by E. M. Knight
The Forsaken Sisters come up around me. “The poison running through her veins has been removed. Her vampire gifts are free to reign again. She will return to full strength before long.”
I glare at them. “Full strength?”
“We will be her guardians, if you allow us,” Allura says. “We can ensure that she only touches the Forces when we deem it safe, and only under direct supervision.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “No, no, no. I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all! First you tell me you want to bring demons here, then you tell me my biggest adversary, and the only one who can challenge me for power, will be restored? You swore you were here to guide me! All you’ve done is make things more difficult!”
Suddenly. a loud banging sounds against the door. I jerk up. I had been so absorbed by the immediate scene around me that I had failed to consciously notice the presences of two familiar vampires approaching.
Raul and Phillip.
“Rebecca, open the door,” I command. I flick a bit of influence her way just to make my point.
She’s quick to comply.
The door comes open, and there stand the two brothers, each looking equally inscrutable.
My eyes go to Raul. I desperately hope for that small spark of attraction to come to life upon seeing him.
But all I feel is… indifference.
I tell myself it’s just the stress of all these developments getting to me.
Yet, deep down, I know that is not true. My initial girlish crush on Raul has been getting weaker and weaker as our time apart has increased.
In fact, if I’m being totally honest, part of the reason I sent him and not some other delegate to find the Forsaken Sisters was the hope that his success might revive the dying spark.
But he came back crippled and weak, having failed utterly to deliver on his promise to me. Once again he has been bested by his younger brother.
All those contemplations flash through my mind in a millisecond. At once, I adopt the proper posture of the Queen.
“Raul,” I say, coldly, formally. “Phillip. Why have you come? Raul, you were tasked with clearing the stronghold. Is it done?”
He takes the cue from my tone and answers me with the same stiff inflection. I believe he thinks we’re doing it because we have an audience.
Whereas, in truth, I’m doing it to try to let him down gently about the fact that romance no longer exists between us.
I feel a sudden spike of anger and resentment at that. Raul was supposed to be my knight in shining armor. All he’s proven to be is a friend. Maybe not even that. Now, with me in a new position, so high above him, it’s impossible for me to look at him with respect.
I hate that. I absolutely hate that. I don’t know if I’m more angry at myself for feeling that way… or at him for letting me down.
I thought there was such promise between me and Raul, at the start. I thought there was such chemistry!
But it was all a lie, the delusional thinking of a lost, young, little girl thrown headfirst into a whirlwind with all her emotions spinning.
I’ve matured greatly since then. I hate feeling so ungrateful, so frigid, like such a damn bitch…
But desire cannot be negotiated. Love cannot be forced.
The fire I once had with Raul has gone cold.
“The Elite and Incolam are at work clearing out the stronghold,” he informs me. “We came because Phillip felt—” he gives his brother a quick sideways glance, “—Phillip felt Mother awaken.”
I stare at both of them. They look back at me with identical black, impassive eyes.
What happened to the green in Raul’s eyes? I wonder.
The moment of silence stretches between us all. The Forsaken Sisters say nothing. Rebecca keeps her head down.
Finally, Phillip breaks the impasse.
“Eleira,” he asks. “May we see her?”
I incline my head slightly and step aside, giving them a clear path to the altar Morgan is on.
Phillip and Raul both approach cautiously. I don’t know if their hesitation comes from the fact the Sisters are watching them so closely, from the fact that I am here as Queen… or from the fact that the person they thought was in a coma—or, in Raul’s case, thought was dead for a long time—is now awake and alert.
I decide to release the spell blocking Morgan’s vision. She does not make any move when that’s done. She simply continues staring at the ceiling, unblinking, showing absolutely no indication that she knows her sons are there.
“That’s close enough,” I say, when they’re about a foot away from the platform. “There’s a spell around her that does not let sound waves through. She will not hear anything you have to say.”
Phillip and Raul look at their mother in an awed sort of silence.
Raul breaks away first. He angles his body to me.
“She’s healing,” he says flatly.
“Yes.” I motion to the splatter of blood and corrosion on the wall. “The Forsaken Sisters extracted the Narwhark blood from her veins. It was killing her. They tell me she will be back to her regular strength in no time.”
The corners of Raul’s eyes tighten, almost imperceptibly. “That is dangerous,” he states.
“I agree,” I tell him.
“You know best what to do.” He nods. “If you need my counsel, I am ready to give it. If you do not ask, I will not.”
I look him up and down. There is no emotion in his voice, just stark formality.
Does he realize we are over, too? I wonder.
Allura walks over and touches Phillip on the shoulder. Phillip jumps, he was so focused on his mother.
“Come away,” Allura says.
He nods vaguely and complies.
I notice Rebecca looking anxious in the corner. Now that it’s clear Morgan will return to full strength, what will she do? I took away her army, took away her chance of justice.
But she also imprisoned me and killed Riyu. That cannot go unpunished. Leaving her as a free woman would be a grievous mistake and a huge liability.
She will need to be kept prisoner. However, I will also need her cooperation. She knows things nobody else in the world knows.
