The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(76)

“Now that you know all of this, of course, the gag has loosened a little—it’s frankly liberating. I should have roped a necromancer in years ago.” Elias chuckled, apparently missing the confounded expression on Alex’s face. “This isn’t something I signed up for willingly, by the way—my hand was forced a long time ago. I didn’t see the noose closing around my neck until it was too late. You should always keep your eye on the unworthy snakes slithering around you.” His shadowy lips curled into a grimace, his black eyes taking on an even more distant look. Shaking out his wispy limbs, he snapped back to the moment. “I suppose what I’m trying to say is, I have had to live with that decision, and you have to be sure you can live with your decision too. Or die with it.” He chuckled again, his teeth flashing.

“I still haven’t heard an apology,” Alex said bluntly.

The shadow-man froze. “I thought we had—”

“You thought I’d forgotten you killed my father?” Alex growled. “Or perhaps you just thought I’d forgiven it? It’s been a long time since you were human, hasn’t it? Maybe you’ve forgotten what it’s like to be human, to feel the way humans do, to hurt the way humans do,” he spat.

A flash of rage glinted in the abyss of Elias’s eyes. “I have forgotten nothing.”

“Have you forgotten what you did to them—what you did to my father, my mother?” Alex pressed, feeling anger return to him, though he wasn’t sure it had anything to do with the barrier magic this time.

“I’m sorry,” Elias said simply.

“You think ‘sorry’ covers it?”

Elias fidgeted with his wispy fingers. “You think me cold and unfeeling, but my intentions that day were good. I never intended for your father to get hurt. I attacked the man hunting him, and the level of collateral damage was worse than I expected—I hadn’t had to use my abilities for a long time, and the control I had over my power was not what it should have been. I was too strong, and it not only caused an innocent man to lose his life, but it caused an innocent woman unimaginable pain. You think me callous, but while I may not have a physical heart anymore, her tears and suffering made me feel as if I did. It broke for her, and it haunts me still. I am sorry your father got caught in the crossfire of my incompetence,” he said, with a greater solemnity than Alex had ever heard from the shadow-man.

The admission affected Alex more intensely than he thought anything Elias said ever could. It was hard to hear, and as much as Alex would have liked to call Elias out for crying crocodile tears, the apologetic revelation sounded undeniably genuine. It wasn’t like Elias to feign emotion where he didn’t have to, and sorrow was emanating from the shadow-guide, the stars glittering more brightly in his galactic eyes, prickling the tear ducts of Alex’s own eyes.

“You want my forgiveness?” Alex asked.

Elias lifted his vaporous shoulders in a shrug. “I could not begin to expect it.”

“I can promise a certain level of forgiveness for what you have done, or tolerance of you at the very least, if you will find a way to free me from this room,” Alex vowed. “I know you said you couldn’t, but you’re powerful, Elias. You must have something up those wispy things you call sleeves.”

Elias’s face shifted into a frown. “They are my arms,” he remarked with a note of scorn. “And I’d love to help, I truly would, but I’m not supposed to interfere.”

“I won’t offer forgiveness again,” Alex said evenly. “Anyway, since when have you been afraid of bending a few rules?”

“Fine,” Elias muttered, slipping back up into the rafters and disappearing through the stone wall. If looks could kill, Alex was fairly sure he’d be dead.

Alex peered through the grate as the shadow-man reappeared. There was a clatter as something fell onto the hard ground. A few unspecified noises followed quickly after, culminating in the loud scrape of the hefty table being hauled back into its previous position, before the door opened with a loud clunk.

“Ta-da!” Elias whooped, as he swept back into the room with a flourish.

Alex paused briefly on the threshold of the cell, an impulse making him linger a moment longer before he ran out to find his friends. With a warning in his eyes, Alex turned back toward Elias, any previous hint of softening resolve gone.

“If I hear a whisper of you having any part, however small, in Ellabell coming to harm, then we are done,” he added, his voice low and threatening, rumbling gruffly from the back of his throat. “There will be no partial tolerance or potential second chances; there will be nothing. I will have nothing to do with you. Is that clear?”

For the first time, Alex thought he saw fear in the oblivion of Elias’s galactic eyes, and they both knew why.





Chapter 25





As Alex sprinted from the cell, he pushed all thoughts of Elias aside. He had no time for further distractions.

He ran through the hallway that led to the courtyard and stopped in the archway of the entrance. There was no sign of the guards, but Alypia was on her feet, glancing around in a disoriented manner. Alex wondered if that meant she was back to her usual self, but, as he approached, it didn’t seem as if she could see him. He crept toward her, hoping to use his mind control if he could get close enough.