Chapter Thirty-Four
A loud groaning shook the fortress, and the portal disappeared. Nothing remained but the bare floor.
Nothing remained of Gil.When Carys first met Gil, he smiled at her. She had seen smiles, but this was different. There was something in it that she didn't understand.
It was only when she met Aidan that she realized what was in his smile. Sun. Light. Life. Gil carried the Starlands with him.
Now he returned to the Starlands, and his smile would die.
A strangled cry erupted from Shanna, and Meical grabbed onto her before she could launch herself at Kieran. "Come now, lass. No point in getting yourself killed. Any attack will rebound on you."
"He murdered my brother!" Shanna screamed. "The curse is in his blood...he can't survive for more than a day outside of this hell. Bring him back!"
Flames licked Kieran as he leaned back on his fiery throne.
"That cannot be done, Mistress. Jumping Portals are curious things.
I can summon one here, but I don't know where it shall lead.
There are thirteen vast kingdoms in the Starlands, that portal could have led to any of them, and no two Jumping Portals ever lead to the same place. "
The words struck like stones. It was nothing that Carys didn't know, just as it was nothing that Shanna didn't know. Kieran intended to dig into the dagger wound with his words.
Hatred distorted Shanna's face as she struggled to free herself of Meical. "I will rip all of your hearts out and feast upon them!"
Meical shook her. "You will need to be stronger if ever you hope to do such a thing."
A hint of comfort colored Meical's voice, conveying to Shanna if she went too far, she would never have the chance for revenge.
All without showing a hint of mercy.
Carys opened her mouth, but nothing came out. There was no chance to reach Shanna. She hated Carys too much. But Shanna seemed to feel differently about Aidan. Carys looked at Aidan, wondering if he would try to comfort Shanna.
Aidan looked horribly blank. His gaze remained focused on the floor, where the portal vanished. Carys didn't know if he regretted doing nothing to help Gil or regretted not following him.
"If you don't mind, I've other guests," Kieran said over Shanna's piercing threats.
There was nothing to do but move along. Meical practically manhandled Shanna away. Nyx didn't bother hiding her disgust of Kieran. She spat on the ground. Bradon glanced back to where Gil disappeared, his typically stern face showing flickers of pain.
Only Aidan showed no reaction. He trailed the group, face like an emptied potion bottle, there, but nothing was inside.
Carys swallowed. Her throat felt so sore and sticky while her eyes burned. Numbness dominated everything else. As if it went through a portal, her own body seemed far away.
"All for nothing..."
She jolted at the sound of Aidan's dead voice. "Beg pardon?"
"All we did to get to the Doom Ball..." Aidan shrugged. "All for nothing. I thought we would save Gil. It was never going to happen. Law of the Beasts...we're all going to eat each other alive."
"It..." Her throat scorched as if she swallowed a burning iron. "It needn't be that way. Gil didn't want it to be that way. We can still make things better."
"You can bleed me dry and nothing will be better here," he said darkly. "This land is poison. Everyone here is foul. Those who can't embrace the Law of the Beasts end up like Gil."
Meical moved their party to the most secluded area in the main hall. A black canopy was erected over a food table, too close to a flame pit to be inviting. Not that it afforded much privacy, as most eyes were on their group. It didn't help that Shanna kept screaming and threatening vengeance.
"Enough!" Meical said. "Carys!"
His meaning was clear, so she shook herself out of her daze. She chanted words of a sleeping curse, a curse that would deprive the curser of an equal amount of sleep.
But she wouldn't be sleeping after tonight.
Shanna's rage left her unprepared and easily struck by the sleep spell.
A yawn broke off her hysteria. Her eyes fluttered and then widened as understanding came over her face.
"Carys!" she hissed. "I shan't kill Meical.
I shall deliver an equivalent act of vengeance.
I will tear your heart out and...and then I. .."
Her lids lost the fight, and she crumpled. Nyx immediately settled Shanna on a few chairs. The shapeshifter didn't seem sweeter in her sleep.
"And this is why I didn't want to attend the Doom Ball," Meical said.
Carys clenched her fist. "Did you know?"
"That Kieran would summon a Jumping Portal? No, of course not." He rubbed his head. "But he was going to do something. He wanted to weaken my position before anyone. Now everyone knows that my agent was easily apprehended by Kieran."
"Don't you care that Gil is dead?" Carys asked in a low voice. "He shan't survive in the Starlands."
"Of course," he said. "I'm sorry that I've lost a shapeshifting agent. I'm sorry that his death has made me look like a fool, and I'm sorry that I will have to kill his beloved sister to keep her from coming after me for some misguided revenge."
A bottle of wine shattered as Aidan raised his head. "You won't kill Shanna."
Carys cringed at the noise, and the murderous look in Aidan's eyes wasn't helping her stay calm. If Aidan challenged Meical out in the open, her brother would have to defeat him. She knew Meical wouldn't kill Aidan, and Carys would remain safe.
But she didn't want to lose Aidan. Not when her best friend trapped in a land of life while death cursed him.
"I do what I will," Meical said flatly.
"Gil died for you, and he loved his sister!" Aidan spat.
"If he were stronger, he wouldn't be waiting to die," Meical said grimly. "His weakness has cost his sister any protection that I was obliged to offer."
Another bottle flew from the table, shattering on the floor. Carys caught her breath. Aidan's anger threatened to spill over like the wine spilling upon the floor. But if he attacked Meical, the attack would rebound on him.
