Chapter 19 #3
“I don’t think they can come in. Let’s go.” I push the door to the other room, then head to the stairs, still so dirty and covered with vines that it’s hard to climb them.
But I feel lighter now.
The Heart of Magic!
Of course it’s the answer. If anything, I should have come here sooner, but I was so caught up in Marlak’s plans, so confident that it was all we needed, that I didn’t consider what I could do. At least I’m here now, and I hope it’s not too late.
I remember this place so clearly. It’s still difficult to go up those slippery stairs, but we keep climbing until we reach the end.
We walk through a large, empty room, until I reach the door leading to the Heart, in that room with the strange floor made of glass. Once I swing it open, my breath stills.
A man is standing by the heart, dressed in a long, dark robe, his hair to his shoulder, a lightstone beside him. The quiver in my body slows down when I realize his hair is brown, not dark purple.
It’s Otavio.
Kill him. I don’t know if it’s me saying it in my mind. I aim a dagger at his back. From here, I can hit the right point that would kill him. Kill him. But what if he doesn’t die like that?
He turns, and I hide the dagger quickly.
To my surprise, he greets me with a warm smile. “Astra. It’s nice to see you again.”
“Is it?” I frown.
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
I hesitate before stepping on the glass, but since Otavio is already standing on it, I take my chance and approach him, then look around and realize Nelsin’s nowhere to be seen.
It’s just me and my former master.
I look at him and say, “You didn’t want me to find this castle, and told me it was just a story.”
“That’s not really true. I wanted to know where you had heard about it. You’ve been here, haven’t you? It was you who cut the bonds. Now, imagine if this heart were to fall into the wrong hands. You told me you had read about it in a book. I was worried.”
His argument is logical, even if I would rather tell myself he’s saying nonsense. And yet. “You could have told me about it.”
“I would, Astra. I was just being careful.”
His tone is the rare, gentle tone he used sometimes when I was little. On days like those, I could tell myself I had found a father. But I know it’s not true.
He furrows his eyebrows as if worried. “You must be so upset, so confused, but I promise you, I can explain everything. I can answer all your questions.”
“Did you know my parents?” the question springs out of my lips by itself.
Sadness taints his eyes as he says, “Unfortunately not.”
“Did you really find me in an orphanage?”
“I did, and you were extremely lucky. I lied to you, Astra. I always told you that someone from that place brought you to me because of your hair. It wasn’t quite like that.
I sensed you and stole you from that dreadful orphanage.
To protect you.” He chokes as if taken with emotion, but I don’t know if it’s true or not.
“Then you burned the orphanage?”
“The records, only. Not the children, or the food, or anything like that. I would never hurt an innocent.”
“What did my records say?”
“You were left at the door. Unknown parents. In cases like that, they search for a while. Check with midwives. I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted them to forget you existed.”
“Wouldn’t they notice if a baby was missing?”
Otavio has a hint of a smirk. “Dead fae don’t tend to notice things.”
“So you killed the caretakers.”
“For you, yes. I would kill anyone.” He sounds sincere, as if he truly cared for me, and yet I don’t believe him.
“How did you know who I was?”
“I can sense Tiurian magic, and yours was quite strong. Not to mention your hair.”
“And yet you never told me about my magic.”
“Tiurian magic can be traced, Astra. Fae and humans developed dark magic just to find Tiurians. We can grant them magic, right? So finding one of us could be very profitable. As long as you didn’t attempt any magic, you would be safe.”
“A little heads up would have been nice.”
“I gave you more than a heads up. I told you not to use your tricks of faith, told you to avoid doing whatever the priestess was teaching you. While you had to pretend to be devoted to that disgusting fake religion, you shouldn’t have let it…
Shouldn’t have transformed it into magic. And I warned you. Many, many times.”
“You could have told me I had magic, and explained that I had to hide it. I would have hidden it. Didn’t I hide my hair?” I touch a purple strand. “Why weren’t you honest with me?”
He stares at me, his face grave. “All I did was to protect you. I understand you might be upset that I tried to protect you from yourself, but…” He sighs. “I did my best. You’re alive.”
“What do you want with me? Why did you want me to marry Renel?” I’m curious, not angry. I need to understand why. So many whys.
