Chain of Thorns (The Last Hours, #3)

“It’s awful,” Cordelia agreed. “I can’t imagine why Lilith is so enamored with it. Surely there are nicer worlds she could conquer and possess.”


“I think she likes… that it’s dead,” Lucie said. “I’m used to the dead, to feeling their presence and seeing them everywhere. But this… This is a whole dead world. Bones and rock and the skeletons of ancient things.” She shook her head. “Death hangs in every part of the air. It feels like a weight pressing on me.”

“We can rest here until your strength comes back,” Cordelia said, unable to keep the worry out of her voice.

“No.” Lucie frowned. “Every second we wait is a second James and Matthew may not have. We need to get to Idumea.” She exhaled sharply, as if the name made her flinch. “I can feel it, Idumea. It’s pulling at me. A—a dead city. So many lives lost there.”

“You’re sure it’s Idumea?” Cordelia said. “That you’re feeling?”

“I know it is,” Lucie said. “I can’t say how, but I know. It’s like I can hear it calling out for me. Which is good, because that’s where we have to go anyway.”

“Luce, if it has such an effect on you, when we can’t even see the city in the distance—what’s going to happen when we get closer?”

Lucie looked up at Cordelia. Her eyes were the only blue thing in all the landscape; the sky shifted between orange and gray. “I feel better,” she said. “I think it’s because you’re with me. Really,” she added. “You needn’t look so worried. Help me up, will you?”

Cordelia helped Lucie to her feet. As she put away her flask, she narrowed her eyes, staring at the stone Lucie had been leaning against. “Look at that,” she said. “It’s a statue.”

Lucie turned to look. “Part of one, anyway.”

Though it was eroded by years of wind and acidic air, it was clearly the head of a woman. A woman with long flowing hair, and serpents curled in her eyes. The remains, Cordelia realized, of a decapitated statue of Lilith. Where the rest of it was, she couldn’t guess—buried under the sand, perhaps.

Lucie regarded the head. “When Belial won this land for himself, I suppose he destroyed all the monuments to Lilith.”

“Of course he did,” Cordelia said, surprising herself with the bitterness in her voice. “Like a child kicking over another child’s toy. This is just a game for them. What does it matter who controls this barren world, except to Belial’s and Lilith’s pride? Edom is just a chessboard, and we are two of their pawns.”

“But you are very good at chess,” Lucie said. “James told me so.” She looked out over the blood-tinted landscape of Edom, and there was strength and determination on her face, more like her usual self. “And even a pawn can topple a king.”

True, Cordelia thought. But often it must sacrifice itself in the process. She did not say what she thought out loud, though, only smiled at Lucie and said, “Well then. The job of a pawn is to move forward, never stopping and never turning back.”

“Then let’s get started,” Lucie said. Retrieving her rucksack by its strap, she slung it on and began to make her way across the dry land. After a moment, Cordelia followed.



* * *



By the time Ari and Anna got back to the Institute, they were exhausted. They had trekked all the way to Primrose Hill to investigate a barrow, which a few smudged maps in the Institute library had marked in a way that perhaps suggested an entrance to Faerie. It had been a long shot, and Ari had been pessimistic about it from the start. And indeed, if there ever had been a gate to Faerie there, it was long gone, or had been sealed by Belial without a trace.

“Back to the library, I suppose?” Ari said as Anna latched the Institute door firmly behind them. “To find the next candidate?”

“We cannot keep doing this,” Anna said wearily. “If we had all the time in the world, we could try every likely hill and dale in London. But we have barely any time at all.”

“Perhaps we should focus on making a longer list from our research first,” Ari said. “Then at least we could check several spots in the same part of the city.”

“I think we should find the five likeliest,” Anna said as they started up the central staircase, “and visit them, wherever they might be.”

“Only five?”

“We may not even have time for five,” Anna said. “Our situation here is untenable for very much longer.” She sighed. “Perhaps Grace will find a way to signal for help. Or perhaps Cordelia and Lucie will have some success in Edom. Or…” She trailed off, but Ari knew what she was thinking. “Or at least,” Anna said in a quieter voice, “we will have made a last stand.”

“Anna,” Ari said, taking her by the shoulder. Anna stopped and turned to look at her. “Before we consider our last stand, may I suggest we eat something? And maybe have some tea before we go out again.”

Anna smiled faintly. “Tea?”

“We will do no one any good,” said Ari firmly, “if we collapse from hunger or thirst.”

She was going to go on but was stopped by a muffled voice coming from the other end of the corridor. “What was that?”

“It’s coming from the infirmary,” Anna said, starting toward the sound. “It sounds like Alastair.”

Ari hurried to follow Anna. The infirmary door was closed; Anna opened it cautiously. Inside they found Thomas, who was sitting at the end of one of the beds, and Alastair, who was standing between him and the door. Thomas was glowering. “You cannot make me stay here.”

“I can,” Alastair said with feeling. “I will. I shall sit on you if necessary.”

Thomas folded his arms, and Ari noticed with a start that he looked as though he’d lost a fight. There was blood in his sandy hair, and bruises around one of his eyes, despite two fresh iratzes on his arm. He—and also Alastair, she realized—were scratched up and dusty all over.

“By the Angel,” Anna said, “what happened to you two? You look as though you’ve been in a pub fight. And were quite outnumbered. Whereas I am fairly sure the pubs are all closed.”

“We figured out how to kill the Watchers,” Thomas said eagerly. “Shall I tell you the story?”

“At once,” Anna said, and Thomas did, reporting their trip to Paddington Station and the battle that had ensued there. “There are runes on the backs of their necks,” he said. “A bit like Belial’s sigil, but modified in a few ways.”

“Perhaps to signify possession,” Alastair put in, “though neither of us are exactly experts on demonic runes.”

“If that rune is cut or destroyed,” Thomas went on, “it forces the demon out of the body. And then the demon itself can be killed with little trouble.”

Anna’s eyebrows went up. “Well, I don’t wish to overstate our position, but that seems… like good news? Rather unexpectedly?”

“It is hard to think of a downside,” Alastair said reluctantly. “And I have tried.”

“The downside,” said Ari with a frown, “is that even with this knowledge, a Watcher is a tough fight. One must find an opening to strike the back of the neck without being knocked down by strength or magic.”

Thomas nodded. “And there are a lot of them,” he said. “And only a few of us.”

“What we need is for Jesse and Grace to make the fire-messages work,” said Ari. “What we need is an army.”

“Still, we are one step closer to saving London,” Thomas said.

Alastair gave him a withering look. “I see the blow you have suffered to the head is worse than I had realized. We are nowhere near saving London.”

“Besides, it’s not quite London we’re saving, is it?” said Anna thoughtfully. “London will remain. Only its people will be gone. Its life.”

Alastair waved his hand. “Yes, yes. It has been Roman and Saxon and now it will be demon. It has survived plague and pestilence and fire—”

“Of course!” Anna shouted, causing everyone to jump. “The Great Fire!” With a wild look in her eye, she tore out of the infirmary.

The others looked at the open doorway where she had disappeared. “I don’t think any of us expected that,” Thomas said.

“I’ll go see what’s happened,” Ari said hesitantly.

“Right,” said Thomas. “We’ll fetch Grace and Jesse from wherever they’ve gotten to. They must be told that the Watchers can be beaten.”

He began to get up from the bed; Alastair gently pushed him back down on it. “I will fetch Grace and Jesse,” he said. “You will rest.”

Thomas looked over at Ari with a plaintive look.

“I’m sorry, Thomas, but he’s right,” Ari said. “You must allow yourself some time to recover, or you won’t keep your strength up.”

“But I’m fine—”