Mistress of Bones by Maria Z. Medina - XXVII. Death

XXVII
DEATH

Enjul’s pencil moved leisurely across the sheaf of paper, leaving lazy lines behind. Leisurely and lazy, two concepts that ought never apply to him, yet there were no other words to describe the way his hand moved whenever his mind was elsewhere and his body craved the outlet of action. Some took up fights to relieve the urge, some took lovers, some delved into the flow of gossip.
Enjul took pen and ink and surfaces to leave his mark upon the world.
Because in his art, nothing ever died.
He was in his room on the second floor of De Gracia’s impressive house, half sitting on the windowsill with one leg propped up to balance his folder and the sheet of paper, leaning his back against the frame. The itch to put on his emissary mask was almost overpowering.
The need to hide his nature chafed him. The need to stake his claim as the Emissary of the Lord Death among the souls in Cienpuentes at times choked him. He yearned to remind these people who gave their prayers to the Lady Dream and the Blessed Heart that the Lord Death reigned beyond dreams and abundance.
He needed to be a constant reminder to Azul del Arroyo that her fate was sealed.
Even now she sat on a rock in the patio below, brown hair tumbling over her shoulders and knee-high boots kicking back and forth. Planning her little schemes, no doubt, thinking she had bested him after their talk when he already predicted what moves she would make from now until she was back in Valanje by his side.
His hand paused its trip across the sheet.
By his side. The arrangement of the words felt companionable, friendly, as if two people had freely agreed to travel somewhere rather than one forcing the other. Yet, until he brought her back to Valanje, in chains if needed no longer had the same satisfying ring to it as it had mere days ago. It lacked something. Subtlety, perhaps. It carried the grim sense of duty rather than the satisfaction of Azul del Arroyo seeing the truth of her ways, admitting that her gift must be contained, that going against the Lord Death was a grave affront.
The drawing resumed.
After their conversation by the blue tabards’ headquarters, he had an inkling of hope that she might come around. After all, while her gift was foul, her brain was not. Her thoughts were shaped by grief, a feeling Virel Enjul was familiar with. He had experienced it himself and had seen it often enough in others to know how it warped reason and belief.
Azul del Arroyo’s urge to defy the Lord Death by bringing back her sister would pass once her bone-seeking schemes came to an end, just as the grief he felt for leaving his family to join the Order had, and she’d see that the Lord Death existed, that the god welcomed everyone’s souls and offered a refuge after the storm that was life. That her sister was safe and taken care of in ways a cage of flesh and bones could never hope to achieve.
That life was nothing but a short trip between the Lord Life and the Lord Death.
Once she understood this reality, there would be no need to drag her to Valanje. Then she’d truly be by his side, for what better way to be reminded of her sister than standing by the Lord Death’s emissary?
With a scowl, Enjul added a few precise strokes, then licked his finger and lightly smudged a few lines. Still unhappy with the result, he moved the sheet to access a clear spot and began anew.
Azul del Arroyo’s mask should not have the same fangs his did. He didn’t often smile, but the young woman downstairs did. If she must stand by his side, if they must hunt maladies and serve the Lord Death together, he must design a mask worthy of her, not an unfitting thing she would resent day after day.
Being an Emissary of the Lord Death was a solitary job. It had never bothered him—Virel Enjul needed nothing of the path of life save his god, his drawings, and himself—but now he wondered if he had erred by not acquiring a pupil. There were few emissaries, and the head of the Order had once or twice attempted to force some child to his side, but Enjul wasn’t a teacher. Yet here he found himself trying to teach Azul del Arroyo the wrongness of her ways.
The wrongness that, in a world where everything was on the way to the Lord Death, she alone stood defiant, a beacon of life among the dead stones in the patio, the dying bushes, and the dying flowers.
Unique. Marvelous.
The sight of her scared him as much as it locked his gaze to her as he began sketching again: the smooth line of her jaw, the roundness of her eyes, the way her nose upturned just so. Features already imprinted into his memory, but that he couldn’t help seeking out again and again.
They were … fascinating. They made the itch to take up pencil and paper an undeniable urge, and since his god didn’t seem to mind, he didn’t see why he ought to stop himself.
Some kind of noise drew Azul’s attention away from her silent scheming, and she stood up from the rock, her face filling with satisfaction bordering on smugness.
Ah, Enjul thought, one of her plans must have come to fruition.
He abandoned folder, paper, and pencil on his bed and strode out of the room, heedless of making noise with his boots on the expensive tiled floors. By the time he made it downstairs and to the front door of the house, a small delegation had gathered.
“Sirese Del Arroyo,” a tall woman dressed in full City Guard blue finery was saying. She held two small, thin metal sheets. Behind her, four guards stood at attention, rapier hilts and pike spikes gleaming in the afternoon sun. Across the street, Azul’s shadow lounged against the opposite building’s wall, expression insolent. As much as Enjul disliked the look, he’d take it over boredom. Insolence meant interest; boredom meant losing Azul again.
The thought made him want to snarl.
Azul was his to watch over, to contain, to keep—not part of some petty court game, the Lord Death lose her brother’s soul.
