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“Have you seen Eldren anywhere?” Torin asked as he walked into the magic lab.
Phaedra glanced at him, thinking. “Not recently.”
“We have to find him,” he said. “Now.”
“Why? He’s in Temple somewhere. He’s fine.”
Torin shook his head. “For someone so worldly, you’re awfully naïve sometimes,” he said as he grabbed her arm, tugging her off the stool. “We have to hurry.”
“Why?” Phaedra asked him as she trailed behind him.
Torin looked at her, a strange look on his face. “Let’s just go find Eldren.”
“You’re being awfully cagey,” Phaedra remarked as Torin dragged her along. Normally she would have shaken him off, like she did others, but it didn’t seem important just then. She was more concerned about why he was rushing.
Torin side eyed her. “He’s missing.”
Phaedra dug her feet in as she stopped moving, causing Torin to stop as well. “What? How do you know?”
“I went to get him to talk to you and Merethyl. I can’t find him.” Torin tugged her arm again. “We have to find him before I explain anything else.” He started jogging down the hallway.
“Where are you going?”
“Checking the obvious areas first,” Torin said, rounding the corner and coming up to the atrium. He grabbed the handle and pushed, striding into the room with Phaedra just behind.
Phaedra gasped as she stepped around Torin and saw Eldren bleeding on the floor, holding a handle that stuck out of his stomach. He looked up at her, a surprised look on his face, as Phaedra pointed to the figure standing hooded in front of him. “Show yourself! Pare!” she yelled, using the Command to compel the figure to turn around. Phaedra felt the blood drain from her face when she saw it was Demeter, hands and robe bloody. “What are you doing?” Phaedra whispered, stomach knotted and chest tight as Demeter stared dispassionately back at her.
“You should have given him a chance, Phaedra,” Demeter said. “He’s not killing everyone. Just the useless ones.” She looked away from Phaedra. “Hello, Torin. You never trusted me, either.”
Phaedra took a step forward, pausing as Demeter raised a spell cannon, produced from inside her robes, and pointed it right at Phaedra’s chest. “Demeter don’t do this. I saved you. I saved us,” she said, voice cracking.
“I never wanted you to save me,” Demeter said. “I wanted you to leave me alone.”
“Everything I did was for you,” Phaedra said. “Together forever, right? Just us against the world.” She felt tears start to slip down her cheeks. “Why?”
“I didn’t ask to survive,” Demeter said. “I only followed you because I thought it was hopeless. Then you picked up stragglers,” she said, frowning down at the writhing Eldren. “It was disgusting.”
“Aurelius?” Phaedra whispered; her voice was thick with unspoken things.
“He was the only one to ever understand me. And his goal is to restore Terra. How could that possibly be a bad thing?” she asked. “Terra needs saving. Decades, centuries of mining, of logging, of pollution, have devastated the world. Someone has to do something. So why not him?”
Something swelled in Phaedra’s chest. “You’ll doom us all,” she said, a dawning horror creeping into her voice. “You’d kill us all without giving humanity a chance.”
“Humanity had a chance. It’s over now. Aurelius will lead us into a better age.” Demeter put her finger on the trigger. Phaedra was suddenly out of the way, shoved by Torin, as Eldren kicked Demeter’s legs out from under her. The shot went too high, torching a tree and starting a fire. Torin turned, his overwhelming need to control the flames breaking through Phaedra’s shields. Spurred on, Phaedra kicked the hand cannon out of Demeter’s reach as she grasped for it.
Demeter pulled the knife out of Eldren’s stomach, causing him to groan, and sliced at Phaedra’s legs before getting up. Phaedra didn’t have her hand cannon, but her trusty cutlass, always on her hip, jumped into her hand. With a few strokes, Phaedra disarmed her, pointing the weapon at Demeter’s throat. “You won’t kill me,” Demeter said, putting her hand on the blade. It shook in Phaedra’s fist, who retched as Demeter yanked it out of suddenly weak hands. “You always followed me wherever I went. Do you know how much I hated that?” Demeter asked. “No matter where I went, there you were. It was sickening.”
Tears fell faster down Phaedra’s cheeks, and a sob escaped her. A little voice spoke to her, a solution that was too terrible to comprehend. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as she reached out and grabbed her sister’s throat. Demeter’s eyes opened wide, and she opened her mouth, and Phaedra reached deep inside Demeter’s mind and ripped away the energy that animated her.
Demeter gasped and fell to her knees, paling. Her face froze, an expression of shock, and Phaedra fell to her knees and threw up bile.
“Phae,” Eldren croaked. “Phae, hold on,” he said, reaching out for her.
Phaedra looked at Eldren through her tears and knew Eldren was going to die. Healing magic was long gone, and she could smell that his wound wasn’t one people recovered from. Crawling over to Eldren, she touched his chest as people came out to the garden. That same quiet voice told her what to do next.
“What happened?” she heard Merethyl ask as Phaedra put her hands over his heart.
“I’m sorry Eldren,” she said before shoving her will and the power she had drained from Demeter into him. He gasped and his eyes opened wide, showing white all around as Phaedra formed him into what she was. As the connection forged, she could feel Eldren as if he was a part of her, and almost threw up again. Merethyl swore in Elvish and ran out of the room as another set of footsteps came up to her.
Someone pulled her off of Eldren and she gasped, retching, as Torin wrapped his arms around her and refused to let go. Phaedra listened to Eldren thrash around and make noise; it felt like her heart was being crushed in her chest as Torin murmured in her ear.
“Phae,” Eldren said. Torin let Phaedra go and she turned to see him, her breath coming too fast. Eldren was passing his hands over the bloody spot on his stomach, healed underneath the torn clothing and gore that painted his skin. “Phae, I’m okay,” he said as her tears fell faster. He came over and hugged her tightly. “Phae, I’m alright,” he said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you first.”
As the tears slowed, Eldren let her go. “How long did you know?” she asked. Eldren looked away.
Torin cleared his throat. “We can discuss this later. Right now, we have a problem to deal with.” Phaedra caught him looking at Eldren, who looked uncomfortable.
“What’s going on?” Phaedra asked.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, Phae. But we were betrayed by Demeter and someone on the council,” he said, fishing a scrap of cloth out of his pocket. Phaedra looked down at the lapel pin that was distorted but recognizable as the one worn by High Council.
“Who?” Phaedra asked, voice dead, as Merethyl came back with people.
A light died in Eldren’s eyes. “High Councilman Lavorna.”
Phaedra started to shake. Torin took one of her arms and gestured Merethyl over.
“Go with Eldren to talk to Orso now. Get Abraham too.”
Merethyl looked at Phaedra, face full of sympathy, before looking at Torin. “I will.”
Phaedra swayed on her feet as Torin led her away. Walking was like that one time she had been on a seafaring vessel. Torin looped an arm around Phaedra’s waist to help steady her. She leaned into him; the fight was gone, replaced by the sharp aching pain of loss. “How do I go on?”
“By putting one foot in front of the other.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Phaedra said, a tear slipping down her cheek.
“It’s absolutely one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But if I can do it, so can you.”
A sob escaped Phaedra. “She was my sister.”
Torin paused, his arm tightening on her waist. “Words can’t express how profoundly sorry I am this happened.”
“I did it for her,” Phaedra said, another sob escaping her. Torin ducked into an alcove and held Phaedra while she cried. “I did it all for her.” She buried her face in Torin’s shoulder while he held her.
“I know.”
