He nodded, unable to speak, and circled his arm around her again, letting them sink to the ground together till they lay on their sides. All around them the grass rose like a protective wall, and he could almost forget about the others in the clearing. “Liseli,” he finally managed, “you’re not alright. What happened?”
She was silent. He waited, feeling her heartbeat and wishing he could read her thoughts. Then finally she drew back, strands of her hair still clinging to him as she looked down into his face. “I . . . saw her kill Eliasha,” she said, mouth flattening in a grimace. Her eyes were haunted by the memory, deep green and distant, before she blinked and saw him again.
She touched her fingers to his face, brushing hair from his eyes and trailing down to trace his jawline. “And she told me you’d died. And I believed her. The last time I saw you, you were . . . almost.”
He caught her hand and pulled her back to him. “What did she want from you? What’s been happening?”
Silence. He couldn’t see her face, her head resting on his shoulder.
“Liseli?”
“She’s just crazy,” Liseli answered. “That’s all.”
Chapter 24 ~ Love, part 3
A shadow loomed over them, and Russ looked up. He saw Alisiya standing above them, looking down. Liseli twisted to see, but then curled up and hid her face against him. Something was very wrong here, he knew, but couldn’t figure it out. Liseli didn’t do things like that. But he just shifted to cover her with his arm and glared at Alisiya. She looked more than ever to him like something from the grave, skin paste and eyes nearly white as if all the life had drained out of them. Her hair dangled like shadows reaching to them as she stood with arms crossed.
Leeton stepped up and put a hand on her arm, turning her toward him. “Listen to me when I’m talking to you,” he said, but she didn’t answer, jerking away and tossing her hair as she stomped a little ways off.
Russ sat up, pulling Liseli with him, and watched as Leeton followed.
“You have completely ruined any trust I had in you. This is why I keep you with me, because you don’t understand the first thing about life in the real world,” Leeton spoke to his daughter’s back. “When we get home you will stay down in your rooms all day long — no more visits to the kennels, and by God I’m going to board up your skylights for the next ten years and see how that suits you!”
She spun around. “Do you think I care? Everything in this world is a dungeon! I will not go back with you, I don’t even want to stand here looking at you for another moment. I hate you!”
“Oh! You hate me. How shocking; I hadn’t known,” Leeton retorted acerbically. “I’m just glad you still feel something, Alisiya. Hate me all you want, consider it my way of keeping you somewhat human.”
“Human! You’re the one who did this to me,” Alisiya stomped her foot. “You have never even given me a chance to live in the ‘real world,’ you—”
“You did this to yourself. And I’m ashamed of you for it.”
She ground her teeth together, eyes flashing violet. “That’s why you lock my up in the tombs, your embarrassment, your monster.” She shook with anger. “I’m nothing to you but a freak and a mistake!”
Russ shook his head. Liseli still had her face buried against him and would not look at Alisiya, but he almost felt like laughing. “She’s a drama queen,” he said in wonder. “Just a fucking little drama queen. I can’t believe this.”
Leeton turned his back on Alisiya, and looked at Russ. “Do not use that language when talking about my daughter,” he said harshly. “I will deal with this issue myself.”
Liseli lifted her face. There was something cold and hard in her eyes when she looked up at Leeton that surprised Russ, but Leeton didn’t seem to notice. Alisiya had stalked away into the midst of dogs. They swarmed about her, jostling each other for a chance to touch her, and she absently spread her hands out to brush over them.
“This isn’t the end of it,” she said, seating herself on a rock by the waterfall. “You’ll see. One day, you’ll regret everything you have done to me.” She tilted her chin with wounded pride, eyes glinting a steely gray-blue.
“Regret.” Leeton bit at the word. “I regret you. Daily. Hourly. Every minute.”
Her gaze didn’t waver. “Your greatest mistake.”
He ran a hand over his face, emerging with less ire, more pain. “Yes,” quietly, “my greatest mistake.”
“Greater,” her voice gave away an unsteady hint, “than killing my mother.”
“It was one in the same,” he said, then, seeming to regret its coldness, added, “I should have left you alone, instead of trying to make you . . . better.”
