Hand raised to knock on the door of Jude’s study, Deianira’s advanced hearing caught the sound of commotion on the other side of the palace. It wasn’t the usual bustle of the servants milling around after lunch. Something was happening.
Though she had a sentinel, Deianira was more than capable of protecting herself and had no quarrel with handling trouble alone, so, task forgotten, she took off in the direction of the noise.
The closer she got to the source of the noise, the more uneasy she felt. She saw that she was nearing the enforcers’ wing. A familiar feeling of dread churned in her gut, but, ignoring it, she picked up into a run. Rounding the corner, she readied her hands to summon shadows to quicken her pace when she was mowed down by a large body.
Halfway to anger at whichever servant that had just run into her, Deianira righted herself only to see the same face that had been haunting her these past few days.
Was he really trying to escape?
Not even bothering to draw a shadow, she pushed at his shoulder, turning him before jumping up and sweeping an arm around his neck. Successfully pulling him into a chokehold, she realized that his size made it much harder for her to keep him in place, so she kicked at the back of his knee and tugged. His legs slipped from beneath him and she held him up as she landed on her feet.
“Are you delusional or just that stupid?” she seethed into his ear.
“Please!” he gasped out, tapping her arm.
Her brows furrowed. Please? Please what? Before she could question him further, Hewn and several other enforcers barreled into the hallway. Deianira stared down her third in command. How could he be so careless?
Coming up to her side, Hewn looked down at Cade, who was still in her hold. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty.” He glared at Cade.
“What is the meaning of this?” she asked, enraged.
Hewn looked nervous and he had every reason to be. Incompetence was not dealt with lightly. “I don’t know. We received a riot alert, but when we arrived, we found Devin Jacobs deceased and then he just ran.”
Horrified, Deianira pulled back her arms, stepping back as if she had been burned, and Cade fell to the ground on his back. She knew he was a murderer but some delusional part of her mind told her that he wasn’t what she thought. It was the way he looked at her sometimes. Like he was just misunderstood. But this? To kill another inmate as a distraction to escape justice? And a young boy too? Devin might not have been the most capable but he had a good heart. It was despicable.
That familiar, comfortable, icy feeling settled inside of her and while looking into Cade’s eyes she said to Hewn, “Leave us.”
“Your Majesty…”
“Leave us!” she lashed out.
Hewn only nodded and began retreating, followed by the remaining enforces.
“Get up,” she whispered to Cade.
She would kill him just like she should have days ago. Slowly, painfully. As he rolled over to stand, Deianira caught Cade’s glum expression.
“Please, I need your help,” he panted quietly, getting to his feet.
Deianira had heard many last words, but this was a first. Not bothering to disguise her disbelief, she stared at him, open-mouthed.
“I know you don’t owe me anything and if you want to kill me for the trouble I’ve caused, then go ahead but please, help him.”
Help who? Devin?
Deianira was beyond confused now.
“You killed that boy, and now you want me to help him?” She spoke each word slowly, wanting him to hear how they sounded.
His expression morphed into one of shock and offense. “What? You think I killed him? He’s my friend.”
Deianira took particular note of the fact that he referred to Devin in the present tense and instantly, her hackles rose. Something about the way that he spoke told her that there was another explanation. But until she figured out what it was, she wouldn’t clear him.
“Are you saying you didn’t? You had no problem killing four innocent men before you even arrived here. Am I supposed to assume that you’ve miraculously converted to pacifism?”
His chest rose, eyes narrowing menacingly. “You want to talk about killing innocent people? Your own fam…” he abruptly cut himself off, looking just as surprised by his own words.
But the damage was already done. She knew what he was going to say and once the shock of his words wore off, she was left with a pit in her stomach. He was right.
It had been years since anyone had even spoken words of that incident in her presence, but that didn’t stop her from reliving those moments every night before she slept. If she thought she couldn’t be any more surprised today, she was quickly humbled by his next words.
“You’re an azrael, right? I…I read a book that said that you can restore people.” Cade whispered as if he was scared of what she might say.
Deianira’s eyes widened.
