Chapter 27 Seth #2
Seraphim made us wait until dusk to return to Cerys’ hideout. My thoughts lingered on Aethra. I’d left before she woke and hadn’t returned for an entire day.
If only we had more time. Maybe we could steal tomorrow, find a quiet inn room where we could be alone.
Letting the Cynthus siblings descend ahead of me, I crouched above the hidden hatch, keeping rapt watch for onlookers. Seeing nothing around us, I followed them down into the dark.
I needed to deal with Aeacus before I found Aethra. Such a dangerous captive couldn’t be allowed to live.
Seraphim lingered at the end of the narrow passage, watching me closely. I met her eye. “Could you find Eleos? Tell him to meet me in Aeacus’ chamber.”
“I’ll gather the others. Tell them the news,” she said, turning on her heel.
Drawing my blade, I wandered down the tunnels. Eleos would help extract any useful information that remained in Aeacus’ head. Then I would end his miserable life.
But how? Something slow and certain. A wound he could not heal, that he knew would prove fatal.
A fitting end that matched the fate he’d thrust upon Cassandra.
Resting a hand on the heavy doors keeping him imprisoned, I took a breath before pushing them open.
Aeacus was bound the only way one could hold a chthonic—fingers separated by rope, heavy gags preventing teeth from finding delicate flesh. He glowered at me with calm fury, raising his head to maintain his dignity.
“I wish I had months,” I said, running my finger along my dagger. “To make you live through the hell I did. But once we know everything you do, your life isn’t worth the risk.”
Footsteps echoed behind me, and Eleos slipped into the room. He glanced at me before pacing around Aeacus. “I take it you want me to control him?” He asked. “His walls are up now, and they aren’t easy to get around.”
“You frightened a hydra, El. I have faith in you.”
Smirking, Eleos resumed his pacing, eyes boring into the back of Aeacus’ head. Kneeling beside the commander, I pressed the tip of my dagger into the bottom of his chin and lifted the commander’s head.
“Do you think torture will help distract him?” I asked.
“It’s worth a try,” Eleos said.
My gaze fell to Aeacus’ side. He’d given me a terrible wound there—it had left my most prominent scar.
Blood would give him a weapon. I’d start with broken bones. Flipping my dagger around, I slammed the hilt into his side.
A rib cracked, and he flinched. Whatever emotion he felt in that brief moment, Eleos took advantage of. Pressing a hand to Aeacus’ head, Eleos forced emotions on him.
What I saw surprised me. Aeacus averted his gaze and lowered his chin. The faintest glimmer of guilt had allowed Eleos to tear apart his defenses. Aeacus looked at me like he might burst into tears—like he was ruined by what he’d done.
These emotions were fake, amplified. But I’d never thought Aeacus felt even the faintest stab of remorse over what he’d done to me.
I faltered briefly. Eleos closed his eyes and nodded. “I’ve got him.”
Lowering my blade, I balanced on my haunches. “Father thinks he can use Aethra to wage war on the Merchant Isles. Does he intend to leave the Acheron unguarded?”
Aeacus head twisted back and forth as Eleos gave him an order. “No,” he answered. “We believe they will come to us.”
“Why?”
“To take back the maiden and their precious little stone.”
Furrowing my brow, I glanced at Eleos.
“It’s possible,” he breathed. “If anything would drive the lords to breach our age-old law, it would be the pursuit of the Maiden’s Bloodstone and the final city.”
“Alright,” I said. “What about this city? Would father send an army to take it back?”
“Of course he would,” Aeacus confirmed. ”He cannot afford to lose his grip on our country, lest people start doubting his godhood.”
“What made him believe that Aethra was the one from the prophecy?”
“Cerys spoke a portent, while you were imprisoned.” Aeacus shuddered, struggling against Eleos’ hold. “The first Elpis maiden from foreign shores would appear, and she would be the last of her kind.”
“That’s why Ainwir went looking for her,” I muttered. “What if the Merchant Isles doesn’t come? What then?”
“Then we will march to meet them. "
I stood, meeting Eleos’ eye. “Did he speak true, in the tower?”
Eleos nodded. “If you convince Haimyx to reconcile, to let you marry Aethra, we can steal into the Acheron beneath his watch.” He winced again. “Kill him quickly. I can’t hold him much longer.”
Lifting my blade, I eyed a vein on Aeacus’ neck that would cause near instant death. My eyes fell to his side, and anger boiled within me.
Why should Aeacus get a clean, easy death? I’d made a promise to myself. Those who’d escaped justice would meet it by my hand.
My hand jerked, finding its way to his side. I remembered so clearly the way he’d cut me. Driving my dagger into the flesh beneath his arm, I let it sink deep before ripping it down to his hip.
Eleos’ eyes flew open. “Seth!”
Rage blinded my vision. My thoughts became muted as I yanked my dagger out and drove it into his abdomen.
Again. And again.
Eleos said something. But I didn’t hear it behind the swell of emotions consuming me.
Something slammed into my back, throwing me to the ground. Aeacus’ blood lion loomed above me, teeth barred.
I swept my dagger through its head, cutting the blood in half. The liquid surged, reforming itself within an instant.
Shoving me down with its heavy paws, it leaped off me and dashed out the door.
Sitting up, I noticed first Eleos slumped against the wall, and the pool of blood beside me.
Aeacus was gone.
Shooting to my feet, I ran through the door.
Cerys stood at the other end of the hall, blocking Aeacus’ path. Gripping his bleeding side, the commander glanced back at me before returning his gaze to Cerys.
Ripping a quill from her belt, Cerys started drawing on her hand. An unstable portal formed on the wall beside Aeacus.
“Get out,” she hissed. “Before we all die here.”
I lunged forward, reaching for him. But it was too late. Aeacus stepped into Cerys’ portal and vanished. By the time I reached the wall, my hands slammed into solid stone.
Seraphim pushed past Cerys, eyeing the bloody hall with wide eyes. “What the hell happened here?”
I sank to my knees, suddenly exhausted.
“Fucking idiot.” Eleos leaned in the doorway, clutching his arm. “What were you thinking?”
I hadn’t been. The depths of my wounds had been unknown, even to me, until that moment.
Aethra ran down the hall, pausing to check on Eleos before noticing me.
Seraphim ran a hand down her face. “He’s going to spill everything.”
“I know,” Cerys said.
“Have you any idea what you’ve done?”
“I know,” Cerys repeated harshly. “He would have killed everyone in here. Everyone.”
Aethra ran to my side and fell to her knees, scanning my face. Maybe she read the emotions whirling inside me. Eyebrows drawing together, she threw her arms around me.
“Oh gods, Seth,” she whispered, only loud enough for me to hear. “I’m so sorry.”
“Aethra—” Eleos protested.
“What’s done is done,” she shot back.
Gods, I didn’t deserve her. Wrapping an arm around her back, I pulled her closer.
Eleos sighed, exasperated. “You might have just ruined everything. Haimyx will bring everything he has down on us, now that he knows our secret. The insurgency is finished.”
I found my voice. “It was doomed from the start. Nothing has changed in this wretched land for centuries. Nothing.”
Jaw ticking, Eleos glared at me. When he spoke again, it was almost a whisper. “You’re right, Set. Everything your mother did was pointless, as was her life.” Turning on his heel, he marched away.
His words dug into me like a blade. I stared over Aethra’s shoulder at the wall, remembering the final moment of my mother’s life.
She’d glanced back, still proudly crowned in her feathered circlet and cloak shaped like a pair of wings. Faintly, sadly, her chin held high, she’d smiled at me.
Not even Aethra could take away the pain that image caused.