Chapter 25 #2
‘Do you remember I thought I saw a cragstalker as we approached Galtair? Well, Orthriel saw it too, knew for certain what it was. They remembered how the pack helped our forefathers traverse the peaks long ago, believed they could be prevailed upon to help us again, especially after learning the Arx Magnum had hunted them to the brink of extinction.’
Leilani’s lips purse, fingers pressing so tight against her arms the tips are turning white. ‘And you both kept this from me – plotted together behind my back. Didn’t you trust me to help?’
Gently, I reach for her shoulders. She stiffens but doesn’t shake me off.
‘You’re the future of the Stellarion dynasty, Leilani.
Arcelia’s saviour. We had to protect you.
We’ve both made solemn vows to that end.
And I-I needed to do this. I needed to make up for…
’ I groan and turn away from her. ‘So much has changed since we arrived in Galtair. I’ve been so blind. So blind.’
‘That makes two of us,’ she mutters darkly.
For a long moment, neither of us speaks. The soft, deep breaths of the sleeping echo the cragged walls of the cave. How to make her understand? I clear my throat and try again.
‘For our plan to work, I needed to worm into the Arx Magnum’s good graces, gain access to the Outrealmers, learn the layout of the dungeons, retrieve our belongings, buy time to locate the cragstalkers – convince them to help us.
I needed you to believe I’d defected.’ A bitter smile twists my lips.
‘I can be very convincing when I want to be.’
Leilani rolls her eyes. ‘That infamous silver tongue.’
I allow her the jibe. I deserve worse.
Leilani unfolds her arms. Steps towards me, chin lifted high. ‘You say it was all an act, but you beat Briar. I saw you. And I heard you encourage the Arx Magnum to conduct experiments on her.’
My breath snags. I look down at the earthen floor, unable to meet her eye.
‘I said and did many things I’m not proud of to earn that man’s trust. But Briar knew everything, from the very beginning.
Agreed to it all. She wanted to help. It was she who convinced the cragstalkers to come to our aid.
That’s what we were doing, all those nights I passed beneath your window.
Under the guise of exercise to prevent her muscles wasting and her powers diminishing, we were searching for the cats.
Meeting with them in secret. Briar has been…
’ I swallow, throat thick. ‘She’s been so brave, Lili, and suffered so much.
They all have. Orthriel too. They used their dwindling Aether reserves to cloak our plans from you, so you couldn’t scry them.
Exhausted yet more of their power to dazzle and stun the Arx Magnum and the guards stationed at your door and in the dungeons the night we fled, while I stole the keys and broke everyone out.
And when we made our escape, they took an even greater risk in holding off the guards… ’
I fall silent.
‘But why, Astrophel? Why do this? I understand your loyalty to the Throne, to me, but why risk so much to save the Outrealmers? You’ve never liked them. You never wanted this alliance.’
I rub a hand at my throat. ‘You’re right.
And it was easy to convince the Arx Magnum of my hatred for the enemy races.
I knew exactly what he needed to hear; the words tripped right off my tongue.
After all, I have hated them all my life, blamed them for my father’s death.
I believed the lies your father fed me.’ My voice turns rough as I remember those conversations with the Arx Magnum, the venom I spouted for his amusement.
‘It was easy to rail against him too in the end, to denounce the Stellarion name, once I learnt the truth. Once I saw his lies for what they truly were. And the Arx Magnum lapped it up. His own loathing made him careless – too quick to trust.’
‘Lies. What lies?’ she asks.
I laugh. Bitter. Broken. And stare up at the ceiling of the cave.
‘He didn’t tell me the truth about why my father died, how he contracted the fever.
I spent a lifetime blaming the wrong people.
And all along, it was the Highlanders’ treachery and the King’s pride that took my father from me.
It was nothing to do with the Fire Clans. ’
‘But you knew of the Northern uprising?’
I shake my head. ‘I knew Hyperion feared fresh attacks. I’d no idea rebellion had already been attempted. No idea of my father’s involvement. Why? Did you?’
Surprise adds a bite I didn’t intend to my question.
Leilani flinches. ‘Not about your father, no. But the rebellion, yes. Though only recently. I-I had a vision.’ She looks away, down at the floor.
‘It’s how I got my father to agree to the Council of Four.
I threatened to tell the court, to expose how weak a grip he keeps on the Throne. ’
My lips part. So that’s how she compelled him in the Bindery.
‘I’ve learnt the hard way your father’s wrong about a lot of things,’ I mutter. ‘He betrayed me.’
A pause. ‘Betrayed. So that’s…’ She takes a sharp breath. ‘Never mind. Go on.’
I take her hand, press it to my chest. I need her to see me now. The truth of me. And how sorry I am.
‘Your father’s wrong about you too, Leilani. His schemes around the succession – that handfasting. I shouldn’t have done it. I know that now.’
Something drags me forwards. I press my forehead to hers. She doesn’t pull back.
‘Can you forgive me for all of it? Can we start again?’
She’s looking deep into my eyes, the scent of crushed violets thickening the air.
Only an inch separates us; I could close that gap, show her what I can’t find the words to say.
My hopes that we might start afresh, rule Estelia together, make a better job of it than her father has done.
But I don’t want to push this – her – too fast.
‘You should go back to bed,’ I say instead, taking a step back. ‘You need rest. We both do.’
Her eyes dart to the cave entrance. ‘I tried. Sleep doesn’t come easily to me. It never has…’
In that moment, she looks so lost. I want to hold her, to tell her how I used to hear her screams as a child, that I want to make it so she never has to suffer another nightmare again.
But before I can say anything, she speaks. Stifling all declarations I might have made myself.
‘It’ll take more than pretty words to earn my forgiveness, Silver-Tongue.’