Page 114 of The Lies We Conjure
“Sod cell.” Winter gestures to the dew-slick, dead grass, matter of fact. “Open up the earth, drop her in, wrap her tightly. We can even maneuver it so she can keep an eye on Wren.”
“And exposed to the elements, and perhaps Marsyas, if she attacks when the spell lifts,” I point out. “Not to mention it’s completely claustrophobic to have your chest cavity corseted by actual, unmoving earth. It isn’t a weighted blanket, it’s hundreds—thousands—of possible pounds of pressure if you do it wrong. She might hyperventilate while she fries in the sun.”
For the first time, Ruby fidgets, shifting her weight. Awaiting her punishment.
Evander blows out a deep breath. “Okay, too harsh. We could lock her in a room within the manor? Create a guard rotation, and reunite Ruby with Wren after Ursula’s spell wears off?”
I’m surprised he’s posed these musings as questions—Evander’s unsure.
Good, because it’s a terrible idea.
“It’s cruel to keep Ruby from seeing Wren while her sister is trapped and vulnerable. Not to mention, do we really want to sacrifice someone on the relic retrieval crew to play guard? Especially if, again, Marsyas is somewhere inside. Dangerous for the sisters and dangerous for the guard to be alone.”
“Okay, wait, stop.” Evander waves his arms. “We’re not doing this right now. We have fifteen hours. The sun’s up. We need to go.” He turns to Infinity. “Is there a spell you can use to keep Ruby safe but still? Like Kaysa’s—Wren’s—situation but something we can easily remove?”
“Sunlight would work,” Hex points out.
“I don’t like this—”
“And I don’t care, Auden,” Evander snaps. “It’s the best we have. It won’t hurt her; in fact it might protect her.”
“By taking away her free will. Making her a statue? That’s what you plan to do?”
Evander turns the full force of his anger on me. “Any way you spin it, I’m the bad guy and it’s the wrong choice. Add it to my tab, Auden, I don’t care. If we get out of this alive, every choice we made up until that moment of freedom, including the wrong ones, will have been the right choice in my book. Infinity, do it.”
“But—” I begin, but Infinity is quick, decisive, and clearly in agreement with Evander.
Before I know it, they’ve drawn a measure of sunlight in their palms, and with a quick flick of both wrists, Ruby is draped in a prison of pure, impenetrable sunlight.
CHAPTER34
RUBY
My prison is pure gold and shimmering like water on my skin. It’s a thin layer, as smooth and complete as ice, yet as warm as a freshly drawn bath.
It’s the strangest feeling—and that’s saying something, considering the last several days.
It’s like I’m underwater with the sound turned on. The pressure of it doesn’t miss a single inch of me, encased as I am, yet I’m able to breathe, blink, listen.
I hear the witches as they determine and divide up their targets.
I’m able to catalog every unsaid word telegraphed on exhausted features.
Auden’s frustration overtaking the hurt in his poet’s heart at my betrayal.
Evander’s single-minded authority, ready to end this hell by any means necessary.
Winter’s resentment at this process, this task, her rage over who’s been lost and the reason why.
Infinity’s resignation, their internal struggle to disengage warring with the need to see this through.
Hex and Ada’s double helix of hurt, shock, horror, and the will to force an outcome that both honors and defies the blood in their veins.
I watch as they make plans, and turn their backs on us to execute them, wondering if they’ll be successful in finding the Death master relic. If I’m truly safe or a sitting duck. If Wren is catching everything in the same way I am, or if the magic of her spell has her completely neutralized—a bee displayed in amber, no synapses firing, a true state of physical and mental suspension.
Then, they’re gone.
All around the garden, the dying topiaries and hedges rustle with a wind I can’t feel but know by heart after a lifetime of living in the Rocky Mountains.
