75 | ACT V, SCENE II

P R E V I O U S L Y

And whatever the pain threw at me, I never dared to let go of that light.

ARCTON FORTRESS, RIMEBAY, VERTGATE.

EDWINA

I WAS ONCE AGAIN LACED in daydream, blowing kisses in the air, my heart a tender frost.

"Catch me! Can you catch me?" I laughed, running faster, my feet lightly touching the ground in soft kisses. The breezy, scarlet dress flew around me, fanning out with my hair as I raced my family to the pomegranate orchard.

No one came after me.

"Aidon? Mother? Father?" I called out, now slightly worried. I felt the warm presence of my knife at my belt and continued further, heading into the trees, feeling the fresh air.

Except that it wasn't the orchard I knew. It had turned into a dark forest. I stumbled into a pool, giving a small shriek as my ankle sunk into the muddy water.

"Edwina," said a voice softly, the barest of whispers, as light as air.

A tall woman with peach sweet flesh stood there, waiting for me, a single ivory rose in hand.

"Who - who are-"

And suddenly, I stumbled back, the realization hitting me like tidal wave, without her even having to answer out loud for me.

Aurea. She was Aurea.

Holy goddess, mother of all gods.

"You've finally come, child. We've been waiting so long for you," she whispered in a sweet, frail voice, plucking a petal and letting it fall to the ground. She suddenly grasped my face in her hands. "You must listen," she said urgently. "You must listen."

"What do you want?" I asked cautiously.

"You need to save them. You need to save them. My true children left it, you let my Cosmo and Titania go-"

"Emerick and Justaline-"

"-they are cheaters, lunatics who will not last for long," Aurea urged.

"-Zadicus and Pandora-"

"-are the eldest of my offsprings, and the vilest," she whispered, the rose thorns now pricking her fingers, pearls of blood dropping to the ground. "And they are coming for you."

"Show them salvation. For the sake of my Aurea," said a solid male voice from behind me. Shock flared up in me to find a tall, heavily built man with the sky in his hand.

Her husband and brother, Uranus.

Lord immortal of the skies, ruler of the heavens.

"Save them. You know where it is," said another voice, I gasped in horror to find Cosmo's exact lookalike right before me, moss green eyes pleading me to understand. The silvery hair gleamed in the lights.

"Know where what is?" I whispered.

"The screw. The Logogram. The second part," Titania appeared out of thin air, her sea blue gaze locking into mine as the four closed in on me.

"Find it before they find you. Save them before the Titans come," a woman with green eyes and hair the colour of chestnut pulled me into her embrace as I froze and my blood ran cold.

My mother.

"Where am I? Is this real?"

"Of course it's real," chimed a new voice, a high, sweet sound, and I gasped in shock to find a woman with strikingly familiar pale white skin and eyes the colour of dark rivers, raven black hair gathered to one side as she observed me.

Elodie.

"You're - you're dead-" I gasped, then turned and saw my mother. "You're dead. All of you," I whispered, turning around to look at Uranus, Aurea, Cosmo and Titania and Elodie, "You're dead. All of you are dead," I continued. Fissures and cracks started opening down their faces and blood started running down their cheeks. The skin peeled off as it began to expose cruel smiles and rotten bone underneath.

A hand to my shoulder roughly pulled me around.

A purple painted silk fan, almond eyes.

Remora.

"Save them you will, Edwina Tremayne. But at what cost?" she leered, throwing aside her fan and cupping my face up, soft skin, her slashed mouth gaping open as she hissed in my ear. "The darkness serves me. And you? You are just one of my many offerings," she whispered, giving me a saccharine smile.

Above us was a tree heavily laden with rich pomegranates, and sitting hidden in its branches was another woman. She sat perched there, coolly eating the pomegranate, her mouth stained red.

Platinum blond hair. Red lips. Green dress. Eyes without whites.

The woman.

"No!" I screamed, trying to run, but something forced my steps towards her, out of control. "I'll... I'll kill you. Let me go!"

"Darling," she laughed. "I'm already dead."

The ability to run was getting robbed away from me, slowly, slowly claiming me into oblivion, and before the night claimed me I heard the whisper again.

"He told you where it is."

• • • • •

Moment by moment, my senses slowly returned to me.

