78 | ACT V, SCENE V

P R E V I O U S L Y

"Trick or no trick, I do not care. We have her here now. Get your truth potions," Helios grimly nodded to Sarette, his face set in resolution. "It's time we heard the truth."

CALCHESTER CITADEL, STEFFITH.

TRISTAN

"LITTLE DEVILS," CELESTINA LEERED, HER voice a soft, deadly hiss. "Come to claim my life. Princes of rot and death and stone, that is what you all are. I will see you, yes, I will see in my next life, and exact in flesh and blood the revenge you bestow on me like a burnished crown. I shall gouge out your eyes and burn them until the crack open and pour forth amber - just see, just see, just see."

Whoever had captured her had broken something inside of her.

Sarette took her own sweet time to come back to court. When she did, she gripped a tall blue flute in her cruel fingers, the liquid inside as pale and thin as water. She tinkered the bottle in her hands until Nyx wrenched it out of her grip.

Down Celestina's throat the potion went, and she screamed and cursed us all even as she did so.

"Pretty little princess," she crooned, "born of night and stars, come to cast me down and take all I hold dear - I will tear your throat apart and drink the nectar thrumming in your veins, just see, just see, just see."

Then her body went utterly still as the screaming stopped. Her emerald green eyes were wide open, hardly blinking at all. A layer of malice and evil dripped from her vivid features, sickening and deadly.

"State your name for the Council," Helios commanded.

"Celestina Rotavelle," she answered in a hollow voice.

"Residing at Stormholt, previously at Allington?"

"Yes."

"Well Celestina, do you have anything to tell us?" Helios drawled.

The Hall waited for a moment, waited with bated breath.

"I wanted him," she screeched all of a sudden, her eye on Edwina.

"Who are you talking about?" Lucius Tremayne crinkled his brow, his face solemn.

She turned to me.

And in her eyes, I saw it all. The longing, the desire, the lust. The blind, hungry, raging thirst. All sentiments I had never echoed nor returned, causing them to sharpen even more. She went and tossed her head back to my wife, her eyes shining like hot amber.

"It began when you married Tristan Valmont. You, bitch, you. I was frozen - livid. How dare you marry him? I wanted him. He was mine. I tried to separate you. One thimble of nightshade and a single piece of thorn apple in your wine. And being the obvious, drunk fool that you are, Edwina - you drank it, as did Eric. I got your husband to watch it, calling him in the guise of a maid. He saw you. And then, that moment, that was when the seed of doubt planted in his mind. He forgave you, finally. Who couldn't? You were Edwina Tremayne. The rich, powerful, beautiful Edwina Tremayne. The woman who refused her husband's sword and stood by her own. So fine. I saw him forgive you. You and your tears do a quite good job, you know. Hard to resist."

At this point, she smiled. A deadly, sweet smile. Only those words of hers lingered in my mind, those words she had spoken a long, long time ago.

You will pay for this, Tristan Valmont. Days from now, years from now - one day, you will pay. No one dares to scorn me, do you understand? No one.

"The day you pulled off that little trick, rescuing Atherton, Cymbeline and Erida. Everyone forgave you. Then I struck again. I went to Allington to retrieve a rare herb, and made sure I left behind a piece of Llewelyn's cloak. This time, I stole Amphitrite's medicine. I played on your sympathies and made you get it yourself. The rest was easy. The poison went in when I handed you the cup of water. Except that it wasn't even water. And then... you know the rest. The family who loved you began to hate you. But there still remained two obstacles, two wretched idiots who swore to stick with you to the end. Halette and Tristan. I stabbed Halette at night with your knife, making sure they caught a glimpse of my red hair. It broke guest right. Just imagine how much people detested you! But there still remained Tristan. A bloody faithful man, I must commend. But I knew his weakness. You. So I used it against him. The poison went in Llewellyn's drink this time. I opened the bottle and poured out the wine for you myself."

Uranus.

"And then... I found people to help get rid of you forever, you know," Celestina added innocently. "Drusilla wanted the crown, which I did not want. I wanted you dead, but I did not have Bloodstone. So she agreed to kill you for me and I agreed to get your crown for her. Aidon offered to help us, so I offered him your damned cube in exchange."

Edwina had gone paler than death.

"You what?" Amphitrite cried. "You hateful bitch!"

