Twenty-Nine: Mal

Liessa was still in the lobby. As the few staff members left to clean up mulled about the room, the aging queen still sat in her seat at the front of the room, sipping on wine and stuffing her face with sweets. Her throne looked small beneath her growing, plump body. A light that once shone from behind her eyes had gone. Her skin was gray and tired, her hair hanging like a sheet around her shoulders. She looked defeated, and my mother seemed to know why.

"Bia, Hades," she said, tiredly, crumbs falling from her mouth as the four of us approached her. "I would ask to what I owe this pleasure, but..."

"Actually," Hades sneered, "I'm just here for the show. Your life is no matter of concern to me." This, at least, got the queen's attention. Her eyes rolled limply in his direction and widened as if it was a shock to hear. Hades, amused by this, continued, "You have overstayed your welcome and have interfered far too long in matters far above your head. I will happily supply some elements of torture should you not be willing to answer Bia's questions."

My mother sat down on the table in front of the Queen and removed her plates and cups from her. "Tell us everything you know," she said gently as if she were speaking to a child. As I watched, Liessa's skin seemed to grow grayer. To stretch out and become wrinkled, and I realized that she was actively dying. My mother wouldn't wait for information if none was given. She'd come to destroy the Queen whether she cooperated or not.

"I know nothing," Liessa insisted. Bia gently cupped the Queen's chin in her hand and forced her to stare into her eyes. Liessa tried to resist--to shut her eyes and then to look away, but she couldn't. When their eyes did meet, and Liessa beheld the light of divinity, she screamed out in pain. "I'll talk! I'll talk!" Her shriek was shrill, strained, *pathetic.* Bia let her go, and she took in several gulps of air like a dying fish searching for water.

"Good, I love that we could come to an agreement. Start with Fen."

"He's alive," she confirmed. Nero and I exchanged glances. Surely, we were thinking the same thing. While we needed to know everything we could, if we could just find Fen now, we had no better shot at getting to Alchimia. "I don't know where. All I did was sever their tie, and Kako did the rest."

"He was at the ball," I supplied in response to Bia's inquisitive expression. "Nero--"

"Yes, I'll let the guard know that we are looking for him as well." My friend disappeared onto the streets and Bia turned her attentions back to Liessa, who was growing frailer by the second.

"Who is Kako, and why would he want everyone to think he had the power to kill a daemon?"

"Kako is the leader of the Lytrotís."

Bia frowned deeply. "They were all killed."

"Yes," Liessa wheezed. "But not all of their children were killed. Kako and his sister Tyki were hidden away. They survived, and they rebuilt the group from within Echelon. The exiled halflings in Apo did not have enough power on their own and the favored many on Earth were not willing to give up their favor with you all, but Kako found a way to combine their power. Eventually, he found a few rogue enchanters with their full powers and made them a part of the leadership. When I was very young, he came to me. He told me that my mother was complicit in destroying the lives of all of these enchanters. He took me to where they lived and showed me in what conditions they continue to suffer. I thought I was helping. Oh, please, Goddess, spare me! I was under his influence! I know now that I am--"

*Smack.*

The sound resonated through the hall, causing a stillness interrupted only by Hades's gleeful giggling. Liessa's cheek burned bright with a red hand mark.

"Focus on what we need to know to save your daughter, cow," Bia hissed. I had never seen my mother behave this way in my life. I'd known she was powerful, at times ruthless. But the cold, complacent nature in which she was conducting her business now was shocking. Almost terrifying. I knew she'd cared for Alchimia. I knew they'd been at least a little close on Olympus and that this was part of why I'd been arranged to marry her, but I was beginning to recognize a sort of frantic desperation in my mother. She didn't just care for Alchimia; she had grown to love her like one loves a daughter.

"They operate out of Echelon. They're probably still there! They're not able to leave the city, but Kako is. I removed his mark. If you find him, you can find the girl." Liessa was choking on her words, her voice growing more and more strained as she went on. My mother's body began to glow as it was lifted from the table, her arms down by her side, palms out. Her eyes shone with something not unlike light but more powerful than it, and when she cast her gaze upon Liessa, the once regal queen convulsed, screamed, and was ash. Hades clapped. Bia returned to the ground and stepped toward me.

"Were you--"

"No," she sighed, wiping the ash from her hands off on her dress. "But there will only be repercussions if we do not find your fiancee. Malfizan, it must be you who goes to her. She has gone because she thinks that no one here supports her. This man--Kako--whoever, whatever he is will use that to get her out of the city, and once she is there will not be so many protections on her life. Can you tell if she is alive?"

"Our bond is still there, so she must be, but she's put some kind of block on it." My mother's eyes searched me, and I felt her disappointment radiating off of her.

"Hurry, then. Take whoever you need with you. Just bring her back. I will take care of the city in the meantime."

"I will go and see if I can find Fen. If he can be set free, he will relish in the chance to beat you in a race to Alchimia," Hades said with a smirk. I left to find Nero, Presta, and Reus.

*Please just stay alive, Chimi. I promise I'll make up for every wrong I've done you tenfold if you just stay alive.*