“Oh?” Lianshi smirked. “Now you’re no longer deserving as the Golden King?”
Leonis tssked. “I am deserving, but Praximar singled us out before he could have known. Why is everyone so afraid of this Scorio? You’ve heard how the people in the city hate him—he sounds more like a fool than a monster given his role in Kraken’s attack.”
“Leonis. Stop.” Lianshi stood up. “I know this is driving you mad. But you’re going in circles. We’ve the second Gauntlet run coming up, and if we do well—which we should—we’ll be accepted to a high rank in House Hydra. There’s clearly a mystery here, but what can we do about it? The chancellor and our instructors think it best to protect us from what happened. Either we trust them, or we don’t.”
“I don’t know.” He rubbed at his bearded jaw.
“Scorio the Abhorred,” said Lianshi softly. “Scorio the Bringer of Ash and Darkness. A Red Lister. It seems pretty cut and dry to me.”
Leonis placed his hands on his hips and stared angrily at the floor.
Lianshi strode over to him and placed both hands on his shoulders. “I hate having things hidden from me as well, but the more I learn about Hell, the more I realize it’s an endless puzzle box of mysteries. This is just one of them. And what do you want to do? March into Praximar’s office and demand the truth? Run into the ruins and seek this Scorio out? Quit the Academy?”
“I don’t know,” rumbled Leonis. “I don’t know.”
“Hey.” Lianshi raised his chin and kissed him softly. “We can only take responsibility for that which is under our control. And we can’t control anything outside of our studies. This Scorio figure… I’ve heard that he helped Imogen the Woe attack Bastion. That he led the House Kraken assault on The Celestial Coffer. That he was the catalyst behind the rebellion that nearly overthrew the Houses.”
Leonis glowered. “That’s what we’re told. But if you spend just a few hours listening in the market, if you—”
“Shh,” said Lianshi. “Mysteries. I know.”
“I don’t like being manipulated.”
“Neither do I. Which is why we’re going to excel, accrue power, and then demand the truth. But only once we can demand it.” She moved her head from side to side to catch his eye. “If we cause problems now we’ll simply be cut off and left to fend for ourselves. Two Tomb Sparks can’t change the world. Let them think we’re fooled. Let them think we’re their willing servants. But the moment we discover the truth about what happened, we’ll make our decisions—together—and the rest be damned.”
Leonis’s grimace turned into a rueful laugh. “Why do you make so much sense?”
“It’s why we work together,” said Lianshi, linking her hands behind his neck. “You’re all might and passion, whereas I’m the brains and the beauty of this duo.”
“The brains and the beauty, hey?” Leonis swung her up into his arms. “Who’s been feeding you lies?”
“Lies?” She pretended outrage. “All those extravagant boasts about your love and dedication were just lies?”
“You shouldn’t trust what people say,” laughed Leonis, carrying her across the room into their chambers. “It’s their actions that count.”
“Hmm,” said Lianshi, burying her face in his neck. “Then you’d better show me.”
“Oh, I will. Prepare to be conquered by the Golden King!”
Lianshi fell onto the bed and glared at him. “No. We’re not starting that again.”
“With his mighty lance, the Golden King seeks out his elusive prey…”
Lianshi buried her face in one of the pillows. “Someone save me.”
“A titan of burnished muscle and indomitable will…” Leonis began to undo his belt. “Yet possessed of an endless hunger for—”
“I will break you.”
Leonis laughed and fell upon her. “Just you try, my love, just you try.”
Chapter 62
The cavern exploded into violence.
Scorio burst up into his scaled form as Naomi assumed her Nightmare Lady guise. Vine, the black-eyed Emberling, hurled forth a great mass of razor vines at Shadow Petal, who leaped even as Nissa stomped her foot and caused a curtain of crimson light to envelop the assassin, shredding her ivory and ebon form.
But other figures rushed into the cavern, unleashing their powers in turn.
Octavia, glorious and resplendent in her power, her gaze fierce and confident, her aura demanding obedience. Beside her a stern-browed man, his pale features heavily bearded, the wolf within him riding close under the skin, his gaze smoldering and dour. He extended a hand and unleashed a shockwave of might that caused everyone in the room to stagger.
Scorio crossed his arms before his face as the wall of force washed around his Shroud, his mind momentarily clouded by the other man’s will, but then flames raced around the walls, veiling the rock in leaping crimson while a bone-chilling fog rose from the ground, so dense and thick that it obscured all vision and leached the warmth and vitality right out of Scorio’s legs.
He roared and ran at Octavia, knowing in his heart that it was already futile but refusing to give in without a fight, only to raise his Shroud again as a white-haired youth with piercing, glacial-blue eyes appeared out of the fog and flung a bolt of ice at his face.
Scorio raised his Shroud again, and the ice shattered across it just as a torrent of flame descended upon him from above. Scorio raised the Shroud like an umbrella, seeking to keep pressing forward, but then Bronwen stepped into the cavern, her presence even more compelling than Octavia’s, her raw lips and heavy-lidded eyes, her thick mane of crimson hair and muscled figure suddenly dominating Scorio’s attention, drawing his gaze and trapping it.
Shouts and grunts, yells and thuds filled the cavern. Scorio wrestled with Bronwen’s power, but she held his attention as she approached, towering over him, clothed in House Kraken’s robes, a great iron collar about her neck. Snarling, he slammed his aura of command out at her: RELEASE ME.
She blinked, frowned, and Scorio tore his gaze away.
The fight was already over.
The Nightmare Lady had sought to fill the cavern with her inky essence but had been cut down by the Shadow Petal; Maron and Vine lay stretched out, the robes of the first yet burning, the second partially encased in ice. B’vaari had his hands to his brow, his expression one of utter confusion, while Luthan, the prematurely aged young man, was gazing at Octavia in awe and fear.
That left Nissa.
She’d backed up against the burning galleon, its ancient timbers giving themselves gladly to the flames. With a stomp of her foot, she caused crimson light to flood up around a dark-skinned woman with close-cropped hair twisted into tight knots, flames running from her fist up her forearms to form a mantle about her head.
The crimson light stripped her of her skin, leaving her an anatomical study, muscle and nerves and tendons revealed.
Spark screamed, staggered, and Nissa’s form was immediately clothed in the stolen skin which adhered to her seamlessly, transforming her frame and causing her to become exactly like her victim moments before she retreated into the burning hull.
Helminth lay bleeding out on the floor. Naomi had shrunken back to her human form.
Ravenna was laughing to herself, shaking her head in delight.
A mad urge overtook Scorio to tackle his former classmate, but to what end? It wasn’t her fault.
Ydrielle stepped into the cavern, Cianus and a red-haired beauty by her side.
Everything became crystal and Scorio felt chagrin and horror suffuse him.
“Hello, Scorio,” said Ydrielle, stepping over to Ravenna and linking her arm around the other woman’s waist. “You always were so slow on the uptake.”
The Shadow Petal emerged from the burning ship, her white blade extended upwards before her, Spark impaled upon it like a bug, clutching at the sword and coughing up blood.