The Fading Dusk

by Melissa Giorgio

  “In addition, I command Leonid and others I deem trustworthy to be my eyes and ears,” Parnaby said. “Like Elyse and Vernen and, we hope in the future, you.”

  “I thought the president was some old, crippled guy who never left his dark mansion,” I said, stunned. I tried to remember everything I’d ever heard about the president but came up with very little. I’d never cared about the president, and no one else I knew did, either. He simply won reelections by default because no one ran against him, and I assumed whatever laws he passed only affected residents in Rise. Thinking on it now, I found it strange that I never cared that such a person in power didn’t seem to worry for the residents of Way or the slums. Shouldn’t I have?

  “You believed that because I wanted you to,” Parnaby said. “Your indifference toward me is a result of a carefully constructed spell placed throughout Dusk.”

  “You’re manipulating us?” I asked. “With your magic?”

  He studied his nails, looking bored. “Yes.”

  My body was hot with fury. “How is that any different from what Bantheir did to me?”

  His head snapped up so he could glare at me. “It’s completely different! Bantheir wants to destroy Dusk! I’m trying to protect it!”

  “Really?” I let out a bitter laugh. The words spilled out of me before I could stop them. “And how’s that going, with Bantheir running around killing people? You’re doing a great job of protecting us!”

  “You have no idea!” Parnaby shouted over me, his voice like a great clap of thunder. “You don’t know the lengths I’ve gone to protect this city from that madman!” He pointed at me. “Why do you think you were locked up?”

  I remembered the horrible flash of light and the smell of Bantheir’s burning flesh. “Because there were wards around the cell.”

  “Not just the cell, but the prison itself. Renewed every day since I had Leonid bring you there.”

  My mouth dropped open. “You’re the one who ordered my arrest? Why?”

  “To protect you!”

  “But how did you even know I needed protecting?”

  Parnaby jumped up and began pacing. “Do you remember our last encounter? When you told me about the man who had threatened you?”

  “Yes.” My eyes narrowed. “How could I not? First you were nice, and then you turned weird, making me think I’d done something wrong—”

  “Not you,” he cut me off, slamming his fist into his palm to emphasize his words. “Bantheir. You were cloaked in his spells, practically dripping with them!” He stopped pacing to lock gazes with me. “That’s when I realized he was up to something, and you were unknowingly in the middle of it.”

  Seething with rage, I squeezed the pillow tightly, imagining it was Parnaby’s neck. “And you couldn’t say, ‘Oh hey, Irina, there’s something I think you should know about Bantheir’?”

  “You know I couldn’t do that.”

  “Why not?” I demanded. “I thought we were—” I cut myself off before I could say “friends.” It was obvious from his look of indifference that the only one who thought things were different between us was me.

  The idiot, as usual.

  “That was an illusion, Irina,” Parnaby said. “Dusk needs to think I’m nothing but a simple street magician, someone who practices fake magic. This persona allows me the freedom to travel the city unhindered. Sometimes sending my soldiers isn’t enough. Sometimes I need to go myself. But I can’t, not as the president. And definitely not as someone who knows how to wield magic. If the people knew what I could do…” He spread his hands helplessly. “After Bantheir attacked the slums, the people rioted for fear that magic had returned. The soldiers—and my magic—have managed to calm things down, but imagine what would have happened if we’d let that fear run rampant across the city.” His brown eyes were hard, cold, as he stared me down. “I will not let that happen to Dusk. Ever.”

  Swallowing, I looked away first. I hated that he intimidated me, but the Parnaby who stood before me wasn’t the same man I’d known since I was a child. “Why are you being like this?”

  “I’m sorry, do you want a cookie?”

  It took all of my self-control not to hurl the pillow at his face. It would be a waste of energy, anyway, as I was sure he’d just stop it with magic. Magic he shouldn’t even be controlling, I thought with a shiver. “You didn’t answer my question,” I pointed out quietly. “Why didn’t you tell me about Bantheir’s manipulation spells?”

  With a weary shake of his head, Parnaby rejoined Elyse on the couch. She shot him a concerned look, which he ignored. “Because I didn’t know the details. Why they were there in the first place? I didn’t know about the Essence, nor did I know he wanted immortality. I still don’t know why he wants it, either.”

