Chapter 59 Hell
“Rafael?” The boy stared back at us with wide eyes and sounded completely indifferent.
This was not the reunion I had expected.
He sat at the desk, writing supplies splayed out before him.
There were books and maps and a platter of food all crowding the tabletop.
The boy was well groomed, not a scratch or bruise on him, and he looked as though he was meant to be attending the ball downstairs judging by his attire.
Rafael ran to him and scooped him into a hug, but the boy’s arms hung limply at his sides.
“You should not be here, Rafael.” Raf set him down, and he straightened his clothes.
“I know it is dangerous, Vincent. We were careful though.”
The boy picked up a couple of the books and began to stack them back on a shelf.
“I am so sorry that it took me so long to come for you. But I am here now.”
He continued to look through the books as though he were talking to an old friend in a library and not being held captive.
“We are here to bring you home. We will protect you.”
The boy let out a long sigh, and Raf’s face twisted.
I looked around the room. The bed was neatly made, but the pillows had indents, and several pairs of shoes were lined beneath its edge.
One door of the wardrobe hung open, revealing numerous pairs of clothing that looked to be his size based on his build.
A table in the corner held colognes, a brush, and a washbasin.
There was a box of cigars and a bottle of brandy on the table before the settee.
I glanced at the boy and then at Raf. He was realizing what I already had.
“Vincent, come, we do not have time to delay.” I grabbed Raf’s hand and stopped him from reaching for the boy. “It will not be long before they realize where we went and send the enforcers. Vincent, please.” I looked at him solemnly and shook my head. “Vincent, we have to go.”
“No.” The boy did not even look at Raf. He only rearranged the maps on his desk.
“What do you mean?” Raf took a step toward him.
“No,” he repeated, slamming a book shut. “I do not wish to go with you. I do not wish to leave.” Raf’s brow creased and he blinked slowly.
“He kidnapped you, and held you prisoner. We are here to save you. Is he holding something over your head, threatening you? Is that why you cannot leave?” The boy sat down at his desk and folded his hands tightly.
“I do not think you understand, Rafael.”
“No, I do not believe that I do.”
“I can leave any time I want, in fact. I just do not wish to.” The boy’s eyes were dark. “I am not being held prisoner, he did not kidnap me, he liberated me.”
“I am sorry. Liberated you?”
“He showed me the truth. He has taught me the ancient texts, balance.” He smiled and unease washed over me. “Together we are going to bring Verith into a new era. We will restore the balance, and Verith will rise to its true potential.” Gods.
“What in the seven hells has gotten into you?” Raf asked incredulously. “Get up, we are leaving right now.”
“I do not take orders from you, big brother.” The boy reached for a long silver tube that hung around his neck on a chain. A whistle.
“Blacksmith, we need to go.” I reached for his hand, but he pulled it away. “Blacksmith!” The yell was enough to get his attention. “He will not come with us. Stanhope has manipulated his mind. We can no longer help him.”
“What? No. I will not leave him here. I will not leave without my brother!” Tears began to form in his eyes. I took his cheeks in my hands and held his gaze.
“He is no longer the brother you knew, and if we do not go…”
A high-pitched whine sounded. Shit. I grabbed Raf’s hand and pulled him with me.
When we stepped into the hall, it was already crawling with enforcers and behind them was Stanhope.
Magic began exploding around us. Flashes of light and fire shattered mirrors and vases.
Smoke filled the hall and they began throwing daggers.
I turned to run, but behind us stood his brother, with a sinister grin. We were trapped.
I summoned my power forth and tried to block the daggers, but there were too many.
Raf grabbed my hand and threw the door to our left open.
It slammed shut behind us, and he moved the wardrobe in front of it.
I put my hands on my knees, panting. “That will not hold them long at all.”
Raf began searching through the room for anything we could use, or any way out. I nodded toward the window.
“Are you mad?” I looked at him with wide eyes. “We are three floors up, we would not survive the jump.” He smiled at me.
“We do not have to jump.” He threw the window open. “The street is cobblestone.”
I felt like an idiot. I could make stairs. I ran to the window and clenched my fists, drawing the stone from below.
“Hurry up!” Liv and Ezra were already waiting below with horses.
“Seize them!” Stanhope’s voice boomed through the room when the enforcers crashed through the door.
Vincent stood beside him in the hall, staring coldly.
The enforcers rushed toward us and Raf jumped in front of me, punching one of them square in the jaw and catching the other in a headlock.
More and more enforcers poured in. They lunged at us with daggers and threw all the magic they could in our direction.
Before any of it could reach us, Ezra’s shadows surged through the window, slithering along the walls, and flooded the room.
They created a barrier between us and the enforcers.
“We need to go, Blacksmith!” I shouted as he put down one last enforcer. He turned and joined me at the window. I let out a gasp. He was completely covered in blood.
