Divined (32 page)

The next offering was brought forward, then the next. More hearts, more blood, and all the while Clio felt their chance of victory slipping further away. She had to do something, to try. But what could she do on her own? The ritual had already begun, and she’d need Vazuil to reverse it, but Ixie was nowhere to be seen. No one was coming.

Clio stepped forward. She would sooner die than watch this. But then she noticed everyone’s eyes turned away from the altar. Three priests were coming out of the tunnel. One’s nose was broken, the other was holding a bloody hand in his robes. Between them they held a single offering. A bald woman.

Clio’s gut twisted. Atzi. She was beaten. Her eyes were swollen and red, and she struggled across the pyramid, limping painfully. When she looked at Clio it was with defeat. Clio nodded once. It was over. Every piece of their plan had crumbled, and there was nothing left they could do. The beginning of a smile curled the edge of Atzi’s lip when she nodded back at Clio. Something passed between them, and Clio didn’t need words to know what they’d do next.

She looked up, letting the rain stream down her face. They couldn’t win—they both knew that. But they’d take down as many of these killers as they could.

“What’s this?” Nox asked when the priests pushed Atzi in front of them.

“She was in the tunnels, sire. All the men were dead, and some of the offerings had already escaped.”

Rage flickered across Nox’s face. Atzi looked up, and Clio could see the disbelief in his eyes. “
You
,” he murmured.

Atzi smiled up at him, blood covering her teeth, her eyes nearly swollen shut.

He cupped her chin. “Where are the rest of them? Where’s Clio?”

Atzi spat blood into his face, and Nox flinched away, his expression twisting with disgust and fury. He gripped her arm and dragged her to the altar. Atzi swayed on her feet, unable to resist when Nox pressed her face into the stone.

“Was
this
your plan?” Nox laughed, recovering his command. He pressed the blade into Atzi’s neck. “You would burn our temple and try to get in through the tunnels? Nothing you could have done would have stopped this, you have to know that by now, Oracle.” Clio could see Atzi struggling against him, but something was wrong with her and she couldn’t raise her arm. “Well, Oracle, they’ve left you to die alone.” He flipped her over and raised his blade over her chest.

“No, not alone,” Clio said, stepping out of the line of offerings and throwing off her shift to reveal her calling armor. He looked at the dagger in her hand. “Hello, Nox.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

Nox’s eyes widened, his mouth momentarily slack with surprise until Atzi rammed her head forward into his. Clio heard the crack of their skulls, saw as Nox stumbled backward, dizzy, holding his head. Atzi leapt off the altar.

“Get her!” Nox yelled, trying to regain his feet.

Every priest on the pyramid turned their attention to Clio. She wouldn’t have much time. Without thinking, she charged toward Nox. A man tried to grab her, but Clio spun and slashed. He fell, but two more were in his place. Atzi cried out. Nox had gotten up, and four men had descended on Atzi. Clio couldn’t abandon her. Dropping to the fallen priest’s side, she pulled his blade from his slack fingers, and tossed it to Atzi, who caught it in her left hand and flipped over the altar toward the pyramid’s ledge. Clio ducked and rolled under an attacker. She straightened up, and something on the horizon caught her eyes. In the crowd below, black and brown shapes surged against the amber line of priests. But beyond them, shapes were running through the streets, making their way to the square. They collided with the Order guards, and war broke out.

Derik
. Clio grinned. He’d come. He’d saved them.

She turned back to Nox, who was shouting orders at his men, desperate to regain control. Running, she slid along the stone past Atzi, who was fighting furiously with only the use of her left arm. She gave Clio a quick grin before downing two priests with a single kick. Skidding to a stop, Clio jumped to her feet and lunged at Nox.

They fell, hitting the stone hard. She heard the thud of his blade slamming into the ground. He tried to hold her back with one hand as he held the blade aloft in the other. She pinned his wrist, and wrapped a hand around his throat, squeezing until his eyes watered.

He was still straining against her, his grip weakening. Clio looked to the blade, just out of her reach. She couldn’t lift her hand without risking him stabbing her. She dug her fingers into his neck as rain continued to pound down on them. He coughed through the water, desperate for air, then his eyes landed on something behind her, and he smiled.

