“Oh, look. Perhaps you are not as feebleminded as I thought,” Belarius sneered.
My mind fought with the knowledge, turning it over and over like a rubix cube, trying to understand it all. “But why not just compel me to do whatever you wanted?” I asked. “Why did you have to hurt everyone else?”
“Compulsion on humans is tricky,” Belarius admitted. “Too much and they, well, they crack under the pressure. Being half-human I assumed you could handle one or two instances, but I could not risk anything more. I have no use for a vegetable. I must confess, though, I have also enjoyed the game—nudging people in just the right direction to get you where I wanted without too much suspicion.” Belarius smoothed his hair back in an arrogant gesture. “It is an artform, truly.”
At the mention of other people, I briefly glanced over at Sin, noting the drops of water that flecked up from the rooftop to coalesce around his wrist. I snapped my focus back to Belarius, but it was too late.
His eyes tracked mine, catching Sin's planned attack.
In a flash, Sin thrust his arm out, and the water formed into a noose that he whipped toward Belarius’ neck.
Not even the greatest aquiservian in Rivella could be faster than the sound of words, though.
His entire body froze in place when Belarius barked, “Halt.”
Sin halted, the water whip hanging limply by his side.
“Drop the water.”
The water sloughed off Sin’s hand and pooled at his feet.
“Now be a good lad, and go stand by the back wall until I say otherwise. I am having a conversation with my granddaughter and could do without these interruptions.”
Sin marched robotically across the roof to stand as still as a statue by the castle parapet—all of his passion and intensity stuffed deep inside behind the obedient facade.
“How are you doing all of this?” I demanded once I was able to tear my eyes away from my ensnared lover. “I thought compulsion was forbidden?”
Belarius’ lip curled up in a nasty grin. “Of course it is, but I was blessed with a weak father who could not bring himself to kill his only son. It was quite easy to hide, you know. Nobody questions the king's powers, after all. Look how easily my son managed to fool you.”
I clenched my fists at my side. “That’s not fair. How could I even tell his magic was an illusion?”
The laugh Belarius let out made my skin crawl.
“That is not all he fooled you with. Look again, Raynella.”
I studied the bloody, blackened body at my feet. Most of his chest was little more than ash and burnt tissue but there… on theedges. The ramentum that had covered his chest were gone and that which remained barely reached his shoulders.
“Secunnario,” I said quietly. Even his tattoos were an illusion.
“And a weak one at that,” Belarius sneered, disgust lacing his voice. “Do you have any idea how embarrassing it was when he never manifested his third power? And his healing magic? Pitiful. Since his only real skill was illusion, I decided that I would use it to my advantage. Clearly he would never carry on my powerful legacy, so when my time came to abdicate the throne… well, let us say I took measures to sustain my good works. I have always been around, Raynella, hidden from sight by the veil of Verren’s illusions. Whispering instructions in my son’s ear. He was so weak-willed that controlling him took next to no effort at all.”
He knelt in front of my father’s body, shaking his head. “Did you know he allowed the plague to spread? Allowed his own family to succumb to it when all he needed to do was kill every human. A simple solution really.”
Belarius plucked a garish ring with the Diamond Court crest from Verren’s hand, slid it onto his finger, and stood up. “He would not do it, though. It was the only compulsion he ever managed to successfully fight off. I thought perhaps I could break him down over time, but then Leeara came along.”
The disdain in Belarius’ voice when he spoke of his son was nothing compared to the venom for my mother. It was all I could do to reel in my anger and not blast him off the roof. The flames of my dress flickered, and I could feel my fire begging to be unleashed, but if Sin was no match for his compulsion, what could I do?
“I spent decades searching for the silver-haired female to fulfill the prophecy,” Belarius continued casually as if all this was merely a mild disruption to his evening. “I had so hoped you would be my daughter so I could mold you from birth todo exactly what I needed. Imagine my surprise when it was my son who found her. And imagine my horror when he fell in love with her. A human.” He spat the word as if he were talking about something truly vile and disgusting.
“Your father begged me to abandon the prophecy because he could not stand to let his precious baby girl die for my agenda. Pathetic, really. To place an infant above the future of his kingdom. Annoyingly, I did not realize until too late that your mother had been listening at the door. Nasty trait, eavesdropping. So very human.”
Talons sprouted from my fingers, curling into sharp spikes of white hot flame. “That was the conversation that made her flee,” I growled. “You ordered Sin to chase her into the woods. You're the reason she’s dead.”
“When I learned she had disappeared with you, of course I immediately sent my best assassin to retrieve her. Surely Sin has told you about all he has done for me over the years?” He smiled maliciously, absently picking at a bit of dirt under his fingernail as if he hadn’t just dropped a huge bomb. “Did you know your father tried to stop me from compelling Sin that night? He failed, naturally, but oh how he fought, his love for you and your mother was so great. Such a shame you murdered him in cold blood.”
His accusation hit me so hard I barely registered anything else.
Imurderedhim.
