32. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Astaroth
“ O ld one,” I grinned, and waved Mergle away from the group he cavorted with.
He said his goodbyes and regarded me curiously as he approached. “Your Highness.”
Ears were everywhere. We needed a quiet place where no one could eavesdrop. Mergle followed me out to the garden near the dining hall. Once we reached the center, I dropped down on the bench, and he sat beside me.
“I suspect by the goofy grin on your face that your outing went well.”
I chuckled. “Started off a bit rough, but it was splendid.”
Mergle’s bushy brows popped up, the wrinkles in forehead causing rolls. “That’s surprising. I assumed last night’s events would push her farther away.”
I did as well. Calista refused to speak to me for the rest of the evening and most of the day. When she did, she used one-word answers. She even refused to sleep in the bed, favoring that dreadful chair she had claimed as hers by the bookshelf. Once she fell asleep, though, her neck was at an awkward angle and the sounds coming from her were loud enough to crack the foundation of the castle. I scooped her up and put her in the bed when I was certain she would not wake.
I didn’t sleep much, choosing to stay awake and enjoy being wrapped in the skirt of her dress she passed out in when she draped herself over me. As the sky lightened, I snuck from the bed and pretended to sleep in her chair. I didn’t get to watch the dress puddle to the floor last night, but I watched it through squinted lids this morning. The under garment she donned made my eyes fly open and cock stand at attention. Lace disappeared between her ample cheeks, leaving nothing to the imagination. I liked them and have already requested Bobbins to make more of them.
“Are you going to tell me about it, or sit there and smile like the dimwitted ones lost in nostalgia?”
I peered at him out of the corner of my eye. “Be mindful of your tone.”
“You do not scare me,” he quirked a brow, “young one.”
My playful glare elicited a snort. “Calista had questions about the hall.”
“I’m sure. Were you forthcoming with information?”
“To an extent.” Mergle waited for me to explain. “She’s terrified she will become one of them.”
“The pendant will prevent that.” When I didn’t speak, he said, “Ah, but you didn’t tell her that.”
“Not in those words.”
Mergle chuckled lightly. “Your patience has worn thin, Astaroth.”
“That it has.” I leaned back on the bench, crossed my arms over my chest, and kicked my feet out. “Much longer, and it will run out entirely.”
“Need I remind you that Calista hasn’t been here long? It takes time to woo a woman.”
“Remind my cock. Now that she is sharing my quarters, it believes we are beyond wooing.”
Mergle laughed hardily. “How do you plan to work this in your favor?”
“Stitch her to my life source.”
“What!” Mergle jumped off the bench and faced me. “You can’t! We don’t know what calamity will ensue.”
I leaned forward and propped my elbows on my knees. Even from this position he was beneath me. He is beneath me, in all things. Mergle needs to stitch that to memory again. “There will be none.”
“You do not know this. You risk all our lives attempting it. And for what?”
Without thinking, I wrapped my hand around my dearest friend’s throat. “Because I want to keep her. I have from the moment I laid eyes on her. Forever and ever, I want her the way she is by my side. Calista will not wither to age or the realm.”
Mergle stumbled back and rubbed his throat when I released him. The sting of betrayal pricked at me as he raised his head and met my gaze. “Your Highness—”
The title coming from him while we conversed in private grated on my nerves. “If you will allow me to finish, Calista is bonding to the realm.”
“That can’t be.”
“It can and it is. The pendant. I touched it again while she wore it. A rush of magic I have never experienced washed over us, and the tune of the realm echoed throughout the hall. It was…beyond euphoria. Surreal.”
“Then there is no need to tie her to you if the realm has bound to her.”
Mergle retreated when my head snapped in his direction. Like mirrors, his glassy gaze reflected the shadows spinning wildly in mine. They threatened to spill over and suck him into the abyss that lay beyond my reach where I tossed that which will be forgotten.
My words came out on a low decibel that shook the dirt and pebbles between the bricks separating us. “She will become one with me, not an extension. I have made my decision.”
With a thud, Mergle dropped to a knee and bowed his head. “As Your Highness speaks, so shall be done.”
Tired of Mergle’s genuflecting, I departed from the inner sanctum of the garden, angry and confused by his contradictory statements. Mergle urged me to bring her here, hold her to our bargain, and reclaim my magic. My feet stopped moving. He didn’t care about the bargain. He didn’t care about her wellbeing, or my happiness, for that matter. Mergle wanted the magic returned. I spun a slow circle, a bloodsuckle vine reaching out to kiss my hand. I offered it a taste before walking back the way I came.
Mergle rounded a bend and stopped when he saw me. Trepidation rolled off him in waves threatening to sweep him off his stubby legs.
“Tell me, old one. How long have you been planning this?”
His voice quivered. “Planning what?”
“No need to play coy.” I stroked a leaf on the vine, and it unwound from the trellis to slither toward me. “Divulge your secrets the way you trained me to spill mine. To you.”
“I keep no secrets from you, Astaroth.”
The vine danced over my hand and teased my fingertips. “We are back to names now, Mergle?”
“I don’t understand what you’re playing at.” He watched with rapt attention. “Your lust for the girl is warping your mind and priorities.”
A deep, guttural laugh shook my chest. “I am not paranoid, Mergle. Whose priorities are at jeopardy here… mine or yours?”
He watched as the vine chased my hand farther onto the path. Bloodsuckles sprouted along it, searching for purchase. Mergle swallowed. “You are my priority.”
My brow raised as I tilted my head in thought. “My magic, you mean.”
His chest puffed up as he sputtered defiantly, “It is my duty to see to the occupants of the realm and help them return to their rightful home.”