"I opened up her chest. The poison had nearly reached the heart. Frankly, I'm surprised her heart is even beating," a man spoke somewhere above me, his voice cool and efficient.

I buckled under the blindfold, under the leather straps tying me to the stake.

Another needle full of morphine plunged into my neck.

And that was when I screamed.

A stitch opened somewhere, threads bursting free, and the hand firmly pushed me back to the hard surface beneath me as I felt warm blood trickle down.

"...hold her so that I can close the stitch, quick!"

"No... more, no more needles... please," I croaked, struggling to break free of the blindfold.

I need it off - I needed to see - to see him - to know he was there-

"GODS! PULL IT OFF! TAKE IT OUT - GODS - TAKE IT OFF TAKE IT OFF TAKE IT OFF!" I screamed, now my body began to convulse again, sharp points of pain over my sides, my hands, my neck, my head, my eye, my legs.

"Calm down, Edwina - shhh, it's alright, everything is going to be alright-"

"...take it off. Please. Just make the screaming stop," a woman sobbed somewhere.

"JUST PULL IT OFF!" I moaned. No one did a thing. More pain, my back arched off the bed and screams rent the air. "TAKE IT OFFFFFFF!"

A moment later, someone gently pulled the cool cloth from over my eyes. To my horror, I could only open one eye, the other slammed shut by a force so hard I could feel it in my bones. My muscles worked to pry it open as the man authoritatively tied another bandage in place to keep it shut.

"No, no - don't try, shhh..." he said quietly. "It will make the pain worse."

Furious heat began to take over as dark spots of hotness swirled inside my eyeballs, pricking and itching, my arms and legs tied so that I had no way of escape. Some indefinite amount of time passed as I screamed over and over, howling from the pain until they drugged me again and the warm fizz of opium numbed my senses. There was someone else, pressing a cold glass of water to my parched, split lips. My dry throat groaned in response as I tried to speak coherently. All that came out were painful croaks as a warm hand lovingly stroked my head.

I was not even aware of the tears streaming down my cheeks, blurring whatever little vision I had even as someone softly wiped them. I heard the metallic click and whir of a speculum pulling my eye wide open as I struggled to swat it away. My eye filled with even more tears as someone shone a light into it.

"She still needs rest... lots of rest," the man murmured as he placed a palm over my chest, feeling for the heartbeat.

"Will she - she's going to live, right?" another voice shook with tears beside me, the voice I'd clung to for so long.

"The fever has broken but she's still delirious. The healing will be long and painful."

A few more sips of water later, the heat clouding my eye began to subside slowly, clearing my vision inch by painful inch. I could still see only blurred shapes and dull colors, but it was better than the darkness, better than nothing.

People came into view. Eyes. Lots of eyes. Looking at me, faces outlined in concern and pure rage. A child crying. Panthers howling. Grey eyes. Sky blue eyes. Emerald green eyes, a light green dress and a head of brown curls. Golden hair. Sheets of gold. Crying. Even more crying. Silver hair. Obsidian eyes, set in a face strikingly familiar to one with dark blue eyes of the thunder.

"Lord, no..." I croaked, my dry lips chapped and cracked, and my head rolled to the other side. "Get - get... get out."

"Shh... Edwina, I'm here. I'm right here."

A white hand. Black hair. Then a woman in light blue eyes came close, a white dress on her, sobbing into the chest of a man with a crown on his golden hair. She reached over to me and I immediately shied away from the fingers, straining against the bonds that held me tied. It was a private version of hell, tied and restrained with no way of leaving the prying voices, and I screamed myself hoarse trying to tell them to leave.

"No... please - out." I tried to reason against the fizz and hiss of opium in my veins, but the drug was clearly winning, pulling me back under.

"Your sis-"

"-out-" I managed. "Out. Tell her to get out."

"You heard her. Leave. At once."

"Tristan, please... my sister."

"Get out before I rip off your tongues and hang them on the wall!" he hissed at Amphitrite and Eric. There was another scuffle of robes and dull thud of someone letting out a grunt of anger, before the door closed with a loud slam.

My wrists strained against the straps, begging and howling in pain as I tugged at them. All my fingers felt as if they'd been doused in acid and then burnt alive, crushing the bones to ash. My desperate cries rent the air as they tried to put me back to sleep - I refused - I could not go back - not into that dangerous darkness, not again-

"Noooooo... please," I whimpered helplessly, and more tears dripped down my cheeks. "Please.... not again - please..."

