Quill of Thieves

Chapter 53

The panicked cry scraped against Sebastian's skull like metal on porcelain.

"Why is he bleeding?"

Abel's hysterical voice brought Sebastian back to Lambert's office; it had been her screams he had heard in Pavel's memory. Everything he had seen and heard ran through his thoughts like a nest of hornets, each sting another memory. His stomach twisted. He found he laid sprawled across Lambert's thick, musky carpets. Abel continued to demand loud questions of Matthias who stood above him. For a split second, anger swamped him over the interruption Abel had provided. If only he could have stayed in his father's Monverta, could have seen what became of Aurelea, perhaps he could have learned how he had come to be without her.

Without both of them.

Lambert's voice broke into consciousness next, presumably answering Abel's worried demands about blood. "It can be taxing on a body to witness another's memories, I would imagine—"

"Yet you didn't warn us?"

"The boy was brash; there was hardly time for any of that."

Sebastian's head swam, nauseated, but he forced his eyes open.

Someone knelt behind his head, propping him up by the shoulders. "What did you see?"

It was Astrid; her blue eyes peered down at him, a frown—though it resembled a nervous grimace the more Sebastian's vision focused—tugging at her colorless lips.

Her fingers scrawled letters into the back of his neck: Okay?

They sent his hair on end; it was a rather ridiculous question.

Sebastian struggled to sit. His chest ached beneath the rapid pounding of his pulse. A trail of something wet slipped over his chin and onto the sweat-damp tunic of his chest. It was a shock to learn it wasn't only blood that dripped down his face but residual, trailing tears, as well.

He swiped at it with the sleeve of his cloak. It was hot. Much too hot. "Aurelea." The name gasped from his lips. "What happened to her?"

A charged silence met his question. Sebastian imagined they all exchanged worried glances to wordlessly wonder if he had finally lost his mind. However, in the next breath, everything became a dizzying collage of movement and noise. Abel dropped to his side and touched his face, cooing over him while examining him for wounds. Astrid shifted from behind him, taking away her support. Her impatient breath huffed against the top of his head as she stood over him instead, arms crossed. Matthias was the only one who remained a statue at his position when Lambert half-leaned across his desk despite the captain's sword.

"Aurelea?" Lambert's expression quirked inquisitively. "The Elementi priestess? You saw her in Pavel's memory?"

Oh, no. Too late, Sebastian realized it might have been wiser to keep that bit of information to himself. After all, Pavel had even explained the plan had been to never share any knowledge or secrets about Aurelea. About them. Hadn't Aurelea worried the Eyelesene Spirits would find out about her involvement and cast a curse upon her?

Astrid had told him once the Spirits would even kill for certain discretions. Possess.

He forced his expression to straighten. Matthias watched, head quirked the barest centimeter to the right as if something Sebastian had said had faintly interested him. "It is true, then." Matthias's tone was low, careful. "Aurelea's child survived."

"No, I—" Sebastian choked on his next breath. "Pavel mentioned her in the memory. That's all."

Lambert watched him. "A motherless womb." The words from the prophecy grated against Sebastian's already frayed nerves. "It is you. Priestesses vow to never have relations with men."