by Brian Olsen
Kenny puts his hand on me again. I assume the mention of his family was enough to override whatever thoughts of a heroic escape he might have been entertaining.
“Everybody, quiet!” Zane snaps. “We’re done fighting.” He takes another step closer to me. “Chris. I know you’re still in there. Please come back to us. To me.”
I don’t move. I keep my expression neutral. “You’re wrong.”
He shakes his head. “You could have killed us all. You haven’t. And you could have grabbed Shonda and been gone before we got here. You waited.”
He swallows, then puts a hand on my shoulder. I have to repress a shiver.
“You wanted to see us.”
“Chris is gone.” I put a little tightness in my voice, as if I’m fighting strong emotion. “Chris doesn’t…he doesn’t deserve your concern. Not after what I…what he…did…”
Everyone is frozen, watching us.
“Chris. No.” Zane’s voice is so soft. He slides his hand up my shoulder to my neck. “What happened to your father was not your fault.”
Kelle tenses behind me, her fingers tightening on my shirt. Still reacting to any mention of her imaginary husband. I’m going to have to talk to her again.
Although I must admit, I’m glad now I’ve seen that grief on her face. It gives me something to mimic.
I let my brow relax, my face slacken a little. I look a little deeper into Zane’s eyes, then widen my own, as if I’ve had a flash of memory, or recognition.
“Zane?” I say softly. “Zane…I can’t…I’m trying…”
Tes looks sharply at me. I don’t look at her. Instead I give her hand a squeeze, so slight as to be imperceptible to anyone watching.
“Chris?” Zane smiles. His eyes are a little wet. “Chris, it’s okay. You can come back to us.”
I’m trying to make tears come but I’m not that good an actor. I think my expression is carrying it, though. I look past Zane at the others. “Alisa? Nate?”
Nate runs forward. “Buddy? Is that you?”
Alisa stays where she is. Her expression is hopeful, but cautious.
“Truth,” she mutters.
Damn. Time to end it.
“No!” I shout, shaking my head as if to clear it. “No!” I take an awkward step backwards, dragging Tes and Shonda with me and forcing the rest of my people to move back, tightening their grips on me to avoid losing contact.
“Stay away!” I yell. “Chris Armstrong is dead. Forget him! Sun!”
We’re just outside the hotel, next to the large overhang, underneath which guests park their motorized carriages while checking in. Or they would, if I were allowing any guests. The same beautiful sun shines down on us as it did outside Shonda’s house. The morning light is radiant on the mountains.
They’re all still touching me. Everybody’s dead quiet.
I probably should have told them what I was planning but it was so much more fun to surprise them.
I burst out laughing. “That went perfectly! I couldn’t have asked for better!”
I let go of Shonda’s hand. The rest step away, one by one.
Kumar’s mouth wrinkles in an annoyed frown. “Your Majesty?”
“Never fear, General.” I give her a broad salute. “Your commander is still of sound mind!”
“Then…” If it were humanly possible for Kelle’s ice-white face to get any whiter, I’d say she’d grown pale. “Then that was an act?”
“Sorry to disappoint.” I chuck her under the chin. “Hoping your fine son was peeking through, did you?”
“No.” She bows her head to me. “Of course not, Your Majesty. But your performance was…convincing. I was merely concerned.”
“Yeah.” Tes folds her arms. “Me, too. What was the point of all that?” She taps my head. “Why make them think Chris is still knocking around in there?”
I’m in too good a mood to chastise her for being so familiar in public. “Patience, my queen, patience! All will be explained!”
“Chris?”
Shonda hugs herself. She looks rather pathetic. Barefoot, still in the shirt she slept in, clutching her phone tightly.
I smile at her. “Yes?”
“I’m not so sure about this anymore.” She takes a step backwards. “I don’t know if I want this.”
She takes another step back.
I teleport behind her. She jumps and spins around with a tiny shriek.
