34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

‘Hello?' I called out as I walked into the seat of power. ‘Nina?'

The house shuddered around me but didn't reply. I pulled my piping power up from my gut and reached out to the house. Nina, honey! I need you to focus.

I'm on fire! she screamed. It was a fair point.

Help is coming, I promised. I've sent the wolves to get water. You're going to be okay, I tried to reassure her.

I'm burning! I'm dying! Panic laced her thoughts but I didn't have time for histrionics, however justified they were.

I sent her an image of us together in the future in which I was sitting with a cup of tea in the cosy room she had created for me, and she was much bigger and full of lone wolves. I promise you're going to be fine, Nina, I soothed.

I… That's me, she said slowly, her tone perplexed. But I have never been that big .

That's you, I confirmed. With me. In the future. So you have to accept that you're going to be fine. I know it hurts, honey, but I really need your help right now. Focus, please.

Even if I'm not dying, the orb is gone! She was still panicking. I closed it, but I've failed!

We all did, not just you. This fuck-up was a team effort.

I managed to close it, she repeated, anguished. But it's gone. We need to get it back!

I sighed, suddenly weary. I knew we wouldn't get it back, not for the next couple of hundred years or so. It's gone, I admitted unhappily. We'll get it back but not any time soon. For now, I need your help with something else. I need the crown of Torr. I had the crown from my time with me, but I needed the crown from the current timeline to fix things the way they needed to be.

I'm only supposed to give that to the next king or queen, she said doubtfully.

That's me – Queen Lucy at your service. To speed up the conversation since Torrance lay dying, I showed her my memory of her dropping the crown into my hands and the image of me wearing it in front of a mirror.

The house hesitated a second.

Please, Nina, I entreated her. I need it. I need to save Torrance .

The ceiling above me opened, and this time I caught the circlet of gold. Thank you! I'll come back in a minute after I've saved him!

I ran out of the seat of power and skidded to Torrance. His chest was rising and falling shallowly; he had succumbed to the pain and was unconscious. Langston was cradling him, tears pouring down his face as he gently rocked him to and fro. ‘I'm sorry. I'm so sorry,' he said over and over again in an agonised, mindless litany.

In my mind, Torrance sighed. It's okay, old friend. We all make mistakes.

Langston's ill-thought-out seduction and one-night stand had resulted in the young lady's death, but he couldn't have foreseen this outcome. It was rare for wolves to be able to procreate and he would never have expected Torrance's young lady to fall pregnant, let alone take her own life. You never knew what darkness lingered within another person; depression and mental illness didn't come with a marching band and a banner. Langston had failed to act kindly and I suspected he'd spend the rest of his life trying to make up for it.

I sank into the grass next to Torrance. ‘I need him,' I said softly to Langston. ‘Give him to me.'

‘Can you save him?' he asked desperately.

‘Yes, but not in the way that you mean. Hurry, Langston. He's fading fast.'

Langston carefully manoeuvred his unconscious friend into my arms and I laid the circlet of Torr on Torrance's chest.

I licked my lips and pulled my piping magic up from my stomach. I needed to do more than tie Torrance to the crown, I needed to bind them irrevocably. I hummed ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' as I reached out to Torrance with the wave of magic that was building inside of me. I had shied away time and time again from using my piping powers to force action on others, but I didn't know of any other way to achieve what I wanted.

Bind with the Crown of Torr! I ordered Torrance, pulling his soul from his body and shoving it forcefully into the crown. I wove them together tightly, tighter than that cranky bitch had fastened my corset. I sank his soul, his life and his magic into the gold itself.

As I did so, I noticed that the crown already had its own magic. A sluggish sentience reached out greedily to take Torrance into its being, for it was always longing to be more. In panic, I tried to pull Torrance back but Terrance spoke into my mind, It's okay, he reassured me. Together we are more. It's okay, Your Majesty, it is meant to be. Finish it .

In my mind, he pointed to his body and I reached out with my magic and severed the link between him and his flesh. With a soft sigh the last vestiges of Torrance sank into the crown; I couldn't have separated them now if I'd tried.

You said you were cursed! I accused Terrance.

I lied, he admitted. I could hardly tell you that you were the one who shoved my soul into the crown, could I?

I didn't argue because in my arms, the body expelled its last breath and its chest did not rise again. ‘You said you'd save him!' Langston cried.

‘And I did,' I said wearily. ‘But not how you expected.' As I lifted the crown, I fancied that somehow it weighed a little heavier. ‘He's in here.' I tapped the gold. ‘And he'll outlive you, and probably me too. He's not tied to the mortal plane any more.' I laid Torrance's body down.

They don't find my body, Terrance said, his tone surprisingly clinical. Tell Lang to step back.

‘Step back,' I parroted to Langston and he did so. Terrance called forth his fire-elemental powers and set Torrance's body on fire.

In silence, Langston and I watched Torrance's body burn. Ashes to ashes.

I'm sorry, I said to Terrance miserably, I shouldn't have let you come with me .

I don't regret any of it, my Queen. After all, Nina needs a companion.

He was right: his companionship had saved Nina's sanity. To be alone and hungry in the darkness would have been too much for anyone to bear. Terrance had saved her as much as I had.

I looked at Langston. ‘He forgives you, you know.'

He looked up. ‘What?'

‘Torrance. He forgives you for what happened with the girl.'

Langston's eyes were agonised. ‘He may well do,' he whispered, ‘but I never will forgive myself. I will carry it with me forever. If I'd known she was pregnant I would have married her. It would have been difficult getting out from Timmy's yoke, but I would have done it for her. I will regret her death and my actions that led to it until my dying breath.' He licked his lips. ‘Is he really in there?' He nodded at the crown.

‘Yes.'

‘Prove it.'

His harsh statement surprised a laugh out of me. ‘What?'

‘Prove he's in there.'

I sighed. Terrance, tell me something only you would know about Langston.

He is a rogue and a brigand, he said with humour. But once he rescued a kitten stuck in a crate and he fed it his own supper.

‘He says you once rescued a kitten that was stuck in a crate and you fed it your dinner.'

Langston froze. ‘What did I call the kitten?' he asked finally.

Big Boss Meow, Terrance snickered.

‘Big Boss Meow,' I repeated dutifully.

Cats are not the big bosses, Esme sniffed.

Langston was staring wide-eyed at the crown. ‘Fuck me, he really is in there.'

‘Yes, he's really in there.'

‘He forgives me?' he asked brokenly.

‘He forgives you.' I clapped the large man on the shoulder and left him as his tears started to flow again. It would take him a while to accept that Torrance had forgiven him, and I suspected it would take him even longer to forgive himself.

Forgiveness from others could be earned; forgiving yourself was significantly harder.