Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
Kallie
Standing abruptly, I don’t back down from her stare. “Why would you bring me here?” I whisper-shout.
“I’ve told you a million times,” she says through gritted teeth.
“Take me back,” I demand, folding my arms over my chest.
“There’s no going back. We barely escaped with our lives.”
“I had everything under control.”
She scoffs out a laugh. “You had tunnel vision. All you were worried about was Voraxis and having a dick-measuring contest with Callum.”
“I wasn’t—”
“Let me finish!” She exhales sharply. “All of your focus was on that. You were too blind to see the other guy pulling another one of those syringes out of his pocket.”
My eyes widen in surprise. “I had no idea.” I can’t believe I was so careless with my surroundings. “He makes me crazy! I don’t think logically when I’m around him.”
“Clearly,” she quips. Just as I’m about to respond, another voice sounds from the room over.
“Odeyssa, is that you?” Marcel’s concern is obvious in his tone and rushed footsteps. Immediately, my eyes dart to the staircase straight ahead. I would’ve made a break for it had it not been for Marcel making his entry from the dining area.
For some reason, I think it’s better to stand completely still, act like one of the other statues in the room, and he won’t see me. But of course, that doesn’t work. Actually, it does the exact opposite. His eyes instantly move from Odeyssa to me, then back to her.
“You’ve had me worried sick!” he exclaims. “And Kallie”—his attention pulls back to me—“where in the realm have you been?” My gulp is audible, paralyzed in place like I’ve forgotten how to speak.
“It’s a long story, Dad,” Odeyssa says.
“That’s rich, coming from you.”
“No,” I interrupt, not loving the way Odeyssa is getting berated right now. “It actually is a long story.” His eyebrows furrow, looking between us, trying to figure out if what we’re saying is the truth.
Bet he’s wishing he gave me some water right about now.
Marcel exhales deeply. “Lucky for you, my schedule just cleared.” He turns around, walking briskly about to round the corner. Odeyssa follows closely, no questions asked. But I have a lot of questions.
“Um, not so fast.” They both stop and turn to face me. Odeyssa gives me a wide-eyed look and nonchalantly shakes her head. “I’m going to be fully transparent in the fact that I don’t trust you,” I say bluntly.
Marcel’s shock could be from one of two things. One, he believes he’s a trustworthy guy. Or two, he’s not used to anyone standing up to him. “Have I done something to make you feel that way?”
“Is there a reason I should feel this way?” I throw back, eyeing him cautiously, not wanting to show my hand.
“I’m going to be honest with you, Kallie. I’m not in the mood for all these games, so if you would follow me.”
“I don’t think I will. Not until you have some of your own serum.” He opens his mouth, about to direct his words at Odeyssa, but I stop them. “Yes, I know about it. Don’t blame her for exposing one of the many skeletons in your closet.”
He takes a moment, deciding whether or not it’s worth it. Come on, Marcel. Let me see what secrets are hiding away in there. “Under one condition,” he says.
“I’m listening.”
“You can’t ask anything too…personal.”
Odeyssa decides to chime in. “Don’t worry, Dad. We know all about your affairs.” His eyes blow so wide I’m surprised they’re still in his head.
“I’ll ask all the questions I need to. But lucky for you, the ones I deem to be ‘personal’ seem to have already been answered.”
He furrows his brows with either confusion or curiosity, maybe a mixture of the two, but either way, I don’t wait for a response. Instead, I take long strides, pushing past both of them, and round the corner myself, trying to find a room to do this in without listening ears from his staff.
“Just take it,” I demand, crossing my arms over my chest. Marcel seems less than thrilled to be doing this, and that only raises my suspicion.
We ended up somewhere in the back of the castle, where they both ensured that nobody else has access to, which part of me believes, only because I’m staring at the only door in the room.
I’ve tried silently to reach Voraxis, but every message I send hits the wall he put up, and it just adds to the gut-wrenching anxiety I have from everything else.
The room reminds me of something I would find in a medieval movie.
Walls made out of gray stones that don’t actually fit together, sticking out at awkward angles but somehow look right.