“Better?” she cried out, breaking her composure, “How is this better?” she struck her chest with both hands balled into fists.
“Alisiya.” He nearly moved toward her, but stopped his feet and closed his hands. “You know what you are. What I . . . we . . . made you. You are the closest thing to a goddess this world will ever know.”
“Don’t try that sweet talk on me!” Alisiya leapt to her feet. “Don’t.” She hid her fists in the folds of her cloak, fixing her father with eyes mirrors of his. Silence stretched between them, taut and bristling. Russ watched in uneasy fascination, breeze tickling grass in his face as Liseli, watching too, barely breathed under his arm. Finally Alisiya spoke again, voice strained as the silence; “All my life you have told me how special I am. How gifted. Lies, to hide your own guilt; to pretend that your creation is not a monster . . . a monstrosity. A mockery of . . . life.”
Blue ran from her eyes onto her pallid cheeks. It took a moment for them to register as tears in Russ’s mind. He felt Liseli twisting his shirt in her hand again; her fingers dug into his side unthinkingly, but he ignored the pain, watching for Leeton’s response.
The King was frozen, as if his daughter’s eyes — or tears — could turn his blood to ice. The dogs whined low in their throats, seeing their beloved mistress’ distress, not knowing how they could serve her. They edged closer as one, trying to touch her. Leeton seemed adrift in the sea of them, unable to move, speak, think, feel.
Then in a sudden burst, like an icicle breaking, he said, “I made a child, you made the monster.”
Alisiya lifted her hands from her cloak. Something dripped out from between the fingers of her fist, then rivers of red trickled down her arms as she spread her palms over her face.
“Stop,” Leeton said, with a sudden note of fear. “Stop that right now. Alisiya, don’t.” He moved, trying to forge through the dogs. They fell into confusion, torn between master and mistress, but parted at Leeton’s insistence. He took hold of Alisiya’s wrists and pulled her hands down from her face. It was smeared with blood, livid handprints staining the white.
“You are the monster!” she screamed into his face, trying to wrench her hands free. He was immovable, his grip not even slipping on the slick blood that seemed to flow too freely down her arms. Russ couldn’t understand how so much blood could come from digging her nails into her palms; that was all it seemed she had done.
“Alisiya, stop.” Leeton’s voice became amazingly calm. He repeated “stop” over and over, then, in a whisper near her ear, ignoring the screams she returned. The dogs mulled restively about them, sensing danger in Alisiya’s distress, but still unable to attack their maker.
Russ got to his feet finally, pulling Liseli up with him. He still ached, but it didn’t seem safe on the ground with the dogs so restless. He watched as Alisiya wore herself out, quieting her screams if not her tears, and stopped her thrashing. Leeton still held her wrists as she sank down to her knees, lowering her head, sobbing blue mingled with red.
Russ glanced at Liseli, standing beside him now without touching him, and he was surprised at what he saw. She watched the scene without the barest hint of pity, green stones for eyes, face almost as white as Alisiya’s. He touched her shoulder but she didn’t notice. He was confused, worried, looked b
ack at Alisiya to see what Liseli saw, but couldn’t. What he saw was pathetic in the extreme. He didn’t forget that she had killed Eliasha and Currun — how could he? — but Alisiya was obviously mentally ill, he found it hard to hate an insane person.
Leeton let go of his daughter, and the dogs swarmed in, eagerly licking at her hands, arms, and face. She lifted her face to them, letting them wash her. Leeton stepped back, crossing his arms as if to stop himself from trying to touch her, though he looked, in that unguarded moment, as if he would give all the worlds to be allowed to hug her trembling shoulders and quiet her tears.
Perhaps he never had. Probably he never would.
The moment passed, and the face he turned to look at Russ and Liseli was grave but composed. He shook his head slightly before announcing, “We’re leaving. I trust,” he added stiffly, eyeing Liseli, “that the girl is unharmed.”
Russ stared between him, Liseli, and Alisiya for a moment, speechless.
