by Eva Brandt
What the actual fuck? I hadn’t known about that. If Clara’s explanation was correct, then it made a little more sense that the other paranormal species didn’t have to comply with the Soulmate Protection Dictate. But Declan, Malachai and Darius had never mentioned it. Shouldn’t they have known about it if it was true?
A terrible suspicion suddenly settled in my heart. I wanted to believe that maybe it hadn’t been an issue for them because they were more powerful than me, but I suspected the situation wasn’t quite so clear-cut. Bjorn had outright told me that I was very powerful, so much so that my raw abilities could counter the defenses of one of the most talented Alarian mind mages in the world. I couldn’t be sure about it, since Bjorn and Malachai must have contributed to the process of subduing Cardinal Vaughn, as well. But if my guess was correct, it would explain so much. It would explain why everything was going so poorly for my soulmates, whereas I was still, for the most part, perfectly fine.
Struggling not to hyperventilate, I continued to read my letter.
“The spell isn’t actually sentient and it can’t tell the original amount of magic a person possesses. It can only tell how much magic he or she has at a certain point in time. That is to say, the curse sees the net amount of magic, not the gross. And my family and I are conveniently twice-blessed and very good at managing such things.”
Why was I not surprised that someone as organized as Clara would compare magic to income? Gross and net, indeed. If this whole thing became even more insane, I would start screaming and never stop.
“I concluded that as long as the three of us—Pierce, Diane and I—sapped your power, we could keep the curse at bay. We could keep you and Pierce at the same magical level and in that way, prevent the Accursed Syndrome from triggering.
“I won’t lie. I always knew it was a difficult, almost impossible task. If we missed even one meeting, if we drained too much or too little, either you or Pierce could have been killed. Again, if you’re reading this letter, I assume it must’ve happened in some way.
“But I want you to know, Lucienne, that in my heart, I have no regrets. Pierce will never tell you this because he wanted more for you, but he really did love you. It might be selfish of me to say this, but I think that love is a gift. Meeting you, spending time with you, seeing you laugh and open up to us... I realize it was difficult for you, but we were all so happy that you found it in your heart to do it. I know that you sensed on some level that we were dangerous, that we were hurting you, but you accepted us regardless, and that means so much to me.
“You gave us a lot, my dearest daughter. And because of that, I need to say one more thing. Be careful. Your father...”
Once again, the words were cut off, and Clara never returned to finish her letter. The next paragraph was in Diane’s handwriting.
“Sorry, Lucy. Mom tried, but she can’t say anything more, and I can’t even manage half of what she did. I hope you’ll at least be able to read between the lines. And I hope you’ll always know that you’re still my best friend, even if I did lie and betray you. I’m sorry. We all are.
“Find your path and fight on. We believe in you and we love you.
Diane (and Clara) Garnier.”
When I finally finished the letter, I felt numb. My head was spinning and I couldn’t even begin to process everything I’d just learned.
I had a mysterious father who was apparently very dangerous and powerful enough to place some kind of terrible enchantment on my surrogate family. Mathias Vandale of all people had deemed him a threat, and the man spat in the face of death. I’d literally shot him, and he’d come back without a scratch. To make matters worse, there was a distinct possibility that the Accursed spell didn’t affect me, but my soulmates.
“How is this possible?” I asked Bjorn, because I had to express my desperation in some way, and this was the only option I could think of. “What is this?”
Bjorn shot me a helpless look that echoed my own confusion. “I’m sorry, Lucienne. I have no idea. They’re telling the truth about the origins of the Garnier family, but I don’t know anything about a mysterious magic user who saved them when they were supposed to be burned at the stake.”
“And what about the rest of it? The fact that the curse only affects weaker people.”
“That’s true also,” Bjorn answered, “although I only found out about it just now. Cardinal Vaughn mentioned it. The Alarian royal family is already aware that Darius and the others are the ones affected by the curse, not you. I actually wanted to talk to you about it and tell you to be careful when visiting him, but it looks like I was a little late.”
“Just a little, yes,” I answered, still in a daze. God, I had endangered Darius with my presence. If Healer Vaughn hadn’t sent me away, who knew what would have happened?
I would have probably had a panic attack right then and there had I not noticed the strange expression on Bjorn’s face. He looked... hesitant, wary, and for some reason, I suspected it was not just because of Darius and all the questionable things I’d learned today.
“What is it, Bjorn? Did you find out something else? Something you haven’t mentioned?”
“There is one more thing. The reason why they allowed you to stay is because they need you to have Darius’s baby. To... ensure the continuation of the Alarisson line, so to speak.”
Hysterical laughter rose in my chest. Of course that had been their reason. Why hadn’t I realized it before? The Alarians never did anything because they were nice. They always had a logical reason, and perpetuating the species was the most practical one that could ever exist.
In an ideal world, I would not have minded being a mother. In fact, I thought that maybe I would have liked it. Deep inside, I’d always wanted a family of my own. But this was not an ideal world, and I refused to be anyone’s broodmare. I refused to conceive a child who would have to endure the same horrible, emotionless, empty existence Darius had experienced.
I needed a real solution to this, and the Alarians were obviously not an option.
