CHAPTER 24 #2
“Yes, milord,” the soldier murmured. He hurried into the cell alongside Alaric and began to untie the rope from the iron rung.
Kara couldn’t look at her father. Her arms fell in front of her, wrists still bound but the pain eased as blood flowed back to her extremities.
The soldier hesitated on the nightshade wraps around her wrists, looking to Alaric for confirmation.
“You may leave the nightshade.”
The soldier nodded and hurried out. Alaric turned his attention back to Kara.
“You’re hurt,” he said, looking at her clearly swollen ankle.
“I’m fine,” she lied.
He eyed her ankle, the iron rung above her. “Who did this?” he demanded.
Kara met his gaze. “Does it matter?”
Her father didn’t reply, just bent low and reached for her foot. “May I?”
She hesitated, then nodded. He unlaced her boot and she stayed silent as his emerald magic flowed warm into her ankle. The pain ebbed in waves until it was nothing more than a dull ache. He stayed crouched by her side.
“Better?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“Your trial is set for tomorrow. It will mean execution, Kara. I have no doubt.” He said it matter-of-fact, but his eyes betrayed him. “There’s a way to stop it.”
Kara’s pulse quickened. “What way?”
“You tell them Sebastian forced you,” he said, taking her hands in his. “That he used his magic against you. That you had no choice.”
Her stomach turned. “I–I can’t.”
Her father stared at her, disappointment radiating from him. “So you did choose this? Willingly?”
“You don’t understand, Father, please, Draknor are coming, Sebastian is trying to–”
Her father’s grip on her hands tightened. “The Thorne boy doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s caused untold damage to our lands, our people–”
“No, we need the Shards united to stop them. I’m going to tell the rest of the Council, warn them–”
“You will do no such thing. You will tell them he threatened your life. Dragged you away from your duty.”
“You want me to lie?”
His jaw tightened. “I want you to live. I care not how.”
Kara stared down at their hands joined together in her lap.
“Think of your mother,” Alaric pressed. “She’s cried every day for the last week. She doesn’t deserve to bury her only child.”
Kara’s chest felt tight as her mother’s face appeared in her mind, but she didn’t look away from her father’s gaze.
“You’re throwing your life away for a man who deserves the flames,” he hissed. “Think of it, Kara. My heir tried for treason, publicly executed. The family name ruined. Because you wouldn’t do as you’re told.”
That was it. That was the truth of it. Not her life, or her mother’s grief. Hale’s reputation was all that truly mattered to him.
“You will do as I say. Do your duty to Hale. Say he forced you, and come home.”
She shook her head. “And what happens to him if I do that?”
“His fate is sealed. This will change nothing for him.”
“No,” she said fiercely. “I won’t make him out to be a monster.”
Something darkened in his expression. “Gods.” He dropped her hands and stood abruptly, stumbling back a step, horrified. “You care for him?”
Kara’s bound hands balled into fists. She stood too.
Yes. Yes, I do.
She didn’t deny it.
Alaric’s face twisted. “Days, Karalynna. You’ve known him days. This is infatuation, nothing more. A foolish fancy. You’d be willing to die for it? You’ll never even see him again. He’ll be dead before the week is out.”
The words hit her. Her father was right... Sebastian would be put to the pyre.
No. He’ll escape. He has to. He’ll find a way.
And she would never betray Sebastian again. “It’s my choice. Not yours.”
His voice hardened. “He’s killed people, Kara. He’s a traitor. A criminal. And a Thorne besides. They believe in little else but violence.”
She glared at him. “He’s trying to save Vallenna. But none of you are willing to see it.”
“I won’t stand by whilst my daughter shackles herself to a butcher,” he said icily.
He’s not–
“You’re behaving like a fool,” Alaric spat. “And worse – his fool.”
“Better his fool than blind to the truth.”
Alaric stared at her as though she were a stranger. “I don’t recognise you anymore, Karalynna. You’ve shamed our family.”
Kara swallowed hard, unable to speak. Her father turned, and walked out without looking back, the lock clanging into place behind him. She sank back to the floor, hands trembling. She’d really done it. Defied Alaric Hale. Told him no. And it could cost her everything.
Did I actually just throw away my chance at freedom?
Her father’s voice rang in her ears:
You care for him?
The truth hit her then – blazing, undeniable. And completely terrifying. This wasn’t care.
Gods–
Her breath tore out of her.
I love him.
Her hand clawed at the fabric of her dress over her chest. Her heart thundered against her palm.
