The storm king, p.49
The Storm King, page 49
part #3 of The Lost God Series
She went back over Cato’s words. According to her agreement, she wasn’t allowed to help Rainer remember anything, but this was technically just a different way to make him forget. She’d need to be careful, meticulous, and incredibly intentional with what she erased forever with her memory witch magic, and what she preserved behind a wall of goddess magic.
“Bring to mind a memory of a time when you were very in love with me,” she said.
Immediately, his mind came to life with a vision of her on her knees, proposing to him just days earlier.
Cecilia fought off tears as she tugged on the emotional signature of the memory. It connected to so many others in a web, some with thick, corded lines, other with finer gossamer threads. This was her. This was the entirety of her presence in Rainer’s life. Seeing it all at once stole her breath. Her magic wavered, the lit pathways in his mind flickering.
Her blood started to burn as she tried to fight the deal she’d made with Cato. This is what happened if you tried to go back on a godly bargain; your body boiled until you obeyed.
She was such a bright presence in his mind, woven into so many areas of his consciousness. She didn’t want to take it. But she forced herself to pull on the thickest cords.
There was the moment she’d died on the beach; the first time they’d slept together; the night under the Summer Firestorm meteor shower when he refused to tell her what he’d wished for; all the way back to the day they met when she’d handed him her green ribbon.
Collecting them like golden thread on a tapestry, she cut the cords between them and the rest of the bunch. Seeing his most precious memories of her, all connected and bright with love, was enough to make her feel like she was going to implode.
“Please.” It came out in a breathless sob—a prayer to herself. Please be good enough. Please don’t ruin this person I love more than life itself. Please let him still love me.
Of all the things that broke her heart, nothing had ever cut so deep, left her feeling so raw and helpless as being forced to rob Rainer of his joy and rob herself of his love.
She tugged on the thickest corded threads until they were all wrapped together in the bundle of memories. Carefully, she used her goddess magic to build a box around them. As a last touch, she tucked in the memory of her being dragged away by Vincent, of feeling her fear through their bond and Rainer’s desperation to get to her. The memory of his failure. That alone would ensure that he was wary of even trying to recover these. It was a risk, but it also tied remembering her to remembering what had left him with no memory to begin with. If he was brave enough to recover it, he might recover her, too.
Maybe it was the hope in her, the magic that she’d used to save the two kingdoms, that made her believe it could work. Or maybe she could not survive if she took the rest without trying to preserve some of it.
Now it was time for the hard part. Her eyes burned, and she blinked away tears as she laced her way between the rest of the thinly braided memories. One by one, she began to tug them into her own mind. She vented as much old memory as she could risk losing so that she could keep as many of his memories as possible.
Rainer held on. It was a reflex—she knew that from years of practice—but his desperation to keep her sent her into a fit of sobs.
“I’m sorry, Rain. I’m trying to be gentle, but don’t fight, or it will hurt more,” Cecilia whispered.
He leaned his forehead against hers and relented to her magic. Rainer let her rip herself from his mind bit by bit. At first, it was okay, but as she went on, fear and anxiety spun through their bond.
“It’s okay,” she soothed.
She used her hope magic to calm him. He relaxed as her hand pressed to the skin at the back of his neck.
She was relieved and terrified when he stopped struggling and let her take them.
The more she stole, the more fear took root in her. She didn’t want to see his eyes open and look at her with no recognition.
Cecilia had been saved by Rainer’s love. Losing that felt like dying all over again.
50
XANDER
Xander watched as Cece removed herself from the mind of the man she loved. Slowly, painfully, meticulously, with exhaustive attention to detail. It was clearly draining magic. She worked through the night and into the next day, her body hunched over Rainer’s, her hands trembling.
Last time, Xander had been able to insulate her, but this time he could do nothing but watch her suffer through it.
It was clear from Rainer’s wincing that it was painful for him, psychological torment to go along with the physical torment of the severe wounds covering his back. For Cece, it was only emotionally destructive.
Xander stood watch, occasionally forcing her to take a break when he saw her faltering.
“Cece, rest for a little,” he pleaded. “Eat something. We need Magdalena to look at his back, anyway.”
“She didn’t get out?” Cece asked, finally lifting her weary gaze to look at him. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy from crying, and her posture was so crumpled a stiff breeze could blow her over.
Xander shook his head. He peered into the hall and asked one of Vincent’s guards to summon the healer, and Magdalena appeared a moment later.
“You were supposed to leave,” Xander said.
Magdalena had brought him into the world. He was the first baby she’d ever delivered. She’d been like an aunt to him through the years, tending to the cuts and scrapes born of reckless youth. He wished she’d made her way to safety with the others, but he was glad she was there to help Rainer.
“Actually, I chose to stay. I’ve served this family my entire life, and I refuse to leave the king in a lurch. Especially with the two of you cut off from your powers,” Magdalena said, gesturing to the Unsummoner bracelets.
“I can do it,” Cece insisted. “I can keep going.”
She sipped some water and flicked dry blood away from her inner ankle. Xander’s heart sank at the sight of it. He’d promised he would always protect her, and he hadn’t.
