The Twice Cursed

Chapter Forty-Four

Silence veiled Aidan's life for too long. Worse than lies or ugly truths.

"Gil's alive and...and you didn't tell me?" Aidan asked.

"I didn't know at first!" Pleading and guilt rang in her tone. "And then I didn't know for certain. When I found out...what was I to do? It wouldn't change the fact that Meical chained you further to him. Would you have stopped cooperating with Meical if you knew?"

"I...I don't know." He shook his head. "You still should have told me."

"There is so much I should have done," she croaked, ugliness to her tone. "I should have told you of Gil, I should have never cursed you. But I always do the wrong thing. I'm rotten, Aidan."

His heart lurched at the raw honesty in her voice. But his anger still roared. "That's not an excuse. Nothing excuses these things."

"I know."

"Did...did you know when we attacked Kieran?"

"No!" She vehemently shook her head. "I truly thought he was dead. It was only later that Shanna and I speculated...and later still when I confirmed it."

Aidan tried to push away thoughts of Kieran's headless body. "Why tell me now?"

"Because of what Meical is having Gil do," Carys said quietly.

Aidan tried to steel himself. "What?"

"He sent Gil up there to set up ritual preparations. Gil can't do the magic himself, using Curse Magic would make him useless." A bitter smile crossed her face. "You won't be the only one damned to hell when Meical is done."

"He is planning to send more people down here?"

"Everyone." Carys slipped her feet down, dangling slightly off the bed. "He plans to alter the spell that compels only Curse Mages to go through portals. Everyone will descend down into hell."

"What?" Aidan's mouth dropped open. "What does it gain him? More servants?"

She ignored his venomous tone. "My brother is going to force those with Star Magic down into hell and perform a mass sacrifice. He will use the blood of your people to bring the Curselands to life."

"Surely, you jest!"

Carys pushed herself off the bed. "Jests are supposed to be humorous. There is nothing humorous in what I just said."

This time Aidan couldn't control his anger, and one of the tree branches extending into the room snapped. "That is foul."

"That is the Law of the Beasts. Use what you need for your own advantage."

Aidan paced around the room, urgent energy in each step, as he barely held himself back from running. "My people need a warning, maybe they can stop it...stop the Jumping Portals somehow..."

Carys walked up to one of her candles and stared into the flame. "The Jumping Portals won't be the biggest problem. The mass exile of Curse Mages was only possible while the stable portals were open."

"The portals can be closed again," Aidan said. "My blood isn't a permanent opening. My...my brother would sacrifice himself if necessary."

Pain clutched stomach. The thought of losing his brother because of his own weakness was just too much. But Carys' next words destroyed any hope.

"Meical is going to have you open it permanently by doing the reverse of what your father did."

His heart dropped. "What does that mean?"

The candle flickered wildly, despite no wind in the room. "To permanently open the steady portals, my brother is going to have you sacrifice an innocent life."

Anger shook his body. "I never would!"

Carys went over to the table and poured wine into a chalice before approaching the window. "You've been aiding a lot of death as of late. Perhaps you would have been able to accept it."

"Never!" Aidan said harshly. "I don't know why he would think I would ever..."

"It was my idea," Carys said, her voice almost too soft to hear. "To permanently open the portals. I thought if you were weak enough to destroy your life for your loved one, you would destroy another life for them. Especially after a year in perdition."

The candle snuffed out. Aidan didn't know if it was his magic, her magic, or the candle itself.

"Your plan," he repeated. "You expected me to kill an innocent person so I could damn every person in the Starlands?"

"I didn't know you at all," Carys said. "Sometimes, I still think I don't you at all. We are bonded in the most intimate way possible, and there is no one I understand less than you."

"I don't understand you either," Aidan said. "I thought...I thought you wanted sun. Perhaps I was stupid, but I didn't think you wanted the death of everyone in the Starlands."

"I don't," she said surprisingly. "Many who don't deserve to die."

"You aren't planning to dance on their graves?" Aidan snapped.

"The plan was to go to the Starlands," Carys said. "Perhaps it was a farfetched dream and not a proper plan. Your blood offered Meical a different route, one for revenge and power, and much easier than trying to return to the sun."

Aidan kicked a chair, magic powering the movement. The chair flung across the room, shattering into bits, but Carys didn't flinch.

"This will completely destroy my brother," she said.

"He's done terrible things, but he also offered protection and hope for a better future.

He kills when necessary, but he never relished murdering the innocent.

Those qualities will be gone if he sacrifices so many people.

