Chapter 14

Megan was, to say the least, feeling extremely out of her depth. In the course of a single day, she’d been witness to another attack on Milagre and the arrival of more Infernals than she’d ever heard of in the past thousand years of Ahyan history. To make matters worse, the attack had been successful. Everyone she met throughout the city had formed some kind of deal with an Infernal, and they jovially told her that the last of the armed men had left the city, and the gates had been sealed.

Now Megan was in her quarters on the Mage’s College campus, trying to figure out what she was going to do. On the one hand, she was technically safe. The Infernals had released couriers after the battle, letting everyone in the broad area around the city know that they had no more violent intentions. They’d claimed the Ancient home of Gitna as their own and would continue to live there in peace so long as nobody challenged them.

But she was also not an ally to these invaders. Sure, she, too, had a deal with an Infernal. She’d been with Alice since she’d first arrived in Ahya around five years go, and she’d grown to love her as a sister. It was a nice feeling having someone to share the news of the day with. Alice had a dark, sadistic sense of humor that appealed to her, though neither of them was even slightly inclined to act on the thoughts they shared. It was all in good humor, and Megan could relish the knowledge that she possessed a very unique type of magic.

“It’s not unique anymore, is it,” She asked. She spoke mostly to herself, but she knew that Alice heard her. The Infernal girl hadn’t said anything since the battle had ended, retreating further into the corner of Alice’s mind than she’d ever done before. As expected, there was no reply from her friend. She let out a long sigh. “Just as I’d gotten comfortable, too. Never thought this would happen again so soon.”

She thought of Michael. Her boyfriend of more than three years, he’d become her favorite person in this strange world. Originally annoying and full of himself, his responsibility as a member of the magical forces of the Royal Guard had changed him dramatically. He was still cocky about his skills and eager for a challenge, but he was more reliable, and much of his arrogance had been filed away, leaving a strong, capable warrior with prodigious magical talent in its place.

She hadn’t seen Michael for some time. Nearly a week after the attack, she hadn’t even heard from him. He couldn’t write, of course, but she still felt stilted that he hadn’t attempted to contact her magically. A cold hand clutched her heart more tightly the longer she went without a word of his existence. Maybe he’d perished in the attack? She shook her head fiercely, refusing to give the thought even a slight moment of her time. No, Michael was a master spellblade in his own right. He wouldn’t die so easily.

Ah, yes, the nasty, negative voice in her mind said, but Samuel died, and he was the best. If the Infernals had someone strong enough to kill an Ancient, what chance did Michael, a mere marked one, really stand? As usual, she told the voice to shut up. But it didn’t retreat. Her current mood was so dark that she couldn’t push it away nearly as successfully as she’d done in the past.

The overwhelming wash of fear and anxiety launched her out of the chair beside her desk, and she paced around her room, biting at the nail of her thumb. It was a nervous habit she hadn’t been driven to do in quite a few years. The last time she’d chewed her nails had been when she crammed for her mid-term exams back on Earth. That had been a stressful time, but nothing at all compared to this.

“Michael,” she said, so quietly that it was more a breath than actual words. “Where are you, Michael? I need you.”

She tried to scry his position, but, as had happened before, Alice woke up with a start and dispelled the beginnings of the spell. Then that red-hot flash of pain crossed her mind, and she recoiled half a pace, hissing in anger and annoyance. “Why do you keep doing that?”

“Because you’re going to get us killed, you idiot!” Alice snapped back in her mind. Well, that was where her voice started. Before her sentence had finished, she was standing before Megan, her pale face flushed with a tinge of red to show her own anger. “You keep trying to contact people outside the city, and someone’s going to notice! Do you want to piss off the Primeval?”

Megan was surprised less by her anger and more by the fact that she’d actually replied this time. On the previous attempts, she’d just slunk back into her corner and stayed silent. She felt a wave of relief sweep over her, and she was tempted to fling her arms around Alice, embracing her friend. But the happiness at her appearance quickly faded away, replaced by more annoyance.

“Who the hell is the Primeval?” She asked, stepping close to Alice. “What is going on in the city, and why haven’t we been attacked?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Alice retorted, completely ignoring her first question. “They know you’re bonded, so they’re not going to touch you.”

“Don’t call me stupid,” Megan snarled. That was the thing she hated most of all, having her intelligence commented on. Alice knew that which made it worse. “If they’re not going to attack me, why are we hiding? If they’re your allies, why are you so scared?”

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“I’m not scared!” Alice almost screamed the words into her face. Then she flinched as if expecting Megan to slap her. Taking a few deep, angry breaths, she let out a short growl, then began pacing the room as Megan had just been doing. So they were both pacers, Megan thought. Great. “And I never said they were my allies. I can’t stand them.”