I thought about the trembling letters on the piece of paper, about Darius’s earlier confession, about Declan and his desperate desire to help me. So many things had gone wrong from the very beginning. Could it be because I’d been on the wrong side all along?
Hoping I wasn’t making a horrible mistake, I met Bjorn’s eyes once again and asked, “Bjorn, what would you say if I told you Mathias Vandale is the reason why Darius is still alive? What would you say if I told you he might be able to help us escape?”
Seven
Beasts
Bjorn
The story Lucienne told me was almost too fantastical to be believed. As I had guessed, at one point while I’d been away, Lucienne had taken advantage of the new privileges Cardinal Vaughn had granted her and had gone to visit Darius. Darius himself had not seemed to react poorly to her presence and the curse had shown no sign of triggering, but that was the least surprising thing about the whole mess. Apparently, Darius had pulled her into his mindscape, at which point Lucienne had found out some things that were just as shocking as the revelations in the letter.
My soulmate didn’t seem to know what to make of any of it. She had been understandably reluctant to trust Vandale, but the message from the Garniers changed that. “It might mean nothing,” she whispered. “Maybe the Garniers were working for Vandale all along, or maybe he’s forcing them to corroborate his story.”
I nodded, even warier of Vandale than I’d been before. “That does seem the likeliest possibility, yes. But...” I narrowed my eyes at my soulmate, the bombardment of her emotions impossible for me to ignore. “You don’t really think that.”
“I don’t know what to think,” Lucienne replied. “Nothing makes any sense anymore. Assuming Vandale wanted to hurt us, why would he come up with such an elaborate story? It seems pointless.”
“Such incidents can challenge and change the mindscape of any person, not just an Accursed,” I warned her. “He migh
t intend to unbalance your psyche and shatter your mental defenses that way.”
Lucienne shot me an unimpressed look. “Are you serious? You and I both know that my defenses are about as flimsy as Cardinal Vaughn’s ability to feel. At most, Vandale might be trying to make me suffer, but he doesn’t actually need it if his goal is to break into my mind.”
I could understand her point of view, but what other explanation could there be for his behavior? The chances that he was being honest were infinitesimal. Still, Lucienne would not have brought it up in this way if she had not deemed it something of note. “Do you trust him, Lucienne? Do you really think he wants to help?”
Lucienne let out a low groan. “No. Yes. I don’t know. I’m so confused. It’s not really my place to make this decision. It’s Darius’s body, not mine. But if Vandale is telling the truth, maybe it’s an option we should consider.”
I thought about the battle with the plagues, about that horrible moment when I’d watched Vandale capture Darius’s mind. It had probably been one of the worst days of my life. I’d arrived just in time to keep Darius’s out of control powers from carbonizing Lucienne and Malachai, but I hadn’t been fast enough to save him. I’d tried so hard, but in the end, my efforts had been pointless. The barrier between us had been so powerful I could have never bypassed it without Malachai’s help.
Darius had never recovered from our foray in Vandale’s mind. I wondered now if maybe I should have seen this coming, if perhaps, I’d failed to keep a hold on Darius like I had on Lucienne. Maybe I’d been so distracted by the touch of her mind that I’d failed to secure his.
“Blaming yourself for what happened won’t help us, Bjorn,” Lucienne whispered as if she could read my thoughts. “That’s not why we’re here, you know.”
I arched a brow at her, meeting those beautiful dark eyes that always seemed to see far too much. “I thought I was the incubus, not you.”
Lucienne shrugged. “I don’t need to be magical at all to know what you were thinking about. Listen, I don’t like this any more than you do. And I know that it’s stupid and presumptuous of me to make this comparison because what you have with Darius doesn’t even come close to—”
“No, Lucienne,” I cut her off sharply. “Don’t say that. It’s true that your bond with him might be in its incipience, but Darius believes in it with all his heart and I think that so do you. I know that you are afraid and uncertain, but the two of you are soulmates. Don’t forget that, okay?”
Lucienne’s eyes widened, as if she was surprised that I would point that out now of all times. She needed to remember, though. If she ever forgot, everything would be for naught. “Remember what I told you. Having a soulmate is special. That’s what we’re fighting for, and we’re all in this together.”
Lucienne nodded silently, and the vulnerability I saw shining in her gaze made my heart clench. I wished I could have given her some real reassurance or told her that we didn’t need to follow this crazy scheme. Instead, I chose honesty.
“As for the rest, I don’t know what to say. The truth is I can’t make you any promises. Let’s face it, I don’t have any real plan beyond ‘let’s fuck this guy up and hope it buys up some time.’ You’re not wrong in saying we need a better option. The idea of putting Darius’s body in Mathias Vandale’s hands turns my stomach, but I’m pretty sure he’s already in that situation. And realistically, between the curse and the Alarian Vow, we might not have a lot of time at our disposal. I just don’t want us to rush into something and make a bigger mess because of our desperation.”
“In the end, it’s up to Darius, isn’t it?” Lucienne asked. “We might talk about it for days on end, but it’s his decision to make.”