Otavio pauses. “I don’t think you were ever told our story, were you?
Properly told. Because I know you, Astra, and you believe in justice, fairness, goodness.
While you might berate me because I wasn’t perfect, because I might have made wrong choices, you can’t deny that I raised you to become a formidable young woman.
So I’m sure you’ll understand what I was doing. ”
For some reason, his compliment still hits the target and brings some warmth to my chest. I can tell myself it’s all lies, it’s all fake, but part of me is still the little girl seeking his approval. At least I see it now, and can brush these feelings aside and focus on what I need to learn.
“What were you doing?” I ask, my voice calm.
“You’ll need to look far back. We were a kingdom once, did you know that?”
“Well, I read Tiuris, the Fallen Kingdom. So I suppose I know.”
“Indeed. There aren’t many records left.
At that time, there were few humans, few fae, and almost no giants in these lands.
We had a royal line, but at some point, something went wrong.
Instead of governing for their subjects, the royal family governed for themselves.
Our people revolted, dethroned the king, and decided never to have a monarchy again.
The Tiurian government was decentralized, fragmented.
It’s when the Amethyst Palace, with the Heart of Magic, was hidden, as they thought it would be too much power for only one family.
So Tiuris was never defeated, not by outside forces. ”
He’s still leaning on the heart, as if caressing it, and continues, “They never killed the royal family, though, and one of their descendants decided he wanted to be king again. Some Tiurians supported him. Some fae, too. He unearthed the heart, and with it, powerful magic. Too powerful, and yet he wanted more and more and more power. You know who I’m talking about, right? ”
“The Witch King. So he found this heart?”
“Yes, but then he lost it. Tiurians fought against him, but it was difficult. He has the power to mute and absorb other creatures’ magic, which makes him almost invincible.
Eventually, he was defeated by a group of Tiurians, who made a great sacrifice to use their magic to imprison him.
You might be wondering now where Downshadow comes into play.
Well, the fae Rideia had been the woman he loved.
Once. That’s how she got close enough to him to behead him.
Beheading can’t kill him, but it weakened him enough to give the Tiurians time to imprison him.
How come there are no records of this, you may ask?
They were removed. The Tiurians worked with the newly formed Crystal Court to clean their name, to remove all mentions that the Witch King was Tiurian, but they also made sure nobody knew that he was being kept with Tiurian magic.
The reason for that, I think, is that Tiurian magic is what can free him. ”
“He was freed. How?”
He tilts his head. “With time, magic fails, I suppose. Now, back to my story. The Tiurians lived among fae and humans, but the Crystal Court got greedy, like Tiuris once had been. Too many fae tricked humans into servitude, and it’s when the humans fought against the fae.
It doesn’t take a genius to understand how the humans had a chance. ”
“The Tiurians helped them. Gave them opus stones.”
“Indeed. And that scared the fae and the humans too. The truth is that the humans didn’t win.
Not really. What they got was an agreement with the fae to eliminate the people the Crystal Court feared the most. That’s why the Krastel king drafted the River of Tears treaty.
It was in exchange for betraying the Tiurians, the very people who had helped them.
Now, many Tiurians knew that. Most of us fled, and the ones who remained suppressed their magic.
But many of us died. Died for doing the right thing, for helping the weak. Is that fair?”
“I suppose not.”
“It’s why Krastel and the other kingdoms named us darksouls, dangerous. They were the ones with tainted hearts, and yet they wanted to exterminate us to hide their own dirty past, to eliminate what they saw as a threat. And that’s why I decided to destroy Krastel from the inside.”
A flame of anger awakens inside me. “You used Sayanne.”
He chuckles. “Oh, no. I wish I could say that, but the credit is all hers. She was eager, so eager for power, that she took the initiative. I was her first target. She thought she could manipulate me. Poor thing, ended up all tangled. I must confess that she carried out my plans brilliantly. Soon there won’t be any Krastel royal family left. ”
“What about the Crystal Court?”
“Same thing. They also betrayed us. My plan was to gain control, and then…exert revenge.”
“You could have told me that.”
“I would. One day, Astra. It was too early for that. Perhaps you’re right that I should have given you more credit, that I should have trusted you.”
