Page 7 of Antiletum (The Nocturne #1)

Really, Parliament is to blame

Val

C rickets and cicadas are deafening in the late night—or would it be early morning?

With a rough cough, I try to dispel the scratchy rawness of my throat. Failing, of course.

As a distraction, I bounce the flat side of my dagger on my knee, crouched on the Heartstone. It thrums with life for the first time in hundreds of years. All thanks to me and my wife.

The steady tap, tap, tap of my blade against my leg folds into the sounds of nature and the creaking of the ancient Ellden clock, that hand still working to go backwards because of Delaney’s actions, balance not yet restored.

Eyeing the trees and shrubs warily, straining my hearing for other living things, I decide I don’t really care if my actions tonight are witnessed and revealed. Other than to Delaney.

A relatively low risk I will have to take. One I didn’t even worry for during my wedding. Parliament was always going to know of the Heartstone’s resurrection. There was no hiding it. Not that I even tried .

Finally, fucking finally, after sitting out here for nearly an hour, Tabitha begins to rouse.

Her empty carriage is clunking along on its way to her posh prick intended’s minor estate where it will never arrive. Too bad. They really were well matched.

Somewhere along the way, bandits will take it over, strip it of all finery, and the bodies within (one in particular the exact height and body shape of Tabitha) will be charred to a crisp.

No one will ever know her ending truly came in the Strigi Forest on the outskirts of Greystone Manor, feeding a hungry Heartstone while the other two are still dead.

Balance and all. Really, Parliament is to blame more than me.

On the same altar at the center of the Heartstone where I first made love to my darling wife, her insufferable cousin starts to cry. “No,” Tabitha chokes, yanking on the chains keeping her arms in place. “No, no, no!”

Panic lacing her voice tells me she knows exactly where she is.

And exactly what is about to happen. I appreciate Mallin’s gentle urgings that she leave early, giving me this opportunity without much work on my end.

He’ll be pissed when “Tabitha” turns up robbed and dead in her carriage, knowing I’m the cause.

But what else was there really to be done here?

“Quiet.”

Standing tall and slowly rounding the platform until I’m at Tabitha’s head, I bend down to shadow her face from the sky. Her own perfect picture of death. Only I won’t be using my power over death to bring her back from where I will be sending her.

Tabitha doesn’t heed my command. Her whimpers are more frantic, tears that reek of fear stream from her eyes into her blonde hair.

I smirk. She screams .

Anticipating such, I pull the prepared bunch of cotton from my pocket and shove it in her mouth. She gags and chokes around it. I suppose I wasn’t exactly gentle in shutting her up.

Surmise to say I’m a tad frayed these days.

With my palms resting on the altar, I lean to speak quietly in her ear, but my words are halted as the Ellden clock makes another screeching grind. It’s far more finicky lately, given that I have upset what Parliament has worked so hard to keep in check.

Both of our heads turn towards the clock before her eyes clamp closed.

“I think you know what’s happening here,” I say with a rasp. Clearing my throat, I continue. “Here’s the thing. I have some questions for you first.”

Tabitha’s head shakes in desperate side-to-side jerks.

Ignoring, I straighten my spine to try to calm a bubble of indigestion protesting in my gut.

Swallowing it, I go on. “I will tell you how this is going to unfold. I am going to remove your gag. And you aren’t going to scream.

” In one singular motion, a hand brings the tip of my dagger to her jugular, the other rips the cotton from her mouth. Shockingly, she doesn’t scream.

I tap her cheek twice. “Now you get it.”

A spread of darkness blooms across the tops of her thighs, pissing herself. Nothing but boredom crosses my face as I glance at the stain.

“You know, Tabitha, I have been certain I was staring into my own demise more times than I care to count. Never have I pissed myself. Not once.” Shaking my head, I get back to the task at hand. “Why was Delaney trying to reach Rainah?”

Tabitha’s heaving chest shivers with her cries. “I don’t know. ”

My dagger stabs through her chained hand, the sharp tip scraping against stone. Her scream is stifled just as it builds, the damp gag finding her mouth again.

I put my mouth to her ear. “Let’s try this again,” I hiss, enraged.

No effort is made on my part to release the blade impaling her hand, her blood slickening my own. It flows off the altar and to the Heartstone. The Noctua heart gives a contended sigh, shaking the boughs of the trees. The Ellden clock’s grinding quiets—just slightly.

“You’ve never been a good cousin, a good friend, to Delaney. Rainah and I agree on that much implicitly, now that I’ve witnessed just how vile you are. This is not the time to decide to be noble.”

I stare pointedly at Tabitha, the cotton gag pinched between my fingers. The urge to pivot the knife in her hand is strong, but I resist, needing her to not scream. Not that anyone can hear her. Or at least, not anyone who would do anything to help. But my head is fucking pounding.