"Shhh, shhh. It's alright, you're safe, I'm here," a man whispered to me, waving away the healers. He gently smoothed back my hair and wiped the beads of sweat on my brow. I shivered and tried to turn in direction of the warmth, but there were still the leather straps. Carefully, they unbuckled the restraints and I curled up next to him in a little ball. He tucked me into his chest, smothering my face with kisses of joy and relief.

I would know him blind. I would know him by the way he took his every breath, by the way his voice curled like smoke when he talked. I would know him in life, and if death existed - I would know him even after the end of the world.

"Tristan..." I whispered, "I was so scared."

His eyes had sunk in from crying, and dark circles under them showed how long he'd stayed up at my side. Even now his gaze was haunted with sorrow, but relief flickered in the depths of eyes, now welling up with emotion.

"Edwina," Tristan said softly, his voice shaken as dried tear tracks gleamed on his cheek. "Oh god - I thought you had left me," he shuddered, holding me tightly as his voice broke. "I - you gave me such a fright. I thought - oh god, I thought - I can lose fucking everything, but not you - oh god, not you."

I shook with more sobs as my tears soaked into his shirt. His arms held me close and tight to his heart, and deep down, a silent voice rippled through me. This is where you belong. This is home. The light that pulled you back, the person you suffered all this pain for.

"Let me see your wounds," he hoarsely whispered.

"But... why?"

"So that I can see how many times I wasn't there when you needed me," his voice broke once again as a single tear rolled down his cheek.

• • • • •

It took a very long time for me to fully regain my senses.

The pain had lasted for a very, very long time, but it finally started to recede as my body regained its long lost strength. My fever had broken four days after they'd brought me into the Fortress, screaming. It had taken another three days for me to be able to even speak properly or use my hand.

Apparently, the elusive Lord Emmerson was very, very good at what he did.

He'd managed to save my life despite the enormous amount of blood I had lost. It had been excruciatingly painful when he burnt out the poison with glowing, white hot knives - but a week later, I was able to sit up in my bed on my own. Vivian fixed my eye as well. I could have healed on my own if I hadn't been badly injured - even when Tristan had beheaded a god as punishment earlier, the bastard had returned a week later. But Vivian used all his powers to speed up the process, to help me. Every morning when I woke, I found him slumped against the wall, exhausted.

He never left my side. And nor did Tristan. Not even once.

Neither had my father, if what they told me had been true. He had arrived that very night I'd been found. He had stayed there by my unconscious self as they had broken and tempered my bones, cut and sewn my skin together. I recalled the day my fever had broken and I had screamed for my traitorous, lecherous family to get out. That was when he had finally been made to leave, he'd since then been waiting outside the doors of the chamber with nearly half of Endollon.

They had found me in a cellar. A cellar somewhere near Eric's Palace. Drusilla was a clever goddess, I had to give her that. She'd selected the spot specifically. If they had left me there for dead, the first ones to get the blame of my torture would have been Eric and Amphitrite themselves. Not something very hard to believe after all they had put me through.

"How are you feeling?" Rosalva rolled me over from where I lay curled up, and placed her hand on my brow to feel the temperature.

"Sore."

She let out a soft laugh as Vivian chortled, feeling my pulse. He shook his head nonchalantly, golden eyes lingering over Tristan and I.

"We'll give you two some privacy," he muttered, nodding to Rosalva. I caught hold of his hand before he left, stopping him.

"Thank you," I whispered. "I owe you my life."

"We are Emmersons. Weave trust with trust. You let my family go alive at the ambush of Rimebay. Consider this my gratitude," he gave me a slight smile. Then he clapped me on the shoulder and left.

Tristan squeezed my hand with relief shining on his tired face, leaning to press a soft peck on my cheek.

"Feel better?"

"I'm good, Valmont."

"It's no use lying to me," he growled.

"Oh, I'm sure," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "At least one of us could get some sleep."

For the first time in days, he managed to crack a smile, and it warmed my heart.

I pulled the sheets to myself as he wrapped a coverlet around my shoulders, gently guiding me to lean back and rest against the soft pillows.

"You found me," I croaked in the silence. "They chained me with Ekrite - how did you find me then?"

