9. Chapter Nine
Ikicked the underside of Julius’ boot when he didn’t so much as stir beneath the weight of my presence.
The guard had agreed to wait at the top of the stairs. It wasn’t total privacy, but it was better than having them breathe over my shoulder. Julius groaned, turning onto his side in a foul attempt at ignoring me. I was no guard—not anymore, at least.
And certainly not one set on protecting him.
Not more than necessary, at least. For Aurelie’s sake. If she had even a pinch more resentment in her heart for him, though, I’d carve his star-cursed eyes right out of his head. I’d castrate him so his family name died out slowly, painfully. I’d end him where he stood.
Or laid.
“Get up,” I growled. When he groaned in response again, I leaned over to snatch the back of his tunic and forced him up. His eyes, riddled with stars in white irises, shot open, and he choked on the air. I let him collapse onto his feet, watching him stumble before pressing his back against the wall. Cocking my head, I smiled. “Good. Good. I’m glad to see you can stand. What’s your name?”
Julius was a blubbering mess.
I frowned. “Name, or else I’ll say you choked on your own tongue when I twist it into a knot and shove it down your throat.”
He swallowed, the notch in his throat bobbing. He was sane enough to know what I was saying. He was there; I just had to get him to talk. “J-Julius,” he stuttered.
“So you haven’t lost your ability to think. Is this some sort of game?” I challenged, taking a step closer. He reeked of mold, dirt, and sweat. I recoiled but forced myself to lean forward. “Do you want the guards to think you’re useless so they treat you kindly?”
Julius gulped again. “W-Who are you?” he sputtered. It was like he was looking through me.
“A furious man. You really shouldn’t have done what you did, Julius.” I backed away two steps before carving a path out of the stone with my pacing. Back and forth, back and forth. “Aurelie is very special to me. Was she anything to you in the end?”
Julius tittered. My back was facing him at this point, but I stilled. My shoulders, tense and lifted, slowly settled.
“Is something funny?”
“You just don’t strike me as Aurelie’s type.” Julius cleared his throat. His voice was raw, and sounded like it was being echoed by something entirely separate. Like a ghost imitating his every word, half a beat behind. “Fae bastard.”
Aurelie’s earliest words in Novus’s dining room swirled around me. She’d called us that very thing—and when I turned to face Julius head on, I wondered how much more he’d instilled in her. Had he made her feel worthless with his words and actions? Did he treat her with care in the intimate moments I know she wished I didn’t know about, or did he throw her out in the mud when he was done with her?
I hummed.
“We’re going to make this a game, Julius,” I said quietly as I prowled toward him. He was motionless against the wall, eyes impossibly wide, terror shadowing him. His face told a different story than his words. I would have almost felt bad for him—almost. “I will ask you a question, and you will answer.”
“Boring game,” he muttered.
Here, I grinned. “Every answer—or lack thereof—that displeases me, I will freeze off a digit. And when all ten are gone, I’ll go for your tongue, because I have the utmost confidence that you will be terribly disappointing. You won’t have a voice to defend yourself with when the queen comes to question you. She will have no choice but to get rid of you in a way fit for the worst scum of both realms. Do you understand me?”
Julius fell quiet. His eyes trembled as he warred on what part of me to focus on: my vengeful stare or the icy magic cracking off the tips of my fingers. In moments, my forearm would be consumed by it—and so would he.
“First question: who did this to you? I don’t think you woke up one day with the stars poisoning your blood.”
Julius shook his head. “Who do you think?” he snapped. “You know, I wonder if she’d light up like that if I ever got to show her what a good man was like again. Not some fae cocksucker who imprisoned her—”
I tutted. In an instant, I grabbed his forefinger and snapped it. He leaned over and howled, but I let the ice freeze his hands together when he reached to hold the broken digit. “Careful with that tongue, Julius. It goes next.” I growled as I bunched his collar in my free hand and shoved him so hard against the stone, it cracked. Dust fell from the ceiling, and I heard the guard at the top of the stairs gasp.
“How did you enter the fae realm without alerting the Circle of Sorceresses?” I pressed. His lips twisted, and I scowled. “Shall I remind you about your silence?”
“Who put up that barrier? Which sorceress is responsible for the division of our two realms?”
My scowl fell. Azalea had been an adversary and ally to me many times. In our few interactions, she rarely sought me harm, but she had made her stance on the fae well-known. In the end, she got what she wanted.
