Chapter 51
Chapter
Fifty-One
Gerard froze. He stared down at the mask, body unmoving. He did not breathe. His heart stopped. The world ground to a halt.
For a second, he could almost swear that he saw the gold lightning on the white mask flash and zigzag towards him, about to strike.
His muscles tensed. And suddenly he was back. Skin searing. Muscles convulsing. His body screaming as he struggled to gain control and fly. He gritted his teeth as an echo of the past reverberated through his body.
And he kept remembering. The second strike hitting him. Everything disappearing. He touched a shaking hand to his right face, over the eye patch.
With a jerky movement, Gerard reached for the dagger hanging at his waist. He took a step back, eyes wide as his gaze remained fixed on the white-and-gold mask.
“Gerard! Gerard!” Elias asked, as if from a distance.
He looked at Elias, whose eyes were filled with concern. Gerard looked back at the mask.
“Wh … whe …” His mouth wasn’t working. His hand on the hilt of his dagger tightened. He yanked the blade free. “Where did it come from?” His head whipped around, searching the room.
But he could see no one. No one but Elias.
Had someone planted this mask? Or was someone hiding?
Gerard prowled, muscles coiled, holding the dagger, ready to strike. All the while, he tensed, preparing for the agony of a lightning blow to hit him.
He’d be unable to shift in a room this small. But he knew how to use his dagger. He knew how to fight and defend and kill. “Get behind me, Elias!”
“Gerard! It’s okay!” Elias said.
Gerard’s heartbeat pounded in his ears. Blue in the corner of his vision caught his eye. Blue robes. Like the lightning archmages wore. He swung around and stalked towards them.
“Gerard! Wait!”
The blue robes lay haphazardly in a trunk.
Elias’s trunk.
His mind blanked. He blinked. He reached down and lifted the soft fabric. He gazed down at what looked like a secret compartment at the bottom of Elias’s trunk. A secret compartment to hide …
His hand gripping the robes spasmed.
A secret compartment to hide robes and a mask.
His mind whirred, trying to make sense of how this could be here. But only one explanation presented itself.
“No.” This can’t be. “No. No. No.” The world slowed as he turned to look at Elias.
Elias stood completely still. Horror etched into the lines of his face. No doubt Gerard’s own expression mirrored his.
Gerard shook his head. “It can’t be you. You can’t be a lightning archmage. All you can do is little sparkles.”
Elias dropped his gaze. Gerard’s stomach fell.
“Elias, tell me it is not you!” His voice trembled.
Elias didn’t answer.
“Elias, is it you? Are you a lightning archmage?”
No answer.
“How can it be you?” Gerard’s yell bounced off the walls. Then he laughed, a strained, strangled sound. “No. I’ve seen your powers. You’re weak. Your magic is useless. You can’t be an archmage. You can’t! That makes no sense.”
Gerard’s whole being begged Elias to laugh too. To say that of course he was not an archmage. To come up with some plausible reason, any reason why this was here and it did not belong to Elias.
But instead, Elias remained silent and still. And as each moment of silence passed, Gerard felt his insides crumble.
“Elias, are you a lightning archmage?” Gerard choked.
Still no reply.
“Fucking answer me!” He yelled.
“All I am is a lie.” Elias had said those exact words to Gerard in the cave. Elias had told Gerard how easy it was for him to lie. How it was hard not to. Now Gerard was facing the truth of that.
Still, his brain fought to accept it. He just could not believe that the man who’d shared his bed, who’d held him, who’d spoken to him with so much affection and care, could deceive him so completely.
“Elias, it can’t be you,” he said, voice so soft and trembling. “Can it?”
Elias lowered his head. “I’m sorry, Gerard.”
Gerard staggered. He closed his eyes. Elias was a lightning archmage. He had lied about everything to Gerard.
Then a thought struck him.
“Were you the one who …” Gerard gestured to his eye patch and the scars on his face.
Gerard had only ever faced off against one lightning archmage. But no. He’d killed that sorcerer. He was sure of it. And there was more than one lightning archmage; it must have been—
But then Elias nodded. The floor jerked out from beneath Gerard’s feet. He dropped the dagger and the robes onto the floor.
All those moments, when Elias had opened up, acted like they were growing closer, said he was developing feelings, they were all just pretend, just a part of some act.
He stared at the mask on the floor. “You maimed me.” But that wasn’t what bothered Gerard. After all, they had been at war. They’d been enemies.
What bothered Gerard was the knowledge that Gerard had lain with Elias, talking about his scars and his wounds, how they’d hurt him, how they’d changed him, and how they still affected him.
And Elias had kissed his lips with the scar going through it. He’d rested his hands on his altered torso. His fingers had caressed the uneven skin that covered Gerard’s body. All the while, Elias had been the cause.
“Elias has always been two-faced,” Beau had said. It seemed those words were true.
The silence screamed.
“I’m sorry.” Elias stepped towards him.
Gerard took a deep, trembling breath. “When we met, I thought you a fop. A naive fool. A coward.” He looked at Elias. “But the truth is so much worse. You’re a fraud. You tricked me. You manipulated me. You played me for a fool. You made me think you cared for me.” His voice shook.
“I do care for you!” Elias cried out.
Gerard dropped his head forward, as if he couldn’t hold it up. “You called me vile! Repulsive! The dragon wretch!”
Elias reached for him. “I didn’t mean it. You have to believe me. I only said that—”
Gerard knocked his hand away. “I have to believe you? You?” A bitter laugh tore from his throat. “You’re a liar, Elias! That’s all you are. A fucking lie!” He looked him up and down. “How do I believe a single treacherous word from your mouth ever again?”
Elias flinched. Tears glistened in his eyes.
Was this another ploy? It seemed Elias wasn’t just an excellent liar but an excellent actor too. For weeks he’d not once acted repulsed or disgusted by Gerard. He’d acted like he desired Gerard. He’d acted like he had feelings for Gerard. He’d acted like he cared.
Gerard wondered if he should applaud such a brilliant performance.
“Gerard. Please.” Tears slid down Elias’s cheeks as he reached for Gerard once more. But Gerard had had enough of Elias and his falsehoods.
“You told me how much you hated your stepmother. You told me how she lied and twisted words,” Gerard said. “But she must have taught you everything you learnt. Because you’re an expert at that too.”
Tears streamed down Elias’s cheeks.
And despite everything, Gerard’s chest clenched. If he’d seen Elias like this hours earlier, he’d have swept the man into his arms and held him close. He’d demand to know who had hurt Elias so Gerard could exact violent revenge.
But now …
“I don’t know you at all,” Gerard whispered.
The words landed like a blow. Elias stumbled backwards. “Gerard. Please! Just let me explain.”
But Gerard didn’t want to hear any more words from Elias’s tainted tongue. He turned and walked to the door.