Blood and Salt (23 page)

PIECES

DANE AND I MOVED
through the stalks in silence, following the path laid before us. I was terrified of what awaited me. Everything about this felt like a death march.

Dane kept a close eye on the dozen or so crows circling low overhead. Maybe Coronado was already inside Quivira—I wondered how he could stop the ritual now that Dane and I were immortal and bound?

Sensing my concern, Dane stroked my palm with his thumb. Even now, my blood craved him, my body reached out for him. Dane was a drug coursing through my veins, with an influence just as powerful as Katia's. I felt what he felt, anticipated his every move. His touch was like an anchor holding me to myself, reminding me of who I was.

I wanted to believe we could get through this, but with every step, the darkness spread, sweeping through my cells like poison. I'd seen into Katia's heart. I'd experienced her cruelty
firsthand. Katia had been planning this for over five hundred years. What made me think I could defeat her with love? I glanced up at Dane to voice my fears, but I wanted him to hold on to hope for as long as he could. For everything he thought we could be.

I caught glimpses of Katia as she moved through the corn ahead of us, the swing of her skirt skimming the back of her knees, her hair swishing against her bronze shoulders like a wave of black silk. I reached my hand to my throat, thankful to feel Marie's ribbon still with me. It gave me some comfort.

As we neared the sacred circle, the air went thick with warring scents, some as familiar to me as breathing—others completely foreign. Along with sandalwood, cedar, mandarins, and the sea, I swore I caught a hint of my mother's scent, but my senses were on overload. Beyond the wall of sound—the gentle breeze rustling through the stalks—a soft susurration of breath entered my consciousness. I couldn't see the others, but I could feel their presence like a sharp needle softly dragging down the back of my neck.

“Ku' Quivira paatu' huhtaat aat,”
Katia whispered.

Only my blood shall pass.

As we followed her into the sacred circle, Katia halted.

A feeling of repulsion and fear ripped through me.

“Katia,” said a man standing inside the circle. It was Coronado, in the flesh, his hand resting on the hilt of the dagger slung low around his waist.

Katia took out her golden blade, and at least two dozen men stepped out of the stalks, swords at the ready.

“How is this possible?” Katia murmured as she looked past Coronado, out over the corn. Her eyes filled with tears, her breathing went shallow.

“The boy's blood cut through your magic, led the way into Quivira.”

Katia's face blanched. “What boy?”

“You didn't know?” Coronado seemed surprised. “The twin. Ashlyn's blood is full of life, but her brother's is pure death. Death for
all
living things, including your precious corn.”

I felt a shiver rush through my blood as Katia reached out to the Dark Spirit for help.

“So careless of you,” Coronado continued, “but you've always thought yourself invincible—above the laws of man and nature.”

As clouds amassed overhead, I could feel Katia's power growing. A sinister wind rustled over the corn, a small taste of what was to come.

“We've already shed too much blood, you and I.” Coronado took a bold step toward her. “We were young and foolish. Just like the young lovers you've summoned here today.” His eyes settled on me in an overly familiar way, which made my heart beat heavy in my chest.

I looked up at Dane, his face shrouded in fear.

“I took Alonso away from you,” Coronado said with a flash
of arrogance. “You took Marie away from me. We've had our vengeance. We can end this right now. Let the lovebirds fly away. Live in peace.”

“There will be no peace as long as I'm bound to
you.
” Katia's fingers trembled with rage.

Coronado's eyes flickered to Dane. A moment of recognition passed between them, but Dane quickly looked away. I could tell he was trying to stay strong, but I could feel his emotions—fear, sympathy, and an overwhelming sense of guilt.

“I'm glad you're here,” Katia said, that rictus smile spreading across her face. “I want nothing more than to watch you die.” Raising her hands to the sky, she summoned a vicious wind, which swiftly swooped down through her hands to encircle Coronado in a tight cylinder, holding him in place. “When the binding is complete, your body will wither and rot off your bones. You may have found a way into the sacred circle, but you have no vessel.”

The Arcanum pressed forward from the stalks, but Coronado help up his hand, commanding them to stay back.

As Katia closed her eyes and began chanting, Coronado signaled to one of his soldiers, who pushed a hunched figure through the perimeter of corn, into the sacred circle.