  “Who cares why?” I asked, although, truthfully, I wanted to know the reason behind Bantheir’s psychotic behavior. “What about the fact that after you discovered those spells on me, you still sent me home to that murderer? You were wary of him, but you never thought to free me from his grasp!”

  “I couldn’t let him know I was on to him.” There was absolutely no regret—or sympathy—in Parnaby’s voice. “If I wanted to stop him, I needed to trap him.”

  And yet more people had died while Parnaby waited for Bantheir to spring his trap. People like Vernen. My fury returned, tenfold. “So you threw me in a cell, waiting for him to come.”

  “No, I placed you in the prison for your own protection,” he corrected. “Between the wards and the protection amulets, I truly believed Bantheir wouldn’t be able to locate you.”

  “Wait.” I held up a hand. “Protection amulets? As in, more than one?”

  “There was one sewn into the lining of the skirt you wore the day you went to visit the church,” Elyse said quietly.

  Parnaby gave her a fond look, which seemed out of place after all the sneers he’d thrown my way. “That’s right. We couldn’t have you traipsing freely around Dusk after all of my hard work to hide you. But Leonid, that fool, kept saying you had to go out, had to be set free.” He shrugged. “I allowed you one day, which you should be thankful for.”

  I glared at him. “Sorry, but I’m not in a thankful mood right now.” Toying with my life the way he did? I could never forgive him for that.

  “I don’t know what happened today, why he found you,” he said, completely misunderstanding what I meant.

  “We found the Essence,” I said, thinking back to what Bantheir had told me. “He said he had placed a binding on it; when I removed it from the lark, it must have broken.” Seeing their confused glances, I quickly filled them in on my necklace and how the Essence had been stored inside, unbeknownst to me.

  “All this time, it was within Leonid’s grasp,” Parnaby mused.

  “Can we destroy it?” I asked. “If we got rid of it, then Bantheir wouldn’t be able to cast the spell!”

  He shook his head and my heart plummeted. “Something as powerful as that would withstand any magic I threw its way. It’s a piece of a god, after all.”

  “So Jaegger is real.”

  “Very much so,” he said.

  The gravity of the situation weighed me down. How were we supposed to win against a god? “What do we do?”

  “Well, I for one have no intention of lying down to die and letting Bantheir destroy Dusk.” Parnaby’s face tightened in anger. “Tomorrow, we fight.”

  “And will we win?” I asked quietly.

  When Parnaby didn’t answer, my body went cold with fear. I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I need to find Leonid.”

  “You’re wasting your time,” Parnaby said. “He’s probably halfway through his second bottle by now.”

  “Leonid is not a drunk,” I insisted.

  Parnaby gave me a look that clearly said, stupid girl. “Your best friend foolishly dies, we’ll see how sober you are afterwards.”

  “Parn,” Elyse admonished.

  I returned Parnaby’s look of scor
n, wishing I could arch a single eyebrow like Leonid could. “Then it’s a good thing I don’t have a best friend.” I rose on shaky feet but paused before I marched away, still using a pillow to cover my legs. “By the way, I saw Vernen die. He fought to the bitter end, so show some respect, Parnaby. Don’t you dare call it foolish.” I made my escape before he could respond, my heart slamming inside my chest. It felt good to talk to him that way, but it was also frightening. I had a feeling Parnaby could kill me with a flick of his fingers if he wanted to. I’d be better off if I stayed on his good side…

  But the look of surprise on his face had been worth it. I could almost imagine Vernen laughing as I put Parnaby in his place, and I smiled, bittersweet, as a tear trickled down my cheek.

  AFTER A SPONGE BATH, I Changed into a soft, pale-pink sweater and a fine pair of trousers that had been laid out for me. Full of restless energy, I wandered the corridors aimlessly, peering into each room as I passed them. They seemed to have a room for everything here: a library, multiple sitting rooms, a music room… I was just about to give up and head back to the first sitting room in the hopes that Leonid had wandered there on his own when I heard the soft sounds of someone crying.

