The world was at Octavia's command. Anything was possible. With Neith's help, she and Ra could destroy Balthazar. Why would Caius help her? Was he trying to save himself?
No matter. Justice demanded Octavia kill her father, and once Caius was gone, Neith would return to the Abyss. Then Ra and Octavia would claim the Solomon Scroll.
Freedom rushed through Octavia, made her feel wild, as powerful as she had after Khun had taken her, full of primal magic. She was freed by Ra and his power. Ra made the voices inside her go away. Only his voice remained.
They would claim the scroll and remake the world in Ra's image; in their image. Maybe she could summon Khun to her again. Why not? She was powerful enough to control two demons, wasn't she? She could even bring Lucy back to life.
Lucy back to life? Where had that idea come from?
She shook her head to clear it. No, Lucy was gone, sent into oblivion in a thousand tiny pieces. There was no bringing Lucy back.
"Octavia."
Drusus. He had survived his battle with her, his fall. What did he think of her now, the powerful Binder combined with Ra? He never approved of Khun. Or was it Octavia he never approved of?
"You're still here."
"Stop this. All this. You can control Ra. You have the discipline, the power."
Kill him. He is a distraction. You must find Balthazar. You must gain the scroll.
"Ra wants me to kill you."
"You don't want to kill me."
"No, I don't. I'm sorry I didn't find you after Lucy..." She wanted to touch him, to hold him. "Why did you choose Lucy? Why didn't you stay with me?"
Drusus stepped toward her. "Lucy needed my help. She suffered because of my bad judgment. I should never have let Paolo Borgia talk her into anything. You are suffering as well. Let me help you." He reached for her and her body flared metallic. He shielded his eyes and still walked forward.
"We can't return to the way things were," Octavia said. "You must see that. I am not the same."
"No," said Drusus. "I can help you. Let me help you."
"I don't want you and I don't want Khun. I want this power. And then"—she smiled, looking into an ideal future—"when I have made everything right, I want you both. I can make the world as I want it." Except there was no Khun now. She steeled inside. There was no Khun now.
You do not need them. Go now to the scroll.
Neith would not let Balthazar touch the scroll. "We have time," said Octavia. Ra's commands hammered in her skull. She clutched her head. "Stop it! I am the Binder! I command you to stop!"
"Octavia, listen. Trust me. We can stop Ra."
"I don't want you to stop Ra. Stop telling me what to do!" Her voice was accusing.
Drusus was right. All this was his fault. Yet, looking at Drusus, she felt everything she had wanted slipping through her fingers. Was Balthazar right? Why should Ra care about her for any reason but the scroll? The power inside her was potent and exhilarating. She had purpose, but she was more alone than she had ever been. Ra had no interest in her the way Khun did, even though he was inside her. He did not love her.
Drusus stepped toward her like one might approach a spooked horse. "Listen to me," he said, his voice gentle. "I want to help you. Let me help you."
"Drusus, I... I can't... you don't understand... I didn't want this... please help me."
"Octavia, don't listen to him." Caius spoke from behind Drusus, where he leaned against the wall. "I can help you. Balthazar is stealing the scroll now. Neith is fighting him, but you and Ra, you need to stop them."
Finish him.
Octavia couldn't tell if Ra meant Caius or Drusus.
"I love you," said Octavia. "Do you love me?"
"I love you," said Drusus.
"You left me!" Octavia's blood heated. "You told me we were finished. You loved Lucy more."
"I misunderstood," said Drusus. "I'm here now. Come to me and we'll make this all right."
She stepped toward him like she was sleepwalking. "I can't trust you."
"You can't!" Caius yelled. "You can trust me. You've always trusted me."
"Drusus..."
"I'll make sure no one ever hurts you again." Drusus placed his hand in hers. She flung herself into his arms and he wrapped them around her.
"I don't know what to do," she spoke into Drusus' shoulder.
