Page 25 of The Last Wish of Bristol Keats
He winced at the truth that he could never bring himself to say. “I always cared about you, Kasta. You know that. What we had together was good. It just wasn’t the same as—”
“As with her.” Her eyes welled. “I could have been a monster. Is that how your tastes run, Kierus?”
“Please, Kasta, these are Tyghan’s orders. Not yours. Don’t do this.”
She smiled and a puddle in her eye spilled over, trickling down her cheek. “Because of Bristol, he took mercy on you and only ordered a month of imprisonment. It could cost him his crown.”
Kierus’s mouth opened, his misery replaced with surprise.
“But Judge’s Walk is always a thousand years. It gives the worst of the worst time to contemplate their choices. It’s what the council ordered, and it’s what I’ll give you. I’m fixing the terrible mistake I made, right now.”
Kierus strained against the chains, his wrists bleeding as he screamed at her. “No! Kasta! I beg you! You can’t do this! Please!”
She pulled the dropper from the bottle and put four drops on the column and whispered, “Eda laespi mil fidan. He is yours for a thousand years.”
The drops began smoking, spreading over the column toward Kierus, like the liquid was tracking his scent. When the first drop reached his arm, his skin began cracking, turning to stone the same color as the column. It spread up his arm to his shoulder, toward his face. A hoarse sound jumped from this throat as he struggled to get away.
The other columns down the line shivered and whined, waking from their stupors, sensing that another soul was being added to their ranks, reminding them of their own crimes and despair. A dark magic crackled between them, searching for power they no longer had.
Kasta watched as Kierus twisted and screamed in a futile attempt to evade the creeping curse, until his screams were finally muffled by the stone inching up his neck, and the column slowly absorbed his body. The agonized sounds stopped as his head was pulled into the column along with everything else, except for the chains around his wrists.
They dropped to the ground with a loud clatter, and then there was only silence and the tick of time inside Kasta’s head. The time she had wasted. The time Tyghan had lost. The time Kierus had stolen from them all. The time he would now give back, always remembering his last moments with her.
“Now I will be your monster,” she whispered.
CHAPTER 19
Clear the portico! Everyone!” Eris ordered. Hollis had ridden only a minute ahead of the others, with news of Bristol’s impending arrival and a warning to empty the area of everyone except guards and knights.
“Now!” Hollis shouted, sending servants and gentry scurrying for shelter in the darkest and farthest reaches of the palace, afraid of another attack. Archers poured onto the grounds, taking positions.
Seconds later, Bristol and the other recruits materialized in the sky. As soon as they landed near the front steps where carriages would normally drop off passengers, commotion descended, officers rushing to see who they had brought back. Seeing that the grounds were clear, the recruits began untying the many knots securing the mysterious “prisoner” to August’s back like he was a lumpy sack of potatoes. That’s what many of the guards and archers were already murmuring,a prisoner. Quin, Cully, Eris, and Dalagorn demanded answers.
“What’s this—”
“Who—”
“Where—”
“Is he dead?”
“Very much alive,” Bristol answered, still focused on the ropes, which had become frustratingly more secure. Cael was slung belly down over August’s back, his long hair covering his face, his hands filthy, his clothes in rags, quite unrecognizable from the portrait hanging in the main hall. She and Hollis had tied him to the saddle in order to give August free rein and ride at a higher speed. Cael may have had a burst of energy when he pulled the knife on her, but he still wobbled when they attempted to resume their journey. Tying him to August’s back was the only way to get him home without the trip taking days, and Bristol, in a few hours, had already had more than enough of Cael. His riding position might have caused a cracked rib or two,but oh well, she thought. She’d leave the ribs for Esmee and Olivia to deal with. The knots were tedious, pulled tighter by Cael’s jostling weight.
“Step back,” Avery said. “I’ll take care of it.”
She circled August, her hands sweeping the air as she spoke to the fibers in the rope, her kinship with plants making the ropes wiggle and come to life. They followed her commands, unraveling swiftly before falling to the ground.
Cael moaned and rubbed his wrists.
“Get ready to catch him,” Bristol said to the knights who were facing his backside. “His Majesty is weak.”
“His w-what?” Eris rasped, choking on his words.
Bristol gave Cael’s shoulders a firm shove, and he slipped off August, tumbling back into Quin’s and Cully’s arms, his legs noodles below him, bending and twisting until he got his footing.
“Let me go!” he ordered, still swaying.
“Your Majesty?” Eris said, his eyes wide with horror. He looked back at Bristol. “What—How—”
