Waking up in the South is always accompanied by two things - the hot rays of the morning sun creeping into the bedroom before I even open my eyes. Their heat warmed up the whole room, welcoming us to the new day. And she always lies in my arms. Close enough that the first thing I could do when I woke up is kissing her. She usually wakes up much later, which means I can enjoy an undisturbed morning, this close to her. I've gotten used to it a bit in the last few months, it's a nice way to start the day. Completely calm and undisturbed. Now there's nothing that can spoil it.
I can tell she's woken up usually by the fact that she's starting to move around, or just like now, with her eyes still closed, she's running icy fingers over my skin. I can never understand how it can be so cold in such a hot place. I don't want to complain about it, it's nice because I'm always hot here, it just fascinates me.
I took her hand, which she so nicely rested on my belly, and examined it. She took off the improvised ring. I should probably get angry about it, but it's quite a pleasant finding. We haven't had enough time to discuss what will happen after we announce it to others, and honestly I'd rather avoid problems and confusion. The only thing that bothers me a little is how empty the finger suddenly looks. I lightly kissed the spot where the ring was supposed to be, as if I could make it any better. "I'll need you at Athran for the whole week, I've already spoken to Riley. He'll send you the mail and other papers," her quiet laughter interrupted me.
"It's nice that you take such good care of me, but I've already spoken to Addison," she squirmed and shifted, still with her eyes closed. Waking her up early in the morning is always difficult and making her get up is almost impossible. Gentle teasing, cajoling, kissing and even the idea of breakfast. Nothing will get her out of the bed. "An entire week with you, hmm..." she smiled at the idea. I'm glad she looks so pleased. I'm afraid she'll be bored in the North and isn't going to stay there. I'm kind of counting on her suggesting that we only go back there for the ceremonies. I don't know why. It's not much like her, but it scares me anyway. It's the worst possible scenario, somewhere in the back of my head.
"We have a pretty busy schedule. We're having dinner with my family tonight,"
"Including Edgar?" she asked, surprised, opening her eyes and finding my gaze. She seems almost nervous to me, usually she's just annoyed by the idea of meeting him. And in the end, they laugh together all the time, remembering something. It makes me feel like I don't know my father one bit. But so it is with everything.
"Of course he included," I laughed. She can't expect my father to miss the family dinner. Basically, we all go there primarily because of him. It doesn't make much sense without him either. Emmett and Luke don't get along much unless he's supervising them. Me and my mother don't talk much anymore, because according to her, I'm just following my father's orders and I'm a mindless puppet. And while my father's side of the family is tolerable, my mother's mocking sister drives me crazy. And An knows all this and we never discuss it. The bottom line is that a family dinner always revolves around my father. To assume that he will not be there makes no sense. It occurred to me that maybe they had a fight again. It's also becoming more and more common. "Exclude him and no one will go to Narvin. Why do you even ask that?"
"I'm," she was interrupted by a knock on the door. She rolled her eyes and quickly stood up. "give me a minute."
I stood up too. I don't plan on waiting for her, I might also find out she's going somewhere and doesn't have time to let me know where. And then I could waste the whole day waiting for her and thinking about whether she would make it to dinner or not. I threw on my shirt and followed her.
The living room - like the bedroom - is full of light, so the figure in a dark dress, not very suitable for the South, completely stands out. It's William and he's handing her a letter with a completely terrified look on his face, Andrea just shook her head. "Let me guess," she began dejectedly. "Two stab wounds to the heart, a slit forearm and a torn out tongue? And a body exposed in such a way that it cannot be overlooked."
"Just like you say..." William frowned, hiding the message in his coat pocket. That's a pretty accurate and brutal description of something she'd deduced from just a piece of paper she hadn't even read and that expression. All I could read out of it is that something bad had happened. Which means Andrea knows what's going on.
"You know who's behind it," I'm so sure of my assumption that I didn't even ask a question. For how long has she known who's behind it? Was she even going to tell me? She turned to me for a moment and nodded. And everything fell apart. I naively believed that we had the same information. That we are up against something that makes no sense to either of us. But she calmed down quite a bit after her meeting with the other Heirs. I thought it was because others had calmed her down, but it wasn't true. Suddenly, she had a plan she hadn't initiated me into. Because it's definitely very risky and I'm just… me.
Just me.
Just a king.
Fuck!
