by Eva Brandt
“I understand,” the cardinal said again. “It will be as you say.”
“The rest of the time, you will act normally, but you’re going to keep us informed on any new developments and information you might find.”
“I understand. It will be as you say.”
Okay, this was getting a little disturbing. I didn’t mind him acting like an automaton, but I couldn’t give him any more orders. It would either completely break his mind or give him a way out. Both options were equally as unappealing, so I decided to end this meeting before it became even more unpleasant than it had already been.
“For the moment, I will take Malachai back to his cell. Carry on.”
Cardinal Vaughn didn’t utter that repetitive agreement again, which I took as a sign that my magic had not affected him to the point where he couldn’t function at all. I reached for Malachai once again and he wordlessly offered me his hands, allowing me to snap the cuffs on.
Our trip back to his cell passed in a haze. If I hadn’t been so accustomed to this route, I’d have probably tripped over my own feet, run into the doors, or something just as risky and embarrassing. Through some kind of miracle, Malachai and I managed to reach his cell in one piece. While I secured his chain in the appropriate position, I whispered, “Be careful. We can’t be sure that what Cardinal Vaughn told us is the actual truth, but it seems likely. Watch your back while you’re in here.”
Malachai huffed lightly. “I’m honored by your concern.”
“It’s not for your sake. Think about Lucienne a little before you do anything stupid.”
Malachai jerked as if he’d been slapped. I pulled away, cursing to myself and hoping I hadn’t already said too much. I didn’t want him to know the truth about my connection to Lucienne. We had already stumbled into something far more complicated than I’d expected and I had a feeling it would only get worse from here.
I remembered Lucienne’s request to track down her twice-blessed friend Pierce Garnier and hoped like hell I was wrong about what I was thinking. Lucienne definitely had enough heart to love five soulmates instead of just four, but would she be able to survive losing us, one by one?
* * *
Darius
“You know, when I brought you here, I expected you to be at least a little thankful. If not for me, you’d be dead by now.”
I threw a stone out into the ocean and tried to not look at the man standing next to me. “I didn’t ask you to help me. I don’t remember inviting you into my head. I had made my peace with what needed to happen for Lucienne’s sake.”
Mathias Vandale snorted. “Always so self-sacrificing, princeling. You haven’t changed.”
“And you keep talking in riddles,” I snapped back, facing him. The deep blue skies started to darken in response to my anger. In the distance, a faithful recreation of the Palasion glowed ominously, a threat and a reminder that I needed to tread lightly. “I’m Alarian. I’ve never been self-sacrificing in my life, not before I met Lucienne.”
He ignored my comment and I quietly fumed at his reaction. Ever since I had woken up in this space, he had constantly visited me, making a nuisance of himself without hurting me. He had cordoned off a portion of my mindscape to safeguard my consciousness against the side-effects of the Alarian Vow, which meant that, as much as I hated to admit it, he was indeed the reason why I was still alive. That didn’t make me any less frustrated with his presence, his behavior, and the fact that I was stuck here with him. “What in the name of the High King do you want from me?” I asked when the silence stretched awkwardly between us.
“You have no idea how funny and ironic I find that question,” Mathias answered cryptically. He knelt in the silver sand and swept his hand over it, creating incomprehensible patterns in front of him. I knew better than to believe the shapes were random. Nothing was ever random when it came to him. “As for what I want,” he added after a long pause, “my goal is very simple. I just intend to ensure your survival.”
“You tried to kill me. Forgive me if I find your sudden desire to protect me a little hard to believe.”
“Well, you’re not dead yet, are you? I could have shattered you to pieces by now if I’d really wanted to. You don’t have Lucienne’s protection, not now, and your pet incubus has yet to come up with a solution to keep you from succumbing to your own family’s disregard and negligence. I have to give him credit, though. He’s been making... interesting progress.”
I twitched in irritation at the evidence of just how closely Mathias was monitoring the people I cared about. I knew I shouldn’t ask. He had mentioned them deliberately to distract me and I shouldn’t be letting him get to me. Just the same, I couldn’t help myself. “Progress? What do you mean?”
Mathias’s lips twisted into a tiny smirk. “Oh, it’s a nifty little plan. I quite like it. Almost worthy of a plague. Apparently, he decided to absorb Lucienne’s powers and use them and Malachai’s to mind control the leader of your inquisitors. Quite intriguing, wouldn’t you say?”
My mouth dropped open at the revelation. I wanted to say it was impossible, that Bjorn wouldn’t do that or take such a chance. I knew very well that he would. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more likely it seemed. He had thrown out the window decades of loyal service and broken his vow for my sake. Absorbing my emotions had left him open and vulnerable and his darker impulses would undoubtedly start coming out more and more.
What had he done that had allowed him to go through with such a plan? Had he hurt Lucienne in some way? I hated thinking such things, but I suspected that maybe, he resented her on some level for her appearance in my life. If we hadn’t met, the Alarian Vow would have never activated and I wouldn’t be in the position I was in now.
