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Her laugh sent ripples through the water. “Entertain me, my son, please.”
“The creature, he has not shown himself since my arrival. I have searched this castle for him and have not found him. I am losing precious time.”
It was a lie. I had not searched for him, not thoroughly of course. For it was impossible to open most of the locked doors in this wretched place. Not without using magic. So I kept myself busy with eating and drinking. Hardly bothering to investigate the castle beside my chamber and the room which was always refilled with delicious food.
“You still do not know his name?” she asked.
I fisted my hands around the sheets and bit down on my lip. “I hardly remember what he looks like, but yes… I know his name.”
Marius. The strange girl had said it, at least this many days into my stay I hoped she had. For I was beginning to believe our interaction was no more than a dream. Only made real by the key that still sat in the door to my side. A reminder I was not going crazy. Not yet at least.
“Then you are on the road to failure. My son, bringing the end to our kind once and for all. Poetic I suppose, but I will not forgive you. Not in this life or the next.”
“Quiet the dramatics, Mother. Even from our distance it pains me to listen.”
She closed her mouth, silencing whatever comment she was about to snap at me.
“Tell me what I need to do…” I forced a plea into my voice. “What is to say he never returns, not until the final night?”
“Is the beauty I have given you not enough to capture his attention? He is a creature of lust, you should already have him in the palm of your hand.”
“Perhaps he is not what you first thought, Mother.”
The water in the scrying bowl began to boil at my comment.
“Do not dare think me a fool, Jak. I know what that beast is and soon, if you fail, so will every innocent soul beyond the boundaries of that prison. If you think his unbound hunger will not end this world, you are wrong. I know what he is, for it was my own ancestor that cursed him. And she was also your own. Do what you need to get an audience with him. That is up to you. Burn the castle down if you must. But do what is needed to end this. Or your life will have been a waste.”
I leaned back, away from the hot steam of the water as it sizzled from the bowl, muttering to myself. “I am sorry.”
Did I apologise to her, or myself for bothering to begin this conversation?
“Do not be sorry, for apologies will not help end this curse. Only action. Next time I see your face I want to hear positive news. Do not ruin my day again.”
The last I saw was her hand as it collided into the sister scrying bowl in her possession.
Our connection winked out as the remaining hot water splashed from the bowl and lathered over my legs.
Well that went well.I wasted no time in moving for the window and tipping the remaining water out of it.You should have known better to call on her. Next time, ask to speak with Lamiere. She would give you sympathy.
The pressure of my task weighed down on me, more so than before. I was desperate for attention. Just the thought of it alone nearly made a bubble of a laugh burst aloud.
A flicker of flamelight caught my attention. The candlelight danced proudly as if calling my name.
Burn the castle down.Mother’s words flooded through me.
I shrugged, reaching for the candle and dislodging it from the iron holder on the wall. With a single thought I could have commanded the flame to jump into the palm of my hand. But if this was to work, I could not have magic be to blame.
“Perhaps youcangive good guidance, Mother…” I said, smiling to myself as I cradled the candle to the bed.
I had to make it look deliberate but mundane. I clambered back into the bed and held the candle beneath the sheer, lace curtain that framed each side of it.
It caught in a single breath. And the hungry flame turned into a wildfire that circled the bed. I dropped the candle on the mattress, not before blowing the flame out. I was stupid, not irrational. Clambering into the middle of the sheets, I waited as the fire grew around me. The wonderful heat only fuelled the madness that dwindled within me.
Desperate times call for equally desperate measures.
5
On the fire burned, and still he did not come. Not as the fire spread from the curtains to the aged, wooden frame. Nor when it filled the room with black, heavy smoke. Carefully I kept the flames away from me with a swatting hand of dismissal, but the thicker the smoke became the harder it was to hold focus.
