Gates of Paradise (Blue Bloods 7)

Mother, where are you sending me? she wondered.

SEVENTEEN

Mimi

t was dim inside the enchanted chapel, the windows black, as if the world extended no further than the space inside it. Mimi was trapped in an insulated world, in Limbo, in the nothingness of the abyss.

“I knew it was you at the station,” Kingsley said. “Don’t tell me you’re with that jerk. What happened to that brother of yours?”

Mimi tossed her hair back haughtily. “We work for Lucifer now.”

“Yeah, right.” Kingsley laughed.

“He wants the grail to make godsfire, and we mean to give it to him.”

“The Mimi I knew—”

“The Mimi you knew is gone,” she said. “I told you to forget about me, and it looks like you took my advice to heart.”

“Jealous, were you?” he asked. “Now I know you’re lying about your feelings for me.”

In reply, she drew out her sword and faced him.

He did the same, brandishing his weapon. “Do you really mean to fight me for it?” He tipped his sword against hers, and a dull ring echoed around the room. He took two steps backward, the grail in one hand, his blade in the other. “All right, then, who am I to stand in your way. You always were a good sparring partner.”

Make it look real, she thought. I’ve got to make him believe I have gone to the Dark, to keep him safe. Otherwise…

She swung first, and he met her thrust with the edge of his sword, bashing her blade against a stone pillar. The shock reverberated through the steel, rattling her grip. She nearly lost the weapon, but quickly recovered. Kingsley took a step back.

Mimi advanced, crossing her blade against his, then quickly recovering to jab at his chest. Rather than meet her second blow with his sword, he swung with the grail, and she nearly dropped her weapon once more.

“Careful now, you might destroy what you want to take from me.”

Mimi smiled. “No chance of that.” She held her sword low, scraping it against the hard stone pillar as she brought it up fast toward his left hand. She turned the blade sideways, as he had first done, and struck at the back side of his hand. The blow sent the cup flailing from his grip, and it fell to the ground with a clang.

Kingsley took a leap forward, but rather than striking Mimi, he kicked the grail with the back side of his foot, sending the old cup rolling behind him.

For a moment he was defenseless, and Mimi drew her sword across his chest. Her steel met flesh, drawing a bloody line across his midsection. Kingsley grunted in pain, and she felt the ache in her chest as well, at the thought of hurting him. But her face remained impassive.

She lunged for the grail, but Kingsley kept himself between her and the cup, circling her as they danced around each other.

They were now in the center of the nave. The elaborate stone carvings that were worn flat in the real church appeared newly carved and shining in the otherworldly extension. But Mimi stopped admiring her surroundings when Kingsley’s sword nipped her shoulder, cutting through her coat.

“Ouch!” she said, annoyed.

“Tit for tat.” Kingsley smiled and motioned to the gash on his chest. “Come on now, let’s stop this. I haven’t seen you in months and this is how you greet me? I’ll say it. I’ve missed you. What happened to you? Why did you disappear like that? Why did you tell me to leave you alone? Explain what happened—I can help.…”

He knows. He knows I don’t want to hurt him. She could have cut him deeply on the first strike, but she’d only caused a surface wound. He’d treated her shoulder in similar fashion. He wanted to know how far she would take this charade, how badly she was willing to wound him to recover the grail.

And it was all because she had told him the truth before she’d left. Remember that I love you, no matter what happens.

It was her own words that were keeping him from buying her act. If only she could take them back. It was too dangerous for him to know the truth.

“I will take the grail, or I will die trying,” she said. “You’ll have to kill me for it.”

“Fine,” Kingsley said. He advanced on her side, swinging his sword in a wide arc, and, knowing his reach would exceed hers, slashed against her torso.

Mimi hissed in pain, but before she could parry, he had cut her again above the knee. She staggered backward, trying to catch her breath. She would heal, but for now the pain was agonizing. He’s toying with me, she realized, as he cut her again, and this time the blade grazed her wrist in a thin line. Kingsley was wearing her down, cutting her with a thousand nips and scrapes. He didn’t want to kill her, but he would chip away at her defenses until she crumbled. Another cut grazed her ear, and this time she couldn’t restrain from letting out a sharp cry of pain.