Well—I have all the strength. When the Forsaken Sisters restore to Rebecca her own soul, that will be reparation enough for what was done to her. Afterwards, she can serve out her sentence, and I can coax her into working with me by promising her an earlier release if she’s cooperative.
I turn my attention back to Raul. “Do you know why you are excavating the stronghold?”
He shakes his head.
I wave a hand in Morgan’s direction, absently casting the spell that blocks her senses again. “The Forsaken Sisters and I intend to restore Rebecca’s soul to her. Right now, she’s drawing on the power of a fledgling—”
“Cassandra,” Raul gasps, and, for the first time, I hear a touch of emotion in his voice.
I thin my lips. How curious. Seems he is not at all the man I first pegged him to be.
Understanding dawns, of a nasty sort. What if the only reason he liked me before was because I was helpless? What if his whole thing was that of helping the damsel in distress? All those sweet lies he told me about being impressed by my strength and courage, or whatever, were nothing more than empty platitudes.
That irks me more than I care to admit. No wonder the spark died. As soon as I became strong, as soon as I became capable, Raul, whether consciously or not, distanced himself from me emotionally.
It all matches up. The bits and pieces I’ve heard of Liana—she was his little project, the girl he could protect and shelter. Once he understood I was not in that mold—that was it for us.
Again, that creeping resentment threatens to overtake my other emotions.
“Yes, Cassandra,” I say flatly. “She is in a box made of invisible Elements, enclosed in a torrial and aged within a day of her life.”
Raul tries to hide it, but his emotional response to this new information is
all-too-clear on his face for me.
I keep going, driving the wedge deeper between us. The hell with it; it’s not like I have time for a relationship with all the chaos going on!
“She’s in a terrible state. But she can be saved, if Allura, Sute, and Lorne manage to restore Rebecca’s soul to her body. To undo what your mother has done.”
Phillip gives a small, unconscious jerk at that, but doesn’t say anything.
“That’s why we need the stronghold cleared. Deep inside is a room that Felix has access to. It contains all the portraits of the vampires Morgan stole the souls of.”
Raul narrows his eyes, and then says, “Are you certain?”
“What?” I ask, affronted. “Of course, I am. Felix took me there. I saw the room, and—”
“Rebecca’s portrait hung on full display in the castle,” Raul says. “It was Mother’s crowning achievement. That’s where she always kept it. You’ve seen it yourself.”
A sudden sense of dread pulses through me. “My God,” I realize. “You’re right.”
Rebecca gives a start. “What?” she demands. “What’s wrong?”
She’s picked up on the tone of my voice.
“The castle was destroyed,” I whisper. “Everything is rubble. It was pure devastation.”
“What?” she exclaims.
“I just totally forgot that your portrait wasn’t there with the ones Felix showed me,” I say. I address the Forsaken Sisters. “Does the painting need to be whole? If we recover parts of it—”
“It needs to be whole,” Allura says, with the utmost conviction. “The procedure we’ve proposed is difficult enough as it is. It cannot be done if the object the soul was bound to is in any way changed or broken. Rebecca’s soul inhabited every part of that painting. To restore her soul, we would need the entire thing. It is impossible to do a restoration of a soul broken apart.”
“No,” Rebecca whispers. Her voice breaks. “No, no, no…”
“Quiet,” I snap. I silence her with the influence. “I need to think.”
I start pacing the room, feeling every single eye on me.
“What happens to Cassandra if Rebecca’s soul cannot be restored?” Raul asks.
“There you go. Of course you care more about Cassandra than you do me!” I explode.
The sudden outburst takes everyone by surprise.
Hell, even I’m taken by surprise.
Raul quickly recovers and steps toward me. “Eleira,” he begins.
“No!” I fling an arm out and stop him in his tracks. “Don’t you even dare try to placate me, Raul. You know just as well as I do where we stand.”
“It wasn’t going to be about that,” he says darkly. “And yes, I know where we stand. No use pretending. I was going to ask where I can find Cassandra. I need to see her for myself.”
“Ask Rebecca,” I say haughtily, pissed at him for not even pretending to still care about me. That resentment grows and grows. “In fact, get her to take you there. Maybe you can decide what should be done with her now that her restoration is out of the question, and after you see Cassandra’s state.”
Rebecca, once so proud and regal, wilts under the tirade. She is very conscious of the enormous difference we have in strength.
“That’s exactly what I will do,” he says. He beckons her to him. “Come.”
She jumps to comply, a leaf stripped of all her defenses, caught in a hurricane of her own making.
The Forsaken Sisters watch the exchange with a cynical eye.
Raul turns back to look at me from the door. “The excavation of the stronghold will be complete within the hour, my Queen,” he says, a little viciously. “Before I came here, I left a capable vampire in charge. As you’ll see, I do not shirk my responsibilities.”
I have no idea what he means the implication of that last statement to be. Before I can ask, he and Rebecca disappear through the door together.
Phillip whistles to break the silence. “Well,” he grins. “That was something.”
“Don’t think I forgot that you are responsible for all of this,” I snarl, pointing at Morgan’s still body.
He gives a carefree shrug. “We’ve already dealt with that.”
“Like hell we have,” I hiss, stalking toward him.
