"Follow your star and you will never fail
to find your glorious port," he said to me”
― Dante Alighieri
Blood poured out of Ricky’s neck and I saw him going down, all in slow motion. I screamed and got to him when the fire vanished, lost in complete havoc and despair. Zara stood up, dropping her deadly weapon, squeezing her eyes shut. A second later she screamed, tangling her hair in some sort of unexplained rage, rolling herself on the ground.
No, no, this couldn’t have happened. Ricky is too strong to die in here.
I was beside him, trying to stop the bleeding while he rasped for oxygen. For the first time since I’d known him, I also saw pure electrifying fear in his eyes. Ricky must have just realised that he wasn’t going to make it back to earth in one piece.
“Ronan! Ronan, do something, for God’s sake. I can’t let him die in here,” I shouted, thinking about all the elixirs and spells that could have sealed his wound straight away. My hands were shaking, and blood was everywhere, spilling through my fingers, my T-shirt was soaked.
Zara was still screaming, banging her head over the ground. The moment Alexis was gone, Nameless was freed. He crawled towards her, talking in the language that I didn’t recognise, trying to push her nails away from her face. Suddenly all my senses came back to me and I felt Ricky’s pain, Zara’s confusion and her realisation of what she had done. Ricky’s demonic soul was fading away and I had no other way of helping him. We were far away from the outside world, stuck in the middle of the magical island.
Ronan was searching in his pockets for spells, talking frantically. He was injured too, but his demonic power returned like mine.
“We have to stop the bleeding now, use the healing charms, Maxine, this is his only way of making it through,” he shouted at me, placing his own hands on Ricky’s wound. There was so much blood pouring down my clothes.
He was trying to say something to me, but I shook my head, telling him to be quiet, that he needed to save his energy for later. When he broadcasted his thoughts to me, tears welled in my eyes. I shook my head, refusing to listen to him.
“No, Ricky, don’t you even dare think that this is it. We will take care of you,” I said, using the warmth of my hands to ease his pain, but nothing was working. My energy wasn’t fully restored. Maybe the dark waters of Gjöll were still blocking it.
“Thomas, give me everything you have; otherwise this demon is going to die in here!” Ronan shouted at his son, who was still trying to revive Zara.
Ricky went suddenly pale, his eyes were half open. I knew that I had to keeping him conscious.
“Zara needs help, that red-headed bitch poisoned her mind,” Thomas answered back, holding Zara’s head. She stopped screaming and was now lying on the ground with her eyes wide open, not moving.
I lost my shit and threw myself at Nameless.
“Ricky is dying, you clown, use your magic to help him or I swear to God I’ll kill you!” I screamed in desperation and anger. Then dragged him away from his beloved Zara. She wasn’t dying, she still had time.
He wasn’t in the best of shape, but he knelt next to Ricky and his father. A moment later he was searching through his pockets, glaring at me. My heart was pounding, because I didn’t know what to do.
“The green leaves on the island. Collect as much as you can and put it around his wound. Zara’s machete was charmed, and he won’t stop bleeding until we use the appropriate spell,” Nameless barked, thinking that he shouldn’t have taken that letter in the first place. Maybe then he would have avoided all the pain.
I shot back on my feet and started moving around the island, searching for the cure that he mentioned. I ripped the leaves that grew around the stones as fast as I could, my fingers bled but I kept going, telling myself that Ricky was going to survive this, that there was still time.
Several minutes later I collapsed in front of Nameless and his father. Ricky’s energy was almost nonexistent, his skin almost translucent, and he wasn’t moving anymore. Ronan had his hands on the wound, the blood still flowing through his fingers.
Nameless started taking the leaves and patching them on Ricky’s wound, whispering words that I didn’t understand. It was some Latin spell, charms. From then on for the first time in my life I started praying to God. I never believed that there was someone out there that was supposed to take care of humans, but in this moment of desperation I was ready to try anything. Ronan stared at me, telling me that Ricky’s pulse was faint, that he had lost too much blood.
I felt warmth under my hands, and the green leaves began beaming with bright red light around Ricky’s throat.
I didn’t know how long we stayed there, minutes or hours, trying to revive the person that I had always loved unconditionally, that became the only family I had. Ricky didn’t open his eyes again. He remained on the ground, unconscious, probably half dead and half alive.
“What’s happening? What is going on?” I asked, tears streaming down my cheeks, still praying to God for a miracle.
