Chapter 29 #2
“Andras.”
Nausea churned in Ava’s gut, her breath coming in short bursts. She was going to be sick. “Oh god,” she groaned. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.”
Jareth stood still, just as shocked.
“Jareth,” Ava laid her hands on his shoulders. “How do we get out of here? We must tell everyone. Right now.”
He blinked, as if coming out of a trance, but another scene appeared before they were able to stop it.
It was Jareth’s suite in the astral palace. Orion was in the middle of shouting at a younger Jareth, who was standing still, jaw clenched. Ava looked at the real astral prince beside her. He was frozen, fists tight at his side.
“You will not see her any longer,” Orion ordered.
“You won’t keep me from my soulbond,” Jareth seethed.
Ava gasped.
“I forbid it!” Orion yelled. “There will be no consorting with females of other kingdoms, especially those heathens in Monterre. I do not care if she’s your fated one. You are royalty. I will not allow you to sullen our bloodline with lesser magic.”
Jareth sneered, “Just like you did with Casimir’s mother?”
Orion raised a fist, as if he was prepared to strike his son. “Watch your tongue, boy.”
“Too afraid to hit me now, father?” Jareth took a step forward. “Now that I’m older and can actually fight back?”
Orion seethed, lowering his arm. “I’ll handle this,” he muttered as he stormed out of the room.
Ava reached out to Jareth and touched his arm. He flinched, pulling away. “Jareth,” she said softly. “Come on. Let’s go.”
But the scene changed yet again. It was dark, damp. Stone walls lined with iron torches.
“Where is this?”
Jareth frowned. “The dungeons of my castle.”
Orion stood before a cell, speaking softly to whoever was inside.
He moved, revealing a woman huddled on the ground in a corner, shivering in a threadbare nightgown.
She was stunning. Long black hair, olive complexion, bright green eyes.
But she was dirty and starved, her hair matted, shadows beneath her eyes.
“Jareth, who is—” The look on Jareth’s face stopped her.
It was as if his heart had cracked in two, his violet eyes rimmed with tears. He took a step forward, extending his arm as if he could reach her, touch her. “Celine…” he whispered, his voice breaking.
Orion stepped closer to the bars.
“Please,” the woman, Celine, begged. “I promised you I would leave him. And I did. Let me go and I’ll never speak to him again.”
Orion shook his head. “I won’t risk it. My son refuses to stay away.
He won’t accept that you just left, blinded by his misplaced love.
I won’t allow him to consort with anyone not from Caelestia.
You aren’t suitable to join our family.” Orion turned to a nearby guard.
“No more food or water. Let her waste away,” he ordered, then left.
The scene dissolved and they were back in Orion’s office, now free from the tablet’s magic. Jareth collapsed to his knees, hands shaking. Ava clasped a hand over her mouth, her own tears threatening to spill.
It explained everything. Why Jareth was so angry, so cruel, especially toward the members of her kingdom. Because he once loved someone from Monterre. Not just anyone, but his soulbond.
And she was gone.
“I thought,” Jareth whispered to himself. “They told me she was killed in a raid…”
“Jareth,” Ava whispered. “I’m so sorry…” She didn’t know what to say, what to do. Taking another step closer, she knelt in front of him. “Are you okay?”
He didn’t respond, his eyes glassy and distant.
Reaching out, she touched his shoulder. “Jareth…we need to leave this office…we have to tell the others what we learned…”
His head snapped up, his expression morphing from devastated to unbridled rage. Ava yanked her hand back, rising and backing away. The way he was looking at her…the fury in his eyes…he didn’t even look like himself.
Jareth stood, yanking the star fragment from the tablet and putting it back on the shelf beneath the glass case. “I’m going to kill him.” There was a deadly tone in his voice.
“Kill who?” she whispered, though she knew.
“My father.”
Ava frantically put the tablet back and closed the portrait, the lock clicking into place. Jareth jerked the office door open.
The two guards stood at attention, shock on their faces. “Your Highness,” one of them said. “What are you doing in there?”
Jareth grasped each guard and began to glow. The heat of his magic nearly threw Ava off her feet. Throwing an arm across her face, she ducked. The guards' horrified screams pierced her ears, the heat intensifying even more.
The screams stopped. The heat vanished.
Ava uncovered her face and stood. They were gone. Completely disintegrated into piles of ash.
Jareth was already headed down the stairs.
Luna! Wake everyone up. Jareth is on a rampage and is threatening to kill Orion. I need help.
“Jareth!” Ava called after him. “Stop!”
He ignored her. Was he really going to kill his father? Now?