“Wait,” Megan said slowly, an idea coming to her. The anger and fear weren’t quite gone, but they were pushed down for the time being as her head cleared, and she began to think through her situation logically. “If they’re not your allies, then that means there are more than one faction.”

“There are six of them,” Alice said with a long sigh as though she were explaining something simple to an idiot. Megan’s anger flared again, but she willfully pushed it down. “One for every island that exists in the Infernal Plane, except for the Primeval’s island.”

“Right,” Megan said, lifting one hand to stall her friend. “That means that this had to have been planned for a while. You can’t have opposing factions and not know about something like this ahead of time.”

She could tell immediately, by the slightly guilty look on Alice’s face, that she was right. She felt both exhilarated and frustrated that it had been kept a secret from her. “I knew it! You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?”

Alice said nothing, refusing to meet Megan’s eyes, so she pressed on. “Didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Alice finally admitted, in a small voice that sounded nothing like her usual brash, confident self. “It’s the reason I came here. I knew he’d let his guard down if this succeeded and that he’d be vulnerable. He thinks that it’s only his allies in Gitna, and that’s made him overconfident. I’m going to take that chance to kill him.”

“Who?” Megan asked, thrown by the confession.

“My father,” Alice said, and her eyes flashed an even deeper crimson color. “My father, the Primeval.”

“Woah,” Alice said, raising both hands to stop the conversation. “You didn’t tell me that your father was-”

“I didn’t tell anyone!” Alice shouted, flinching again. She didn’t want to draw too much attention to them, Megan thought. “It’s a secret mission, damn it! We knew the Betrayer was getting weaker and that he wanted to go back.”

“Did… did you want to go back?” Megan asked, wondering just how much she and her father, the ‘Primeval,’ had in common. “Do you want revenge for what happened in the old war when Grimr banished you to the Infernal Plane?”

“I wasn’t alive back then,” Alice said. “I grew up in the Infernal Plane. It’s my home. As soon as I’m done here, I’m going-”

She stopped just shy of finishing the sentence and just a second too slow. Again, she looked guilty. Megan felt her jaw drop. “After you kill your father, you’re going back to the Infernal Plane.”

Alice avoided answering that too. Instead, she changed topics. “Look. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you my plan. But I need you to do it, and I’ll make sure you’re the hero of the story. Then you can get fame and whatever else you want. I just want him dead, so I can go home.”

Megan felt betrayed. Sure, she hadn’t liked sharing her body with a stranger at first, but they’d come to know each other rather well over the years. She could even freely admit that she loved Alice like a sister, as she’d noted earlier. But to think that, this whole time, she’d been planning on either taking on an impossible task and destroying them both or killing her father and deserting her friend. Megan wasn’t so naive to think she might be the only friend Alice had ever had, but she thought it was at least something special to the Infernal.

“It is,” Alice said. Her eyes were shining, but no tears appeared. “And you were the only one. Maybe not the first, but you’re definitely the only living-”

She cut herself off too late yet again and swore under her breath for letting that slip. Seeing Megan’s eyes on her, she resolutely turned away. Now all Megan could see of her was the straight set of her spine, her head held high. But she could also see the shaking. It wasn’t just fear, she realized, with a flash of inspiration. She was grieving. Someone close to her had died, and she wanted revenge.

“What was her name?” Megan asked, instinctively knowing that it was a her, not a him. Subtle hints were easy for her to pick up, especially when Alice couldn’t hide her thoughts. She always expressed more interest in her female classmates than the male. It had been the reason that Megan had been slightly attracted to her friend Rachel, though she couldn’t explain it at the time.

“I’m not telling you,” Alice said in a shaky voice. “I’m never telling you, or anyone else. Never.”

Yet, despite her firm resolve, Megan saw the image of a face enter her mind. It was a beautiful face with a wide, kind smile. A girl with gentle waves of long, blond hair, shining red eyes that had just a spark of mischief about them, and thin lips curled into that grin. She was gorgeous. At the sight of her in her mind’s eye, Megan felt her heart lurch with a powerful emotion. Even though she’d never met this girl in her life, she loved her. She loved her just from the memory of her.

“Now you know,” Alice said, and her voice sounded hoarse, as though she were holding back tears. “I’m not going to change my mind. I’m killing him, then going home. Nothing you say can stop me. If you don’t want to do it, I’ll find another partner. But I’m doing it.”

“I’ll do it,” Megan said quietly. “I don’t want you to go, but I’ll do it.”

Alice turned around to stare at her with wide eyes, not daring to believe what her ears had caught. “Why?”

“Because I love you, Alice,” Megan said. “Maybe not in the same way that she did, but you’re practically family. Someone hurt you, so I’m going to help.”