The only lighting is from a three-lightbulb chandelier that somehow lights every corner in here.
A small countertop with only a few cupboards fills the back space, which is where they keep an ungodly number of potions, herbs, and whatever else you need to DIY your own elixirs.
“You guys have been together this whole time?” Marcel asks, sitting at the white-oak table in the middle of the room.
“Not exactly. We ran into each other in—” I’m about to rat her out—by accident, of course—but I catch her very aggressively shaking her head, her hands rapidly gesturing across her neck.
“The forest. I’m not really sure where anything is here.
” Odeyssa makes a giant, silent slump of relief, but I feel like I just trampled over my words and stitched whatever ones sounded the most convincing together.
“Here it is!” Odeyssa announces, seemingly stopping Marcel from questioning it. “Alright, Dad, drink up.” He eyes us both before downing the serum.
“Ask away,” he insists, clapping his hands together and resting them on the table.
“What do you know about where I’ve been?”
“Absolutely nothing. That’s why I was so surprised to see you standing in my foyer.” That tracks.
“What do you know about the king of Astralis?” Instantly, he presses his lips together, seemingly trying to overpower the magic out of sheer will. But something I’ve learned in my time here is, magic always wins.
I watch as it turns his lips white, like the magic is physically trying to pry them apart.
“I know that he’s a selfish prick that has never put the best interests of the land over his own selfish desires.
” His words sound angry, and once he starts, he can’t stop.
“He’s done absolutely nothing for this realm.
Nothing. Not only that, but his kingdom is suffering just as much.
The flowers began to wilt, grass turning brown and dry rather than the lush green it’s supposed to be.
Tragedy happens to all of us, but did I lock myself away when my wife died?
No. I had responsibilities. I had to put all my feelings on hold, my life on hold, because that’s what you agree to when you take the bloody crown!
” He slams his fist against the table, spit flying out from between his clenched teeth.
Dude could really use some therapy.
Odeyssa and I eye each other, not expecting that kind of response. Marcel breathes heavily, the serum clearly taking full effect as his anger rises to uncharted heights.
“That’s enough,” Odeyssa chimes softly. My head snaps in her direction, brows pulling together defiantly.
“I’m not finished.”
“Yes, you are.” And that’s that. In the blink of an eye, she gives him the antidote, apparently not trusting me enough to let the serum run its course.
I can’t blame her. I wouldn’t trust me either.
Clearly the antidote is working. Marcel’s demeanor changes, visibly relaxing with each breath, his eyes casting around the room like he wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction.
Although his disdain for Ambroyss is obvious, it doesn’t discredit the fact that they could’ve seen eye to eye when it came to controlling their realm.
“I’m sorry about my temper. As much as I hate to admit it, that man gets the better of me sometimes,” he willfully admits.
“Kallie, I want to be perfectly transparent with you. There has never been—and never will be—a time where Ambroyss and I agree when it comes to our people. Maybe you haven’t met him yet.
But let me be clear: he will never choose Siderium.
Not when it matters. He’ll watch it burn.
” He doesn’t say it maliciously or like he’s trying to convince me.
But like he believes with his full chest that it is the truth, and I think I believe him.
“There’s obviously something going on over there. Fae have gone missing, and some have been acting strange, but what I find the most jarring is the silence he’s kept since deciding to quit moping in his self-loathing.”
I take a seat in the chair across from him, not sure how to say what I need to—or if I want to say it at all.
My eyes find Odeyssa’s icy blues, trying to ask her opinion without speaking a word.
I wish we could forge other bonds, like sending a friend request subconsciously to be able to speak in private.
But then again, that has the possibility of creating a world full of more secrets and lies than there already is.
Checking one last time, the tether between Voraxis and I still remains void, and I try to hide the concave in my chest growing deeper.
Before I begin, my request is directed at Odeyssa, “I need you to go get Donni.” Marcel’s body goes slightly rigid, just for a second, but I catch the shift.
“I trust her, undoubtedly, and she deserves to know.” About Ambroyss, but also about Callum, what he’s going through, and that I believe he can be saved.
“Belladonna?” Marcel blanches. “Do you think that’s wise?”