Page 146 of Shadows of Perl

“I am so proud of you,” the wretch says, moving right beside me.

I tighten at my core, trying to hold on to the weighty cold begging for release. Beaulah moves past me, motioning for her Draguns to get back to the Sphere. Near the opening. The window of chance is narrowing.

“Tell me, darling, why do you need to attack the Sphere to kill me? I’m right here.”

Bile rises in my throat.

“If you’re truly a Darkbearer, face me fearlessly. Release on me.”

She doesn’t want me to hurt the Sphere. She still has hope that she will make it out of here with the Sphere’s power. Her ring flickers like the glow of a hungry flame. She waves her hand in front of me, near my chest. The magic growing in me shifts, compelled by the ring’s nearness. Toushana moves through me in her direction. I am out of choices.

I put some distance between us before forcing out the cold clawing beneath my skin in one sharp gust, thrusting it in her direction. Hoping I can attack her with enough magic that it will also overwhelm the ring. Shadows rush at her. She meets them with her fist in midair, and the stone gleams.

Then several things happen at once.

Magic hooks in my chest.

Darkness bleeds out of me, reaching across the graveyard like an outstretched arm.

It touches Beaulah’s fist.

And a tether of toushana pulls taut between us.

“Back to the Sphere,” she orders Felix. “Leave her to me.” The rest follow and she marches toward me. Shadows swirl beneath the surface of her ring. But the magic siphoning out of me snatches the breath out of my chest. The red rock on her finger swims with my toushana, growing larger. So large, she detaches it from the metal ring.

Fight. My mom deserves better. Beaulah watches the stone transform, filling with darkness. I try to pull away.

Somewhere, someone yells.

Beaulah grunts as something knocks her forward. And the tether of toushana between us breaks. She turns and is pulled into fighting. My heart twinges with hope. I look for Jordan or Yagrin. When my vision clears, my grandmother is holding a flaming dagger to Beaulah’s throat.

Sixty-One

Quell

Darragh has Beaulah frozen in her grasp, her arm tight across her chest and her blade’s edge firmly at her throat. My grandmother—who tethers people to her House and who has murdered débutants who she accidentally gave toushana to. I can’t move. She is the only living family I have left.

“Leave my granddaughter alone,” she says.

Beaulah holds the red stone tight in one fist. None of Beaulah’s Draguns are here to save her. She sent them back to the Sphere, and we’re at least a hundred paces away. As hope twinges in my chest, Beaulah’s free hand slips into her robes. Silver glints in her hand and she slams the metal into Grandmom’s wrist in a flash. Grandmom howls in pain and Beaulah spins away. They circle one another. I search for the cold inside me, desperate to do something. But my skin is clammy and warm, my magic exhausted from Beaulah’s pull on it.

“You traitorous witch,” Beaulah spits.

“Says the woman trying to steal magic. I also know about all the bodies you’ve buried. Francis Clemmon Hughes, the reporter, the Cabinet!”

“You can’t prove a thing.” She dashes toward me. I scamper backward. My grandmother jumps in the way, jabbing her dagger at Beaulah’s face while blood runs down her arm.

“I said, get away from Quell.”

Beaulah narrowly misses the attack from my grandmother’s blade. I stumble up and back away. They deserve each other. I consider running to the Sphere, trying to salvage something for myself out of this mess. But the cold only answers in wisps. If I want to survive at all, I have to get out of here.

“I could see the betrayal in your eyes the day we made the pact, Darragh.”

“Murdering the Upper Cabinet and blackmailing the rest of us to go along with you is not my idea of good leadership,” Darragh says.

I freeze.

“And robbing your members of their memories to cover for your worthless granddaughter is?”