“I am always pleased to make time for you, your highness.” Glavstone doesn’t sound pleased in the slightest. “Though I do wonder what couldn’t wait until the morning…and what required that a full retainer of Stellis accompany you.”
“I hear you have something of mine.” Kaelis’s voice is low and smooth as silk. Sinister. Perfect.
Kaelis.My entire chest burns with his name. I want to scream it, but my throat throbs, and my lips are too split and swollen to even move.
“Pardon?”
“Clara Daygar.” It’s so strange to hear this name on Kaelis’s tongue. Clara Redwin—the fake noble family name he gave me when I was pretending to be his bride—was how he usually referred to me. Beforethat, when he first came to get me from Halazar, it was Clara Graysword—the name I gave to distance myself from my family when Ravin first caught me.
Daygar was the name Mother, Arina, and I went by. The first name I can remember telling others. Even though I always knew my real name—Chevalyer. That name Mother made Arina and me swear to keep secret.Names are powerful things.They’re a unique sort of magic,she’d say. Now that I know how Ravin’s power as Death works, I understand why.
“Ah, that was her name, wasn’t it?” Glavstone says. “A truth we only uncovered thanks to your brother. His devotion to the defense of the crown is admirable.” Even I don’t miss the subtle jab at Kaelis. He’s no doubt referring to how Kaelis was the one who was “deceived” by me.
“Bring me to her.”He’s here. He’s really…truly…here.I press my eye closed again and choke down emotion. He came for me after all.
A long pause. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”
“Excuse me?”
“You see, after the last time, and hermysteriousescape, Prince Ravin and I deemed her too much of a flight risk. He personally gave me the order for her execution, as regent of Eclipse City,” Glavstone says calmly.
“K-Kaelis…” I rasp. I want to scream, but I can do no more than wheeze. There’s no way he could hear me. I lack even the strength to rattle my chains. Tears burn my eyes.I’m here. I’m here…Please find me.
“Youwhat?” Kaelis says, seething.
“You’re welcome to check my records to verify. Ask any of the guards.” Guards Glavstone pays handsomely and threatens in equal measure.
There’s silence, then a thud, like a heavy book being slammed onto his desk, then paper rustling. Horrible silence follows.
Footsteps cross the room.Kaelis, no, don’t go…
“If I’d known you’d wish to interrogate her again, I would’ve kept her alive for you. But it’s difficult to refuse an order from the regent,given it’s Eclipse City’s coffers that fund this establishment.” Glavstone sounds as nonchalant as if he were merely chatting about which Minor Arcana is his favorite. The footsteps pause. Then grow nearer. “Y-Your highness, if there’s a record you need, I would be happy to provide—”
Without another word or warning, the bookcase swings open. The light is blinding. But a familiar silhouette cuts through it, devoid of details. Kaelis is a single living shadow.
“How?” Glavstone part snarls, part wails.
Kaelis’s response comes in the form of a card. I don’t see what it is. It must have been Swords: All I see is a flash of light and a whorl of shadow. A heavy thud follows.Glavstone can’t have died that easily…But the thought grows distant once I’m face-to-face with Kaelis.
He’s just as I remember him: absolutely perfect. Handsome in that pained and aching way of his. His black eyes are sunken and shadowed by his hair—a deep purple that looks black until the light hits it in just the right way. He’s dressed simply—for him, anyway—in tight-fitting black trousers with a vest of a similar make.
The prince staggers to me, disbelief etched into the furrows of his brow. Is he shocked by my condition? Or just that he even found me at all? He falls to his knees beside me. His hands tremble as they reach out to me. Cards fly from his deck, and his magic sinks into me, finding every fracture and lesion, stitching me back together. Soon the physical wounds are gone, but the stabbing pain in my heart remains even as his hands cradle my face. With tender caresses, as though I were still frail and broken, Kaelis brushes away the strands of matted hair clinging to my face.
“Clara.” My name breaks upon his lips. “Clara,” he repeats, raw and desperate as he pushes his forehead against mine.
“You came for me.” In that one fragile whisper, my confusion and gratitude mingle.
“I swore to you that I would never let you return here.” In his words is an anger that I can only assume is directed at himself.
I choke back amusement, and it sounds like a sob. “Little late for that.”
“I’m sorry it took so long.” This moment is far too tender for this place of death. After our last interaction…I’d thought we’d said goodbye. But here I am, wanting to weep at the sight of him, wanting to kiss him.
Yet one thought, one emotion wins out against the others. I grab his vest with what meager strength I still possess. “Glavstone. He wasmine.”
“He’s not dead yet.” Kaelis helps me sit, then stand, his cards removing my shackles. My whole body still screams with phantom pains attached to mended wounds, but I move anyway. I’ve no excuse to delay my vengeance.
“I’d promised you Eza, but Emilia saw to him. So I thought Glavstone might be a suitable substitute.”