Twice in two days, he’d chosen his kingdom over Cece—once in his heart and once in a much more literal way. He was sure he’d made the right choice in not speaking up, but knowing it was right made him no less heartbroken and sick to his stomach.
Magdalena crossed the room to where Rainer lay on his stomach on a bench. She shook her head and tutted at the grotesque lash wounds on his back. She was practiced and incredibly talented, but Xander couldn’t imagine that she’d be able to fix the gruesome mess of blood and broken skin.
Magdalena and Cece worked side by side, Cece destroying Rainer’s mind as Magdalena healed his body.
In the end, it only took a little under two days for Cece to rip herself from a lifetime of Rainer’s memories.
Cece was dead on her feet. Magdalena had stayed up with her all night, healing the lashing wounds. It took hours, even with her years of skill and experience, and considering what it had looked like to begin with, she’d worked a small miracle. Rainer’s skin was as good as it would get given the lashing he’d taken. His back was covered in long, shiny scars, a shade or two lighter than his skin.
Magdalena took Rainer’s pulse, her gaze locked on the writing on his inner wrist.
“Wards,” the healer said. “I haven’t seen this kind in years.”
“So that’s how you kept me out.”
Xander startled. Cato leaned against the doorframe. He’d left a half-hour before to get breakfast, and Xander hadn’t heard him return.
“It makes sense,” Cato laughed. “I should have realized sooner. I knew that stone wall sensation. I just haven’t felt it in many years. Other than when I talked to those damned ancient witches.”
“I hope you’re enjoying this,” Xander said morosely. He expected to be more afraid of Cato after all the god had done to him, but now he just felt weary in a bone-deep way.
“On the contrary. I’m not enjoying it at all, but I assumed when faced with the death of the love of her life and the death of his memory, Cece would choose the latter,” Cato sighed.
“Why would you care?” Xander asked. “You wanted to kill her before.”
Cato glanced warily at Cece. “I never wanted to kill her. I didn’t even want to kill you. You were all just a means to an end. There is a great deal of violence I am comfortable with and some that I am not.”
Cece refused to look at him. Her gaze was still glued to Rainer’s sleeping face.
“You got tired of the games, but you got tired too late,” she rasped.
Cato frowned and swallowed hard, his gaze wandering to the blood on her legs. “I did, and I’m sorry that Vincent—”
Cece’s laugh was brittle and disbelieving. “Oh, is this the line, Cato? This the violence you can’t speak of? All that lying and manipulating, but you cannot bear to even speak of the fallout? Blood on my chest is fine, but blood on my thighs is not?”
Cato flinched. He’d been heartless for so long, but Xander wondered if his newfound humanity and the frailty of mortality had put him in touch with emotions he’d ignored for years.
“Go away,” she said. “I can’t stand the sight of you, and I’m not done with him yet.”
“You haven’t worked on him in fifteen minutes now. You’re done. I need to work on him. I have instructions from the king and a bargain I’m compelled to honor. I know you don’t see it this way, but this was the best option. If I hadn’t stepped in, Rainer would be dead,” Cato said.
Cece still refused to look at him.
“I have to manipulate what memories he has left to believe that Vincent is king or else he will wake up and be even more confused and likely violent. I made a deal. I cannot go back on it now. I have to make him into something that Vincent finds useful or else he might just kill him,” Cato said. His voice was almost soothing.
Cece’s head was bowed in resignation. She scooted away, resting her head against Rainer’s thigh, her eyelids fluttering as the weight of her exhaustion pressed down on her.
Xander sat down beside her, between her and Cato.
The trickster god knelt beside Rainer’s unconscious body and worked for another hour as Cece dozed. Xander watched her, his mouth crammed with questions he didn’t dare speak. She had to still be in pain. She needed to be examined, but he was too afraid to startle her from whatever survival mode had kicked in.
Finally, Cato stood and gestured for the guards to carry Rainer up to his new room. Xander, Magdalena, and Cece followed.
Magdalena tried to get Cece to take a bath and change, but she only agreed to let the healer fix her broken hand before she climbed into bed next to Rainer and fell asleep beside him.
Xander and Magdalena sat vigil, waiting for Rainer to wake up, but he slept through the next day and through that evening too.
Xander watched Cece desperately whispering to Rainer, trying to wake him up.
“I might have taken too much,” she said, running her fingers through Rainer’s hair.
“You didn’t,” Xander assured her.
“You don’t know that. I was in so much of his life. I just don’t know. Maybe he can’t make his way back to the surface. And who knows what Cato did,” she said, brushing away a few tears.
“It’s going to be all right,” Xander insisted, but he knew the words were hollow. What was it worth to try to save her now when he’d just let her down so badly?
Xander’s timing had always been terrible. It figured that he’d managed to become the king everyone wanted him to be just days before his crown was taken by his cousin. He supposed he deserved it. He’d spent a year doing nothing but resenting the responsibility.
Xander gave up Cece and she gave up parts of herself that she’d never get back. The guilt made him sick and hot with impotent rage.