She didn’t look. Only a moment more and he would lose consciousness. But something slammed into her, and her grip slipped. Three men pulled her up. She was thrown backward, and someone kicked her, sending white pain through her arm.

Behind her attacker, Clio could see Nox roll to his side and get up. He limped toward the ceremony chamber. A dagger slashed down at her, but she caught the hilt and twisted so it fell harmless into her lap right as another kick collided with her cheek. Her face hit the ground.

Her hand slipped against the wet stone, but she pushed herself up and scrambled backward on all fours. More and more priests were coming. She heard the ceremony chamber’s doors close behind her. She’d need to find a way in, but a dozen priests formed a ring around her. She held her single dagger out as if it could be enough.

The man nearest her raised a knife and charged. Clio caught his blow, feeling it rock through her arm, but his blade slipped through and sliced down her leg. She cried out. Blood ran down her leg, and the men were closing in.

She almost didn’t believe it when she saw the first man fall. Then, at the edge of the pyramid, three more men collapsed, spears piercing through their chests. More spears soared over the pyramid’s ledge, raining down on the men caging Clio in. She ducked free and sprinted past the priests, shouting to the girls shivering on the side of the pyramid, “Get out! Use the tunnels!” But she couldn’t wait to see if they’d understood.

Men were running up the front of the pyramid, throwing spears and blades as they crested the top. In the center was Riece. He grinned when he saw her, but their moment was cut short when Riece spun and slammed his fist into an Order member. A host of priests were running after them, coming from the square. Derik’s men kept most of them distracted, but the priests near the front were all focused on Riece and his small army charging up the steps.

“What are you doing?” Clio reached Riece’s side and ripped a blade from a priest’s hands. She smashed her elbow into his face, sending him falling back down the steps.

“Saving you. What else?” Riece pulled Clio aside just as a spear flew past her head.

“What happened to the plan—coming up from the back?”

“No time,” Riece huffed and threw a blade while kicking another priest in the chest. “There was a problem at the gate.” They summited the pyramid and stood in front of the altar as Atzi finished off another attacker. “Where’s Nox?”

“In there.” Clio nodded to the ceremony chamber, still closed. The doors were stone—too heavy for the three of them to open on their own. “He already started the ritual, Riece. We need Vazuil. Have you seen Ixie? Are they coming?”

Riece looked to the tunnel and shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“They’re coming,” Atzi said when she reached their side.

“You Saw it?” Clio asked.

Atzi smiled. “No. But they are.”

“Then I have to get that dagger.” Clio turned to Riece, who was already walking to the ceremony chamber. Around them Riece’s men were battling priests, keeping the center of the platform empty as they formed a perimeter. “My men won’t be able to hold them back for long, not when the rest of the Order makes it to the top of the pyramid,” Riece said, stopping under one of the high, narrow windows carved out from the stone.

He cupped his hand over his knee and nodded to Clio. “Go in. I’ll help hold the line.”

She climbed onto his knee and jumped as he pushed her leg up until her hands caught on the ledge of the window. Pulling herself up so she lay flat, she squeezed into the opening with a last look back at Riece and Atzi already under attack once more.

The ceremony chamber was silent. Clio rolled to the edge and dropped down into the empty antechamber. The great stone doors stood behind her, locking her in. Locking Nox in. She pulled out her blade and walked through the beaded curtain into the back room.

Before her eyes could adjust to the darkness, her foot caught on something, and she tripped. Something soft broke her fall, and her palm landed in something wet and warm. Scrambling up, Clio looked around. Blood spattered the walls, flecking the stone in wide red arcs.

Slumped against the walls, crumpled on the ground were bodies. Dozens of them. The broad room was covered in them. And in the center stood Nox. He pulled the dagger out of the unmoving chest of the offering beneath him and turned to Clio with a smile.

“You didn’t think I wouldn’t plan for every possibility, did you?” he rasped, his eyes red. The dagger glowed in his hand.

The ritual was complete.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

Nox stared at the dagger in his hands. “I’ve been sacrificing since before you even left Cearo.” He looked up to face Clio. “This was only to be the final wetting. I had enough girls stored here, just in case you attempted the impossible. I knew you would.” He smiled. “I always liked that about you, Clio.”

