All That Lives Must Die

Something inside Eliot wanted to take his sister’s hand and run as far and fast away from this place as he could. Everything was changing around them. Literally. The land thawed and grass pushed up from the earth. The sun shrank to a golden orb. Iron gray thunderheads lightened and spread across the sky in a silver layer of overcast.

There was more. He felt it. But he couldn’t understand any of it yet.

“Eliot,” Louis called.

Against his better instincts, Eliot jogged to his father.

Robert met him halfway. “How is she?” he asked. “I didn’t know it was him.”

He meant Mitch, or rather, Mephistopheles. Every trace of Robert’s cool was gone. He looked worried and guilty and more than a little angry that he had supposedly delivered the winning blow in this war. . and lost Fiona in the process.

“It looked like he was going to. .” Robert’s forehead creased. “I didn’t know what he was going to do. I just knew that I had to stop him.”

Eliot wondered for a split second-if Robert had known it was Mitch, would he have stopped and let him take Fiona? Or would he have still thrown the sword and killed him? No-he dismissed that idea. Robert didn’t work like that.

“Fiona will be okay,” Eliot told him. “She just has a lot to think about.”

Robert took a step toward her.

“I wouldn’t talk to her yet, though. Seriously.”

Robert considered that, nodded, and wandered off.

Eliot finally got to Louis, who arched an eyebrow at how long it had taken him. He motioned for Eliot to stand before him, and Louis set his hands on Eliot’s shoulders and angled him at Sealiah.

The Queen gave rapid orders to her knights: “Release any souls in thrall-those loyal to Mephistopheles grind up to replenish the land-send runners for engineers and gardeners-strengthen our borders or we may lose the edges.”

Louis cleared his throat.

Sealiah turned and regarded Louis with distain.

“You,” she murmured, “. . are still here. Why?” Her gaze softened as she took in Eliot. “And my young Dux Bellorum who coaxed out the sun out and won the day. Worry not. Our Jezebel shall be reconstructed, lovelier than ever.”

“I believe you said something about the ‘spoils of war’?” Louis said.

Her face grew cold. “Did I?”

“As one of your generals,” Louis said, “I claim my share in land.”

Sealiah laughed. “Why not wish for the moon, Louis? You barely fought. It was Eliot, Fiona, and Robert who deserve the glory.”

Louis shrugged. “Nonetheless, I played my part as your Dux Bellorum. It matters not the state of my cowardice or the quantity of blood spilled. I was here. I participated. I claim my right.” His sly smile returned. “Unless you wish to renege? I could take my dispute to the Board.”

Sealiah’s red lips turned white. “Name the domain from our conquered enemy,” she said. “But try not my patience, Deceiver.”

“I would never dare such a thing,” Louis replied with a nod. “I claim. .” He cupped his crooked chin, thinking. “Just an acre or two from the Hysterical Kingdom-far from here, I assure you. The Mirrored City?”

Louis’s gaze traveled to the ground and he licked his lips. He bent over and found a mass of twisted, charred cloth at their feet. “The small bit as well,” he said to her. “After all, it was mine to begin with.” He shook the tangle out and ashes filled the air. Eliot thought it might have been the remains of a black velvet cloak. Mephistopheles’? It was hard to tell.

“Done,” Sealiah declared. “But take great care, Louis, not to push your city limits farther into the Hysterical Kingdom. . which is now mine.”⁶⁸

Louis bowed low-but not so low that he took his eyes off her.

Sealiah blinked and turned back to her knights.

Louis cleared his throat again and gestured to Eliot, as if presenting him to the Queen for the first time.

Sealiah seemed to understand this and smiled.

Eliot shifted, uncomfortable under her smoldering gaze.

Sealiah said, “And what treasure do you wish, my young noble born?”

“What do I want? I don’t-”

Louis poked a sharp fingernail into Eliot’s back.

Eliot stood straighter. That hurt, but it’d been a clear warning. Something was going on here that he did not understand. . something Infernal.

What did Eliot want? Sealiah had already told him she would heal Jezebel. That’s what this had all been about: him and her. Right?

But it wouldn’t just be him and Jezebel; she would always be Sealiah’s protegee- her slave, actually.

Eliot felt sorry for Jezebel. He loved her, too. But the magnitude of political intrigue and her Infernal ties meant that they could never have a normal boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. If Sealiah ordered her later to stab Eliot in the back, he wasn’t sure Jezebel could refuse.

Why was it so complicated?

He was missing something, though, right in front of him. He could feel it just out of his mental reach. . at his fingertips. . in the air around him. . in the dirt under his sneakers.

Yes, the land.

He cocked his head back to his father. “Why did you want land?”

Louis smile seemed to melt from its usual mocking crookedness to something genuine. “Land is everything.” He gave a theatrical wave of his hand. “If I were you, I would pick a Dolorous Archipelago on the Mirrored Sea, next to my city.”

“Quiet your wagging tongue, Louis.” Sealiah’s hand rested on the pommel of Saliceran. “Or I shall cut it out and feed it to my dogs.”

Louis shut his mouth with an audible clack of teeth.

“You do not want land, Eliot,” Sealiah told him as if he were a child about to stick his finger into a light socket. “It’s a tremendous responsibility, one that would be impossible to manage while you were at school.” She tapped her lower lip, considering. “Why not let me give you a mansion in San Francisco? One with swimming pools, game rooms, a kitchen, and a full staff?”

She sounded worried. Eliot had definitely stumbled onto something.

“Or a yacht,” Sealiah continued. “Or a real, living band and a recording deal. You would be the next big thing. The whole world would flock to your concerts.”

While Eliot had grown to appreciate having a band to play with, the thought of tens of thousands of people in an audience made his stomach churn.

What was he missing? Was what it about land that had everyone so worked up?

He knew it’d look strange, but was drawn to the earth, so he knelt and touched the dirt. There were worms and beetles and tiny bell-shaped flowers with blue veins that uncurled in the soil.

He remembered when he had touched the dirt through the Gates of Perdition-when Uncle Kino had ditched him and Fiona there. That earth had been dead, lifeless for a billion years. . but there had been a “malleable” quality to it. It was hard to explain, just a feeling that he could make something out of it if he put his mind to it.

What Louis had said about land came rushing back to him: “We are monarchs of the domains of Hell, the benevolent kings and queens over the countless souls who are drawn there to worship us. Without land, we would be the lowest of the low.”

“So,” Eliot said, “if you own land in Hell, you’re the king or queen of it? You control the souls there?”

“Land,” Sealiah replied, “is what defines an Infernal Lord. And yes, the souls belong to you. . but the damned are far more trouble and time than they are worth.”