“So, I am but a tool. A means to an end.” Something I knew since they proclaimed me their savior. But this level of deceit burned all we built to the ground and scorched me. Mergle guided me from youth to manhood. Our friendship blinded me to any ulterior motives. “You never served me. It has been I that have served you all this time. I am only the face of your anarchy. Nothing more.”
“That is not tr—”
The vine shot out and coiled around him from ankles to right under his nose, muffling his words. His eyes screamed at me as the little blood suckers latched onto any available flesh to feast.
I squatted in front of him. “You have a choice to make, my dearest friend.”
The vine loosened, drooping below his chin. He winced as the suckers tore from his cheeks, leaving behind skinless bloody patches. “I serve you and our brethren.”
“Wrong answer.” My fist tightened. The tips of my nails dug into my palm the way the bloodsuckles tried to bury beneath his skin.
Mergle groaned when the vine squeezed tighter. “I cannot tell you.” He labored for breath. “I am bound to another.”
Bound? Impossible. “No one besides me is strong enough to bind you to an oath.”
Sadness filled his eyes erasing all signs of his discomfort. “There is still much you do not know or understand, Astaroth. But you will.”
“Is that a threat?” I snarled.
Mergle shook his head. “My oath to you.”
“You’re saying that to save yourself.”
“I promise you, young one. Believe me. You will have answers.”
“Promises require trust. I no longer have that with you.”
As the portal opened, Mergle squirmed to get loose from his ivy shackles. Part of me screamed to believe him and set him free. That he would prove himself and all my doubts would vanish. The other part salivated for blood. It wanted comeuppance. After all, he trained me to be this way. What a bitter treat for us both to swallow.
Calista
Jessandra flipped the dagger into the air and caught it. Over and over, I watched as it spun handle over blade and landed perfectly in her grip every single time. The constant slap against her palm reminded me of a paddle ball, and it was driving me insane. It polluted the peace I sought when Astaroth dropped me back at his room. I had much to think about, and she was a distraction.
“For the love of all things holy.” I scrubbed my hands down my face then hit them against the bed, pushing myself up on my elbows. “Could you please stop that?”
Her hand didn’t falter when she turned her head my way. “No.”
“Aaaagh.” I dropped onto my back and grabbed the pillow next to me, pulling it over my head and clamping it over my ears. That incessant beat continued. I could still hear the faint sound. That, or the beat had burned in my memory and my brain was torturing me.
I sat up and flung the pillow at her. Like a bow releasing an arrow, her arm shot forward and speared the feather-filled sack. It plopped to the ground in front of her, a couple of feathers floating down to rest around it. She reached down to pluck her knife out, and I threw another one at her, this time striking her in the head.
She waited before going for her weapon. “I will let that slide.”
“What other choice do you have?” I asked as I laid back down, thankful the repetitive noise was over.
“Many.”
My head lulled to the side. Jessandra was lost in thought, her gaze far away, even though she looked right at me. Probably weighing the many ways she would seek retribution. Each one would culminate with her demise, and she knew it by the unsatisfied expression she cast. That insipid knife raised up glinting in the twilight.
“If you toss that knife one more time, it better be to put me out of my misery.”
“You have given up so quickly?”
“I spent the day inside a curated display of death. What’s one more?” I focused on the ceiling, ignoring the tingling that remained long after Astaroth stopped touching me.
“The Calista I knew would fight.” She didn’t hide her disgust with me.
I rolled onto my side and propped my cheek on my palm. “You are a conundrum. One minute, you offer helpful advice. The next, you tell me to be a good little soldier and do what I’m told.”
Jessandra shrugged. “There is never a single road in any journey. One must detour at any given moment to reach their destination.”
“Confucius says,” I mumbled and flopped back to the bed, draping my arm over my eyes.
“I am feeling… charitable. Unload your burdens.”
Where did I begin? Home, here, her, him, carrying around dead goblins? The labyrinth talking to me? The tree? “I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
A thump next to the bed made me roll over. Jessandra moved the chair next to me and kicked her feet up on the nightstand. Mud flaked down onto the surface. Astaroth would love that.
“Releasing the heaviest one usually feels best.”
The heaviest one was the hardest one to find the words to express. Picking at the blanket, I mulled over all that happened at The Hall of the Unnamed. “I want to go home so badly, but I’m scared I’ll never find a way out of here. Not without his help, and that will never happen. The longer I stay, the more I worry about becoming one his many statues.”
“Roth would never allow that to happen,” Jessandra stated, sounding exactly like Astaroth.
“That’s what he said.” I took a deep breath and released it. “He plans to tie me to his magic.”
Jessandra gripped the chair arms and sat straight up, her boots clomping to the stone floor. “Take his offer.”
“If I do that, will I be tied to the realm as well keeping everyone alive? I don’t want them to die, but, if that’s the case, I’ll never go home. I’ll be stuck here forever, my choices stripped from me, just like Astaroth.”
“Do not allow your compassion to confuse you and make your decisions for you.”
“I’m not.”
“You are. Astaroth can leave at any point. He chooses not to.”
I caught a glimmer in her eye as she said that and analyzed her words. He can leave at any point. He chooses not to. Did that mean I could leave at any point if I do it?
“Accept his offer, Calista.”
“This is my detour,” I breathed, and Jessandra smirked. “That means I have to have sex with him.”
Jessandra sighed and kicked her feet back up. “You are blessed.”
“Blessed is not the word I’d use.”
“I don’t remember what sex is like, but I would pay whatever the cost to experience it.”
My mouth dropped open. “You’ve not…since you’ve been here?”
She shook her head.
“You sure you don’t want to help me escape instead and come with me? I know one guy who would jump at the chance to rock your world.” And be terrified doing it, but Kaiden would do it.
Jessandra threw her head back and laughed.