“Nox, don’t do this.” She stood and took a step toward him. He backed away with a snarl and raised the dagger. “Tirza’s out there. If you summon him, you think she’ll be safe?” she said hesitantly.

He blinked as if he were forcing Clio’s words from his mind. “I’ve made arrangements. Tirza and I will rule Morek together.”

“Nox…” Clio said sadly. “She’ll never forgive you for this. You know that.”

“Forgiveness?” Nox laughed, his eyes bright and mad. “What’s forgiveness? She and I, we’ve never been in control of our destinies.” He glanced at the dagger. “I’m in control now. I determine who I serve, where I go. She won’t need to forgive me when I offer her her freedom.”

“This isn’t freedom, Nox,” Clio said slowly. She thought about how quickly she could throw her blade, whether she would be able to silence him before he summoned her father. If she could only get closer, she would have a clean shot.

“What would you know of it? The only freedom is in power. If you haven’t learned that by now, you’re more blind than I thought.”

“I’m not blind.” She stepped closer. “I know you care for Tirza. She cares for you. Don’t do this, don’t finish what you’ve started, and perhaps you can mend things with her. Go to her. You don’t need power to do that.” She took another step.

“Don’t come any closer!” Nox raised the dagger. “I know what you’re trying to do. It won’t work.” His eyes hardened. “I’ve already made my choice.” He slashed his palm with the dagger, and suddenly the room was filled with light.

Clio couldn’t see. Tears fell from her eyes, or perhaps it was blood. Wind roared above them, shaking the chamber and making the stone shudder.

“No!” Clio cried, but she knew it was too late. She could just make out Nox’s shape in front of her, a shadow between light. He knelt, head bowed, the dagger outraised before him.

The wind whipped against her, pushing her back as it grew stronger. Nox didn’t move. The dagger burned brighter in his hands as the air screamed around them. The Bloodied One was coming, and there was nothing Clio could do to stop it. She dove forward, into the raging wind and punishing light. Her hand wrapped around the dagger, and Clio felt her skin blister and burn, but she only gripped the amulet tighter.

Something hit her hard, and she was flung backward. Everything seemed to crack within her. Her mind went blank, and all she felt was the fire in her hand. And then something sharp in her side.

When she opened her eyes, she found the gray sky above her. She’d been blown back with enough force to send her through the stone ceremony chamber doors. She tasted blood in her mouth, and her lungs trembled as they fought for air. Her head fell to the side when she tried to look at her hand, at where she hoped she still clutched the dagger. Shapes moved around her, blurry and too fast. The battle was still being fought, Clio realized.

The Bloodied One strode out of the shattered doors, his eyes white and empty. And furious. He was coming toward her. Clio tried to move, but something tugged painfully in her side. She looked down. A spear point stuck out of her abdomen. She’d been pierced through and through. She tried to pull it free, but merely touching the spear point brought a wave of pain so dizzying that Clio saw black flicker before her eyes.

She was trying to lift herself off the spear when the Bloodied One reached her. Looking past him for a single heartbeat, she saw someone dart out from the ranks of warriors and sprint toward the chamber—
Tirza?
Clio thought before she was faced with her father’s hollow gaze.

“You have something that belongs to me.” The Bloodied One’s voice was a thousand blades slicing across her flesh.

He leaned over her and reached for her hand. Suddenly, Clio wasn’t thinking of the pain. Her hand still burned, but she hadn’t dropped the dagger. When the Bloodied One was within reach, she thrust the dagger up, sinking it into the center of his chest.

He stopped, his eyes widening as he looked down on her. She pulled free the dagger, now coated in iridescent blood, and the Deity stumbled back. But as she watched, his skin knitted back together.

The Bloodied One laughed. “You’re a mortal, Clio. You can’t hope to kill me. Give me the blade and I’ll give your friends easy deaths.” He stepped toward her and held out his hand for the dagger.

Clio rolled, but the spear caught in her side, and the pain was blinding. She couldn’t move, not without letting it tear through her insides. She could only watch, trembling, the dagger burning her hand, as her father came for her, her end reflected in his empty eyes.