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39 CAIDEN
Caiden’s heart nearly stopped at the sight of Aelia lying on a cot, arms and legs strapped in chains.
His shoulder ached from where the Folk had sunk its teeth into him, and his movements were slow and clumsy from the poison, but they’d found a healer on the road, and he was slowly healing.
Erissa, with Baylis next to her, had a smug look on her delicate face, her long, red hair braided over her shoulder. “Well, hello, prince.”
“I should’ve known you were behind this.” He ground his jaw as he narrowed his eyes on the mage.
A smile tugged at the corner of the good side of her mouth.
“You underestimate me, prince. I have been biding my time for thousands of years. One little setback was not going to stop me. Now, what in the Trinity happened to you?” She scowled at the two mercenaries. “You two had one job. Bring me them… alive.”
Caiden’s eyes flitted between the mage and the mercs. What was her endgame here? Bleed them dry and use their blood to access the Wells? Would that work? He bit on the inside of his cheek nervously.
“You didn’t say unharmed,” the female mercenary said under her breath. Her sharp features were covered in blood.
Erissa slapped the woman, sending her stumbling backward into Caiden.
“Insolent fool,” she exclaimed. “You are standing in the presence of greatness. I have walked the earth for ten thousand years. Respect your elders.”
The mercenary rubbed her face where Erissa’s hand landed.
“Take your prize, where’s my pay?”
Erissa tapped her thin lips. “Yes, there’s the matter of the third.”
“He is the Alder King. Did you really expect us to take on the Wild Hunt?”
“For what I offered, I expected you to at least try,” Erissa scoffed, throwing her braid over her shoulder. “But that’s over now. He’ll come to us now that we have her.” She pointed at Aelia.
“You’ll regret that,” Aelia spat at the mage.
“That’s enough out of you.” With a snap of Erissa’s fingers, Aelia’s mouth disappeared from her face. Her lips dissolved into a thin flap of skin. She screamed, but the sound barely came out.
Caiden swallowed the fear growing inside him.
Baylis’s eyes went wide, and she backed into the wall of the cabin.
“Have a seat, prince.” Erissa pointed to a chair next to Aelia’s cot, and Caiden sluggishly made his way to it.
“Now, I cannot have you two in this kind of condition. We have a long road ahead of us, and I need you two to be in fighting shape.”
Caiden couldn’t look at Aelia. His heart hurt for her, but there was nothing he could do. His body was bruised and broken, and his magic was depleted by the iron manacles around his wrists.
Erissa turned to the mercenaries. “You look a little worse for wear. Let me fix you up before I send you on your way.”
The mercenaries exchanged questioning glances.
“I promise you; your reward is here.” She gracefully glided to a large chest in the far corner of the cabin. Caiden swore it hadn’t been there before. She kicked the chest engraved with the seal of the Highlands, a hawk carrying a snake in its talons. The top sprung open, and a pile of gold and jewels sparkled inside. “My word is good. Now, let me mend you.” She held out her long, elegant hand. The mercenaries’ eyes glimmered with a lust for gold. Without hesitation, they both held out their hands for Erissa to administer whatever potion she’d brewed.
The hairs on the back of Caiden’s neck stood on end. Something was off… well, more off than things already were.
Erissa attended to the woman first.
“Kita, is it?”
The female mercenary nodded.
“Here, drink this. I need you relaxed if I am going to heal your wounds.”
She handed them both a vile of valerian root, and they slugged it back. Instantly, they swayed before falling to the floor with a thud .
“Idiots,” Erissa said under her breath. Slamming the chest shut, she crossed the room to a hutch with a wooden latch, where she pulled a jar of worms. The slimy creatures slithered around in the putrid water.
Caiden and Aelia exchanged worried glances.
“What are you doing?” Baylis asked.
“You’ll see.” Using a long pair of tongues, Erissa gently pulled one of the wriggling creatures from the jar before setting it on one of the gashes on Kita’s face.
Caiden could only look on in horror as the creature wriggled its way into the wound, disappearing beneath the skin.
