Silver in the Bone (Silver in the Bone #1)(123)
Author: Alexandra Bracken

 

I searched the ancient king’s face, his eyes, but there was nothing human left in them. Lord Death had stolen that from Arthur.

 

“What have you done to him?” I demanded.

 

Cabell’s top lip curled, his expression flashing from pain to anger at the rejection.

 

“I have done nothing to your brother,” Lord Death said, “but reveal him.”

 

A dagger, carried on a scream of fury, flew past my head—not toward Cabell, but toward the man who had claimed to be Bedivere.

 

Lord Death leaned to the left, allowing it to strike the scarred wall behind him. He clucked his tongue in mock pity, taking in the sight of Caitriona barely restrained by Neve and Olwen.

 

“How could you?” Caitriona raged. “Why did you let them die? We were going to perform the ritual—so why? Why?”

 

“When young Fayne—Flea, as you called her . . .” He said her name with such disgust that my whole being lit with fury. “When she discovered the fragment of the vessel I’d taken, it risked others discovering what I’d planned before the time of my choosing.”

 

“They didn’t have to die!” Caitriona sobbed, her face stricken with rage and pain. “You didn’t have to take them!”

 

“Child, there was no personal insult in what I did,” Lord Death said, his paternal tone sending a shiver up the back of my neck. “This isle was only ever a doorway to collect what Lady Morgan and the other sisters promised me. Not everyone can join me in the mortal world, not when they are so valuable to me dead. But I chose you to join me. My favorite of them all, my perfect, steadfast knight with a heart so fierce and loyal.”

 

Cabell flinched at his words, his gaze fixed on the man with need.

 

“Tell me, Caitriona,” Lord Death continued in his velvety voice, “can it beat for me still? Or must I collect your soul as well?”

 

His hand stroked along the pocket of his overcoat, where a small lump was hidden. A silvery glow radiated from it in response. Olwen let out a low sob, realization setting in. Lord Death now carried the souls of all of their loved ones with him.

 

Caitriona threw herself forward with another scream that was choked off as the man held up a hand. Neve sent me a terrified look, uncertain of what to do. I gave a sharp shake of the head. We didn’t know what he was capable of.

 

“A shame,” Lord Death said. “There was a place for you as my steward, and I am loath to see my work on you come to naught.”

 

“I will kill you,” Caitriona vowed.

 

“I am certain that you will try,” he said with a mocking bow of the head.

 

A familiar sound, like the scurrying of rats, filled the air. Children, alive again, scaled the wall behind him. They perched there, watching us. Waiting.

 

“Farewell, maidens of Avalon,” Lord Death sneered, his long overcoat billowing out behind him. “You have made your choice, and I have waited an age for my revenge on the ones who caged me.”

 

As he turned, so did my brother, following like the loyal hound he’d become. My heart shredded against my ribs. This had to be a spell. I could save him from this, too.

 

“Please,” I begged. “Don’t do this. Don’t let him turn you away from us. From me.”

 

All those years ago, our guardian, a storyteller, had walked into a storm and vanished, becoming a story himself. We were what remained. The two of us, alone in the world except for each other.

 

The tether of our shared past strained as Cabell looked over his shoulder at me, pulling tighter and tighter with each heartbeat. Everything we had seen and done and lived together stretched between us, and all he had to do was hold on. All he had to do was take a step toward me and I would fight with everything I had in me to get him away from the monster at his side.

 

Don’t.

 

Don’t.

 

Don’t.

 

“Cabell,” I said. “I love you. Please.”

 

This time, he didn’t turn back. The wind carried his words to me. “Don’t die.”

 

And the tether snapped.

 

I didn’t see him walk away. My legs seemed to disappear beneath me, and I dropped into a crouch, shaking. Neve’s hands gripped my shoulders as Caitriona charged past us, trying to reach them before they vanished into the ageless dark of night.

 

The Children leapt down, barring the way with clicking fangs and rotting faces. Struggling with her wounded shoulder, Caitriona brandished a bent sword and split one of their skulls with a ferocious scream. The others fled after their master, scaling the ruined walls of the tower.

 

It was a moment more before I realized that their screeching had given way to a very different sort of wailing. One that had no place in Avalon.

 

Emergency sirens.

 

I ran forward, climbing onto a broken section of the courtyard’s wall. My nails had torn, and my hands and knees were skinned raw, but I felt none of it. I was only vaguely aware of the others climbing behind me.

 

Together, we gazed out along the curve of a steep hill covered by dead trees and mist. Children rose from the forest floors and gathered, reborn, into a pack behind Arthur—Lord Death—and Cabell as they made their way toward the distant town drowning in black mire. A river of water gushed from the earth beneath us, turning crimson as it mixed with dirt and blood.

 

“Blessed Mother,” Olwen whispered.

 

As if in response, the clouds parted, spilling moonlight onto the world below. The ruined groves, the watchtowers, and the homes that had once housed the people of Avalon punctured the land like cleats on grass. The Avalonian structures had crushed or partly buried the modern streets and buildings that had stood in their way.

 

With the wreckage, it took more than a moment to recognize where we were. I’d been here before countless times with Nash and . . . and with Cabell.

 

We were standing on Glastonbury Tor, long rumored to have been the location of Avalon in our world before it splintered off into its own. The hill and its lonely tower had stood over the land like a benevolent sentry for centuries, keeping watch of the surrounding meadows and nearby town of Glastonbury.

 

Now it served as the perfect vantage point to bear witness to the complete and utter devastation below.

 

The glow of fire emanated from what remained of the town, smoke pouring up to cover the stars. Ambulances and police cars, their blue lights flashing, gathered along a road to the north. With the flooding, it was as close to the town as they could get. The whirring of helicopter blades seemed to approach from every direction at once.