“Eleira!” Allura, Sute, and Lorne’s combined voices stop me in my tracks.
“What?” I snarl, turning on them.
“There is a chance we can still make good on our promise to Rebecca,” they say. “If we recover the pieces of the painting, perhaps they can be put back together. If the damage has not been too severe.”
“Oh, it’s severe, all right.” My mind flashes back to being caught in the colliding structure. “From my understanding of what you said before, the object holding the soul has to be whole.”
Allura speaks. “We did not wish to get her hopes up,” she says. “Now that she’s gone with Raul, we must consider the possibility that the painting can be recovered and restored.”
“It’s no use,” I tell them. “Everything inside the castle was reduced to rubble.” I shake my head. “Forget about Rebecca. She will answer for her crimes. The first thing we have to do is break the link between her and Cassandra.” I hold my head up, anticipating the protest. “And, yes, I realize I said Rebecca will be of more use to me alive. Yet, she survived so long underground without the benefit of leeching Cassandra’s life energy. Rebecca’s mind will be of equal use to me whether her body is young or old. And Cassandra is one of the vampires under my protection—as Queen, I will not let her down.”
“Very well,” Allura murmurs.
“Now, the question is, what we do with her?” I turn toward Morgan. Even in the small interval of time that’s passed, I see she’s become more vibrant.
Her body is healing fast. I never imagined that she could come back to terrorize The Haven at full strength.
I walk over to the altar, stopping right beside her. I can feel her presence growing ever-stronger.
Morgan is an unknown I had no way of planning for.
“Phillip,” I say. “Come over here.”
He steps besides me. He stands maybe a tad too close to my body.
Whatever. I let it slide. In my current mood, the subtle advances of a dangerous man might even be welcome.
“You brought her here,” I say. “And you murdered the guards to keep the secret. How long did you think it would last until you were found out?”
He gives me a coy look from the corner of his eye. “I did not intend for it to be found out at all.”
“You are still responsible for those vampires’ deaths,” I say.
“Four guards were killed,” he intones, “and, in return, I brought you three beautiful, wise witches, possessing knowledge of all the worlds. More than a fair trade, I’d say.”
As the Forsaken Sisters look on, he covertly winks at one of them.
Only Allura gives the slightest reaction: a thinning of her lips.
“Raul was sent to recover the Forsaken Sisters,” I remind him.
“Raul failed. If you were so confident in his abilities, why did you have me accompany him? You must have known, deep down, that he was incompetent.”
I frown. “You are too free with your tongue.”
“I’d rather give you ugly truths than beautiful lies, my Queen,” he offers graciously.
“What will your mother do if she gets free?” I ask softly.
Phillip looks startled at the suggestion. He covers it up quickly—but that first impression is there.
“Knowing what you do about her, Eleira,” he says carefully, “would freedom really be such a good idea?”
“I could bind her with the same oaths I made you swear,” I say. “I learned the method from the Forsaken Sisters. They did it to me to ensure I would not kill Morgan in our fight.”
Again, Phillip looks taken aback. “You did not fight to kill her?”
I shift my body so it’s straight to his. I look him r
ight in the eyes.
“No,” I say softly. “The oath I made to the Forsaken Sisters in exchange for their help explicitly prohibited it, as I just said.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Suspicion is clear in his voice.
“Because…” I say slowly, “at the first gathering of the Royal Court, I intend to issue you a complete pardon. Your record will be cleared. You will be in good graces of the crown.”
Phillip’s eyes widen in momentary shock. Then, to my great surprise he goes to one knee, and takes my hand.
“I know I act a certain way,” he says, “but this is a mercy I will not forget. My Queen.”
This time, there is zero mocking in his voice.
He presses his lips to my fingers and then lets go. Even though this is clearly a formal procedure, I feel a slight blush come into my cheeks.
Well, with my tumultuous emotions, I would be foolish to expect anything else.
“Right,” I tell him. He stands up. “I want to give you a post, Phillip. Close to me. I believe you are someone who will be loyal when giving an oath of your own accord. And this…”
I grab hold of the Elemental Forces, ripping them from the air, and fire a stream of Water and Air and a touch of Earth into Phillip’s body.
He gasps and goes rigid. I concentrate, letting the currents guide the process of removal. I strip away the old spells I put on him, getting rid of the oaths, untying the restrictions. His breathing becomes labored, his eyes open wide, staring but seeing nothing.
And then it’s done. I let go of the Elemental Forces. Phillip is left there looking like he’s just emerging from being dunked in a tank of ice.
“Don’t make me regret giving you a second chance,” I say softly.
He comes to himself after a moment with a shudder. “I won’t,” he vows.
“As I was saying,” I continue, walking away from the altar. “I need you close to me. Felix has proved himself false. Riyu is dead. Raul, unfortunately, is inept.”
Phillip tilts his head to one side. “My brother is not that bad,” he says. “He has always held back. I think if we can free him from that hesitation, he will be near-equal to me.”
“He is stronger, as a vampire,” I state flatly, “And yet you are the one who has always accomplished things, handicapped as you were. I value competence, Phillip. You have it.”