The mercenary shot up, gasping for air. “What did you do to me?”
“It’s a control worm. I traveled to the Land of Myst to get them and bred them with my blood. Only I can control them, and therefore you.” She placed another worm near Alwin’s eye, and the worm slithered in.
Caiden spat bile onto the floor.
“Oh, Prince. Don’t be so dramatic,” Erissa said.
“Do… do I have one of those things in me?” Baylis examined her skin, looking for any sign of the worm.
“No, I didn’t need any magic to control you. Just a handsome king.”
Alwin’s eyes flung open. “What in the Trinity is this?”
“It’s a parasite. Designed to make you obedient. Normally, I would’ve just glamoured you, but glamours don’t work as well on magus, and I wanted to test these out.” She set the empty jar back on the shelf. “You’ll be under my control now.”
Both mercenaries’ mouths fell open in shock. Their wounds healed.
“Rise,” Erissa commanded.
The mercenaries’ eyes glazed over, and they did as she instructed. They stood like soldiers, straight and stiff. No emotion graced their faces.
Caiden couldn’t believe his eyes. These mercs were completely under her control. Was this part of her master plan? How many of these did she have? He only saw two, but there could be more. The Land of Myst was known for coming up with horrible creatures. They created the wraiths, after all. His skin tingled with fear, but there was nowhere for him to go. His body was too battered and his magic depleted.
“Excellent.” She turned to Caiden. “Now for you, Prince.” She paced the room. “I have been thinking about how I was going to repay you for this.” She waved a hand over the mutilated side of her face. “Sure, I could cover it with a glamour, but I want people to know what you did to me. For centuries, people have underestimated me because of how I look. Sweet, innocent, Erissa. No one knew my power. No one saw my potential. Except for Crom.” She stared off into the darkness, looking but not seeing. “He saw me when I was broken. When I was nothing, he lifted me up from the gutter and turned me into this. Crom made me more powerful than I could ever have imagined.” Sparks sputtered at the ends of her fingertips.
Caiden didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t sorry for what he did. She deserved every bit of retribution she got, but there was something sad about her.
Erissa continued, “I couldn’t save him. Those last moments replay in my head over and over and over on a continual loop. I have watched him die every night in my dreams for a thousand years. Each time, I think I can save him. But I can’t.” She bit her lip. “It is a punishment from the Trinity, I know, but it does not make it hurt any less.”
“I, too, lost someone,” Caiden’s voice cracked. “Someone very dear to me. I know what it is like to lose the one you love. The pain never really goes away. You just notice it less as time goes on.”
“Yes, dear prince, but you’re forgetting one very important thing… or should I say person?” Her green eyes flicked to Aelia, who didn’t move, her mouth still missing.
Caiden cocked his head to the side.
“Aelia?”
A muted scream echoed from the patch where her mouth had once been. Desperation flickered in her hazel eyes.
“Yes, prince. Aelia.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will.” She crossed the room to where Aelia was strapped to the cot. Placing a long, spindled finger on Aelia’s sweaty temple, she pressed hard, muttering some ancient words under her breath.
Aelia screamed, writhing in pain. Erissa twisted her finger, her words becoming louder and quicker with each passing moment. Erissa’s eyes darted underneath closed lids. Aelia gritted her jaw. Her breath came fast and shallow.
“I can’t watch this.” Baylis disappeared up the stairs.
Slowly, Erissa pulled a long glowing string from Aelia’s mind, wrapping around her hand as she went. Aelia’s screams ripped through the silent cabin despite her lack of a mouth.
“Stop, stop, whatever you are doing to her. Just stop it!” he yelled.
“All done,” Erissa said. Pulling the string tight between her fingers. “Hold him down,” she commanded the two mercenaries.
Strong hands held Caiden in place.
“What are you doing?” His throat thickened, and he could barely get the words out.
“As I said, I’ve been thinking of how to punish you for my face. At first, I thought about returning the favor in kind. But then, I thought that might give you some sympathy points. So I thought of something better.” She threaded the string through a sharp needle. “You got to forget your first love. But I never did. I replay our fondest moments together as a way to both keep him alive and punish myself for not saving him.”
