Page 73 of Dead Wrong

The gardens surrounding Chateau Greene had always served as an escape for me. Whether I was a teenager, fencing with Cirian, a child playing hide-and-seek with Azzy, or strolling along with Lynette on one of our many walkabouts, talking about all the ways she wanted to change the world we lived in.

It was a place where I could be at peace, even when the rest of my life was chaos.

It was also the place where I destroyed a man’s soul and ripped his child away. Now, it was the place where I watched that same man die, nestled in the arms of his beloved son.

“Papa,” Azzy muttered, cradling Balthus’ head in his lap. “I’m sorry it took me so long to make it back. I always wanted to come back for you. Always.”

Balthus’ eyes fluttered, a wet breath sucking in. The bolt had carved a perfect hole straight through his chest. Any hope of getting him to a healer would be a fool’s errand.

“I… I never… wanted you to come back.”

“Don’t say that.” Azzy’s face crumpled as he hugged his father’s head.

“Better off… out there… so proud, Azrael. So….”

Balthus didn’t speak again.

Azzy wept, his body shaking as a wail built in his chest, bellowing out a noise that was more beast than man. After a moment, he lay his father to rest, folding his hands over the wound on his chest and closing his eyes.

I felt numb, rooted in place a few feet away from my childhood friend as he mourned. Mourned the life he’d never get back. Because of me. Because of my mother. Because of the imbalance in the world.

For the first time since I’d been brought back to life, I wondered at that moment if I had suffered enough. The more I learned about my cruel first life, the more I knew that there was no punishment befitting my actions. I was the source of so much suffering, and yet I had been given not just one life—filled to the brim with privilege—but a second. A courtesy extended to so few. And what was I doing with this second chance? Sure, I had helped some of the Unseen escape, but that was so little compared to the opposite side of the scales. Drops of water contrasting a vast ocean of transgressions—with more coming from every memory that unearthed itself in my mind.

Tobias Greene was a blight.

“Tobi.”

Azzy—no,Azrael. He was no longer the boy who caused my stomach to flutter—stood now, looking down at his father, the late-morning light warming his skin to a deep russet. He’d grown in our time apart. Where I’d always been the taller one as boys, he now bested me by a few inches. The color of his hair had changed as well, lightening with age to a gentle lavender. And even through my melancholia, I couldn’t ignore his beauty.

“Yes?” I replied, my voice cracking around the lump in my throat.

“We need to go.”

“Right.”

There would be time for us to talk, I told myself. Once our task was finished, and Bastien and the other Unseen were safe. If I survived the coming hours, then there would be time.

Maybe I could figure out a way to make up for a fraction of the misery I’d caused him.

Leaving Balthus at rest in the garden, Azrael and I made our way back up to the Chateau, circumventing the main entrance for the servant door that led directly to the kitchen. Inside, a small group of Unseen stood by the cellar doors. They were each in the militia’s uniforms, but they’d been torn and bloodied in various places. One of them looked up as Azrael approached, and I recognized them as Kaine, the blue-haired one who had helped the other Unseen to safety.

“We’ve cleared the rest of the chateau, Azrael. Adoranda has warded the door herself, so we’re having some trouble getting through.”

Kaine spoke to Azrael as if he were waiting for further orders. Was Azrael leading this operation?

“I can break it,” Azrael responded, his voice still thick. He looked up at the rest of the Unseen, taking the opportunity to match each of their stares. “Thank you, my brothers. My heart is heavy with the loss we share. Friends. Lovers. Fathers.” He paused, taking a moment to regain his composure. “I carry those burdens with you. But we’re another step closer to the end and another step closer to a brighter future. I’ll ask you once more, are you with me?”

The Unseen each placed a closed fist over their heart. It wasn’t just a sign of respect but of devotion, I realized. These men would follow Azrael to their own deaths without hesitation.

What kind of magic gave Azrael such influence over them?

“We’re with you, Azrael,” said Kaine, the others nodding in approval. “Let’s make the heartless wretch wish she never drew breath.”

Azrael stepped up to the cellar doors. The wooden frame recessed into the floor shimmered with a golden translucence as his fingers ran along it. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath in. Suddenly, his hand began to glow with a violet light, and he raised it high over his head, then brought it down with a speed nearly invisible to my eyes, landing with a thunderous collision. The floor underneath my feet rumbled as cracks appeared in the golden ward laid over the doors. Azrael raised his hand again, a trickle of blood pouring down and dripping onto the crown of his head. He struck again, another blow that widened the cracks in the ward and sounded like the shattering of a pane of glass. On the third strike, the golden magic gave way, breaking into a thousand tiny fragments that drifted into the air like confetti before dissipating. Reaching down to the round handle, Azrael pulled the door open, stepping aside and grinning at Kaine.

“Easy as that,” he said, shaking his bloodied hand.

“Come on, lads,” Kaine said, the edges of his body becoming translucent with shimmering magic. “Stay close, and don’t let Azrael get himself killed.” The others quickly followed suit, vanishing one by one.

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