“Icarus,” she said through heavy-lidded eyes and it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard in his sorry life.
“I’m sorry, Seren. I’m so fucking sorry.”
Understanding dawned on her beautiful face. “You put me to sleep. You sacrificed Bella for the stone.” Sleep still clung to her, but her eyes cleared with hurt and anger warring in them.
“Yes.” He wouldn’t hide from his crimes. “He took the stone, anyway.”
“How?” The word was laced with relief as she considered the safety of her sister.
Icarus shook his head, torture wringing his soul dry. “He was killing you. I couldn’t—I gave it to him.”
Seren reached up and cupped his cheek with her warm hand. He leaned into the touch knowing he didn’t deserve it.
“For someone so smart you are sometimes really stupid,” Seren said with exhaustion clinging to her.
The sound that broke from him was a combination of a sob and a poor excuse for a laugh. He knew at that moment that he would do it all again. Tisiphone groggily moved over to her mistress and rested her head on Seren’s boot. Icarus knew they needed to deal with the consequences of what happened here, but for the moment he let himself hold her and know that she was safe.
Chapter thirty
Calder Darkmore
“Father?”
Cal felt the blood drain from his face as he dropped to his knees. The sound echoed like a gunshot through the air. The stone floor was cold and unyielding beneath him. Everything he thought he knew was wrong. His father was not dead. His father was very much alive. The tightness in his chest made it hard to draw breath. Ara knelt beside him and he could see her lips moving but he couldn’t hear the words over the ringing in his ears.
Ara started to walk to his father and his arm shot out, clenching her wrist as he came to his senses. A memory of his mother came unbidden, a woman who was once so full of life was now a vacant shell. He had to protect Ara. He couldn’t let the same thing happen to her.
“Cal, we have to help him.” Ara knelt down until she was on the dirty floor with him. The flames from the torches flickered in the water puddled around them.
“No, your dress . . . ” Cal said, his voice hoarse with unshed tears. Ara’s white dress was slowly soaking up whatever filth was on the dungeon floor. Why he focused on that he couldn’t say but it seemed important. A steady drip of water was coming from somewhere and with it the years of grime. He didn’t flinch when a rat scurried past them.
Ara held his face in her hands. “I don’t care about my dress. You’re in shock. We need to get your father out of here. It isn’t safe.”
The thought that Ara wasn’t safe jarred Cal into action. He rose, drawing her to her feet with him. The cool air caused her to shiver and her skin rose in tiny bumps. The temperature dropped as they walked further down the steps and now he could see their breath.
“I want you to stay as far away as possible.” He told her, as he took off his jacket and wrapped it around her. “What he did to my mother . . . I could not survive the same happening to you.”
She shook her head, her lips starting to turn blue. “That’s just it. I don’t think he did it. I think it was Cyrus. Iknowit was Cyrus. I don’t know how yet but I–”
He could tell she was becoming frantic, so he shushed her and brushed the hair away from her face as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. He lingered there as if he might not get the chance again.
She sensed his hesitation and gripped his hand. “Do not send me away, Cal.”
He shook his head. “Never, where you go, I go and where I go, you go. I need you, Arabella Marudas. Never doubt that.”
She nodded and kissed his palm, walking back to the doorway, hugging her arms to herself.
He turned back to his father who was watching their exchange with soft eyes. He steeled his spine and swallowed the hard lump that had formed in his throat and walked to the ghost that had haunted his nightmares for the past ten years.
“Son, you have never appeared so real as you do now.” Elias’s voice trembled with emotion and he reached out a dirty hand as if to touch Cal. “What new torment has my brother come up with now? Where is Icarus? Where is your mother? Let this truly be a family reunion. Let this be the sweetest torture yet.” He dropped his hand and collapsed, his shoulders shaking as he sobbed. The sound echoed through the dungeon. He was truly a man broken.
Cal turned back to Ara, and she nodded, reassuring him. He clenched his hands into fists and walked closer. The door to the cell was left open, mocking its occupant with freedom. The stench he had imagined when he had seen Cyrus there before hit him and he tried not to gag.
He struggled to find any sign of the man he remembered from his childhood. The man who had taught him his first simple magic. The man who would look the other way with a grin when he would play pranks on Icarus. The man who would never have done what Cyrus said this man did.
Cal turned instead to the irons manacling him to the walls, giving him only enough room to sleep and relieve himself on opposite sides of the cell. The chains at his father’s wrists and ankles had rubbed the skin away, leaving it angry and red. Pus oozed from the wounds never allowed to heal.
His shock turned to disgust and anger. It pulsed deep in his stomach and ached to be released. His magic crawled under his skin begging for vengeance. He believed Ara when she said his uncle was to blame for everything. He felt it in his soul. He knew, deep down he had always known, his uncle was capable of many cruel and depraved acts. His own private lessons were proof of that.