I put my hands up placatingly and laugh. “I’m merely stopping you before you retreat all the way to the mountains! You’re here now, with us. No one’s going to hurt you. You can relax, Theen.”
“Shonda.” She lifts her head proudly. “My name is Shonda.”
“Yes, all right. For now.” I gesture towards the door. “There’s a repast waiting for us in the ballroom. Shall we celebrate our lost friend, returned to us? Oh, Shonda, you must see the ballroom. I’m mad for it.”
She doesn’t look reassured.
“After you.” I make the tiniest gesture towards Kumar and Kelle. “I insist.”
They come to either side of her. She looks at them defiantly, but doesn’t resist as they steer her towards the lobby. Finlay and Kenny follow.
Tes stops me with a hand on my chest. Once the rest are inside, she says, “Okay. No fair leaving me out. What really happened back there?”
I take her hand from my chest and kiss her fingers.
“What happened, my beloved Nightmare Queen,” I reply, “is I won.”
Six
I sit on my throne in the ballroom, swirling wine around my glass. The lights in the room are turned down low, but the faint glow from the chandelier sparkles across the top of the liquid.
Sunset was almost an hour ago, but everything is quiet. I didn’t figure this wrong, did I? No. I couldn’t have.
I feel a faint chill. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
I look out across the room. Closed doors. Empty chairs and empty tables. So many shadows.
“You can come out, Zane,” I call. “I know you’re here.”
Zane steps out from a patch of darkness at the far end of the ballroom.
“You didn’t come in through a door,” I say, “and I don’t see your esteemed leader. Can I assume, then, that you’ve relearned your trick of traveling through shadows?”
He walks the length of the room, slowly. He doesn’t answer my question.
“Are you alone?” I ask. “Or is the whole band of freedom fighters here?”
Still nothing.
“Oh, please.” I take a sip of wine. “Surely we can have a civil conversation? You were so eager to talk to me this morning.”
“Where’s Shonda?”
“In her room. Probably calling her family to let them know she’s all right.”
“And is she?” he asks. “Is she all right?”
I stand up. Now I’m wishing I had kept that elevated platform. It’d be a nice effect, swaggering down a few steps with a drink in my hand. Instead we’re both on the floor. Ah, well.
“She’s better than ever,” I answer. “She’s herself again, and has decided to stay with me.”
“For what?” He looks around the room. “What are you doing here, Chris?”
Instead of answering, I take a long, lingering look at him, starting at his feet and slowly working my way up to his face.
Young men our age don’t always look like men. It’s such an in-between time between boyhood and adulthood. But no one would ever call Zane Winarski a boy. He’s shorter than I am, but physically stronger, I think. More solidly built. He’s wearing denim jeans, much like the ones I’ve taken to wearing, and a jacket of black leather. He’s dark featured, with deep-set eyes and a strong jaw covered in stubble. His hair has just enough length to it to be styled with some of that gel they use here, and he’s made it look artfully tousled.
“I do believe you’ve made an effort for me, Zane. Prettied yourself up. I’m flattered.” I grab the wine bottle from the floor n
ext to my throne. “Wine? There’s just the one glass.” I pour a little more, then put the bottle back. “We’ll have to share.”
“You didn’t answer my question. What have you been doing here, Chris?”
“Waiting for you, of course.” I raise my glass in a toast to him. “Waiting for the handsome hero to come and save me.”
He glances away. “I’m not a hero.”
“Yes, yes, I know. Childhood bully making amends. I’ve heard the story.” I waggle my finger at him. “You don’t like ‘hero’ but you didn’t have a problem with ‘handsome.’ Vain.”
“And I’m not here to save you,” he continues.
“No?”
“But I’ll help you save yourself.”
“Ah!” I raise my glass to him again. “There it is! There’s the hero I remember!” I drop down into my chair and pat the one next to me, the one Tes usually uses.
He looks at me warily, and doesn’t move.
I sigh. “Neither one of us wants to fight, and I can’t talk to you if you’re going to stand over me and glower. Come on.” I pat the seat again. “Rest your weary bones, logomancer.”
