31. Prison Break

31

Prison Break

Safira Chastain

I t took me a little while to process that question. The very concept of doing something about Kip felt alien to me. He was a wizard. What could someone like me possibly do to him?

Except I wasn't just a young woman anymore. I was Celyn's consort, and he had a great deal of power within his scope. Kip couldn't interact or interfere with me. I could force him to touch Celyn, easily, and we could take our revenge on him.

For a moment, the thought filled me with vicious glee. He'd hurt so many people—done so much damage. But within a heartbeat, the desire passed, replaced by weariness. I was sick and tired of letting Kip and the fear of Kip rule my life. Murdering him had never been a fantasy of mine. All I'd wanted was to escape. My dreams had been of being free, tending a little garden and never needing to look over my shoulder. Maybe once the only way to know I'd never see him again was for him to be dead, but that wasn't the case anymore, and I didn't want to carry his death around with me everywhere.

"I don't think I want to do anything about him," I said slowly, thinking about it. "I know you've killed people, but I haven't, and I don't want to start with him." I chewed on my lip, the silent darkness wrapped around me. I didn't like the loneliness of it, so I stepped forward, sliding my arms around Celyn and leaning my head against his strong chest. "Do you want to do something about him?" I asked, keeping my voice soft.

He made a low sound, resting his face against my hair. "I wore your captivity for a time, but it was not I who was betrayed," he said in a quiet murmur. "He is a monster, but there are many monsters whose feet tread mortal soil. I will not worry over-much about this one."

I nodded against his skin, his warmth steadying me. "He has some things that are really precious to me. Do you... think we could get them?"

"Hmm," Celyn said, amusement in the sound. "He cannot interfere with you, nor even act as if he perceives you. If you wish to reclaim your things from his captivity, I am pleased to walk by your side as you do."

I took a deep breath. The thought of going back into that house made sweat break out over my whole body, but it also gave me a vicious feeling of satisfaction. I'd escaped that place with blood and sweat, and with blood and sweat I'd return to reclaim the things I'd left behind. Kip had no more power over me. I didn't believe it – not really – but I could prove it to myself. I could break the power of this place, and go home to Tsirisma Lake with everything I cherished

"Okay," I said, forcing myself not to whisper. I pushed myself up, clinging to Celyn's hand as I turned away from the stygian darkness of the stall to the merely pitch-black darkness of the stable. "Let's go."

Celyn kept pace with me as I walked out of the stable and back into the humid night, his tail swishing as we went. He shifted his hand, sliding his fingers through mine, clinging to me as much as I clung to him. He'd never been bound before, and he'd gone willingly into slavery to save me. It couldn't be easy to walk away from this, even for him.

The door was unlocked. It was always unlocked. Kip saw it as a matter of pride; anyone who walked through the spells on the perimeter and down the path was clearly meant to be there, and to bar the door with something as mundane as a latch would be an insult to his guests.

We went through the rooms, one by one. I knew them all so well, my old enemies, and they hadn't changed much since I'd left. Even though I knew my precious things wouldn't be there, I went into each one, stalling from doing the thing I knew I'd have to do. But at last we ran out of rooms to walk through, and came to the bedroom door. I stared at the brass doorknob, my hands shaking. He was in there. He was behind there, sitting there, waiting for me—

"I can't do it," I whispered, my throat tight, aching from remembered pain.

Celyn slid behind me, tucking me close to his body, and interwove our fingers. "I understand," he said, with nothing but kindness in his voice. "Sometimes I cannot touch things as well. But we are not alone any longer, gentle doe. We can do it together."

"Okay." The word came out thready and weak, but I got it out, and Celyn lifted our hands and turned the knob with me.

Kip woke up at the sound of the door. He'd always been a light sleeper, and finely attuned to whatever room he was in. His eyes snapped open and his head snapped up, and for a moment he stared directly at me.

I froze, my heart beating so hard that my ribs and throat hurt. My nightmare, I'd walked right into my nightmare, come back to his house and put myself in his power—

"Water-horse," he hissed, the rage I remembered so well directed past me. "You've been freed."

Celyn ran his fingers through my short hair in a possessive gesture, then stepped in front of me. He sauntered towards the wizard, malice in every step. "Hello, master," he purred, the cruel allure in his voice making the hair on my arms stand up. "You are not so clever as you believe yourself to be."

I followed Celyn, making myself take the steps. Each one got easier, Kip's attention focused solely on Celyn as I walked to the bedside table.

"I'm not the fool you imagine me to be," Kip said, his voice silky-smooth. "I know how to deal with creatures like you."

"I care not for your threats," Celyn replied. "I have already claimed everything from your grasp that I desire."

