Page 12 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

She nodded and then reluctantly asked, “Who will mediate Adriata in the meantime?”

“For now, we leave them to stew in their failure. It will season them for what’s to come.”

Visha hovered above me with a burning garni that smelled like a rotten corpse while I laid sprawled on her cold granite table. My cheek had gone numb and was prickling where it met the cold surface, but I was too bothered to even move. She was the only one who could help me. Sleep was hard to come and when it did, I wished it hadn’t. Olympians feared dreams more than reality, and better than anyone I knew why.

Visha’s cold hands traced the seal on my back and I jumped a little. “Blessed be Aidan and his flame, warm up your hands a little.”

“The seal is intact,” was all she said.

Spinning to check her over my shoulder, I gave her a glare. “Check again.” Usually, it was the answer to my sleepless nights. If I pushed my magic, or used a bit more than the seal allowed, I’d never be able to rest. That day in battle I had pushed a fraction past my limits.

Instead of obeying, she pulled my shirt down and blew off the red candles around me. “The only thing I can do about your nightmares is take them away, Your Majesty.”

Pushing up, I stood and straightened my clothing. “One night, Visha, give me something to blur them away. One night of sleep is all I need.”

She blinked slowly, there was no sympathy in her eyes. There was nothing in there actually. Visha was like a coffin. Hollow and filled with a skeleton. She’s been the same since the day she crossed the zgahna and found me in Taren six years ago. Quiet, observant and loyal. The daughter of Urinthia Delcour was many things, annoyingly quiet was the best way to describe her. “The Midworld is not my ground, I cannot interfere with those that have not passed onto the Otherworld. The only thing I can do is guide them beyond.”

I spun on my heels and before exiting her witch cave, I kicked a basket of herbs till they fluttered in the air. “You’re useless, witchling.”

“Sweet dreams,” she murmured, but it was loud enough for me to hear.

Nia waited in the corridor, shaking her head at my action. “Bullying Visha won’t be any help.”

“No, but maybe a visit to our prisoners might.” It was due time, anyway.

Nia faded the two of us into the northern tower’s dungeons. The stench of death hit my senses while we made our way to the depths of the corridor, toward the special place I usually called my sanctuary. It was where I spent the spare time most dedicated to a hobby or a night out. The dungeons in Taren were a different kind of twisted architecture. Its walls were supported by the Taren valley, the space between the two sister mountains where the city of Taren spread. History would tell it differently each time, but it was said that Nubil had buried his lover, a healing guardian of Hemera, on the grounds of the valley. The stone and earth were alive, its touch healed, its presence prolonged life. Sick, healthy, pregnant, barren, young and old went to the valley to seek healing. And healing they received. The valley stone and soil kept the hearts of my victims slow and beating while I had my fill of their pain. Each time I dragged them to death, I’d strap them on a lifeline to keep them alive enough for more taste of death.

Nia shivered as we went past holding cells. “This place still creeps me up.”

“Remind me to order a chandelier hung on these halls because the ambience I was aiming for with all the decoration was a family friendly one.”

She scoffed and pushed me with her shoulder. “Don’t tell me you can’t feel the dead still lingering here.”

I shrugged. “The living annoys me, at least the dead don’t speak. Not loud enough to aggravate me.”

Two soldiers stationed at the end of the corridor bowed in holy greeting and pushed a thick key onto the enormous metal doors behind them. The hinges creaked from the weight emitting a loud cry to echo all the way down the corridor we left behind.

Ten forms slumped on the ground, all of their limbs chained to the walls, a rotten smell already filling their air. The two soldiers filtered light inside, lighting all the torches inside the room and all of their terrified faces came into view.

“Missed me? I’ve been a very bad hostess, look at your poor state,” I said, kicking a leg out of my way as I paced toward Adriane. “Head councillor, it suits you—all that dirt and grime. You fit right in.”

She lifted her blue-grey eyes to me and suddenly the resemblance to his stare made me bristle. “I thought we were to discuss my death first.”

I twisted a bunch of her long, brown locks between my fingers. “I was thinking it to be more of a monologue on my part. Though with not much talking. I am more of an actions matter more than words sort of person.”

“Do what you will do,” she gritted out, dropping her head back on the wall, almost surrendered.

Gripping her hair tight, I brought her face close to mine. I wanted to see the fear well and clear. “You see, Adriane, I take my tasks slowly, meticulously.”

“H-Helenia, is that…is that you?” a slimy voice croaked behind me and I spun fast. “I would recognise your mother’s eyes anywhere. You look just like her. It is me. Your father.”

My friend had locked in place, tears streamed down her face while her attention had glued to one of the councillors sunk in a dark corner. A whimper pushed past her lips and she began shaking.

The man…it couldn’t be.

With two short strides, I pulled her to me and out of the room.

Once the guards shut the gates, I sat her on the ground with me. Panic had seized her and she wheezed like there was not enough air. Once before I had seen her of this sort. Years ago, a couple of nights after we had found her. “Shhh. Nia, come on, sweetheart. Open your eyes.” Resting my forehead to hers, I swayed to the two of us back and forth. How could I be so stupid, bringing her down here with me. “Remember what I said, Nia. Remember that there is not a breathing being that will ever hurt you in this realm and all the next. Have I lied to you? Are you calling me a liar, Helenia Drava?”