Chapter 181

“A little longer,” Andrei had once told her, “and you won’t need me to draw the circle for you. You’ll be strong enough on your own.”

The memory struck her now like vertigo, tilting her balance.

So that was his plan all along. He meant from the beginning to give me his circuits.

At some point, without her even noticing, the balance between them had shifted. The twins, once like a scale in equilibrium, had tipped. Elise, who had been crumbling like the hollow shell of a rotted tree, had grown hale again, as sound as any ordinary person. Which meant Andrei had been the one wasting away, taking her place, carrying the sickness she had shed. All this time.

The dragon moved then, setting both hands deliberately upon her shoulders, its touch heavy, familiar, and false. It feigned tenderness, mimicking Andrei’s manner.

“Shall I put things back the way they were, sister?”

But it was wrong—utterly wrong. Andrei’s voice had never sounded like this, never carried this slithering undercurrent. In his mouth, gentle words had been warmth; from the dragon, they were a chill that raised her skin in horror.

“Don’t call me sister, you brazen monster,” Elise hissed.

The dragon leaned closer, smile sly, words dripping from Andrei’s lips like poison. “If you return things to how they were, then Andrei will live.”

“Live?” Elise demanded, staring hard at him. “You mean—he’s truly dead now?”

Her hands moved frantically over her brother’s cheek, his shoulders, his chest. How could it be? His skin was still warm. His limbs moved. His lips shaped words in Andrei’s voice. He breathed before her eyes. How could this be death?

“Explain it properly!” she cried. “What do you mean, return things to how they were?”

“There was a time,” the dragon purred, “when even drawing breath brought you pain. When you couldn’t walk alone. Your childhood, remember? You only need return to that.”

Elise’s throat tightened.

“Give this boy back the circuit you’ve taken. Resume your old place, feeding him your magic. Then good, obedient Andrei will live again. His breath is stilled, yes, but the flesh is still warm.”

She said nothing, her silence a blade she pressed against her own heart.

“There’s still a chance, Elizabeth,” the dragon murmured, voice velvet with temptation.

It was a wicked bargain, and the words coiled about her like a serpent’s tongue. It’s your fault, the dragon whispered without whispering. Your brother sacrificed himself for you. While you laughed with your lover, your twin lay dying on a cold bed, alone, body cooling by the hour.

Stop. Stop it!

She wanted to clap her hands over her ears. Instead she clutched the pendant at her throat. The crimson gem vibrated softly, shifting coordinates like a steady heartbeat. Though miles away, it was as if Rezette’s pulse resounded against her skin.

“Don’t cry too much,” his voice seemed to echo, steady and sure. “Don’t grow too angry, don’t blame yourself. You’ve done nothing wrong. Don’t be afraid.”

The memory snapped her back to herself.

I mustn’t get swept away.

Her nails bit into her palms as she clenched her fists. I cannot collapse now. I don’t have to believe this madness. He’s not dead. He can’t be dead. There must be a way to bring him back.

She forced her mind to sharpen, clawing for a path through this suffocating snare. She had outwitted Sameshita before. She could do it again.

“You never move without payment, Sameshita,” Elise said, her tear-bright eyes fixed on the dragon.

That was the truth of him: always demanding a price, even for trifles. Yet here he was claiming, I’ll handle everything now. No dragon spoke so without reason. Andrei must have bargained with him. Just as she had once done.

And if so, then Andrei’s conditions must have enticed him more deeply than hers ever had.

“Don’t try to twist me,” Elise spat. “If there’s a contract, then honor it. Spare me your games.”

The dragon’s borrowed lips curved. “Oh? Then you permit me to take this body?”

“Is that what my brother promised you?” she countered sharply.

For a long moment the dragon stared at her through Andrei’s face, gaze heavy, unreadable. Then its lips curled, and laughter—foreign and refined—spilled from her brother’s mouth.

“No,” it said at last, stroking its chin with a languid hand. “It’s simply that I want him.”

The smile was too elegant, too covetous, grotesquely unsuited to Andrei’s features.

“He resembles someone,” the dragon mused.

Elise’s voice caught. “…The Progenitor?”

“Yes. Truthfully, I’ve spent more time watching this boy’s life than I ever spent watching yours. If he is the reincarnation of my love, how could he not be precious to me? He is mine. Too fine to waste.”

Its voice sank low, murmuring as though confiding some holy vow. “I will become one with him.”

The realization speared through Elise: If the dragon leaves, Andrei will die for certain.

Her teeth sank into her lip until she tasted blood.

“Do as you please then,” she forced out bitterly. “But you will honor his orders to the letter. His last request—‘your love’s last plea,’ wasn’t it?”

“Of course,” the dragon replied lightly, Elizabeth’s name slipping from its mouth like mockery. Its gaze dropped to her belly.

“The child has grown quickly. You must have enjoyed your time with its father.”

“Shut your mouth,” Elise snarled. “Don’t you dare speak of my child.”

“It’ll want to come out soon, won’t it?”

The dragon’s eyes gleamed, piercing as though it could see straight through her swelling womb. Elise’s back chilled. She glared at it with murderous fury, then whirled away. She would not listen to another word.

In a sing-song lilt, it called after her. “Take care of yourself, Elise. Half-mad, all of us—the dragon, your husband, your child—it makes little difference.”

Don’t listen. Don’t let his poisonous words take root.

Elise rubbed furiously at her wet eyes and stormed from the chamber. She slammed the door behind her as though to trap the loathsome creature inside.

Her breath came ragged. She sank down in the corridor, arms wrapped protectively around her aching belly.

“Ah…haah…”

When she had parted from Rezette, her heart had been light, buoyed by hope that everything might yet turn out well. But the moment she returned to the castle, pain had fallen upon her like an ambush—splitting headaches, a body dragged low.

Barnon approached quietly, ready to help her rise, but she shoved him off with sudden frost.

“How much of this was Andrei’s plan?” Elise demanded, her voice sharp with strain. “Did he ask that dragon to lead us to victory? That mad beast? And what does it mean—he’s dead?”

“Princess—”

“Don’t call me that. Answer me! You told me five days ago someone must remember him, someone must recognize him. Was it part of Andrei’s plan to offer his body to that thing? Tell me!”

Her breath came short, as though she had been running. Rage and anguish tangled in her throat. She glared at Barnon with wild accusation.

“And you—what were you doing while my brother destroyed himself?”

“I could not stop him.”

Barnon scrubbed his face with both hands, as though suffocating. “He swore that if things went on, one of you—either you, or the child—would surely die. Better to yield the circuits entirely to you. He chose you first, always.”

“Don’t say it was for me!” Elise shouted. Her cry broke, fierce and raw.

“Whose sake was it for, then? Who asked this of him? Not I! If he acted alone, then it was nothing but self-indulgence. How could he be so selfish?”

Barnon stood silent.

“If he was suffering so badly, he could have told me!” she sobbed. “I never wanted to take from him. Not once, not in all our childhood struggles between life and death. I only wanted to fight beside him. Not to survive by his sacrifice, alone!”

Her voice shook with fury and grief.

Barnon, desperate, pleaded with her. “Please, Elizabeth, listen. Since you’ve chosen to return to the castle, there is something you must know. A message. From His Majesty himself.”

“If this is only another command to flee—”

“It isn’t,” Barnon said firmly. He drew a long breath, steeling himself to begin.