Void Domain, Book 06 полностью

“And someone just broke into a cathedral to steal a priceless artifact. I’m sure they’ll have their hands busy dealing with that little pest for the foreseeable future.”

“There was nothing left behind for their augurs to track.” Technically, large chunks of Arachne were probably all over the floor of their main chapel. Eva somehow doubted that they would get anything useful from that until Arachne returned to the mortal realm. “I ensured that.”

“You’re underestimating them.”

Eva shrugged, not letting her smile slip from her face. “Perhaps. With said priceless artifact having been dropped off on their front porch, I doubt that they will be too interested in chasing me down. No harm, no foul, as the saying goes.”

Lynn opened her mouth to argue.

Eva cut her off. “Even if they do manage to track me and decide to attack me, they won’t be interested once they realize where they’re looking at. You did just mention that Ylva decimated the Elysium Order inquisitors. Will they really risk another confrontation?”

“Your pet isn’t here.”

“Not here here. But she’s around.”

Come to think of it, Eva considered, the prison is going to be empty these days.

No Arachne. No Ylva. Devon had run off and Eva had not seen him since visiting the Elysium cathedral.

He’d probably turn up just in time for her treatment, only to literally explode in rage at finding Arachne gone.

But, with no one else here, Eva wondered if she shouldn’t move back to the Brakket Academy dormitories. She would have to find a new room. Her old one was currently uninhabitable. It had a round-the-clock guard and several shackles set up by her around the entrance, though there had been no incidents apart from the first time.

Ylva was going to take a look at it sometime soon and see if she couldn’t sever the connection.

If Shalise left too…

Eva’s smile almost slipped from her face.

“So what will it be, Lynn Cross? Take your chances on your own, putting Shalise in danger with the Elysium Order on your tail? Or stay here, safe and sound knowing that there is an entity about that the Elysium Order dares not mess with.”

Lynn’s narrowed eyes hardened more. Eva found it hard to believe that was possible, but she watched it happen with her own eyes.

The hardening melted. For just a moment, Lynn Cross almost looked sad.

“Would that the Elysium Order be the only threat revolving around you, and I might consider. You, Eva, are a death trap.”

“Only Arach–”

“This city is a death trap,” she continued, talking right over Eva. “Between the necromancers and the demons, how many people have died here? How many students? Everyone with a hint of intelligence has already left the city. More will follow. I pity the fools who remain behind.

“Shalise has scraped the tip of Death’s scythe at least three times. Far too often for anyone, let alone a fifteen year old girl. We will not be staying.”

“Wait! You can’t–”

Lynn Cross’ eyes flared white. Shalise’s words were cut off as the two vanished with a sudden breeze of icy air.

The smile on Eva’s lips stayed where it was for a few moments longer. She didn’t feel like smiling. She hadn’t felt like smiling even before they had disappeared. The muscles in her lips just wouldn’t quite cooperate.

She had been smiling far too much in the last few days.

Her entire mouth felt numb and sore.

Ever so slowly, her muscles remembered a far more neutral and natural position. Now that Shalise had gone, she no longer felt the need to put on a happy face. No one was around to ask if she was alright again.

She was alone, well and truly, in the once again abandoned prison.

Taking a deep breath of the April air, Eva slumped in her seat.

This isn’t like me.

She needed to get up. She needed to be doing something. Reading a book on blood magic or hunting down Sawyer. Even working on school work. Finals were this week. Or they were supposed to be. Though she still wasn’t sure whether or not the school was staying open, she could be studying at the very least.

Eva drew in another deep breath through her nose, releasing it through her mouth after holding it for a few moments.

It took a good hour before Eva finally felt like dragging herself out of her seat.

Getting up took far more effort than it should have taken.

By the time she had finished dragging the seats back into the women’s ward, she was already feeling ready to just lie down and sleep for the night.

Clenching her fists, Eva shouted out. No particular words, just a frustration-releasing shout. Her rage at Lynn Cross, Sawyer, Arachne, Carlos, Juliana’s brother, annoying schoolmates, the Elysium Order, and everyone else she could think of all came out in a single continuous stream of noise.

Eva kept it up for a good minute before her lungs gave out.

Shouting, as it turned out, was mildly therapeutic. Eva really did feel at least three notches better than before. Childish? Perhaps. Some might call it a temper tantrum.