It was a woman. She looked almost feral, tucked away against the stalks. But I recognized the graceful movement of her long slender fingers as she traced symbols in the air. “Mom,” I whispered as I sank down beside her, brushing her limp hair back from her face.

She looked up at me like a child, blinking slowly a few times, before focusing in on me. “I'm sorry,” she whispered. “I didn't know you were the vessel until it was too late.” She looked dehydrated and ravaged by exhaustion. She tried to smile, but her lips only cracked. Still, she had a wild look in her eyes. She was very much alive.

“I'm here,” I said, grasping her frail hands. My eyes stung from trying to hold back the tears. “Where have you been?”

“Coronado came for me in New York City, took me back to Spain. It didn't take long for both of us to realize I wasn't Katia's vessel,” she said as she showed me the cuts on her wrist. “But you and your brother were already here, inside Quivira. She fooled us all.”

I thought of her studio on the day she disappeared, filled with crows—her scent all around me when we met Coronado at the perimeter. I couldn't believe I didn't piece it together.

“I can heal you,” I whispered as I cradled her arm in my hands. The cuts looked like they might be infected.

“No.” She pulled her hand back. “I don't want to heal. This is how I can protect you. This is my destiny. Together, we can end this.”

Suddenly, my entire body tensed as I looked out over the corn. There was a darkness building, spreading out over the field like a storm cloud. It's the same feeling I experienced when Katia summoned the Dark Spirit before the battle in 1861. The corn was hungry.

I looked back at Katia, who was swaying to the music of
her own whispering, and a deep ache settled in my heart. As distorted and twisted as she'd become, I understood her. I felt her rage and despair and hopes and fears in every word she uttered.

“What's happening?” Dane asked from behind me.

The dark energy pulsed over the field, screaming out for blood.

“She's going forward with the ritual.” I gave him a bittersweet smile.

My mother's eyes darted between Dane and me. She dug her nails into my arm. “You're already blood bound?”

Sensing the tension, Dane said, “I'll give you a moment,” before walking to the far end of the circle.

“It was my choice,” I said to my mother. An uncontrollable heat rushed to the surface of my skin just thinking about our private ceremony under Heartbreak Tree last night.

Her body went rigid. “You only
think
it was your choice.”

The first wave roared through the corn, taking down one of the soldiers and ripping his legs clean off his body.

“What are you talking about?” I searched the field, wondering how many of them were hiding in the stalks and why Coronado wasn't signaling for them to run . . . or charge?

“He's not what you think.” My mother's eyes filled with tears.

Teresa said the same thing to me at the Mendoza lodge.

“Dane isn't like his father,” I assured her over the horrifying wet screams of the Arcanum as the corn picked them off
one by one. “You yourself told me we're not responsible for the sins of our ancestors.”

“I was wrong,” she said as if she were swallowing thick chunks of glass.

“What are you saying?”

“Spencer chose to have a child with Teresa so he could have a son who was of Mendoza and Coronado blood—a cornwalker.”

“He's a terrible man . . . I know this.”

“
Dane
is the one who's been delivering the Larkins to Coronado all these years. He was supposed to deliver
you
to Coronado when you first came to Quivira, but he refused.”

“What are you talking about?” I looked at her like she was crazy. She
was
crazy. There was no other explanation. Why would she be saying this to me? What did she have to gain? I tried to pull away from her, but she only dug into my skin with more fervor.

“I was there, Ash. When Dane let go of you in the corn, he spoke with Coronado. They've known each other for years. Dane saw an opportunity at immortality and he took it, but he also saved your life.”

I didn't want to believe it, but doubt quickly seeped inside of me, ripping me to shreds. The way Dane held out his hand on that first night, asking me to come with him into the corn, telling me we had to hurry, and the savage look on his face when we were interrupted. How he nearly led me right into Coronado's arms the night of the bonfire, then changed his mind.

Rhys warned me over and over again and I didn't listen.

I felt my world crumble. I wanted to burn down villages, cut out people's beating hearts, and rip the stars down from the sky.

My entire body trembled as I turned to face him. I didn't have to ask if it were true. I saw it in the deep flush creeping up the sides of his neck and the way he shifted his weight like he was getting ready to dodge a moving train. “You killed my family,” I said as I stalked toward him.

He held up his hands in front of him and tried to back up, but there was nowhere to go. “I . . . I was born into this, just as you were,” he tried to explain, his bright eyes clouded with tears.

