I've never laid eyes on Graves before.
She's fucking heart-stopping. That's both literal and figurative. Tall, willowy, lean, and strong, with sharp features and a defiant posture. She's damn near as pale as Umbra, with dark gray hair streaked with lighter ashen grays, which is cut somewhat haphazardly just at shoulder length. Her scales are black as night, her plating is just a few shades lighter, and her folded venous wasp wings hug close to her back, jutting straight down from her shoulder blades toward the floor. Her hands are bound at the wrist, but her hooked claws are sharply and perfectly honed.
There's a cold, distant, empty look in her icy white eyes as the rescue team checks her all over for any sign of the Wretched Overgrowth, and her long tail calmly sways as though she's simply waiting for a break in the rain.
That tail is… Well. Shit. It's the most viciously intimidating tail I've ever seen. Long, very long, and thin too, tipped with a single horrifically sharp lancet as long as Penny is tall, which is dripping with rancid gray-green venom. Alongside her dorsal plating, the whole length of her tail is rippled with four more striations of black bone scutes, not unlike the body of a sturgeon. What's more, the lower half is lined with piercing barbs, which lie flat to its length pointing toward her lancet.
She's a crossblood. Like me.
Those spines are unique to quill drakes.
They can be launched as projectiles.
I wonder if they're envenomed too.
Every fucking inch of her screams of abject lethality. As if she could somehow murder me with merely a sideways glance. Even though she's standing still and remaining passive, I get the feeling she could slaughter every single one of us without breaking a sweat.
I think I might be in love.
It took some persuading and pleading, but Hilde agreed to bring me along on the grounds that I will be acting as something of a consultant. Despite knowing that Graves is definitely on my side, I still find myself hiding behind Hilde and keeping Penny in my arms as we enter the wide chamber.
The instant I'm in sight, Graves' white eyes lock on.
They do not look away. Nor does she blink. At all.
I swallow hard, shimmying further behind Hilde.
"Who are you?" Hilde demands, shielding me with an arm.
Her voice is soft-spoken and cold. "Graves."
"Yes, we know that much. Who is Graves?"
She doesn't respond to that.
"What role did you have among the Wretched?"
She speaks with sharp enunciation. "Protect."
"Oh? Who or what did you protect?"
"Her."
"Who? The Fell? Did you protect the Fallen Queen?"
Graves remains silent, still staring at me.
"You'll need to give us more than that, Graves. We're trying to help you. But we can't do that unless you tell us how you need to be helped. Not only that, but we need to know more about you. What you've been through. How you've been hurt. And, most importantly, by whom."
She hisses and bristles at one of the dracs examining her tail. If it were me, I'd be on my knees begging for my life. Keeping her tail closer to her back, Graves lifts her chin slightly and refuses to answer.
Hilde sighs, placing a hand on her forehead. "Hells. I guess they can't all be as forthcoming as you, red."
To my horror, Penny slips out of my arms and confronts our undeniable ally. "Perhaps it's best to allow her time to adjust, Legend Hildegard. In light of her terseness and the clear danger about her, I suggest a room in one of the more secure wards. Without a window. In the basement."
"I'm inclined to agree." Hilde steps closer. "I want to make it clear. This isn't a punishment, Graves. It's a security measure. We don't know who you are, what you're capable of, or where your allegiances lie. Hells, we don't even know yet if you're still Wretched. You say you were a protector. I'm trying to protect the Heavens. I'm sure you can understand."
Graves doesn't react in the slightest.
I nervously shift beneath her oppressive stare.
It's getting to me. I don't know why she's doing this.
And Hilde takes notice. She steps to the side, looking from her to me, then back to her. "What are you doing? Why are you looking at her? Hm? Do you have some sort of problem with Crimson? That's something I will not let you keep silent. And yes, this one will be a fucking punishment if you do not comply. You one option here is to fucking explain. Why are you looking at Crimson?"
The corners of Graves' lips curl slightly. She speaks in a voice that's completely different. It starts with a short breathy moan, then shifts to a quiet, hissing, whispering purr.
"Ahh… How dearly I miss my little rose…"
No. No way. It's her. It's my fucking Umbsy.
"What?" Hilde demands. "Your rose? What in the Hells is that?"
Just as quickly, she's gone. Graves is back. "Sleep."
"What the fuck is happening here? Now you want to sleep?"
"Yes."
Penny sets a hand on Hilde's arm.
With a growl through her teeth, Hilde steps back. "Fine. But I don't trust you in the slightest. Yeti, Venus, Falx, make sure she's secured down below. Very. Well. And get that enforcer detail up here immediately. We are not risking a fucking breach on patient number two. Get started. Now."
Hilde snags me by the waist with her tail and pulls me along out of the room, with Penny in her other arm. Nearly tripping over my own feet, I walk backwards and keep eye contact with Graves up until the very last moment when Hilde takes me out of sight around the corner.
I don't know what's happening. This seems dangerous.
Hilde is pissed. Penny is unfazed. I'm nervous.
Somewhere in the hallways, Hilde stops to give people more orders about security, and Penny tugs on my sleeve. The soft gesture snaps me back to reality and I look down at her, confused. With her head turned away from me as she watches Hilde, she slips a blood-stained finger sized bone into my palm.
I keep it out of sight, even more confused.
"Keep that close," Penny mutters under her breath. "That's how she'll find you."
"What the fuck, Penny? Was that–Did Umbsy just–"
"Um. Yes." She steals a look past me. "Some… blessing. With the Blackthorns. She can join them in their bodies, and they can let her have control."
"What? Blackthorns?"
"Her personal guards and assassins. They follow her everywhere from the shadows. Nobody knows how many there are, but some say they've seen up to five. I looked into them, but only found three names. Graves, Echo, and Ashes. The rest are a total blackout."
"I know about these assassins, sure, but I didn't know there was a name for them! Why the Hells do you know all this and I don't?"
"Because I asked?"
"Yeah, that'll do it. I wonder if they were watching us in bed…"
"I wouldn't kn–"
"Come on," Hilde interrupts with a sigh, pulling us along. "Time to let the others do their jobs. So I hope. Let's go back to your room, Crimz. That nap sounds fucking fantastic right about now…"
We do exactly that, and I get to be in the middle again.
Penny falls right to sleep. Hilde and I do not.
The wind, the chimes, the cardinal. Our breaths.
Hilde tightens her hold on me, kissing my ear. "Are you okay?"
"Hm?" I turn my head toward her. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know. That whole thing was weird. I'm worried she scared you. She was staring hard."
"Oh. N–No, I'm not scared. I was, but not anymore. I feel safe now. Here in your arms…"
"Aw. That's very sweet." She kisses my neck for it, and I suck in a sharp breath. With a short hum of amusement, she shifts her body against mine for a second or two. I start to think that's it, but then she asks, "Not at all scared?"
"Not with you holding m–"
"I mean, I've never seen a dracofae who's taller than me. She's undoubtedly a bloodthirsty fucking killer, I don't think her capture was accidental in the slightest, and she was far too fixated on you, which is fucking terrifying on multiple levels. Hells, red, I'm scared. And you're not? That doesn't make any sense."
I hold my breath. Did I just blow my own cover?
"That iceblooded hornet is here to kill you. I just fucking know it. Of course. Of fucking course. The Fell watched me rescue you. She knew all about our methods from the very beginning. And then what does she do? She lets the dust settle and sends a murderer to feign being captured and then silence you. Wait. Wait. That's…"
Hilde shoots upright.
"I just let the Fell into the fucking Heavens!"
Penny snickers. "Checkmate, Aurora."
Graves smashes through my cell door.