Lorica, after all.
Hi. I’m Dustin Graves, and I’m a celebrity.
“I didn’t think he’d be so scrawny,” one Scion whispered to another.
“Rude,” I mumbled, folding my arms across my chest and shaking my head. “So disrespectful.”
Apparently the Heart only wanted to know the details of how I’d actually killed Yelzebereth and Other Dustin. It still hadn’t truly settled in for me, the fact that I’d destroyed one of the Eldest. I’d killed a primordial being that was as powerful – no, more powerful than a god. As the Scions prattled on, I gazed up at the stars, wondering what they thought of me. God-slayer, they seemed to whisper.
I thought it had a nice ring to it.
The grilling didn’t take all that long, and I was let out of the circle to rejoin the others soon enough. Herald and Asher took turns to heal my wounds, but especially the one I’d gashed into my foot. It really stung to walk, and while casting the circle seemed like a good idea at the time, I didn’t like that I was leaving so much DNA all over the place. Not very hygienic, let’s be honest, and super incriminating.
One by one my friends and allies gathered in the clearing disappeared. Bastion just wanted to go back to bed, and Romira looked completely done with everything. She stood with her fingers splayed out, aghast. “I’ve got shrike all over my shoes. I’m going to need nine showers to get rid of this. Minimum.”
Royce hung around for the cleanup, and while we didn’t exchange words after the battle, I made a mental note to buy him a beer at some point. Okay, fine, maybe a nice bottle of whiskey, too. He did try to warn me after all, and he did help out. A lot. I didn’t believe that I could think of him as a friend just yet, but calling him an ally was a start.
Gil and Prudence had wandered off earlier, and Carver had teleported himself home almost
as soon as the Heart had shown up. The Lorica had plenty of reasons to be more lenient about the Boneyard’s activities, considering how much work we were inadvertently doing for them.
Still, I knew that Carver distrusted them. I did catch the look of triumph on his face when the gathered Scions finally spotted the White Mother’s remains, though. Vindication. I felt the same way, too. Maybe now the Lorica would sit up and pay attention. Our next objective was to get the entities to see things the same way, too.
And speaking of which – not a peep out of Nyx the entire night. She must have felt the connection sever when Other Dustin had died. It was his soul that tethered them together, after all, but with him dead and gone, Nyx still had what she wanted. A profitable exchange that weighed heavily in her favor, in all. The Crown of Stars had disappeared, too, probably returned to the Midnight Convocation, to await a new champion, someone worthy enough to wear it.
As for the lock of Nyx’s hair, I was kind of surprised that Arachne hadn’t been more demanding about taking it from me. Maybe she wanted me to ferry it over directly to her domicile. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to heading into her lair – not when she was probably still pissed at me – but if it was the first step to getting back on her good side, I was more than happy to swallow my fear. I mean pride. Okay, both.
“Here,” Sterling said, materializing out of the undergrowth. I jerked away, but tried not to act too surprised. The only thing stealthier than me at the Boneyard was our vampire. He would have made a fantastic Hound. Sterling held a weird lump of something out towards me, nodding. “It’s your shirt. I went back to grab it.”
“Hey, that’s really cool of you, Sterling.” I liked that shirt a lot, too. Nice and soft. I grasped it in a bundle in one hand, my lips pressed together. “But I can’t exactly put it on right now.” I looked down at my blood-stained torso and gave myself a cursory sniff. “I look like a cannibal.”
Asher snorted. “You look like you ate a cannibal.”
I chuckled. “So Sterling, basically.”
Sterling held a finger up. “That’s prejudiced. You’re a jerk.” He tipped his head up to the sky. “Sun’s coming up soon, so I guess I won’t be coming with. You guys go ahead.” He nudged Asher in the ribs. “Bring a slice of pie home for me.”
“Sure, sure,” Asher said, waving him off. “Get out of here. I don’t wanna see you getting barbecued by the sun. So gross.”
“Douchebag,” Sterling said, taking off into the bushes.
Asher cupped his hands around his mouth. “And you’re an asshole,” he called out.
