65 | ACT IV, SCENE IV

P R E V I O U S L Y

Finally, I picked up the Cube. And when my fingers started turning the edges again, I knew I was going to unlock it this time.

HARTINGTON CASTLE, ALNWICK, STORMHOLT.

TRISTAN

"COME ON, EDWINA. GET UP," Halette said encouragingly, but she did not crack open an eye and only buried her head into her pillow.

"You have to get up one day, woman. Enough is enough," I demanded, shaking her. "Please."

"Come on," Halette cooed. "We can sit and paint. I found this beautiful view in Cheviot Mountains, it's so pretty. I know you'll love to paint it-"

"I don't want to paint," Edwina whispered, her voice cracking. "I don't want to do anything."

"I got a new crate of wines from my vineyard. We can go taste them," I urged. "The bourbon is so crisp, you can feel the grapes exploding on your tongue-"

"No, thank you."

Halette and I looked at each other desperately. The truth was that since the day she came back from Dracnesse, she seemed... miserable. I hated Lucius Tremayne. Not only for my sister, but for not believing his own daughter. I hated him with all my might. Eric had angrily come to tell me about her solitary escapade, and I'd blown him off with a fierce gust of wind before he flooded my castle with the sea waters. No one believed her. The poor woman was in a mess.

"We can go try out some new dresses. You like red, right? I have some-"

"No, Halette, thank you very much."

"The training room, woman. Let's go practice. I think you're getting less pathetic at blocking me these days," I said.

"No."

"Look, I won't even tie your hand behind you."

"No."

"A fight with your right hand? For old times sake?"

"No."

"I'll let you beat me up as much as you like."

"No."

"I'll even let you win."

"No."

"I'll let you burn it to the ground."

"No."

"I'll kiss you on the floor."

"No."

"Against the wall?"

"No."

"I won't even tell you to stop moaning."

"Gods, no."

Halette and I exchanged another look. I signaled to her and she nodded. I pushed open the curtains and she forcefully pulled the pillow off Edwina's head.

"Get up!" she shouted violently. "Enough of this! Get up and go to work, you are the Queen Regnant!"

"Stop sulking," I said firmly, stripping the sheets. We both took an arm of Edwina's and roughly pulled her up. She had grown thinner, the circles under her eyes had grown prominent, and the painful sadness in her eyes made my heart break.

"You both stop this," Edwina snapped angrily, "I don't have work."

"Oh, really? Who the hell do you think has been covering for you past the last few days? Who the hell do you think has been taking your meetings for you and managing your Castle for you?"

I'd taken over her state of affairs when I saw that she was in no state to go conduct them herself. She refused to go to Dilston Castle. Even when Francis brought her work here, she refused to do anything. And it terrified me to death. She was always the first to take her appointments every morning, but now, she refused to talk. Or speak. Because any person she talked to was very busy pointing out that she was a murderer. I wished I could take away her pain, but she refused all help.

"You will stop whining!" Halette shouted, pulling her up. I walked to the closet to get her a dress. There was so much red in there. I picked up her favorite crimson gown, hoping it would cheer her up, and flung it on the bed.

"Up," I barked.

"No," Edwina said stubbornly.

"Look. If you keep on sulking, we're not going to be able to find a solution. You have to get up. Get up and go to work. We're going to find out who committed the murder, but for that, you need to stay strong," Halette commanded.

"Do you want Endollon to think that their Queen is a lazy, slug slow heretic?" I yelled in Edwina's ear.

"I am not a lazy, slug slow heretic!" she shouted, gave me a glare, picked up the gown and went to have a bath. A slow smile pulled up my lips as Halette and I relaxed, going out into the corridor to give her some privacy.

"Did I ever congratulate you on your uncanny ability to push all of her buttons and get on every one of her nerves?"

"I don't believe so," I said, and she laughed.

"Someone did this. They tried to put the blame on her."

"Yes."

"Will they... will the council... really sentence her to death?" she stammered.

"The law is hard."

"But... the god of death is the head of the Council. He is unreasonable. All he will look for is a reason to execute her. What are we going to do?" Halette asked hopelessly.

I lightly put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"As long as I am alive, no one will execute her."

She smiled slightly. We stood there for a few minutes, and I stuffed my hands in my pockets and she twirled a strand of hair around her finger.

"You're not under an obligation to help her, you know."

"Neither are you, Tristan Valmont," Halette said quietly.

"I am her husband."

"I am her friend."

A minute passed.

"We're still outsiders," she said sadly. "Her own family... has left her alone."

"I would gladly have ripped Lucius Tremayne's heart out. But I didn't. Because it would hurt her," I confessed.

"I know."

"Can I ask you a question, Halette?" I asked softly, voice taut with curiosity.

"Go ahead."

"Why... don't you have any children?"

At this her forest wild eyes half closed in a sad expression, and her lips pressed firmly.