Such a shame, she so nearly was able to leave with her life. I really do hate that Delaney will have to suffer more grief. My wife has already endured so much, in such a short amount of time. But alas, sacrifices have to be made.

And my open arms will be waiting for my Delaney to sink into, as she inevitably will.

Ripping the gag from her mouth, Tabitha responds by clenching her teeth, trying to catch her breath and not scream. Finally, she offers an answer. “She wanted to ask Rainah about the warning.”

My whole being stills. Fuck.

“What warning?”

Tabitha shivers horribly, hyperventilation threatening to take hold.

Raising my voice over her cries, I warn, “Tabitha, I can assure you, there is no situation where you leave here alive. Not a single one. Your death can be quick and painless. Or it can be slow and agonizing.” My stare bores into her bloodshot, crying eyes. “Your choice.”

When she says nothing, I give in to that longing to hurt her further, twisting my knife through her hand ever so slightly. Not bothering with the gag, I clamp my palm over her screaming mouth.

I dare the bitch to try to bite me. All my bottled frustrations leading to my wedding and since are collecting and compressing in this moment—demanding to be relieved.

The end of my rope was reached today. If there was ever a deserving person to be at the receiving end, it’s Tabitha.

I didn’t like her from the moment I laid eyes on her. Smug and catty.

The Ellden clock’s groaning picks back up as it shifts directions, now that the Heartstone has gotten a taste of blood. It’s ready for the full price to be paid to restore what my wife broke in her refusal to practice her magic with me at her side, as we are now required to do.

While bringing the Heartstone back to life was the goal, it makes the situations regarding balance far more delicate until the other two join it, becoming a complete heartbeat for the earth and shattering the bonds of magic tied to the Ellden clocks, created by Parliament.

I’m already bemoaning the extra trips out to the manor that will be required any time things are too upset.

Feeding the Heartstone is the only way now.

Perhaps after Delaney and I are settled in our roles as Lady and Lord of Noctua we will move out here permanently.

It’s not too far from Omnitas that I couldn’t manage, all things considered.

Besides, it’s quieter. Cleaner. More peaceful than the streets of the city crawling with rats and fleas.

Positively flowing with poverty and refuse and corruption.

Thinking of the state of the city, of the thumb we’ve all been caught under for far too long, reminds me of my purpose here, of what I’m doing, and the bigger picture at hand. Certainly worth all the extra work and blood in between.

I need Delaney. I need her in every single sense of the word. I need her like a drought needs the rain.

Tabitha hasn’t bothered to compose herself enough to answer me, to enlighten me about whatever warning she mentioned.

Very well. Much more of this petulant defiance and her path to a slow and excruciating end will be solidified.

Makes absolutely no difference to me. Not like I have a wife in my bed to get back to.

“What. Warning,” I seethe, my face closer to hers.

Pulling my saliva drenched hand away from her mouth, I wipe it against my shirt with disgust. Should have used the gag.

“She knows,” Tabitha whimpers vaguely. “She knows.”

I feel the blood fall from my face at those damning words, making it cold. But that could mean anything.

Right?

It could even be a good thing.

But no…

If it were, Delaney wouldn’t have been distant since we wed.

A hand gets lost in my pocket, rubbing against the worn gold clasp hidden there, my thumb stroking over the faded dahlias etched into it. The other flows through my black hair, pushing it away from my face .

Patience that Tabitha has been working on for two months runs dry in an instant. I kept it all together for the sake of Delaney, and I’m letting it all explode out of me at once—right now.

“KNOWS WHAT?!” My infuriated roar echoes against the trees.

“She knows that you can’t be trusted!” Tabitha yells. She’s giving in just as easily as I expected her too, thank the Nocturne . “On your wedding night, she had a dream. Rainah warned Delaney not to trust you. She reached out to her today to try to find out why!”

The smell of Tabitha’s terror steeped sweat makes me want to vomit. She smells all wrong. I’m ready for this to end. From the sounds of the Ellden clock, the hungry sighs of the unsatiated Heartstone, they are too.

“And did she? Did Rainah elaborate on why I’m not to be trusted?”

I’m going to pretend that’s not a ridiculous question while I’m about to sacrifice my wife’s beloved cousin to a dead deo’ s heart.

Tabitha’s eyes downturn in endless despair. “Please,” she cries.

Fire crackles through my being, and she must see it in my eyes. With a resigned whimper, she gently shakes her head. “No. Rainah wouldn’t speak. She only waved at us through the mirror.”

I can only hope the snake is telling the truth as I free my dagger from her hand. In one smooth motion, it slides it across her throat, allowing her life blood to roll like a waterfall onto the altar and down to the Heartstone, setting things to rights.