He was still glowing, like Casimir did when he used his astral magic. Ava chased after him, grabbing his wrist. With a yelp she released him, her hand burning, blisters forming on her palm.
His magic was too powerful and he didn’t seem to care to control it. With her other hand she pulled on the back of his jacket. “Stop!”
Jareth whirled around and had her against the wall in a flash, his hand on her throat. The touch of his skin burned where he held her neck, her flesh on fire. The sarcastic, snide Jareth was gone, a cold, inhuman version in his place. One that didn’t even seem to recognize her.
And the look in his eyes promised death.
“Jareth,” she wheezed, blinking through her tears. “You have to calm down. We need to talk about what we saw. You can’t just go off and kill your father. He’s the king.”
His grip tightened, Ava’s vision wavering. The smell of her burning flesh was pungent in the air. “I’ve always wanted to…but now I have even more of a reason,” he snarled. “Don’t get in my way.”
“Not today. Not yet,” she tried again. “Your father is horrible. Awful. And what he did to Celine…”
“Do not speak her name.” He squeezed harder.
Ava whimpered, scrambling as she tried to pull his arm away, her hands burning with every touch.
A door burst open at the base of the stairs, followed by the sprinting of booted feet. Casimir rounded the corner, Jorrar and Quinn on his heels.
“I’ll fucking kill you!” Casimir boomed.
Jareth let go and Ava crumpled to the stairs, gasping for breath. She touched her throat and winced at the burns around her neck, her hands. Jorrar pushed past and knelt before her, inspecting her injuries.
Jareth wheeled on Casimir, preparing to blast him with magic. Vines shot from Quinn’s hands and wrapped around Jareth’s ankles and wrists so fast, he didn’t have time to react as she pulled him to the ground.
“Don’t hurt him!” Ava said, but her voice was weak. No one seemed to hear her in all the commotion.
Casimir was on him in seconds. Raising his fist, he delivered a blow so powerful, Jareth was knocked unconscious. But Casimir didn’t stop. He punched him again. And again. And again.
“Stop,” Ava tried again, but he was lost in a rage. “Jorrar, you have to stop him. We need Jareth.”
Jorrar stood, signaling to Quinn. The two of them jumped on Casimir and held him back, barely able to keep him from delivering another blow.
“You must stop, Casimir,” Jorrar said, his voice calm. “He’s unconscious. You’re going to kill him.”
But Casimir didn’t seem to hear Jorrar as he struggled against their hold, lost to his wrath. Ava rose, stepping over Jareth, and stood before Casimir. She placed a hand on his face, ignoring the pain in her tender palm.
“Look at me.”
He was still staring at Jareth, growling as he pulled against Quinn and Jorrar.
“Cas…Look at me.”
His eyes flicked to hers, still full of anger, his chest heaving. She reached for his hand and brought it to her heart while she placed her other on his. Exactly like he had done for her.
“Can you feel that? Feel my heart beating.”
He watched her. Silent.
“Take a deep breath. I’m alright. You can’t kill your brother. Breathe with me now.” She inhaled, Casimir following her instructions, then exhaled. “Good. One more.”
They breathed together.
“Perfect. Come back to me, Cas.” She put both hands on his face, raising on her toes to place a gentle kiss upon his lips. “Come back.”
His eyes softened, the violence receding to a simmer rather than a full inferno.
“There you are,” she whispered, giving him another light kiss.
Jorrar and Quinn let him go and he took another deep breath. “He hurt you.” His eyes moved to her neck, her hands. “Ava…he burned you.”
“He did. But he wasn’t in his right mind.”
Casimir pulled her into a hug, nuzzling her hair and inhaling. “I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to lose control…I just…when I saw his hand on your throat I…”
“I know,” Ava said. “I probably would have reacted the same way. But I’m okay. I’ll heal.”
“Sorry to interrupt but we need to get out of here before someone investigates the commotion,” said Jorrar.
Ava turned around, Casimir’s hand remaining on her waist. “Jareth killed two guards.” She pointed up the stairs.
“Shit,” said Quinn.
“Here’s what we do,” Jorrar said. “Everyone knows Jareth has a temper. This isn’t the first time he’s killed a random guard in a fit of rage.”
“What?” Ava gasped.
“I told you he wasn’t a good person,” Quinn said.
“We leave the remains of the guards there. Let everyone assume he had a tantrum. We were never here.”
“What do we do with him?” Ava gestured to Jareth’s unconscious body.
“Bring him to our room,” Quinn said. “Tie him up and don’t let him out until he’s calm, and we know he won’t do anything crazy…like assassinate a king while we’re in the middle of a war.”