by Kate Martin
“Upstairs.”
Mary passed by, adding with a smile, “The fourth door on the right is yours.”
A small smile graced Bri’s face, and he bounded up the enormous staircase. It was the most childlike Alec had ever seen him. He followed the boy into the specified room, where everything had been decorated in bright white, with a plush cushion on the desk chair, and a four-poster bed layered in down pillows.
Over the bed hung a tapestry, faded some from age, but still beautiful, its colors calming blues and whites and greens. On the bed, a deep purple shawl had been set. It quickly found its way into Bri’s arms. He clutched it to his chest, pressed it to his face, and back again.
“This is really our home now?” Bri asked, his voice choked with tears.
“Yes,” Alec said, sticking his hand in his pocket to caress the locket. “It really is.”
PART TWO
Two years later
— CHAPTER FOURTEEN —
A strange hush had settled over the house. Over the last two years, the hubbub of Lostley House had become familiar background noise, but now, Alec didn’t like the strange chill that ran up his spine announcing that something was different. Setting aside the Ferryman piece of his Kayos board—he hadn’t really been playing anyway, just moving the pieces around—he got up and moved out of his room and into the hall.
No maids slipped in and out of rooms, collecting laundry, making beds, stoking fires. No footmen tended the door. Brannick and Mrs. McCallahan normally issued orders from below the main levels, but today Mary approached from the direction of the main staircase.
“Is something happening?” Alec asked her, seeing that she’d already spotted him, and was making her way towards him.
“There’s a visitor,” she said, smoothing the smock that lay over her skirt. “I either gave the staff jobs to do downstairs, or gave them the afternoon off.”
She’d gotten them out of the house. That sense of dread crept over him again. “Who is it? Who’s here?” If he had found them, if he was the guest, then life was about to become difficult, to say the least.
Mary shook her head. “I’m not sure. I’ve never met him before. But he’s tall and certainly not soulless.”
Not him then. That was something at least. “How pissed will Carma be if I go in?”
Mary drew in a deep breath and changed her demeanor to that of a mother who was going to let the child make his own stupid decision. “You know her moods better than anyone. They’re in the parlor.”
After Alec descended the stairs, and walked into the parlor, he saw a head of black hair high above the back of one of their comfortable armchairs. Then the voice came, too high, and with an ancient lilt Alec hadn’t heard in centuries. All his fear dropped away to make room for confusion.
“Darling, I am simply letting you know, that I know, so you know, that others will soon know,” the guest said.
Carma stopped her pacing when Alec entered, looking up at him and unfolding her arms from where they had been tightly clasped over her abdomen. She never responded to the man in the chair. “Alec, what are you doing here?”
“I live here, and I heard you were entertaining a guest.”
She scoffed. “Hardly entertaining.”
“I won’t keep you,” the guest said, and stood. Long black hair was pulled back into a tail at the nape of his neck and danced its way down his body, caressing the crisp white shirt with ruffled cuffs. The black pants had been tailored tighter than was in fashion. He was lanky, and pale in the way people were when they didn’t spend much time in the sun. Violet eyes widened when their gaze landed on Alec. “Well, hello there.” The stranger placed a hand on his hip, striking a pose. “Carma, you always did have the best taste in men. When it comes to looks, at least.”
Carma rolled her eyes. “Yes, I do. And this one is mine, don’t forget that. Alec, this is Tassos. Tassos, Alec. My first.”
Tassos did not conceal the way he took in every inch of Alec with his gaze. “Oh, I’m sure he was.”
Telling himself to ignore the implications, Alec kept his attention on Carma. “What is he doing here?” He couldn’t quite pinpoint what Tassos was, but the man was clearly not human.
Carma opened her mouth to answer, but Tassos beat her to it. “I simply came by to say hello. We all thought Carma dead, or worse. And I thought to myself, Carma must be up to something if she has been returned but made no announcement of herself.”
“So you thought it would be a good idea to pay me a visit. Didn’t my lack of contact suggest to you that perhaps I don’t want to be known?” The tips of Carma’s silver hair had turned red.
“Sweetie, if I know you’re back, then it won’t be long before everyone else knows. Talk travels fast. I am simply giving you the ‘heads up,’ as it were.”
“How did you find out about her?” Alec asked.
Tassos shrugged. “Gossip. Rumors that the great Carma had been spotted in Callay, and that she’s stronger than ever. Did you collect many souls in your time away?”
Carma’s expression gave nothing away. “It’s rude to ask about a demon’s souls.”
“Of course it is.” Tassos brushed it off as though nothing could bother him. Then his head titled to the right, as if listening. “Ah, well, there’s my cue to leave. Death is such a demanding mistress.”
A reaper.
“Keep a sharp eye, Carma. And as for you,” he turned to Alec, “I do hope I see more of you.” With a wink, he disappeared.
Alec advanced on Carma, keeping his voice low. “A reaper? Just to give you a friendly warning that people know you’ve returned?”