"You. Little. Murderess," Eric spat, coming down the steps with each word. "Killing my children was a joke to you?"

"There were my brothers and sister," Verona whispered tearfully.

"She was my wife," Vincent growled.

"He was my friend, you cursed, damned witch!" Vanessa shouted.

Only a ghastly smile flitted right across Celestina's face.

"And all this time... we blamed one person for all of this," Erida said slowly, and all eyes turned to her. "Oh gods... the things we said to her."

"Lord Thanatos!" I thundered. "Is that proof enough for you?"

"I..."

"And what are we to do about her?" Eric's voice was painfully brutal as he nodded to Celestina, whose eyes gleamed silently with venom.

"Kill her!" a man from the crowd shouted. "She is a murderer!"

"All in good time," Helios stepped past Thanatos as if he were no more than a piece of furniture. "First," he jerked his chin at Ambrosine, "unchain her," he ordered.

She did not move one inch.

"He told you to fucking move," I spat at her, now striding past the benches to the middle. "Unchain my wife."

She only answered my glare with one of her own, and her gaze pierced me with a silent promise of death. On the day your curse fulfils itself, she had promised me, that day your sister will rise and kill you with her own hands. I will see you again on the day you die.

"Move. Right now," my words ripped through the air like thunder tearing the sky apart.

She finally raised her chin and stared at me defiantly, then strode coolly across the tiles and unlocked the manacles with a sulk. Edwina slid the chains off her and drew herself up, rubbing her blackened wrists. I wanted to take the woman I loved in my arms and kiss the pain away, but it had to wait until we got home.

"Lady Tremayne is restored to her position as Queen Regnant of Endollon. You are now off probation," Eros smiled apologetically at her. "And cleared of all charges."

She did not return the smile.

"And now to the matter at hand," Lucius Tremayne continued, eyeing the Celestina.

"I will kill her," Eric snarled.

"No. She is mine," Vincent growled.

"She will be killed by me," Llewellyn hissed.

"You are not touching my daughter!" Therese screamed.

"No one will kill her. Except for me," Thanatos stood up, face monotonous and dull.

No one paid heed to him.

"I believe that the person who has suffered the most here is the only one having a right to kill her," I stepped in. "And that person... is Edwina herself."

Slowly, I turned and dared to face the rest of the immortals sitting on the benches. Eric gulped, unrestrained anger and fury radiating off him. Then he nodded, a tentative gesture to make his peace with Edwina. So did the others.

I picked the death blade from Thanatos's hand, and his lips curled at me in a twitch. You see, he seemed to say. You wait, you see till your time comes as well.

I placed the sword in Edwina's palm. This vengeance belonged to her. After all she had gone through, after all they had made her suffer - it was the least that could be done to ease even a fraction of her pain. She nodded to me, a sharp, brutal ferocity in the set of her jaw.

'I love you,' she whispered into my mind.

'I love you too,' I declared, a silent promise.

Her boots clicked as she walked her way to her nemesis waiting for her in chains.

A hungry gleam shined in her eyes. A prey cornering a predator. A Queen finally distributing retribution for the pain, the misery that had been rained on her, an avenging angel.

Celestina spat at her feet, her gaze unyielding, defiant.

"I fought my battles. I lost them all. But you, Edwina Tremayne, you'll be fighting your battles forever," she cackled, flicking a bloodstained rose between her white fingers. Even in death, she did not give in, no. Her features set in eternal rage, she turned to me one last time. "You will pay for this, Tristan Valmont," she repeated, hollow as a shell. "Days from now, years from now - one day, you will pay. No one dares to scorn me, do you understand? No one."

Edwina plunged the sword right into her heart.

Not a moment of hesitation, not a glint of doubt. Only straight, white hot fury as she looked down at the body, those eyes still shimmering like emeralds, the vivid, ruby red blood seeping across the floor.

"Take her away," she barked.

She was instantly obeyed.

Then she aimed her gaze right at Thanatos, crushing the manacles under her foot as she walked right up to him. Hungry, furious.

"You fired from your position as Head of the Elder Council."

Thanatos gave her a frigid look, jaw clenching as those pale fists tightened to bone white knuckles.

"You can not do that."

"I can, and I just did. You broke your oath of service by aiding and abetting a murderer. Now get out of this room before I make you," Edwina snapped back, her voice sharp.

