“We’ve established that Lereal’s power doesn’t belong to You.”
“Not that,” Apollius sneered. “The shard, Alienor.”
Her stomach bottomed out.
Apollius gave her a sardonic look. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you. Not unless you make Me.”
“That’s less than comforting,” Alie murmured. “Not that You look strong enough for murder, frankly. What happened? Did Bastian make a break for it again?”
“I have the situation well in hand.” And despite how awful He looked, Apollius smiled, and she believed Him. “Deepest apologies.”
He was weak, but He was still in control. And it seemed He didn’t mind the weakness.
It was almost more terrifying than if He’d been in full, resplendent power. That would at least make sense.
“I won’t give it to You,” Alie said. She didn’t specify whether she spoke of Lereal’s magic or the piece of the Fount. The statement covered both.
Apollius rolled His eyes. “You think you moved in secrecy? I knew you would look for the shard eventually. There is no one I trust enough to send after it, and even if you were to die in a trap of My making, I would get your power out of it. It was easier to let you find the piece and bring it to Me than it was to go Myself, what with certain… difficulties.”
Here was the plan, then. Why He’d kept her alive so long. But far from cowing her, the knowledge made Alie stand up straighter. “So Bastian is giving You a run for Your money.”
The god narrowed His eyes and didn’t respond to that. “We’ve found ourselves at the end of your overlong rope,sister. It’s time to give them both up, the power and the piece. They’ll do nothing for you.”
“They don’t have to,” Alie snarled. “It’s enough that You don’t have them.”
“Fierce little thing. Not like the Arceneauxs. They’re cowards, you know. They were then, and they are now. Afraid of losing power, afraid of dying, afraid of what comes after.”
“Bastian isn’t afraid of You.”
A sneering smile. “He should be. Something is coming that should scare him far worse than anything I’ve put him through so far.”
Her heartbeat thrummed just a little faster.
Ponderously, Apollius stood, as if Bastian’s bones had grown too brittle to support the weight of two souls fighting over one body. He lurched toward her on weak legs, still imposing even now, and Alie took a step back before she could stop herself.
“I grow tired of this, Alienor,” Apollius said. She lurched backward as He came toward her, her fumbling hand finding the door. Locked from the outside, but still she tugged at it, calling threads of wind to pick at the mechanism. “You can give them up and live, or you can give them up and die. Whichever you choose has little consequence to Me.”
He was close enough to touch her. Alie’s wind threads unlatched something within the lock, and it gave with a click. She turned the knob without looking behind her, losing her balance.
But someone was standing at the door, working the lock from the other side, and strong arms caught her before she hit the tiles. Alie looked up into the furious face of Jax Andronicus.
“Jax,” Apollius said, as if he were a friend dropping in to a tea party. “Nice of you to join us.”
Jax helped her up gently. His hands left her as soon as Alie was upright. “Is there a reason You’re intimidating my betrothed?” His voice was a low hiss.
Apollius waved a hand. Bastian’s body was too tired to make it look carefree and nonchalant; it staggered through the air like something shot. “Your betrothed has something of Mine.”
“You said there was a way to get it back without violence.” Jaxwas just as tall as Bastian; Apollius couldn’t loom over him quite as well as He could Alie. “You said she would be safe.”
“And she will be,” Apollius growled, “if she gives me back what isfucking Mine.”
“It’s not Yours,” Alie said quietly. “Never was.”
The god whirled on her, nearly stumbling on Bastian’s tired legs. “I have been infinitely patient with you, Alienor, but now—”
His words cut off, strangled. Apollius lurched a step forward, then fell to His knees, gagging. Something spilled from His mouth.
A torrent of crystal-clear water, pooling on the floor, glimmering gold at the edges. Just for a moment, then it was gone, evanescing into the air.