“If you want to punish me, punish me, but I’m begging you.” His voice became thick with emotion. “He’s just a kid.”
The pain in his voice told her that his concern for Devin ran a lot deeper than a bond that could have been formed in only a few days, but he still seemed genuine. Pocketing the thought she re-focused her attention on Cade.
It appeared that her brain and body were not in accordance with each other because as she opened her mouth to tell him that there was nothing she could do, the words that left it suggested otherwise.
“Where is he?”
What am I doing?
Cade
What am I doing?
Cade couldn’t believe his luck when Deianira conceded, but waiting in the infirmary for Devin to be brought in, he began to second-guess himself. He hadn’t even spoken a word on the way over for fear that she might change her mind. She was already so unpredictable and he wouldn’t have been surprised if she did, so, taking the win, he sat silently and just hoped that she wouldn’t.
Just being in the room with her made him anxious. He briefly thought back to the last time he was here, with Octavia. For someone who could read people, and quite well too, he still found himself perplexed when it came to Deianira’s reaction earlier today. Deciding to push his luck after all, he broke the silence.
Cade cleared his throat. “Octavia said that her father was sent to see me.” Looking down at his slightly worn boots, he continued. “How did you know I was in here with her?”
She took a while to respond, making Cade think that she might ignore him.
“I watched you,” she said, staring at the blank wall in front of them.
After a beat of silence, she looked up to see questions written in Cade’s eyes. Sighing, she pointed to the corner of the room. At the same box on the ceiling that he had been looking at last night.
“It’s a camera.”
She was spying on me?
Any more of Cade’s questions were cut short by the familiar whoosh of the door sliding open and he quickly got his feet. Hewn wheeled Devin into the room, followed by his deputy. As he caught Hewn’s gaze, Cade wanted to apologize. He knew that if he had asked to see the Queen, he would’ve been denied and while he didn’t regret his decision, he still felt bad for the commotion he had caused. Getting Hewn in trouble was the last thing he wanted to do, especially because he was the first to step in when he had called for help.
As the enforcers left the room, Cade’s eyes fell on Devin’s still figure. His heart ached at the sight and it was only then that he figured out why.
Cassian. He reminded him of Cassian.
They were nothing alike in personality, but it was his age and the absence of the relationship between him and his brother that made him feel so despondent when he looked at Devin. The light bond he had formed with Devin in only a few days was more stable than the bond he had with his own brother. Cade regretted not making more of an effort with Cassian and now he wouldn’t get the chance to.
Deianira walked up to Devin’s side. “How did he die?” Her voice was shaky.
“I don’t know,” Cade responded, still watching Devin.
She looked up at him, puzzled. “What do you mean, you don’t know?”
He met her gaze. “He couldn’t breathe and he started choking, but he was fine before, and then…he wasn’t. I don’t know what happened,” Cade said under his breath.
As her eyes left his, she took a shaky breath looking at Devin, regret flowing from her. Apprehension filled Cade’s veins. She was changing her mind.
“I can’t do it,” she whispered, and as if sensing his own disappointment, she took a step back from the table. From Cade. “Physically, I can,” she leveled, “but I shouldn’t. You should just let him go peacefully.”
Even Cade was surprised by his tone of voice when he said, “Do it.”
Deianira shook her head jerkily. “You’re not listening to me. It will only make it worse.” Her eyes became glossy, on the verge of brimming. Cade was listening. But he didn’t care. Maybe it was selfish but strangely, he felt like he was losing his brother again.
“Do it. Please.” There was nothing more he could do than beg.
Staring straight into his eyes, her tone was daring, holding threat. “You will speak to no one about this.”
Cade nodded. He didn’t need her to tell him what she would do if he failed to keep his word to know that it wouldn’t end well for him.
Wiping her hands on her long black dress, her eyes flitted to Cade momentarily before she stepped back up to the table. As she began to secure Devin’s hands in the restraints beside the bed, she spoke to Cade, working simultaneously.