"I-"

He was cut short as his brothers grasped each of his arms, hauling him away from her as his hand went straight to a knife. Helios pushed him aside as Atherton stepped in front of Edwina, both his life and sword pledged to serve her.

"So the bitch finally bites back," Thanatos hissed.

Edwina sharply glanced at him, and the fire dancing behind those sea green eyes threatened to burn the entire Citadel to ashes.

"Of course I bit back," she whispered in an ominously soft voice. "When you sent me that death note last night, did you think I'd surrender to you, bastard?"

Her mirthful, angry laugh rattled off the walls.

"To imagine that I'd - what is the phrase? Come quietly. You thought I would come quietly, Thanatos? That I'd walk into the clever little trap you built for me? That I'd let you kill me just like that?"

As if I'd even let him touch her.

"Of course I bit back," she spat. "I am a lion, I am a wolf in sheep's clothing. You are but nothing to me, Thanatos: as worthless as the mud under my feet. You will not find me easy to swallow, death lord."

And as I held out a hand to her, a cruel, wicked smile finally tinged her blood red lips.

"The next time, try feeding me to the dragons," her eyes flashed like wildfire as she finally walked out of the hall.

• • • • •

HARTINGTON CASTLE, ALNWICK, STORMHOLT.

ERIC

The High King of Endollon had thrown a lavish celebration in honor of his Queen, and we watched them both walk through the crowds, hands entwined.

They were intoxicated by each other.

It was visible - all of it. Even a blind man could see the way her eyes shone when she laughed, the way he kept smiling at her when he thought she wasn't looking.

"She loves him," Amphitrite softly breathed from beside me, clutching her arm.

"I know," I said, sad and quiet. I put down the shaking glass of wine in my hand, my heart still fresh in pain and sorrow. I pulled her to me and kissed away the tear tracks on her cheek.

"I - I can't believe it - Celestina killed them for - vengeance - " her voice broke off and she collapsed into my shoulder. "They were our children, Eric."

"I know," I whispered, feeling my eyes become moist. The first few months had been the most painful. Edwina and Tristan - they were acquainted with death, they knew death. But Amphitrite and I - we had not been able to bear the sorrow of our grief, it had been too heavy and too harsh.

Over the tinkle of the bells and the fountain waters, people laughed. Edwina and Tristan resplendent in dark blue and a near black, walked the crowds, a bemused smile on both their faces.

I had been dreading this part of the evening, having to face Edwina and apologising. The truth was that I felt so damned guilty for how I had treated her, talked to her, accused her. Amphitrite felt the same. She would never forgive us. And when I'd finally gone to Vertgate and seen those injuries...

She had been in bad shape.

It was a miracle that Vivian had even managed to save her life, seeing those fatal wounds.

"Come," my wife tugged me with a slight sob. "Postponing it isn't going to make it any less unpleasant. My sister will be angry, yes. She has every right... after how we treated her."

Sadly, we both walked to the couple, who had been talking to Helios and Nyx about deciding the next head of the council. The four of them looked around as we approached, and Tristan pulled Edwina closer to him, quietly sliding a hand around her waist.

"Yes?" she asked stiffly, her eyes distant. "Is there something you need, Lady LeVane?"

Amphitrite closed her eyes and winced, for the sister she knew would have addressed her as Amphi. I took a deep breath and glared right at Helios. It was Nyx who caught the meaning behind my gesture.

"Yes, of course," she bustled, dragging him off to the dance floor.

A minute passed.

Tristan still had Edwina in his arms, and they both looked at me as if they didn't know me. Frigid. Cold. After another minute, he dislodged himself and took the wineglass from Edwina's hand, taking a sip. His gaze was reserved for her, and her alone - dark and full of meaning.

"I'll give you a moment alone with them. I'll be watching, Eric," he hissed in my ear, fire blazing in his dark eyes. "If you let her down one more time, you will answer to me."

Then he disappeared into the crowd as we both braced ourselves.

"Edwina..." Amphitrite slowly breathed, her voice barely above a whisper. "I'm so, so sorry."

Not a single sign of emotion flickered in her sister's eyes.

"We shouldn't have said those things to you. We're really sorry. I know we hurt you, badly. And that nothing we might be able to say would ever heal the damage."

Anger burned in her gaze - pure, undiluted anger.

