CHAPTER 37
Katy
T
he crackling of flames mixed with frantic shouts in her mind, taking her back to the night before her wedding. Memories of the fire tumbled through her thoughts, flashes of orange and a simmering mass of terrified theater patrons.
Then the noise settled into silence, and she drifted off again, rocked by the mild swaying of her bed. She probably shouldn’t let herself sleep so deeply; there was something she needed to do, some reason she needed to wake up. But the sleep wouldn’t let her go.
The bed bounced a little, then stopped moving. A rich alto voice filled her ears, and the heaviness of sleep finally began to lift.
Before she could celebrate, something trickled across her middle. It spread downward, increasing in intensity until she winced as it verged on pain.
“Good. You’re waking up.” The melodious voice returned, and Katy struggled to peel her eyelids up so she could see the speaker. “It was my first time employing an enchanted sleep; I was uncertain how it would turn out.”
Blinking, Katy tried to sit up. She didn’t make it very far. Looking down, she found a metal bar attached to the bed on either side of her. “What...?”
“My primary ability is metals and minerals. I have the rare ability to mold magic with my voice as well as with my hands.” The cloaked woman standing next to Katy trailed a finger across the bar restraining her.
“Between my vocal training and the magical training with my uncle the last five years, I can reach exquisite finesse.”
Images and sounds clashed in Katy’s mind.
The voice she heard on stage, the cloak that she’d seen in the shadows when she accompanied Axel to the theater six years ago.
“But enchanted sleep requires the ability to interact with living things, doesn’t it?
That’s not a common second to metals and minerals.
” Assuming the books she had read were accurate.
The woman standing next to her released a low laugh.
“Aren’t you the knowledgeable one? You are correct.
My primary type, if it comes with a second, is usually paired with the elemental ability of fire.
And I have that also. But if you know that, then you must know that training can grant skill in other areas? ”
Fire...metals...and a rich alto voice...
“My letters were not enough to put Axel on the stage. My fire was not enough to prevent your wedding.” The woman shook a fist. “I spent the last five and a half years training with living things so that I could compel him to join me.”
Her voice grew rough with emotion, and something nearby rattled. “But even that was not enough! I called to him on opening night when the theater reopened, and he did not come! He fought it. Because of you.”
If she hadn’t been sure before, she was now. “You’re Lotti, aren’t you?” Katy asked.
“I am.”
This was the woman Axel had worried over since the fire?
Katy could only wonder why. But she finally understood why he had been adamant that Katy stay away.
Taking a moment to think, she peered around the darkly lit room. A variety of shapes cast their shifting shadows on distant walls. A storage room of some sort?
“What now?” she ventured. Did she want to know?
“I have no desire for your life, if that is what you mean.” Turning, Lotti strolled a little away from Katy and the bed that held her captive. “I am not a murderer. However, since I cannot compel your husband by magical means, I must use coarser methods.”
“Like kidnapping?” Wishing she could roll on her side, Katy tried to bend her knees to ease the pain in her back, but her feet caught. She lifted her head as far as she could. “Really? You had to strap my ankles down, too?”
Lotti snorted. “Be thankful I did not also put a bar across your thighs. I will if I have to.”
She must be more charming with men, because Katy did not understand why Axel was so fond of this woman, rescuer of his voice or not. “You think I would run away? In my condition?”
“You are unpredictable. And I would not wish you to become lost.”
Katy would take being lost over being stuck. There were only so many hallways in the theater. At least, she assumed they were still in the building.
Lotti paced while Katy stared at the dim ceiling and tried not to worry. Her captor appeared to be waiting for someone or something, but what?
“How long do you plan to keep me here?”
The light was faint, but Katy thought she could see an unpleasant smile beneath Lotti’s hood. Something about it was familiar. “Until Axel makes his choice.”
“Choice? What choice?”
“Perhaps I’ll ask you first.” Lotti strode toward her. “You chose your family over your own child. Over Axel’s child. Would you do the same if it was a choice between the child you now carry and your husband?”
A knot formed in Katy’s stomach, and it wasn’t the baby this time. “What do you mean?”
“If you want to keep your child, Axel must leave Himmelsburg. If he stays, Fabian’s name remains my secret.”
“Leave?” Katy echoed. “But he’s the crown prince.”
“An accident of birth,” Lotti replied, waving a dismissive hand. “He hides behind the facade of his title, but it has never fit him. Once he is rid of it, he will be free to become the actor he was always meant to be.”