None of what he’s saying is truly shocking. I suppose I had gleaned all that, but what might be important now is that he knows what happened in the past. “Do you know how to kill the Witch King?”
“He can’t be killed, Astra, only imprisoned.”
I blink and almost mention that fire can kill him, at least in theory, except that something makes me pause. “Why?” I ask.
“His soul is not tethered to one body. If he dies, he can create another. Like his ghouls, but better. His ghouls are that. He promised them eternal life—and gave it to them, in a way. The souls are trapped.”
I shudder, horrified at the thought, then ask, “How can the Witch King be imprisoned, then?”
“I can imprison him.”
“How?”
“With my magic, just like it was done three hundred years ago. I want to defeat him more than anything, even more than I want revenge. Will you help me?”
I still don’t trust him, even if he sounds sincere. “What do you want me to do?”
“Ask the heart to give me its magic. Once I have it, I’ll be able to defeat him.”
Nausea stirs in my stomach. This is wrong. Otavio here is wrong. But I need to know what he means. “What magic? How does it work?”
“Ask the heart to give me the power to imprison the Witch King, and I promise you that’s what I’ll do.”
It feels wrong, but I don’t want to challenge him. “I don’t even know how to ask.”
“Astra, I know what you’re thinking.”
“You do?”
“Yes. You’re thinking that if the magic of the heart can defeat the Witch King, there’s no reason for you to give it to me. You could take it for yourself and do that, right?”
“That’s not—”
“Listen. You could definitely defeat him, but you wouldn’t know how. You don’t have all the years of training, the experience, the knowledge. If we had time, I’d train you, I’d teach you, but we don’t.”
These are lies. Otavio raised me. He could have prepared me. I don’t know what he’s planning, but I’m not giving him any magic. I shrug. “I don’t know how to do it.”
“Talk to it and ask. It’s not complicated.”
“Can’t you ask?” I truly hope he can’t, but I want to know why.
“You’re the royalty here, Astra. Do you want to wait for the other living Tiurian royal to come and get this magic?”
Obviously not, but I’m not going to give Otavio any magic. I need to gain time while I figure out how to tell him I won’t do it. “Explain your plan. Maybe if I understand it...”
His stare turns into a glare, and then he sneers.
“You were always a disappointment. Always. Weak-minded, sloppy, dumb, brash, ignorant. I made you what you are. I made sure you were beautiful, fascinating, and for what? You didn’t even know how to leverage your beauty, opened your legs willy-nilly, to get nothing in return.
Your blood might be royal, but you’re nothing. ”
“Honesty appreciated. Now leave.” If he’s right that I can order the heart, then this is my castle.
“That’s exactly what I was planning. Are you sure this is how you want things to go? Are you that ungrateful?”
I pull my dagger. I’m too far to stab him, but I can still throw it and kill him from this distance. “Go.”
He bursts into laughter. “Oh, you think I’m afraid of that tiny little dagger? You think you scare me? Oh, Astra, I thought I had trained you better than that.”
My hand trembles, and I feel silly for a second, but then I regain my composure. “I don’t care. Leave.”
He smiles. “Do it. I dare you.”
Even before he finishes his sentence, my wrist flips, and the dagger flies into his neck. Blood gushes out, but he doesn’t fall. Instead, he removes the weapon.
“Bitch!” he roars.
An ice shard appears in front of me, then buries itself in my chest. Blood gushes and gushes from my wound, and I look at it as if it was someone else, feeling nothing. My knees buckle, and I kneel. Ice forms around me, attaching me to the ground.
I’m bleeding. I’m dying. My body is numb, and all I can think is that my soul is leaving my body.
Otavio laughs, then stabs the heart. A shrill shriek reverberates through the room as he licks and sucks the dark blood coming out of it, looking like a starved animal. Shit. He’ll get the heart’s magic—and I can’t do anything.
Dark blood drips from his mouth as he turns to me. “Enjoy your stay, Astra. You were useful, after all.”
I want to scream, but my mouth makes no sound. There’s so much blood around me; ared puddle about to meet the dark puddle of the heart’s blood. I should have stopped Otavio, shouldn’t have spent so long listening to him.
Now I’m dying. And the heart is dying.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper.