My brother's mate had her soul bound for so long that I didn’t believe the damage could ever be undone. I think deep down, they both know it.
A cough echoed down the hall, and I turned to see Julian approaching. His hair was a mess, his glasses crooked as hehurried towards me. He was shirtless, the thick bandages wrapped around his shoulder and arm making it impossible to wear one. Dark crimson stains marked the bandages, stretching from his upper shoulder down to his inner forearm. The dim light from the sconces glinted off the black obsidian walls, shrouding his face in shadow. He looked furious and utterly defeated, the dark circles under his eyes suggesting he was sleeping even less than usual.
Randy trailed behind him, an equally angry and miserable expression on his face. He carried a robe, presumably for Julian, and seeing it caused my heart to ache. Randy's gaze was cutting, his beard now longer than I remembered. The emerald-green of his uniform contrasted sharply with his dark hair, and his glare ensnared my gaze. This would be good.
“You know I can’t let you in there with those weapons, Randikus,” I said sighing, eyeing the array of weapons he had on him. I glanced at Julian who met my gaze with a steely one. “I’m sorry to ask you to come. I would have called on Gunnar, but he is still in the village preparing for the funeral.”
Guilt and grief churned within me, for my uncle, and for Julian having to do this. Zara hurt him, and would have killed him if not for Xavier. Gunnar managed to reattach his arm, but her blade had been poisoned. Although his arm would eventually heal and become functional again, it would take considerably longer and forever bear a scar, a permanent reminder of what she did. Thankfully, it hadn't affected his magic, and that was the only true blessing.
Julian's face became clearer the closer he got and my gut twisted at the raw emotion on his face.
“He is only here because the king requested it, no other reason,” Randy growled. “And even so, I still think he shouldn’t have come.”
Julian flinched slightly, but he raised his chin. “How is she?” Julian asked softly, not meeting my eye.
“As you would expect,” I bit out and Julian snapped his gaze up at me, his eyes narrowing.
“I meant her injuries, not her wellbeing,” he growled and my eyes widened in surprise at his tone.
“She slammed into the cell bars, tearing the skin on her arms. I'm sure she's bruised, and when Xavier picked her up, she was so wasted she was vomiting and I used quite a bit of nightshade powder on her,” I grumbled, and Julian nodded, squaring his shoulders before heading toward the door, but I flung out my arm to stop him. “Xavier is with her. We should wait until they are done.”
Julian stilled, slowly turning my direction again. “Then you should have called me after the fact.” His gaze cut to Randy who came forward and draped the robe he had been carrying around his shoulders. Julian let him, though I could tell it annoyed him. “If it’s not life threatening, she should suffer with her injuries like the rest of us,” Julian bit out.
He was angry, and I didn’t blame him. I was angry too. But I knew our anger was misplaced. My moth—Morgana was to blame, she orchestrated all of this. Not Zara. Not really. Xavier told me how it was like she wasn’t even there. Even through the bond he said, as if she had been shoved so far, so deep within herself that even he wasn’t able to reach her, at least not easily.
“I can tell she feels guilty over what happened. She is punishing herself in her own way,” I replied, running my handthrough my hair. “Morgana forced her Julian, she had no control over her actions.”
Julian scoffed and winced as he tried to cross his arms, the bandage preventing it.
“She wants us to give up on her, hate her, I think.”
“Well, then, she got her wish,” Julian snapped, but I could see in his eyes he didn’t mean it. Randy’s hand landed on his uninjured shoulder, squeezing slightly, but Julian shrugged him off, taking the robe and thrusting it into his arms. “I do not need to be coddled nor protected, Randy. I am fine.”
“Clearly,” Randy gritted out, and I was about to interrupt, to try and steer the conversation elsewhere, when the dungeon door slowly opened. Its hinges groaned and the wood scraped as it swung wide.
Xavier appeared, looking even more exhausted than when I had seen him moments ago. Julian took one look at him, his charred clothes, his sullen face and immediately started to go toward him. Xavier only smiled softly, raising his hand to stop him.
“I'm fine, Julian, thank you.” He ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. “She is unconscious. She shouldn’t wake until morning,” Xavier breathed, his voice rumbling with the noise.
Julian nodded, glancing over his shoulder at Randy and narrowing his eyes. “Do not follow me.”
Randy growled at the command but otherwise stayed rooted to the spot as he watched Julian disappear through the doors. Xavier raised his brow at him and Randy stalked to the door taking post outside of it.
“We are fine. He is just being stubborn,” Randy said, folding his arms and leaning against the wall.
I chuckled at that. “Seems about right,” I said, nodding my farewell to him as I followed Xavier, who was already stalking away down the corridor. Xavier stayed quiet and I let the silence linger around us. The sounds of our echoing footsteps followed us through another corridor and up stairways until we reached the entryway.
“I can’t save her, can I?” my brother breathed and my chest tightened. Was he able to sense my thoughts before?
“I’m unsure, brother,” I said sadly and Xavier winced. My brows pinched and I walked faster so that I was now at his side.
“I am no better than Morgana,” my brother admitted quietly, and my eyes widened.
“Why would you think that?”
“I burned Territan down. Killed all those people.” He shook his head. “I'm no better than she is.”
I grabbed onto his shoulder and he stopped walking, turning slightly to face me. “You are nothing like her. They chose their side. You were only protecting Nexia, your people.”
