Vardaesia

by Lynette Noni

  And then he was gone.

  But so were Alex and her friends.

  Because no longer were they in Raelia. Instead, they were in front of the Meyarin palace, the streets filled with screams as the armed Zeltora sought to calm those who were trying frantically to get away.

  But screams weren’t all that the streets were filled with. Because just like the first time, Alex had to again witness the aftermath of Aven’s massacre.

  There they were, all six of the humans he had invited to the party—as a gift for her—lying in pools of their own blood.

  As memory-Alex knelt by Bensie’s side, her silver dress staining red, the real Alex heard D.C. retching behind her, the sound causing bile to crawl up her own throat. But still, she knew the worst was yet to come. And, after watching the moment where Niyx’s innocence became known to her and she attempted to Release him from their bond, she then had to endure the scene changing yet again as it turned to the chaos of the throne room.

  Roka and Astophe were on the ground. And Aven…

  Aven was standing over them, his sword dripping silver blood, his eyes blazing with hatred as he stared at Alex.

  “You!” he yelled. “You did this!”

  He continued to scream at her, to vent his resurged hatred of mortals, to accuse his father and brother of not listening, of betraying him. Until, finally—

  “I fell for you!” he screamed, his gaze ravaged. “I actually thought—”

  The strangled sound he made caused tears to well in Alex’s eyes. Everything—everything was her fault.

  “Aven—”

  “Shut your mouth, human!” he roared. “The only way to ensure our glorious city remains free of your infestation is if I sit on the throne.” Using his sword, he pointed to Astophe and Roka, both still bleeding out on the ground. “They have to die. For the sake of Meya, I’ve done what was needed.”

  And when he swung his sword to kill Roka and Alex leapt forward to intercept, she watched with deadened eyes as the rest of the scene played out, until he skewered her with her own blade—prompting gasps from her friends and another round of retching from D.C.—before uttering his final condemning words:

  “I swear by the stars that you and the others slain tonight will be the first of many. Of that you have my word.”

  He then tore A’enara from her stomach, a flash of phantom pain surging through her midsection as the scene finally— finally—faded around them.

  But they weren’t done yet.

  Instead, what came next was even worse, the Gates revealing with perfect detail the nightmarish future vision the Library had showed her while she’d been in the past.

  She saw Tryllin burning as people ran in the streets, screaming for help.

  She saw Astophe and Roka dead, with Aven standing above them to take his place as Meya’s king, commanding his subjects to seek out and kill any mortals they could find.

  She saw the destruction they wrought—houses, families, villages laid to waste.

  She saw entire races massacred, from the Jarnocks in their treetop city to the Flips in their underwater haven. Not even the Shadow Walkers and Dayriders were able to prevail against the power of Aven and his Claimed army.

  One by one, the mortal races fell.

  And then came her friends.

  Bear and his entire family strung up in Myrox cages and left for dead.

  D.C. carrying out Aven’s Claimed order to kill King Aurileous and Queen Osmada before turning the blade on herself.

  Alex’s own parents tortured before their screams turned to silence.

  On and on it went, until the scenery changed to the bloodied battleground at Akarnae.

  There, Alex had to watch the deaths of all those who remained, one after the other.

  Darrius. Fletcher. Karter. Hunter. Finn. All of them dead.

  Generals Drock and Tyson, dead.

  Jeera, dead. Declan, dead.

  The rest of her classmates and teachers, dead.

  Everyone—dead.

  And then she had to again endure the fight between Kaiden and the Claimed-Jordan, watching as Aven speared A’enara through Kaiden’s back in a surprise attack, followed by the vengeful Meyarin slicing his blade across the base of Jordan’s neck.

  This time, Alex didn’t bury her face in the real Kaiden’s chest, unlike her memory-self who was now doing so with his avatar. While he had once told her that he’d dreamed flashes of the future vision she’d witnessed, she was certain he hadn’t seen all of it. Only Niyx had known the whole truth, having watched it play out after she’d Claimed him. For everyone else, she’d only shared the barest of details, but now…

  Now they knew everything.

  And D.C. wasn’t the only one retching this time.

  As the scenery shifted to the ruins of the once beautiful Meya, they listened to how Aven, after exterminating the mortals of Medora, would set his sights on the humans of Freya—all because of his hatred for her—and how the Tia Aurans would step in to stop him. If nothing else, Alex was glad that the golden cuffs meant their immortal audience were seeing for themselves just how vital their help was. If they hadn’t believed Alex’s words, they would have no choice but to believe what they were now witnessing.

  Except… just as she had realised while thinking about William’s death only two days ago, parts of the vision were already redundant. Jordan wasn’t Claimed anymore. Roka was still alive. And while Astophe had been killed, it hadn’t been by Aven’s hand.

  Perhaps they were subtle differences. But Alex had no idea what changes they would mean for the future.

  Right now, however, wasn’t the time to think about it, not as the memory dissolved and the Gate released them, returning Alex and her friends to the stadium and its stunned, subdued audience.

  Saefii didn’t stand up and offer her congratulations. She, like everyone else, was watching and waiting to see what would come next. Because even Alex could tell something was about to happen. Her friends had been silent since Aven had declared his feelings at Raelia, not one of them having uttered a single word during all that came afterwards.