“He is in a coma, Maxine, the Gjöll is keeping him alive, the river won’t let him die. There is nothing that we can do. You need to get outside and get help,” Ronan told me. I had to pull myself together, and get someone from the outside here, someone that could save him.
“Alexis knows Matilda’s location. She’s heading for her and I’m running out of time,” I said, realising that I had put in danger someone that I loved as much as Ricky. In that moment of despair, I felt oddly calm. I had done everything I could in order to save Ricky.
“You don’t have to worry about this right now. Matilda can take care of herself. You have to get help for Ricky and then head to the palace,” Ronan shouted, telling me what I already knew. I finally nodded. Ricky needed magic, elixirs and potions. I had no idea what kind of charm Alexis used, and I didn’t know if Ricky was ever going to be all right.
He had to be transported to the hospital, the wound was very deep and I didn’t think that just herbs would get him back on his feet. Besides, I hated that Nameless kept thinking that he was already as good as dead.
“Fine, I’ll get someone down here as soon as I can, just please don’t let him die, Ronan. I’m counting on you,” I said, looking at Ricky and not wanting to leave his side. At the same time I was completely lost, knowing that Arthur might already know the truth.
Moments later I was sitting in the boat, rowing back to the other side of the island. I was planning to go after Alexis, once I knew that Ricky was going to be all right. She was aware of the location of the most precious thing in my entire life, and that made me even more anxious.
After I got to the other side of the lake I ran through the tunnels as fast as I could, tossing away the blame. Anyone in my position would have given up a long time ago, but I kept going. I had to accept the fact that I wasn’t perfect. Zara had run away with a demon, and she was no longer a human. I should have accepted what I’d done for Arthur a long time ago, even before Alexis came into the picture. I sacrificed my life, so he could have it all. It was something that filled me with pride and determination that I could keep going.
I had to use magic to get back on the platform, and by the time I was out, back on the streets of London, my legs nearly gave out on me. Alexis took everything, and I was still trying to recoup my demonic energy. Outside I managed to get a phone signal. Ricky didn’t speak to his own sister for various reasons, but she needed to know that she might never see him again. I also called a few of my old contacts that would know what to do.
I waited for all of them to show up and then took them down to the tunnel. I was speaking so fast that after five minutes I had to start again.
By the time Ricky’s sister and mongrels that I hired left the platform, I knew that I had to head over to the palace. Leaving my best friend out in Gjöll, and not knowing if he was going to survive nearly killed me, but everything else weighed on the letter that was probably now in Arthur’s possession. I was shaking heading over there, thinking that I could make Arthur understand that I had lied to him in order to protect him.
It was dark when I got to the palace gates, anxiously hoping that everything would work out somehow. Someone from Rodriguez’s office was trying to get through to me, but I wasn’t in the right state of mind to talk to anyone. I was too scared to hear Arthur’s voice, knowing that he already knew the truth about my disappearance from two years ago. I needed to look in his eyes and make him understand that I didn’t regret what happened in the past.
My hands were shaking, heart still pounding. There was only so much that I could have done for Ricky, now he had to rely on magic.
The guards at the gate kept me for a good ten minutes, going through my clearance for longer than was necessary. Eventually I demanded to speak to Rodriguez and five minutes later I was let in. I wasn’t surprised that Rodriguez himself waited for me outside on the courtyard. I didn’t have time to fill him in with everything that went on. I was exhausted, and scared.
“The prince is expecting me. I need to speak to him urgently,” I said, restraining myself from shouting. The old demon wanted answers and when my eyes wandered off to the windows upstairs my stomach tightened. A long time ago, I had made a promise to myself. I was willing to protect my secret at all costs, now I had to break that promise and face Arthur.
“He’s waiting for you in his quarters, Miss Brodeur. The prince is furious, care to explain why?” Rodriguez asked, trying to get to my head again. My concentration was off, but I was still able to conceal my thoughts away from him.
“I haven’t got the time to explain anything right now. We can talk after. I must see the prince,” I said, involuntarily raising my voice.
Rodriguez scratched his beard, staring at me with resentment and suspicion. Maybe later on in different circumstances, I could show him the real me, the strong woman that stumbled a few times, but eventually she picked herself up. In the end I didn’t wait for his response and ran inside. Rodriguez was shouting after me, telling me that I couldn’t keep running away from him forever.