"My parents... Sarette and Leander... they hate me," she said in a low voice. "They had Vincent first. Then me. They tried to abort me when they found out the gender. And then they were furious when they discovered that I was the goddess of arts. Nothing special. My family hated me. All my life I tried to escape the hell hole that was House Rotavelle. I didn't have any children because... because - I was afraid I'd turn out like my mother and father. I was afraid I'd turn into a hateful, ice cold bitch. Afraid I'd treat them badly. I... I want children of my own so badly. But every time Vincent suggests it, I refuse. I can't face it."

I felt utterly bad for her. If Halette and Vincent would have had children, they'd been among the cousins, our cousins, who'd have taken part in the Trials.

"I'm sorry," I said sadly. "No one deserves to be treated like that."

"It's fine. It's not like I'm going back there under any circumstances. Never. But you knew my parents, didn't you?" she asked curiously.

"Leander and Sarette taught me a great deal of Blood magic," I answered.

"I see. But now - can I ask you a question?"

"Okay."

"You love her," Halette said suddenly, and I froze.

"That wasn't a question," I muttered.

"Does Edwina know?" she asked with a grin.

"No."

"And do you plan on telling her?"

"I'm not brave enough."

"Oh, please."

"No, really," I muttered. "What am I supposed to say? 'Hey, woman, how are you doing? When I see you, I feel my legs turn to marshmallow. When I talk to you, my heart is on the verge of going into cardiac arrest. Want to hold my clammy, sweaty palms?'"

"Oh," she scoffed. "You're telling me that the mighty Tristan Valmont, King of Stormholt and Endollon, ruler of the skies, bringer of storms and thunder, caster of lightning and winds and the wielder of the Thunderbolt, does not have the courage to tell his wife what he feels for her?"

"I'd rather argue my case to a group of walruses, Halette. I'm with her for better or for worse."

"It'll probably be for worse," she whispered quietly, her voice dissolving into a sob.

"I knew that the day I married her."

• • • • •

CALCHESTER CITADEL, STEFFITH.

"Any progress on the cube?" Eric asked calmly, toying with his dagger. His eyes still shined like the eyes of the devil when he saw me, and snarled like a madman when we sat down at the same table.

"Who has the cube?" Nyx asked impatiently, drumming her fingers on the table.

"I don't," Helios said.

"Neither do I," Eric spat.

I said nothing, remaining silent.

"Give it here, Tristan," he snarled.

"I don't have the bloody thing."

His eyes went wide with realization,  becoming darker.

"Why - you gave it to her!"

"So?"

"So? So?" Eric screeched. "She is a murderer! You gave the cube to the fucking murderer!"

"She is still Queen of Endollon, might I remind you?"

"Only for a month. You wait till her Trial. Cursed will I be if I let her leave the courtroom alive!"

"You are not the King's justice," I seethed.

"Neither are you," he glared. The door slammed open with the snap of a bolt. Edwina came in, hair flying behind her. Alarmed, I noticed she was armed to the teeth and had gripped her sword, Hellfyre, awaiting blood on its blade.

"You bitch - give me the cube!" Eric flung himself at her, and she immediately leveled the tip of Hellfyre to his throat without a moment of hesitation.

Resolve shone in her eye, and the madness gleaming in them scared me.

"You will speak to me as befits the Queen of Endollon. Not as a tavern slut," Edwina barked harshly, threatening to impale his throat on her sword. Her fingers inched the tip closer into his skin, drawing a drop of blood.

"You murdered my sons and daughter. I have more respect for tavern sluts than you," Eric brusquely spat in her face.

"A slut, am I?" she whispered in a dangerously soft voice. "You better watch your tongue, LeVane. This slut does not mind making one more kill today."

Hell broke loose as the three of us broke into a fight at the same second.

Edwina lunged herself at him, and a whoosh of air made his Trident appear in hand as the god of the seas brandished it straight at her. She summoned her Flaming Spear in a flash of a second, and a hiss of smoke went up as fire met water, and air crackled with dangerous friction and static. I pulled them off each other, a hand curled around each of their throats - Nyx holding back Edwina's hands as Helios did the same to Eric, pinning him in place.

"The three of you took an oath to work together," Helios growled, drawing himself up as daylight flickered through his golden hands. "Not to fight with each other."

Edwina broke free of Nyx's grasp with a filthy glare.

"Give me the cube," Eric ordered, his face reddening more and more as the grey eyes hardened to steel.

She threw a book at him.

It was fat, fatter than a tree branch, and it hit him squarely in the jaw as he got up, nose bleeding.

"Page five hundred and twelve!" Edwina shouted. "Because you are such a blind, dumb, ignorant little fucking shithead-"

"GIVE ME THE DAMN CUBE, YOU BITCH!" he roared, eyes blazing like coals.

This time she threw the cube at his head.

I managed to catch it before it fell to the floor but the shouting didn't cease.

"This is the second time you have left Stormholt without an escort!"

"THIS IS THE SECOND TIME I AM TELLING YOU THAT I AM NOT YOUR BITCH, YOUR WENCH OR YOUR TAVERN SLUT!"

