Chapter 7 #3
“She’s hiding nearby. I’m sorry, I should have discussed our plans before the wedding ceremony, but Epicasta and Theron overruled me. Aurora, what happened? Why is part of the Viridian army here?”
“It’s…a long story.”
He bade her sit on the bed, and he knelt at her feet. Hyllus held her hands and squeezed, his blue eyes sincere.
“I have time,” he said.
Aurora took a steadying breath. But where to start? At least with Hyllus, she didn’t have to pretend she was someone she wasn’t. He knew she came from the future and the things she’d experienced.
“Theron lied. His cousin has created dozens of beasts exactly like Drakon, if not Drakon himself. He knew all along, and he lied to me. When I found out, it was Orithyia who told me. She offered me a deal—become the adopted daughter of Flora and a princess of Viridis, with all the support that entails in order to hunt Drakon down. I…accepted. It was foolish, I know, but I was so angry and hurt and it felt like it was my only hope. I thought Theron was an agent of chaos.”
“And now?”
“I…don’t know,” she sighed. “When marauders attacked the camp, he saved me. He could have let me die. It would have been easy. But he didn’t.
And lately it’s almost like he’s changed.
He apologised for lying and vowed to present the heads of the beasts to me when we get to Aureum.
But I don’t know if I can even trust myself.
I let Orithyia use one of the artefacts on me to produce visions for Stentor and Bacus, and it nearly killed me.
Clearly, my judgement is fatally flawed. ”
His brows knit in sympathy.
“What do you need from me?”
“I need your help. When I think about everything that’s at stake, I’m paralysed by the thought that I might fail.”
“You won’t do any of it alone, Aurora. Together, we’ll see this through. But do you want me to sneak you out of here? I can take you with Epicasta to a safe place where we can figure out what to do next.”
“And make you a target of the Viridian army twice over? I couldn’t do that to you. You and Epicasta deserve whatever happiness you can get. I don’t want to put that in jeopardy.”
“You might not have figured this out yet, but avoiding the Viridian army is kind of my specialty. And where we’re going, they’ll never touch you again.”
The way he said it gave her a strange feeling. There was something Aurora was curious about. She leaned in close and whispered in his ear.
“Is it the dualist sanctuary in the Dragon’s Spine Mountains?”
His eyes widened.
“You know about that, too?”
She smiled.
“Silvanus was also a dualist.”
“And you’re not…upset by that?”
“No, not at all. Curious, mostly. But maybe you can answer those questions another time.”
“That’s…a great comfort. But in any case, yes, I would take you to one of the sanctuaries.”
She wanted to say yes but stopped herself.
If she did, whatever she had with Theron would be over.
It would be tantamount to telling him she did not trust his promises—of aid or protection.
If there was some path to recover from that, she could not see it.
But was the fragile new relationship she had with the doomed King of Aureum worth risking the whole of Trisia and its future?
“If I do, Theron won’t be our ally. He won’t forgive me.”
“Do you want him to?”
“If we’re going to betray the Viridians, then we’ll need someone to help us. Especially when all the beasts are being bred for war.”
“And if politics and allies were of no consequence?”
“Hyllus, there’s no reality in which such things are of no consequence.” She shook her head.
“Imagine one. Just for a moment. Tell me what you would want then.”
“I can’t. What I want can’t matter more than what I came here to do.”
“Aurora, you came here to change history. Every moment you’re here, you’re changing it. Word about Drakon is spreading throughout Trisia. Because you came here, we’re going to have the best chance of stopping him before he becomes the calamity.” He squeezed her hands.
“But what if I fail?” she whispered.
“You won’t.”
“You can’t know that.”
“Call it my avatar’s intuition, then.” He smiled.
Aurora chuckled mirthlessly before groaning.
“Hyllus—”
“No, Aurora, we have the Triad on our side. We have the temples, the dualists, the people, and even most of the royal houses. No one wants Drakon to prevail. We’re not alone. You are not alone. So, tell me what you want. What does your heart tell you?”
“I can’t trust my heart. That’s the point!”
“Yes, you can.” He frowned. “I know it’s not the same, but when I learned Epicasta had married another, it felt like the whole world had crumbled to dust. And each time she married another, it was another knife to my heart.
I felt betrayed, hopeless, furious. But as the years passed, I came to understand why she’d done it—to protect me.