My heart was jackhammering in my chest when I reached the fourth floor. The door to Arthur’s quarters was slightly ajar. I hesitated, aware that this was it, my end and my new beginning.
“Hello … Arthur, are you there?” I asked, breaking myself in gently and walking into his private quarters. I didn’t think he would stay in the palace tonight, but he always was sentimental about his room, about the place were we first met.
I passed the large hallway and entered the conference room at the back. Arthur was sitting at the table, staring at something in front of him. There were envelopes on the table, old yellowish letters, some of them were torn, some in decent condition. I swallowed hard, slowly approaching him.
“I was wondering if you were going to show up. I didn’t think that you had the guts to see me,” Arthur said with a flat, resentful tone of voice. He knew, he already knew what I had hidden from him.
“Ricky is dying, and I don’t know if he is going to make it. I got here as fast as I could,” I said, knowing that right in that moment the prince didn’t care about Ricky at all. He was filled with bitter disappointment and anger.
“How could you do this, Maxine? How could you not tell me?” he asked, cutting to the chase. I took a few steps towards him and saw the brown envelope that I recognised. My letter was on top of the rest of them. God, I had to remain strong. Arthur didn’t need to see Maxine riddled with guilt, he needed to see the new me. The person that could stand up for herself, for choices that she had to make in the past.
“Have you read it? Have you read all of them?” I asked, in a small voice, dodging the answer to his question. I owed him an explanation, something, anything. He looked at me, clenching his fists on the table, until his knuckles went white.
“No one has ever betrayed me like that. I thought you loved me, but in the end you had only been using me!”
I shook my head. He couldn’t see beyond the lies, beyond the fact that I had given up everything, so he could be happy. I reached out, wanting to touch him, but he got up abruptly and the chair fell on the floor. He was breathing hard, and he was staring at me like he didn’t know me, like I was never his lover.
“You ran, vanished from the face of this earth just because you didn’t want to tell me?”
“It was my choice Arthur… I want—”
“Bullshit, it was my choice too! You’re real evil, Maxine. I thought that we understood each other, that we had a future,” he shouted and pressed my letter to my chest. “Read it, read it aloud. I want to hear all these words again, but this time from you.”
With shaky fingers I opened the letter, running my eyes over its content. He wanted to hurt me, fine. I could do this, go over what happened in the past once again for his sake. After that everything would be different, better.
Dear Arthur
You probably wonder where I am, you probably wonder why you can’t find me. It’s easier this way. You grandmother found out about our affair. She told me to disappear. She told me to leave London and never come back.
It wasn’t an easy decision, but it was a necessary one. Your whole family had cursed me off, and I have been fired from my post. My boss had every right to carry this through, because I broke all the rules, used you and took advantage of my position.
Please don’t hate them. It was entirely my fault. I let you cloud my judgment; I let myself forget that I was there to protect you.
I have been in this place, this village for a few months now, staying with old friends and trying to pull myself back together.
Things haven’t been easy and I never thought that I could sit down and start writing this letter to you.
Arthur, a couple of weeks ago I found out that I was pregnant. Everything had been all over the place, and I haven’t been feeling well in myself.
So now, I’m excited to bring the child into this world, to be a mother.
I nearly choked on these last words, but I kept going, telling myself that I was strong enough.
At first I was shocked, completely and utterly unprepared, and I thought that this child wasn’t yours.
After I left London, I had a couple of one-night stands with other men. It was a coping mechanism, something that I had to do, hoping this would help me with forgetting about what happened between us.
I don’t know why I’m telling you this, but after some time I was certain that I was carrying your child, the royal baby from a relationship that was never supposed to happen.
It did and that’s why I have decided to keep it, but never tell you about it. I wanted to spare you pain and resentment, because I always knew that your family would never accept this child. I was no one, an ex-employee, an orphan.
I’m going to give the baby out for adoption, disappear straight after the birth. I never planned to send this letter out and I know that you probably would never understand or agree with my decision, but it’s for the best.
I already love this tiny creature with all my heart, but I don’t want to destroy your life. Mine is already lost, because this is going to be the most difficult decision that I ever had to make.
I love you Arthur, and I will never stop loving you, but this child cannot be part of us, cannot be part of you.
We both know that people would rip us to shreds, and I want to give her the best start in life that there is. I want to make her happy, that’s why I’m saying I’m sorry.
I never meant to hurt you.
With love
Maxine
The end of Book 2