60. Chapter Sixty
60
CHAPTER SIXTY
BASTIAN
B ecause Elodie was the most infuriating woman I had the displeasure of knowing, she kept me waiting for far too fucking long. There was no chance in the depths of Meirskja I was going in there to get her. Instead, I stayed in the corridor outside her room looking like a sulking child as her laughter echoed through my mind. Leaning against the doorframe and refusing to look anywhere but at the wall ahead, despite the fact her room lay open to me. I worked hard to swallow down my rising annoyance. It was a battle I wasn’t willing to lose.
Unlike yesterday when I’d completely lost my shit.
I wasn’t inclined to bring it up, though I knew she would be stewing on it, holding it tight and waiting for her moment to lash out.
She could try, but she wouldn’t get far.
I’d spent the night restless, wondering just what her revelations yesterday could mean, how they could affect everything we were doing here.
Could her being a Seer prove useful? And how could I go about forcing her to use it for our advantage?
It had been reckless of me to attempt to remove the block on her mind, I knew that. Yet the fact that trapped under that mess of hair could be the answer to everything I was looking for, was one that was hard to pull away from. It’s why I’d decided to be the one to take her to Arden despite how little I wished to be in her presence.
I hadn’t lied. Kaius was busy, and I assumed Alouette was off doing whatever the fuck it was she did.
Kaius had found me this morning, beating himself up over the answers he failed to obtain yesterday. I hated to admit I’d been surprised; it wasn’t often anyone managed to keep their secrets to themselves when they came under Kaius’ torment.
I doubt even I would last for long after the things I’d seen him do.
It also meant that whatever gutter worm Kaius had found, was more scared of the drug dealer they died to protect than us. The thought alone stoked the coals of anger that always burnt inside me.
My magik surged in agitation at the memory of when I had found out someone had slipped past our security.
Hurt my prisoner.
Chased her through the halls—put his hands on her.
The haunting rip of Elodie’s dress played over and over in my mind despite it being only a second’s worth of sound from the disjointed footage Calida played. Flames had erupted along my skin, burning hot enough to keep even Lyssa at arm’s length as I battled to control them, all the while they were urging me to destroy the one whose hands had been on her.
But I wanted to kill them for the audacity of infiltrating the palace.
It was Kaius who wanted to kill them for hurting her.
I also needed to know exactly how they managed it. Father would be losing his mind if he ever knew. Perhaps it was his absence that let them dare attempt it in the first place.
As if summoned, the door moved beside me. The grind of its hinges loud in the silent corridor, pulling me from my thoughts. Whatever lull my annoyance had ebbed to in Elodie’s absence began to build as she stepped out.
In exactly the same clothes she had been wearing when she opened the door.
Not even her hair was different.
Not that I paid attention to what she looked like.
Elodie turned down the corridor after pulling the dark wooden door closed, ignoring my presence as she took a few steps before stopping. Twisting back to me with a bored look on her face, her eyes scraped over me in a way I could almost feel. Her head tipped up as she met my eyes, and magik tugged at me, a strange ache that urged me closer, but like fuck was I going to heed it.
“Let’s go then. What are you waiting for?” Her gold jewellery clinked as she gestured onwards.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
Tilting her head to the side in faux confusion, Elodie’s white hair fell across her shoulder, face the perfect picture of innocence yet her dark eyes sparkled with a silent dare. “I thought we had somewhere important to be?”
I didn’t trust myself to reply, gritting my teeth against the outburst I was painfully choking down, and paying absolutely no attention to the way heat burned through me as my eyes locked on hers. I broke before she did, wrenching our gaze apart, ignoring the small smile of triumph I caught before looking away.
Frustratingly, she had been heading in the right direction, meaning I had to walk past her to lead the way. The scent of her skin filled my lungs as I took a mistimed inhale as we crossed paths. It was as sweet as spiced honey and wrapped itself around the flames of my magik, coaxing them higher, feeding them.
It was disgusting.
Thankfully, and silently , she fell into step beside me without either of us having to talk to the other as we walked. I kept my eyes ahead, purposefully ignoring her presence as long as she kept up. I was waiting for the moment she opened her mouth, ready to shut down whatever shit came from it.
I took her the quickest way I could while also keeping her out of sight, and if she thought it weird we didn’t encounter anyone, I couldn’t care less.
Soon enough we were outside Arden’s tower. I knocked twice and, done with waiting around, stepped inside, feeling her presence behind me as she followed.
I didn’t bother diverting my attention to the eclectic collections Arden displayed, heading straight for the hearth and the fire that was crackling within instead. Its heat soothing as the flames reached for me.