“This is Captain de Macia of the City Guard,” Azul said, defiant. Even her chin lifted with the emotion, as if she were a head taller than he and was attempting to look at him down her nose. Her gumption, her obstinate need to stick to her beliefs frustrated him to no end. Frustrated and kept him on alert. Excited him.
And perhaps this was why he was contemplating the idea of her standing by his side. Perhaps it was the thought of having someone who would raise his spirits that brought out that longing in him. Someone who would never tire of challenging him.
Nobody ever dared challenge an Emissary of the Lord Death.
De Macia studied him with narrowed eyes. Enjul knew what she saw—the height, the breadth of his shoulders, the light hair, rare in Sancia. His golden-and-violet eyes, even rarer.
She showed no shock at being in the presence of a man from the land of the Lord Death. Would she, if she knew who he really was? Would her tan skin turn sickly at the knowledge that the Lord Death’s own stood in front of her?
Somehow, he thought not. She would show due respect, he knew, but she would not hide behind her guards.
“This is Virel Enjul,” Azul continued. “He agreed to accompany me from my trip to Valanje.”
De Macia gave him a short nod, still taking the measure of him. “A pleasure, sirese. My family and the Del Arroyos go back a long time.”
There was a note of warning in her voice that Enjul registered, then discarded. He didn’t care for games, and if he were to reveal his true self, not even a captain could stop him from doing as he wished. Sancians might look toward the Lady Dream and the Blessed Heart, but they were aware of which gods held the true power.
“De Macia,” he responded curtly.
The captain’s gaze returned to Azul, her expression warm. “Would you rather not stay with us, Azul?”
Azul took her proffered hand and the sheets of metal. Enjul saw the glint of bright blue, and his lips curled. Part of him hoped Sancia followed through with the lift on Anchor mining. Let it fall into the Void when it ran out of the gods’ bones while he watched from Valanje.
“Thank you, Captain, but I’ll stay here with my brother,” Azul said. “You have my gratitude for providing these for me.”
“I will look for you at the balls.”
“And I for you.”
A few more niceties followed, then the captain and her guards were gone, the front door closed by one of the servants. Azul thought to evade him by scurrying into one of the parlors.
He followed, somewhat surprised when she didn’t slam the door in his face. But the doors in this building were thick and heavy, and she must have realized it would take more effort than it was worth.
“Are these the invitations for Noche Verde?” he asked, coming to stand by her side.
She seemed to recoil slightly, but he thought more from surprise than disgust. He wasn’t sure if the knowledge pleased or disappointed him.
“Yes.” Azul handed one over to him. “As we agreed.”
He examined the small piece of white ladine metal, hammered down and polished into a smooth surface. A tiny square of true Anchor had been encrusted by the engraved names of the regent and the king.
“I suppose they do it so it’s not easy to fake entrance,” Azul murmured, almost to herself. She rubbed the Anchor in her invitation, then touched the one dangling from her ear.
When they were back in Valanje, Enjul would make sure they disposed of it properly.
After he was done with the other malady. That one, he would not allow to survive his visit. Azul would get an opportunity because he understood her grief. And now that the idea of her being by his side had entered his mind, he found it hard to give up. But the other? His smile was instinctive, nearly unnatural in its greed.
His god had struck down Isadora del Arroyo but hadn’t touched Azul. Perhaps this was why the Lord Death had kept him alive at the docks of Diel: not to go after her and treat her like something to be studied but to form an unstoppable pair. He who made death his life, and she who lived to defy death. After all, hadn’t Death and Life started all?
The other malady, however, would soon join the Lord Death.
His hands tightened around the invitation.
“What will you do once you find the other necromancer?” Azul asked as if she held the power to read minds.
“I will make sure they cease to exist.”
She flinched at that. “If they are high up in the court, as we suspect they are, you won’t get away with their murder.”
“That is for me to worry about, isn’t it?”
She abandoned his side to stare at the patio. When she looked back at him a few seconds later, there was venom in her words. “I hope they catch you and throw you into a hole with no door.”
“Of course you do. That way you’ll be free to steal your sister from the Lord Death. But perhaps this time you won’t be allowed to call on her soul. Now that the god knows about you, he might not part with her as easily as you think.”
Her sharp inhale told him Azul had not thought of this. “Perhaps the Lord Death can’t do anything about it,” she said through gritted teeth. “Perhaps it is time we take control over our lives. Over our souls.”
He laughed at that. “The gods gifted us life, and so our lives belong to them.”
“Does a child belong to their parents forever?” she retorted. “Do they need to follow directions for the whole of their lives? No. There is respect, but a person gets a choice outside their parents’ opinions.”
“Children get no choice. They get told where to go, what to do until they mature.” He walked up to her, and her soft floral scent all but overwhelmed his senses. “And once the children age, they realize that the paths taken lead to a destination, and the destination will always be the Lord Death. And in their last moment, with their last breath, they will ask for their gods’ forgiveness, because any paths they walked only existed because of the gods’ grace. What people think is a choice is nothing but a misunderstood idea about the way the world works.”