Where did I get the certainty all this time that I was something more to her? I know she loves me, but what if I'm just next in line. Just another distraction on the journey through her Immortality. She is everything to me, but that doesn't have to mean anything, she's the Heiress of everything, the Successor of Hallies himself, and she owns the world around me. Athran belongs to her, as do I. Everyone fulfills her wishes, their own will in spite of them, so why should I be so special?
Maybe I just lied to myself about a lot of things and forced myself to believe my own idea of her. Which is exactly what she warned me about at the beginning. To never forget who she is. And the fact that her world works quite differently than mine.
And I have not forgotten it. I ignored it all rather spectacularly. I convinced myself that it wasn't important. That we could be the same.
"Steven?" icy hands snapped me out of my thoughts. It's just her, William has disappeared somewhere. "What's wrong? You look very concerned." she stroked me lightly. I grabbed her hand, what if she took off the ring for a completely different reason. Why didn't I think of it right away. I can't look into her frighteningly dark eyes, I have to lower my gaze. This is probably the first time I really can't do it. I don't want to see her look.
Her world is completely different from mine, not as straightforward and not in the least simple.
I can feel my heart sink lower and lower, taking me with it. Deeper and deeper into the darkness, which is illuminated by absolutely nothing, not even her Light, which I have been selfishly trying to appropriate all this time. But what if it never belonged to me, it's not mine, and neither is she. She leaves me out of her decisions because I don't belong to them, I wanted to belong, desperately, but she sees it differently. Because she's Immortal, but I'm not, I can die at any time. I'm just a king trying to keep up with her. And why? Because I fell in love with her the day I met her and I can't say goodbye to her?
"Steven, I know you're angry, but you have to listen to me." she's right, I'm angry. With myself. What did I even think? Why do I try so hard to stay with her? And why does she keep telling me what to do? I'm not a little kid. If anything, I'm more than capable of leading my own life. And I'm not so incompetent that I just have to wait here for her.
Heck, that's exactly what I almost forgot about after Jossellin's remark. I'm no one's toy! Neither the Heiress's nor father's. I belong to myself.
"I hate it when you tell me what to do," I looked up at her in anger. "if you need to go somewhere, just go." I couldn't stand another explanation starting you don't understand. If they can't see how similar we are, does all this make any sense? She can't stop the secrets. Not even for me. So what's the point?
"I'm not going anywhere," she smiled and stroked me with that icy hand again. "at least not alone," she announced proudly. I just frowned in confusion, once again nothing makes sense to me at all. I seriously doubt that she would change her mind about how fragile I am and for once explain something to me properly. "We need to make one more stop before we go to Athran," she grabbed my hand and dragged me behind her.
"What stop?"
She walked down the hall to the dining room, sat me down at the table, and poured me coffee. She shoved the mug into my hand and then sat down too. "You know, all this time I've been trying to keep you away from everything as much as possible. It made perfect sense to me until I realized I was doing exactly the same thing as my father." it's terribly early for that, and it makes me quite nervous. Every time she drinks this early, something happens. Something not very good. "You've become a part of my life and I can't lose you," Andrea stares at the alcohol in her glass, spinning it slowly, frowning. "but you were right yesterday, after all, it's your life. I can't tell you what to do about it. No one told me. Not even my family," she took her gaze away from the glass and looked at me, one corner twitching. She must have thought she could tell me exactly what to do, but she didn't want to. That sounds like something I've been slowly saying goodbye to. I thought her decision was that she didn't have to tell me anything, not the other way around.
"So?"
"So you deserve to know the full truth," her gaze slid back to the glass. She spun it again. She's even more nervous than I am. "I just need to know that this is what you want. To hear the truth about what is happening, even if it means there is no going back. To know the truth about my family and to face all that entails."
There's no going back? It sounds pretty scary when she puts it that way, but all I hear in it is an invitation to her world. Without further ado. Only the truth and its consequences. "I'm absolutely sure of it."
She laughed quietly and took a sip. "I thought so. You're so stubborn..."
Andrea made me eat breakfast while she continued her liquid diet. She was talking all the time about going somewhere where time runs differently. She explained to me how they achieved it, when and why. And I didn't care one bit. It's nice that they wanted a place away from everything else where they could work undisturbed. And everything was subordinated to them there, even time. But what of it? I keep thinking about what awaits me. What can she show me that is so important that there is no way back. Who is behind all this? And how that leads me to anything else. The same train of thought ran through my head, even though she made me put on a suit and put on a tight red dress herself.