And the curse would rebound on Carys.
"We should dance," Carys said quickly.
The music had started, more of a dirge than a bouncy tune. Aidan looked at Carys as if she was a monster. "You want to dance...after Gil...?"
"Aye, a wise idea." Meical thrust Aidan toward Carys. "We will show that this attack doesn't mean anything to us. Nyx, you will take Shanna to the coach so that she can sleep in peace. Bradon, we'll try to salvage this evening."
Carys clutched Aidan's hand and pulled him to the dance floor. He let out an outraged growl. "What is wrong with you?" he asked with a growl. "Did Gil mean that little to you?"
Her hand trembled as she guided his hand to her waist. "Gil was ever too good for this world. I don't know what it means to be happy, but he brought me as close to happiness as possible. I am close to being sick."
"Then why...?"
"If you attack Meical, your attack will rebound on you. But you can't die. I will die."
"Of course, you only care for yourself," Aidan said harshly.
"If I die, Bella dies," Carys said fiercely. "You don't want her to die. I know you don't!"
He stiffened.
She bit her lip. "You have to dance. Kieran is watching."
His feet moved mechanically with the music. But his steps improved after a moment, moving with the music as if it was second nature, effortlessly leading her across the floor. She stumbled, utterly out of her depths.
"Why kill Gil?" Aidan asked, his flat tone a sharp contrast to the way he swayed to the music. "All to jab at Meical?"
"Law of the Beasts..." she began.
He twitched. "Aye, it makes Meical look weak for his supporter to get caught. But the mummery only helped Meical. He didn't hesitate to kill someone who supposedly feigned allegiance with him."
She frowned. "Perhaps he wanted to sow dissent. Shanna is murderous, and even you are angry with Meical..."
Aidan twirled her. The room of enemies blurred, turning into shadowy distortions. Nausea filled her as she remembered Gil falling in the swirling portal. Aidan moved her back and leaned as close as if he might kiss her.
"Can we summon another portal? Bring Gil back?"
Her eyes burned as she struggled to prevent tears. "No. It's impossible. I could...I could put a calling spell on Gil, but I would have to know his location."
"The Seeing Water..."
"Shows nothing," she said, her voice cracking.
"Just the person. Do you know how difficult it was to guide Princess Bella to the sealed portal?
And at least I knew she would be near that portal.
Gil could be miles and miles away from another portal.
Kieran's skilled at directing portals within the Curselands, but even he wouldn't know how to move one to Gil from this side, especially without knowing his location. "
"But..."
"Stop!" Anger stung her throat. "Just stop. Do you think this is the first time this happened? Shanna knew... and now she'll pay."
"No one shall harm Shanna," Aidan said.
"You cannot..."
"I can never renounce Meical." His face seemed to be crafted of stone. "Not while the life of my love is in his hands. But I won't let him harm Shanna. Gil sacrificed everything for her. Only... how will I manage it?"
She tried to think of the best way to persuade her brother to keep a vengeful, cursed girl alive. "You could offer Meical something..."
"I've already given him everything," Aidan said. "What else have I to offer? I agreed to our ceremony to save Gil."
Vomit burned for release. "You did? Of course, you did," she murmured. "I suppose that Meical will now use Shanna to coerce you to follow him."
"Of course he will," he said bitterly. "A good man dies and Meical finds another opportunity. Is there any way that I will ever be free of him?"
As a dark note of music thundered out, dancers lifted their partners in the air, and Aidan did likewise with Carys.
She hated it. All her fancies of dancing with Aidan at a ball never went this way.
The beautiful dress was too uncomfortable, the closeness was too false, and the image of Gil's fall too prevalent.
When Aidan lowered her, she almost collapsed into him. "There is one way," she whispered.
He adjusted her so they were distant enough for the dance. "What?"
"You have to stop caring."
"What?"
"Law of the Beasts," she said, her heart wrenching. "Forsake your princess, forget Shanna. You must only care for yourself. Only then will you be free."
Aidan's grip on her tightened. "If that were to happen, you would also die."
"I know."
She deserved death. She wasn't like Aidan or Gil. She was poison. There was a reason that Meical called her Nightshade. She ruined everything that she touched. Her friendship with Gil only resulted in his death, and her encounter with Aidan only tainted the prince's soul.
The music stopped, and Aidan stared at her with an empty expression, perhaps contemplating her advice.
"Pardon me."
Kieran's hateful spawn Mona stood there, smiling sweetly as if her father hadn't sent all hope down a portal.
"If I might be so bold, could I borrow your partner, Mistress Carys?" Mona asked in a songlike voice. "I've never had the occasion to dance with a prince."
Carys' grip tightened on Aidan, unwilling to let any of that foul family harm him.
After all, Carys had done enough damage.
Expecting Aidan to refuse, her heart sank when Aidan nodded pleasantly. Didn't Aidan understand that Mona aided her father with sending Gil to his death?
Aidan leaned over as though to kiss Carys. His lips brushed by her cheek, so close to her ear, a little spark that couldn't warm her deathly cold. "She wants something."
Carys froze. Aidan smiled in a brittle way at Mona and took her hand. He swept her away, leaving Carys abandoned on the dance floor. If appearances were what mattered, it looked very much like Aidan was abandoning his allegiance with Meical to explore an offer from Kieran.
But they would be wrong. Even if Aidan had reached the point of forsaking Meical, he would never turn to the family who murdered Gil.