  During the vision, Alex hadn’t been able to so much as look their way. Yet she knew it was now time to face them, even if she would have preferred to do so without their immortal spectators, none of whom seemed inclined to parron away and offer them privacy.

  Turning around, Alex met her friends’ gazes, recoiling at what she saw blazing in their eyes.

  It was Bear who spoke first, his voice full of pain, the sound unlike anything Alex had ever heard from him before. “My dad is dead because of you.”

  As if she’d been kicked in the chest, all the air rushed out of Alex as she breathed, “What?”

  His eyes filled with tears as he said, “What we just saw— Aven did all that because of you. Everything that happened between you, that’s why he started Claiming people, killing people—people like my dad.” His voice broke. “Because of him—because of you—I’ll—I’ll never get to see Dad again. Never get to—” He raised a clenched fist to cover his mouth, unable to finish.

  “Bear,” Alex whispered, reaching for him. But he flinched away from her, unwilling to even look at her.

  Trying again, she said, “Bear, please.” But he stepped backwards on the dais, his face downturned, tears leaking from his eyes.

  Alex didn’t know what to say, what to do. She knew Bear had been grappling with his grief for days, but what he’d just witnessed… It must have pushed him over the edge. She had to believe that once he had a chance to process all that he’d seen, he would understand the truth: that while her time in the past had led to their future, there was nothing she could have done to change things.

  She wasn’t responsible for William’s death—Aven was. And while he might have ventured down a dark path because of her influence in his life, that choice had only ever been his. She wasn’t liable for his actions. Any of them.

  Trying one last time, Alex said, “Bear, I—”
<
br />   Before she could finish, Jordan interrupted. “Because of you, I’m a murderer.”

  Alex spun around to face him, unable to do anything but again whisper, “What?”

  He held her gaze, his tone just as ravaged as Bear’s. “Aven came after me because of you, Alex. You’re the reason I was Claimed. Everything that happened to me, everything I did…” He trailed off, his voice too hoarse to continue.

  Alex curled in on herself. Her mouth opened and closed as she struggled to respond around her constricted throat. “You don’t mean that,” she finally managed to rasp. “I know you don’t.”

  Unlike Bear, there were no tears in Jordan’s eyes, but the look on his face… She’d only ever witnessed such an expression from him once before—after he’d learned the truth about King Astophe. For the second time in a week, he was looking at her as if she had betrayed him in the worst possible way. Betrayed all of them.

  D.C. stepped forward, and Alex turned to her, desperate for her intervention. But when the princess spoke, her voice was little more than a tremble of sound as she said, “What we just saw… Our families dying, our friends being killed, our own deaths… You should have told us. You should have warned us.”

  Alex swallowed. Then swallowed again. “The vision has already changed. It doesn’t have to come true. I’m doing everything to make sure it doesn’t. We’re all doing everything— that’s why we’re here.”

  “You should have told us, Alex,” D.C. said again, her words brimming with both pain and fear. “But you didn’t. I’m your best friend and you never once thought to tell me about Aven. You never once mentioned that all this is happening because he fell in love with you.” Her eyes were full of hurt, full of betrayal, just like Jordan’s. “You’re the reason Aven hates mortals so much. He’s killing us, Alex. Because of you.” A tear ran down her cheek as she repeated in a whisper, “You should have told us.”

  Alex pressed a hand against her aching heart. D.C. was right—she should have told them. But she’d never wanted them to know the painful truth, that she was the driving force behind everything Aven did, everything he was.

  That she was the reason he had become a monster.

  “Please,” she breathed, looking from D.C. to Jordan to Bear. “Can we just—I think we should talk about this later. If you’ll let me explain once we’re back in our room, once we’ve all had a chance to—”

  “The time for explanations is over, Alex,” Jordan said, his broken voice so much worse than any yelling. “From the very beginning, we’ve been by your side through thick and thin. We’ve always been there for you, always believed in you. But with everything we’ve learned in the last few days… and now all of this…” His throat bobbed as he trailed off into nothing.

  “The Alex Show,” D.C. whispered, drawing Alex’s blurred eyes again. “You said it yourself—that’s what it is. Everything has always been about you. You’ve hidden so many things from us, kept so many secrets… Friends don’t do that to each other. They don’t.”

  Something deep inside Alex unravelled at her words, at the doubt and accusation edged into D.C.’s pale, anguished features.

  Struggling to draw air into her lungs, Alex turned teary eyes to Kaiden, finding him already looking at her, his gaze filled with compassion. And yet, when he spoke, it was to whisper, “I know you don’t want to hear this, but they’re right. About everything. You know they are.”

  Alex closed her eyes. But Kaiden wasn’t done.

  Still whispering he said, “Niyx gave his life for you, Alex. He’s dead because of Aven, but Aven killed him because of you. You were there—you know it’s true. You even told me as much.”

  Alex kept her eyes closed, the image of Niyx leaping in front of her to save her from Aven’s blade replaying across her mind.

