Claimed By Shadow
Page 59

"Agnes." For some reason, I wasn't even surprised. Or maybe my nerves were just too worn down to react much. "How did you get here?”
"She hitched a ride." Billy sounded aggrieved. "She wouldn't let me tell you, but she was already in the necklace when I fought my way back to your body. She must've been hiding around Headliners, and jumped from Françoise to you.”
"Why?”
He shrugged. “We didn’t talk much. I’d bet payback figures in there somewhere, though.”
"Top of the list," Agnes agreed. She looked at me. "Set her free." It was a command, and spoken in the tones of one used to being immediately obeyed.
I didn't even try to pretend I wasn't following her. "You're after Myra, too.”
Agnes crossed almost transparent arms and scowled at me. "Being murdered does tend to irritate me. Imagine that.”
I shook my head. "I heard her confess, but I still don't understand how she did it.”
"She gave me a solstice gift shortly before she went missing. To help keep me safe, she said." Agnes' lips twisted sardonically.
"The Sebastian medallion, I know. It contained arsenic— the mages found it and cut it open. But I still don't see how it could have been dangerous. The poison was welded inside!”
"She bored a tiny hole in the top before giving it to me. She knew my habits, knew I always dunked a charm or talisman of some sort in my beverages before I drank. It was a habit bequeathed me by my predecessor, who swore my life would end with poison if I wasn't cautious! Of course," Agnes said, drifting closer, "she also told me to buy stocks in '29. Herophile was a nutter.”
"Herophile?”
"Yes, named after the second Pythia at Delphi. By all accounts, she was a little cracked, too.”
I'd been named after a nut. Why didn't that surprise me? "But I still don't see why Myra wanted to kill you. If the power can't go to the assassin of a Pythia—”
"Technically, she didn't kill me.”
“She gave you a poisoned medallion knowing what you’d do with it!" That sounded like murder to me.
"But she didn't force me to use it," Agnes pointed out. She held up a hand as I started to protest. "Yes, I know. Any modern court would convict her, but the power comes from a time before circumstantial evidence and reasonable doubt. She didn't take a sword to me or bash in my head with a club. She didn't even poison my wine—I did that. From its perspective, she's blameless.”
"So what now?" I didn't know what Agnes had meant by finishing this, but it sounded kind of ominous.
"I said the power considers Myra to be blameless. Not that I did," she said viciously. "The little bitch murdered me. Why do you think I'm here?”
"And you're planning to do what?" Now that she was a disembodied spirit, her options seemed pretty limited.
"Let her loose and find out.”
It suddenly occurred to me that Agnes did have one escape route. If she could possess Myra, she could use her power to go back and try to change things. I really hoped that wasn't the plan, because I had no idea how I was supposed to stop her if it was. I'd had enough trouble just dealing with her heir; there was no doubt Agnes could run circles around me if she felt like it.
"You can't intend to mess with the timeline yourself," I said slowly, "not after spending a lifetime protecting it!”
"Don't lecture me about the timeline!" she snapped.
"Who are you talking to?" Pritkin demanded.
I sighed. For a moment, I'd forgotten. Agnes was a spirit, so he couldn't see or hear her any better than he could Billy. “You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”
"Try me." He wiped away the blood pouring from a cut above his right eyebrow, I suppose to get it out of his eyes, but all it did was smear it. He suddenly looked like he was wearing war paint. I decided not to argue.
"Okay. Agnes is here in spirit form, and she's planning to avenge her own murder. Do you understand anything better now?”
"Yes." He immediately dropped to one knee. "Lady Phemonoe, it is an honor as always." I scowled at him. Way to show me where I ranked.
Agnes barely glanced at him. She sent me a smile, but it wasn't a very nice one. "Myra took away my life. The way I see it, she owes me one.”
Finally, something made sense. "Is that the deal you struck with Françoise? To get you to this point so you could take over Myra's body instead?" I narrowed my eyes. "Or did you? Was she willing or not?”
"She would never have gotten away from the Light Fey without my help," Agnes replied, avoiding the question. "She probably wouldn't even have survived! My experience kept us both alive. I think she owed me a few years for that!”
"That wasn't your call!”