I forgave her because, in the end, I believed she truly loved me, even if she’d hurt me too.
I meant what I said when I told you love is never a waste.
That doesn’t mean it’s always so straightforward, that you won’t have regrets, or that you won’t hurt each other.
Fate bound us, Passion dyed our thread, and yet our path to happiness has not been easy.
We still struggle. And we struggle because we believe that our love is worth whatever trials we must face.
So the question is: do you believe in your heart that the love you have for Theron is worth cherishing in the face of the trials before you? ”
Aurora blinked in surprise. She’d always thought Hyllus a little immature. Too young to really understand. But perhaps she was wrong. Hyllus had suffered but chose to love. There was wisdom in that—provided the one you loved felt the same.
“I don’t know. I want to, but what if it’s all another lie?
Another trick? And what if it’s not? My history books tell of his demise during the first cycle of calamity.
I don’t know if I can save him. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to leave him, and I don’t know if I’m strong enough to survive letting him back in and losing him!
I’m not strong enough for any of this, Hyllus. ”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You’re strong enough to change history, brave enough to put your life on the line for the people you love, and tough enough to survive everything Fate has thrown at you.
You’re the strongest person I know, Aurora.
And if he doesn’t love you, then I’ll banish him to a place between this plane of existence and the Tapestry, deal? ”
Aurora laughed. Until she saw that Hyllus wasn’t smiling.
“You can do that?”
“I think so. I haven’t done it before, though. But something tells me I won’t have to do that to him.”
“Oh?”
“Let’s just say when I spoke to him in the vivarium, he told me some things that made it very easy to believe in you two. In any case, doubt isn’t weakness. It’s natural after everything you’ve been through. Just don’t let it hold you back from following your heart.”
Aurora squeezed his hands back. Did she really want to leave Theron behind? To put the complicated feelings she held for him away, potentially for good? Was she even capable of it, given that two goddesses had bound her to him?
No.
She wasn’t ready yet to give up. She wanted the Theron she’d seen on their wedding day.
She craved the man who chose to face monstrosities rather than harm her.
Aurora needed the man who made her feel safe, and if Theron was willing to do what it took to be that man again, she wanted to give him the chance.
“I want…to stay.”
Hyllus smiled.
“Then you’ll stay. I’ll send you letters. If you change your mind, I’ll spirit you away. As for the Viridians…I’ll see what Epicasta says. She’ll know how to handle them.”
Maybe things would get better after all. She had Hyllus and Epicasta. And if what Hyllus said was true, then she had more allies than she could count.
But even if she counted every person in Trisia as an ally, she still had to master her magic.
“Hyllus?”
“Yes?”
“Can you help me with my magic? I don’t know how to control it properly.”
He blinked in shock.
“You…don’t?”
She shook her head, sheepish.
“I didn’t even know I had magic until a few days before I came to the past. The artefact that sent me here draws it out, but…well, I haven’t exactly had any time to explore that.”
“Have you ever had any instruction?”
“Silvanus pulled on my magic when he was in the Tapestry and had me visualize it as an animal. That worked a couple other times, but I exhausted my magic in moments.”
He rubbed a hand over his mouth and stood. Hyllus paced inside the tent, lost in thought.
“Can you feel your magic at all?”
“When I’m angry, or sad, or scared.” She shrugged.
“Alright, so it’s safe to say you have no training whatsoever. I can try to give you lessons, but you have to understand I learned everything on my own. It took years of trial and error. And…well, our magic is very different. What worked for me might not work for you.”
“I’ll take any instruction I can get. I’m not sure there’s anyone else who can help me.”
“A competent instructor could at least give you the basics, but how you wield your wild magic is something you discover on your own. Alright, I’ll give you your first lesson. Sit with me here on the floor.”
Aurora sat across from him. Hyllus blinked and his blue eyes became sparkling sapphires.
“Can you feel your magic now?”
“Umm, a little?”
“I’m going to tug on it. Are you prepared to visualize it?”
“I think so.”
“Good. Close your eyes.”
Aurora was better prepared this time for the feeling. Between breaths her magic came to the surface, a familiar ache of stretching a muscle.
“What animal is it?”
It was slippery, trying to evade her grasp, quick and ethereal. Like the first time, she visualized it as the desert fairy mouse, hopping to and fro.
“Fairy mouse.”
“Imagine it has a collar on.”