  I crept toward the open doorway, feeling rotten for spying on someone who obviously wanted to be alone. As I poked my head around the doorframe, I saw yet another sitting room, this one filled with dark furniture. Sprawled across the sofa was Leonid, clinging to a fluffy yellow dog as he cried.

  My heart squeezed painfully. Part of me wondered if I should rush in there to comfort him, while the rest of me thought it best if I ran far, far away. Leonid, always so stoic, probably didn’t want me—or anyone—to see him like that.

  Coward that I was, I turned to leave. The floor creaked ominously under my foot and Leonid’s head popped up.

  “Who’s there?” he asked. “Lark?”

  I slowly turned around, cursing the noisy floor. “Leonid. I-I’m sorry, I was just…”

  He let go of the dog and stood, brushing off his pants. The dog came running up to me, wagging its tail. I stared at it, my heart melting a little. It really was a cute little thing as it whined and butted its head against my legs, its tiny pink tongue hanging out of its mouth.

  “You better pet him,” Leonid said, scooping the dog up so it was eye level with me. “He won’t leave you alone until you do.”

  I reached a hand out and the dog practically jumped out of Leonid’s arms to get to me. I laughed quietly as Leonid handed me the dog so I could hug him gently to my chest. After he had his fill, the dog wiggled out of my arms and dropped to the floor, where he ran to the couch and jumped onto the cushions. Circling once, he settled down for a nap.

  “What’s his name?” I asked.

  “Toffee.” Leonid made a face. “My sister named him.”

  “Mmm.” We stood there awkwardly for a moment, the silence loud as I struggled to find something to say. Finally, I blurted out, “Should I go?”

  “What?” Leonid blinked. “No, no, you don’t have to.”

  “It’s just, you know…” I shoved my hands into my pockets and rocked back and forth on my feet, feeling like the biggest fool who’d ever lived.

  Leonid wiped at his face, brushing any remaining tears from his cheeks. “It’s fine. I don’t mind that you saw me like that. I just… I can’t believe he’s dead.”

  “I know.” I stared at the floor, reliving that horrible moment over and over again in my mind. I decided to tell him what I’d told Parnaby. “He fought until the very end. And he was very brave.”

  His face had been strained when I first walked in, but his features relaxed at my words, as if I were bringing him peace of mind. “Thank you. That means a lot to me, hearing that.” He looked at me and lifted an eyebrow, as if noticing my appearance for the first time. “A sweater and pants. That’s what the maid left you to wear?”

  “What did you want her to leave me, a dress?” I laughed at the ridiculous notion.

  His gaze was dark and intense and completely serious when he said, “I would have liked to have seen you in a dress.”

  I trembled, entirely uncertain how to answer that.

  Leonid stepped closer to me, slowly, carefully, his eyes never leaving my face. Smelling faintly of soap, he’d changed out of his dirty plainclothes and was now dressed in a fine silk shirt and tailored trousers that showed off his lean form and narrow waist. I realized with a start that I was staring openly, with my mouth slightly ajar. Hoping he hadn’t noticed, I looked away. I could smell the faint aroma of alcohol on his breath; one bottle, halfway full, rested on an end table next to a filled glass. Leonid reached out and caught a curl between his fingers, giving it a gentle tug. “Have I ever told you how beautiful your hair is?”

  I blushed. A comb and a silver hairclip had also been left out for me, and I’d taken advantage of them, sweeping my hair up into a twist with tendrils framing my face. I was pleased he’d noticed my hard work. “You may have, once or twice…”

  “It was the first thing I noticed about you, when I first saw you.”

  I smiled slightly. “It must not have impressed you much, since you ordered me gagged and bound and carried to the prison.”

  “No!” Leonid shook his head vehemently. “That wasn’t the first time I saw you! It was six months ago, the day Gerald died.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath of surprise. I wracked my brain, trying to recall our first meeting, but I came up blank.