Carma flicked a hand at him dismissively. “Tassos is the least of our worries. But it is just as well. I knew I couldn’t hide forever, I simply wanted to remain unknown for as long as possible. That time has passed us, it seems.”
“And what about Bri?”
“What about him? He’ll be fine.”
“We’ve kept him hidden for two years with no problem, but if people start to wonder what you’ve been up to while hiding, Bri will be the first answer they come to.”
“Alec, I need you to trust me. Everything is fine. I was going to make myself known soon anyway.”
“Why?”
“Because the pieces are starting to come together. Finally. The time to act will be soon.” The red was fading from her hair.
“What are you talking about? Is this that same nonsense you spouted before you disappeared? And on the night you found Bri?”
Carma frowned. “It is not nonsense.”
“Then tell me what it is.”
She stood there, silent, her hand drumming a beat along her upper arm, eyes locked with his. Then she stepped away. “Not yet.”
Alec sank into the chair Tassos had just occupied and pinched the bridge of his nose, willing the headache that threatened him to go away. I swear, someday she will be the death of me. The true death.
“Where is Bri?” she asked, after a long moment had passed; a moment filled with both their frustration, and their unwillingness to argue with one another.
Sighing, Alec withdrew his hand from his face, feeling the headache recede. “Out back, reading. I think.”
Carma turned from the plant she had been admiring. “Reading? Again?” She made a disgusted noise. “He always has his nose in one of those books. You never should have taught him to read.”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that.”
She headed towards the door. “Go get him. Make sure he’s ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“We’re going into the city. There’s a formal ball, and we’ve been invited.”
“A ball?” Things began to click in his head. Bits of gossip overheard, whispers among the servants and delivery men. “You mean the ball in honor of the prince’s engagement?”
“Yes.”
He rushed to block the doorway before she could leave. “Half the country will be there. Bri
can’t go. The most he’s managed was a short walk through the marketplace, and even then the number of people had him fighting off the myst and sick the entire day after. He’s not ready for something like this.”
“He has to be.”
“Why?”
“Don’t press me, Alec,” she said, tapping her fingernails against the windowpane in an eerie melody.
Alec grabbed her hand, ending the rhythm. “No. I’m tired of being kept in the dark. I’ve been looking after Bri for two years now, I’m not going to throw him unnecessarily into a situation he may not be able to handle. Explain this to me. What are you up to?”
Surprisingly, she didn’t fight his hold. “I don’t know yet.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know yet. I just know that something is going to happen. Something that’s been brewing for centuries, if not longer. I know all the pieces are now in place, but that is all. Bri is my only hope to see it before it happens. He needs to see things. He needs to touch the myst as much as he can.”
There was true sincerity in those sapphire and gold eyes which often showed him deception. But rather than rushing blindly forward with hope for honesty, Alec treaded cautiously. “Why didn’t you tell us earlier? Give us time to prepare?”
“I didn’t tell him because I didn’t want to put up with his fretting for days on end. And I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you telling him. Simple as that.”
“You should have told me. I would have taken him into town, into the city, prepared him slowly for the kind of crowd you now want to throw him into.”
“He will be all right, Alec. Dorothea has been working with him. She tells me his control is much better than it used to be. He can get himself out of the myst when he has to. And he’ll have you there. If things get very bad, you can hold his hand.” She smiled sweetly.
Alec didn’t appreciate it. “And what happens when he ends up in the myst for so long that others begin to detect his presence again? Hm? What happens then?”
“We can’t hide forever.” She took his face in her hands. “I know what I am doing, Alec. Trust me.”
He looked down into those eyes, studying them for all the things he’d been so adept at reading in the past. Once, he’d known her well. Once, they’d been more than master and servant. Once, she’d trusted him with her plans. But there had been a lot of ‘onces’ over two thousand years, and now, with a two-hundred-year gap, Alec found her nearly impossible to read. When she rose onto her toes to press her lips against his, he didn’t pull away.
She kissed him with a passion he hadn’t felt from her in years, since long before she had disappeared, and with none of the magic she was capable of taunting him with. No pull of his soul, no display of power.
But whatever passion they may have shared in the previous millennia, it was gone now.
When she broke away, he sensed she had felt the same. “Get him ready,” she said, stroking his lips, as if they were a memory. “We’ll leave with the sunset.”
After parting ways with her, Alec stepped outside. The sun’s warmth washed away his growing confusion. Past experience told him to proceed with caution, that Carma’s plans never went as smoothly as she wished, and that most of the time, she had some underlying intention. Yet now, he walked through the gardens in search of Bri, just as she had asked.
If Bri sees what she’s hoping he’ll see, then she’ll have no choice but to let me in on her plans. She’ll have to tell me whatever she knows.
Using Bri to get what he wanted out of Carma. He wasn’t proud of that, but he consoled himself with the knowledge that if Bri uncovered her secret agenda, then he could better protect Bri from it in the future.