Azul straightened. “Then perhaps it’s time we break this cage and show the gods why they gave us reasoning.” She lifted a hand and pressed it against his chest, against the linen of his shirt and the flesh and muscle underneath, and he had to fight to hide his reaction to the sudden touch.
People did not ever willingly touch death.
“This god of yours. Perhaps he wants you to think this way about the world. Perhaps it is his way to remain among us because he knows we will soon choose paths he and the other gods hadn’t thought to draw for us. That we will be truly our own, our souls to do with as we wish.”
She dropped her hand, and Enjul felt as if she’d just carved away a chunk of his chest and taken it with her. Foolish—the feeling and her words. How someone so cunning, so smart, could arrive at such conclusions astounded him.
“If that were the gods’ aim, then everyone would be able to guard their souls against death, not just you and this other malady. You would be one of a thousand, not one of two.”
“That you know of.”
The insistence in her voice, her conviction, made him want to smile. Yes, he did enjoy these little talks. Why wouldn’t he? After all, the Lord Death had put her in his path for a reason, and perhaps the reason was this feeling.
“If there were many of you, the world would be overtaken by those snatched back from the Lord Death. Do you think yourself alone in your grief? Do you think death is not there for a reason?”
“And what reason would that be?”
“For you to appreciate the Lord Life’s gift. For you to shape your soul, make it a thing of beauty before you join the Lord Death.”
Azul’s mouth flattened into a straight line, her brown eyes glittering in a way that made him think that perhaps the beauty of Anchor might one day take another color, another shape.
“Then the Lord Life will approve of giving someone another chance to enjoy his gift.” She turned toward the window and closed her eyes, as if taking in the sounds and scents drifting from the lush patio. “Tell me, Emissary, do you ever find joy in anything but the Lord Death, or did they steal all whims and wishes at the Order?”
He joined her. Standing next to her rather than across fit him better. By his side, yes. This is how it would be, wouldn’t it? The warmth, the companionship, the strange beating of his heart. “I find joy in my work, but my work is not my only joy.”
“What do you enjoy, then?”
His drawings, his thoughts, reading through past emissaries’ accounts. Watching the sky and knowing it was through the gods that he had a land from which to observe the stars. Music, sometimes, when he was a child.
“I like daggers,” Azul continued, as if she hadn’t expected an answer from the start. “I like dipping cake in my breakfast, and music when it comes from an artist’s hand. I like plays on words, and words that make me curious. I like looking at paintings of places far away but dislike how they make me feel—small and left behind.” Her gaze moved toward the square of blue sky. “I like looking at the sky and wondering if one day we shall leave these lands and travel to the stars, and I like wondering what we might find there.”
Enjul let out a sound of amusement, rough and strange and odd to his ears. Travel to the stars? As if. “A traveler’s curiosity never ends well.”
Yet wasn’t that what his heart wanted now? To travel with her? The thought unsettled him.
“I wish the Order had never gotten their hands on you,” Azul said, sounding wistful. “Then perhaps you’d have grown to enjoy these things too.”
“There are many things I enjoy, Miss Del Arroyo, and just because you don’t know what they are it does not make them any less valuable.”
“Azul.” Her mouth kicked up at one corner. “If you insist on having all these talks about gods and duty and fate, it will save your breath if you simply use my name.” Her brow arched in a dare. “Even maladies have them.”
Azul, like the summer sky. Perhaps that was what was missing from his sketches—color. Bone white suited him, but it didn’t suit her. A painted blue mask? No, too close to Anchor, to wearing the gods’ bones on her face as if she had their sanction. He’d have to think of something else.
“Miss Del Arroyo will do for now,” he said firmly.
“I suppose we’ll have plenty of time together for you to grow tired of saying three words when one will do.”
Exultation began thrumming along his pulse. “You accept your—” He caught himself before spot by my side left his mouth. “Position, then?”
She grew serious. “I promised to go with you, didn’t I? You might not believe in my word, but I do.”
“Then promise you will cease this plan of yours.” He tapped his invitation against his other hand. That the woman had plans for Noche Verde was as obvious as the sky.
Azul smiled slyly. “What plan?”
He smiled back, leaned in, and caught the flicker of surprise in her eyes, the sharp intake of her breath, the parting of her lips, almost inviting.
“What plan, indeed.”
Yes, it appeared they both enjoyed games.
Enjul was looking forward to playing them, together, for as long as the Lord Death allowed their souls to remain on the continents.
They held each other’s gaze in a rare moment filled with both expectation and calm. A thing of beauty he could never catch with his art.
In the next moment, Azul stepped back, turned away, and walked out of the parlor. He followed a few minutes later and returned to his room. Once inside, door closed securely behind him, he raised the invitation to examine it closer. No mark of Azul’s fingers, no scent of her touch, the ladine an impersonal piece of metal that carried no memories of its previous handler.
He tossed it onto the bed and, on an impulse, knelt by his trunk. There he retrieved a handkerchief from under a layer of shirts and pants. He had found it while searching her room.
He brought the piece of fabric to his nose and inhaled deeply, archiving the notes, the sensation, the memories it brought up, and told himself he was simply studying Azul del Arroyo as an emissary ought to study a malady, and nothing more.