She held out her hand to me as I grabbed her tightly, not knowing what to expect. A whiff of sweet scent of magic carried us onto a stone path leading to a breathtaking building of gigantic proportions. I've never seen anything like it, it runs in both directions in its stone magnificence until it is stopped by trees on one side and water on the other. The tall pillars in front of the entrance hold a massive canopy, which in my estimation extends only to the second floor. There must be two more floors above it. It's absolutely majestic and megalomaniac, typically Hale. "Let me welcome you to de Min'a wan Val zimm Hal, the old family mansion. The place where it all began," she said with a smile. I never thought they had an old mansion. She always talks only about Parlasse, and even that is terribly old. Much older than her.
"This place is absolutely breathtaking," I said sincerely, amazed at what I saw. With each step, all the small details become clearer, multiplying the beauty of the place. Even if only half of it was real, I would still be just as impressed by the mansion. The white stone is intersected by golden ribbons in regular shapes, untouchable shining stones lead us closer and closer. "It's not in Zessia, is it?"
"No," she laughed. She opened the door and led me through a hall that looks a lot like the entrance hall in the Palace. I thought the one in the South was the original, but it's actually a faded copy of this place, which is strange since this place is undoubtedly older. "I've never checked, but I'm pretty sure this place exists outside of our world. There's definitely an exact location in the library, somewhere..." apart from the illusions of the servants, this place is completely deserted. There are not even statues of them. But why did they leave it? Does her family like it more in the real world than in the one made just for them, by themselves?
"You know your way around here," I said as she turned into another corridor for the third time. I hope she knows her way around and doesn't just drag me into the middle of the maze of corridors and rooms. All the corridors look the same, brightly lit with white walls, a red carpet, hundreds of paintings with high vases with red roses. The flowers remind me of something.
"Of course, I've spent quite a bit of time here. Mainly because of the library, but also because time flows differently here. It's useful when you need to waste a few years," she digressed again. Yes, wasting a few years, that's exactly what I need. By the time I'm done with this, my hair will be gray. "We'll almost there."
One of the few wooden doors here pulls us together. Golden geometric ornaments spread out on wooden boards. The Immortals had to stick to this design all this time. So simple elegance is also not a recent invention and everyone is just coming back to it now. Interesting.
Andrea didn't lift a finger, the door just opened in front of us and let us into a new world. Like everything here, their personal library is absolutely breathtaking. It can't be compared in size to Nerkam's, it's too small for that, but I'd bet there aren't such valuable volumes anywhere in the world. Hundreds of books seem older than most cities back home, patiently waiting to be pulled off the shelf with their long-lost wisdom.
Away from all these volumes, on a solitary, tall, shining pedestal, is a book on display. The dark blue plates are decorated with a magnificent painting of golden light with long rays that protect a single word "Hallies". Andrea carefully picked up the book and carried it to the table.
"Sit down," she said, sitting down on a padded white chair. "You asked me if Andra killed herself, before I explain the rest, you need to understand what happened to her. And this is the best way," I nodded. She wants to show me the whole thing. She put her hand on the open book, she added in a whisper. "Fal'atta Andra." the letters on the old pages flew out. Circle around us and draw us in.
We stand in the corner of a small, cozy study, just a few steps from a wooden table with a pile of papers and closed letters. Storing unopened mail is probably in the family, it's only a matter of time before she starts making excuses like that. There are two figures standing right in front of us, with their backs to us, but I know who I'm looking at. It's her grandfather. I had to bite my lip hard to remind myself that it isn't really him, just the memory of him. Still, all the hairs on my whole body bristled. I had no idea that the first thing I would see here would be him. That I would ever see him, even if only in a memory. I am terrified just by his statues. He inspires awe and respect like none other. Except for her. Which is a pretty scary thought. And right now, there are both here.
Damn... I should have prepared for it. But how could I?
I forced myself to tear my gaze away from his back, because beside him stands a woman about a head shorter than him with long brown hair. From the back, they are quite similar to An's, but hers are not so soft just by the look and to my surprise they are much more undulating. And they're also much more woven with gold. She's dressed completely differently from the picture of her I have in my head. She's not wearing a white suit, as expected. She's wearing tight pants and a tiny top that doesn't cover much and shows off all her scars. Pretty non-heiry. "I thought you didn't want any more children," the woman said angrily, her voice somehow still soft.
In conclusion, she's not as similar to An as I'd expect. Rather the opposite.
"Aren't you looking forward to new siblings?" he asked, amused. His voice is like I imagined. Pleasant and familiar, although I had never heard it before. It sounds like a caress, a warm embrace. Whether it's the magic or his personality, something in that voice makes me want to listen to him. Something in me wants him to continue. I want to hear everything he has to say. And I can't explain why.