He'll be no different than any of the monsters down here. "

He folded his arms, barely refraining from saying Meical was already no better. "So you are doing this to save your brother?"

"Aye. Is that so wrong?" Carys asked acidly. "I am not noble. I want to save my brother, but I also don't want innocents to die. And I never wanted to stay buried alive. We could cover this land with greenery and pure water, but it won't change that this is damnation."

Silence fell over them for a minute.

"So you leave," Carys said. "Go home. Deprive my brother of the steady portals. It won't take much work to undo the preparations that Gil made for the spell in the Starlands."

"So I just leave?" Aidan asked.

Carys nodded. "But you must take the Deadheart with you."

"Why would I need that at all?" He slowly approached her. "I cannot die if we are apart, so my death won't pass onto my loved one."

"The first curse is a bonding curse that takes our lives if we part.

" She toyed with her sleeve. "Meical could still find a way to kill you.

You won't die from being away from me, but you can still die.

The Curse Ceremony negates the effects of the first curse.

But if either of us dies, the Curse Ceremony no longer binds us, and the exchanged blood vanishes.

We will not be together, and when parted. .."

"We can die." He reached for her, but confused feelings froze his hand. "If I died, my blood within you would vanish?"

"Indeed."

"If Meical killed me, it would kill you."

Her dead eyes faced him. "Indeed."

"You're his sister," he said.

She held up her hands. "Does that really matter? Do you think that means anything down here?"

Aidan fidgeted, unable to deny what she said. "And if you died, the one I love the most would die."

"Precisely." Carys clasped her hands together. "I cannot safeguard your life, Aidan. That is beyond my ability. But I can stop my brother from damning your people and save the one that you love the most."

"But...I..."

He broke off and shivered. The words wouldn't come out.

"But?"

"Are you ever confused by your own ridiculous curses?" he asked, unable to say what he really wanted.

She smiled sadly. "Mistress Claudia asked much the same when I thought of this double curse."

Bitterness tinged everything as he laughed. "What a choice! I can return to my own land, but with no feeling at all. And my death could come at any moment."

"Choices are never fair." Carys ran her hand across the branch extending into the room.

"You needn't go without feeling all the time.

Just for a bit, in case Meical uses magic to see if you have taken the Deadheart.

He needs to know there is always a chance that you could be drinking the Deadheart.

On the chance that he decides that I'm more of a use to him alive. "

Aidan's head swirled at the convoluted scheme. Carys looked like she expected applause. Of course, she found a complicated solution considering her last plan was insanely elaborate.

But effective.

"I cannot leave without a portal."

"That can be easily remedied," she said. "I asked one boon from my brother when we wed, and he granted it tonight. I told him that we wanted to get another Curse Creature like Spiky. So he is allowing us to leave. We will find a Jumping Portal and send you back to the Starlands."

It was too simple. But honesty rang in her tone, like the honesty when she first warned of the consequences if he fought the curse. She was manipulative and vindictive, but almost always honest. "So I go home?"

"You go home."

Weight lifted from Aidan's shoulders. He exhaled, slumping down against the wall. It didn't register that he was sitting on the floor until Carys slid down beside him. She offered him her untouched chalice, and he downed the wine in one gulp.

"You are happy?"

"I don't know." Aidan looked around the bleak room until his gaze rested on the tapestry of the Starlands. "I never thought I would return home. I just don't know. I..."

"You've no reason to doubt," Carys said reassuringly. "No bad shall befall you. I've considered all of the possibilities. Meical will likely spare my life. Not from affection, but because he doesn't like to waste a resource. You haven't been in the Curselands long enough to be poisoned."

But those weren't his doubts. Confusion kept him from putting his doubts into words. "When?"

"Tonight."

"That's so...so fast." He buried his face in his hands. "I don't know if I'm ready."

"You've nothing to keep you here." Her cold hand brushed his shoulder. "And you need to stop Gil's preparations. For your people...and for Gil. He doesn't want this at all."

"Shanna!" Aidan said quickly. "Meical might kill her in retaliation."

"As long as Meical believes Gil will do his bidding, he won't touch Shanna," Carys said.

A familiar sensation wrenched at his insides. "You are calling Spiky to us now?"

Carys nodded. "We shouldn't waste a moment."

The distant image of Ghost Tower filled Aidan's mind. It slowly sank into him that it was real. He was going home. A strange mixture of dread and anticipation warred inside.

Carys scrambled up and changed into a more sensible black dress. Aidan didn't look. He couldn't look.