“It is not mine,” he said. “Come, we do not have any more time.”
He brushed off my concern and lifted me through the window, placing me on the stone steps, and then climbed out after me.
We were down the steps before either of us could even chance a glance behind us.
Liv tossed us the reins as we mounted the horses and spurred them into a vicious gallop.
When I finally did look back, Ezra’s shadows were still blockading the window.
Rafael looked rather pale behind me. Whether from the adrenaline or his brother’s betrayal, I was unsure.
We raced through the streets of Diviners Row and toward the brothel in the Holudrums.
Several glances back told me we were still not being followed.
I had planned on saying goodbye to Sylvie, but there was no time.
We needed to leave Verith before Stanhope could catch up with us.
We did not slow as I blasted a hole through the wall to the alleyway.
I lifted the earth atop the tunnel and we climbed down into it one after another.
As soon as I sealed the tunnel above us, I collapsed into the dirt, laughing hysterically.
“What is so funny?” Liv asked breathlessly. “There is nothing funny about what just happened, Helena.”
“I…I know…” I breathed between the laughs.
“I believe I may be in shock.” Liv lit a torch and light flooded the tunnel.
She let out a blood-curdling, terror-filled scream.
I propelled myself upright and met her gaze.
Her eyes were wide and her jaw still dropped.
I followed her line of sight and found Raf.
He was slumped against the wall, covered in blood.
His skin had turned sallow and the corner of his mouth was stained crimson.
Before I could speak, he collapsed against the ground with a thud.
“No!” I scrambled toward him, not even able to hold myself on my own feet. I fumbled with his shirt, trying to pull it free from his waistband before panic took over and I tore it in two. There was blood everywhere and his chest rose and fell with short, labored breaths.
“You bastard! It was your blood!” I searched frantically for the wound.
Warm blood seeped into my hand. I had found it.
A gash carved into his side, clearly by a dagger.
He had been hit in the hallway. I pressed my hands into the wound, but the bleeding would not cease.
It began to pour faster through my fingers and pool on the floor of the tunnel.
Panic surged. Liv held his head up in her hands, tears streaming down her cheeks. Rafael began to choke on his blood.
“No! Please!” I cried. “Please tell me what to do, Rafael, what do I do?” A smile tugged at his lips. “What in the seven hells are you smiling about?”
“You…” He wheezed. “You called me Raf…ael.” Another violent cough tore through him.
“And I will do it again, a thousand times more, if you only tell me what to do. How to help you.” My own tears fell freely now, mixing with the blood in his shirt.
“There is nothing you can do…” he whispered.
“Just please…” Tears poured from the corners of his eyes.
“Please do not leave me. Do not let me…”
A wheeze escaped from his throat. “Die alone.”
I could hardly hear him through the blood gathering in his throat.
My head fell to his chest. He was no longer warm.
“No,” I sobbed. “You do not get to abandon me! Not like this…” My body shook against the cold of his.
A shaky hand rested against my hair. “I will not leave you…” he said weakly. “You will always be able to find me…in your dreams.”
“I do not want you in my dreams.” I fisted his shirt.
His eyes were barely open, but I held his gaze.
“I want you here.” My words came out strangled.
“I need you here.” His eyes fluttered shut.
“Do not go,” I begged. “Rafael, please, do not go.”
I pressed a soft kiss to his lips and prayed to the gods, if they were listening, to let him live.
Then I felt it. A current, slow at first.
Power passed between us, warmth spreading across my body and blooming in his chest.
It grew faster, stronger, until it was rushing wildly.
“We are soul-bound?” I gasped. It was more a question for myself than anything else, but Liv gasped along with me.
“It is about time,” Rafael whispered as the color slowly began returning to his cheeks. He took a sharp breath.
I pulled back from him. “You knew?”
“Please, Helena.” He pushed himself up on his elbows.
“You are quite literally the girl of my dreams.”
He winced as he maneuvered himself into a sitting position before me.
“I have known since the first time I found you in them.”
Blood was no longer pouring from the wound, it had stopped completely.
He was not cold, and the warm color had returned to his skin.
I opened my mouth to speak, and then closed it again.
Then, I slapped him across the face. The crack rang through the tunnel and his hand flew to his cheek.
“What was that for?” He rubbed at the spot.
“Why did you not tell me?”
“Because…” He took my hand. “I wanted you to have a choice.” He sighed. “I wanted you to choose me, Helena. Not a soul bond. Me.” Something in me twisted painfully.
“Do not ever try to die on me again.” I placed my finger under his chin and made him look into my eyes.
“Or I will use our bond to bring you back, only to send you to the seven hells myself. Do you understand?”
He smiled and I could not help myself. I slammed my lips into his in an all-consuming kiss and did not stop until my lungs burned.