Son of Night and Daughter of Stars

Chapter 42: The Possession

The witch-princess was pacing, snarling. "I didn't remember. I didn't remember, until I fucking looked at her, and-" 

Estelle, to Nyx's relief, grabbed Danica by the arm to stop her. The witch-princess had the nerve to hiss at her, but Estelle didn't balk. 

"Dan, sit down. Breathe. Tell us what you're thinking," Estelle said, her voice low as she pulled Danica onto the chair next to her. Danica seemed to oblige, but the minute Estelle released her, she was on her feet again. 

"Danica--" Estelle cut herself off, sighing as Danica began to pace again. "Okay. Just tell us what happened." 

Danica fidgeted restlessly with the knives strapped to her waist as she paced. "I remember, now. I remember fighting you. I remember... I remember that I wanted to beat you, just to prove I could." 

"And?" Nyx pushed, sitting forward. He saw Estelle turn her head, but she didn't look at him. His heart thudded sickly at the thought that she might not for a while. Gods, why had he gotten so close to her earlier? He'd probably ruined everything. 

You should write a book, He thought bitterly to himself. How to destroy relationships in less than ten seconds.

"And... then it wasn't me fighting. It was something else, something taking over my mind. I-I couldn't do anything. I lost my own mobility," Danica muttered, her pacing and fidgeting more frantic now. "I couldn't feel, I couldn't stop, I could see myself attacking you but I had no way to stop it." 

The already-pale princess's face was bone-white now, and when Estelle again pulled her toward a chair, she relented. She sat heavily, her breaths coming faster. Nyx stood and came to sit beside her as Estelle sat on her other side. 

"I couldn't stop," Danica whispered. Her golden eyes turned to Estelle. "I thought I was going to kill you." 

Estelle didn't dare make a joke. Instead, she reached out a grasped Danica's hand tightly. "So why did you forget the moment you woke up, Danica? What made you forget?" 

"I don't know," Danica gasped. "I remember-- I remember you knocking me out. I don't remember what had hold of me, but I knew the minute I saw--" She inhaled sharply, covering her eyes with one hand. She didn't try to stand up. Nyx wasn't sure her legs could possibly hold her. "That vile creature. I knew. I knew it was the same that had held me. Don't ask me how, but I knew."

"So... Amandla isn't... Amandla." Nyx's voice sounded terrible, even to him. He sounded... empty. How could he not have seen it? The very same thing that had given away Danica's possession had been staring at him all along. 

Amandla's eyes. He'd been watching her all morning from the moment she woke up, and it had never occurred to him that her eyes were the wrong color. Ice-blue. Just like Danica's had been.

Nyx didn't think he could feel any more guilt or shame than he did at this moment. This was all his fault. Amandla, the danger he'd brought into Terrasen, the danger he'd left his own world exposed to... 

As if she'd heard his thoughts aloud, Estelle raised her head. And for the first time that day, she met his gaze. 

Those verdant pools of jade bored into his features as if she was trying to read his mind. Her gaze was steady, but he saw her eyelids flicker, just for a moment. He couldn't begin to guess what she was thinking. His breath caught in his throat as she simply looked at him as if she could see all he was thinking, and didn't balk from it for a second. 

Looking at her, looking at him like that, her gaze an unwavering thread hanging between them, Nyx felt a flicker of light in his chest, beating away all those dark, guilt-ridden thoughts consuming his mind. 

"It would appear not," Estelle murmured. She looked away, and just like that, the spell was broken. He was just Nyx again, and she was just the Princess. Estelle put both hands on Danica's shoulders, turning her to face her. "So what do you want to do, Danica?" 

Danica blinked slowly for a moment. Then her lips pulled back from her teeth. "I want to destroy that vile parasite." 

"Good." Estelle stood, but she didn't take her eyes off Danica. "I have a feeling Nyx agrees with you in that regard." 

"Oh, absolutely." Nyx stood as well, watching Estelle even as she refused to look at him. "What do you say we pay that... thing a visit?" 

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They'd had no other choice. 

Nyx hadn't wanted to chain Amandla, not after everything she'd been through. But there was no other way to contain her fury. 

Aelin Galathynius stood before her, arms crossed and eyes glowing in the darkness of the castle dungeon. "Who are you?" 

Amandla-- no, the parasite-- grinned, showing all her teeth. "Wouldn't you like to know, Majesty?" She pulled furiously on the manacles binding her to the wall, flaring her wings in an attempt to sever the chains. "This won't hold me forever, Queen. Sooner rather than later, I will escape." 

"I don't think so," Nyx snapped, stepping forward. Aelin turned her head sharply to glare at him, and Danica hissed a warning. Aelin had made them promise to keep silent before agreeing they could be a part of the interrogation. But Nyx couldn't stand it. Couldn't stand to look at that-- that demon using the body of the woman his cousin loved. 

"I'll ask again," Aelin's voice could have cut flesh. She turned back to the thing, tilting her head menacingly. "Who. Are. You?" 

The parasite sneered, Amandla's lovely features twisting with hate. "I do not have to tell you anything." 

Nyx opened his mouth to speak just as a thin, callused hand entwined with his own. He froze, then glanced down to find Estelle standing beside him, her lips pursed. Her eyes flashed to his, the warning clear. 

Shut up, She told him. Stop talking. 

She squeezed his hand once, hard, then let go. He watched, still frozen, as she stepped forward to whisper something in her mother's ear. He saw Aelin's eyebrow quirk up, but she showed no other response. 

"My daughter thinks I am asking the wrong question," Aelin mused, putting her hands on her hips. "She would like me to ask you what you are." 

The parasite's grin slowly slipped, her features becoming blank and empty. "Now that is a very different inquiry, indeed." 

"Well?" Aelin snapped. "What are you, then?" 

Nyx watched as the parasite's ice-blue eyes grew cloudy, as if lost in a memory. "I am... End. Begining. Death. Rebirth. Darkness." She paused. "But I am not light. I am not life." Finally, her gaze returned to Aelin's, her limbs going still as she stood tall. "You would not know my name, for no one knows it but me. But you know my title." 

"You're the one who attacked my mother, who tried to shoot her," Estelle blurted. Aelin's eyes flicked to her, but she didn't try to stop her as Estelle stepped forward. "You're the one who possessed Danica." Another step closer. "You're the one who sent the son of the High Lord and Lady here." One more step and she'd be close enough to the parasite to touch her. Estelle stopped, eyes gleaming as the last of her answers clicked into place. 

"You're the Goddess from the book," She said, a hint of victory in her words. "The Goddess of Winter's Death." 

A slow, cold, cruel smile. The parasite bent at the waist, Amandla's long black braid slipping over her shoulder. "I am." She raised her head, a mad grin splitting her cheeks. "I am the Goddess Marzanna, bringer of ice and snow and sister of the Maiden of Spring. Pleased to meet you, Princess Estelle Whitethorn Galathynius."