by Terah Edun
Apparently, it was working; Sebastian cocked his head. He was waiting to hear more.
Ciardis stopped in front of him, at least fifteen feet away. She studied his face, but she couldn’t read his emotions. Unusual. It wasn’t completely clear if that was because he was blocking her or he had changed. Ciardis thought about it as she stared closer. If she wasn’t mistaken she thought she read…confusion in his eyes.
If he was confused, that meant he was conflicted. Whether or not he was conflicted enough not to kill her remained to be seen, though.
Her burden a little lighter with the hope that she was getting through to him Ciardis said, “Yes, it was you. Do you remember what you said about those two bondmates? Because I do.”
She watched him closely as he tightened his grip on his weapon’s handle, slick with sweat, and paced forward methodically.
She limped away, not running, she didn’t want to set him off. Just easing out of reach as she said, “Don’t you want to rehash the empire’s most famous bonded couple?”
Sebastian stopped. Then he smiled and said softly, “No.”
Ciardis shook her head. “No matter, then. I’ll give you the abridged version.”
She kept going, taking fast panting breaths. “It is almost impossible to sever the bond between two living candidates and have either one still live. The only time it was successfully attempted and accomplished was between Viviana Kurtis and Dirk SaKurtis. But even after their efforts, one didn’t survive a day’s end past the death of the other. Thought you might remember that.”
Sebastian kept dodging back and forth, trying to break through her defensive strategy and get in a killing stab.
She wasn’t even sure he was listening anymore.
But she didn’t care.
She wasn’t doing this for him.
She was doing this for them.
As they settled into a new rhythm of her dodging and him darting right behind her, she thought about the bond. She’d long since given up on getting out of this chamber. The doors didn’t open with a physical touch from the inside, and her magic seemed to be dampened as long as she was in here with him. She was just lucky he’d agreed to the gentleman’s bond of only a physical killing shot to be allowed, though she’d thought he would have tired of that long ago by now.
Maybe there is something of the honorable Sebastian I knew still inside, she thought dully. Not that anything else seemed to be the least in-character for him.
She wasn’t just worried about her death and his, though.
She knew that the story of Viv and Dirk wasn’t just a story.
She’d never forgotten what Vana had told her after the bond had been pushed through.
What affects one person’s mortality affects everyone else through the bond.
Unsteady on her feet, blood pouring down her chest, Ciardis hoped that for once the assassin was wrong.
She didn’t want them all to die.
Not even the prince heir who would be the instigator of her death.
As she refocused her attention, she realized suddenly that she had been distracted for far too long.
Suddenly there was no time to move, no time to dodge as Sebastian came barreling at her with his blade upraised.
He swept her feet out from under her with a swift kick, and rode her body down to the ground with his legs on either side of her chest. He firmly sat on her abdomen and poised his weapon for a strike.
“Oh,” Ciardis said faintly as she stared up at the sweating and furious prince heir.
She didn’t have time to say anymore as he brought down the blade that would end her life with an angry yell.
Ciardis felt a single tear slip down her cheek to mingle with the sweat that was soaking her face.
She didn’t see anything else as darkness overcame her vision, and she closed her eyes. She closed her eyes to the sight, because she didn’t want her last vision to be her love tearing the life from her lungs in an angry furor. She wanted to be at peace. Terrified peace, but a peace still. Fortunately for her, fortunately for them, her time to die had not yet come past.
As Ciardis took a last deep breathe she heard the door to the chamber slam open with a bang.
As she looked up, it was as if time stood still. She watched a form she recognized in delirious haze rush up to Sebastian with a startled shout.
She didn’t move as that person mirrored the prince heir’s own upraised arm.
Before Sebastian could turn.
Before Ciardis could scream.
Her savior slammed down a dagger gripped tightly in their upraised hand, straight into the base of the prince heir’s skull.
Ciardis let out a powerful scream, one of both horror and rage, as blood exploded from Sebastian’s caved in head. His limp body fell forward onto her face. She couldn’t see anything but blood and a dirty white overcoat, long since mussed from the fighting they had endured.
She shuddered as her savior pushed the corpse off her shivering form. With a meaty thump Sebastian Athanos Algardis landed next to her on the floor in a pose that reminded her of a sleeping child…if not for the blood still spurting from his head.
Ciardis looked on his body in horror. Trembling, she sat up and stared at her savior dead in the eye. He knelt on one knee. Face distressed. Skin pale. Filthy. Desperate. Alive.
Ciardis couldn’t bring the words from her mouth.
The only thing she could say was, “What in the seven gods just happened?”
Her savior stood up abruptly and held out a hand to her to help her up.
Ciardis scrambled back on her hands and knees, shaking her head rapidly. She couldn’t. She couldn’t take his hand and not know what he was. Who he was.
Sebastian’s face stared back at her on the body of the savior, and Sebastian’s face stared back at her on the body of the dead man.
She didn’t know which was which. She couldn’t tell who was who.
He stood there saying something, but she couldn’t hear him. His voice was too distant, too faint. Blocked by the emotions overwhelming her. Grief. Sadness. Panic. Despair. Hope.
