“I’m sorry, Klio.” Whitby’s voice, so seldom used, rasped like desert wind. “I can’t fight it.”
Klio rolled off her friend, ignoring the way her skirts smoked. “What are you talking about? Fight what?”
To Klio’s alarm, Whitby jumped up, looming over her.
His voice was like a crack of thunder. “I didn’t think it could be done. I thought the magics long lost.”
“Tell me what you mean.” Klio stood, though she felt tremulous and childlike in comparison to Whitby’s menacing stance — something she’d never seen directed at her before.
“He found, he made.” Silver tears gleamed on Whitby’s cheeks. “I must obey.”
He lifted his hands. Cracks ran over them, up and down his arms, gold and scarlet dancing beneath his flesh.
“Whitby, don’t!” Klio took several steps back until she came up against a beam. “Stop this.”
“I can’t, Klio.” He still wept, even as he advanced on her. “Forgive me and do me one last honor.”
“Whitby . . .” Klio was shaking. She understood none of this, only her terror and the sorrow of betrayal.
“Honor me, dear friend.” Whitby was terribly close. “Take my life, so that I cannot take yours.”
“No.”
“I beg you.” Flames rippled along his fingertips. “Do not make me serve him. Save yourself.”
Rage had overtaken Klio’s fear. What monster had stolen her friend’s will? Who dared make Whitby a slave?
Whitby stopped mere inches from Klio, and she could see it took immense effort for him to hold off his assault. “I will not harm you.” Whitby’s voice shook from the strain of battling whatever unseen force controlled him. “You are the only solace I’ve found in this world. You must know that.”
Klio choked on her sob. “There has to be something, some other way —”
“You can only free me with death, Klio.” Whitby’s teeth gnashed as he struggled against his unseen master.
Klio knew she couldn’t hesitate. Couldn’t think. Whitby held on to the barest shred of control. Forcing herself into action and banishing all emotion, she dove to Whitby’s right and rolled past him. She paused on the balls of her feet, then pivoted and rose. Standing directly behind him, Klio lashed her arms out, aiming for the back of his neck.
The twin serpents coiled around each of Klio’s arms sprang to life. Four hissing heads lifted and struck, fangs burying themselves in the flesh of Whitby’s neck. With a gasp, Whitby stiffened. The serpents released their prey and drew back. Only when Whitby collapsed, falling face-first to the ground, did the snakes return to their slumber — living, deadly creatures dormant as if they were ink needled into Klio’s skin.
Klio dropped to her knees at Whitby’s side. The searing heat had fled his body. His breath came in dry, shallow rattles. He turned his face toward Klio, offering her a weak smile.
“Thank you, my friend.”
Whitby shuddered as his body began to crumble.
For a long time, Klio sat and wept silently, letting the pile of sand at her side pour through her hands.
Hamilton Stuart entered his cabin, bedecked in the glow of victory. Klio awaited him on the same sofa she’d occupied just hours before.
Stuart paused in the doorway when he saw her.
“Did you hear the good news?” he asked her. He went to the side table to decant himself a drink.
“You won,” Klio replied. “Congratulations to Mr. Cromwell on another century of rule.”
“I wouldn’t congratulate Cromwell just yet.” Stuart took his seat opposite her. “He didn’t win the game. I did.”
“From your tone I gather you expect more than praise for your victory?”
“Indeed.” His gaze traveled over her singed dress, pausing on the brass oil lamp she held in her lap. “I’m sorry to have put you through such an ordeal, but I needed to know just how good you are. You see, I didn’t bring you here to protect me during the gaming.”
“I gathered as much,” Klio said, watching him calmly. This exterior serenity was a boon of her kind. She could keep her most turbulent emotions in check until the appropriate moment to unleash them arrived.
“But I do want to engage your services,” Stuart continued. “Permanently. You belong among those who are likewise the paramount of their kind. The Coven outmatch all the other factions, but many within our ranks believe it’s time for Cromwell to step aside —”
“And you’ve just proven you’re the one to take his place,” Klio finished.
“I know you have long been isolated, but there is much, much more I can offer you. I will lead the Coven into a new era. After this ridiculous war ends, the West will be open and it will be the visionaries, the innovators, who shape the future. Surely you see that.”