He tipped her head back, and as he kissed her, their bodies melted. Not like with Khun. Attaching to Khun was like grabbing onto a branch to pull yourself from a rushing river. Oh, the things she'd done with Khun. The things she'd asked him to do to her. Drusus was a protector, a lover. They were discovering each other and he had always been kind, soft, and careful.
Her heart flooded with warmth. She had been wrong about love, about what she wanted. They parted, and she saw the man she loved.
"Octavia!" Caius hit the wall with his stick. "I command you to help Neith. It is your duty."
Go to the scroll! Kill these men and go to the scroll!
"You impudent girl!" yelled Caius. "Do as you are told."
The scroll! Ra was urgent, and her head hurt with his shouting.
"Octavia!"
Ra knifed her head with splitting pain and she fell to her knees. Drusus reached around her waist. "We're leaving."
"I want everyone to leave me alone!" Her eyes flashed and her body burned gold. Drusus stepped away. "Drusus, I love you. I'm sorry. You must stay away from me."
"We can fix this."
Don't listen to him! He wants to trick you!
"No. I know I'm wrong inside. My mother told me. I love you. But I've done terrible things. I want to stay with you, but I can't."
"Octavia..." Drusus brushed her hair back from her forehead. His voice shook, grief and exhaustion lacing it. And his eyes: they were not stormy. They were human and there were tears in them.
"I'm not safe. I killed Lucy. I killed her even though Ra didn't take her over." Her eyes widened. "Ra took me. And I wanted him to." The sob which escaped her bent her in two. "Lucy!"
"You've killed her," said Caius. "Now stop blubbering and claim your birthright."
"Silence," said Octavia. "You horrible old monster!"
"Octavia," said Drusus, "keep your attention on me."
Octavia wiped away golden tears. "Drusus." She focused on him, beautiful and perfect and alive. "I don't want to hurt you, but I will if you don't leave me."
"You won't hurt me. It's not your nature."
She laughed. "Don't lie to yourself. I already did once, when I was drunk with power. I'm amazed you lived."
"Octavia!" Caius Klaereon snapped at her.
The demon boy is stealing the scroll. Your lover is distracting you.
"Where is Carlo?" Octavia eyes darted about the garden. "Where is Lucy?"
Ra's power pulled Octavia into herself, binding her like the shadows Khun wrapped around her. This time, however, she knew she was not in control.
"Please, Drusus, run."
Ra screeched. Octavia's hand twisted into Ra's talon. She sliced toward Drusus.
"Ra! You... do... not... control... me!" By the time she slammed her hand into Drusus' chest, it was her hand again.
Why fight me, Octavia? We want the same things.
"Drusus belongs to me. He's mine. I won't let you..." Her stomach chilled. "Drusus," she said. "You have to go. I might... I will... he wants me to kill you."
"Can you fight him?"
"I can't." She laughed, and it echoed off the walls of Mistraldol. "I wanted him! I wanted this! It's too late for me."
"I won't leave you like this."
Kill him. He is weak. He will make you weak.
"I'm going to get the scroll and use it to call the gods to me. My destiny. Unless you can find a way to stop me. Can you?"
"Yes." He said it without hesitation.
"Do it."
"I promise you I will."
Her mind snapped. She couldn't have him hunting her down. Ra spoke through her. Not if you're dead.
"I'm sorry," said Drusus. He raised his hands. Electricity pulsed through him to the clear sky. Lightning struck her, cracking the ground.
Was it over? She wanted to die. She wanted peace. She wanted to find Lucy and tell her they could be sisters now. There was a silent moment, the space blank, the shadows and the lights gone, a place of balance. She held her breath for five seconds of relief.
Then pain reversed, diminished. Inside of her, Ra soared, drunk with the energy of the sun. Drusus' magic fed his, creating the king of the Egyptian gods anew. She burned with Ra's power and she was yanked back. Her hesitation was weakness. Ra would cure her of weakness. She would no longer doubt Ra.
You see? You can only trust me.
