“Father, she only meant to demonstrate clearly that she is in full possession of her magic, she intended no harm,” Kiran explained in soothing tones.
“Is that true, Eden?” Lucan asked, the challenge evident in his voice. He knew very well that I was incapable of backing down. “Or were you trying to make a different point?”
I swallowed my biting remarks that came to the surface faster than my next breath. I clenched my fists, forcing my arms to remain at my sides, knowing that crossing them against my chest was my obvious tell.
“Eden, is it true!” Lucan shouted at me, impatient with my silence. With his magic, he picked up the antler adorned chandelier and threw it violently against a bookshelf. Two Titans scattered out of the way just in time to escape being staked through by the smooth but dangerous horns. Books and splintered wood were thrown from their places as the chandelier impaled the wall instead of the Titan Guards who had been standing vigilant only a moment ago.
“Yes, it's true!” I shouted back, finding reprieve in volume of voice rather than direct insult. “I have my magic back; it's at your disposal. Please, nobody needs to die tomorrow.” My voice broke with desperation and turned into humbled pleading. I stepped around Kiran, beseeching Lucan to honor his promise.
“How did you get it back, child? How did you make it yours again?” Lucan avoided my question, demanding the answer to his own query nagging him.
I thought about lying. I thought about answering with a short sarcastic retort, but I knew that he would see through me and then demand blood for disobedience. He was testing me, deciding if he broke my spirit or if I would continue to challenge his every breath. This was information I wanted to keep secret, it was valuable and sacred, yet I wondered what he could do with it. I wondered if he would ever be in a position to want to give someone back their magic, or even care that it was possible. He paced in circles around me, waiting out my resolve, growing more confident with every moment that I struggled. If I told him the truth, he would believe that he won; he would believe that I learned my lesson. And I would buy time until he threatened me again with a life that was not mine to bargain with.
“I'll tell you, but I want your word that no one will die today. I want your word that you will honor your side of this arrangement. I have my magic back, no one dies,” I worked very hard to maintain the measured tone masking my utter hatred for this man, knowing that today was all I could ask for.
“No one will die today by my hands or my edict, you have my word,” Lucan promised, nodding his head, while the corners of his thin lips curled into an evil snarl.
“It is not the task of the taker, but the one who has lost the magic; they must reclaim it on their own. The other person, the person who took the magic, has to be willing to let it go, but they cannot physically give it back. It doesn't work like that, only the initial holder of magic can recover their own. It is as hard on the person pulling their magic out as it is for the person who has to let it go. Once the stolen magic has bonded with the blood, it is nearly impossible to separate the two. But with patience and hard work, it can be done,” I finished enthusiastically, having just gone through the experience myself.
“There, that was easy, Eden,” Lucan's forehead creased in self-satisfaction. I shivered from his thirst for control, and from his desperation to own everything in this world. “You're going to comply now. You know what's at risk. You understand that every decision you make, every thought in that pretty head has consequences. If you step out of line again, if you so much as roll your eyes in defiance, I will break you. I will round up everyone you hold dear and take their lives as if I were blowing out a candle!” He finished by stepping forward and screaming in my face.
He stepped back, composing himself. His expression, a reflection of hatred and disgust only moments ago was masked with a cool tranquility that read stately and forgiving. My stomach lurched at his ability to retract his wrath in seconds, at his manipulation of forgiveness and benevolence.
“The Summer Solstice is approaching,” Lucan continued. “In one week, the Citadel will be filled with Immortals ready to enjoy the feast and the newly engaged couple. I have taken the liberty to include your engagement celebration during those days and I expect you both to be on your best behavior. However, Eden, I speak to you specifically. If you do not utterly dote upon my son, if your eyes leave his for even a moment, if your hand finds even a reason to leave his grasp, if there is any reason why my people will not assume that the two of you are so exhaustively in love that you cannot for even a moment be separated, then for an engagement present I will start this all over. I will line the prisoners up one by one and toast each of their deaths as a special matrimonial tribute to you. Let us not play games any longer, child, you are a prisoner here. You will bend at my every command or the people that you love so dearly will die at your expense. Do you understand?” His voice turned sinister, he stood over me a menacing presence and all of the teenage rebellion in the world could not have stopped me from shrinking in fear. I was face to face with pure evil, a man that would kill an innocent Immortal just to keep me in line, just to keep up the pretense that his son had claimed his love interest.
“I understand,” I whispered, not able to dispel the terror from my tone.
Even as my hands trembled with fear, and I fought against the urge to step back behind Kiran, my purpose was strengthened. I would play Lucan's game. I would obey his commands, and pretend to love Kiran for the sake of his kingdom and I would wait. I would wait until that perfect moment when prideful and reveling in a united kingdom he would forget that I was his enemy. He would forget that I wished him dead, and plotted his downfall. I would strike when he was comfortable, when his aspirations for his kingdom and bloodline seemed to be in his grasp. I would take his life with the same callousness that he took so many others and I would end his bloodline so that mine could rule in its rightful place.