The eternal divide that would separate us for years to come.
“And which sorceress has been locked away to be tortured…a prisoner to the kingdom she spent years protecting?”
“So you did this for her?” I asked in disbelief, a nasty frown carving into my face.
“I’d say yes if I thought you’d respect me for it.” His eyes narrowed. “But no. I don’t care about her waning magic, and I don’t care about the barrier.”
This was cold. Surely, Aurelie had better taste than him. In frustration, I braced my icy forearm against his neck and leaned in to breathe my threats in his face. “So why betray Aurelie? Your hatred for the fae is a front—otherwise, you wouldn’t have given her to the cruelest fucking fae king in all known realms.”
Julius barked out a laugh. I had but moments before they’d tell me to stop, that I was not his judge or executioner. What I’d give to be the reason his head rolled on the floor, though.
So, I let off and grabbed his chin, watching the ice burn into his skin like fire. Vapor flitted off into the air, and he howled in pain. I hushed him as a mother would soothe a crying infant.
“Why Sólkon? What does he have over you?”
“Yenira!” Julius cried out as the ice crept up his cheek, turning the tip of his nose red. “He has fucking—” He screeched again. “He has Yenira!”
That letter—it had said, ‘She’s back.’
No, this was a lie.
I cocked my head and spat in his face. “Stop lying to me, Julius. You don’t care about some halfling bitch. Why did you do it?” I shoved him into the wall again, a wave of ice splintering off me and onto the stone.
“She’s the fucking Winter Queen now, fae bastard,” he said, spit spewing through his clenched teeth. “There’s nothing you can do about it. They will reign, and it was the only way to keep all of them safe—”
No. No, he was a lying bastard. And, if he wasn’t lying, he was delusional. He’d be the reason Aurelie was tortured, stripped—
Whatever my brother did to her haunted me each and every day. There wasn’t an hour where I didn’t wonder what sort of twisted game he was playing at. Julius may have been kind to Aurelie—kind enough to earn her respect, however fading it was—but he wasn’t worth another stolen breath.
I hollered out in rage when I grabbed hold of his head and felt the magic within my chest threatening to implode.
“I told you not to disappoint me, Julius. I warned you—”
“Eero.”
Just as his skin had turned blue and his eyes were rolling into the back of his head, body trembling as it froze from the outside in, the soft, disapproving tone ripped me from my rage. With a gasp, I jumped back and let Julius crash onto his knees before collapsing on his side. He was breathing, his heart pounding.
He didn’t deserve to breathe, though. He deserved to die a frozen, morbid death.
I turned slowly and captured Aurelie’s glistening green eyes, her hand drawn over her mouth shakily. No part of me could move—no muscle in my face could twist. In my mind, I was apologizing.
But I couldn’t make it true.
“Aurelie—”
“I don’t want your excuse,” she bit, quiet and enraged. She flicked her gaze to Julius, a tear threading down her cheek. She sucked in her gasp, letting her hand drop to her side. “What did he say? How did he get this way?”
“Aurelie…”
“Stop saying my name. I asked you a question, Eero.”
My jaw clenched, and I turned back to Julius. With a heavy chest, I breathed the anger away. I let it wash into an ocean of regret, my eyes fluttering closed. “Yenira and Sólkon have reunited. Somehow, Julius decided turning you over would be the way to fix that issue.” I paused, clearing my throat. “He says you did this.” I was quiet, slow, careful with my words.
Her silence was deafening. Before I could open my eyes, her feet scraped against the steps, and the door closed behind her. She’d asked me not to hurt him. I knew that was her one and only request, but he was deserving of even more wrath. I wished he’d been possessed or even blackmailed into what he did. And maybe he was, but he refused to tell me if so.
As of right now, there was no redeeming quality about him. I couldn’t be the one to tell Aurelie, though—if she’d even believe me. I don’t know how she’d handle this truth. Did Julius even realize what happened to her?
Did he understand what he put her through?
In rage, I kicked his shin and grabbed him by the collar once more. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he whimpered in utter dismay. I spoke quietly, ignoring the guards behind me as they warned me to stop.
“The next time I see you, it will either be with my blade to your throat or as a bystander in your execution. Aurelie may hold onto the hope that you’re good, but you will never fool me.” I dropped him, watching his head roll to the side. The ice was slowly melting, and before I could do anything else, the guards grabbed me by the forearm and ripped me away. “You’ll get your judgment, Julius, one way or another. And that, I vow.”