Bri wasn’t hard to find. There was a large oak tree that grew at the edge of the lawn, surrounded by the vast open field in which the main house sat. Thick woods continued on to the edge of their property not far beyond. Bri sat against the trunk in the shade, a book in hand, one knee drawn up. It was a familiar scene. Bri had taken to spending most of his time outside, in the sunshine and the quiet, away from the noise of the house. The human servants they kept had been meant to acclimate Bri to being around people whom the myst touched. For the most part, he had no trouble with their small numbers, though he preferred solitude. With the capital city so close, the myst was thicker here than it had been in his homeland. Tendrils of myst were always available to be seen.
He didn’t look up as Alec approached. Given his recent conversation with Carma, Alec couldn’t help but notice the differences in the boy they had taken in two years prior.
Spending so much time outside had brought some color to his face. And he had grown taller. While he had been such a tiny thing, barely reaching Alec’s breastbone, over the past two years he had shot up, the top of his head now reaching Alec’s chin. He had filled out with a healthy diet and exercise, though he was still slender and more delicate in appearance than most boys his age.
The title of the book in Bri’s hands became clear as he approached. “I thought you weren’t going to read Eope anymore. It gives you nightmares.”
“Yes, but,” with a sigh Bri seemed to come to life, slipping the ribbon of the book between the pages to hold his place, “there’s something comforting about what he writes. Almost as though he’s seen as much darkness as I have.” He turned those silver-brown eyes on Alec then, and Alec saw traces of the boy who had climbed into his bed most nights, frightened of the things he saw when he closed his eyes.
“Suit yourself. But I may have to say ‘I told you so’ later.”
Bri smiled, something he did a lot more of lately. “You might.”
Alec folded his legs beneath him and leaned against the tree beside Bri. “How are things today?”
“Noisier than usual. The myst is much closer, thicker. Sometimes it passes through me without any trouble, other times some tendril gets snagged and I have to pull free.”
“But you pull free successfully? Not much trouble?”
“Not as much as I used to have. I don’t feel as shut out as I used to, but I’m also not falling in unexpectedly. Dorothea says my last growth spurt stretched out the labrynth on my back, thinned it. It’s holding, but its strength has changed.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“Haven’t decided yet.” Bri shifted, setting the book down on the grass between them. He left his hand there to brush against Alec’s. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting tension melt away.
Carma’s reassurance didn’t feel like enough.
“Bri, I have to talk to you about something.”
Bri opened his eyes. “About what?”
Alec decided there wasn’t much point in delaying the inevitable. “There’s a ball tonight, in the city.”
“For the prince.”
“Yes. You saw it?”
“It’s about all I can see. So many people will be there.”
Enough that already he had been inundated with their futures. Alec sighed. “We’re going as well.”
“You and Carma?”
“And you.”
Bri stiffened beside him.
“You’ll be all right. I’ll be there, and—”
Bri’s hand gripped Alec’s tightly. “Alec, I can’t. There will be so many people. They’ll bump into me, touch me, I won’t be able to stay out of the myst. I’ll—”
Alec flipped their hands so that he held Bri’s, giving him a reassuring shake as the panic began slipping into the boy’s voice. “Hey, listen to me. It will be all right. Are you listening?” Another shake rewarded him with a quick nod and Bri’s rapt attention. “It will be fine. Carma will be there, Picadilly will be there, so will I, and I won’t leave your side. I promise. And if it gets to be too much, we’ll leave, and Carma can eat brimstone if she doesn’t like it.”
“Why do I have to go? We’ve been here two years and she’s never made me go out in public. Small things here and there, but nothing like this.�
��
He might as well know the truth. Carma be damned. She can’t just use him without any explanation. “I think she’s hoping you’ll see something.”
“See what?”
“When she first found you, and called me, she told me you were the last piece. I didn’t know what she meant, other than the fact that before she disappeared, she had gone mad, ranting about finding all the pieces, and that I had been the first. I still don’t know what she’s after, but she seems to believe that something is going to happen. Whether it’s something she wants to stop, or be a part of, I don’t know.”
Some of the fight retreated from Bri’s body. “That must be why she asks me what I see all the time.”
“Most likely.”
“And if I’m in a room with half the country, I’m almost sure to see what she’s looking for. If it exists.”
“It would seem logical.”
With a groan, Bri slumped back against the tree. “I suppose the least I can do is try. After all, she is the reason I’m alive right now.”
“She gets your soul in return for that. Don’t think you owe her anything more.”
Bri shrugged. “How much time do I have? Do I have time to find Dorothea? Maybe she knows something that will help me prepare.”
“You have time. We’re leaving at sunset.”
A nod.
“It’s formal attire. That should help. You’ll have gloves, a jacket. Even if someone bumps you, the chance of you making direct contact will be slim.”
“That’s good. Though I hate wearing all those clothes.”
“As I am well aware.” Getting dressed up had always been the one thing Bri fought him over.
They sat in silence for a while, Bri’s eyes closed, his hand still in Alec’s, clearly taking solace in the quiet. Given the night he was about to have, Alec was in no rush to take it from him.
— CHAPTER FIFTEEN —
Bri closed his eyes and breathed.