“Good.” Lucan smiled triumphantly at me.
And so it started.
“Even still, Kiran, do you trust her?” Lucan turned to his son.
Kiran turned his eyes on me and watched me for a few moments. He stood in pensive silence, while I fidgeted uncomfortably from the intensity of his gaze. Hardness crossed his face in an expression that sent a shiver tingling down my spine.
“No, I absolutely do not trust her,” Kiran confessed in a cold tone that stole the fresh warmth of my magic in a heartbeat.
“Is that so?” Lucan asked, amused by his son. “Then she will be bound, unless you object?” Lucan turned toward his son gauging Kiran's reaction, but his face remained a stoic statue of indifference.
“Of course not,” Kiran scoffed.
I shifted on my feet wanting desperately to protest, to voice my outrage and then run from this place. But I thought of the lives holding on by mere threads of miserable existence buried beneath this room and stood my ground. I tipped my chin in firm resolve and stopped my feet from shifting. I knew this life would not be easy, I had talked myself through death a thousand times; I couldn't let something as simple as binding, whatever that meant, let me question my purpose.
Lucan snapped his finger and a Titan disappeared into the hallway.
“Kiran, I've been meaning to ask you, what happened to the Transmogrifier from yesterday? When Alexander returned to clean up the mess, he said that she was gone,” Lucan inquired of his son casually, while his eyes scrutinized Kiran's reaction with expert skill.
“I had Talbott take care of her,” Kiran explained simply.
“We can always count on Talbott,” Lucan smiled genially at Talbott who had yet to move from the doorway.
The Titan returned carrying similar handcuffs that had chained Jericho when Talbott handed him over to me. I remembered how tired Jericho was, how suppressed his magic was because of the iridescent metal that bound his hands. I swallowed my fears, and bit my tongue, working as hard as I could to silence my objections. I wasn't worried about the lackluster magic or the exhaustion caused by the restraining metal, nothing could be worse than no magic. I believed that. But the inconvenience of having my hands constantly tied together was more than I could handle, and I felt it was completely unnecessary. How would I change shirts? Take a shower? They couldn't seriously believe I was going to let them get away with this.
“No, absolutely not,” I stomped my foot and crossed my arms defiantly when the Titan holding the handcuffs approached me. I tucked my wrists under my arms and held them tightly to my body.
“Don't make this difficult,” Kiran sighed, turning away from me and running his hand through his hair.
“Are you kidding me?” I scoffed, backing away from the Titan who now wore a satisfied grin across his face. “You cannot possibly expect me to wear those! I won't be able to do anything!” I whined, beseeching Kiran rather than Lucan.
“That's the idea,” Kiran mumbled.
I clasped my hands behind me, willing to physically fight for my freedom and walked backward away from the approaching Titan who seemed to think this more of a game than an ordered task.
“I'm not going to do it, plain and simple. The consequences of disobedience were made clear, I don't need to have my hands tied together to do what I'm told.” I bumped into Talbott who blocked the escape route behind me. He gently placed his hands on my wrist, but the threat was there, the silent warning that he could hold me down if he needed to.
I searched for Sebastian, hoping he would take my side and stand up for me, but he was no help. He stood in the corner of the room, staring down at the floor, and if I didn't know better, trying to hide a smile that was very close to turning into a laugh.
“It's too uncomfortable! How can I possibly pretend to love Kiran with those.... those.... things around my wrists!” I stomped my foot again, only this time a ripple of magic dispersed across the floor, causing the ancient stone to tremor underneath us. I shrunk further into Talbott, embarrassed by my temper and understanding that I was in no way building my case.
“She has a point,” Lucan smirked, the corners of his mouth disappearing into his cropped goatee. “Cut them in half.”
The Titan walked toward me with slumped shoulders, his face falling with obvious disappointment. He didn't say anything but held out the handcuffs in front of him, stretched out so the chain that linked the two cuffs was straight. Talbott, standing close behind me, drew his sword and sliced through the thick metal swiftly. I screamed involuntarily, afraid of the fast blade only inches from my skin. The metals clanged together and a surge of magic like hot sparks burst forward before the handcuffs were separated, each dangling a short chain from them.
“Satisfied?” Kiran asked, rolling his eyes.
“Really?” I mimicked his sarcasm but held out my arms while Talbott and the other Titan fastened the cuffs around my wrists. “Yes, I am totally satisfied with this arrangement. I love wearing heavy metal handcuffs around my wrists and I especially love when my magic is restricted.”
“Are you really not going to take any of the blame? Have you forgotten what was at stake just an hour ago? Or what my father has threatened you with?” Kiran stepped forward, outraged by my biting humor.