Page 117 of The Shade of Things
“No more lies!” Shadows exploded from me.
Delilah slammed Tatiana against the inside of the tree. My boss, my mentor, my friend’s trembling sensed through my shadow’s hold was delicious.
One snap and I’d have revenge.
Seething, I moved to her side, forcing her to look me in the eyes, hating that even now her pain was mine. I poured steel into my voice. “How many years had you been watching me? Waiting to play me, to use me?”
Tatiana inhaled sharply, her eyes flashing. “You dare speak to me of cons, you snake?”
She blew my shadow off her, turning Delilah into tattered wisps.
Before I could once more access my magic, a tree root funneled up from the earth and snagged my leg, lifting me off the ground. Shadows swam over my skin, but the root wound around up my body, squeezing like a hungry python.
“Shut down your magic,” Tatiana ordered.
Any more pressure and I’d black out, so I did as she asked, the shadows churning inside me.
“You wormed your way into my life. Into my trust.” Spittle flew from her lips, a crazed light in her eyes. “I wish that I’d killed your parents. That I’d known of their involvement and made them suffer as I did.”
She spoke the truth. About my parents at least, though she had the Ascendant. I felt it in my gut. How had she gotten hold of it if she didn’t get it from my parents?
“Did you know what Arlo intended to use it for?” I croaked out the words. If Arlo wanted to fly with the angels he wouldn’t have just cared about the dybbuks. He’d have wanted to prove he could call forth anything in Gehenna.
“Dybbuks can only possess Ohrists with lowered inhibitions,” she said. That was all she knew about then. “It’s easy enough to keep ourselves safe, and those that don’t, deserve what they get.”
“Did…” I swallowed to get moisture into my mouth, wanting to hurt Tatiana, yet my stomach twisted at playing this card. “Did Delphine?”
The elderly women flinched like I’d hit her. “Don’t you dare speak her name.”
The root stuffed itself into my mouth like a gag.
Tatiana’s expression softened, and she tsked. “Poor Sadie,” she crooned. “Never to know what happened to her mother.”
I made garbled begging noises.
The root slammed me against the wall and compressed my cracked rib cage, knocking the air from my lungs.
A slice peeled off the main part of the root, weaving in front of me like a cobra. Tatiana’s cold smile given form.
Then the cobra struck, impaling me in my gut.
I felt a heavy pressure and wetness, but the pain didn’t register. I was high on adrenaline and the urgency to break free. “Don’t hurt my daughter.”
My words were unintelligible, but the pleading in my eyes was clear because Tatiana patted my cheek.
“Don’t worry, bubeleh. I’ll take good care of her.”
With that, she walked away into the night, leaving me bleeding out.
