The red scarab on the altar began to move. It looked as if something were inside it, trying to get out. Mala’s eyes grew big with fear. I wasn’t sure if she’d ever witnessed a formal ritual before. Unfortunately, I was becoming an expert at them. Did Danilo expect something or someone to be drawn into the scarab, or were we coaxing something out? Perhaps we would see a ghostly presence above the altar. I read on.
“ ‘Hail, Power of Heaven, who art exalted above the stars, I have come to you in a purified state. Restore the beloved into the vessel before you.’ ” It seemed strange to me to use the term “beloved.” I wondered if there was something wrong with Danilo’s translation. But I saw a sliver of cold light rising up out of the scarab.
Danilo smiled triumphantly. Without warning, he reached forward and grabbed Mala, twisting her as he dragged her across the altar. There was a golden flash as his other hand came up to her heart.
Mala screamed. And then she was silenced and became still. Her blood dripped onto the altar, bathing the scarab. As Danilo’s dagger fell to the floor with a clatter, he gently laid Mala’s body across the stone altar. He placed the bloodied scarab on her chest.
“Continue!” he shouted to me.
“What have you done?” I said, not believing what had just happened.
“We needed a vessel for the spirit. Mala seemed the perfect choice. She will make an attractive vessel, don’t you think?”
“A vessel for whose spirit?”
He picked the dagger back up and pointed it at me. “There is no time to explain. Continue the ritual or you will die with the dancer.”
My throat was dry, and my hands were shaking. I could not believe he had killed Mala in such a cold manner. All for a sword. Danilo grabbed me, the bloodied knife shoved up against my heart. But it was the lich tsar’s cold eyes staring at me. “Do not think you are safe, my dear. If you refuse to read the ritual, I will kill you and hunt you down in the Graylands and kill you again.”
The cold light rising up from the scarab hung in the air like a silver thread. It was waiting for me. Just like Danilo. I could feel my own cold light rising up inside as well. It was surging forward dangerously. If I did not complete the ritual, what would happen to my own light? I felt as if I were losing control. “ ‘Hail, Power of Heaven, who journeys beyond time and space, restore the beloved into this vessel.’ ”
The silver thread of cold light began to move toward Mala’s mouth. It glided through the air like a serpent. It made my skin crawl with revulsion. The cold light of this person was stealing Mala’s body. I could not see Mala’s cold light. Where had it gone? I wondered if I could travel to the Graylands after the ritual and find her. This was a horrible way to die.
As the cold light of the beloved slid into Mala’s mouth, her corpse seemed to take a deep breath. And she opened her eyes.
With a sickening feeling, I realized who the beloved was.
She sat up with a wicked, gleaming smile. Blood was still drying on the front of her black gown, but it did not seem to affect her. The lich tsar picked up her hand and kissed it. “I have longed for this day, Johanna.”
“As have I,” she said. Then Princess Cantacuzene turned to me. “I have wanted to kill this young necromancer for a long time.”
“Why?” I whispered. The evil vampire had been a sort of mentor to me, helping me discover my dark powers. She’d given me her copy of A Necromancer’s Companion. And she’d tried to protect me from the Montenegrins.
Or had she? “You planned all of this long ago, didn’t you?” I said, backing away from the altar. “You made sure that Danilo used the Talisman of Isis for his ascension. You wanted Konstantin to have a powerful sorcerer’s body to possess.”
“And I would have picked your body to return in, if you hadn’t been protected.” She reached over and tore my linen gown, revealing the Talisman of Isis. “Fortunately, Konstantin had a second plan waiting in the wings.”
I glanced at the lich tsar, whose eyes were shining a bright green now. I had no idea if any part of Danilo still existed in there. “You had her soul hidden in the scarab all this time?” I asked him. “I thought vampires did not have souls.”
“There’s much that you do not know, silly girl. Most of us do have souls, and I performed the ritual myself when I realized what Militza had done to me,” Princess Cantacuzene said. “I would have returned to my own body if you and the tsar’s son had not destroyed it.”
It made me sick to think of that day. George had to cut her head off when she’d killed my friend Dr. Kruglevski. “When I find the Morning Star, I will sever your head again,” I said, my voice deadly calm.
Her cruel laugh echoed in the tiny crypt.
I looked from her to the crown prince, still attempting to piece everything together. “How did Danilo even know the scarab existed?”
“Mala has kept the scarab safe with her all this time,” Princess Cantacuzene said. She stretched out her arms and examined her hands—Mala’s hands—as if she were trying on a new pair of gloves. “She sought out the crown prince when she saw signs of Konstantin’s return. She has always been faithful to me.”
“And this is how you repay her!” I exclaimed.
“The greatest gift,” the princess said with a smile, “is immortality.”
“Where is her soul now?” I demanded. If it was the last thing I did, I would make sure Mala’s soul was at peace. Even if it damned my own soul in the process.
“Do you wish to join her?” Princess Cantacuzene’s sharp fangs looked odd in Mala’s mouth. “That is part of this new plan, isn’t it, my love?” She held out her hand, and Danilo placed the bloody dagger in it. As graceful as a cat, the princess drew herself up and slid down from the bloody altar.
I glanced around, trying to fight the panic that was fluttering in my chest. There was nowhere for me to run. The tiny chamber had only the one door, guarded by the Grigori.
The Grigori. “You can carry the Morning Star. Both you and Konstantin can walk the lands of the living as well as the lands of the dead.” My heart filled with dread. She was the Queen of Swords.
“Yes. And soon we will find Papus, and then we will retrieve the sword. My Konstantin will carry it back to St. Petersburg. He will lead the Grigori to battle against the bogatyr and his precious Light Court queen. And I will be empress, Katerina. You, my dear, have missed your opportunity.”
I ducked around one of the columns as she leapt at me. I dodged the lich tsar and grabbed the handle of the door. I whispered the Sheult spell under my breath, but I only managed to draw a few wisps of darkness around me. I was too scared to concentrate.
The Grigori would no doubt chase me, but at least I had a chance outside of the tiny sanctuary. I tore open the door and my body collided with someone standing in the inner hall of the temple. Hands grabbed me by the arms. I screamed.
“Katiya?” The familiar face looking down at me in shock was the most beautiful face in the world.
31
“George!” I pushed him back so I could close the door to the sanctuary. But it was too late. Konstantin and Johanna rushed out after me, stopping as they saw a band of Grigori and the tsar’s two sons, sabers drawn. Papus stood behind them, a pistol in one hand and a spell book in the other. He gave me a cheeky salute with the pistol. I scowled at him.
The Grigori who’d been guarding the door were nowhere to be seen. I did not know if George and the others had frightened them off or if they’d fought. I hadn’t heard any sort of scuffle in the hall from inside the sanctuary, but then again, I’d been quite distracted.