“So, you knew all along I was the vessel,” I cried. “You lied to me. You manipulated me.”

Dane pulled me tightly to him; I writhed in his arms and tore myself away. “You were going to take me to Coronado, but you changed your mind. Why?”

“I was in love with you.” His voice caught in his throat. “I thought we could be together—”

“You knew I would blood bind to you. You saw a weakness in me and you took it. Because everyone knows the Larkin women are fools for love.”

“No, I . . . was . . . I couldn't turn you over to him,” he said, his face contorted in agony. “I could never hurt you. Everything I did was to protect you.”

“Protect me?” I gasped. I looked back at Katia, hoping
she'd smite him or something, but she was still lost in her own world of longing as she traced symbols in the dirt and chanted aloud.

“Ashlyn, please.” Dane sank to his knees before me. “I will spend the rest of eternity trying to make this up to you.”

“You have no eternity. Not with me.”

“We're blood bound.”

“If you really loved me, you wouldn't have taken me to him in the first place. You wouldn't have lied to me. You would've found a way to let me go.” Looking out over the bloodstained crops, my eyes filled with tears. “I'd rather be dead than be bound to someone like you.”

I felt the shame, hurt, and despair within him and I didn't want to feel that right now. I didn't want to feel him at all. I wanted to open my veins and spill him from my soul.

Not knowing what else to do I lashed out at him in murderous rage, my fists swinging wildly.

“Enough!” Katia turned her attention on me and took control of my body—I felt my ribs cracking but I didn't care. I wanted to feel anything other than this betrayal.

I collapsed to the ground in agony.

Dane moved toward me to help me to my feet while Katia raised her hands to the sky, summoning another terrible wind, which wrapped around Dane's body in a howling vortex, pinning him in place. I didn't know if it was to protect him, or me.

I dragged my body toward my mother. I'd never felt so raw, haggard, and pathetic. The tears wouldn't stop flowing. My
heart felt like a thousand-pound brick dragging in my hollow chest.

“It hurts, doesn't it?” My mother's eyes were dark and wild.

“Yes,” I answered through clenched teeth, glaring at Dane on the other side of the protective veil. Veins protruded from his neck as he tried to reach me, but it was futile, like trying to walk into a hurricane.

“There is a way out. But the pain has only begun,” my mother warned. “You're going to feel like you can't take another breath, like your heart can't stand to beat another second. But in that suffering, you'll find redemption, then freedom, and finally love. As much as it hurts, you must keep your heart open. That is the price you must pay.”

“I don't understand.”

My mother held me close. “If you want to break the blood bond, you must find Aiyana. There are ways, but make certain it's what you truly want. You will never feel as strongly for another human being as you do to the person you are bound to. Love is love, no matter how you come by it.”

I didn't understand what she was saying. Soon, I wouldn't be
me
anymore. The only chance I had of hanging on to some semblance of myself was through Dane and I could hardly stand to look at him. The eyes of my love and now my enemy.

VESSEL

“NINA, BRING HER
to me,” Katia called, her black hair billowing around her face like agitated snakes.

My mother gathered her strength and helped me to my feet. She walked me to the edge of the chasm where Katia waited. I wanted to resist, I wanted to scream, I wanted to dig my heels in and fight, but I could feel Katia taking control of my body—shutting down my will. Raw power pulsed through every cell, luring me in like prey.

My mother whispered, “I loved you before you were even a complete thought in my mind. You gave me a reason to live, to fight, to remember that good still remained in this world. Katia let me go because you were already inside of me. I've been practicing for this moment my entire life—I just didn't know I was practicing for you. You gave my life meaning and I will always be a part of you, but the time has come for you to let me go.”

I hugged her tighter, but she broke away from me and stepped back. A wave of pain swept over me, so crushing I thought it might bury me. I was grateful I got to see her one more time, but I knew this was truly good-bye. The next time she saw my face, I wouldn't be me anymore.

My mother smiled. “I didn't leave you unprotected.”

Despair and confusion gripped me.

“It's time,” Katia announced.

I couldn't believe it all came down to this. All of the struggle, all of the fighting, all of the pain added up to nothing. Katia got what she wanted, and so did Dane.

I felt the black silk ribbon slither from my neck and drift off into the corn. Without it, I felt hollow and cold. Just like Katia wanted me to feel. Just like I deserved. I was never anything more than a vessel.