But there was still the chance to stop this bitch going after the third key. Still a chance for some good to come from this goddamn mess. I swooped, picked up Amaya, and ran toward the fading light of the second key.
But the hands got there before me.
They pulled the shadows from the sorceress, then grabbed her, tore at her, as they ushered her forward, ushered her down. If she screamed I didn’t hear it. In fact, she didn’t even appear to struggle as she disappeared into the ether. Maybe she couldn’t. Maybe the magic that had taken her safely to this point had faded away, leaving her defenseless.
I stopped. I had a bad feeling I didn’t want to go anywhere near those hands right now. That if I did, they’d take me with them.
Where are they going, Amaya? Into hell?
No. Pens.
Pens? Even as I watched, the last part of her was swept away. The hands stopped moving, but the calm warmth of this place didn’t reinstate itself. There was only one gate left. Only one gate to protect the Earth and the fields from all of hell’s demons.
Because of me. Because I’d failed to do what I’d been sent here to do.
I closed my eyes and flung myself back into my body. The force of it sent me toppling off the bed and onto the floor. Where I screamed and ranted and cried at the unfairness of it all. And at my own stupid uselessness.
Hands eventually touched me, cocooned me. I wrapped my arms around Azriel’s neck and pressed my cheek against his chest, drawing in the sweaty, bloody, and very real scent of him as I listened to the steady beat of his heart and wished mine was anywhere near as calm.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered eventually. “I tried.”
“I know.” He brushed a stray strand of hair away from my cheek, his touch so warm against my skin. “The blame for this lies not just with you, but all of us who seek the key.”
I sniffed. “The rest of you weren’t at hell’s gate. I was.”
“Yes, but the path that led to that place is where the blame can be placed.” His voice was grim. “That road is scattered not just with our failure, but the failure of the Raziq to guard the place they desecrated with their conceited slaughter of the priests, and by the failure of your father to fully tell us what his chrání was capable of. And it also lies with those of us forced to take over guard duties and yet who still do not understand all the magic of that place.”
“Was it magic that prevented the Mijai at the gate from interfering?”
“Yes. He was not aware that anything was amiss until the gate opened.”
“But he sensed my presence?”
“Yes, and thought nothing of it because you wore the marks of my tribe and my energy resonated within you. But he had no sense that anything was wrong. Not until I was able to slaughter the sorceress’s Dušan and get into the temple grounds. By then, it was all too late.”
Because I’d failed to do what I’d gone there to do. He could dance around it all he liked, but that was one fact we were never going to escape.
“Will the pits hold her?”
“It would depend on how much knowledge the Aedh passed on to her.”
I shifted so I could look into his eyes. “Meaning what?”
“Meaning the priests have always been able to enter either gate at will. As the Aedh was your father’s chrání, he will have gained some – if not all – of that knowledge.”
“You should have ignored my wishes and killed that bastard when you had the chance,” I muttered. I scrubbed a hand across my eyes, smearing the remaining tears. “So what the hell do we do now?”
“Now,” an ominous, all too familiar voice said, “your friend dies.”
I scrambled to my feet, Amaya suddenly in my hands and screaming her fury. Valdis joined in the noise as Azriel rose beside me.
My father’s energy filled the room. How he’d gotten so close without us noticing I had no idea, because technically, he shouldn’t have been able to get into this place. Ilianna’s wards were still active, and they should have prevented any Aedh other than the now dead Lucian from getting in.
Of course, my father had created those wards, even if Ilianna had rerouted the magic within them. And it would be just like my parent to have created a back door within the original magic for such an eventuality as this.
“One move, Hieu,” Azriel said, voice soft and yet filled with death, “and it will be the last move you ever make.”
Amusement spun around us, thick and sharp. “Save your meaningless threats, Mijai. I have no intention of harming anyone here. Elsewhere, however, it is a different matter entirely.”