"I heard something," he murmured, brushing a hand across my knuckles. "I heard you - not you, but... I heard screams. I heard the knives. I heard someone who was in pain but could not reach out for help."

"But - that's not possible, is it?" I asked. "You can't hear anything across our mental bond in such a situation, can you? Or... wait - are you thinking what I am?" There was a gleam in Tristan's eyes, shining with some sort of knowledge.

"The Blood Oath," he muttered. "My blood flows in your veins, and yours in mine. There was something - some connection."

"Gods, Valmont," I said with a sigh.

"I know," he murmured, both of us too shocked to speak. I flung my hands around him as he clutched me to him, like I was air and he was drowning.

"And Celestina? Have you found her?"

"We are looking," he whispered, lacing his fingers in mine. "I promise we'll find her."

"She could be anywhere. In any form, in any appearance!"

"I have my men out. Philip is leading a contingent of men, and he convinced Eric to send his spies as well. I'm going to find her. I make that promise to you," he swore. Rage glimmered white hot in his dark eyes, now furious. "I should have known. I should have known that I was letting a viper in my castle. I should never have let her marry Llewellyn-"

"You couldn't have possibly known," I said softly. "Don't blame-"

"I am to blame," Tristan said quietly. "I should have known better. She had warned me."

"Celestina warned you?"

"You will pay for this, Tristan Valmont. Days from now, years from now - one day, you will pay. No one dares to scorn me, do you understand? No one."

His voice was tinged and heavy with regret, dangerously quiet with a promise of revenge.

"When?" only one word slipped out of my lips.

"That night in Steffith. When they decided that you would marry me. Celestina-" his voice cracked, "-she paid me a visit that night. She has been trying to get under my skin since the last two centuries. I've refused her every time. I refused her that night as well, and she left with that curse on her lips."

Oh god.

"She wanted-"

"She wanted me to have sex with her," he said quietly.

I couldn't speak. I was speechless. What was it with all these Rotavelle women wanting to take my husband for themselves?

That bitch had broken a new record. She had the entire Triarchy after her life.

"We will find her," I gently cupped his face with my hands. "You have nothing to feel sorry about, Tristan." His expression softened a bit as he placed his hands over mine. "Did she take the cube too?"

"No," he muttered. "I have it. But why did Aidon want to know how the cube opened? What does he know about it that we don't?"

"I have no idea," I replied hoarsely. "He repeatedly demanded I tell him how it opened. I refused. And then... he was my brother. I can't imagine Aidon would ever do it."

"I'm sorry. I know it hurts. But we'll find some way to end this."

"But how?" I asked. "We have the cube, we need the other pieces, we need the Mirror of Uranus! Where is the damn mirror?"

"I think I know where it is," Tristan said quietly.

"Where?"

"Between Dracnesse and Normount."

It took me a moment to register the implications and I let out a small yelp.

"Uranus! The Derwentwater!"

"Yes," he muttered. "It acquired its properties when Cosmo killed Uranus and Uranus's blood fell into it. From there, emerged the Grendel. The river turns objects to gold. And it is the only source capable of watering the drug that the Grendel need to sustain their life. It is the very reason... your mother and my sister are dead."

"Oh god..." I clenched my jaw. "It is the river, alright. So...does dipping the Logogram in it reverse its nature?"

"I think so."

"We need to find the other two pieces and end this. As soon as they let me go."

"Only after I first kill those bastards for doing this to you," he snapped protectively. "For daring to touch you - for daring to hurt you like this."

"But Celestina-"

"-she ran away, but I still have the others in my dungeons. Drusilla, Alaric, Aeneas, Aidon."

"Favian?"

"I killed him," Tristan said simply.

My face lost its colour as my breathing stilled, the fear that had been residing in me woke up at the mention of his name.

"Dead?" I whispered.

"One death was not enough for a bastard like him," my husband growled in a low voice, urgently pressing another kiss on my cheek. "I'll kill the others too. And I will take a very, very long time doing it."

Moisture once again welled up in my eyes as he held out his arms to me. I buried my head in the crook of his neck as he lovingly rubbed my back, running his hands in gentle circles as another sob squeezed out of my throat.

"Edwina," he said softly. "I... I have something to say to you. Will you please hear me out?"

I reluctantly pulled back to find him looking at me with sad eyes filled with tears.

