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“He threatened her. I’m sorry. But you set us up from the start,” I said quietly.
He lifted his hands. “I was a back-up plan. Your brother didn’t trust the men he sent with you, apparently. Considering Draven killed the other one, I suppose he was right to send me.”
“What was the plan exactly? If Whitehorn hadn’t died?” I asked.
“You were to stop taking that foul potion once you reached this lake. Then we were to wait until it had left your body and your blood was pure again.”
I gaped at him. “How could it ever be pure?” And how in Aercanum had Arthur known that it would be?
Vesper shrugged. “Pure enough to open the...” He twirled his hand. “Whatever that was you went through. It certainly wouldn’t open for anyone else. I’ve watched others try. And fail. Miserably.”
“You got all the way here before,” I said with comprehension. “Arthur knew that about you.”
“Your brother knows how to pick a lucky horse,” Vesper said with false modesty. “Laverna and I are... quite persistent. When it comes to lucrative objects, we don’t give up easily,” Vesper said smoothly. “Our backers have had bad luck in the past, sure. But we’ve always managed to get ourselves out of tight spots. By the skin of our teeth each time, but we did it.”
“How fortunate for you,” I said from between gritted teeth. “Though not for your backers who I assume you rob and leave for dead when things go ary. And Laverna? She’s what to you? Your lover?” I tried to speak as if I didn’t care, but in truth my heart had plummeted.
Vesper grinned. That grin that had once sent my spirits soaring now filled me with something very different. “Once. Not lately. She’ll benefit from this, too, though.”
“She gets a share of the profits? To help replace her damaged inn?” I guessed. “You hired those men to attack us that night.”
If he had been doing all of this simply to protect his sister from Arthur, that would have been one thing. But Vesper was profiting from this, too. It wasn’t just about family. It was about coin.
And no matter why he’d done it, he hadn’t had to do it the way he had. By violating my trust, my heart, my body. I curled my hands into fists as I looked at this man I had lain side by side with only a few hours before, our bodies intertwined.
Vesper wasn’t disagreeing. “I had to earn your trust somehow. Show you lute playing wasn’t the only thing I was good at.” He smirked, as if he was thinking the same thing I was–that he had shown me he was quite skilled at some other things, too.
How easily his plan had worked. How easily I had trusted. Draven had warned me, but in the end, I was never going to listen. I had fallen right into Vesper’s twisted arms. I felt like I was going to be sick.
I looked at Vesper clearly for the first time since he had pulled me from the chamber. How many hours ago had that been?
“The worst part of all of this is that you forced me to leave Lancelet behind. You forced me to leave all of them there.” I thought of Draven defending Odelna, a child not even of his blood, and something in my heart twisted. “I will never forgive you for that. Never.”
“She’s dead, you know,” Vesper said calmly. “They all are.”
My nostrils flared in anger. “That’s not true. You don’t know that. You traitorous liar. You swore to help us all and then you abandoned them.”
He shrugged coolly. “Draven was holding his own. If he left the girl behind like he should have done from the start then maybe, just maybe he got out. But your friend... There was nothing you could have done. If it makes you feel better to hear me say it then I’ll say it. She was done for. We couldn’t have saved her. She’s food for those... things... now.”
“You don’t know Lancelet. She’s strong. And Draven–he’s undefeatable.” I realized I truly believed it. “No. They made it.” I looked him in the eyes and shook my head in disgust. “You’re wrong about him, you know. He’s nothing like you. He’s a thousand times better. He stayed with Odelna. He protected her. She’s just a child and you would have had us leave her behind to die.” I heard my voice trembling. “He risks his life for the people he cares about. Not like you. You’re just a cowardly thief.”
He stepped towards me and to my surprise, his face was tinged with sadness. “You might be right. Or perhaps he was just saving you to kill you in the end. Did you ever think of that? Either way, Morgan, I was never going to ask for your forgiveness.”
And then he slid his dagger into my belly.
I sank to my knees clutching my stomach as he gently pried the sword from my hand then crossed over to the entrance way where we had come in.
I lifted my hand from my belly. The fabric of my tunic was soaked with blood. The wound was jagged but I couldn't tell how deep it was.
As I watched, Vesper took up a position behind a fallen pillar, leaned the sword against the stone, and then pulled something long and thin from his pocket.
Peering down the corridor, he let out a low whistle, then glanced over at me. “Well, you were right. At least one of them made it. They’re a ways off yet, but I can hear them coming.”
“What–what do you mean?” I managed.
He sighed as he looked at my hands covering my stomach. “You might make it, too, you know. It’s a shallow wound. If the children don’t hear you, perhaps you’ll get out.”
“How fucking generous,” I said through clenched teeth. “Who made it? What are you talking about?”