He wanted to look.

Wings flapping and cries from below announced the arrival of Spiky.

To reach the beast, they had to climb on the tree outside of their window.

Aidan's stomach dropped at the sight of the distant ground, but he didn't let fear stop him.

He grabbed onto a branch and steadied himself.

Then he turned to a hesitating Carys. "You aren't afraid of heights now, are you? " he joked.

"No." She shook her head. "I'm ready."

She took his hand, and he helped her over to the tree. The branch creaked and swayed beneath their weight. Aidan pulled the wobbling Carys close to him.

She looked up, dead eyes not detracting from the vulnerability of her youthful face. "I think I'm steady now."

Abashed, Aidan allowed her to slide out of his grasp. He didn't know why he clutched so tightly.

It occurred to him that he had just held her for the last time.

Carys easily leaped from the tree to Spiky.

A few leaves broke loose from the jump, fluttering to the ground long after she landed on Spiky.

Aidan brushed his hand against the massive tree, almost in a farewell before gritting his teeth and leaping onto Spiky.

The landing didn't hurt, but a disdainful snort made Aidan wish that he had fallen to the ground.

"What is he doing here?" Aidan asked, glaring at Cal.

"Meical would only agree to this venture if Cal accompanied us." Carys shrugged. "Perhaps he was suspicious or wanted some form of protection."

"He has some other game," Aidan said, hatred searing him.

"Enough," Carys said sharply. "We all want the same thing."

"We do?" Aidan asked in disbelief.

Stale air rushed by as Spiky flew away from Ghost Tower, but Aidan didn't leave his suspicions of Cal behind. "How does this benefit you?" he demanded. "Law of the Beasts means that you only work for your own benefit."

"This is for Gil."

"Did you even care about Gil?" Aidan asked suspiciously.

Cal leaned his head back. "Gil is very important to me."

Cal's tone sounded off, and Aidan took another look. He smirked before his image melted and twisted, leaving a different young man in his place.

Aidan's eyes widened. "Gil!"

"It's nice to be called by my name." Gil twisted his face. "It's unpleasant to be referred to by the wrong name."

"Aren't you supposed to be in the Starlands?" Aidan asked.

"Don't tell Meical," Gil said jokingly, but grimness came over his face. "Really, don't tell him. He'll kill Shanna and me."

Alarm shot through Aidan, and he looked around, almost expecting Meical to pop up. "Will he be coming after us?"

Gil shrugged. "He might come after the honorable Cal, who happens to be on a mission right now. Meical believes that I am in the Starlands, doing his foul work. And make no mistake, I'll return to the Starlands for more of that work." His silver eyes gleamed. "You'll have to stop me, Prince Aidan."

"Why are you doing this?" Aidan asked. "What about Shanna?"

Gil's eyes shadowed. "Shanna matters the most to me. But there are still good people in Rali and the rest of the Starlands. I don't want them all dying. I want a safe place for my sister, but it's not worth that much blood." He laughed uneasily. "I suppose I'm not as rotten as I believed."

"You haven't the curse in your blood," Carys said quietly. "That's why there is still hope for you."

Gil leaned forward. "There's still hope for you, Carys. You are saving countless lives. A true hero."

His words echoed Aidan's feelings. But Carys scowled and directed Spiky closer to the ground where a Jumping Portal was located. "There's your path back to the Starlands."

Gil nodded, turning into a redheaded woman. "Stay strong, Carys. It's not an easy path. When Meical finds out..."

"I can handle myself." Carys turned away. "Don't waste time."

Sadness stayed on Gil's face even as the redhead melted away and left a thin, dark-haired man. Gil waved to both of them and dove off of Spiky.

Carys whirled around. "Blood Dragon, wait until I land first, Gil!"

But it was too late, Gil plummeted to the portal, a blur of shifting form as he hit the churning vortex. Not more than a moment later, it vanished.

One of Spiky's heads roared with Carys' frustration. "That idiot might've ended up smashed onto the ground. I don't know why he has to make such a production of it!"

Aidan's heart lurched. "I won't be able to get back now. I was so close..."

Carys touched his hand. "I'll get you home. There is always another Jumping Portal. They are results of Curse Magic in the Starlands." She redirected Spiky into the air. "That's something you might want to clean up when you return."

She was right, but his thoughts were in too much turmoil. He sat in silence as they traveled over the treacherous terrain. His body trembled at the thought of returning home. What would his brother think of him? His mother?

Bella?