That was what they said about the Dragonborn, wasn't it? Dragons, shouts, legends of old. She should have realized sooner.
Voices strained through her dreams.
"She's in there, Nazir, I can tell!"
"I'm digging as fast as I can…"
Scrapes and scratches came closer and Athene knew it was only minutes until she'd be wrenched back to reality. She felt through the black for the Night Mother's gnarled hand, and grasped it.
"You must see Astrid," the Night Mother whispered. "In the sanctuary."
"I don't want to," Athene mumbled.
Her mother had nothing more to say.
The door to the coffin was wrenched open.
Nazir and Babette stared at her. Behind them she saw the coffin had fallen through the stained glass window and down by the pool. It might have been the only thing that saved her from being cooked.
That, and the will of Sithis. That bastard.
"Whoa! Take it slow," said Nazir.
She must look awful. "Astrid," Athene said.
"You poor thing," said Babette. Wherever she'd been must have shrunk in importance next to the destruction of their family. Was that a blessing?
Athene pushed past them both and went up the stairs to Astrid's room. At first she couldn't see anything, but then a groan sounded and she looked at the burned ground. There was more to it than she'd seen. The ground moved, and it had eyes. It was Astrid, burned black as the soil.
Athene found no words.
"I'm sorry," Astrid wheezed. "I made the deal to get rid of you. I wanted things to be… the way they were. Before you, Listener. I thought you had ruined… It doesn't matter."
She squirmed and Athene could feel the pain of the burns. Despite the anger and sickness that was rising in her throat–Astrid was the betrayer! She'd doubted everyone, even Cicero, and Astrid was the one who'd sold them out!–she winced at the cracking flesh, the sound of parchment that whispered when Astrid moved.
"Do you see? I am the Black Sacrament. I have prayed to the Night Mother. Listener… you must kill me."
The Blade of Woe, the badge of Astrid's poorly-kept office, lay beside her on the floor. Athene took it and heard Nazir and Babette in the passage behind her.
"That's why you didn't care that I'd gone to Motierre against your orders? You'd already planned this?"
Astrid's eyes, the only part of her that wasn't blackened, closed for a moment. Then they flashed opened and Athene witnessed part of the passion that had let her be the Dark Brotherhood's leader when all of Tamriel had pushed them to extinction.
"Kill me," she said.
Athene hesitated. She held the Blade of Woe, a fitting prize, and thought about walking out. Rejecting the contract, bound in blood and announced by the Night Mother as it had been, and showing Astrid it was too late for redemption. Then she thought of Veezara's body again. The damned lizard–her friend–had trusted Astrid. He said she wasn't always reasonable but she was leader. He'd taken a blade for his leader, too.
So for no other reason but that, Athene stabbed Astrid in the heart. The woman died quickly.
"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it for myself," Babette said.
"Did you find Falion?"
The remaining assassins seemed to shake themselves at the abrupt change of topic.
"He's dead," Babette said slowly.
"And Agni?"
"Not dead. Not alive, either. Not happy about it. Athene, we need to cure her, the way you were cured."
"You killed that option when you killed Falion."
The little vampire scowled at her. "Did I say I killed him?"
"It doesn't matter. There's no way, now."
"Wait–"
"No. Nazir, take what you can scrounge from here."
He dragged his eyes from the burnt corpse of his leader. "Are we going somewhere?"
Athene shrugged. "Go wherever you like. I'm done here."
"Will the Night Mother say anything else?"
"I don't know. And I don't care."