She didn’t know what was real and what was imaginary.
Then Sebastian did something Ciardis had never seen him do.
He reached up a single finger and drew a concentric loop in a swirl on his cheek. Everything seemed to brighten all at once. The cloudiness in her head dampened, and it was like a magical field within the room dropped.
But she still didn’t trust him. As he came forward, Ciardis stood up, holding him back with upraised hands and a sob that was the only thing she could voice from her mouth.
She had spoken all the words she could to the other Sebastian.
Pleaded until her voice was hoarse.
Reasoned until her eyes were raw.
She’d done everything she’d could, and nothing had stopped him from bringing that blade down on her face.
Nothing except the brute force of the young man standing in front of her.
She thought she was safe, but even that sense of quiet wasn’t enough to still her rage and her horror. Emotions that poured forth as unchecked sobs.
The Sebastian in front of her kept saying, “It’s me. It’s me.”
But she wouldn’t let him touch her.
She was finally backed against the wall and staring out at him in fright.
He stared right back at her in torment.
That was when the sound of footsteps started up again.
This time, it was Thanar who came through the door.
Thanar and Christian and Caemon and Terris and Meres and Vana.
Every single face that she’d never thought she’d see again walked into her life like lifelines bringing a ship to shore.
And Ciardis Weathervane couldn’t help it.
She collapsed to the floor.
Fortunately, they caught her mid-fall.
Because that was what friends were for.
When she looked up again after being clutche
d tightly in someone’s arms, she realized she wasn’t in multiple people’s arms, just one.
Sitting back, she stared at Thanar in confusion.
“Where’d they all go?” she asked with a sniffle.
Thanar said carefully, “They were an illusion.”
She stared at him intently and then waved around at the room they still knelt in. “And this? Was this too an illusion?”
“No,” said a voice she dreaded hearing.
Ciardis looked up to see Sebastian standing a few feet away.
She turned some more. Sure enough, across the room was the same body that had been there before.
Ciardis closed her eyes and opened them. Closed her eyes and opened them again once more. She tightened her grip on Thanar’s forearms and asked plaintively, “Tell me this is all a dream.”
“It’s not,” said Thanar in a comforting voice. “But we’re here. It’s over.”
“What was it?” she asked through a suddenly dry throat.
“The emperor’s idea of a game,” Thanar said.
“A game, an illusion?” Ciardis asked. “It couldn’t have been. It felt so real.”
“It was and it wasn’t,” Sebastian said plaintively. “My uncle is more powerful than even we surmised.”
She looked over at him with a frown. He gestured at his fallen form.
Ciardis stood up on unsteady legs, still gripping Thanar tightly.
She began to walk over as she demanded, “Show me.”
Thanar kicked the dead body over until it lay on its back.
She stared at the open green eyes that mirrored the eyes of the young man in front of her.
Ciardis shook her head in suspicion and in fear. “I don’t understand,” she moaned. She still couldn’t feel their bond, couldn’t tell what was real and what was fake. What her mind was seeing and what it was that was playing tricks on her.
Thanar practically growled at her disturbed state. “It’s not what you think. He was not who you thought he was.”
Sebastian, standing across the room, was quick to assure her, “I promise you, Ciardis, we’re here now. We’re whole.”
“So this really was someone else?” she asked, not really daring to believe.
“It really was,” Sebastian said as he continued to explain. “A facsimile that was ingeniously brought to reality by—”.
But Ciardis wasn’t really listening anymore. She tuned out his words. She ignored Thanar’s soothing touch. Instead she listened to herself. And as she did, Ciardis felt something break inside her. It was the wariness and the despair. Like a prison of darkness, holes began to poke in the walls of everything holding her together.
As it disintegrated like a black cloak that she was only too glad to get rid of, more emotions filled its place. Smoothed the gaps in her defenses and kept her upright. She recognized those emotions as a new lease on life, and as they filled her, hope, gratitude, and perseverance cloaked her. She felt a choked sob emit from her mouth.
Sebastian stopped whatever litany of words he was saying and paused in uncertainty. Ciardis looked at him and trembled. She took one step. Then another. She cleared the broken body on the ground and the pool of blood that seemed to reflect the intricately designed night sky in its glimmer. When she reached Sebastian she didn’t speak to him. She didn’t ask if he was who he said he was again.
She took a leap of faith. Literally, as she threw herself into the prince heir’s arms and said, “You damned man. You gave me such a fright.”
Sebastian chuckled. “Well, it wasn’t really me.”
Ciardis sniffed, leaned back, and whacked him on the back of the head.
“That is for trying to kill me,” she declared as she stepped back.
He eyed her in disbelief, but then he burst out laughing. All, for the moment, was right with the world.
30
As they stepped back, Ciardis looked over at Thanar. She was surprised to see dark pain warring with a gentle happiness on his face.
Neither of which seemed very characteristic of Thanar.
“Thanar?” Ciardis asked.
The daemoni prince shook his head in irritation, but she got the feeling that it wasn’t at her, or Sebastian. But rather the world.
