Cirian’s grip on me faltered, a shuddered breath pouring over his lips. Most of my body was still numb from the ichor, so I could only watch as the man moved closer, brushing dark locs from his eyes as he did. Surrounded by the darkness, his golden eyes shone like stars.
“Is that really you?” Cirian questioned, each word saturated with a blend of hope and suspicion. After all, he was the one to say that nothing in this place was real.
Bastien’s gaze shifted to me, and every hair on my body stood at attention, any heat left in my veins evaporating in an instant. There was something else staring back at me, not just Bastien.
“Azrael,” said Bastien, now just a few paces away. “Now all the players are here. I was hoping that if I made my bait enticing enough, you’d show up. This one’s intelligence is unmatched.”
“You’re not Bastien,” I accused the man, clenching my fists to will feeling back into my extremities.
“That’s not entirely true,” said the man wearing Bastien’s face. “But I am more than Bastien, if that’s what you mean.”
“What did you do to him?” Cirian demanded, shuffling us forward a step.
“Nothing he did not accept willingly,” answered the imposter. “I assure you of that. I simply offered my services to the ailing genius, and he agreed with the most delicious desperation.”
“Liar,” Cirian spat, his grip on me tightening to the point of discomfort. “Release him this instant.”
The imposter Bastien chuckled, golden eyes alight with amusement. “Release? Is that all you ever desire, Acolyte? Have you been searching for it, out here in the umber?”
“Shut your mouth.”
“I can smell it on you,” the imposter continued, shortening the gap between us by another step. “The insatiable need. A need to be desired. To be praised. To beloved.Is that what you think you’ve found with this connection?”
The imposter snapped his fingers, a tether bursting into existence between the two of them. Cirian’s body went rigid as the thread connected with his chest.
“How wonderous,” the fake Bastien breathed. “That humanity has discovered a way to create light without the help of their precious Source. To create magic where there was none before. And what delicious magic it is. I do wonder what the others might think.”
“What do you want with Bastien?” I demanded, enough feeling returned to my limbs to take an unsteady step away from Cirian.
“Admittedly, I wanted nothing from him before he came into my embrace. But once he made contact with me in the Ether, and I saw what was there, lurking in the corners of his beautiful mind, I was entranced. I had to know what this new magic—this new light—was. Fortunate for me, Bastien was all too willing to give himself over. His burdens were heavy. And now they are no longer.”
“Liar!” Cirian said again, wrapping his hand around the cord between the two of them. “Bastien would have died before he gave up on Tobias. You manipulated him.”
A smile spread across Bastien’s face. “Can you be certain?”
“Then let us speak with him,” I interjected.
The imposter paused for a moment, golden eyes once more drifting over to take me in. “So be it. Let Bastien’s own words ring true in your ears. He can tell you what joy it brings him to be free of the burdens of expectation. To be rid of the lie that is hope. To give oneself over to the sweet bliss of darkness?—”
“Yeah, yeah, all of that,” Cirian interrupted. “Just let us speak with him. Better yet, why don’t you fuck all the way off and crawl back into whatever corner of the Ether you came from?”
The smile only widened across Bastien’s face.
“So be it.”
Around him, the tunnel of shadow pulsed once, then again, ripples of movement spreading along the intangible dark. Cirianand I watched as Bastien’s chin sank to his chest, our lungs still as we waited to see who we would be addressing.
As the darkness stilled, a powerful silence pressing against my ears, Bastien suddenly sucked in a panicked breath, his eyes snapping open, darting wildly before his sights fell on us.
“No,” he breathed, retreating a step. “Take it back. Take it back. Take it back!”
Cirian moved for him, pulling away as he did. I braced myself against the wall, the shadows parting at my touch till my palm met smooth stone. Bastien stepped back again, but Cirian was already there, wrapping his arms around the man.
“You absolute idiot,” Cirian scolded him, even while he held him. “What were you thinking? I was right there. Both of us could have escaped. We could have gotten Sancha out before?—”
Cirian stumbled back from Bastien, his steps moving quicker to keep from toppling over. Bastien’s arms stayed outstretched from where he pushed the other man, his chest heaving and his golden eyes wide.
“Stay away,” he said, his voice just above a whisper.