"And speaking of debts, who do you think sent those wards to your rescue earlier? Your ghost didn't know how they worked. I'm the one who saved you. Again." She looked at me pointedly. "So let her out!”
I clutched the box to my side. I could feel a tiny pulse throbbing at the base of my throat. "What if you can't control her? You were supposed to pass into a norm, not someone like her. Françoise even made things hard on you sometimes. What do you think a Seer of Myra's power would do?”
"That's my problem.”
"Not if she gets away from you!" I pulled out the box and shook it at her. "Do you have any idea what I went through to get this? Myra was trying to kill Mircea so he wouldn't be around to protect me. And she almost disrupted the entire timeline to do it! She almost killed me! And you're telling me it's not my problem?" I was yelling, but I didn't care.
"Let her go, Cassie," Agnes warned.
"Or what? You'll do to me what you did to Françoise?”
"Don't be ridiculous. I couldn't hold you.”
"But you can control Myra?" I shook my head. "I don't think so. She's dangerous, Agnes. I got her in here because of luck, more than anything else. No way am I letting her go.”
Agnes sighed. "You don't understand—" She broke off when Pritkin suddenly ripped the box out of my hand.
"Pritkin, no!" I made a grab for it, but before I got so much as a finger on it, there was a familiar flash and there stood Myra.
Agnes didn't waste any time. As soon as her old apprentice appeared, she flowed past me in a rush and slammed straight into Myra's shields. They spit and crackled as the two fought, Myra to keep her out, Agnes to find a way in.
"Do you know what you've done?" I asked Pritkin numbly. "She won't hold her. Not forever.”
"She won't need to," he replied, watching the fight grimly.
Before I could ask what he meant, Myra screamed and Agnes disappeared, sinking through whatever chink she'd found in the girl's armor. The slight body shivered once, hard, and then looked up calmly. I suddenly realized that, except for their hair color and minor facial differences, the two women might have been twins. They had the same slight build and delicate bone structure, the same little-girl quality about them. But the eyes that had looked cold and opaque with Myra's mind behind them were now dancing with life.
"I did it!" Agnes announced, as if that was something to celebrate. She smiled at me. I didn't smile back. All that work, all that sacrifice had been for nothing. Agnes might be powerful, but it wasn't her body. Sooner or later, she would lose her grip, even if only for an instant. And that would be enough.
"You're crazy," I told her.
Pritkin started toward her, but Agnes held up a hand. "You don't have the right," she said simply.
His eyes cut to me and narrowed. "She won't.”
"She must," Agnes said calmly. "You swore an oath.”
Pritkin walked over and knelt by my side. I felt something cold touch my skin and looked down to find him pressing one of his knives into my hand. "Make it quick," he said grimly. "One slice, clean across the jugular.”
I stared at him. "What?”
He closed my hand over the hilt. "Myra condemned herself from her own lips. You heard her. By every law— human, mage, or vampire—she deserves death.”
The pieces finally all fell into place. I didn't much care for the picture they made. "This is why you really wanted me along, isn't it?”
He didn't try to deny it. "I swore an oath to protect the Pythia and her heir, with my life if necessary. The Circle believed I would disregard it on their order, that I would kill Myra with nothing to prove her guilt. But when I give my word, I keep it." His lips curled into a sour smile. "Which is why I don't give it often.”
"You didn't bring me along to keep Myra from shifting," I accused. "You expect me to kill her!”
His expression didn't change. We might have been discussing anything—the weather, a football game. It was surreal. "If I could do it for you, I would," he told me calmly. "But Agnes is correct. Only the Pythia can discipline an initiate.”
"We're not talking about discipline! Myra isn't being sent to bed without supper." I looked at Agnes, hoping to find support. "This is life and death!”
She shrugged Myra's slim shoulders, her face blank. She trained her for years and they must have been close once, but there was no sign of regret on her face. "You said it yourself. I can't hold her. Not for long.”
"If this is what the job does to you," I told her bluntly, "I know I don't want it.”
Blue eyes met mine, and suddenly they were a little sad. "But you have it.”
I felt the knife blade bite into my hand, where my grip had slipped from the hilt, and the pain seemed to suddenly bring everything home. I shook my head violently. "No. We'll find another way.”