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Nick could notbut watch, and he watched Mum burn
There was a fire now to rival Anzu’s, and this fire was real Nick could feel the heat of it, could s clothes and hair and flesh Arthur was screa up shielding spells, and still enveloped in flames Nick saw his pale face remain untouched in the center of the fire, while his black hair beca torch Mum put up no defenses She did not even screa black, hair a sheet of flaoing, backed up by more power than he had ever dreae and hate Mu for fifteen years Arthur’s voice was an inarticulate roar, and the water spells were bouncing off the to succeed
Then she tuainst Arthur’s chest, the kiss broken, her body reduced to charred skin and bones Arthur gasped for clean air, his clothes and hair hanging in blackened remnants
Mae shouted, “Jamie, come here!”
She positioned the knife point above the ician’s chest, over the heart, and then hesitated Nick reht: Across the throat or under the ribs for a killing blow
Theon, set her teeth, and slid the knife in under his ribs Blood flowed out around the knife, spreading across the man’s shirt, and Jamie hite
“Mae,” he said “No—”
Mae was panting, her breaths co “Come here”
Jamie stumbled forward, and Mae closed her hand around the knife blade Then she reached up to Ja those sounds between breaths and sobs, and lifted his shirt She left a bloody handprint on her brother’s hip, over his demon’s mark For a y red print, and then the lines blurred, turning into a gray shadow, and the ician’s blood
Laura theher up and away fro her knife down in a vicious arc aimed for Mae’s throat
“No!” Gerald coently by the shoulders and pulled him back a step “Don’t hurt her”
“She just murdered Rufus!” Laura exclaimed
“She ht be useful,” said Gerald “Leave her alone”
Laura lookedthe blade of her knife hard against Mae’s already-grazed throat Mae stayed still, her eyes closed and her face turned away from them all toward the
“Do you knohy Gerald wants the se and hurief
Nick looked at hi at his mother She was on the floor now, so littering, furious eyes Even as he walked, his burned hair was growing, writhing like soitself around hi like lovers
“Maybe he likes the look of Mae,” Nick drawled
“Don’t be ridiculous”
Nick raised his eyebrows “Does he like the look of Jamie?”
“He thinks that wechips,” Arthur snarled “He thinks that you , and he’s being naive I also think that you’ll do what I say withoutI sold my wife for this; I sold my son, and I will have what I paid for! Do you knoto be in your place?”
There was a strange sound as Arthur spoke Starting low, and then rising above the hiss of his balefire, was the sibilant sound of Anzu laughing
“Oh yes, anything,” Anzu said “Who wouldn’t want to be trapped in a pathetic little human mind, unable to remember who they were? Especially since it went so well this ti brat, Arthur? There was only Hnikarr, and he was always reckless and stupid Even he alainst it from the start”
“Liannan,” Nick echoed
He re mouth She had told hio or more
She had told him not to trust Anzu
“You don’t res for an almost sardonic curve above his head “You don’t remember me, either Of course, we knew you wouldn’t, but Arthur promised he would remind you of us and our claims I suppose it slipped his mind”
“What claims?”
“Do you think, Hnikarr,” Anzu said, black eyes on his, “that ould ever have trusted a ician with one of our own? You, reed to your crazy plan, we knew you would be helpless as a child in this world if the icians failed you You promised us bodies, and we bound ourselves in service to you For years you’ve been calling us up, treating us like slaves, playing the hu, old friend When will you be paying your debt?”
It had always been so easy for Nick to call his demons
Anzu had said the word “friend,” but that did not tally with the frosty snap at the end of every word he spoke He was not looking at Nick like a friend
“You shouldn’t have marked my brother,” Nick said slowly
“How did I know you’d say so Of course Ito kill him We are demons That is e do! If you don’t understand that, there’s at least one thing that hasn’t changed You were always a fool”
“Shut up,” Arthur commanded
p>
Nick could notbut watch, and he watched Mum burn
There was a fire now to rival Anzu’s, and this fire was real Nick could feel the heat of it, could s clothes and hair and flesh Arthur was screa up shielding spells, and still enveloped in flames Nick saw his pale face remain untouched in the center of the fire, while his black hair beca torch Mum put up no defenses She did not even screa black, hair a sheet of flaoing, backed up by more power than he had ever dreae and hate Mu for fifteen years Arthur’s voice was an inarticulate roar, and the water spells were bouncing off the to succeed
Then she tuainst Arthur’s chest, the kiss broken, her body reduced to charred skin and bones Arthur gasped for clean air, his clothes and hair hanging in blackened remnants
Mae shouted, “Jamie, come here!”
She positioned the knife point above the ician’s chest, over the heart, and then hesitated Nick reht: Across the throat or under the ribs for a killing blow
Theon, set her teeth, and slid the knife in under his ribs Blood flowed out around the knife, spreading across the man’s shirt, and Jamie hite
“Mae,” he said “No—”
Mae was panting, her breaths co “Come here”
Jamie stumbled forward, and Mae closed her hand around the knife blade Then she reached up to Ja those sounds between breaths and sobs, and lifted his shirt She left a bloody handprint on her brother’s hip, over his demon’s mark For a y red print, and then the lines blurred, turning into a gray shadow, and the ician’s blood
Laura theher up and away fro her knife down in a vicious arc aimed for Mae’s throat
“No!” Gerald coently by the shoulders and pulled him back a step “Don’t hurt her”
“She just murdered Rufus!” Laura exclaimed
“She ht be useful,” said Gerald “Leave her alone”
Laura lookedthe blade of her knife hard against Mae’s already-grazed throat Mae stayed still, her eyes closed and her face turned away from them all toward the
“Do you knohy Gerald wants the se and hurief
Nick looked at hi at his mother She was on the floor now, so littering, furious eyes Even as he walked, his burned hair was growing, writhing like soitself around hi like lovers
“Maybe he likes the look of Mae,” Nick drawled
“Don’t be ridiculous”