Caiden scoffed.
“There is nothing you can do to me that I do not already do to myself. You don’t think I replay my wife’s death every day in my mind?”
She scoffed. “Oh, prince, I’m giving you something much worse. A love you don’t even remember.”
She jabbed the needle into his temple.
A scream scraped its way from Caiden’s gut up through his throat and out of his mouth. He tried to wriggle free, but the mercenaries held him firmly in place. A searing pain ripped through his temple as Erissa sewed the thread into his forehead.
A rush of memories came flooding into his consciousness, overwhelming his senses. Every touch, every kiss, every painful moment fit into jagged empty spaces in his mind. His breath caught in his throat.
“Is it all coming back, prince? The hurt? The lust? The love? You thought you could have your Mind Breaker take it all away, and you’d just waltz off into the sunset?” Erissa’s voice faded into nothing.
A flood of emotions overwhelmed Caiden as each memory found its home. His heart rose and fell with each moment he’d shared with Aelia. They’d been in love—really, truly in love. They had known each other for years—before he met his wife. It all made sense now why he felt the insatiable scratching at the back of his mind. These pieces were missing. Aelia erased them. And worse… he’d asked her to.
“There we go. All done.”
The pain subsided, and the thread disappeared into Caiden’s skin.
He looked at Aelia, who stared at him with tears in her eyes. An invisible dagger sliced its way through his heart. So many memories. So much hurt, but also so much joy. They had shared something special, and he’d asked her to erase it.
He turned to Erissa. “Give Aelia her mouth back.”
An evil smile creased her macabre face. “If I can’t escape my past… neither should you.” She snapped her fingers, and Aelia’s mouth reappeared.
“Caiden… I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry. I’m so, so, so sorry.” Tears snaked their way down freckled cheeks.
“You have nothing to apologize for, Aelia. We loved each other once. I knew what I was doing when I asked you to take those memories.” He turned away from her. Pain bloomed in his chest like a rare flower, familiar and foreign all at the same time.
“And now you’ll feel the pain doubly. For the love you couldn’t save and love you let slip away,” Erissa said. “Now.” She clapped her hands together with delight. “You two get reacquainted, and I’ll see you in the morning. We have a long journey ahead of us, and I need my beauty rest.” Erissa began to climb the stairs. “Mercs, guard the door.”
The mercenaries did as she commanded, taking positions near the door, arms crossed over their chests.
Erissa climbed the creaking stairs into the darkness, leaving Caiden and Aelia alone.
“Caiden?” Aelia’s voice trembled.
“Yes?” Caiden said, unsure of how he should feel about the woman next to him. She was both a stranger and an old friend, and his mind couldn’t reconcile both. A pang of shame rippled through his heart. He had asked her for this—no begged her to erase his memories. No wonder he felt something when he saw her in the Woodlands after the battle of Ryft’s Edge. His heart remembered what his mind could not. A bitter taste filled his mouth, and he couldn’t decide whether he was grateful to have the memories back or if he would’ve preferred to live in ignorance for the remainder of his existence.
“Say something, anything. Tell me you’re alright, at least.”
“There is nothing to say, Aelia. I need to process what just happened.” His heart ached for her.
One memory in particular stood out to him. They were lying in the glass-roofed house in Elyria. Her head rested on his bare chest as he gently stroked her back. She was crying, but he didn’t know why. The memory wasn’t whole yet. Perhaps it never would be. Erissa yanked all the most pertinent memories from Aelia’s mind and gave them to him, but these weren’t really his. They were all Aelia’s: her feelings, her hopes, her dreams for them. Bile rose in his throat again, and this time, he couldn’t hold it in. Leaning over, he hurled acidic spit onto the grimy floor.
“Oh, Caiden,” she said, sobs clotted her words.
Stilling himself, he turned back to her.
“You really loved me.”
“Always,” she whispered.
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