Mathias looked up at me, his eyes glinting as brightly as the distant and dangerous sea. “Are you worried about what he’ll do? You don’t have a lot of faith in your subordinates, princeling.”
“I don’t want to hear that from you,” I shot back. “Do your people know that you spend your free time cozying up to the Alarian prince who seeks to exterminate them?”
Mathias let out a bark of surprised laughter. “Touché. No, they don’t, but my dynamic with them is different. They were well aware of what they were getting themselves into when they agreed to serve me. I don’t think you can compare them with your incubus, can you? Or maybe you can, considering what he ended up doing to save your life.”
“Shut up,” I answered, hating how childish and stupid the two words sounded. “You don’t know anything.”
“That isn’t true, but if you want to believe it, by all means, feel free. It still doesn’t solve your little issue with Bjorn Lindberg.”
I thought about Bjorn, about his sad smile, and the way he had accepted my choice. Yes, he was an incubus, but he was so much more than that. “Stop it. You won’t make me doubt him. I know very well that Bjorn wouldn’t have hurt Lucienne. She means too much to me, and I trust him to protect and respect that.”
“Hypocrisy doesn’t become you, princeling.” Mathias shook his head as if disappointed by my approach. “I didn’t say anything about the methods he used in his little scheme. You’re the one who thought about it first.”
Well, he wasn’t wrong. I just couldn’t help but be concerned. I trusted Bjorn, yes, but this was such a strange situation, and neither he nor Lucienne were prepared for it. “I just worry. Can you blame me?”
I didn’t expect sympathy from Mathias Vandale of all people, which was just as well, because I didn’t receive any. Instead, he arched an inquisitive, dark brow. “Do you really? That must be interesting for an Alarian. I’m surprised you’re doing such a good job at handling and understanding your new emotions.”
“There’s not much else to do while I’m here on my own. I might as well use the time I have at my disposal in a productive way.”
“Be careful, princeling. I might take that as an invitation to visit you more often.”
I shot him a l
ook of disbelief, wondering if he was really flirting with me or if I was imagining things after being stuck in my own headspace for High King knew how long. His lazy smile wasn’t any different from his usual expressions. I hadn’t been able to read him back when we’d been at each other’s throats, trying to kill one another, and his strange decision to save my life hadn’t changed that. It just made me question all the things I’d been so certain of. Who was Mathias Vandale, really?
“In any case, you’re not wrong to worry, but you’re worrying about the wrong thing.” He paused and snickered at his own phrasing. “I didn’t even mean for that to come out the way it did. Look at that. Am I using figures of speech now?”
“I don’t think that counts as a figure of speech,” I replied, wondering if this was all a horrible nightmare and I’d wake up in my own bed, at the Palasion, preferably with Lucienne by my side. “And what am I supposed to worry about if not that?”
“Oh, plenty of things,” he offered, just as infuriatingly vague as before. “This is only the beginning, you know. If you really want to survive this, you should accept my offer.”
That, at least, was something I understood, if not liked. I clenched my jaw and looked away from him. “I can’t do that. I won’t.” He was asking for far too much. The suggestion he had made might indeed save my life and break the Alarian Vow permanently, but I wasn’t sure it was worth it to take the chance.
Mathias wasn’t taken aback by my stubborn refusal. “You will. You have no other choice. Eventually, you’ll have to trust me, because I’m the only person you can trust.”
He didn’t sound smug. He sounded like he believed his own words, which was more terrifying than a threat or an attack. I couldn’t help but look at him again. When I found him staring out at the ocean, I asked, “You do realize that doesn’t make any sense, right?”
Mathias shrugged. “Most things in life are like that. They’re crazy, pointless, and don’t make any sense. When you find something that is finally different, you have to hold onto it with all your might.”
I wondered if I’d ever get used to the melancholic responses he occasionally provided. So many of the things he had said and done since my arrival here didn’t fit my image of him or the interactions we’d had before. He confused me and I hated it because I still wasn’t sure how to deal with that particular emotion. “Is that what you’re doing? What are you holding onto?”
Mathias got up and brushed the silver sand off his pants. This space only existed in my mindscape, so it was an unnecessary gesture, but he still managed to pull it off.
“I don’t think you’re ready for me to answer that question, princeling,” he drawled when he faced me again. “Just remember what I told you. I’m the only one you can trust. I might not tell you everything, but what I do say will never be a lie.”
“I’d appreciate that more if three-quarters of the things that interest me weren’t included in the ‘not to be revealed’ category.”I rubbed my temples, suddenly feeling exhausted. “I don’t understand you, and as long as that is the case, I can’t trust you.”
“You understand me better than you think. You and I are not that different. You just don’t realize it now and that’s for the best. It’ll happen, in its own time. Everything always happens in its own time.”
And there he went again, being all cryptic and frustrating. I felt like I was in the middle of a conversation with a Pure noble who was trying to sound even more pretentious than usual. The mental comparison didn’t help Mathias’s case or make me more liable to put my faith in him.
“I don’t have time. You can’t keep me here forever. Eventually, the barrier you’ve been keeping up will fall, and when that happens, I won’t survive it.”