“Except the only decision he can possibly make now, with the information he has at his disposal, is the one I’m inclined to go with. To not accept Vandale’s offer, because of the amount of damage that man could do with Darius’s body at his disposal.”
“That makes sense,” Lucienne replied. “Maybe you could meet with him in some way, in an actual location, not in Darius’s mind. That might give us a better clue if he’s being honest. I also want proof. He claims Declan is still alive, but I won’t believe it until I see it.”
“I can certainly try, but we’ll have to find a way to arrange it. I can’t exactly text Mathias Vandale, and it looks like something happened earlier that might make contacting him harder.”
I had no idea what it might have been, but everybody was running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Most of the staff had converged in the sections of the Palasion that held the most sensitive data or the most important people. It meant that I’d been able to talk to Lucienne unhindered, but by the same token, we’d probably have trouble visiting Darius. We had Cardinal Vaughn’s permission, but not even the leader of The Pure Inquisition could grant us unrestricted access to Darius if his father didn’t want that to happen.
“If the situation doesn’t drastically change, we might not have a good chance to see Darius alone until the trial, in which case, it will be impossible to speak to Vandale again.”
“Of course it will be. Just my rotten luck.” Lucienne let out a slow breath. “Listen, why don’t you go keep an eye on Darius? I don’t trust Alarian healers and I want to go see Malachai.”
“All right, Lucienne. That sounds like a good idea.”
It was the best thing we could do right now. The Alarians couldn’t be trusted to watch over Darius properly. Lucienne also needed some time to clear her head. Perhaps the vampire could help her where I could not.
As we left the room together, a small, irritating voice nudged at the back of my mind, pointing out a fact I really would have liked to ignore. “It’s not the vampire who can help her now, and you know it.”
I furiously suppressed the treacherous thought. As far as I was concerned, Mathias Vandale was my enemy and he had done nothing to prove he was truly on our side. He was a beast, a monster, a scavenger who could not be trusted. I wouldn’t exclude the option Lucienne had brought to the table, but I refused to place my hopes in him.
I didn’t want to think that Vandale was our only option because if he was, we were in far more trouble than I’d thought.
* * *
Malachai
When I’d joined the Guardian Corps, decades ago, I’d been well aware I’d have some trouble adjusting at first. The feeding serum had been the worst of it, of course, but Alarian culture itself was so very different from everything I’d known as a child.
I’d thought I’d gotten a hang of what made Alarians tick. I’d thought that, throughout my time here, I’d learned a lot about who they were as a nation, as fighters, as Accursed.
I had barely even scratched the surface of their true secrets.
The information my new friend had shared with me went beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I had no doubt that he was still holding a lot back, but I had faith that he’d reveal everything in his own time. For the moment, I had to focus on the plan we—or rather, Alois—had come up with.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” I asked him with a frown. “They might shoot us on sight for making such a presumptuous request.”
“Yes, they might,” Alois agreed, “which is why I wouldn’t have suggested it if not for Bjorn’s little scheme. Cardinal Vaughn will make sure nothing unfortunate happens. I’m not sure I’ll be able to intervene directly, but I will try to at least be there.”
The words reassured me somewhat because the idea of facing the entire Pure Council of Alaria, as well as the king and queen, and demanding to be given one of their most ancient heirlooms appealed to me about as much as another ‘date’ with Inquisitor Chen. “All right. That sounds good.”
“Does it?” Alois arched a blond brow at me. “I feel like you don’t really believe your own words.”
I grimaced but didn’t refute him. “In a way, I don’t believe any of this. I keep thinking that any moment now, I’ll wake up and r
ealize that you were a hallucination induced by silver poisoning or something along that line. But at the same time, relying on you is better than relying on the cardinal alone.”
“Thank you for the vote of confidence, I guess,” Alois drawled sarcastically. “It’s nice to know you put more faith in me than in your brainwashed slave.”
“I personally think that’s a compliment. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Alois opened his mouth, perhaps intending to provide a reply. The words never came out. His eyes shot toward the entrance of my cell, and the light around his body flickered. I wanted to ask what was going on, but I didn’t get the chance. In the blink of an eye, he was gone.
It was so sudden that I was temporarily left reeling, stunned by his incomprehensible behavior. Maybe Alois really had been a figment of my imagination and I was finally recovering my senses.
What a clusterfuck.
My cell door opened before I could work myself up further. The moment my visitor walked into my line of sight, I instantly forgot all about my doubts, fears, and possible mental health issues.
“Hi, Malachai,” Lucienne said, with a tiny, almost shy smile. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner.”
“It’s all right,” I replied, my heart hammering. It seemed surreal that she’d even come now. “I know you must’ve done your best.”
Lucienne walked up to me and together, we sat down on the cold floor of my cell. “Did you get my letter?”
“Letter?” I repeated. She had sent me something? When? “I’m sorry, no.”
Lucienne let out a low curse. “I suppose they might not have had the time to put it through their oh-so-careful vetting process. Because, you know, it’s a crime to actually provide an imprisoned person some form of comfort. Assholes.”
“I think they don’t want us to have information we might be able to use to escape. I can’t imagine how we’d do that here at the Palasion, but things might be different at other Alarian-inhabited locations.”