"They're not my siblings, Father. But you know that."
"Listen to me well, my dear, sweet little girl. Until now, you were my only daughter, but times are changing. The whole world belongs to us, and anything I say is true. The two little ones will have my name, whether you like it or not." the amusement disappeared from his voice. I don't understand what he's talking about. Andra was and remains his only daughter. This is clearly demonstrated by her statues and all the books. After ger, there's only the Heiress. "And if you want to lecture me on something, at least go get properly dressed. You look like a common thug. Don't you have enough of those fights outside this house? Do you need to show everyone every single one of your failures? Start acting accordingly to your position."
"Your word counts, not the lies you tell yourself!" the woman in front of us turned to the door and disappeared with a loud bang.
Andrea grabbed my hand, opened the door and led me, following Andra. The creases on her long, loose skirt ripple as she stomps across the hall in front of us. I have no idea if it's the same day or not, but it probably doesn't matter. The vases on the sides are full of these giant roses, but they're not red, just a tender pink. Almost innocent. Not as aggressively memorable as the ones there now. I have such a strange feeling that I will soon find out why.
The room she led us to is a nursery. The soft carpet led us to two cradles, in each of which sleeps a small child wrapped in a white swaddle, they may be about a week old, maybe not even that. Andra leaned over to one of them and stroked the baby's head, catching the light hair between her fingers. She studied the child thoughtfully. Just like me. How come there are two more children here, just like that? That makes no sense. The only other descendant of Hallies - that is almost never mentioned - is his son, who died before all this.
"What are you doing here?" said another female voice, not as soft as Andra's. Quite the opposite. It made me tear my gaze away from the twins in the cradles. I just don't see a figure to whom the voice might belong.
"He knows I'm right, but he doesn't want to admit it. He doesn't deserve to be treated like this."
"Treated like what? It's been a long time since he was this happy. All of us. You're the only one who decided to destroy this family. You can't help it, you're just sitting in his tomb, planning how to give it back to all of us."
"And how happy will he be when he finds out that your romance isn't over?"
"There's no reason for him to know. Don't meddle in things that are none of your business. I warn you." finally, a second woman appeared on the scene. It's his wife, and she doesn't fit in the family at all. She looks at her own daughter with surprisingly light eyes. I find her look incredibly cruel and certainly not like any of her statues. No wonder they adjust everything. I certainly wouldn't pray to this woman. Her gaze slid back to the children. I realized that their hair was just as light as hers. Not that that's a proof of anything, but the Hale have certain characteristics. And the babies… they're so small and it's already so obvious. Is that why they are not talked about? Because they're not his?
"You are warning me? Compared to me, you are nobody, you have no power. Not even over my father." Andra spoke as calmly as the other Hales, she had to learn it from a young age. More important than the first word is the tone with which they pronounce it. "You've gone too far this time, mother. They are not even mages, the older they get, the faster they will lose their power. How can you expect them to be part of this family? And even if he overlooked it, what would he do if he realized you lied to him? You broke your own promise to him. You know how he hates lies. We will all pay for it. Don't try to play with this family. You still have time to fix it and disappear, along with them," she pointed to the children.
The nursery disappeared, we are back in the library, but we did not return completely. We look at other figures from the past, standing between the shelves. "What are you trying to do? Destroy this family?" another angry voice, this one I recognized without having to see his face. "You completely lost it, huh? Don't you have anything better to do? Or are you just trying to prove to him that you're better than her? Better than Stephan because you're protecting him and not the other way around? Because you can scream louder than the rest of us. You're not better than us."
"This isn't fair Dam, why are you against me? I'm just trying to fix it."
"No, you're not trying. You're only making it worse," he closed the book he was holding and put it back on the shelf. The title of the book could mean anything, the runes didn't tell me much. Damien leaned his back against the shelf. He has not aged a day, he has not changed his hairstyle, he wears the same colored vest as he normally wears. It's unbelievable. "Father has decided, the children will stay here, just as mother will stay here. Stop tinkering, we all know what's going on around us, we just have the decency to look away and not talk about it. If he doesn't want to deal with it, neither should you."
"If you want me to stop tinkering with it, I'll need to believe she's changed. I don't want it all happening again, his search for the truth, the interrogations of all those people, and his own justice. How many cities burned down last time? Four, five? Thousands of people died, and for whom? Mother's little pet? I suppose you don't want this to happen again, either. Nathan is with me," she continued to persuade him.
