“Grayson brought a second reader, and they were able to detangle some of Mrs. Carver’s memories. They were so hazy; the second reader said someone’s tried to reframe them multiple times. It’s what has messed with her mind so much, the poor woman.” Beau pours us two cups of tea, and I look between him and the teacup in surprise. “But I did learn one important thing… Willow LaCroix was trying to resurrect your mother with Faro’s Cuff.”
“What?” My head jerks toward him. That’s impossible. How would she have gotten Faro’s Cuff? Unless… unless Mom gave her the cuffbefore she died. At that time, she was the only one who’d have been able to, but why would Mom give Willow Faro’s Cuff when she knew how dangerous it was?
“Where’s Lyria?” I ask without waiting for him to answer. This could have been part of Mom’s lifedrain theory research, and only my sister will know how to make sense of it all.
“She briefly came back and left for the library again this morning.” Beau shrugs. “Willow was unsuccessful because your mother’s ghost had already crossed into the Underiver,” he finishes.
My thoughts are a jumble of theories, trying to piece together every single clue we have. Behind us, my bedroom door softly clicks, and Viola joins us in the kitchen, dressed in Lyria’s clothes again. Scar perches on her finger, her eyes drilling the Corvi cuff in Viola’s other hand; I’m still in disbelief that she let us bond with the cuff yesterday.
Beau slides a teacup toward her and catches her up on Victor’s mom, and she’s already grabbing a pen and the page with all our theories. As I watch her with my brother, my heart swells. That’s it about Viola, she completes us.
“My nan fragmented pieces of Willow’s soul across six relics—her friends’ relics—and Delaney is collecting them to resurrect her.” Viola brings her arm next to mine, and Scar slithers from her forearm to mine, crawling over Railesza. My healing aspier wakes up with an angry hiss, then Scar slithers to the other arm and settles above Raiku, resting her head close to his. Seeing our aspiers together somehow makes the bond… tangible.
Viola clicks her cuff around her arm. “Delaney admitted to the killings. I’m certain she killed Beau’s parents, you”—she looks awkwardly at Beau— “then Ysenia said Willow released Rafael Grimm and Delaney confirmed it, but that’s not all… When Willow released Grimm, his soul probably tethered to her body, like an anchored ghost. Don’t ask how I know, but someone as terrifying as Grimm wouldn’t simply become a wandering ghost.”
At the mention of his name, the air shifts. If there’s one thing we can all rally behind, it’s that Grimm needs to be dead. Dead dead. Not trapped, not imprisoned, not a wandering ghost, just dead.
I glance up at Beau, repeating Viola’s ghost’s words. “The blood that seals… what if Willow released Grimm while using the cuff to resurrect Mom? It’s the only way they would’ve gotten the blood of our ancestor.”
But Beau isn’t listening to me. He gapes at Viola. “You anchored to Ysenia Faro, the sixth founder of Gorhail?”
“Yes, but that’s not important right now.” Viola takes a sip from her cup, and sighs. “My question remains, where is Grimm if he’s been back for over two decades? Surely,someonewould’ve said or noticed something that would have given him away by now. Although I suppose… Maybe there’s some truth to all theDaily Magepropaganda—”
Stairwell door. I hear a woman’s voice, faint, quiet.
Viola turns around at the same time I do, but my legs are already moving, with her and Beau close behind. I jerk open the door, and Lyria falls to the floor, eyes glassy, her body halfway between the Poisoned Stairwell and Founder’s Room.
“Sylas…”
I don’t hear what Viola says. My ears are ringing, my vision darkening at the sides, and heat flushing up my neck. Railesza is already around Lyria’s arm, fangs in her veins, but she doesn’t look injured. I kneel in front of my sister, my fingers feeling for a pulse. It’s steady. So why is she lying on the floor, her eyes wide open toward the ceiling?
“She’s alive,” I say. Thank Haal, but what’s wrong with her? I need to take her to the infirmary.
Nyx hisses, drawing my eyes to a second body behind her. In the middle of that body’s chest, I notice Lyria’s dagger, blood pooling where the blade meets the flesh. “There’s someone else.”
“Sylas, don’t move,” Beau warns, but it’s already too late.
Puppet. I hear the voice clear as day now, youthful, firm, with a low rasp. Ysenia.
Right as Ysenia says the word, the body—a woman—sits up, the darkness of the Poisoned Stairwell enveloping her with eerieness. Lyria’s dagger still extends from her chest; my sister must have killed her just before she fainted. I don’t recognize the woman who is turning into a puppet before our eyes, but from the tattoo on her neck, she’s a poacher. My hands are on my dagger, Raiku and Scar both alert, but the woman doesn’t move any closer.
“Take this as a warning. I only seek what was taken away from me.”
Haal, this is Delaney coming back for Viola’s cuff.
“What did you do to Lyria?” Viola asks as she steps closer to me.
“She fought till the very end, Lyria. What a beautiful name,” thepuppet scoffs, lifting her head toward Viola. The sinister depth in her voice grazes over my skin like a razor. Her eyes morph from brown to green—the same green as all the puppets we faced. “Believe it or not, I couldn’t bring myself to kill her after the poacher failed. Her brilliant mind knew too much, like someone I knew centuries ago… alas, now it’s gone.”
Gods, oh Gods. Even as I think the worst, I refuse to acknowledge it.
“Grimm.” The words escape Viola’s lips so quietly. “Is it… did you hear that?”
No. Ysenia’s voice comes through again.
Viola lets out a gasp, and the puppet holds Viola’s stare, then the poacher’s neck snaps and her body thuds on the floor.
When I reach over to gather Lyria, my hand brushes against the poacher’s. It all happens in a fraction of a second. The complete chill of my skin. Time around me stopping, and the poacher’s fingers digging in my wrist.Only when the maiden and the crone die at the hands of the usurper will he be free.