“Are you worried?”
Tomas thought about it. “Uncertain.”
“Uncertain about the Magisters, or uncertain about the question?”
“Both, I guess.”
“Look, if the stories are true, and those Magisters are a bunch of old, crazy mages who drink diseased blood, then we go in, do our job, and get out. The king has some reason for sending us all this way. I reckon these Magisters are perverse and break the natural laws with powers no one be playing with. But… I doubt they will harm us. We are coming to help them, to protect them.”
Tomas nodded. “You’re right. Even if they steal kids and let all that dust and crazy myths from their massive library fill their minds with madness and disease… they have a purpose. Well, the king seems to think they do, anyway.”
“And we got each other’s backs,” Rilan added.
“That’s right.”
It was an unspoken comfort that the two had, knowing that each would stick by the other, no matter what happened.
But as they headed back to camp after their sword practice, and despite their conversation about the Magister’s Imperium easing some of their worries, Rilan could not dispel the sense of danger that clung to his shadow with each step.
Chapter 22 - The Truth
Jerrem Denar had made it clear that King Giliam Bower had little time left. Katryna needed answers, even if it meant confronting her father on his deathbed.
Katryna attempted to enter his quarters, despite protests from the Infinity Guardsmen at his door.
“My lady, you can’t,” the guard said, holding his spear out across the doorway to block her entrance.
“Prince Rowan explicitly stated that no one should enter other than the physicians at this time,” the other guard growled.
Katryna grabbed the shaft of the spear and pushed it away.
“Step aside. I am Princess Katryna Bower, and I will not be told what to do any longer.”
To the guards’ dismay, she forced her way into the room. It reeked of death. The shutters had been left open and a chilled wind howled in like a menacing creature. Most of the candles had been blown out.
King Giliam shivered beneath his furs despite being flustered with sweat dripping down his face.
Katryna stepped up to his bedside. The old man looked even worse than he had the previous night.
She began to cry. There was so much to say, so much she wanted to know. She felt awful that this was the only time for it.
Giliam, upon seeing his daughter’s expression, let out some tears as well. It appeared he knew why she had come.
“Why, father?” Katryna muttered, wiping her face. “Why?”
Giliam stared at her blankly with glassy eyes. Dried blood dotted his chin. He knew she had learned the awful truth.
“Was this your plan all along, to wed me against my will to some foreigner as soon as I returned home after all these years? After everything that happened?”
Between each statement was an awful moment of silence filled only by the violent winds. The curtain rods shook against their metal braces with each gust from the night.
“Or was this what you had always wanted to do with me, ever since I was born? Use me as a bargaining chip to ensure Rowan’s success upon becoming king one day?”
Giliam’s eyelids closed. He struggled to breath, let alone even let out a word in response. His throat was severely parched. He attempted scratchy responses, but Katryna only talked over him.
Katryna grabbed a glass of water from Giliam’s bedside and gently poured some into his mouth. She dabbed a moist cloth on her father’s face, trying to get him as attentive and alert as possible.
Katryna bowed her head solemnly, feeling herself regurgitate all the truths and emotions she had rehearsed in her head for years. She felt like a dam breaking from intense pressure.
“I am so sorry for leaving Ravenrock, father. I am sorry for Willem. I am sorry for breaking mother’s heart, for destroying this family. I am sorry for everything. I ruined everything.”
“Katryna,” Giliam muttered. “Please… don’t.”
“Is that what you want to hear, father? Because it has been a long time coming, and I am done with living with this burden on my shoulders. I have never felt the need to apologise for any of it. I am not sure if it was out of fear, or denial, or naivety. All this time, I have been running away from the truth.
“Being back in Ravenrock has been like opening up an old wound, and now all the blood is finally seeping out. I killed Willem. I did. I loved him more than anything. He was my best friend, and I killed him. I ran because I fear the truth and I feared mother. I ruined our family. I caused all of this.”
Katryna began to uncontrollably sob into her hands, overwhelmed all at once by the years of torture her mind had suffered with.
Her mother’s voice rang in her head. “Katryna, what have you done?!”
To Katryna’s surprise, Giliam tried as best he could to sit up against the wooden headboard of his canopy bed. She stared into his hollow eyes, watching his thin lips as he prepared to speak.
Whatever words come out of his mouth, I deserve to hear them. I have run away for too long.
Giliam cleared his dry throat and wiped the sweat from his brow with a shaking hand. “All of these years, I have failed you… I let you suffer because I knew not what to say or do to fix it. All I ever wanted to do was fix it...”
Katryna reached out and held her father’s hand as he struggled for breath. She took some breaths to try and ease the tightness in her chest as she wept.
“But there is no fixing it,” Giliam sobbed.
Katryna could feel an upwelling of
