“I killed no one,” he said before he cocked his head to the side. “Almost out of time. Such a shame.”
His uncle’s familiar, a vulture-like bird swooped in from the open ceiling and landed gracefully next to his uncle’s feet. It eyed them all with terrible red eyes that seemed to see too much. Icarus had always hated that bird and felt like it was watching him even when he didn’t see it.
“Miss Marudas, if you would be so kind as to give me the stone.”
“Never,” Seren promised.
Cyrus sighed. “I know your weakness and it's in the form of a pretty blonde girl currently in a place near and dear to my heart. So unless you want her to meet an unfortunate end, say like, Icarus’ mother, for instance, you will give me that stone.”
He could practically feel the fight leave Seren. His uncle was right. Seren wouldn’t sacrifice Arabella even if it meant keeping the Omnis stone from his uncle. He, however, had no such limitations.
Icarus leaned in towards Seren and whispered, “I’m sorry.” just as he took the Omnis stone from her unsteady hands. Her eyes flashed with betrayal as he cast a sleeping spell. He only needed to incapacitate her long enough to finish this. He caught her limp body and gently lowered her to the murky fountain floor, hating himself all the while. She wouldn’t forgive him this betrayal, but at least he had those moments with her before he ruined it all.
Cyrus slowly clapped his hands as Icarus looked to see Tisiphone sleeping as soundly as her mistress. “Nephew, you astound me even yet. Betrayal comes as easily to you as breathing. I dare say the girl will hate you when she wakes.”
“What you would do with the Omnis stone would be a worse fate,” Icarus answered with less conviction than he would have liked.
His uncle smirked, hearing the weakness. Dark tendrils of magic floated from his hands where crimson once flowed. The shadows slithered along the floor and walls of the conservatory wilting the newly grown plants.
“It turns out, Atlas left a detailed plan he was unfortunately unable to finish, why I can’t say, though I suspect the answer lies in this very room. If only there was more time. You are going to give me the Omnis stone, Icarus, because I know your weakness as well though I confess, it was surprising. You say you could bear her hatred, but could you withstand her death?”
The tendrils of dark magic converged making a move towards Seren’s sleeping form. He didn’t hesitate as he created a barrier around Seren. The darkness nudged and tested the barrier for weakness. He should have portaled her somewhere as soon as his uncle entered. His uncle always managed to worm his way into Icarus’ mind and cloud his judgment.
“Even with the Omnis stone, what I’ve learned from the grimoire is stronger.”
Icarus could feel the strength of the barrier ebbing with each coordinated attack of darkness. He would have to be quick if he wanted to portal her and her familiar out. The barrier would have to hold long enough to get her through.
“And where would you take her that I wouldn’t follow, Icarus?” His uncle saw through his thoughts in the unnerving way he always did. “Even if you managed to leave here with her and the Omnis stone, I will find her and I will make her suffer ten times the amount your mother did.”
Icarus snapped. He flung his magic out haphazardly at his uncle. The spell was one that was forbidden by witches and wizards alike, but he didn’t care. He would gladly see his uncle die this night.
The shadows that had been working their way over Seren now retreated to gather before his uncle and as if made of the underworld, they opened what appeared as mouths full of sharply pointed teeth and swallowed the spell as if it were nothing more than a party trick.
“What kind of magic is this?” Icarus asked.
“Powerful magic. Now. Give. Me. The. Stone.” His uncle’s patience was waning.
“No,” Icarus answered, flinging his magic at him once more.
The shadows deftly split and while the ones around his uncle easily consumed his magic, he saw now that his uncle had been toying with him before. The barrier he held around Seren easily dissipated under the shadows' insistence. They cloaked her body and merged into her, inky blots moving beneath her skin.
The fear he felt then was more paralyzing and consuming than he had ever known. He would gladly go back to that night ten years ago than watch Seren slowly consumed. Her body alive with life seconds ago, slowly drained of color, a gray hue taking form.
“Stop!” Icarus shouted as he knelt beside her, Eiridis landing on the other side of her and nudging her. “Gods, please stop, Uncle. Not her. You’ve taken everything from me, but please not her!”
His voice was frantic and not his own.
“You know how to make it stop. She doesn’t have much time left.” His uncle edged closer until he stood above him, holding out his hand.
Icarus ran his eyes over Seren’s body now a ghastly blue. The wraiths were consuming her life force. She was dying and he could do nothing. Except his uncle was right. He could stop this. He had never shied away from doing the hard thing before, but this was the one thing he couldn’t give up.
He couldn’t bear a world without her smug smile, her sharp wit, her unrelenting fire. He wouldn’t stand for a world that didn’t know her strength and beauty. He would let it all burn before he let her go.
The shadows receded from her body as Icarus held out the Omnis stone to his uncle. Seren gasped, still drowsy from his sleeping spell. He lifted her onto his lap and held her against him feeling the way her body slowly refilled with warmth and returned to its pale hue.
“It turns out you really are a weak-minded failure. You had more strength at sixteen. Either way, it's time for me to have a little chat with the headmistress in her office. Goodbye, Icarus. Good luck living with the price of your failure.”
Cyrus and his familiar portaled leaving him and Seren with the remnants of what he had done.