“I’ve only done this once before. There is a reason that you don’t hear of azraels restoring people anymore, and it’s not just because we’re rare.” She picked up a pair of scissors from the tray and started cutting open his shirt. “It’s not natural, and therefore there are consequences.” Setting down the scissors and picking up a scalpel, she carefully made a deep incision across his left pectoral. “Nature has a very cruel way of retaliating when you toy with the balance.” And then his right. “When they come back, they’re never quite the same.” Placing the scalpel down, she closed her eyes and slowly rubbed her hands together. “There were tales of people going mad. Some became violent, some hysterical. Some were just absent of all emotion. There are many unpredictable outcomes.” Her voice was unsteady now but Cade couldn’t focus for long enough to work out if it was fear or distress because, to his horror, she placed both hands on Devin’s chest and began to wedge her fingers into the cuts. “There are a lot of factors though. It can depend on when and how they died. But the process is unstable nonetheless.”
Shadows slowly began to seep out from her hands and surround Devin. Cade took his eyes off him to look at Deianira, wondering if this was supposed to be happening, but the second his eyes shifted, Devin began to convulse on the bed.
Watching Devin’s body thrash, Cade started to think that this might have been a grave mistake. Of course, he wanted Devin alive, but not at the cost of his soul.
He went to touch Deianira‘s shoulder to tell her to stop but thought better of it. She’d said that the process was unstable so disrupting her didn’t seem like the wisest course of action.
The seizing only became more violent before all the shadows disappeared and Devin‘s body lay still.
Deianira removed her fingers from the incisions and stepped back, her hands lifted and trembling. Cade watched her and waited for something to happen or for her to speak, but she didn’t.
It didn’t work. He’d done all of this for nothing.
A choked breath stole his attention away from Deianira as he threw his gaze to Devin who was trying to sit up, gasping for air.
Deianira
Not knowing what to expect, Deianira slowly stepped away from the table until her back hit a wall, her bloody hands shaking at her sides.
She had sworn to herself that she would never use her ability in this way again. Not after what happened the last time. It was a promise she had kept for over thirty years, so why did she let this man convince her to break it? It didn’t take much either. Looking into those desperate eyes, she just couldn’t find it in herself to say no.
After his gaze skipped around the whole room, Devin finally noticed Cade.
“What the fuck is going on?” he asked, jarring his hands in the restraints. Quickly seeing Deianira standing behind Cade, Devin straightened up. “Oh shit. Your Majesty.” He nodded his head awkwardly in his horizontal position.
She wanted to roll his eyes at his formality considering her hands had just been inside his chest. Neither Deianira nor Cade responded.
“Cade? You’re kinda starting to freak me out. What’s going on? Why am I strapped to a bed?” He looked scared, confused.
Deianira stepped forward and spoke so that Cade wouldn’t have to.
She didn’t filter her words. Just spoke plainly and got straight to the point.
“You died this evening and Cade asked me to restore you. I did. What is the last thing you remember?” she asked.
Devin widened his eyes at Deianira as if she had been speaking a different language.
“What the fuck do you mean, I died? I’m right here. And why am I still strapped to this thing?”
All formalities apparently forgotten, he began aggressively spewing more questions, hyperventilating. As he went to calm him, Cade finally found his voice, interrupting Devin’s spiraling.
“Devin,” he said firmly, trying to get his attention, but Devin wouldn’t settle.
Midway through his breakdown, Devin finally noticed the incisions in his chest and his panic doubled. “What the fuck?!” He was manically tugging at his restraints now.
Deianira understood his reaction. To him, he’d blacked out and woken up again only to be told that he’d died. It was a lot to take in. What was unexpected though was what she saw when she looked closer at his hands in the restraints. Squinting her eyes and focusing, she watched the threads on the leather straps begin to snap and fray. They were designed to hold people much stronger and much more powerful than Devin Jacobs, and they were on the verge of breaking. If he didn’t calm down soon, he’d tear them apart.
“Devin!” Cade called again, bringing Deianira’s attention back to him. “You’re okay. You’re fine,” he said in a low voice.