What went wrong now? Ciardis thought with dread. Because it was obvious this facsimile of the prince heir was the least of the daemoni prince’s worries.
“Tell her the rest,” he snapped at Sebastian.
The prince heir came forward until he stood on the opposite side of the dead body.
Sebastian took a deep breath and said, “Three days ago, the emperor brought us here. Three days ago he had my blood drawn. Drawn and infused into this…this man.”
Ciardis looked down at the body he was contemplating in revulsion. “A living man?”
Sebastian nodded. “A mage. They fused his body and my blood into a living simulacrum. One that would act as I did and appear as I did. He was sent to fool us all.”
Ciardis felt her heart flip. “Us?”
Sebastian grimaced and then looked at her with regretful eyes. “The plans we made. The citywide meeting, the secret rebellion—this simulacrum attended them all.”
“What are you saying?” Ciardis asked, horrified.
“He’s saying,” Thanar said curtly, “that the rebellion’s dead, and hundreds of good people along with it.”
“And they blame me for their betrayal,” Sebastian said, while shaking with fury. “They blame me, and rightly so. I betrayed them.”
Ciardis shook her head, still too dazed to understand. “You were in the emperor’s dungeon were you not?”
Sebastian laughed. “Yes, but who else would know that? Or even believe me? That I didn’t do what they say I did.”
Ciardis turned desperate eyes to Thanar.
He gave her a wry grin. “Even before this mess, I wasn’t the most trusted witness. They’ll never believe me now.”
Sebastian continued, “What people saw, they will believe. It’s hard to fault them for that.”
Ciardis shook her head in denial. “This can’t be happening. Tell me that it’s not as bad as you’re making it seem.”
Thanar frowned and spoke slowly. “The city by the sea is on fire. All of it, Ciardis Weathervane.”
She laughed. It was dark. It was slightly mad.
“You can’t be serious,” she cried out as she stalked towards the door. “Let me see for myself.”
Before she could get within five feet of the opening Ciardis felt Thanar grab her by the shoulders and whirl her around with desperation.
“You don’t have to believe me, you silly girl,” Thanar said in desperation. “But open your gifts. What you couldn’t do before you should be able to now.”
Ciardis pursed her mouth in a thin line, but she didn’t want to argue. So she did as he said, she quickly tapped into her mage line.
It was faint, but it was there. She could feel her magic reopening the ties to her bond with Sebastian and Thanar. Faster with each passing second, but it wasn’t quite there yet.
Impatient she shook her head and shrugged him off. “I’m still recuperating from that damned collar and whatever else the emperor saw fit to do to us all. I can feel the magic. I can see it. But I can’t tap into it yet.”
Sebastian nodded slowly. “That makes sense.”
“How?” snapped Thanar testily as he turned on the prince heir.
Sebastian walked forward with blood still on his hands.
He gave them both a distant look as he turned and gestured at the walls. “The emperor uses this chamber as more than just a place of torture. It has magnetic properties, gifts that align it with the stars and allow him to warp minds and alter perceptions.”
Ciardis cackled. “This was a good deal different than just an illusion.”
Sebastian nodded. “The power of a room that can alter perception, even time, and a simulacrum built with a dexterity the likes of which I’ve never seen can be a powerful t
ools.”
Ciardis sighed and said. “Then can we all leave here, please? I have more than enough memories of this place to last a lifetime of nightmares.”
“We know,” said Thanar. “We know.”
Fed up, Ciardis hissed, “Then why are you standing in my way? Let me go!”
“You need to be prepared, Ciardis,” said Thanar flatly. “There is more than death outside. There is destruction. Good people are gone. People who we cared about.”
Ciardis couldn’t help it, she jerked back.
“What are you saying?” she asked slowly.
Thanar looked somewhat reluctantly over to Sebastian.
Sebastian cringed.
Ciardis exploded, “Someone say something. I’m tired of the secrets. Tired of the lies! Speak or hold your peace.”
Thanar squared his shoulders and ruffled his wings as if he was preparing to go into battle.
“We didn’t find you first, Ciardis,” he said softly.
Ciardis felt her stomach flip but she said calmly, “Oh? Who then? The others?”
Sebastian nodded. “We went to the dungeons because that’s where we thought he was keeping you.”
Ciardis felt something inside her stir. “Isn’t that where he was keeping you?”
A smile twitched on Sebastian’s face. “Not for long. He needed to work his magic on me and that necessitated a move.”
“In a moment of weakness after poor Sebastian here was deprived of his blood, we attacked,” Thanar said calmly.
“We went back to the dungeons to get you,” Sebastian quickly explained. “To get them. But by the time we got there it was too late.”
Ciardis felt herself trembling as she listened attentively to their story, but she didn’t turn away. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t.
“Thanar?” she said in a squeaky voice. “Just tell me. Stop with the story. Tell me they’re alive!”
There was a tense moment and then Thanar shook his head. “The emperor ordered them all murdered. Killed.”
Ciardis froze. “Caemon?”
“Dead,” confirmed Sebastian.
“Lord Kinsight?” she asked.