  “I went to the scene and saw…” Leonid blanched. “I saw his body, and the dark markings from the ritual. I stumbled out of there, in a state of, well, I guess it was shock. Everything was gray, as if not only had the world stopped making sense, but it had lost all of its color as well.” His words echoed my thoughts from earlier, as we’d hurried through the streets and I’d observed the fading Dusk. “And then I rounded the corner and saw this brilliant flash of red, like living flames.” He touched my temple briefly. “You were there, coaxing a little boy to join you on stage. You had this serene smile on your face, and instantly, I felt calmer. You woke this determination in me; I knew what I had to do. I made myself a promise: I would mourn later, once I’d finished Gerald’s work and avenged him.”

  Leonid was so close I could feel the heat radiating from him. Flustered, I abruptly sat down on the couch, curling my hands into fists to hide the trembling. “Did you—Did you watch the magic show?”

  “I did.” He sat down as well; Toffee scooted over and rested his head in Leonid’s lap. He patted the dog absently. “Although I have to admit, I was watching you more than the magic.” He chuckled quietly as my face burned. “I wanted to talk to you, after the show, but I was too much of a coward. I did flip a coin into your hat when you were distracted—a silver dollar.”

  “That was you?” I exclaimed. “I was wondering who gave us that! We ate meat for a week thanks to you!”

  “I’m glad the money was put to good use.” Leonid gestured around him. “Look at all of this waste. Room after room filled with expensive things while people—good people—are starving.” He shook his head, eyes blazing. “Can you blame me for living in the prison?”

  I watched his face carefully as I asked, “What about the president? Can’t you live with him?”

  Unperturbed, he met my gaze. “Parnaby filled you in?”

  “It doesn’t bother you that he’s manipulating us—all of us—to entrust him with everything?”

  “It did, when I first found out,” Leonid admitted. “But once you see how much he’s doing for all of Dusk, you realize how important he is to this city.”

  “How do you know that’s really you thinking that, or the results of the spell he placed on you?”

  “That spell was broken the moment I found out his true identity.” Leonid grabbed my hand and squeezed tightly. “I listen to him because he’s my superior. I’m a soldier, and my duty is to follow his orders, no matter what they are.”

  Pulling my hand away, I stood up
and walked over to one of the windows. The curtains were drawn and I left them alone. I had an irrational fear that Bantheir was on the other side, pressing his face against the glass as he smiled madly at me. “So when he ordered you to keep quiet about Bantheir manipulating me, you listened?” I pressed a hand to my stomach. “Each time I felt that intense stabbing when I insisted on his innocence—watching me go through that didn’t bother you?” I couldn’t hide the hurt and anger from my voice as I spun around to face Leonid.

  “That,” he declared, his voice low and throaty, “was one of the worst things I’ve ever had to experience.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell me?” My eyes filled with tears and I brushed them away impatiently. “I thought I was going mad, Leonid!”

  “I wanted to tell you,” he insisted, eyes burning. “I fought with Parnaby about this every single time I saw him. I thought you should know. I thought it would help you fight it. But he said it would be better if you fought it on your own, with no outside help. I didn’t know what the difference was—I still don’t—but I always thought he was wrong.” Leonid’s shoulders slumped, and he bowed his head. “But I can’t disobey his orders. I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

  I hugged myself tightly. “And I can’t just forget this. All this time, the things I thought and felt… I watched you leave earlier, convinced you were going off on some suicide mission while you had Vernen shove me in a cage because you couldn’t be bothered with me—”

  “That’s not true,” he interrupted hotly.

  “And Bantheir wants to use me to make himself immortal,” I finished, my voice catching. “You couldn’t tell me any of this, Leonid? Didn’t you think I deserved to know what was going on with my life?”

  His gaze dropped to the carpeted floor. “I didn’t want to frighten you.”

  I let out a shaky laugh. “Oh, because I’m not scared out of my mind right now?” He winced at my sarcastic tone and I sighed. “Look, Leonid, if it was you—if you were in my place, wouldn’t you want to know?”

  “Yes,” he said without hesitating.

  “So you understand why I’m angry, right?” I pressed. “And why I think you should be angry, too. What Parnaby is doing to all of Dusk isn’t very different from what Bantheir did to me. He’s forcing everyone to think and feel the same way he feels. Doesn’t that bother you?” I stepped closer to him, trying to recapture his gaze. “Shouldn’t you be allowed to make your own choices?”