And like a switch had been flipped, the rise and fall of Devin’s chest began to slow and he nodded, looking to Deianira. Eyes flicking back to Cade with suspicion, she studied him. She’d seen him do something similar with her sentinel but he’d seemed just as surprised as her. He obviously wasn’t aware of whatever he’d done. She shoved her thoughts away and resumed her conversation with Devin.
“What is the last thing you remember?”
“All I remember is going back to the dorm and not feeling too good. Then I was here,” he recounted.
Deianira watched his face. He was telling the truth but at the same time, it didn’t make any sense. That couldn’t have been it. She had read every file on each inmate before they were entered into the program and Devin didn’t have any pre-existing medical conditions. As a precaution, the dorms were designed to dampen abilities, so it couldn’t have been someone in the room either. But this didn’t seem like an accident, people didn’t just choke and die. Especially not the gifted.
Why Devin though? He certainly hadn’t made any friends with his little arson act, but the homeowner was heavily compensated. He was a seer too, not usually the vengeful type. Who would want him dead? And why? Deianira pushed her mind for an explanation. No one in the dorms could’ve used their gifts on him. This was more discreet. Something happened between the lunch hall and the dorms.
As a possible explanation came to mind, she asked, “Devin, what was the last thing you ate?”
He pondered over the question. “I can’t remember. Whatever was for lunch today. I ate in the cafeteria just like everyone else.”
Cade nodded, eyes constantly flicking between Deianira and Devin. “Yeah, I sat right next to him and we ate the exact same thing.”
“And you don’t have any allergies?“ she asked, just in case his file wasn’t up to date.
He shook his head. “No, not that I know of.”
Hands on her hips, Deianira bit her lip, becoming agitated at her cluelessness. What am I not seeing?
“Hey, erm, while you’re thinking over there, can one of you get these off?” Devin asked, shaking his hands.
“No!” Deianira exclaimed at the same time that Cade stepped forward to remove them.
“Why not?” Devin whined.
“Because restoration isn’t an exact science. There’s no way to know if you’re still you.”
She was already concerned by what she’d seen with the restraints but she refrained from mentioning it as she didn’t want to scare him any more.
He jolted his hands in the cuffs, annoyance rising again. “Well, I’m feeling perfectly normal.”
“Good for you but that’s not a risk I’m willing to take.” she retorted, matching his tone.
“Can you at least loosen…”
“Wait! Just wait one second.” Cade put his hands out as if to shush them. On a normal day, Deianira would’ve scoffed at his nerve, but the past ten minutes had her shaken. “The beer…I gave you my drink. I didn’t touch it.” Cade declared with his hands up.
Devin rolled his eyes. “So did at least twenty other people, genius.”
That had Deianira shushing them now. Think! They ate the same thing. Multiple people drank the beer. Cade gave his to Devin. Deianira began to slowly pace from wall to wall. She had already erased the idea that Cade had tried to harm Devin so she knew that he hadn’t tampered with the drink. But still, the only thing that set Devin apart from the others was that he drank from Cade’s cu-
“The cup,” she whispered as she froze, eyes flicking around the room. Cade’s look of confusion reminded her that the others in the room weren’t privy to her thoughts. She attempted to steady her heart and explained. “Poison. If the cup was poisoned, it wouldn’t matter what either of you had. Whoever drank from that cup would’ve been hit.” She tilted her head to the side as she muttered under her breath. “It’s quite smart actually.” Despite the nature of the situation, she was still able to appreciate the thought that was put in. “You guys are lined up alphabetically, correct? It wouldn’t have been hard to tamper with a specific cup if you knew where the person was positioned on the register.”
When she briefly looked to Cade to see if he was catching on, she witnessed his confusion wash away as understanding lit up behind his eyes.
Now, it was only Devin who was confused.
“Poison? Wait, why would someone try to kill me?” He looked genuinely offended. Just as he asked the question, he frowned with another one. “And how would anyone know that I would drink from Cade’s cup?”
Cade, now caught up on Deianira’s line of thought, met her eyes as he answered Devin’s question.
“They didn’t. It was meant for me,” he said quietly, releasing a shuddery breath.