He hesitates just a moment, then sits next to me. We turn somewhat sideways, sitting towards the edge of our seats, so we can face each other. We’re very close.
“Chris.”
His voice is so strained. He’s trying to hold himself together and only barely succeeding.
He puts his hand on my knee. “Chris, talk to me.”
I take another sip of wine.
He looks into my eyes, searching for any trace of the man he loved. “You were there, this morning. I saw you. I know you’re fighting him.”
“Are you talking about this?” I recreate the pained, longing expression I faked earlier. “Zane…Zane…help me…I can’t…I can’t…” I snort. “I can’t keep it up. Sorry. It’s just too ridiculous.”
Zane pulls his hand off me. “No. You weren’t…you weren’t pretending. I’d have known.”
I shrug. “Maybe you don’t know your boyfriend as well as you think you do. Are you sure you won’t have some wine? It’s excellent.”
“Why would you pretend like that? Just to be cruel?”
“I’m never cruel, Zane.” I take one more sip, then put my glass down on the floor next to the bottle. “All right, I’m often cruel. But never without purpose. I wanted to get you here.”
“Me?” He tenses. A small shadow swirls at his feet. “Why?”
“Relax, relax.” I pat his arm. “This isn’t an ambush. I wanted some alone time with you. I thought if you believed you had a chance of reaching Chris, you’d be more likely to come in peacefully rather than poised for battle. I knew one of you would try to talk to me alone. My performance this morning ensured it would be you.”
His eyes dart back and forth as he processes this. “You let us find you.”
“Oh, yes. Dante dropped his hiding spell from the hotel as soon as the sun set. I knew you’d wait until dark, when I can’t teleport away. I assume it was Alisa who located us?”
He doesn’t answer.
I roll my eyes. “Obviously it was her. She’s been scrying for me for some time, I assume? And you didn’t stop to wonder why it suddenly worked?”
“We thought…” He stops himself.
“Still not giving anything away.” I throw my arm around his shoulder. “Good for you! I can guess, though. You thought Shonda did something? Or maybe Kenny? Someone helped you from the inside?” I laugh. “No. Just me.”
“Why?”
“I told you.” I lean in and whisper in his ear. “I wanted you.”
He shivers.
“I want you to join me, Zane. Wouldn’t you like to be my…inside man?”
I can’t help myself. I bite gently on his earlobe.
It’s too much. I took it too far. He jumps out of his seat.
“Stop!” He backs away. “Now I know you’re not Chris. He knows I’d never betray our friends.”
“Does he, though?” I lean back, stretching my legs out. “Did Chris really trust you all that much? After all those years of you tormenting him?”
He clenches his fists and does the shadow-swirling-around-his-feet thing again. “Chris forgave me for that.”
“Of course, of course he did!” I sit forward and clasp my hands together. “Saint Christopher forgives all! So good, so pure! Taken from us too soon.”
Zane grits his teeth. “Stop it.”
“You were never good enough for him, were you, Zane? Not really. Some sins can’t be forgiven.”
“That’s not true.”
I stand, laughing, and put my hands on his shoulders. “I’m not criticizing you, Zane. Far from it! Chris was a fiction, remember? He was created, literally, to be perfect. There’s no shame in not living up to his standard. Who could?”
He pushes his chest into mine, forcing me back a step. “I did! I didn’t choose to be a bully! The Moment made me one!” He smiles at me. It’s not a friendly smile. “I was a hero in the world before. Right? I took you on single-handedly. Almost beat you.”
I spread my arms out in surrender. “You did. I can’t deny it. That was quite a battle. You almost had me.”
“More than once.”
“Ah.” I put up one finger. “On there we differ.”
He furrows his brow. “What do you mean?”
“Do you remember our final encounter, Zane? The legendary battle that convinced everyone I’d never be beaten? That made your allies so desperate they crafted the spell that would become known as the Moment?”
“I’ve…been told about it.”
