Page 153 of Lace & Poison

“Mother?” Taylan grabs my hand, but stays behind me.

“Finally realized you can’t pull Father’s strings anymore?” I step closer to her. “All those relics you pumped him full of were no match for dragon-fire forged blades.”

“My blades?” Taylan brushes her hands over her skirt where I know she has the hidden pockets.

“Don’t,” I warn her. “They won’t work on her.”

“You’re the one Mara sent me after,” Taylan sounds stunned. “You were one running the empire. You’re supposed to be dead.”

“That’s the beauty of a gift from Mara. I don’t die. I can’t die. Even she can’t end me. It seems she’s finally decided to see if another one of her creations is enough to bring me down.” She smirks at Taylan.

The hairs on my arm stand on edge. I knew my mother was in hiding, running the kingdom from across the sea, but until now, I didn’t know why Roselyn told me my wife, a rebel turned empress, would be the one to send my mother to the underworld.

“It’s really too bad you won’t get to try.” Mother raises her arms and the earth begins to rumble.

The color drains from Taylan’s face and her lower lip trembles. Sweat beads on her forehead and her face contorts in pain.

“Stop!” I charge toward my mother, but Marian’s corpse intercepts me, shoving me with a force she shouldn’t have.

Pulling my sword free, I swing at the former lady, lopping off her arm. She doesn’t even flinch. Instead, she comes at me again. This time, I strike true, knocking her head from her body.

She collapses like a ragdoll, the magic keeping her going gone with the decapitated head. It rolls toward me and I push it away with my boot. Turning it so I don’t have to see those eyes.

I hurry toward Taylan. We have to get out of here. She’s not ready to challenge my mother.

“Caiden! Run!” Taylan screams, dropping her hands from her ears.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch movement. Lots of movement. I gather my shadows in my left hand, and tighten my grip on my sword in my right hand as I spin.

My eyes widen.You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. The dead are lumbering toward us, some of them dragging themselves over the earth in their desperation to reach us.

They’re everywhere. My mother has awakened them all.

“Taylan, we have to go.” I rush to her, shaking my shadows free. Grabbing her hand, I drag her along with me. She’s grunting and panting, clearly fighting against the voices of the dead.

My mother is laughing. That’s fine. She won’t be laughing next time we meet. I wanted the Iskvalandian army with me when I challenged her, but Taylan’s going to have to be enough.

It would have been better if I had a fucking dragon with me but I’m going to have to deal with Brevan’s betrayal later.

“Where are we going?” Taylan demands.

“To find help,” I tell her. “Can you swim?”

“What?”

“Can you swim?” I repeat.

“Yes, but…”

I’m practically dragging her, but we don’t have much time. We can’t fight the hoard that’s chasing us.

When I hear the roar of the river, I let myself hope just a little. We’re so close.

Taylan stops just before the drop. “You want me to jump?”

I glance over my shoulder, then look back at her. “You think you can take all them?”

She looks and her jaw opens, her eyes widen. All of the legionnaires were traveled here with are coming for us. The only reason they haven’t reached us is because the reanimation loses power the more the wielder commands. It’s how she played puppeteer with my father, using the relics to keep his corpse mostly alive. How she kept Marian mostly alive as a spy until I figured it out.

“We jump together,” I tell her.

She nods, then grips my hand tighter.

“One, two, three…”