And then the tears came. Hot and unstoppable.
Because she’d never be able to tell him.
She thought of his piercing blue eyes, of his crimson magic that surrounded her when they touched.
The faint scent of leather and pine that he always carried.
She filled herself with it. Let herself imagine the warmth of his arms around her.
Solid, safe. Everything she would never have.
What could it hurt now?
So she sat there, tears streaming down her face, and thought of nothing else but Sebastian Thorne.
The iron door groaned open.
Sebastian didn’t lift his head.
He knew those footsteps. Would recognise them anywhere. They paused at the threshold. He heard a sharp inhale, as if breathing in disappointment. Tobias Thorne stepped inside, alone. The guards stayed behind.
“I came as soon as I received word of your capture. I thought I’d find you sulking,” Tobias said. “Though I admit, this is more theatrical than usual.”
Sebastian’s head tipped back against the wall, his hands still tied behind him, blood dripping from his face.
He’d been in the cell more than a day – watched the sun rise and fall through the narrow window.
He’d tried the locks, thrown himself against the wood, looked everywhere for something he could use to cut his bindings.
There was nothing. Hope had started to rot in his chest, slow and bitter.
There was no way out. He looked at his father with utter hatred.
He had sent soldiers after them. Taken Kara.
He did this.
“You here to gloat, Father?” he asked bitterly.
“You should thank me,” Tobias said at last, voice clipped and formal. “The Council would’ve had you in chains in the City dungeons by now. You wouldn’t have seen sunlight again before the trial.”
Sebastian scoffed. “So this is better?”
“I kept you out of their reach,” Tobias retorted hotly.
He crossed the cell slowly and silently, hands behind his back, gaze sweeping over the ruined state of his son – the bruises, the dried blood on the floor. But when he finally spoke again, his voice was level. Distant.
“You’ve broken half the laws in Vallenna, Sebastian. You dragged a Hale healer into it. Stole Arcanth Shards.”
He let the words hang between them.
“So tell me. Why shouldn’t I let them execute you?”
His tone was cold and deliberate. He wasn’t asking as a father. He was asking as Lord Thorne. Sebastian stared up at him in shock. He hadn’t expected that question. But maybe this was it – the moment he had to make him see. He had to try. For Kara, if not for himself.
“You don’t understand – I had a vision. From the Arcanth–” Sebastian began.
Tobias looked at him sharply. “The Arcanth called to you?”
Sebastian met his father’s gaze, willing him to believe him. “Yes. Draknor are coming. The Arcanth wants to be whole. It’s the only way.”
His father turned away, glancing out of the tower window, and appeared to be wrestling with what he had to say.
“I knew it. I knew there would be a reason,” he breathed, and Sebastian could hear the relief in him.
Sebastian stared. “You... believe me?”
His father turned to face him once more. “Fatàn sent a prophecy before the Arcalon. Ambiguous – same as all their damned riddles.”
So Kara was right.
“I, like you, believed the Shards needed to be united,” his father said. “I still do.”
What the fuck?
“You agreed with me? This whole time?” Sebastian’s fury flared violently. “So why the hells am I locked up here bound with nightshade?”
“Because I was outvoted by the rest of the Council. Because removing them has caused destruction and chaos. People have died.”
Guilt lanced through him. “I know. I had no choice,” Sebastian said.
Tobias knelt, so they were eye-level. “I know that. Sebastian, if I had openly sided with you – House Thorne would’ve been at war with the rest of Vallenna. Your sisters could have lost everything. Our home. The name. The protection. We could have ripped ourselves apart before Draknor came.”
“So you left me to do it alone?”
Tobias held his gaze. “I trusted you. I hoped... believed you would have the interests of Vallenna at heart. And I was right.”
The silence after that was heavy. The weight of all the things they’d never said sat between them.
“I tried to delay sending our men,” he continued. “Didn’t think a healer would catch up to you, never mind join you. That I didn’t see coming.”
Kara.
Sebastian looked at his father. Tobias was smirking now. Then his expression softened. “You care for her, don’t you?” Tobias asked. “I see it.”
More than anything.
Sebastian nodded.
“She arrived in the City today. The cells at the Hall of Justice. They’ve taken the Shards there too. Her trial is tomorrow. She has at most... three days before execution. Maybe less.”
Sebastian recoiled. A cold wave crashed through his chest. It wasn’t real. Couldn’t be. Three days? No. That wasn’t enough time. Not when he’d only just found her.
No, no, no. She can’t die.