All That Lives Must Die - Eric Nylund [250]
Eliot marched forward and Jezebel walked by his side.
“There is no choice,” she whispered to him, “for any of us. Be careful. Your next words may kill us all.”
62. A universal symbol of beauty and romance, the rose has also been associated with power and secret societies formed to wield that power. Ancient Romans placed a rose on the door where secret societies would meet (the phrase sub rosa, or “under the rose,” means to keep a secret). Examples of such societies are the Order of the Celestial Rose (League of Immortals), the Knights of the Thorned Rose (Infernals), and the Holy Rose Hunters (vampire killers among the Mortal Magical Families ca. sixteenth century). Mythohistorians claim to trace these groups to prehistoric pagan cults, worshippers of fertility and warrior spirits, which may suggest a common root origin. Secret Societies in a Secret World. Lucy Westin, Paxington Institute Press LLC, San Francisco.
63. The Tower Grave is said to be built from the bones of those who offended the Queen of the Poppies. Even for an Infernal, this seems unlikely, due to the sheer volume of materials required and the prehistoric, fossilized nature of the larger specimens. Rough calculations indicate construction began prior to the War in Heaven, and may have been started by entities older than the fallen angels. It must also be noted that the size of Sealiah’s Twelve Towers varies by account, seeming to swell and strengthen in times of conflict and constricting to modest dimensions in peaceful times (see also the mutable nature of the Infernal Realms, section 6). Gods of the First and Twenty-first Century, Volume 13, Infernal Forces. Zypheron Press Ltd., Eighth Edition.
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DUX BELLORUM
Fiona wondered if her brother had another supernatural talent beside his music, one where no matter how hard she tried, he got them both deeper into trouble.
And now it wasn’t just him and her anymore. It was Robert and Mr. Welmann. And it had been Amanda, too.
Fiona was going to have a long talk with Eliot about responsibility when they got out of here.
If they got out of here.
They walked down a gigantic hallway you could’ve taxied a jumbo jet through—the arching walls made from skulls, all of them staring. Luminescent mushrooms sprouted from grinning mouths and eye sockets. It was super creepy.
Eliot strolled alongside Jezebel as if they were going to get some coffee at Café Eridanus.
His crush and the resulting lack of intelligence reminded her of the way she’d felt last summer for Robert.
Fiona cast a sideways glance at Robert. He pulled on his Paxington jacket, tucked in his shirttails, and smoothed his wild hair. He caught her gaze and smiled like everything was going to be all right.
She quickly looked away.
There was no sense mooning over that lost cause now.
She wished Mitch were here. What wouldn’t she give to hold his hand—and jump back home or some exotic location (anywhere not in the middle of a war zone).
She turned back to Eliot. He looked like a dope walking next to his girlfriend. Fiona felt a flash of jealousy, but decided to let him be. Wherever Jezebel was taking them, it wasn’t going to be the happy ending Eliot was hoping for.
The hallway opened into a room as large as a stadium filled with hundreds of guards (all with those deadly looking rifle lances). In the center on a raised dais was a throne of bones, held together with vines and sprouting blossoms.
Queen Sealiah sat there. She wore armor with scales beaten into the shapes of phalaenopsis orchid petals. On her hips were curved daggers, and a sheathed sword with a cracked hilt and ragged leather handle that looked oddly familiar.
But all this was secondary to Sealiah herself. Her hair was copper red and her skin the color of molten bronze. Her eyes flashed as if they were faceted emerald as her gaze swept over them.
And beautiful? She was way beyond beauty.
Fiona couldn’t compare her to any other person or even goddess she’d seen. Not even Dallas came close.
This was an Infernal queen in her lair. And like some big fat spider,