"Don't you dare bring Jonathan into this, he's still a boy who admires his big sister. Of course, he is on your side. More than a brother, he acts like your little puppy. Always on your side. Just waiting for your commands," he said irritably. Andra walked up to him, put her arm around his shoulders and smiled sweetly. She obviously liked to manipulate the people around her. She doesn't resemble An at all, I expected them to behave similarly, but they are diametrically opposed. Andra is basically a spoiled brat. And she'll be acting like one until it's her way.
"Because he doesn't admire you? Come on, don't be jealous of Nathan. He may be younger, but there's a lot he has to do."
"You must know, don't you?" he shook his head and smiled with that fake yet carefree smile of his. "I wonder what Steph thinks about this."
"Not much."
"Well, that's what I thought," he removed her hand and took a step back. "So, what do you want?"
"The man's name."
"Why? You understand that you can't do anything to him?" Damien frowned, walked over to the table, and scribbled something on a piece of paper. "You can provoke mother, but there are things you can't get away with, my little sister. Heir or not, you must follow his wishes. Especially now, after you've lost your precious little post by his side."
With a terrifying smirk, she took the paper, her dark brown eyes flashing. "Thank you, my bigger, wiser brother. Trust me, I know what I'm doing." Damien bit his lip and threw up his hands in defeat. He had to know that there was no point in fighting her. She looked like the type who wouldn't let him rest until she had what she wanted. That's another thing that separates her and Andrea.
The bookcase vanished, just like the nursery before. The dark house doesn't look like something I'd expect the Immortals to be in. It resembles a wooden log cabin with wooden walls and ordinary, wooden furniture. It smells strongly of smoke here. Andra floated in through the door across, in a bright white uniform, her long, brown hair loose. A muscular middle-aged man turned to face her. "Hi, is there anything I can do to help?" he asked with an honest smile on his face.
"I firmly believe so," she smiled, looking at him the way a hunter examines his prey.
"Have we met yet? You look familiar to me. Your face." the man is still smiling. With a completely innocent, ignorant smile. He has no idea that she didn't just come to talk to him.
"We haven't met in person, but I'm sure you've heard of me, you know my mother… intimately, among other things." he figured it out. Later than he should, but still.
"I think you meant to say I knew her." Andrea jerked beside me.
"Really? I would expect her to warn you not to lie around the Immortals. But I'm not surprised, she has a habit of leaving out important details." Andra continued to speak in that calm voice of hers. It's scary that she didn't even shudder. The man in front of her gasped, his eyes desperately searching for an escape route. But the only way out is behind her. "We'll try again. You will honestly tell me if it is really a thing of the past and I may leave again."
"I'm," he hesitated.
"Have you seen your children yet?" she asked with a slight smile.
"That would be enough," a stern instruction cut through the silence, the smile disappearing from her face before she turned around. An angry flame blazed in his dark brown eyes. Andra disappeared without another word. He looked at the man standing across from him. His expression completely changed, the anger disappeared in a second, he even smiled slightly. With that icy smile they pass on in the family. "You have to excuse my daughter's behavior, she believes she must always be right. To her misfortune, she's completely wrong."
"You have nothing to apologize for," the younger man said. He must have been younger, but he doesn't look like it.
"I really don't," her grandfather laughed. I'm starting to understand why she always refers to him as just grandfather, it's a lot easier than always thinking about who he really was and what he accomplished. It's like saying she's just An to me. My little An, not the Heiress, the Successor and everything else.
He leaned against the table and surveyed the room. There isn't much to look at. Bare walls, austere furniture, no decorations, and yet he behaves as if it were one of those palatial mansions in which everything belongs to him. "You know, my wife and I, we had an agreement. I'm quite a busy man, but she has a lot of free time that she can't use properly. She didn't seem happy in our relationship. She wasn't happy at all. And then it changed, you changed it. And she broke our agreement because of you." her grandfather paused. The other man straightened up, not so scared now, looking for something to defend himself or worse. I guess if he wanted to attack, he wouldn't even get close enough. Her grandfather would have simply wiped him off the face of the earth. I can't imagine him bothering to draw a sword. "I wonder what you can offer to her."
"The only thing she doesn't have," he decided to look the older man straight in the eye. "Unconditional love."
