Chapter One #3
They threw me into my quarters. I stumbled into the living area of my tower, and Oberi yelped as another soldier tossed him in behind me. These Elves had once revered us, but now, they were treating us as the worst of the worst.
I supposed that was what we were.
As I careened forward, I fell into someone.
That person grabbed me and held me upright.
I immediately recognized Marcus was the one who’d caught me, and felt the magical signatures of several other people in the room, though I was so disoriented I couldn’t make out who.
People must’ve gathered here, waiting for me.
“Charlie…” Marcus uttered in horror. I could guess that he and all the others were staring at my bloody hand.
I didn’t bring it up. Instead, I stood taller and choked out, “Who’s… who’s all here?”
“Me, Kallie, Ez, Opal, Alistair and Danny,” Marcus replied, his voice even.
“Where’s Ava?” I asked immediately. I wanted to— no, needed to— know where she was, because I couldn’t sense her, and she was my beacon in this world. How was I going to navigate my life if she wasn’t there to be my light?
“You don’t need to know where she is right now,” Kallie replied. “She needs some space.”
That was understandable. I swallowed thickly. It wasn’t lost on me that Ivy and Chancey hadn’t turned up.
There was silence, until I heard Danny utter, “Dude, fuck you.”
His voice quivered with rage. The next moment, he completely lost it. His fist connected with a stone pillar, and his hand went straight through it, sending bits of stone scattering to the floor.
“I can’t fucking believe you,” Danny growled, and he came closer to me. “You better feel lucky that your father only took a finger, because I want to rip your head off right now.”
“You should,” I said hoarsely. “Please.”
Danny huffed. “No way. You don’t get to take the easy way out. You’re sticking around to clean up your shit.”
He was so mad he couldn’t keep talking, or he’d lose control. Danny stormed out of the room, and Alistair gave a hefty sigh.
“I can’t believe we lost,” he grumbled. “If you ever want to take over again, I’m right here by your side, buddy.”
“Alistair, shut the fuck up,” Kallie snapped. “This isn’t about you right now.”
Alistair sulked, and Ez exploded. He started toward me, shoving me backward.
“How dare you, Charlie. I will never forgive you for this. You’ve broken my sister, when she already had so little that held her together.
She doesn’t have her magic now! She doesn’t have her Familiar— anything!
Do you think you had the right to do this to her? ”
“No,” I said hollowly. “Ava would’ve been better off if she’d never met me.”
“You’re damn right she would’ve,” Ez snapped. “I should kill you where you stand.”
“Ez, wait,” Opal said kindly. She was holding him back, and I heard Ezekiel’s gasping breaths as he struggled to obtain control of himself.
Then, his voice changed, from furious to despondent. Ez took a shattering breath and said, “Charlie… I hate you for taking Ava’s magic away. I always will. But…”
His voice broke, and he started to cry. “I know how Ava gets when she’s out of control. I know you had to stop her somehow. But did you really have to go that far?”
“She didn’t give him much of a choice, Ez,” Marcus mumbled.
Ez cried harder. “I get that. I… I’ve been there when Ava’s on her warpath of destruction, and I know it’s hard to stop. Charlie… I overheard you a few months ago, when you were talking to my dad on the terrace.”
I froze. Ez was talking about the night I’d asked for Liam’s blessing, before Ava and I had our royal wedding within Ilamanthe. I remembered the conversation well, and every word Liam said came rushing back to me now.
He’d warned me Ava would push me past my limits one day, and I hadn’t believed him. I wished I’d heeded his warning.
Ez wiped his face and went on. “Dad asked if you had the capability to do what needed to be done to handle her. I know if it was my decision, I wouldn’t have been able to do that to Ava.
You had the strength to do what we wouldn’t have been able to.
My dad trusted you, and you made a promise.
You fulfilled that promise, as awful as it is. I just wish it had never come to this.”
Ez continued to sob, and I didn’t say anything, just stood there. What could I say? Even if I apologized for ruining his sister’s life, it wouldn’t do any good. There wasn’t any amount of forgiveness in the world that would compensate for what I’d just done.
“You guys act like this is all Charlie’s fault,” Alistair complained. “Ava’s got some penance to make too, you know. If Charlie hadn’t saved our asses, literally none of us would exist right now, so quit crying about what he did and go blame her.”