"You're right," she snapped. "Trust is like virginity, Eric. You can fuck a person once and take it away. And they'll never be the same again. You broke my trust. Both of you."

"I..." I was at a loss for words, my shaken voice a desperate plea.  "Those things, Edwina - the things I called you. I had no right to do that before knowing the truth and yet I... I made a huge mistake. Yes, I broke your trust - you loved us so much and we failed you. I'm so, so terribly sorry."

"Sorry, is it?" she let out a screech. "Sorry? Sorry for all those times you called me a murderer, called me a bitch, threatened to have me killed, cursed me, humiliated me, said the world would be a better place without me? All that humiliation, it makes you shorter. I got shorter."

"Edwina... please. I - I didn't think - I was in so much pain, and my heart... it was just broken. I didn't think," Amphitrite said with a whimper. "I didn't know. I didn't know."

"Really? You seemed to be quite sure of what you knew when you threatened to make sure I was killed at my Trial?" Edwina's tone was dangerously low. "You really even considered that I would have done it, huh, Amphitrite LeVane? I watched you grow. I raised you. You know how many sleepless nights I spent trying to coax you back to sleep when you were an infant in a crib? You want to know how many times I've cried over mother's death and tried to be strong for you? Father served a sentence of fifty years right after mother died. He left. Aidon went to the rebel states for twenty years for his Monarch Trials. He left too. Deimos and Apollo harassed my armies for ten years to steal my share of the Derwentwater. Do you know how hard it is to single handedly raise an infant when you live in constant fear of being killed?"

"I..."

"I never asked you for a single thing in return. Never. I only asked for love. I only asked you to love me back when I had no family. And you know what, Amphitrite? You've done a damn good job of returning the love I gave you," she said with a poisonous sneer.

Amphitrite's lower lip trembled and her face broke into a heartbreaking expression.

"Please, Edwina. I'm sorry. It was my fault, entirely. I should have known. I should have thought, at least. You could never have done it - you - you cared for me like a mother and I broke you to pieces-"

"-oh, no. You don't get to do that, Amphitrite," Edwina snarled. "You don't get to break me. You don't have that power."

"Please," I begged, "please, we'll never, ever do that again. We should have thought-"

"Yes. But you didn't. You spat on my face. I walked through the days with nothing but shreds of my self dignity. Anywhere I went, I'd wonder what pathetic lesson life would teach me next. And you know what hurts the most? Not that you accused me of murder. But the fact that no - not once - not even once did you both pause and stop to think if I could really have done it. You accepted it - you accepted me to be capable of such a thing."

"I was blind, Edwina. Blind. I didn't think - and I'm accepting full responsibility for that. I'm your sister - will you stay angry at your sister forever?" Amphitrite said ruefully. "I'm sorry for not thinking. I was too upset. I'm sorry. Please," she repeated. "I thought about it when the Ball got over - and when - when they found you - I came to visit... and, lords, I cried the whole night when I saw what had become of you - there were needles, needles everywhere, splinters to straighten your fingers - I would have given my life to end your suffering, trust me-"

"You both made me doubt something I thought was unquestionable. Your trust. So congratulations," she hissed, "enjoy the hell you've created for yourself."

We both went still as marble.

Only hurt and anger shifted in her eyes, and wisps of steam curled around her.

"You can forget about getting my forgiveness in this life," she finally spat, and then disappeared in a whirl of smoke.

• • • • •

EDWINA

"Gods, no," I groaned at something Halette said. "Are you going to tell me the story of how you got hold of that bull by the horns again?"

"I do believe the bull gets bigger every time," Tristan chuckled, and she pouted.

"You promised to hear," she put her hands on her hips, waving her fork threateningly. Vincent popped a pepper into his mouth and came over to us.

"Edwina," he said gallantly, bowing. "I... I am sorry. For saying to you what I said to you. I hope you can forgive me," he said smoothly, dark green eyes glinting.

I stiffened for a second.

"Mistakes happen," I said finally, giving him a smile. He grinned at me, his face relieved  as another man tapped my shoulder.

"Hey... can I talk to you?" Llewellyn sheepishly wrung his hands, the words nervously tumbling out.

"Go on," I crossed my arms. Vanessa eagerly bobbed her head behind him, her eyes wide.

