Chapter 18 · The Ice Below

"Take one more step, Sula, and I drop your mother's casket into the river."

Aileen stood on the black ice with the silver bone casket tucked against her ribs. One hand rested on its lid. The other held a narrow shard of white crystal against the lock.

My feet stopped.

Behind me, one of the Purifier's holy pillars cracked. Gold light spilled across the ice, burning through the soles of my boots. Varan was on his knees between two pillars, both hands locked around his chest while the black veins around his throat crawled higher.

Kaiser had one knee pressed into his back.

"You don't touch that box," I said.

Aileen smiled. "You still take orders very well."

"From you? Never."

"Then watch what happens when I open it."

She slid the crystal shard under the lid.

Varan made a rough, broken sound. His shoulders jerked. The chain of black shadow around his wrists snapped tight, pulling him toward the center of the ritual circle.

Kaiser looked over his shoulder. His pale eyes cut straight into mine.

"Sula," he said, calm enough to make my skin crawl, "don't rush her."

"She has my mother's remains.