Axel had suggested giving up his crown many times in the last few months. He wouldn’t hesitate. “I suppose we could do that,” she said slowly. “But raising our child to replace him might be—”
“You misunderstand me,” Lotti interrupted. “He and I would wander the kingdoms, performing on stages across the continent. You would stay here with the child.”
Katy stared in horror at the cloaked woman standing over her as the words sank in. “You want me to exile my husband to save my child?”
“It is not exile.” Turning away with a huff, Lotti continued, “It is his life’s dream.
If he had refused his father’s will six years ago and joined me on the stage, this wouldn’t have been necessary.
But since he is blind to your imperfections, I must make it so he cannot avoid them.
And since he has forced my hand, I must use you to help him choose what is best for him. ”
“Best for him, or best for yourself?” Katy retorted before she could think better of it. “Because it sounds to me like you’re trying to make him do what you want him to.”
“Then prove that you’re better!” Lotti snapped back. “If the choice was yours, would you let him have his dream? Or would you selfishly keep him at your side and lose your child in the bargain, trusting that you will have another in the future?”
“I—I don’t know,” she stammered.
She loved Axel and didn’t want him to leave, but...she’d often been frustrated with his parents for dismissing his love of the theater. She’d watched the past few weeks of rehearsals energize him even as they wore him out. It had been his dream since he was thirteen, if not younger.
Could she really be the one to stand in his way this time? And at the cost of their child?
“I—”
A crash sounded somewhere behind her. Katy tried to turn her head, but she couldn’t move enough. Lotti spun toward the noise, flinging her hands up. Her dark cloak became easier to see as light flared behind Katy’s head, the crackling of flames telling her the source.
“You again, little guard dog?” Lotti growled. “I do not wish to hurt you, but I will if I have to.”
“Axel, are you all right?” Otto’s voice called.
Katy gripped the sheet in frustration, but the next voice was Axel’s. “I’m fine, and Katy’s here. Lotti, what are you doing?”
“The fire is simply keeping him out. As long as he does not attempt to cross it, he should be fine.” Lotti kept one hand out, but she turned the other and waved her fingers in a beckoning motion. “Come in. You arrived sooner than I expected.”
Straining, Katy twisted her head enough to see Axel as he stepped into the uppermost part of her vision.
He still wore his costume: a light blue shirt with loose sleeves, a dark brown cloak, and a simple pair of dark brown trousers.
His face was twisted in anguish as he strode toward Lotti, his eyes turning to Katy for a few heart-twisting moments before he turned his gaze on her captor.
“Otto figured it out; he’s been all over this building in the last three weeks.
‘The intersection of hope and broken dreams’: a prop room with old sets and props that are still in decent condition but haven’t been used in years. ”
“Clever.”
Axel took another step forward, clenching his fists at his sides. “I don’t understand why you’re doing this, Lotti. Katy and I sang in the show. Even though Katy was on the verge of collapse, she did as you demanded and performed tonight. How is this what you promised?”
“You brought guards,” Lotti replied, her voice cold.
“Only one, and he isn’t armed,” Axel argued. “You said no armed guards, and a dangerous sorcerer sent me to you to escape a magical bargain with him. Of course I didn’t bring my pregnant wife here without someone to watch over her!”
Katy bent her elbow, reaching for him despite her trapped upper arm. “Axel, she’s the ghost. The fire—”
“I know.” His expression hardened. “You keep saying you don’t want to hurt me, Lotti. But you could have seriously injured or killed a lot of people, including me, with that fire five and a half years ago.”
Lotti shifted on her feet and turned her face away.
“That was an accident. I had not yet learned to correctly shape magic with my voice, and my emotions were high. I lost control.” She sighed.
“It did not help when I dropped a portion of the catwalk over my head. Leaping out of the way spiked my adrenaline, which spurred the magic. By the time I recovered, the most I could do was calm the flames so the fire brigade could put it out.”
Widening his stance, Axel set his hands on his hips. It was a pose Katy had seen him take when he wanted to appear in charge. “That does not explain our current situation.”
“Performing in the show was to remind you of who you are, to let you feel the lights of the stage again.” Lotti folded her arms over her chest, but the hand that controlled the fire maintained its form. “But it was also a ruse to bring both of you to me.”
“A ruse?”
She turned to face him. “Yes. Here is my deal: I will give you Fabian’s magical name…if you leave your theater girl with me.”