Carefully, I brushed back a lock of his messy black hair and wiped the tear clinging to his eyelashes, slowly placing a caring kiss on his closed eyes.

"Go on."

"I - I wronged you," he began. "I so, so badly wronged you. It had never been your fault, it had never been your fault at all. I didn't imagine what could have been the truth, not for one second. I'm sorry for the way I acted. I'm sorry for shouting when... when that thing with Eric happened. And with Llewellyn. It had never, ever, been your fault. She poisoned your drink with thorn apple and nightshade. Gods, that thing brews up lust and desire. I fully understand you had no... no way of fighting it. Then you told me you were leaving me I assumed... I assumed that you didn't want me anymore. It hurt me so badly, Edwina, I remained drunk for the rest of the day with the bottle in my hand. But the pain didn't go. I was a monster. A complete, horrible monster. I've hated myself so much, I can't tell you. Sitting here, in the darkness, while you cried out in your sleep, I knew that I would die if you died. Because you mean so much to me, Edwina. I can't imagine what I'd do without you. I know I can't fully repair what I did. I understand. It was horrible of me, it was cruel. And I get that you have every right to leave me and just go away from the man I am. I have wronged you beyond compare, I have made you cry. And if you wish to leave me now, I'll understand. I'll let you go. We can be friends. Or not. You humble me, woman. I stand here in front of you, not as King Valmont, but as a man repenting his actions and wholly, sincerely, asking you for forgiveness. I have got a heart, and a soul. They both belong to you, Edwina. I will gladly bleed them out to quench your thirst. I offer them to you, woman. I will never do that again, I swear. I will never, ever, ever, leave you alone again. I swear it to you. I know my hands are not clean of blood. Maybe they never will be. But they'll still carry you home when you're ready to sleep. You have me. Until the universe ends, you have me," he choked in a tender voice. "Please, Edwina. Forgive me for all those things I said to you," he said softly. "I'm sorry."

"Come here," I said quietly. I patted the bed beside me and he settled himself down, his eyes glassy. "I've hurt you as well," I said, putting a finger over Tristan's lips as he began to speak something. "I left you. I left Stormholt without explanation. I left you."

"Ed-"

"-shh. I hurt you. And you hurt me."

"-I'm so-"

"-I told you to shut up," I playfully scoffed. "I will hurt you again. You'll hurt me again. And I'll still come back to you even then. I accept the risk. The pain will be bad, I know. But you are worth it. Being with you is worth it. It matters to me. And I'm," my voice broke slightly, "I'm not going anywhere."

His face suddenly exploded in a devastatingly wonderful smile that moved something in my heart.

"Woman-"

"-no, Valmont. It isn't about who hurt me. It isn't about who came first. It's about who stayed till the last. You did. We're supposed to hurt. We're supposed to mourn. We're supposed to hate and love and destroy and be destroyed. I was scared, yes. I was terrified. I was angry at everyone, I was angry at myself. And I took it all out on you. But you didn't leave. You stayed through it. You stayed through all of it. So I'm not going anywhere, Tristan. I'm not going anywhere without you. You made an honest mistake. It's alright. Now stop being so fucking sentimental. I'll burn down your damned castle if you say sorry one more time," I smiled.

"I'll gladly let you burn my-"

"GODS! VALMONT, DO YOU WANT ME TO KILL YOU?"

"You shouldn't be promoting murder," he muttered dryly.

"We all have our flaws," I said with a grin.

And when he finally held my again in his arms, I felt some of my pieces fall back into place.

Because he was home.

I was finally home.

• • • • •

The Grey's Anatomy reference? Did anyone spot it? I love Owen and Amelia sooo much!!

NOW COMING TO THE CHAPTER.

THE RIVER DERWENT IS THE MIRROR.

AND IF YOU BACK TO THE STARTING FEW CHAPTERS, YOU'LL SPOT CELESTINA VISITING TRISTAN BEFORE HE GOT MARRIED. SHE CURSED HIM THAT NIGHT. AND HE REMEMBERED IT. AND SHE DID AS WELL, AND SHE TRIED VERY HARD TO MAKE THE CURSE COME TRUE BY ALMOST KILLING EDWINA.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

I hope I blew your mind. Be prepared for more mind blowing things because we are entering the last quarter of this book. It's the final stretch so booooom!!