Stellan took a long swig of whiskey, straight from the bottle. Then opened his mouth. And closed it again.
“Why aren’t you answering?” Bridget demanded.
Archer let out a hollow chuckle. “All magic has a cost.”
Stellan glared at him.
“That’s what the curse cost you?” Bridget asked. “The ability to answer questions?”
Stellan rubbed his eyes. “Mymemories.”
“Of everything? Then how did you just show me that night?”
“No, not everything. Just the ones that would help explain what I did and why you were killed. Magic takes what you want the most,” Stellan replied tiredly. “Look… I did not wake up prepared for this conversation today… Luckily, I’ve had a few decades to work out what happened. Mostly with Marin’s help. She’s the one who’s been able to dig out certain things. And another Tuathan, Bronwyn, explained some things to me when I woke back up after casting the curse. I’ll start with what I know… your execution was not a surprise. Vega had revealed her plan to you early on…”
Archer let out a choking noise. “Execution? Exactly who were you? Orareyou?” He glanced sideways at Stellan. “What’s the proper term in this situation, old man?”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Stellan took another long drink of whiskey. Nylah goggled at her like she was an alien. Alexia paced in the corner.
“I would like to know that, as well.” Bridget ripped the bottle from his hand, scattering droplets all over the floor, before she did the same. She’d hoped the burn of the liquid would calm her quaking nerves, but they still kept pulsing like little alarm bells under her skin.
Stellan glowered at her. “From what I was told, the entire thing was your idea. It was the only way to stop Vega. She was very close to getting her hands on something that would have won her the war. You stopped that before it happened.”
“So that’s why she killed me?”
Not that she’d fully believed it before, but part of Bridget was relieved that she hadn’t been killed just because Cade had chosen her over Vega. It seemed too silly of a reason for the head of the Sanguis coven. A shiver went down her spine thinking of the woman with the metal claws. Then the scars on Bridget’s stomach flared to life. A night sky. Chanting.Searching. Quinn had been searching for something inside her.
Stellan hesitated. “It’s complicated.”
“Well uncomplicated it,” Bridget hissed through gritted teeth.
“Bronwyn said your execution was inevitable. That we needed moretime. And that the only way to give that to you and Cade… was to kill you both.”
“This is crazy…” Archer muttered. Bridget couldn’t help but agree with him. “Why would they agree to that?”
“To bring you back one day so that we could end it, once and for all,” Stellan said, keeping his focus on her. “A curse within a curse. We would banish the Sanguis, and guarantee you and Cade’s survival in one fell swoop. It’s why it had to be his life that bound it. His Tuathan blood, along with mine in the Bloodstone, were the only two powerful enough to make sure it would work.”
“So is it time to end it then?” Nylah asked. When everyone’s confused gaze cut to her, she shrugged. “Haven’t you been listening? He said he would bring you back when it was time. So it must be… right?”
“Not me… the curse didn’t work like that.” Stellan tiredly rubbed his eyes. “Magic isn’t something that can be fully controlled. Even by me. I had no idea when Bridget and Cade would come back, or even if it would beat the same time. That must have been a risk you both accepted, but it’s why…”
“You and the Shamans stuck around,” Bridget finished, sensing his trepidation. She’d always wondered why the most powerful of all the species did the royal family’s bidding and almost acted indentured, whose only purpose was to guard a gate. “The vow you mentioned… how it’d gotten all twisted up. Ambrose, Marin’s father, was the last one left that remembered all this, wasn’t he?”
The corners of Stellan’s lips lifted. “Very good… but like I said, the curse weakened me. By the time I awakened, the new king had already destroyed so many gates… changed so many things. Vega was supposed to have no idea about what we’d done. But…”
Bridget heard his unspoken words. Magic couldn't be controlled and always had a cost. And whatever magic the new king had messed with had revealed too much to Vega in Iegorus. Knowledge she must have passed down to the rest of the Sanguis.
“What does this have to do with her staying away from Elyria? Or Andarre?” Alexia fumed, knuckles white as she gripped the back of a chair.
Stellan blinked at her. “Everything.”
“How? The curse broke. She lived. The Sanguis are still in Iegorus,” Alexia hissed. “Shouldn’t you want her back in Elyria… toendit? Wasn’t that the entire purpose of this whole thing? There are people that need—”
“This is about the other curse, isn’t it?” Bridget asked.
Once you cross, there’s no coming back.
Stellan’s words of warning were not for her, but forCade. If she went back to Elyria… fate would take its course. Just like it had done with her.