A loud bang shook the whole room. The younger man, who had been standing still all this time, fell to his knees. It scared me too, Andrea didn't move. She didn't even twitch. "You are nothing! Absolutely nothing! I should kill you. Impale your head on the walls and burn it along with the whole city," he shouted. "You talk about unconditional love and you don't even understand the words. You don't understand any of this. You think so, just because you're asking nothing in return, and you're lying to yourself and Joanna." for the first time in all this time, he turned to face us.
I know he can't see us. I have to remind myself of this over and over again so I don't go say hello to him. His sculptures do not describe him very accurately. The stone images look too serious and stiff compared to his face. All I see before me is a man broken by all those years of building his empire. "But if something happened to you, she would never forgive me. Funny how much she cares about you... and I couldn't forgive myself for causing her the pain. So let it be your way. You can continue to play that silly game of unconditional love. I will have no part in it."
He went back to the old mansion without turning to the man again. Instead of hurting the man, he hurt himself. This is behavior that reminds me of Andrea. More than I wish. I looked at her, she seemed sad. Very sad. She let go of my hand and took a step back. An oppressive atmosphere surrounded us. The warmth of the place vanished, engulfed in an ugly, insatiable emptiness.
This is no longer a narrative that anyone wants to pass on. It's someone's memory, written right into the book, with all the feelings and pain. It must be her grandfather's memory. He was still standing in front of me and suddenly started running. That's why she let me go to him and she could stay, because she doesn't want to see it herself. Because she knows that memory well. And she said Andra hadn't killed herself. So what?
I ran after him to the open door. It's the same room the kids were in. He didn't even stop. He ran across the soft carpet to where dark blood slowly soaked into the white fibers. Just a step away from the puddle lies a bloody sword, almost the same as Andrea's. Frighteningly similar.
He bent down beside the blade, took her body in his arms, pulled it to him, and sat there. Unable to do anything because he was too late. His daughter was dead, her white uniform makes everything worse. There's blood everywhere, I'm not even sure where her injuries are.
And he just continued to sit there. In an instant, it was as if he had abandoned his own life. All that was left was the shell of the man we were all supposed to look up to. A man whose face was contorted with resigned pain and dark brown eyes filled with despair. That was the end of it for him.
The memory faded before me, returning me to the library, leaving me speechless. She didn't kill herself, she was killed right in their mansion. This partly answers the question of why they didn't stay here. It changed everything for them.
Andrea closed the book in front of us, tapping the cover with her fingers. "She didn't kill herself, but I guess you can see why they spread different story. It didn't fit into family propaganda. Just because they would have to admit the children, and well, the statues of his wife and everything around her would have to go, which would have been a huge problem even then." I nodded slowly, I can think of about a thousand questions, but I can't ask a single one of them. Everything I thought I knew is completely different. He was completely different, and so were those closest to him. No wonder she hates all stories about her own family. They are not even partially so happy and innocent. And it must all seem like a lie that hurts her.
She reached out to me and touched my hand carefully. "It didn't matter to him that the kids weren't his, I think he would just raise them. At the beginning of it all, they were just children. He knew about his wife's romance from the beginning. Immortality, she said, could not be combined with monogamy, and he did not mind. She gave him her word that for her it was just a way to shorten her eternity. But she broke her word, fell in love, and he couldn't get over it, mostly because of his ego. He would just let her go, it would be enough for him that she wasn't lying to him, and of course she knew, but she decided otherwise. Maybe she didn't want to lose her position, maybe she loved him to some extent and couldn't leave him. I never quite understood it. And Andra kept pouring in, she couldn't let it go. She tried to get rid of her mother and the children. And Joanna must have been very desperate when she tried to silence her own daughter, but it was too late for that, he knew everything the whole time. My guess is, he didn't believe it could go so far. He must've believed there's a different end. But Andra chose foe him, for everyone. Joanna had to disappear with the children. Ironically, the children's father died not long after. A perfectly ordinary disease that a capable mage could cure, but..." she stood up and took the book. "they were hiding from my grandfather and he wasn't even looking for them. He hid himself from the whole world for several years. He mourned his daughter, or so Stephan presented it. I think he just went crazy. He came up with spells that can't be considered the work of someone sane." she came back, reached for my hand, and looked into my eyes as if searching for the right words. So far, I understand her explanation. That makes it worse.
"Didn't he want revenge?"
"I don't know, maybe, the spells suggest it, but there was nothing he could do." she bit her lip. "We have only one rule that none of us can break. I mustn't kill another Immortal, and he was bound by that rule too. More than others. He came up with it himself, and through all his hypocrisy and cruelty, he just couldn't break it."