“Alistair, leave,” Kallie ordered. “Or I swear, you will not like where you end up once I’m done with you.”
I expected Alistair to bite back a retort or make a threat, but he didn’t. He left, muttering under his breath, though he made sure he spoke quietly enough that no one heard him.
“This isn’t right,” Opal said in frustration as she continued to comfort Ez. “Guys, we can’t do this to each other ever again. You guys fought your significant others. Somebody could’ve gotten killed— somebody did get seriously hurt, and it was Ava.”
“It’s always Ava,” Kallie said quietly. “She’s always the one who has to bear the brunt of the sacrifice, to accommodate for everyone else’s mistakes.
She already lost the ability to walk before this, and now, she’s lost the core of who she is.
How much more are we going to take from her?
How much more does Ava even have left to give? ”
Her words were a gut punch straight to the core of me. Kallie spoke the truth. Ava was the one who’d lost the most out of all of us in this war, and always had been. What had happened on the beach was the worst blow of all.
I didn’t want to keep hurting my wife like this. I didn’t want to keep making the same mistakes.
Maybe I was bad for her. I’d tried to force things to be my way, and my wife had taken blows that were meant for me.
I figured any consequences for my rebellion would fall back on me, but they hadn’t.
I’d lost my finger, the respect from my people, and any chance of having a relationship with my father, but Ava had lost so much more.
I’d taken away her magic and Oberi, the foundation of who she was.
My losses were pale and empty in comparison to hers.
“Opal’s right. Today was fucked up,” Marcus agreed. “We can fight the Warden, but we shouldn’t be fighting each other.”
“I know. This is the worst thing I’ve ever done, the worst thing that could’ve happened,” I admitted, forcing out the words. “I am so, so sorry you guys.”
“Sorry isn’t going to cut it, Charlie,” Ez said lonesomely. “Not after what you did.”
A lump formed in my throat that was hard to speak past. “I know. Just… give me the chance to fix it.”
There was a deep quiet, before Kallie said, “I don’t know if it can be fixed this time.”
“I at least need to be given the chance,” I pleaded.
I literally felt the distaste rolling off the others when I made that statement, because I realized I was a hypocrite. I didn’t want to give other people chances when I had decided to bring the world under my command, but now I was asking for one, even when I didn’t deserve it.
Kallie’s words wavered somewhere between bitterness and grief as she said, “I think it’s horrible that you tried to take over Ilamanthe. But as much as I despise admitting it, you did the right thing breaking your bond. This was a last resort, and I never would’ve asked you to do this otherwise.”
“Kallie—”
“No. Listen,” she demanded. “I asked you to break your bond in order to save Marcus. That was the only reason, because I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.
Don’t make my sacrifice be in vain. Work this out with Ava, because if you’ve hurt her beyond repair, I will lose the last ounce of respect and love I have for you that I’ve still managed to cling to after the bullshit you just pulled.
I’ve been through a lot with you, and that’s the only reason I’m not walking away from you for good.
You need to make this right. You need to heal what you broke.
Prove to me that you still give a shit about Ava, and about all of us; otherwise, I’m done with you. That is, if I’m not already.”
Kallie dipped out, and the others followed her, save for Marcus. Kallie’s absence was tough to handle, because she wasn’t the type to give second chances. She always laid down the law and told it how it was, and she made it clear that if I didn’t mend things, I was worth nothing to her.
Marcus came closer to me, and as he did, I felt myself breaking down. It was easy to hold myself together in front of other people, but not Marcus. He’d seen me unravel before, so it wasn’t so terrifying to fall apart in front of him again.
“It’ll be okay,” Marcus promised, coming closer. “We’ll figure it out.”
My shoulders shuddered, and I managed to ask, “How are your burns?”
Before Ava had lost her abilities, she’d burned Marcus to stop him from interfering with her plans to destroy the world. He’d been unable to move afterward, because the injuries had been so intense.
“They’re healed. I found a healer to patch me up right away, but that’s not important right now,” Marcus insisted.
“Are you and Kallie going to be okay?” I asked. They’d just gotten together, and within a few days of their relationship being permanent, they’d participated in a full-on magical battle with each other— one where they didn’t hold anything back.
“We’re fine,” Marcus insisted. “Kallie and I don’t blame each other for anything that happened. We forgave each other instantly once it was all over. In fact, there was nothing to forgive.”
“You guys got over it that fast?” I questioned.