"Yes." Octavia's smile was crooked. Drusus had tried to kill her. If Ra hadn't been inside her, he would have been successful. Ra would never give Drusus another chance to get so close. "You failed to kill me. You are no consequence." She called shadows to her, squelching Ra's light as they crept toward her. She sent them onto Drusus, smothering him, pulling him down into the darkness. Let the shadows take him away from this danger, from this sorry place.
Octavia glared at Caius. "You have nothing I want, Father, but your life."
Caius pressed into the wall. "You want the scroll, my dear girl. It is your birthright. You're my worthy successor."
We don't need him. Let me scratch out his eyes. Let me rip out his tongue.
Caius shielded himself with his hands. "I know you have regrets about Lucy. Try not to. Ra is your true destiny. I know he wants to be rid of me, but if you let me live, I can show you secrets, ways to use the scroll you haven't dreamed of, ways not even Ra knows. What do you say?" Caius' smile was uncertain, but his eyes sparkled with possibility. "Will you let me teach you?"
Octavia placed her hand on Caius' chest. Her father's heart drummed underneath his rib cage. "I have learned more than I ever wanted from you. Your lessons have brought me to this path. I am grateful for your lessons, but I think you have no more to teach me. Ra?"
The god Ra cried in triumph, his screech echoing into the air. Octavia's claws carved a ragged circle into Caius' chest. Blood surged from his mouth. His ribs cracked. Ra wanted her to eat his heart, but Octavia squeezed it with her taloned hands.
The tears evaporated on her face. She wasn't certain why she was crying. Walking around the house, she found the front door locked. She walked through without opening it.
***
"Where are we?" Carlo asked.
Balthazar sucked in air as he pulled an arrow from his thigh. "This is where Caius keeps the scroll."
Carlo's eyes couldn't take everything in. The cavern walls shot up, disappearing into shadow, a dark cathedral. The stone vibrated with living darkness and when it was revealed, Carlo could see the walls were threaded with lines of quartz, greens, reds, and golds, glittering like a hidden treasure trove. Shadows on ledges and crevices whispered to him, sighings he couldn't comprehend. Figures moved in the shadows, miniature like animals and dolls. The whispers invited him to come to them. Part of Carlo wanted to go.
After Carlo's eyes acclimated to the shimmer, he found the room's main focus. An ivory pedestal upon a glittering rock dais dominated the center of the chamber. A filigreed scroll case sat on the pedestal's top. The Solomon Scroll? The Klaereon who guarded it would prefer this ostentation.
Balthazar swore as he pulled out another arrow. Carlo assumed it was swearing, more from the tone than understanding the words. This arrow wriggled and fell to the floor in a puddle. Carlo winced as the efrit bled. His broad back was a pin cushion. "Can I help with anything?"
"I will heal once I remove these, although the damage from this demonic magic will last longer than usual." Balthazar grabbed another arrow and yanked. "Neith will arrive in a heartbeat and we will continue our battle. Am I right in assuming you will steal the scroll?" He gestured to the pedestal.
Carlo nodded once. "I don't like Octavia's father having it, regardless of what your contract says. Octavia won't do any good with it either. I'm going to take it and hide it."
The wounds in Balthazar's leg oozed. "Neith is coming. Keep her from noticing your theft, else I will cease to be her primary target. I doubt you could survive even one of her arrows."
"I'm not willing to test your hypothesis. I'll be careful." Carlo spun around to get a better look. It was impossible to get the measure of the chamber. "How did they get this under the house?"
"Magic allows for many mysteries. Mistraldol was inherited. Legend says the Klaereons conjured the extra rooms from the dark dimensions and they merged the two." Balthazar gestured, arms wide.
Carlo raced to the pedestal. "This is it?"
"Indeed."
"This is too easy."
"Easy, you say? You have seen the protector. If you had walked in here at any other time, you would have been greeted by a volley of missiles. Now do your work."
Solomon's Scroll was in a white bone case decorated with inlaid lines of mother of pearl. A silver energy ball sparkled around it when Carlo reached out to touch. How could he dispel the magic? Would it hurt him?
