Chapter 27
Chapter twenty-seven
Bridget’s father stared back at her.
Well, not literally. A painting of him did.
The moment Cade had finally drifted off to sleep beside her, she’d hopped out of bed.
Tiptoeing across the hall, she’d peeked inside Nylah’s room.
Her sister had been knocked out like a rock under a giant comforter.
Alone, but Bridget had told herself that was okay.
Finn had said she’d drifted off to sleep soon after he’d checked on her.
After that, her feet had taken her to the throne room before she had even processed what she was wanting to find.
Bridget grabbed the nearest flickering torch.
Even though it was the middle of night, the king still kept the few scattered on the onyx columns burning.
She held it above her head and squinted her eyes to get a better look at the painting looming on the marble wall.
The last time she’d been in the throne room, she’d met Cade’s father and been forced into the tournament.
Even with his intimidating gaze on her, she almost hadn’t been able to take her eyes off a faded portrait of a man with a mustache.
The portrait of her father.
Or her Before father. She wasn’t sure what to call him.
There was still a man out there who could claim the title, too.
Bridget couldn’t believe there was evidence of him at all in Astraeus.
It was shocking that the old Tuathans, or whoever was left of Cade’s family, hadn’t scrubbed all evidence of humans from the palace once they took over.
They’d already been halfway doing that before she was killed.
But he had built and designed the throne room—an ode to his new wife and agenda, right after she’d turned sixteen.
Perhaps it was their one last thanks to him before he disappeared to Andarre. Supposedly.
She wondered what he would say if he could see her and Vega now, both alive and still fighting five hundred years in the future.
“Where’s Cade?”
Bridget whipped around at the sound of Stellan’s voice. Unlike her, he hadn’t changed into any night clothes. Instead, his usually tidy blonde hair was sticking up at the temples, like he’d been wracking his brain as he read a difficult book. Or thinking about Marin.
“He’s asleep.”
Stellan froze. Frustration pinched his brows. “Then why did you ask me to meet you here?”
After placing the torch back in its rightful spot, Bridget met him underneath the glass chandelier. “You really did forget everything I needed you to remember.”
The words tasted bitter. Her entire plan had hinged on knowing who Vega was to her from the start. But she hadn’t. Now Vega was one step away from returning, and there was no one to blame but herself, no matter how she tried to dress it up as accusation.
Stellan frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“I need to show you what you missed.”
He was the only person who could help her do what needed to be done.
But she knew him well enough—at least, the old version of her did—to know that if he was going to agree, he needed every angle of the story.
When he remained frozen, Bridget grabbed his hand and held it up to her temple.
Stellan tried to pull away, but she tightened her grip. “Just do it.”
After a long pause, he entered her mind.
A million needles traveled from her forehead to her spine as she focused on the memory she wanted to show him.
Her nails dug into her palms as she relived casting the curse on the crown and him entering her cell.
Once he disappeared out of sight, Bridget flung herself away from him.
“Wow.”
Rooted to the spot, Stellan stared at her wide-eyed, his voice almost a faint whisper.
A little dizzy, Bridget wiped away the blood dripping from her nose. “I’m so sorry I made you do that.”
She hadn’t understood then the extent of what she’d asked him to do.
Not until she’d witnessed it from his point of view.
He’d had to kill his best friend. He’d lost years of his life from the cost of blood magic.
It didn’t matter if Cade had already been dying or they were going to come back. She’d forced him to do the unthinkable.
Eyes still a bit glassy, like he couldn’t stop replaying what he’d seen, Stellan said, “It’s what had to be done.”
“It didn’t have to happen,” Bridget said, shaking her head. She needed him to understand. “Everything Vega did was because I chose Cade over her.”
She’d spent hours analyzing every detail of her past. And all her ruminating had led her to the inevitable conclusion: it was her fault. She had been the only person in the world with the ability to stop the war and she’d made all the wrong choices.
Stellan opened his mouth, clearly about to argue, but Bridget cut him off.
“Don’t try to correct me. It’s what everything boils down to…” Bridget said. “I chose him over my sister. I could’ve tried harder. I could’ve stayed with her when she asked me to… Maybe if I had, I could’ve stopped her.”
She bit the inside of her cheek before she did something ridiculous like let the moisture stinging her eyelids fall to her cheeks.
“Vega made her own choices long before she found out about you and Cade.”
“Maybe.” Yes, Vega had already formed the Sanguis before that whole debacle played out, but she could’ve stopped her from doing any more damage.
Rolling her neck, Bridget tried to compose her face into a neutral expression.
“But that’s not why I asked you to come down here.
After I got my memories back, I could tell there was something you didn’t want me to remember. ”
She paused, giving him a chance to deny it, but he remained silent. “It’s that Cade tied his life to mine, isn’t it?”
Stellan’s throat bobbed his bright blue eyes radiating sadness. “I still remembered that because I knew long before those final days. I figured it out the first day you arrived in Cavamyne. It was obvious. To any Tuathan, at least. However, that’s where certain events started getting hazy.”
“Because Vega was there too.” Bridget realized now almost every memory he had of her was probably muffled if Vega was involved.
Her stomach twisted. It was hard to believe there was a time when she and Vega entered Cavamyne together as sisters.
Bridget could still remember every detail, including Cade’s expression as she stepped out of the carriage behind Vega.
While that had been his first time meeting the real her, he and Stellan had known her long before that.
“I don’t blame you for trying to run away from all this,” Bridget said, referring to their conversation outside the cabin in Connecticut.