He tilted his head at me, eyeing me like I was a particularly interesting species of insect. “That is a possibility, it’s true. But I don’t think it’ll happen. Do you know why?”
I didn’t acknowledge his question, but maybe I should have. He took my silence as a challenge and leaned in closer to me, so close his lips almost brushed mine. “Because you want to live. You want to love. You want to experience everything the world has to offer you, now that you are no longer crippled by your inability to feel. You’re not ready to give up.
“That’s why you’re here, talking to me. You could walk past that shield I erected if you really wanted to. You’re not my captive, and in your heart, you know it. But you’ve already chosen to stay, even if it means putting your faith in your worst enemy.”
I could have denied all that, but it would have been a pointless lie. “I hate you so much,” I said instead, no longer able to keep my anger in check. “Why do you have to exist?”
He grinned at me as if I’d finally done something right. “Congratulations,” he said, his eyes glowing with an almost insane light. “You’re finally headed in the right direction. I ask myself that every day and I’m always happy to hear the people I care about agree with me.”
I didn’t know what startled me more, his apparent self-hatred or his admission that he supposedly cared about me. Both things were equally as shocking, and I froze like a deer in the headlights.
He didn’t take advantage of my shock, although he certainly could have. “Don’t be afraid,” he crooned, brushing his fingers over my cheek. “Let out all the venom poisoning you, burning you from the inside out. Tell me how much you hate me. I don’t mind. Once you embrace it, you’ll finally accept your ultimate destiny, the truth of where you really belong. And when that happens, princeling, I’ll finally answer your question and you will understand everything that you have been denied.”
My skin buzzed where he touched me, and despite myself, I jolted, taking a few steps back. He smirked at me but didn’t try to reach for me again. “When you’re ready, Darius Alarisson, I’ll be there.”
The promise felt genuine, and the fact that he had called me by name instead of the somewhat condescending ‘princeling’ made it even more so. It bothered me, and I was torn between punching him in the face, screaming, and repeating all the possibly futile questions I’d already tried to ask.
I didn’t decide quickly enough. He pulled away, and with one last smile, vanished into thin air. It was so fast and sudden that I didn’t get the chance to do anything about it.
For a few seconds, I just stared at the spot where he’d been, befuddled and annoyed by his behavior. I only snapped out of my trance when I realized that he had avoided answering one of the biggest questions he himself had brought up. He had never told me what had happened between Lucienne and Bjorn. “Gods be damned, Mathias!” I shouted. “Come back here!”
I received no response to my angry request, but I could’ve sworn I heard the sound of his laughter drifting up to me from the ether. High King help me, what had I gotten myself into?
Four
Secrets and Soulmates
Bjorn
“Well, this sucks.”
I scrolled through the newly available file on Garnier, Pierce, and grimaced. So far, the data I’d found on him was not encouraging. The address my fellow inquisitors had listed in his records coincided with the one Lucienne had given me, but apparently, the house that had belonged to her surrogate family was now vacant.
“How am I going to explain this to Lucienne?”
In truth, the disappearance of the Garniers didn’t really surprise me. The twice-blessed were notorious for their ability for flying under the radar, and this particular family had eluded us countless times before. You’d think that a line that originated from the notorious mass murderer Gilles Garnier and his twice-blessed, cannibalistic wife would be a little more conspicuous. Apparently, Gilles’s descendants had learned from his mistakes and had taken a different approach.
I closed the file and debated my options. Maybe I should just go speak to Lucienne and tell her what I’d found in the files, but that seemed a lazy and unsatisfactory option. I’d made her a promise, and even if I doubted there were any clues left at the
Garniers’ mansion, I had to go check.
I could easily be wrong about my guess that Pierce was Lucienne’s soulmate too. No matter how many soulmates she had, it was entirely possible for her to befriend a person and not be their destined lover. That didn’t mean I didn’t owe it to her to look into his disappearance and that of his family.
And then, there was Declan and his Banished pack. The file on Kaiden Whelan was a little thicker than the one on the Garniers, but most of the information was useless since it dated from the time Declan had first joined the Guardian Corps. I had no idea how to track him down. How had Declan done it when they’d spoken about the attack on the group of scavengers? Did he somehow just... know where the members of his former pack would be?
It was strange, but it had never occurred to me to ask. Shape-shifters had originally been magical too. Maybe it was related.
Sighing, I temporarily set the matter of Declan aside and decided to head out to the mansion first. Nobody questioned me when I left the inquisitorial wing. I nodded curtly at a few paladins, inquisitors and enforcers, but didn’t stop for further pleasantries. I needed to get this done as soon as possible so that I’d be able to return to Lucienne’s side.
That was when it happened. As I entered the main foyer of the Palasion, voices started sliding into my head. It wasn’t sudden. At first, it was a mild annoyance, like the buzz of an irritating fly that just wouldn’t go away. Slowly, it increased in volume, turning into an avalanche of nigh-indistinguishable sentences.
Bits and pieces registered in my consciousness, all coming from different directions.