Neith winked into existence. She pulled another arrow from her quiver. "You have sealed your doom, Balthazar. You should have returned to Erasmus' Temple. I wish you had. I have no wish to kill you."
Balthazar shook his hands and fire filled his palms. "If you have no wish to kill me, put down your bow."
"I cannot. My master has set me against you."
Balthazar snorted. "Your master. You know Caius Klaereon is a corrupt man."
Neith studied him down the straight shaft. "It is not my place to question him. I try to guide him as best I can. When he defeated me, he became the master. What he orders I must do. How intelligent of your god, that someone like myself must carry out his orders."
"I know your honor and I am sorry for your fate. The One God is mysterious."
Neith's arrow followed Balthazar as he circled. "This One God is an illusion."
"You are bitter because your kind was bested." Balthazar moved forward, grabbed her bow, and passed her.
Neith pulled another arrow out and plunged it between his shoulder blades. "Even if I hadn't been ordered to kill you, I would be tempted to, to spare the world your myopia."
Carlo darted from the space under the dais. Balthazar bellowed behind him. Neith hit the floor, twisted away from Balthazar, and climbed to her feet. The shadows whispered, but Neith didn't seem to care.
Carlo flattened himself against the pedestal as much as he could and groped a hand toward the case, the magical energy surrounding it prickling. After all this was over, if he survived, he would lock himself in his grandfather's library in Venice and wouldn't come out until he had mastered every spell in the place. He was sick of this, of having no footing in the arcane world.
Carlo took a deep breath and plunged his hand into the silvery sphere. His skin blistered. "Santa Maria!" He wrapped his hands around the scroll. The case burned into his skin as the sphere dissolved. Carlo gawked at the empty stand in disbelief, at the scroll and his still-smoldering skin. The pain in his hand made him want to cut it off.
Neith hesitated, and Balthazar slapped her across the jaw. She staggered to the ground. Darkness opened underneath her.
"He's gone," she said. "Your god help you, creature. Octavia has killed my master." Neith gazed at Balthazar. "I am no longer Bound here. Octavia is no Binder. We are forever in the darkness." Neith sank into the darkness. "No!" she shouted. "No! I don't want to go back!" She looked over Balthazar's shoulder. "Ra! Great king!" she yelled. "Save me!"
Carlo bit his lip.
The dais sparkled as intense light hit the quartz. Carlo felt heat on his back.
Golden Octavia stared at him. "Demon boy," she said. "The scroll belongs to me."
***
Octavia and Ra strode through the hallways of Mistraldol. Shadows parted before them, scattered to the ceiling, to the corners, floating in the hall like curtains. The voices in her head mocked her. Traitor. Patricide. Whore. Ra could not shut them out. She continued into the picture gallery, the albino portraits of the blue-veined Klaereons posing with their familiars: Leto with her parrot; Cyril Klaereon, a green snake wrapped around his wrist; Gaius Klarion, gazing into a mirror, the demonic image of Bes looking back at him. There were other paintings: spouses from other magical families and the lucky Klaereons, the ones who did not receive a visit from a familiar at birth, those who were spared the Trial and Erasmus' morality play.
Erasmus himself was not present as a portrait, but rather across from the wall of sorcerers was a mural depicting Erasmus' Trial: the goddess Nuit climbing from the sky to confront him and find him worthy, the efrit servant who first fought, then defended Erasmus. Octavia stopped at the mural and touched the wall. A section opened and a stone hallway, rustling with scurrying shadows, led deep into nowhere. From down the stone passageway Octavia could hear bellows and anger and begging. No doubt it was Neith because she had no host to Bind her.
The scroll belongs to me. To us. Ra fluttered in her heart and mind, seething with anticipation.