“I know you wanted to stop interfering… but I understand now why you couldn’t stay away.
If you hadn’t been there that day in the woods after Quinn shot me, Cade would’ve died. ”
Despite Archer’s efforts, Stellan was another reason why she’d made it out alive.
He’d been the one with the phone. The whole reason she’d been brought back with the curse was because of her connection with Cade.
The thought of him dying because of her, even if she hadn’t known, made her nauseous.
Knowing they were connected that very second made her want to go hide in a padded room.
Stellan’s expression suddenly shifted. “I showed up that day to save you.”
And then Bridget saw it. The thing she hadn’t allowed herself to see…
or couldn’t see when Cade’s presence attracted the attention of every single atom in her body.
The disguised longing. After all, camouflage had always been his specialty.
Another inevitable conclusion barreled through her.
The why behind the curse taking his memories surrounding those final events.
Above all, he’d wanted to keep his promise… to her.
“I’m sorry.”
The words clawed their way out of Bridget’s throat, low and broken.
The three syllables didn’t feel like enough for what he’d been through.
She’d never wanted to hurt him. He’d been a constant friend and companion to her, even before she’d permanently become part of his life.
But she could never give him what he wanted.
Stellan’s expression shuttered close. Within seconds, he’d transformed back into the well-mannered, closed book he always presented himself as. Bridget wondered if she’d ever catch a glimpse of what was truly inside ever again.
Clearing his throat, Stellan asked, “Are you going to tell him? If he knew…”
It took Bridget a moment to realize he was referring to the bond. “If Cade knew, he wouldn’t want to break it.” She read the trepidation and anxiety in his eyes. “But I agree with you. We should.”
“Bridget…”
“Because of a vision, Deckard has always believed that I’ll kill him. Marin said that I wouldn’t, but what if it’s metaphorical?” Bridget whispered. “What if he dies because of the bond?”
Stellan’s silence told her he’d already suspected that possibility.
“You already tried to break it, didn’t you?” Bridget held up the pale ends of her hair. “The old me was a lot more versed in magic. I know the signs. And I know you probably thought the excess power soaking the air from the curse being broken was a good starting point.”
A fact she knew from Vega. It was why she would go back to the same place, over and over again, to recharge her abilities.
“After they revived you, I thought it would be weak enough that I could snap it,” Stellan admitted. “Then I realized the bond was probably the only thing that kept you alive long enough for the paramedics to arrive. All I did was almost kill you again.”
“Why didn’t it work?”
“I don’t think it’s possible from your end. You’re not the one who created the bond. Cade did. It’s why Tuathans are the only ones affected by it… why they’re the ones who have to pay the price for it or die with the other person.”
Bridget grimaced. Acid filled her mouth.
She understood the why behind the bond. If you want to spend your life with someone, you do what it takes.
It worked… in a perfect world. If they weren’t them, the bond would be the most precious thing to her.
But they didn’t live in a perfect world.
Cade needed what he’d given up for her. “If we’re going to have a shot against these Wraiths or whatever else Vega sends our way, he needs to have all his abilities back.
He’ll get them back if it breaks, right? ”
Because Vega was not leaving Iegorus. Cade’s death over a stupid rock to bring her sister back wasn’t something her brain could even conceive. The moment it tried, she zapped it into oblivion.
“Theoretically.” Stress lines returned to Stellan’s forehead. “Maybe we can figure out another way. He might not be able to do everything you remember, but he’s still powerful. It might not be necessary to—”
“It is what’s necessary.” Pausing, Bridget sucked in a sharp breath.
Her eyes closed from a wave of disgust. The words sounded so Vega.
Hadn’t she used the same excuse so many times?
This is different, she told herself. She was trying to learn from her mistakes. This was their one shot at a do-over.
Taking a deep breath, she continued, “This whole time I’ve been thinking things will work out because how could they not? I love him. We found each other. We beat the odds… But it’s not going to be enough. It wasn't the last time.”
Last time, she’d so blindly believed in a happy ending, in being right, she’d inadvertently walked right into Vega’s plans, without a thought to the consequences. She’d almost doomed them all. “What we did is buy ourselves enough time to realize that,” Bridget finished, her voice barely a whisper.
Mouth turned down in a grim line, Stellan processed her words for a long time. Eventually, he sighed. The sound was heavy with the past. “The only instances that I know of the bond being broken is through the Tuathan’s death.”
When Bridget flinched, Stellan held up a calming hand, continuing, “That’s obviously not an option. If the bond is going to be broken, it’s going to have to come from him.”
“How?”
Bridget knew the answer before the terrifying question left her mouth. She’d have to do something to make it waver. Something that would make him subconsciously pull back on it. She’d have to hurt him.
For a split second, she wanted to fall to her knees and scream that she couldn’t. But she tried to smother the twisting in her gut with logic. He needed the entirety of his Tuathan abilities.
And she couldn’t risk him dying if Vega suddenly decided to kill her again.
Eventually, Bridget choked out, “I’ll see what I can do.”
Entire body on the verge from collapsing from the inevitable torture she was about to force on it, Bridget turned to flee the room. She needed time alone to process how it was going to be possible. How she was going to get through this and still manage to look him and Nylah in the eyes.
Before she made it to the throne room’s double doors, Stellan’s deep voice rattled her bones. “No matter what you do, he’s not going to accept it. I don’t think he’ll ever let go of you enough that the bond can be severed.”
That was exactly what she was afraid of.
“He’s going to have to.”
For years, she’d watched everyone around her give up so much to the war… to fight Vega. To win.
It was about time for her to do the same.