Chapter 0 Anastasius
My heart stammered with what I was about to do. Hands trembling, I opened the heavy cell door to reveal my friend. Gaunt cheekbones reflected the little light that streamed into the small square hole she had been kept in for the past few days. Darkness circled her squinting eyes. She scrambled to stand on bare feet. Someone had stripped her of De Vita garments and clothed her in the foreign outfit she had arrived in, but the trousers and shirt, little more than soiled rags now, hung off her sharp bones. There wasn’t time to change. She would have to use magic later to summon proper clothing. I motioned for Hen to follow me out of the depths of De Vita. The witch’s eyes darted up and down the dimly lit hallway. It was empty for the time being, the guards distracted by my fiery red-headed friend, Rohit.
Suspicion radiated from her as thick as the humidity in the air.
“What are you doing, Stas?” She hissed once she verified we were alone.
“You’re going back home,” I answered as I handed her the weapons and a few magic crystals on a necklace that my father had taken from her. She snatched them from me warily with a raised eyebrow. “My father… he wants to Save you, Hen. You have to leave. Go back to Eikonia, please,” I pleaded as she strapped yet another sheath to herself—this one to her upper arm.
“You know I can’t do that yet,” she said, but followed me out of the cell De Vita had put her in to keep her after refusing to fulfill his vow to her. I sighed.
“Then go to Roloxia,” I begged. Anywhere would be better than here. She gave me a look that I interpreted as exasperation, but didn’t speak.
Sweat trickled down my back. It had soaked through my black tunic long ago. Despite her protests, she let me cast a spell with the intricate passes of my hands she had shown me. The magic brought us out of De Vita. With a nauseating pulse, the portal swept us from the bowels of my home to the outskirts of the Sand Eye. The sensation was still new to me and its power was dizzying at times. It took a moment to steady my feet, but I focused on the ground, using it to orientate myself. The grass here tickled my fingertips. A warm wind twirled around the dwindling sand at our feet, the taste of spice was less potent here and the air not as acrid. I closed my eyes, allowing each of the senses to ground me. For a moment, the only sound was my racing heart before Hen broke the silence to bring me back to reality. “Stas,” her tone struck me like a blow to the chest. I didn’t dare open my eyes, knowing what I would find—her refusal to go back across the sea where it was safer for her than my continent—where she, and her power, belonged. A warm hand grasped mine, making me gnaw on my lip. Finally, I opened my eyes. “I will not return as I am. I cannot.” She squeezed my hand for emphasis as I lifted my eyes to hers. Fire blazed with raw determination. “Do not ask me again,” she warned. I knew better than to challenge her.
“When will you go to them?” I sighed, no longer able to meet her gaze as any shred of hope that she would avoid the Circulus disappeared.
“When the time is right.” She released my hand to lift my chin. “I will be fine, Prince. If what you say is true, your enemy-”
“They aren’t my enemy,” I snapped. Hen gave me a small smile, but didn’t voice the truth that we both knew. As much as I admired the other clan, they would still kill me if we met. It was why I didn’t want her to go to them—despite her strength, the Circulus… I couldn’t say whether they would take her in or just kill her to protect themselves from her foreign magic.
“By the gods, Stas! You say that but you’ve done nothing to change that.”
“Ercan-”
“Ercan may as well be De Vita,” she shot back before I could even defend myself. Again, her words cut me to the core, because she was right. I may have prevented Ercan from being Saved but I had failed so many others lately, and I hadn't done anything to protect those still within the Circulus from my father. I only reacted in the shadows, instead of being proactive against the horrors of Odon. But I had to. There was no choice. He had the power. My lip split open from the pressure of my teeth, but there was no pain. There never was any pain anymore.
She turned away, but I couldn’t let her leave. Not like this. I needed an answer from her.
“Tell me how to heal them,” I begged. My hand clutched at hers, scrambling to learn the truth. Hen spun around, eyes explosive with rage.
“You want to heal them? Then fight for them, Prince!”
“I am!”
“You’re not. You’re defending yourself. You’ve let your obsession with the curse consume you so that you’re blind to what is worth fighting for!” I winced and let my hand drop. My shoulders fell in defeat. “You’re a blind coward, Prince Anastasius,” Hen hissed and turned her back on me.
I didn’t say anything to that. I couldn’t: she was right.
I had failed them all.