Octavia emerged from a portal in the ceiling and flew to the glittering floor. Balthazar, glistening with heat and sweat, skewered with so many shadow arrows they could have been quills, watched Neith as the the Abyss swallowed her. Octavia tasted fear, metallic tin, and her heart pounded. She landed and made Ra's wings into her arms again right behind Carlo, who was holding the scroll case. It should have been impossible. Seared flesh hit her nose, pungent and unnatural. She salivated. Ra was hungry.
"Demon boy," Octavia said. "What you have belongs to me."
To his credit, the demon boy did not jump. He turned his head as though afraid. Rightly so.
"I have had enough of this day," she said. "Give the scroll to me and I will let you live."
Carlo shook his head. "You will not understand now, but I assure you, you will thank me later."
"This is your last chance." Octavia's bones bent. Ra burrowed through her chest as she fell to the ground. Ra's golden talons flashed, the light causing the crystals in the cavern to wink. He flew toward Balthazar, who turned from the disappearing blackness and caught his talons, pulling him from the air and slamming him to the ground. Balthazar wrenched a fragile wing, and it broke. Octavia cried out. Ra took to the air with his good wing, scratching. One claw raked Balthazar's left eye. She didn't have much time before he came back and her mind was less clear.
Carlo hesitated, glancing between the scroll and Balthazar.
"You can't help him," said Octavia. She tried to stand, but slipped in the sticky light leaking out of her onto the floor.
Carlo could see through the hole in her chest. "Are you... are you going to die?"
"He's not through with me, and I'm not through with him. You must go."
"Go?" Carlo glanced from crevice to crystal to shadow. "Go where?"
"Where you belong," said Octavia. She pointed to the shadows. "They're waiting for you." Black tendrils shot out and wrapped around his ankles, pulling him in.
"No!" Carlo tried to grab the pedestal, the ground, anything. He moved toward the corner.
"Stop!" Octavia whispered. "Listen to them."
Carlo slid into the darkness, millions of dark points smothering his body.
Balthazar's laughter echoed to the top of the chamber. He released Ra. The demon dragged his wing, limping toward Octavia. Ra burrowed back into her, and Octavia screamed.
Balthazar's laughter died. "You have made mistakes, Ra. I leave you to contemplate them. You killed the only Binder with a true tie to a demon when you killed Caius Klaereon. You are left with nothing.
"Octavia Klaereon, do you hear me? I can do nothing for you. You know this. You feel your life fading?"
She did. She huddled on the stone floor. Ra's rage gave her tremors.
"If only you had Bound Khun... I wish your soul peace, Octavia Klaereon." A clap of red thunder, and Balthazar was gone.
You have lost the scroll. Ra's anger was red in her mind.
"It's not yours," said Octavia, her teeth chattering. So much pain. "You heard him."
I am the king of Egypt. I can command my people. If there is a problem, it is you.
"What have I done?" said Octavia. "What have you done?" She clutched at her clothes, at her body, as if she could find Ra and extract him like a splinter. "Get out! God save me! I want Drusus! I want my sister!"
A great weight pressed her down to the ground. Her hands trembled as she brought them forward, an obeisance to the great king.
Your hysterics disgust me. You will do as I say. You live at my mercy. Mine! Your life is fading, but if you cooperate, I can save you. Now, this can be pleasant for you or I can force you every step.
She could feel it, how he was eating her essence.
It's much easier when you cooperate. What has changed? Don't you want the power I have for you? You have been leashed by a demon all your life. Why should our arrangement be any different? At least as a master, I will be less perverse than your previous one. Now, say what I want to hear.
Octavia's head felt the cool stone floor. "What do you require from me, Great King?"
I require you to obey me in all things. We will find the scroll and I will use it through you."
"Balthazar said we cannot."
Heat exploded through her body, and she writhed. He burned her for what seemed an eternity. Could Lucy have withstood this? Could Lucy have controlled Ra?
You will find a way or I will destroy you before I go to a new host.
Octavia lay on the ground for a long time. She knew she was lost. Her family was gone, and this house, her birthright, she would never see again. Ra would pursue the scroll and there was nothing she could do to fight back.