Crown of Thorns

Chapter Thirty-Four

A Muddy River Bank, Day 112 A.F

I wanted him to die. It scared me how badly I wanted him to disappear beneath the mud.

Enki sank further, chest steadily being devoured in an endless pit of mud. He turned his head away from me, searching for Freki. While his head didn't get very far around, he managed to catch the wolf's crimson gaze. Already Tybira had been alerted. Did she still hold enough affection for the Magician that she'd attempt a rescue? Or did his life rest solely on my trembling shoulders? And he didn't think I'd salvage it.

I doubted he even expected me to try.

Why would you? Lady Lotus's haughty purr filled my mind with deafening furosity. My claws sharpened to her sultry words, digging into my palms and breaking my delicate skin. The smell of blood, even my own dripping onto the muddy ground and the prospect of an easily harvestable Icon sent her into a frenzy, practically baying to leave Enki for dead, or better yet, hasten his death. Already Icons have been claimed, yet your hand remains bare. You owe him nothing. The Hanged Man and Strength wouldn't question you. It was an accident. Let him sink. He never trusted you anyway.

True, but I don't want to prove him right yet again.

Enki was my friend.

Tybira loved him, or was very close to loving him. How could I tell her he'd died? She might not suspect me, but the look on her face...

I'd already betrayed him once.

I wouldn't do it again.

I focused on the bushes, the roots firmly in the earth, the branches twisting and baren. Sweat beaded off my forehead as I clenched my eyes shut. I blocked out everything, relying only on feel--that inexplicable connection to the plants. I could sense them, touch them from a distance. I could trace their outline with my mind with as much detail and accuracy as I could with my fingers. Their image blazed behind my eyelids.

As if dragging an imaginary paintbrush across that mental illustration, I willed the plants to grow, their branches to extend past me, unfurling and lengthening. I felt the tug on my gut grow sharp as the wooden branches creaked near my sides but I refused to open my eyes. If I did, my concentration might snap.

Something grabbed a hold, a firm hand on my wrist. I clasped my other hand over the sensation, but found nothing on my skin. But I could feel the pull, the brush of human skin, the calloused, desperate fingers and the cool, sticky mud just as clearly as if he had grasped onto my arm.

Carefully, I turned my focus to that grip. I painted vine-like branches curling around it, wrapping tightly. I urged my floral serpents to constrict, coil around the hand until the grasp was sealed, unbreakable.

I pulled. I pulled harder than that tug in my gut. I pulled with all the force I had. If I couldn't overcome the force resisting me, Enki would die. I screwed my face even tighter, drawing the vines in to me, calling them to me, summoning my army of vipers.

A solid form crashed into my chest, sending me tumbling backward onto the bushes. The foliage bent, cradling me in its branches even as my control snapped. I opened my eyes, crushed beneath Enki's muddy body.

"Get off me." I shoved at his shoulder, worried whatever control I held over the plants would ebb, and we'd be deposited in the mud pit.

He scrambled on top of me, only succeeding in smearing brown filth over any patches of skin that managed to remain clean. Finally, I lost my patience and pushed him off; thankfully, Enki managed to stay on his feet.