  “And Niyx isn’t the only one who lost his life because of Aven,” Kaiden went on, still quietly, still gently. “Lady Mystique. Skyla. So many others and more still to come. All because of Aven… but also because of…”

  He didn’t say it. He didn’t have to.

  “Me,” Alex finished, reopening her eyes. “Also because of me.”

  Her tears overflowed, flooding down her cheeks.

  She understood what was happening now. But that didn’t make it any less painful, any less real.

  Even if it wasn’t.

  The moment Kaiden had mentioned Niyx, she had realised the truth.

  There was no way he would have used that memory against her. Never in a million years.

  She should have clued in before that. Bear might have been struggling with his grief, but he never, ever would have blamed her for the death of his father.

  And only days ago, her fight with Jordan had left him full of regret, yet his accusations then had been nowhere near as damaging as those he had slung at her today.

  As for D.C., there was no way she would ever make Alex doubt the strength of their friendship, the two of them having been through too much together.

  If not for her own unshakable sense of guilt, Alex would have become aware of what was happening much sooner. She would have understood that it wasn’t her friends who she was facing, who were saying such painful things to her. She would have realised the truth: that none of this was real.

  Because she had never left the Gate of Judgement.

  She had no idea where her real friends were, whether they were watching or not. They had been with her for the memory and the vision, she was sure of that, but once they’d returned to the stadium, that was when the deception had begun—all so that Alex would call out that single word she so desperately wanted to use: stop.

  But she wouldn’t. Because now that she knew what was happening, she could endure it.

  She had to.

  And so, when Declan stepped forward next, she hardened her heart in preparation for what he might say. But even knowing that it wasn’t really him, that it wasn’t really any of her friends, it was impossible for her not to feel his words shred through her when he said, “You never should have come to our world. We would have all been better off if we’d never met you.”

  Alex flinched, because in so many ways, he was right.

  Despite the scene being little more than an act, she couldn’t stop the tears that kept flowing down her cheeks. And her pain only increased when Bear spoke again.

  “You’re going to kill us all,” he told her in his still-devastated voice. “Just like my dad.”

  The accusation was a physical blow to which Alex had no defence.

  “You’re going to fail,” Jordan added heartlessly. “You know you are. That’s why you never shared the truth with us. Because when it happens, you didn’t want us to know it was all your fault to begin with.”

  Another blow. Another stab of pain.

  “Were you just going to leave us?” D.C. asked, swiping at her wet cheeks. “Were you just going to run back to Freya once you realised all was lost?”

  Alex couldn’t keep from shaking her head. The real D.C. knew Alex would never do that. She knew.

  “You were the only one of us not in the vision,” Bear pointed out hoarsely. “When are you planning on going, Alex? As soon as we get back to Medora? Or will you wait to see what other damage you can cause before abandoning us to our fate?”

  She didn’t respond. She couldn’t respond.

  It’s not real, she reminded herself. It’s not real it’s not real it’s not real.

  But even knowing that, their words still slammed into her, still tore through her, leaving her ripped to pieces.

  Kaiden moved then. He stepped forward until he was face to face with Alex.

  Struggling to focus on him through her flooded eyes, she watched as he reached out and tilted her chin towards him, his touch agonisingly gentle. It would have been a comfort if not for the look on his face and the words he whispered next.

  “We’re all going to die because of you.”

  And with that, Alex was done. Her body was shaking, her heart w
as in tatters, but she refused to listen to this a moment longer.

  Shoving Kaiden back, she stared down her fake friends and rasped, “I know this isn’t real. My friends—my real friends— would never blame me for something beyond my control. I might not have shared that I’m the reason why Aven hates mortals, but if I had, they would have understood. Just as they would have understood that I didn’t tell them about the future vision because I didn’t want them to suffer from the weight of it as I have.”

  She turned towards Saefii and the audience, certain they were all a part of the ruse, but still aware that they were listening and watching from elsewhere.

  “I’ve made mistakes,” Alex continued, her croaking voice growing stronger. “I’m the first to admit that. Judge me all you want, if that’s the point of this test. But know this: my friends would never condemn me like this. They would never blame me for Aven’s actions, and they would definitely never accuse me of hurting or killing anyone—least of all them. And that’s why I know all of this”—she waved a hand around her—“is fake.” Glaring up at the empress and her advisors, Alex finished, “You’ve had your fun, now let me the hell out of here.”

  At her command, the scenery around her dissolved, until she was standing on the real dais of the stadium, her white-faced friends all staring at her with unmasked horror, enough for her to know they had seen and heard everything.

  “Alex,” Jordan whispered.

  She was unable to keep from flinching backwards. Unable to look at him, to look at any of them.

  “Congratulations, Alexandra,” Saefii said—this time to the sounds of a cheering audience. “That was quite the performance.”

  Performance.

  Alex had to swallow back bile, knowing that her torment had been merely a means to sate the audience’s desire for entertainment.

  “I’m pleased to announce that you have passed the Gate of Judgement,” Saefii continued. “Only one test remains. Tomorrow will decide whether we join in your cause, perhaps sharing your fate.” She paused and looked directly at Alex as she finished, “After witnessing your future vision, for your sake, I hope you prove triumphant.”