"So what did he do?" I can't imagine anyone letting go of such a thing. He certainly wouldn't do it. His ego and devotion to his family could not be measured even then. Even Andrea couldn't let it go. Never. Which also answers the question of why we are in this mess.
"He made the biggest mistake and ruined everything. You see, everyone in our family had a place until Andra died, then it all fell apart. Grandfather chose his Heirs, but Andra was to be his successor. He chose her himself, although you could say that she helped him a little with it. She advised him and had a clear plan for what to do next. Stephan only took it upon himself because he was the oldest, but he was never actually his direct successor, that later fell on me. He didn't desire it as much as Andra did. Jonathan was already with my mother and they wanted nothing to do with it, they left and Damien eventually did too, because he couldn't stay in the old mansion where everything reminded her. So, when his wife came back with a request, no one stopped him. I think he just loved her all the time and couldn't refuse her. And he made the twins Immortal."
"But they're not his heirs." I need to confirm. They're not his children, so they can't be his Heirs, right?
"No, of course not. You don't need to be someone's Heir in order to become Immortal. But they… they're not even Hales," she replied with feigned calmness. She took back her hands and stood up. "Andra wasn't quite right, they're mages, they just can't hold their own power. Not like you or me, but they can use it. They have to draw. Anytime, anywhere. They are the worst kind of waste our society has ever known. They're small, immortal monsters!" she fumed. "A mistake my family refused to correct," she clenched her fists. I expect her to hit something at any moment.
"You mean to tell me that they, the two little children, are behind all this?" she loosened her grip and nodded. I remembered what she said yesterday, that this was about her family and she wanted to sort it out on her own. "Why are you telling me all this now?"
Andrea looked at me silently. It's exactly the look that always precedes a sentence, now you should start freaking out. She reached out to me and took me into another memory.
Two figures stood before me, in black coats, with the same fair hair. A perfect copy of the latter, her features are a little more delicate, his figure is more muscular, at first glance it is clear that they are twins. From the same eyes to cruel smiles. She stood still, he didn't. He came to me, took my hand, her hand. I would recognize her kight, silk skin and long fingers anywhere. Like that little scar on her forearm that no magic hides, probably because it was there before she died. The first time.
It's Andrea's memory. Before I could process it or point it out, I lost all my breath. Something pulled it out of my lungs with terrible force, leaving an excruciating void. A terribly painful void that neither of us can fill and makes me panic.
In the next second, it was all gone. All that was left was my horror and quickened breathing. This is one of those things that won't let her fall asleep. Which scares her. It has to be.
"I can't protect you from them, Steven, I can't protect myself from them," I hid her in my arms. A single memory of her could infuriate me. It should have scared me a lot more, I know it should, but I can't help it. Seeing anyone hurting her is the worst thing I can imagine. I don't care if it's her family, no matter how distant. I bit my lip again, much harder than before. "I'm telling you this now because you have to understand that if you become Immortal now, their attention will turn to you, and neither of us is ready for that. Trust me."
"I can protect you, you just have to let me." I would do anything to keep her safe. I don't care what attention I draw to myself. If the bastard comes to me, I'll be ready to kill him.
"Steven, you don't understand me," she let go of me, looking up. She looks at me tenderly. "Neither Stephan nor Damien, nor even Jonathan could protect me. It took them weeks to find me and they only did so, because I found a way to get out. And never before or since had I seen my father so furious. He unleashed his own, personal hunt for the two... he had been looking for them for years. All three were looking for them. And they still didn't find them, they didn't stop them."
Weeks? Had she disappeared for weeks and they couldn't find her? Had she been in pain for weeks? "An..." terrified, I pulled her back to me. It was only this thought that stopped my heart and sent an icy chill down my spine. I need to hold her close to me. All this time she must be as scared as I am now. "Why? I don't understand," I whispered into her hair. All my thoughts fell apart. What I thought I knew. None of this makes sense to me, even though it is supposed to fit together perfectly. At the beginning and end of everything is her family. She was right from the beginning, no one should pray to him, he caused all this. He let her go through it. He didn't manage the world he created. And I don't know what to do about it.
"You're going to crush me," came quietly from my grasp. I immediately let her go. I find her so much more fragile now, even though she's smiling. How can she? "I understand what you're going through and what you're thinking. I'm fine, Steven. It all happened three hundred years ago." have they been looking for them for so long? I frowned, this definitely doesn't make any sense. "Take a slow breath and look at me. I'm exactly the same as yesterday."
"No, you're not." inhaling and exhaling can't help me with that. Why was she with them? When? How? For what?