“I’m fine,” Liseli said, reaching up to remove a grass blade from her bangs. “Fine.” She watched the blade as she twirled it between her fingers, then let it drop. “And that is just it? She’ll go back with you, without a fight? A real fight, anyway.”
Leeton watched her for a moment, as if, like Russ, he was searching for the meanings behind her words. Then he sighed. “If Alisiya wanted to kill me, she would have done so long ago. I don’t know why, frankly, I’m still alive. But she has only two choices: come home, or kill me. I won’t give her any other option.”
Russ found his tongue. “What does she want, then? What the fu . . . why did she kidnap Liseli? I want to know what’s going on.”
“Russ . . . ” Liseli reached for him again, pulling on his arm as if in warning.
“I told you before.” Leeton lowered his eyelids, looking down on them. “She is trying to escape me, the only way she can; by leaving this world. But she needs a Key to do it.”
“But Liseli’s not a Key!” Russ waved his free arm at Alisiya.
Two things happened then:
First, Liseli slapped a hand across his mouth with a squeaked, “Russ!”
Then, Alisiya lifted herself from the dogs, face licked clean and white again. “You,” she said simply, and her eyes lit up, awash with a sudden realization.
Chapter 24 ~ Love, part 4
Russ peeled Liseli’s hand away from his face. “What?” He faltered, seeing the unfamiliar terror in her eyes. “You aren’t, are you? You never went through the Mill before, but . . . .”
The dogs parted as Alisiya, tall and defiant again, came striding toward them. “You,” she repeated, “are the Key! How could I have not seen this, before? Years of waiting by the Gate, watching her come and go, and then suddenly, the two of you are in my world. Finally! But what is the difference? What? One thing! You! I should have known the instant I saw you!”
She stopped short of Russ, and stood beside her father. Russ was still trying to process her outburst when Liseli stepped in front of him, crossing her arms as she glared Alisiya down. “Don’t. Even. Think. It.”
“Wait . . . ” Russ put his hand on Liseli’s shoulders.
“No!” Alisiya trembled, not with tears, but with excitement. “No waiting! I have been waiting for this all my life. I’ve been delayed by blindness; a delusion, a mistake,” she spat at Liseli, “but I see it now. A person, a Key, only that. I never knew what kind of Key, I only assumed it must be her. But you will do.” She looked at Russ with new appreciation, her eyes sparking. “You will do very nicely. Fate has been wiser than I have; something always stopped me from killing you, or letting you die, even when I thought it best.”
“Alisiya, no.” Leeton took her arm. She jerked away. “You are coming home!” he said sternly.
“You would hide this from me!” she shouted, turning her wild eyes on him. “It is your blindness, your confusion I’ve inherited, it keeps me from seeing what is before my eyes. You always only saw what you wanted, I have been this foolish, because I am cursed to be your daughter!”
“Enough!” Leeton held fast, giving her a shake. “A moment ago you were ready to bleed your life out, you’re not thinking clearly, this is not the time—”
“No! I am thinking clearly,” she laughed. “And seeing clearly. He is my Key. I will have him.”
Russ felt chilled, but gripped Liseli’s shoulders when it seemed she would lunge forward to tear at Alisiya’s throat.
“Don’t you dare!” she yelled, straining against his hands. “You will not touch him!”
“I will. You deceived me.” Alisiya sneered at her. “You are nothing but a deception, a stumbling block, a delay. You have kept me from him all this time.”
“Wait,” Russ repeated, wrapping his arms around Liseli to keep her still. “No one is ‘getting’ me. Okay? If you want my help you’ve got a . . . a damn shitty way of asking for it.”
Alisiya calmed herself, with visible effort, then forced a smile. “All I need,” she said, “is for you to take me through the Gate, into Adayzjia. After that, I don’t care. You may come right back. Anything you wish. All I need is a few moments.”
“No.” Leeton shook his head. “No. The Gate is broken. I broke it. Any Key who tries to breach it will die. And you know that, Alisiya.” He turned to Russ. “Don’t listen to her. She is coming home with me.” To Alisiya again. “There is nothing for you in Adayzjia, nothing but danger and death. I won’t let you go there.”
