It was wrong on so many levels that her head reeled from simply contemplating it. He was a revenant, a creature more than a man. Her great-grandfather’s brother slaughtered his relatives. His family held hers in bondage. If he really wanted her, he could simply order her to submit. Maybe it was some sort of twisted version of Stockholm syndrome. Or an animal attraction. He was . . . not handsome exactly, but very male. Powerful. Masculine. Strong. But there was more to if. the sadness in his eyes, the courteous way he managed himself, the feel of his magic. It pulled her to him and she would have to be very careful to keep her distance.
“You still haven’t told me what you need me to do,” she said.
He rose. “Walk with me, please.”
Grace followed him down the path deeper into the atrium. Nassar led her out through an arched door and into a large round chamber. Bare, it was lit by sunlight spilling through a skylight very high above. A thick metal grate guarded the skylight. Plain concrete made up the floor, showing a complicated geometric pattern with a circle etched into its centre. Nassar stood on its edge.
“When a revenant takes a new body, he gains great power but he also inherits the weaknesses of that body. The body I took was cursed. After I transferred into it, I was able to heal the damage and break the curse. But all of my invulnerability to the curse is gone. I’ve used it all up.”
“And the man who was born in this body? What happened to him when you took it?”
“He died,” Nassar said.
She’d hoped he wouldn’t say that.
A woman entered the chamber through the door in the opposite wall. A pale blonde like Nassar. She smiled at them. Nassar didn’t quite smile back, but the melancholy of his face eased slightly.
“This is Elizavetta. My sister.”
“Call me Liza,” she said. “Everyone does.”
“Grace,” Grace said simply. “You’re the one who drugged the cream.”
Liza nodded. “Yes. Alasdair warned me I may have earned your undying hate for it. I sincerely hope we can put it past us. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings in any way.”
“Given that I’m a servant, my feelings are hardly relevant, but I appreciate it,” Grace said.
Liza blinked. An uncomfortable silence ensued. Nassar cleared his throat. “Liz?”
“Yes, right.” Liza stepped inside the design.
“Every revenant has a fatal weakness,” Nassar said, his gaze fixed on his sister. “This is mine.”
Liza arched her back, spreading her arms. Her hands clawed the air. She spun in a place, twisting. Magic pulsed from her and filled the lines etched on the floor with pale yellow light. Liza brought her hands together, cried out and forced them apart with a pained grimace. A clump of mottled darkness appeared between her fingers. She stepped back.
The clump spun, growing, and ruptured, vomiting a creature into the circle. The beast was three-feet long and slender, shaped like a slug or a leech except for the fringe of carmine feathery hairs along its sides. A patina of grey and sickly yellow swirled over its dark hide, like an oil rainbow on the surface of a dark puddle.
The creature shivered. The red fringe trembled and it took to the air, sliding soundlessly a foot off the ground. A cold, foul magic emanated from it. It touched Grace. She jerked back and bumped into Nassar.
“What is that?”
He put his hand on her shoulder, steadying her. “A marrow worm. They live in dark places, where there is stagnant water and decay. They feed on small animals, fish and old magic.”
The worm hovered behind the glowing outline of the circle. Its head was blunt and as it rose up, testing the boundaries of its invisible cage, Grace saw a slit of a mouth lined with sharp serrated teeth on its underside.
Liza approached the worm. The creature shied away, sliding as close to the glowing lines as it could.
“Think of them as germs. Most people have a natural resistance to them, an immunity. I don’t. To me, they’re fatal. We did our best to keep this fact to ourselves, but I have no doubt the Roars know it. They would be fools not to. Unfortunately, marrow worms are easy to summon.”
He’d stepped behind her and she was painfully sensitive to the presence of his large body only an inch from her back. His magic touched her. Her every nerve shivered, hyper-aware of his movements. She sensed him lean to her and almost jumped when his quiet voice spoke into her ear. “Do you remember when you sent that dog running? I want you to do that again.”
Grace swallowed. “I don’t remember what I did. It just happened.”
His big hand pushed against her back gently, making her take a step towards the circle. “Try.”
Grace took a deep breath and stepped over the glowing lines inside the circle. The worm jerked away from her like a wet ribbon. Grace glanced at Nassar.
“That’s just normal resistance to humans. Keep trying.”