"Fine. I guess you have a lot of questions."
About a million. They are all fighting over the word. "Why haven't you found them yet?"
"It's not that simple. You said Teyber would disappear first, at the first sign of trouble, the Twins would never let it go that far. They are constantly in motion and, like us, they can pass into other worlds or create one. They leave traces, but they have a huge lead."
"Can't Daniel find them? He serves you."
"He serves all the Immortals, but he answers only to the Heirs, and they know it," she shrugged resignedly. "They are careful and plan everything in advance, down to the smallest detail. They don't die like we do, they don't serve... they're just always on the run."
"Can only the sword kill them?" Andrea's eyebrow flew up.
"I suppose there are other ways, but injuries from that sword can't be healed by magic. A single blow to the heart would suffice," she put her hand on my shoulder and put on a sweet tone. "if it were that simple, we would have gotten rid of them a long time ago. Twins can be incredibly cunning, they cover each other's backs, and you never fight just one of them. In addition, they have the same weapons as us. One wrong step and it's over. And then there's the rule, the bastards are still Immortal."
"Can't you kill them? Not even after all of it?" I ran a hand through my hair in surprise. This must be some kind of bad joke. Fuck their rules.
"Not until I have all four votes. We follow the rules no matter what, we can't just start killing each other," she said dryly. These are exactly the rules they always follow and I can't understand it. Something like this is perhaps beyond the ordinary rules. "There are worse endings than death."
Worse? What could have been worse than the end of a life that should never have ended? I frowned. "What happened to his wife?"
"That's a really good question, he couldn't have killed her, not truly, but at the same time she's not alive either. All I know for sure is that there's no way she could go back…" she shrugged and tried to smile. "You said you didn't enjoy all the secrets, nor do I. Things about my family threaten you more than they threaten me. This is something that only Thalus and Daniel know about, even Edgar doesn't know about the Twins, we've erased them from history. Nothing connects them to us. That's why I want you to understand that I have my reasons for protecting you. I don't think you can't take care of yourself, and at the same time, I know you won't let it go. I just need to know you're safe or well... as safe as possible under these conditions, do you understand me?"
"But I need the same, Andrea," I said, almost desperately. If something happens to her, I don't know what I'm going to do. All my morning doubts are gone. I don't know why I let Jossellin make me doubt her in the first place. Why did I allow Catarina to do this? It's not that we don't belong together. I just have to find a way to save her. In front of her and everyone else. And her family.
Andrea stood on tiptoe, put her arms around me, and pulled herself towards me. "I'll always come back to you," she whispered.
"You'd better," I grumbled, squeezing her in my embrace again. I don't care what others think. She belongs to me. She giggles quietly, as if she knows what I'm thinking, but that wouldn't really surprise me. If anything, she knows me better than anyone.
"I know it's a lot and you can't process it all right now, but we have a whole week of celebration ahead of us and we have reason to celebrate, right?" she grabbed my hand again and pulled me down the hall and away from the library.
"Can't you just jump from place to place here?" I suppose she can't, because she keeps guiding me. Most of the time, she doesn't prefer to walk.
"Don't you like the old mansion?" she laughed. I can't say I don't like it, it's just huge. Decorated with hundreds of paintings and there are these giant roses everywhere.
"No, it's just that your family doesn't strike me as a group of people who would prefer walking," I stopped and pointed to one of the many paintings. On the way there, I didn't notice it. A little girl with huge eyes sits on her father's lap with a stuffed bunny in her hand. "You were so cute, Anie." until now, I could only imagine what she looked like as a child. "How old were you?"
"Why do you all feel the need to call me Anie..." Andrea leaned closer to the canvas, looking for something. She took a closer look at Jonathan, who was enjoying the sight of her play with the bunny, then her gaze shifted to the giant white bow in her hair. "I think five, there's a year somewhere, but Jim always hides it somewhere."
"Did he paint that?" the image in the painting is accurate - judging by Jon - I didn't know he could paint.
"You don't think I have my artistic talents from Jonathan," she laughed while studying the painting. I joined her, there must be a digit somewhere. If I calculated correctly, it would be 238 and something, depending on how old she is in the picture.
"I didn't know you could paint." what else can she do, and I don't know about it? I stopped my finger just in front of the canvas with her little hand. The numbers 2387 stand out clearly above the layers of paint, right next to Damien's signature.
"So four," she straightened up and smiled at me. She still looks like that little girl with big brown eyes and a sweet smile. She's just a little taller, not much, but a little.
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