Hadn’t they?
“Surely you’re not still planning to uphold your bargain with Jemsin.” Safire shook her head. “I don’t believe you’d put an innocent person in the hands of a monster.”
“Believe what you want.” Eris moved to stand up.
Safire grabbed her wrist, keeping her down. Her heart beat hard and fast as she held that piercing gaze, feeling like she was about to lose something she’d only just found. “You won’t endanger the life of someone I love. That’s not who you are.”
Eris scowled. Twisting free, she staggered to her feet. “And what about my life? You’ll do anything to keep your cousin safe. Of course you will. I understand it, and I admire you for it. Even though I know that when it comes down to it—and it will come down to it, Safire—you’ll choose her over me. Her life over mine.”
“What are you talking about?” Safire rose to her feet. “I just told you I’ll protect you. From the empress. From Jemsin. From anyone who ever tries to harm you. I swear it.”
Eris shook her head, almost mournfully. “This was a mistake,” she said, backing away now, her eyes strangely hollow in the candlelight. “You have no idea what it’s like. How could you?”
Turning, she stepped into the stained-glass maze, as if desperate to escape.
“You live in a different world than I do.”
Thirty-Five
Eris’s thoughts were wild and out of control as she moved swiftly through the labyrinth. She could feel the cold shadow of the ghost beyond the twisting stained glass walls, hiding just out of sight. It suddenly felt too small and cramped here. Like a prison.
Eris needed air and sea and open sky.
Fool. Fool.
She’d made a mistake, bringing Safire here. Taking her to that beach. She never should have kissed her. Never should have laid her down in the sand. The smell of her was everywhere now—like sunrises and juniper berries. The taste of her, too.
Safire tasted like the sea. Like someone Eris wanted to kiss every day. First thing in the morning. Last thing before bed.
Which was why she needed to leave. To finish this job and get as far away as she could from the girl standing before her loom. A girl who came from a different world. One she could never belong to.
Eris was so focused on getting to a door—any door—and stepping through it that she didn’t see what was before her until she almost walked into his feathered chest.
Eris stumbled back.
The summoner stood in front of her, its red eyes peering into hers.
“Jemsin wants you.”
A dark dread crept over her.
“I nearly have her,” said Eris, about to shoulder around the creature. “Tell Jemsin I just need one more day.”
“It’s not about the job,” said the summoner, blocking her way.
Eris’s stomach twisted at those words. She was about to double back, to head for a different door.
“It’s about the girl.”
The words stopped her feet. “W-what?” she whispered. “What . . . girl?”
“The one I can smell all over you.”
Eris felt suddenly small and exposed.
“No . . . ,” said the summoner, looking up, over her shoulder. “I can smell her here.”
Like the sea spirit on the dock who’d transformed into a bloodthirsty monster at the sight of Safire, the summoner shifted, shedding its black feathers to reveal a sickly-looking creature with fanged jaws.
In that moment, Eris knew what it would do. She’d seen it do it a hundred times before—tear a person limb from limb. On Jemsin’s command.
Unlike the sea spirit, there was nothing Eris could do. The summoner was something far older and more lethal. She’d seen it break men like twigs. Seen it pull out their livers and gorge on their hearts.
“You’re wrong,” she said, blocking his way. “She isn’t here.”
But just as she said it, Safire stepped into view, drawn to the sound of Eris’s panicked voice. Eris could see the reflection of her in those bloodred eyes.
The summoner’s black lips pulled away from its teeth.
“No!” Eris screamed.
It shoved her against the glass. Eris heard a crack before she felt the bloom of pain in the back of her head. She tried to get up. If she didn’t, Safire was as good as dead.
But before it could devour Safire, before it even reached her . . . something stepped between.
Eris’s vision blurred, but she recognized that icy chill seeping through the air. Knew the presence that came with it. When her vision cleared, it wasn’t a shadow that stood between Safire and the summoner, but a man. Raven haired and gray eyed. Handsome and stiff jawed.
Crow. The ghost in the labyrinth.
The summoner reared back in surprise, snapping its sharp jaws and shaking its head.
“Kadenze,” said Crow’s melodic voice. “Pirate’s pet now, are you?”
The summoner’s claws clenched and unclenched. It looked from Crow to the labyrinth around him, sneering through its teeth. “So this is where she caged you.”
Crow’s eyes flashed silver at those words. “Leave,” he told the summoner, the look on his face inhuman. “Or when I’m free, I’ll hunt you down and rip you into as many pieces as there are drops in the sea.”
“You’ll never be free,” Kadenze hissed. But it stepped back. As if it wasn’t quite sure of the words it spoke. And then, looking over its shoulder, it said to Eris, “You have two days to bring Jemsin what he wants. You know what happens if you fail.”
“I’ve never failed him before,” said Eris.
Gathering its cloak of feathers around it, the summoner’s monstrous shape dissolved into the form of a blue-black raven. Eris ducked as it soared past her, its wings shuffling air, and disappeared into the darkness beyond.
Crow, too, was losing his form. No longer a man but a hunching shadow.
So this is where she caged you.
What did that mean?
“Wait!” Eris rose to her feet, her head throbbing.
But the ghost in the labyrinth was already gone, leaving Safire and Eris alone.
Safire gripped her throwing knife in her hand. “What was that?” Her voice shook as she stared into the empty space where two ancient creatures stood mere heartbeats before.
“That was Jemsin’s summoner.” Eris got to her feet and moved quickly past her. The other creature, though—the ghost called Crow? She didn’t know. Back at the scrin, Day used to tell her a story every night before bed. His favorite was the Skyweaver’s defeat of the Shadow God. She thought of it now as she returned to the loom, her hands moving quickly as she cut the new tapestry from the wooden frame, half afraid the summoner would return.
Skyweaver spun a web made of starlight to catch him. She bound him up tight in her threads. . . .
She knew the story by heart. Everyone in the Star Isles knew it. Skyweaver kills the Shadow God and in doing so, saves the islands from his reign of terror. But as Eris rolled up the tapestry, she remembered her conversation with the sea spirit.
The Shadow God grows stronger, it said. Once he’s free, he’ll come for her.
Eris paused, thinking of the night the scrin burned. Of the god of souls who never came down from her tower.