If Lady Ylva wanted her dead, she would be dead. There were no superiors to hold Lady Ylva accountable for the death of an augur. No one to complain about all the effort it took to replace an augur.
But Ylva was sending her back to Earth?
Nel wouldn’t miss it. She hadn’t stepped outside of Ylva’s domain more than three times in the past year and not a single one of those times had anything good happened. Generally, it was the exact opposite.
No. Nel wanted to stay.
Nel’s eyes flicked from Lady Ylva’s face to just over her shoulder.
Alicia stood a step behind Ylva, still wearing the dark robes that Nel wore. Her eyes were narrowed in Nel’s direction, but her face was otherwise impassive.
Had she been asked to stay in place of Nel? Or had she chosen to stay?
Was it a choice?
“I want to stay with you,” Nel blurted out.
Lady Ylva nodded. A faint smile touched just the very edges of her lips.
Nel sagged in her seat at the altar as the tension drained from her body. She spent a moment trying to get her hyperventilating under control.
“Very well,” Lady Ylva said, taking no apparent notice of Nel’s distress. “Gather everything that cannot be left behind. Join Us in the throne room after.”
Nel’s breath hitched in her throat. She glanced up with confusion in her eyes.
Lady Ylva had already turned. Her long platinum hair and low-cut dress swung in the air, trailing after her as she left the room.
Alicia shot a look before turning to follow. Nel wasn’t quite certain what to make of it. Amusement? Ire?
With every passing day, Nel found herself liking the other former nun less and less.
But she had been left with an order.
Nel did not have much. She came to Ylva with nothing but the tattered remains of her Elysium Order habit. Everything she had, everything she wore, everything she ate, all of it was provided by Lady Ylva.
Aside from a few spare changes of clothes, there was only one thing that she could think to take.
Her fetters.
Most had containers already. Only the one she had most recently been using, Sawyer’s hand, was out of its jar. Nel wasted no time in sealing it up and dropping it into a bag.
She glanced around, ensuring she had everything. Several strands of hair, Sawyer’s hand, the little girl’s friend’s blood. She hesitated in taking the brass sphere that the devil had given her, but decided that throwing away a fetter wouldn’t do anyone any good, even one as disturbing as that.
And that was everything Nel could think to bring. She headed out to the main throne room.
Lady Ylva stood near the exit doors alongside Alicia and one of the professors.
It took a moment to understand the reason for the professor’s presence. Her apartment had been connected to Ylva’s domain as well.
“Ready,” Nel said as she ran up to the group.
“Let Us proceed,” Ylva said, moving to leave her domain.
The two former nuns and the professor all followed her out, with the professor watching Ylva like a hawk.
Once everyone was outside, Ylva gripped the handle of the door and swung it shut. She held on for just a moment longer than necessary.
“It is done.”
“That’s it?” Zoe asked, her voice carrying a hint of disbelief.
Ylva gestured one arm towards the door.
Accepting the wordless invitation, Zoe stepped up and opened the door once again.
Gone was the gigantic room, the pit, the throne, and the storm clouds overhead. What lay behind the door was indistinguishable from any other cell block in the compound.
“What do you intend to do now?” Zoe asked without taking her eyes off the interior of the building.
“The necromancer is still at large. We would stay near your presence until his termination.”
“Because of the ring,” Zoe said, thumbing the black band on her finger. With a slight jump in her stance, she tore her eyes from the cell block and stared at Ylva. “Juliana still has hers. She’s been gone all this time.”
“Juliana has had Our personal attention for a time,” Ylva said, holding up one placating hand. “For the time, We may send Ali to watch over her. It would be preferable were she to return.”
Alicia opened her mouth just a hair. She snapped it shut in an instant.
Nel didn’t much care. She was too busy staring into what used to be Ylva’s domain.
There was something that she had forgotten.
She could almost feel the tears welling up at the corners of her eyes.
With a heavy heart, Nel wondered if she would ever see Lady Ylva’s bath again.
— — —
Embarrassed.
That was the only word that Riley Cole could think of to describe her situation.
Perhaps not