Arden was stood by his mismatched grouping of chairs, another bright jacket belted over his wiry frame, and a look of mild confusion on his face at my intrusion on his space. Watching silently despite the questions he must have. His eyes warmed as his attention moved to Elodie, greeting her with a soft smile. Something within me twisted as a genuine smile lit her face in return.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Arden finally turned back to me.
“The block needs to be removed, today ,” I informed him, knowing it would definitely not be a pleasure. His smile faltered as fast as his pipe had materialised between his fingers, pausing mid-air as his brow pulled into a crease before he spoke.
“We’ve discussed this, Bastian,” he stated warily, the echo of our previous discussions passing silently between us.
“I’m aware,” I said, unwilling to concede my wishes.
Arden’s hands dropped to his side as he stepped towards me, ash tipping carelessly onto the rug. “As you are aware of the risks here. That despite your very obvious want, Elodie is still a person, someone whose mind deserves to stay whole.”
There was a part within me, somewhere deep beneath the flames, that registered that he was right, but it was so much easier to shove it aside in favour of what I wanted. A way to reach inside her mind. To take the answers that had long evaded me.
“I cannot remove it,” Arden warned when I voiced no objections. “Not completely.”
“Then remove what you can. There must be something useful in there.” I could feel Elodie’s eyes on me, their ire burning into my skin almost as fervently as the flames at my back. I didn’t need to look her way to know all traces of softness had been wiped from her features. I kept my eyes locked on Arden; he may have once been my teacher, but I wasn’t above pulling the prince card to get what I wanted if needed.
It was a struggle to keep from looking her way. Knowing that what I would see would have the flames within me writhing. Burning with an anger that hadn’t been present for so long.
And I despised her for it.
For how hard I had to work to keep my emotions in check whenever she was near.
Perhaps Suri had been listening to my prayers, sending her to me for this very reason, but not without the cruel twist that played out from the moment I’d seen her. Everything about her taking me back to a time before part of my future had been ripped from me. This infuriating being packaged exactly to my liking.
“Do you doubt your skills, Professor?” I kept the arrogance of my royal status in place.
“In this.” His arm swung back, pipe now used as a tool to point Elodie’s way. “Yes.”
My fingers pinched at the bridge of my nose. “Arden, I do not have the time to scour the kingdom for anyone else. You will do this.”
His mouth opened as he readied his refusal, one I would shut down immediately, yet Elodie piped up before either of us got the chance.
“It’s ok.” Her voice was gentle as she laid a hand on his arm. “I trust you to try, Arden.”
Arden went quiet as he looked at her, an annoying frown of worry on his face. I could almost see the thoughts whirring through his mind before he spoke again on a sigh. “I’ll remove what I can.”
“What do I need to do?” Elodie asked him, turning her back on me in what I was sure she thought was an insult. A laughable one considering I could take her out with the magik in my little finger. They began a conversation between themselves, Arden’s voice strained with a concern that grated on my nerves, so I turned away, towards the fire. Letting the dance of the flames claim me before I thought too hard about why she had so easily agreed to my demands.
As the activity behind me changed, I pulled myself from the comforting heat to stand beside an armchair as Elodie seated herself in a green, velvet chair while Arden walked towards the steps that circled his tower, obviously having figured out a way to get this done.
I studied Elodie, watching her movements; the slight crease to her brow, the way she ran her fingers across a jewelled ring that sat on her finger.
Eyes unfocused, lost in thought.
“Will it hurt?” I asked before Arden ascended the stairs, finding the words leaving my mouth before I could stop them. Elodie’s head whipped towards me, and I met her dark eyes with my own.
“What does it matter to you? You don’t care about me.” Her delicate eyebrow arched as she spoke.
“What makes you say that?” I crossed my arms over my chest. A glimmer of satisfaction lit that annoying part of me that seemed to care about her as the anxiety that had shown on her face made way for her frustration towards me.
“Many, many things, Bastian.”
I suppressed the shiver that rippled across my skin as she used my name, pushing her a little further. “Like?”
“Like trying to vaporise me more times than I’d like to count. Or trying to break into my mind. Or how about sending me to a library that would of fucking killed me if it hadn’t deemed me ‘worthy.’” Elodie’s voice rose with every accusation, her anger building.
They were all true, of course.
“Killed, unlikely. In indescribable pain that could have killed you? Yes,” I conceded.
“And that makes it better?” She practically growled, her white teeth slightly bared.
Shrugging at her, I replied, “It is what it is.”
“In regard to the pain, I cannot say for sure. Just as I cannot say how effective this will be. I doubt having your mind broken into will be a comfortable experience,” Arden interrupted. His reluctance lacing every word as he eyed us with a level of interest that had me turning away, unwilling to be under his scrutiny before his footsteps sounded on the steps.