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I stepped aside, not wanting to risk an accidental touch of taint even through my blood shield. Clots and chunks streamed out of him but nothing alive. Disintegrated organs and curdled blood. Shredded muscles and dissolved tissue. His skin shifted on his body, loose and wet as all his insides drained through the holes in his throat.
“Goddess,” Lew whispered, slinging gunk off his hand as he backed away.
:Back up more and I’ll hold him over the hole,: Sekh said. :Less to clean later.:
Rik swept me up against him and moved back toward Carys, who still sat on the floor. Though she’d pulled herself together and actually looked intrigued rather than horrified. Winnifred stood beside her, hunched down so I couldn’t see her legs, while the queen absently stroked her.
Slowly, Sekh turned his head toward the hole in the floor, trying not to sling chunks everywhere. But it was a losing battle. Thierry began to twitch and swing back and forth, moaning. Screaming. Garbled words I couldn’t understand between his ruined throat and whatever geas the Dauphine might have put on him.
Aima were fucking hard to kill. His body didn’t want to die and fought. Hard. Even as liquified insides dripped out of his body.
His screams rose to a high, continuous wail. Long snaky streams of glistening black slithered out of him. Definitely alive.
With a thought, I lit them on fire. Sizzling and popping, the stench took on the distinctive odor of charred flesh.
Another thick, black eel began to slide out of his mouth, making his whole body convulse. I had a feeling it was the oldest, the first one. The root of whatever spell the Dauphine had cursed into him.
The sphinx lifted him higher, giving him a hard shake. Trying to jar the thing out of Thierry’s throat. It finally slid out in a wet, black gush. Slithering with surprising speed straight at me.
Not today, motherfucker. Not this queen.
I wrapped it in a giant fist of fire, banded with darkness. Tightening my will around it to ensure nothing else escaped. A deep, dark river flowed around the charred ash, sweeping it below into the depths of darkness.
Taking a shaky breath, I pulled the streams of darkness up over the sphinx, absorbing the gunk splattered on his front legs and chest. The floor. The stains on Lew’s jeans. The remains beneath his fingernails. Cleansed with darkness first—and then I flooded them both with power, bathing them head to toe in my energy.
“Do you feel anything else remaining on you?” I asked.
Lew grimaced, wiping his palm on his pants. “I still feel disgusting.”
:Same,: Sekh replied.
“Do you know what the black eel-things were?”
Everyone shook their heads, even Sekh, All Seeing, Never Sleeping. :I’ve never Seen anything like that before.:
Slowly twirling above the hole, Thierry’s body twitched. His eyes flickered.
“He’s still alive,” I whispered hoarsely, swiping tears out of my eyes. “Even after all that shit came out of him. How’s that even possible? There’s hardly anything left in him but his skeleton.”
Guillaume shook his head. “We’re hard to kill, but not that hard. Even me. If all I had left was some saggy skin and bones, I wouldn’t still be reaching for my sword.”
I wasn’t so sure. I’d seen him trying to get to me even after Xin chopped off his head.
Closing my eyes, I sank my awareness into the darkness and flowed into Thierry’s body. Well, what remained of it. Gray, rubbery bones, pitted and soft like they’d been soaked in acid. A shell of sinew and flappy skin. Seeing the inside of his hollowed body made my stomach heave, but I pushed deeper. His spirit must be stuck inside, trapped. Like Mom’s had been.
I almost missed it, assuming it was a small, last remaining chunk of his heart. But the threads of darkness flowed over it, around it, pulling my attention back. It didn’t move or flutter like Mom’s spirit. It couldn’t. It was drenched in black goo coating it like tar and glue. Keeping it stuck against his spine.
Grasping it with my power, I pulled the small chunk out of his body, straight out of his ribcage. I opened my eyes, watching the lump gliding on a thick stream of darkness toward me. It still didn’t flutter or show any sign of life, but at least Thierry’s body stopped twitching.
I stepped closer and allowed my blood to seep slowly through the shield on my wrist. Drop after drop, burning through the black gunk. Washing it clean with the Great One’s blood flowing in my veins. Until its wings opened, wet with my blood rather than taint. A bird hopped upright, shaking its feathers out, revealing its coloring. White head with a blue body and long red tail feathers.
His head cocked, eyes bright blue, just like Thierry’s.
“Goddess of Death and Resurrection,” Carys whispered. “I’ve never seen your magic in action before, Your Majesty.”
“What’s the percentage now?” I whispered.
“Of what?”
