Page 81

Glaide

One last shot.

One last shot and this better work.

And literally, a shot. A needle. I just need to stab him and inject the liquid in, and then he's free from this curse.

It's the last day at Amor Beach, when everyone is doing the last of searching the villages nearby. Erasmus has been overseeing the operation and won't be back until morning when they've finished.

I knock on the door, only for Amias to open. He narrows his black eyes on me. I offer him a grin and with a short nod, he holds the door open for me to go into the hotel room.

“Why didn't you oversee the search today?” I ask, leaning against the marble counters of the kitchen. “Are you still exhausted?”

“A little. The voices were loud this morning so Erasmus took over the search.” Amias shrugs beside me. “I'm sorry for how I've been treating you. The voices were overwhelming me and it was putting me in agony. I didn't like the suggestion to go home.”

“I understand. The cleansing changed you in ways you can't really control.”

He inhales before closing his eyes and shaking his head. “Yeah. I wish I went to therapy instead.”

“But they're quieter now?” I look at the kitchen counter in front of Amias and notice that there's a pile of bread dough. Or at least it looks like dough. “You're making bread?” He's finally eating again?

“It isn't for me.” He begins kneading the dough. Well there goes any hope of him eating on his own. “It's for my family.”

“The voice is letting you bake?”

“Yeah. Just as long as it doesn't get into my mouth, it doesn't get triggered.” He smiles meekly. “I figured in the case we don't find Ignatia, I should make some bread for what's to come.”

“For what's to come?” I whisper as Amias’ eyes shine with tears and he bows his head. My heart lurches at the realization. “Your funeral?”

He sniffles and wipes his eyes before kneading again “They deserve one thing left of me. I can at least alleviate some pain by taking some work off of their hands.”

“It's not gonna alleviate enough.” If anything, it’ll add more pain.

“I know, but since there's so little information about the outside world, and I would need to be cleansed to get back into the kingdom, I'll never find that dreamscreecher. I'm doomed to die with these voices. I've come to terms with it, so I can at least do this one little thing before I go.”

I step closer to him, my chest and arms aching to embrace him. He keeps kneading and kneading, not even noticing me and focusing on the dough.

But what he says about the outside world is true. “Yeah. Everything's hidden. So much information is just withheld from us. Just like your memories.”

“Grandmother had my consent,” he scowls. “Don't put this on her.”

“No she didn't. I saw you right before you got cleansed. She forced you to do this. You had no choice because you loved Ignatia.” I throw my hands for emphasis. “I mean you know yourself. You know you'd never ask for this!”

“But she wouldn't violate me like that!” Black flowers start growing from his palms and wrapping around his arms. “She would never do that, so don't ever suggest that again.”

“She wanted to take your memories away not because you asked for it, but because she has something against you.” I think over what he had just said about the information about the outside.

The cleansings. The telling him to stop listening to dreamscreecher allies.

The doing nothing to defend him when people accused him of such horrible things back at the ceremony.

The strangling of him. There's a reason why she's trying so hard to shut him up. “She's afraid of you.”

He pauses, before giving out a weak snort. “Oh Glaide! You really think Amara, the all powerful immortal Amara, is afraid of me? A nobody prince that's dying, no less? What's she got to be afraid of?”

“The truth.” I straighten my posture. “I think you had the truth in the palm of your hands. She knew you liked to challenge ideas and listen to other people. That's just in your nature. That's why she conditioned you not to.”

He chuckles again and rolls his eyes. “You're insane. Get out of here.”

“No, I'm serious. I think you found the truth and now she's doing everything to hide it. She wants you to die so all of the truth goes away.” It all makes sense. “Having the truth among lies is more powerful than you think. You were more powerful than you thought!”

“Okay, no. Stop it! She didn't know this was going to happen!”

“Bullshit! She knew. That's why she forced you to take it. You had power in your head and she took it away by taking your memories and weakening you!” I grab and shake his shoulder.

“With the truth, you could've destroyed her whole facade.

You could've destroyed the kingdom. If people believed you and you had the evidence to prove it, no one would follow her. They would resist.”

Amias keeps his eyes wide, shifting them before looking down towards my jacket. He steps back and gapes. “Why does your sweater have a cloud on it?”

My body tenses. He already knows the reason. “Amias…”

“You joined that dreamscreecher cult, didn't you?” He snaps taking another step back, reaching for me. “You're out of your mind!”

I scrunch my nose. Now's the time. “You'll get it. You'll understand when you wake up.”

Amias’ jaw drops. “Wha-”

Without thinking much, I take the syringe and plunge it into his shoulder. He screams as I push the liquid in.

“What the fuck are you doing!” He tries to shove me aside but his weakness works to my advantage.

I scowl at him. “Saving my best friend!”

He still struggles to push me away, his eyes covered in black. Flowers start to grow and tangle around me but the serum is already in his bloodstream.

My job here is done.

He screams again for a few seconds, before his eyes get very weary and his movement even more sluggish. I pull out the syringe as the flowers die, catching his body before he hits the floor.

I bring him to the couch while calculating how much time I have left. I have until morning to find his things to pack, when Erasmus will come back for Amias.

Then he’ll be headed for Caelestia.