Page 69 of Vicious Is My Throne

“Fuck. I never would have left this mess had I known I wouldn’t be back. But the last day I was here…” He chewed his lip. “You never think it’s going to be your last day, not when the morning begins like any other.”

I waited for him to elaborate, but he began digging through a heap of corroded metal objects, a cloud of dust rising around him.

“What are we looking for?” I asked, studying the piles of devices and dried-up potions while stepping over the ruined, swollen books littering the floor.

“Something the king commissioned, long before he decided to sell me out to the Oracle.” Cosimo paused long enough to run his hand over what had once been a robe but was now little more than a snarl of faded fabric.

The table was bare by the time the astrologer slammed his fists down. “The godsdamned thing has to be here somewhere. I just don’t remember where I left it.”

“And what does this device do, exactly?” I asked, unwilling to give into hope just yet. “Restore the melted amulet back to its original form?”

He paused, cocking his head, thinking. “No, but that would be an easier solution. However, I lack the time to develop such a device.” Cosimo moved to the side table and started clearing away broken beakers.

“No, the Fae King had me developing something to use against his brother. A device that allowed him to travel back in time.”

I blinked, wondering if I’d heard him right. “A device…to travel back in time?” Repeating the words didn’t make them sound any more plausible.

“Time is simply another dimension intertwined with space, forming the fabric of spacetime. It serves as a metric, defining the sequence and duration of events, and underpins the arrow of causality. It can be manipulated, like light and mass, be warped and stretched, slowed and sped up. That’s from a book.” Cosimo winked. “It also helped that I found a mage with the ability to manipulate time, harnessing his magic into a device—for a steep price, of course—which allowed me to use his power for short periods of…time.”

“You can go back in time?”

“We can go back if I can find the damned thing. I swear, sometimes my inventions crawl away.”

“Surely, you’re?—”

“No, depending on the magic, they really do grow legs and crawl away. But the Chronotron has to be here somewhere. Without someone to activate the magic, it’s inert and perfectly safe.”

“You’ve…done this? Gone back in time?” Gods, the implications…the possibilities were endless. Frightening but endless.

We could go back and stop the battle between Caladrius and Solarys, save all those soldiers’ lives. We could go even further and rescue Anaria from the hell that was Varitus. I could keep her from killing Julian, keep so many terrible things from happening.

“Settle down over there, Commander.” Cosimo moved a pile of moldering books that turned into sifting dust the moment he lifted them off the table. “I see the wheels turning, and no, you can’t go back and right every single wrong.”

“Why not?” I challenged, loosening my hands clenched so tight my knuckles ached. “Why not do some good?”

“Because changing the past changes the future and there’s a fuckton that can go wrong when you muck about in the past.” He studied my face. “Trust me, do not fuck around with time.”

“Have you even tried to use this device?”

“I’ve used the Chronotron twice, though I’ve never taken anyone with me, but yes, it works. Carex decided time travel would be a handy way to go back and kill his brother instead of banishing him to Solarys where he’d amass an army and wage war for a millennium. When I told the king there was no magic that could take him back a thousand years, he had me come up with new ways to kill the Solarus army. Wanted to get his money’s worth out of me, I guess.” His grin was back.

“So the device won’t go back a thousand years?”

Cosimo’s smile was pure evil. “I said I told the king it was impossible. You might be able to make one trip. Only one. I’d have to consult with Bex and get his input before I’d attempt it. No sense in getting stuck back in the Stone Age.”

Everything inside me went quiet with those words.

But stopping the two brother kings didn’t stop the gods currently destroying this world and hunting us down. I tucked that information away, though, for later.

“How did you meet Bexley? And Trubahn?”

“Bex’s master was a friend of mine, back in the day, and Bex is the cleverest mage I’ve ever known, present company excluded, of course. Ask him anything about history or magic or witches, and he’ll know the answer off the top of his head.” He shoved an armful of stuff across the table, bottles shattering, metal objects bouncing beneath the table.

“As for Trubahn, I knew of him before I went into the pendant. But afterward…it wasn’t enough for the Oracle to take Zeph and me away from Tor. That monster sold Simon to Trubahn. Made the deal all official with the king’s blessing, leaving Tor all by herself.” Cosimo’s voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. “Defenseless.”

“She was the king’s High Seer,” I pointed out. “He relied on her; she must have had power within the court.”

Cosimo stopped what he was doing long enough to give me a pointed look. “Spoken like a male with honor. But there was no honor at the Citadelle. After Simon was sold to Trubahn, the king gave Torin to Solok.”

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