The Iron Seer

Chapter 15 - Fire Unto Ash

Izotz was dead.

In that moment, I saw everything around me with crystal clarity - the ruby spray of grape juice on the wall, in particular, like blood - but my thoughts were strangely slow, my emotions subdued, almost hollow, as if they had yet to catch up to the realization that Izotz was dead. I reacted automatically and wrapped my arms around Tiaothin's shoulders, embracing her tightly as she shook with shock.

I could feel everyone watching this exchange, felt Ash's gaze the most, like a cool touch on my skin, but I resisted the constant urge to look at him and met my father's eyes over Ti's shoulder in silent communication.

Five seconds, and then I pulled back, looking the phouka in her large, slanted eyes. They were dry, surprisingly, but wide and dazed from the recent trauma, and glazed over. "Show me," I said.

***

We made our way out to the stables. The night was still full, the moon high and bright in the sky, as my friend led me to the place she'd found Izotz's dead body.

Apparently, the prospect of the recent, mysterious killing was not to be missed. Narissa was a tall, irritating wraith trailing behind the rest of the group, her dark eyes glittering with excitement and curiosity, and the princes also came with my father out of the manor. I overheard a snatch of their conversation.

"Are the Oni responsible for this, perhaps?" This from Sage.

"Who cares?" Rowan countered blithely, popping some of the red grapes into his mouth as we walked, as if this were a moonlight stroll and we weren't walking toward the place where someone had been murdered. I didn't know when he'd gotten the grapes as I hadn't seen him pick them up - I hoped he'd swiped them from the table and not the floor, at least. "I don't see why it matters who did it. Someone - I don't know who, and I don't particularly care - is dead. If those ugly brutes did happen to kill him, it will still be the least of their worries once we find them." I saw the flash of Rowan's grin in the dark.

"Ariella didn't list the safety of Glassbarrow's residents among the requirements for her bargain," Ash said. "It's possible that the Oni are responsible for this."

I met Ash's eyes, suddenly terrified that he was right. And if he was.... then Izotz's death was all my fault. I looked away, apprehension and guilt making my heart feel heavy.

My father took my elbow as we neared the stables, drawing me a little bit away from Ti and the rest of the group. I saw Ash come up next to the phouka and say something to her, saw her shake her head and respond, but I couldn't make out any of the words.

"You don't need to see this," the Duke said to me in a low voice.

I didn't want to see this. But I owed it to Tiaothin... and to Izotz. I set my jaw and looked him in the eye, still watching Ash and Ti out of the corner of my vision, seeing Ash move ahead toward the stables. "I do, and I will," I said, and followed the third prince of the Winter Court. The Duke didn't try to stop me, but walked with me.

Izotz lay still on the ground around the side of the stable, a dark stain on the white of the snow. His throat had indeed been ripped out - the flesh torn, the fragile skin and muscle and bone of the neck a bloody mess, ruined.

A chill snaked up my spine, my stomach clenching with nausea at the sight of a once living, breathing creature - whom I had known to be uniquely kind and gentle, for a Winter fey - reduced to no more than a shell. Before my eyes, I watched as his body transformed into a bush, with shiny, dark leaves and small, deep red berries - a holly bush. Between one blink and the next, Izotz was something else entirely... Such was the magic of death, the transfiguration of someone into something.