“Hah!” I clap my hands. “I knew you didn’t remember! I knew it. Let’s jog your memory, shall we?” I lift my head. “Now, Tes.”
We’re in my palace. In my bedchamber. In my bed.
Desh Nonechild lies curled around me, nuzzling my neck. I stroke his hair.
“What will you tell them?” I ask.
“That we fought again.” He traces a circle on my chest with his fingers. “That you’re unbeatable.”
I smile. “Unbeatable. I like the sound of that.”
He smiles back, and kisses me.
We’re in the ballroom. In the present.
Zane falls to his knees. “No.” His body shakes. “No. It’s a lie.”
I kneel next to him. “You know it’s not.” I run my fingers through his hair. “You know it.”
“I wouldn’t—”
“We were drawn to each other from the start,” I say. “Even when we fought.”
He pulls away from me, falling back on his heels. “That’s not enough. I wouldn’t betray the world for that. I wasn’t a villain.”
“No.” I sit back more comfortably. “No, you weren’t. You were a pragmatist. The war had been lost. I was king. You decided that you could do more good at my side, influencing my policies on magical creatures, than you could fighting a doomed rebellion.”
His fingers dig into the carpet.
“So you came to me with a deal. You’d convince the rebellion to stand down. Convince them that too many lives were being lost fighting me. In return, I would offer complete pardons to any of your compatriots who asked for mercy.”
“But it didn’t work.”
He says this so quietly that I can’t quite tell if he’s asking it as a question, or stating it as something that’s he beginning to remember.
“No,” I continue. “It backfired. You concocted a truly horrifying story of our final epic brawl, and of the extent of my power. They believed you completely, but rather than cowing them into surrender…”
“The Moment.”
“The Moment. By the time you got a warning to me, it was too late. Muln found you all and adjusted the spell, but could not stop it.”
“And us?” He looks at me. “Was me in your bed part of the deal?”
“Oh, no.” I touch my thumb to his lips. He doesn’t pull away. “That was just us.”
Tea
rs drip down his cheeks. “I was never a hero.”
I wipe one of his tears away. “Nobody is, Zane.”
“What do you want from me?” There’s no life in his voice. “What do you want?”
I take his hand. It’s limp in mine, but I brush my lips against his fingers. “I want you to help me like you did before. Convince your friends to stand down. If they don’t resist me, I’ll have no reason to hurt them. But if they oppose me, if we ignite a magical war in this world that has no understanding of such a thing, who knows how many innocents will suffer?”
“You want to be king again.”
“Of course.”
He shakes his head weakly. “You’ve hurt so many people…”
“Oh, Zane.” I squeeze his hand. “Do you honestly think you haven’t? Do you think you never used your powers for your own gain? I think you need to dig deeper into your real memories. You didn’t join the war against me out of any sense of fairness or justice. You joined because you assumed King Yar would defeat me, and you wanted to be on the winning side.” I take his face in my other hand. “You’re not a hero, and you’re not a villain. You look out for the people you care about. And I do the same.” I lean in close. “I know your friends are here in the hotel now, too. I know you’re meant to distract me while they search for the book of magical creatures. I know everything, Zane. They can’t win. Convince them of that.”
I kiss him. He doesn’t kiss me back, but he doesn’t move away, either. When I pull back, his eyes are closed.
“Help me save them,” I whisper.
A shadow spreads out across the carpet beneath him. He drops into it, falling out of my hands. The shadow vanishes and he’s gone.
I jump to my feet.
“You can come out now,” I say.
Dante drops his hiding spell, revealing Tes and himself. Dante’s pouting but I don’t have time for his jealousy right now.
“That went perfectly!” I shout. “Better than I could have hoped. Well done, Tes.”
“Was that all?” Tes asks. “All this just to get Zane on your side?”
“Oh, that would be nice.” I run a hand across my chest and sigh. “He was, in all honesty, the best lover I ever had.”
Dante turns bright red. I catch Tes’s eye and we both laugh.