My hand touched the handle of the drawer. I pulled it out, the wood sticking on the runners for a moment, and looked inside. There they were, all my little treasures, kept like a hoard by the man lying in bed next to me. I pulled them out, one by one: my great-grandmother's necklace, a carved wooden horse, my mother's watercolor painting, my parents' wedding rings. I put each of them into the unbloodied pocket of my satchel, one by one.

At the very bottom of the drawer was the ring Kip had put on my finger, looking tawdry. I picked it up slowly, looking at it. It felt like a current eddied around me, pulling me towards Kip. I turned towards him, looking at that face I'd once been smitten by, letting the fear wash over me. One day I'd forget him. I would outlive even his memory.

He didn't look at me. He couldn't. But his eyes narrowed, cruelty sharpening the edges of his expression, and with slow purpose he got out of his bed.

I backed up, clutching my satchel and dropping the ring, the expression of flat hatred on his face a familiar one. I'd seen it every time he'd been snubbed by the sorcerers he tried to mingle with, and I'd been punished for it, time and time again.

"You think yourself the victor, do you?" he said, a smile slicing across his vulpine face. His long hair fell down across his shoulder, tangled with sleep, the movement of it catching my frightened eyes. "So ancient. So aloof. Above all this petty human drama."

Celyn's chin lifted, his nostrils flaring. My consort took a dangerous step forward, his shoulders stiff and tail lashing once. "You are pathetic. A nothing. A biting fly, gone with the summer."

"Tell yourself whatever lies you please," the wizard said, stalking towards Celyn. "You will remember me until the day you die. The man who bridled you. A proud thing like you will never forget the taste of iron or the lust for blood."

Staring at his fallen hair, I saw his hands shift into a spellcasting form, one that made icy sweat break out across my body. He'd done it so many times to me—cut me off from the world, leaving me without sensation for minutes that felt like eons, nothing but thoughts in a black void. The horror grabbed me by the throat, remembered terror graying out my vision .

"Come to me, then, mortal creature," Celyn crooned, his voice the lure of a siren, beguiling in its beauty. "Put your hand in mine, and be remembered forever."

The wizard smiled, his favorite smile, the one that promised torment.

Celyn held out his hand, implacable malice in his hard eyes and the curve of his full mouth.

With victory twisting his expression, the wizard lunged for Celyn, striking for his throat.

A deathless collar, cutting a woman off from life. An insensate curse, cutting a woman off from existence. A creature who was nothing more or less than the idea of a lake, removed from the world.

I moved on raw instinct, flinging myself between Celyn and the wizard. I could survive what he would do to me—Celyn would not. For a second, I saw cheated rage in the eyes of a man who had once been my lover, before Kip's fingers closed like iron around my neck, plunging me into darkness.

It's okay, it's okay, it's okay, I told myself. I couldn't feel anything, not my skin or my heartbeat or warmth or cold. There was no body for me anymore, no world, no air or blood or lover— No, no, it's okay, it's okay, it won't last forever, one two three four five six seven, gods, oh gods, please please please let me out—

I came to screaming, the sound torn from my throat as soon as sensation slammed into me again. I scrambled backwards, Kip's limp hand falling off my neck as I huddled against Celyn's legs, clinging to him.

He picked me up, carrying me out of the room without a word, out of Kip's house and away from Kip's body and into the cool night air.

I shook, a physical reaction to having a body again. But Celyn's warmth soaked into me, and the alpine scent of his lake washed away the fear. I took a deep breath, my muscles still shaking, and leaned my face against his chest. His solidity grounded me, letting me still at last. "That was really stupid of you."

I heard his tail slice through the air, and he turned his face away from me.

Gently, I reached up and turned his face towards me. "This isn't Barixeor. Your lake is really far away. He could have killed you, Celyn."

"I know," he said, his voice distant. "I am... what I am. I cannot help but to seek to punish those who would dare entrap me." His jaw worked, and he looked down into my eyes. "Forgive me, Safira. Once I laid eyes upon him again, there was no path for me but the death of one of us."

I ran my thumb across his cheek, contemplating my water-horse, then kissed him. Celyn made a low sound, something like relief, and kissed me back, his lips moving with quiet affection against mine. When I leaned back, he didn't follow, simply looking at me with softness on his handsome face.

"He was an arrogant bastard," I informed him. "He knew I was there, and he believed I'd let you die rather than face him." I shook my head, then leaned my cheek against Celyn's warm chest again. "What a dumbass."

Celyn laughed at that, his voice bright and beautiful. My consort set my feet gently on the ground, then swept my hair away from my face, smiling down at me. "Shall we forget him, then, my brave Safira?"

"Yeah," I said, smiling back up at him, the long hardship of my past melting away beneath his clear blue gaze. "Let's go home."