Crown of Crimson (Underworld Gods 2)

I get up and strip, my dress practically disintegrating as I take it off. Good riddance. And to think I got married in it. Then I walk over to Raila, my naked body glowing under the light of the flame ferns. I don’t feel subconscious at all. Instead, I feel like the light is giving me life and energy and power. My skin glows as if lit from within. I don’t look dirty, I just look strong, my muscles more defined than ever.

You look like a queen, Raila says with a nod. The Queen of Tuonela.

I give her an appreciative smile and she reaches down for the sponge in the bucket.

“So, tell me what happened,” I say to her as she starts running the sponge over my shoulders, the warm water sluicing over me. The smell of the summer sprigs fills my nose, like a mix of lavender and mint, and my skin feels instantly refreshed. Man, if I could bottle this stuff up and lug it back to California, I could be a millionaire.

She lets out a small sigh. As you know, the moment Shadow’s End came under attack, Kalma pulled me aside. Took me all the way to the stables to interrogate me. Seems he thought I had something to do with the attack.

“And why would he think that?”

I told you that they think one of the Deadhands or Deadmaidens is a spy for Louhi or a recruit for the uprising. Perhaps even more than one. Kalma automatically assumed it was me because I’m your Deadmaiden. She runs the sponge over my arms and I hold them out. Had Master Tuoni not come back in time, Kalma would have cut off my hand. He may have cut off even more pieces of me. I can’t lose any more of my limbs.

“Kalma?” I question, trying to picture it. “But he’s so…grandfatherly. He doesn’t seem like he could hurt a fly.”

My queen, everyone here could hurt a fly. Myself included.

She’s got a point there. Death rescued Raila from Inmost, so she’s basically an escapee from Hell. She’s done some stuff.

“Why did Death stop Kalma?”

I suppose he found out the truth. That it was Rasmus. Which brings me around to you, my queen. If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly happened?

I haven’t even had the chance to talk about everything with Death, so I lay it all out on Raila as she washes me. By the time I finish talking, I’m completely clean, my hair wet from being rinsed and pulled back into a braid, and I’m dressed in the new gown. It’s simple, like a sundress, and pale yellow. There’s no need for undergarments so I’m both physically comfortable and emotionally comfortable from purging everything that happened to me over the last few days.

Bringing it back to what the Bone Stragglers said, Raila says as I sit on the overturned bucket, munching on small dried apples. They believe you are part of the prophecy of three?

“Yes,” I say between bites. “Have you heard of that before? Death never mentioned there being three prophecies before. Just the one.”

Raila grows silent for a moment. Death doesn’t know there are three.

I nearly choke on my apple. “Are you kidding? How do you know that?”

It’s…something that wouldn’t reach his ears.

“Don’t you think he should know?”

If he should know, Antero Vipunen would have let him know by now. If I were you, I wouldn’t tell him.

I blink at her. “He’s my husband.”

It still feels foreign to say and yet it’s starting to feel real.

Your husband who threw you down here.

Good point. But still.

It will throw off the natural order of things, she goes on. It should be up to Vipunen to decide.

“Well then, I’ll ask him when I meet him,” I tell her.

That would be the wise decision. You must start thinking wisely now that you are queen. There is still so much for you to learn.

“So then how come you know about the prophecy of three if Death doesn’t?”

Don’t forget where I came from, she says knowingly.

Right. Inmost. “Then tell me about it. What does it mean?”

She shrugs lightly, her veil flowing as she does so. No one really knows anything beyond what is said. Rangaista, like all the Old Gods, wasn’t very specific in telling Louhi. But Louhi believes it and that’s what counts. Those in favor of the uprising, they believe it too. Perhaps that counts for more.

“But why did they mistake me for that other girl? Is there someone else in Tuonela that looks just like me?” I try not to shudder. The thought gives me the creeps.

I can’t say. Perhaps that’s something else to ask Vipunen.

I’m going to have a shit ton of questions for this giant. Assuming that I’ll be let out of here to actually meet him.

Suddenly a rope comes down from above and slaps against the stone wall. Both Raila and I gasp and look up to see blonde hair flowing over the opening of the oubliette.