He sent up a silent prayer that Evan, Jessamin, and the rest of his friends had made it out safely. He made a mental note to sneak out and drop a message in several of their contingency locations. Evan’s contingencies had seemed over the top. Now Xander was grateful his friend made him memorize so many fallback plans in case of an invasion. He was comforted by the fact that Vincent would have flaunted it if he’d captured their friends.
If Xander really wanted to prove once and for all that he was the leader Argaria deserved, he needed to stand and fight now, however he could. While Vincent still needed him, Xander needed to do exactly what his cousin had done and sweep his power right out from under him. He’d play along. He’d keep Rainer and Cece out of trouble, and when the moment was right, he’d return the favor and knock his cousin off the throne.
51
EVAN
Evan paced the center aisle of the Temple of Aurelia. He’d succeeded in getting Jessamin, her guards, Cal and Sylvie, and much of the Castle Savero staff out before Vincent’s men closed in. It felt like a hollow victory. He’d protected the woman he loved and his new queen, but he’d let Xander down. He had missed a piece of the puzzle, and it had cost his friends dearly.
He’d forgotten the money. It was the same piece that had nagged at him for months.
Three full days had passed, but the shock was still fresh. Candlelight flickered through the stained glass of the temple, casting eerie reflections on the ceiling.
Evan tapped his thumb against each of his fingers, trying to settle and focus his mind, and turned his attention back to Jessamin.
“We need to go back! We cannot leave my husband to that animal,” Jessamin insisted.
Maren laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, and another of her guards, the one who wore a veil, whispered softly in her ear.
Evan knew how Jessamin felt. After they realized Spellman had betrayed them, they were trapped in the passageway, listening to Rainer be tortured. It was excruciating listening to their friends suffer when they could do nothing to help. Then, a passageway door to their right had opened. Evan and Sylvie were several rooms away when the screaming started. He had to practically drag Jessamin and Sylvie out.
“I promised Xander to get you to safety. You can help much more from here than you could inside. We need your people,” Evan said, bringing his attention back to Jessamin.
Jessamin’s eyes went wide as reality settled in. Her face fell. “My mother is complicated. I’m not sure she will send battalions, and even so, it will take some time.”
Evan leaned his head back against the wall and sighed. It was precisely what he feared from Novum. They expected an alliance that meant support of goods and trade, not a military force. He would need to tread carefully and speak to the warrior in Jessamin. His new queen was very temperate—careful but also proud. She wouldn’t want Vincent to think he could march into her kingdom and take over her new house.
“Your Grace, we will figure this out,” Sylvie said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “The three of them are a good team. If anyone can get out of this, they will find a way. Cece has been trapped in that castle once before, and Xander grew up there. They will be able to find a way out. Rainer is strong. He will be okay. They will figure out a way to sort this out. The best thing we can do is be ready when they need our help.”
Her voice was soothing, and her words seemed to settle Jessamin, but when her eyes met Evan’s, he saw his doubt reflected.
Screaming. The last thing they had heard was Cecilia screaming her head off. It went against everything in him to leave them, but Xander and Cecilia had both made him promise to get Jessamin and Sylvie out.
What truly disturbed him was imagining what could have made her scream so violently. He’d seen Cecilia barely flinch when five bones were broken in her hand. He couldn’t imagine what would have made her wail like that. He kept his concern to himself, though he assumed that Sylvie was thinking the same thing.
He was grateful that he and Xander had long ago put contingency plans in place for this type of situation. They had three separate methods of communicating, assuming Xander wasn’t simply thrown into a dungeon.
From what Evan knew of Vincent, which was clearly not enough, he wouldn’t get rid of Xander until he ceased being useful. For now, he’d need the former king to establish credibility with any of the nobility he didn’t already own. They were split pretty evenly down the middle. It would be foolish of Vincent not to manipulate Xander into cooperating. It was likely that the imposter king knew Xander well enough to realize that Cecilia was all the leverage he needed to keep Xander well in hand.
It was entirely possible that was the whole reason Cecilia was being tortured. Evan shuddered at the realization. She would provide leverage against some of Xander’s impulses. He wouldn’t leave her there, and it was likely that Xander was more useful under Vincent’s thumb than out in the wild, at least for the time being.
Vincent would also likely use Rainer as a way to get Cecilia to do his bidding. That was a bigger concern.
Evan wondered who was still on the inside. Perhaps Chris and Reese had escaped, or perhaps they could help. Only time would tell.
He was startled from his thoughts by Sylvie’s arm sliding around his waist.
“I can’t get the sound of her screaming out of my head. We shouldn’t have left,” she whispered. She leaned her head on his shoulder and burrowed into his arms.
He loved having her there, solid, warm, steady, grounding him from the rush of his thoughts.
“We don’t know what it was,” Evan said. “She’s bounced back from worse.”
“There’s only one thing that would have made her scream like that,” Sylvie said, her voice tight with grief. She shook her head. “You don’t know what it’s like to feel helpless like that when someone is holding you down—to feel like it’s somehow your fault and you can’t fight back. To feel like no one will believe you because you’re pretty and you flirt and so you must have been asking for it.”
