Cal went utterly still next to her. She turned to him, running her hand over his arm, searching for the source of his alarm.
“Father?” Cal whispered.
Chapter twenty-nine
Icarus Atwood
Thisfeelinginsidewasslowly consuming him until it blurred his vision unless he was seeing her. What was this feeling that was slowly consuming him till there was nothing left but this need? Not need. It was a want like he had never known, never allowed himself to know. Her and that godsdamn dress would kill him.
Despite the fact that he couldn’t allow himself this want above all others, it clawed at him, relentless and destructive in its quest. What did it mean to want? He had spent so long surviving that he had forgotten what it could be like to wake up with the promise of tomorrow rather than the curse of it. Each day was a habit yesterday and yet today it was filled with a sense of possibility. Even that was poison. Yet he had foolishly asked her to dance, knowing what it would cost him, and still found there was no cost steep enough to deter him from feeling the way her body had moved with him on that dance floor.
This want would not only lead him to ruin, but her, and that was what he couldn’t stomach. His life was forfeit ten years ago, but her talent and determination paved the way for a life of purpose and infinite capability. He would not allow himself to stand in the way of that even if he couldn’t stop thinking about the way her eyes had run over him with the need that kept him awake each night. No. He would not taint her with his poison.
Even now when his mind should be focused on the task at hand, he was drowning in his own thoughts. He had one job tonight, to look after Seren and Arabella, but he had been too busy losing himself in the former and now everything could be at risk. If Seren was right and both she and Arabella knew where the omnis stone was and they were too late the implications would be disastrous. It wasn’t just Arabella and Calder finding the stone that he worried about, but his uncle. Despite his lack of interest in it throughout the years, Calder’s insistence that their uncle was up to something was enough to make him wonder if there wasn’t more at play here.
“Remember that book you told me was a waste of time,Mimsey Mae’s Guide to Magical Artifacts?” Seren’s voice cut through the shroud of thoughts accosting him.
She took each step of the tower's endless stairwell with determination all while wearing those impractical boots. However, when he suggested she remove them he had nearly had his head bitten off. It was a wonder he could think at all with her in front of him, determination and strength radiating from her. It would have been easier to portal them, but without a clear destination, there was no telling where they would end up.
“Well,” she continued despite his silence. It was one of the things he enjoyed most about her. People always expected him to have something to say and coaxed it from him whether he wished it or not. Seren always understood that words didn’t always come easily to him. “I am happy to report that for once in your life you were wrong.”
How she could have him chuckling at a time such as this was beyond him. Seren stopped suddenly, turning to face him. The movement swift enough that he nearly stepped into her, catching himself at the last minute. She was like some dark goddess standing above him and he had to consider that it wasn’t just the effort of the stairs that had him breathing heavily. Her own chest rose and fell with the effort of their climb.
“It had an almost perfect drawing of the conservatory or what I imagined it was like before it was all rotted and devoid of life.”
His heart thrummed in his chest, a wild and irregular beat. When Seren had said she thought she knew where the stone and Arabella were there hadn’t been time to question her, but now that seemed foolish. What she said so lightly was a myth and a dream to him. He had spent years listening to his uncle and father talk about a conservatory at Calami that they thought was the final resting place of the omnis stone. How many nights had he spent searching for a room that didn’t exist in some vain attempt to redeem his father’s memory? And yet here Seren stood before him, speaking of it as if it were just another room in Calami.
“You’ve seen the conservatory?” The words were made of air.
Seren narrowed her dark eyes. “Yes, it’s where Bella goes when she needs to think. I’ve only been there a few times. It feels more like a graveyard than something beautiful.”
“Seren, that room doesn’t exist. At least it doesn’t to anyone else. I’ve spent hours searching for it.” Icarus took the next step.
“It never changes,” she swallowed hard, “how the rest of Calami changes and does what it wants. It’s always on the eighth floor at the end of the hall.”
“Why didn’t you bring this up earlier?” His words were too forceful, and he instantly regretted it, but his heart felt like it would collapse on itself at any moment.
“How was I supposed to know it wasn’t common knowledge? Anyway, a few days ago I was reading that book, and I saw it and in the sketch, there was a woman who wore my augere.” She reached up to touch the comb as if reminding herself of its existence. “But Icarus, that wasn’t the strangest part. It said the woman’s name was Aisleynne Marudas.”
Icarus felt like the floor was caving under him. He reached out and gripped Seren’s forearm needing to latch on to something real. Seren was levelheaded and not prone to exaggeration and yet his mind warred against her declaration.
“That's improbable, Seren.”
Seren glared down at him. “Should we just stop at my room on the way to saving my sister from your deranged uncle and manipulative brother?”
Most people found her intimidating, but her fire was what made her unique. It’s what also made her lethal to his senses.
“I didn’t say I didn’t believe you,” he ground out.
One hand holding up her train, the other rested on her hip where the thin netted lace hinted at pale skin. It was enough to send him spiraling as much as when he had first seen her in that dress. Every man had watched her with hunger tonight, but she only saw him. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to drown in this madness or be free of it.
“Only improbable.” She threw his words back at him without realizing what she was doing to him. Unraveling him slowly until he was a product of base instincts.
He let out a slow breath. This was not the time or the place, but more importantly, there would never be a time or a place. He removed his hand from her.
“You and your sister are anomalies. I believe you saw what you saw and the fact that both you and your sister can enter the conservatory, apparently. It’s a lot to reason through.”
Seren’s gaze softened as she began to understand him once more. It was both exhilarating and terrifying to know she could easily follow how his mind worked.