"I'm sorry - really sorry, okay - Edwina... please. Forgive me? Because I called you names that no man should have ever called a woman - because I fucked shit up, okay? And I... lied. I lied about the kissing, I said you seduced me - I was - I was just scared of Tristan. He gets angry. I'm really sorry. Please. Forgive me," he asked, his face very red, grey eyes trying to meet mine but failing.

"Is it now, Llewellyn? Tell me why exactly should I forgive you?"

"Because... because - because I've never actually had a sister. Or known what it is like to have a sister. I'm not that close to Amphitrite, and Elodie was dead before I was born. Nessa is my cousin, but I've never really seen her as a sister - but you -" he sighed, "-you feel like my sister. I like to hang out with you -" now his cheeks turned very red, "-I value the person you are, Edwina. And so does my brother. You don't know what he used to be like before you - so sad and sunken and lonely. You make him very happy. That makes me happy. You're like my elder sister. And I - I've realized that - you mean quite a lot to me - and I - I don't want it to stop," he stuttered. "I want us both to sit and laugh at breakfast again. Or tease and yell at the cats on the wall. So, please, Edwina, what I'm asking is this - I don't want to lose my sister. You're my family. Will you not forgive your little, st-stammering, nervous brother?"

I couldn't help myself but laugh. It was hard to be angry at him.

"Gods, you little idiot. Come here," I opened my arms and he jumped right in, hugging me tightly.

"I'm - I'm really - god awfully sorry-"

"Don't do it again."

"Ye-y-yes!" he beamed, then gave me a little smile as Vanessa sauntered over, face contrite and repentant.

"I'm a bad person. I know I don't deserve any forgiveness for what I did but please... if there is some chance for me to redeem myself, please. Will you give me a second chance? Please," she begged, hysterical. "I came to apologise when you were found - but," she shuddered slightly, closing her eyes, "you were unconscious. And in such a bad shape. Your legs were in braces, your side opened by this huge scar, your neck red and bruised and you - you were hardly breathing. I - I fainted. I'm... I'm so sorry," she added softly and looked at me pleadingly.

I opened my arms and she fell in as I hugged her tightly.

The evening went on in a blur of faces.

Irina fell to my feet when she came, sobbing even as I steadied her upright. Celinette hid her face as tears leaked out of her eyes. Asteria would have been so ashamed of me, she had whispered. I had been cold, yes - but I let my heart forgive them. Even my father - who had turned as white as a sheet when he apologized to me, sincere and repentant.

I forgave them all - all but my sister. And Eric.

I wasn't sure if I had the ability to forgive them both - them both who had hurt me the most, made me suffer the most with the way they broke my trust.

"You okay?" Tristan softly nudged me, noting the smile that had now disappeared, the way I sat slumped in a chair with a glass of sangria untouched beside me.

"I - I couldn't... I forgave the rest, but -" my gaze wandered back to Eric and Amphitrite, who had curled into a corner, their faces trying to hide the hurt beneath as they spoke to Erida.

He placed a hand on my shoulder, an understanding smile on his face.

"What matters to me is that you are alive. Alive, and healing. And as for the rest... you take your own time. We'll figure it out," his voice was exceedingly gentle.

My eyes lit up and so did his as I wrapped my arms around the man I loved, love and adoration in his gaze. He made me feel so happy, so safe - secure and loved... it had been a long time since I had felt any of these.

"Now, woman, don't get drunk," he muttered as my hand drifted back to the red wine.

"And why is that? I want to continue the party."

"Ah," he put a finger under my chin and looked into my eyes. "That depends on whether you want to continue the party here or... upstairs."

"Afraid I'll sleep on you tonight, Valmont?" I asked with a conspiratorial smile.

"Shut up."

"Make me," I challenged, and his eyes shined with a wicked gleam. Tristan licked his lips slowly and ran a finger down my neck, making me shiver at the raw adrenaline coursing in my veins.

"You know what? I think I will," he whispered softly in my ear, his voice a dulcet caress as he picked up a glass of wine, swept me off my feet and headed upstairs.

• • • • •

Sooooo... Edwina x Thanatos is the most entertaining thing ever for me lol, but Tredwina is the best ❤❤ now you all know who Celestina really was, and she's gone but she put her curse on Tristan too *evil laugh* so good luck to him with that lmaoooo

Tredwina is in a fine mood today and let's hope I don't leave them both hanging and crush your dreams like I always do :P