“He won’t die,” she laughed again. “He’s made it through one of your ‘broken’ Gates already, none the worse for wear. He can make it through another.”
“You don’t understand.” Leeton clenched his jaw, darting his gaze between them. “This one is different. I broke it completely, as I went through. The others . . . the others I never passed through, I broke them half way, as best I could from one world. Otherwise I would not have been able to return to Alisiya. To here—” he waved his hands urgently. “Those Gates are, I admit, breechable, whether through great power or luck I don’t know. But this one is very different.”
“No it isn’t. You lie, to discourage him,” Alisiya shot back. “Gates want to open, it’s what they do, this one will open for him. It will be happy to.”
“Don’t believe it.”
“I . . . ” Russ tried, but was overwhelmed by Alisiya’s response.
“No! It’s the truth, it has to be! I will not stay here! I haven’t come this far, or lasted this long, to fail again!” She stomped her foot, her voice echoing through the Valley.
“Russ is not going anywhere with you,” Liseli said quietly, gripping his arms across her chest.
“Isn’t he?” Alisiya wheeled around to face her, and Russ felt Liseli’s hands weaken and slip from his arms. Her legs gave out and he was suddenly the only thing keeping her upright.
“What the hell? Liseli? Are you alright?” He tried to twist her around to see her face, but her neck had gone limp and her head lolled to the side.
“No, she isn’t,” Alisiya answered for her. “And she will only get worse the longer you refuse me.”
He went cold. “Stop it,” he ordered, futilely. “Stop whatever the hell you’re doing. Liseli? Liseli . . . .”
“She can’t speak. In a moment she won’t be able to breathe,” Alisiya said, with grim satisfaction, ignoring her father’s grip on her arm.
“Let her go this instant,” said Leeton, giving her another shake. “Now!”
“No.” Her voice was eerily calm. A smile spread over her face. Russ forget that he’d ever felt pity or anything else for her, and hated that smile. Liseli’s eyes were open and frantic, but she felt like deadweight in his arms.
“Fine,” he said desperately, “I’ll do it if you just stop.”
“Put her down, on the ground, and step towards me, and I will stop,” Alisiya directed, in a nearly singsong voice, disgusting joy and smug laughter dancing in her eyes.
Russ eased Liseli onto the grass, even while Leeton proteste
d. “I can’t let her die,” he snapped, straightening. A small sound came from Liseli, as if she were fighting with all her being to free herself from the spell.
“Step towards me,” Alisiya insisted.
He walked around Liseli, approaching Alisiya warily. “Closer,” she said, and repeated it, until her hand was around his arm, clawlike.
“I won’t let you take her through.” Leeton shook his head, eyes as dark with worry as Alisiya’s were light with excitement. “You’ll only kill yourself, and her.”
Alisiya lifted the arm he held. “I will kill her if he refuses. Let me go.”
“Please,” Russ interjected. “I can’t let Liseli die.”
“I can’t let my daughter die,” Leeton pulled Alisiya toward him.
“Lie!” Alisiya wrenched herself free of his grip and put Russ between them. “You regret my every minute, you said. You want nothing more than to forget that I ever existed.”
“That’s isn’t going to happen, though, is it?” replied Leeton, barely above a whisper. “Don’t do this.”
“I will, and I am.” She turned, stalking toward the waterfall.
“Wait!” Russ dug his heels into the ground. “Liseli is still . . . .”
Alisiya flashed an annoyed look over her shoulder, and Liseli came to with a scream. “No!” She struggled to her feet. “Russell Markson! Don’t you dare go inside that cave!”
“I have to. Liseli, I’ll be okay.” He was being pulled along by Alisiya again. “I’ll come right back.”
“No you won’t,” insisted Leeton.
“I’ll make it. I promise,” said Russ, barely aware of the dogs who pressed around him.
Leeton was working his hands open and closed, following them, but seemed incapable of running forward to seize Alisiya. He faltered slightly, almost tripping over a dog. “Alisiya!” he said sharply, “do not try your tricks on me!”
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