White with livid anger, the Queen Regnant of Endollon slapped Eric LeVane with the back of her hand and stormed out of the room.

He got up, his ego and his cheek bleeding, and then slumped against the wall with anger in the grey irises.

"Look how the mighty fucking fall," I mocked him bitterly.

"The cube!" he demanded.

I threw it at his head.

"It's..." his voice trailed off suddenly.

"What?" Nyx asked.

"...unlocked."

"What?" I gasped. I took another look at the cube. This time I did a double take as I noticed the pattern on the cube.

The six colors were arranged in a particular order.

First a row of red squares, then purple, then dark blue, then light blue, then green, then white. On the next face the row of purple was first, on the one after that, the row of dark blue was first. The fourth face had the light blue row first, the fifth was green, the sixth was white. It was the same order, but in circular arrangement, and the top face seemed slightly loose, as if it were a lid.

Edwina had cracked the code.

A beam of pride went through me for my wife. Everyone might hate her at the moment, but she still held her own. Even when the whole world turned away from her, she still managed to crack the code neither of us could.

"Open it," Helios croaked, still white with amazement.

He slightly twisted the lid open. A golden instrument fell out and I held it up in my palm.

"The Logogram," Nyx whispered, and we all looked at the contraption. She had apparently opened it beforehand, Edwina had already discovered it ahead of us. It was a rectangular slab of gold, the size of a small brick. Along its longer length, three holes were drilled into the breadth in precise threads. On the length opposite to it, was a key. I tried to turn it. It wouldn't budge.

"The screw. Give me the screw Erida had in her hand," Helios ordered, and Eric handed it to him. Helios slid the screw into the first hole. It fitted perfectly.

"There are two more holes," he whispered.

"For two more screws," I replied.

"One from Seattoria, one from the mortal world."

Yet I noticed Eric's face had gone completely white.

"Witlock. Witlock. The code. Witlock," he seemed to muttering under his breath.

"Stop your gibberish," I snapped, and he shut up.

"Edwina cracked the code," Nyx whispered.

"We need to turn the nature of the device. Else if it gets completed, it will still possess its demonic nature."

"I suggest we make it a priority to find a way to turn its nature before finding the other two screws," I said, turning the Logogram over in my hand.

"Yes," Eric said emptily. I put the Logogram back into the cube, put the lid up and twisted it over slightly as I heard the resonating click of the lock.

"I'm going to completely jumble it again so that no one else unlocks it. If the Logogram gets stolen, we're fucked."

Whoever found it would complete it with the two other screws, not knowing what to do with them, and it would become the greatest instrument of destruction if used just like that.

"Page five hundred twelve," I said suddenly, taking the book she had got and opened it to the page. It was dark and musty, but the lettering was still visible and we all leaned in to read.

All throughout history, there is no thing more feared than the instrument called the Goldberg Logogram.

It is a weapon, that, if ever used, will alter the course of history as we know it.

It is an instrument devised by the Titan mother Pandora to bring the Titans back to glory one day.

And all it requires are three screws and a cracked code to complete. Once it gets completed, it automatically synergizes itself with particular frequencies of the universe. It will bring the Titans back to Endollon. And it emits a sound of a particular frequency that is lethal to all immortals.

It leads to the death of all immortals and destruction of Endollon.

Yet there is one way to stop it from happening.

The Mirror of Uranus.

Said to be possessed of holy powers, it is believed that this mirror is the only artifact possibly powerful enough to turn the nature of the wretched Logogram. It is believed that the mirror automatically counters the demonic nature of the Logogram and reverses its nature, thus making it safe and harmless even when completed and preventing the Titans' rise to power forever.

But there is only one problem.

No one knows where the Mirror of Uranus is.

Here the passage stopped, and nothing else was helpful.

"Mirror of Uranus... Mirror of Uranus," I muttered, trying to wrack my brains for anything I knew.

"What is the Mirror of Uranus?" Eric asked.

"No idea," Nyx huffed, thinking.

"What amazes me more is," Helios said, "that Edwina managed to crack the code to the cube and find this book. Neither of us could do it and she did it."

"And yet you blame her for something she didn't do," I said accusingly.

At this, Helios and Nyx's expression hardened.

"She did it," he said.

"She didn't."

"She did," Nyx and Eric said together.

"No. You don't know her."

"You don't know her," Eric hissed. "She is a woman very well capable of murder."

"He's right. It takes guts to murder three immortals. Only she has the guts," Nyx said. Helplessly, I looked to Helios for some reassurance, some semblance of defense. He said nothing.

"I admire the woman. But what she did was wrong. Extremely wrong. She will have to abdicate-"

"-she will have to die," Eric said firmly.

I gave him the thunder with my eyes and said a single sentence before I marched out of the door.

I had no intention of letting her die.

• • • • •

Edwina and Tristan are adorable asf. And so utterly sad at the same time. Can we all give our girl a standing ovation for cracking the code and opening the cube?? If you wanna celebrate, do it now... because something bad is coming FOR ALL OF US.