Carissa latched onto his wrist and pulled him back towards her. "Elon, no." Already, she'd nearly lost him several times. She wasn't going to lose him again.
Zorelle resumed her seat, seemingly content to watch them in amusement. "Then you would offer yourself, Carissa?"
Carissa lifted her chin. "If need be."
"Excellent." Zorelle clapped twice. "Guards, release the girl, and—"
"No," Elon said. "Wait. I didn't say Carissa could go."
Carissa released his wrist to fold her arms. "And I need your permission?"
He chuckled. "Well, since it seems I need yours, it's only fair that you should need mine."
"But I'm not willing to let you go."
Elon interlaced his fingers with hers. "And I'm not willing to let you go."
"Which means we're at an impasse."
Elon tilted his head. "Well, we could just use our incredible Reaper-fighting skills to free Lila and escape the fortress."
Zorelle cleared her throat. "I can hear you. And I've put a curse on her."
Lila froze, her gaze swinging to Zorelle and the hope in her eyes dimming.
At the word curse, Carissa felt a chill slide across her skin. "What kind of a curse?"
Zorelle's lips curved. "If you take her without my consent, you will soon find out."
Carissa swallowed thickly and glanced at Elon.
He winked back at her. "There's always a way to overcome a curse." Though his eyes were on her, it seemed his words were directed to Zorelle. He turned towards Lila. "Lila, do you want us to free you? Even if you'll be cursed?"
She nodded frantically, her eyes shining with tears.
"Fools!" Zorelle launched herself from her throne, her previous arrogance gone. "Guards, seize them!"
Elon smirked. "And this is where your sword would come in handy, Carissa." He drew his own and nodded to Zorelle and Lila. "If you can take her and free Lila, I'll take the rest." He spun, his sword clashing with a Reaper's Scythe.
Carissa lifted her own sword and charged towards Zorelle. Her blade clanged against Zorelle's Scythe.
Zorelle's red eyes were aglow with rage. "It won't be me lying on the floor gushing blood this time, Carissa."
Carissa gritted her teeth and tried to edge their locked blades towards Zorelle, but just as the last time they'd fought, Zorelle proved to be surprisingly strong.
Carissa attempted to sweep Zorelle's feet out from under her, but Zorelle leapt backwards—a few feet closer to Lila. Though Lila remained huddled beneath the table, Carissa caught sight of a shard of porcelain she held in her hands, perhaps from a broken plate.
Carissa surged forward, causing Zorelle to dance back a few more steps with laughter on her lips. Zorelle swung her Scythe down, and Carissa barely had time to raise her blade.
"You'll have to be better than that, my dear," Zorelle said. And then she gasped, her back arching, her eyes going wide. She whipped around, turning towards Lila.
A gash sliced across Zorelle's back, not deep enough to kill her. Lila stood in front of Zorelle, her tiny fingers gripping the porcelain shard so tightly that red and black coated its edges.
Zorelle's arms tensed, but before she could move to strike Lila down, Carissa stabbed her through the chest. Zorelle froze, then began to turn towards her. Carissa knocked the Scythe from Zorelle's loosened hold before swiping her blade clean through Zorelle's neck.
Her headless body crashed to its knees and collapsed to the floor, pouring black blood across the stone.
Carissa held out her hand to Lila. "Come, Lila."
But the girl stared blankly at Zorelle's corpse, her face paling in horror, her fingers unconsciously gripping the porcelain shard tighter.
Carissa's chest tightened in sympathy. She remembered when she'd been inexperienced in death, when drawing someone else's blood would make her wince or cry. But there'd be time to deal with this later. She had to get Lila to safety and help Elon.
Carissa stepped towards Lila, and though the girl flinched, she didn't remove her gaze from Zorelle. "Let's get you out of here, Lila."
Carissa picked up Lila's hand and began prying her fingers away from the porcelain. Lila's hand was so coated in blood that Carissa wasn't certain how serious the cut was. After tossing the shard aside, Carissa grabbed the hem of her shirt—the one she'd borrowed from Akar—and began to rip it. Or tried to. The material was too finely woven to tear easily.
Carissa used her sword to cut out a strip and wrapped Lila's hand. "There. We'll look at that later." Lila was still too pale for her liking, so Carissa squatted in front of her, meeting her gaze. "Lila, are you alright?"
Lila blinked but didn't reply.
"Once we escape, we'll properly tend to your hand and make sure you rest." Carissa wasn't certain what else she could do to comfort the girl, so instead she began examining Lila's leash. It was made of chains, and the collar itself was black metal. Carissa felt anger smolder in her chest at the sight of Lila's chafed, scabbed neck. Though she searched the collar for weaknesses, she found only a keyhole in the back.
Carissa gave up on trying to remove Lila's leash and collar and instead hacked away at the table leg. Once she'd severed its end, she pulled the edge of Lila's leash free, clustered the chains into a ball, and handed them to Lila. "Don't let go of this."
Once she was certain Lila wouldn't drop the chains, Carissa nudged Lila towards an overturned table and pushed her into a sitting position. "Stay here until I come for you."
Lila didn't respond, and Carissa didn't have time to coax words from her. She sprinted back to where Elon fought the last few Reapers. She cut down one Reaper from behind.
Elon glanced over at her and smiled. "Nice of you to join us."
Carissa refrained from rolling her eyes and blocked a blow from a Reaper's Scythe. Minutes later, the remaining five Reapers were dead, and they were both panting, their skin shining with sweat.
Elon's gaze slid to the overturned table where Lila was hidden. "She's not doing well, is she?"
"No." Guilt flickered through her, but she suppressed it. Given the situation, she'd had no option other than to cut Zorelle down—and ensure she'd stayed down.
Elon strode to Zorelle's corpse and snatched a key from the folds of her clothes before walking towards Lila. Carissa followed him, blood splashing beneath her boots. Elon knelt next to Lila and slid the key into the back of her collar. The collar parted, leaving a band of marred red skin in its place.
Immediately, light began to flicker and ripple over Lila's skin, as if welcoming her with an embrace. Lila huddled closer to the table, seeming to collapse on herself. "You shouldn't have done that."
The light in the room wavered, and Carissa glanced up at the iron-wrought chandeliers. The orange-yellow flames began to tremble.
Elon bent his head, trying to catch her lowered gaze. "Why not?"
She lifted her head, her icy blue eyes eerie and piercing. "Because I'm a monster, and I destroy everything I touch."