"I'm so sorry," I say, tears running down my cheek. "I'm so sorry."
He raises an eyebrow, seemingly puzzled. "It is not your fault, Princess. It is my own burden. A burden well deserved."
"No one deserves such a fate."
He shakes his head. "If you could know how my family suffered, if you could know as I know, you would not agree." He tries to push me away.
I don't let him. I hold him tighter. "But you didn't intend to harm them."
"No. No, I didn't. But I must still pay for what I did. For the fool I was."
He pushes me away then, stronger than I expected. I fall back, wiping my tears, Riku chirping into my ear as Tavian grabs his belongings. He wraps his cloak around his shoulders and heads to open the door.
He pauses, holding the handle. "I will leave tomorrow. It is best. Best for me to travel alone. And… I will not tell anyone about Riku. About what you truly are. That is your burden to bear."
With that he opens the door and leaves.
A sharp cold wind hits me, and I wrap myself in the fur rug. Tavian's rug. It smells of him. And I hold it close. Weeping. Weeping for what could have been.
It is hours later, near day, when I remember what Tavian said. What he truly said. I will not tell anyone about Riku. About what you truly are. That is your burden to bear.
Your burden. Your burden. Your burden…
If Tavian kept my secret, then how did Asher know? How did he know?
I grab my fur cloak and run out into the cold winter air. I run back to the castle. There, in an empty hallway, I find Asher. Despite the hour, he is awake, and he walks with a purpose.
I stay in the shadow, trailing him through winding pathways and doors.
Once, I close a door too loudly, and Asher glances back. I freeze, slipping away into a corner. Asher looks around, then shrugs and continues on.
I follow more carefully. Riku, fortunately, doesn't make a sound.
He knows something is wrong here. Something we must uncover.
Asher stops in the middle of a hall, peeks around over his shoulder, then pushes something on the wall. A stone.
A groan echoes through floor, and a piece of the wall slides away. A secret door?
I thought I knew the passages. Fen showed me all of them.
But this. This is not one I know of.
Asher enters the new door, disappearing from sight.
What is he doing? Meeting someone?
Oh, Asher, please don't be a traitor. Please.
I clench my jaw and follow, hoping for the best, dreading the worst. I follow through the secret door, down steps leading deep into the earth. Leading to a chamber shrouded in darkness, lit only a by a few torches casting sinister shadows. Behind a corner, I watch as Asher grabs something from the floor. A tray of food.
He carries it forward. To something in the center of the room.
No. Not something. Someone. A man, bloody and bruised. On his knees. His hand outstretched, bound in chains.
I whisper an incantation, enhancing my night vision. And then I see the prisoner's face.
This… this doesn't make any sense.
The prisoner… the prisoner is Asher?
The man, the prisoner, looks up, and he grins. "No one figure you out yet? Bloody marvelous. Means I still get to be the one who kills you."
It sure sounds like Asher. The voice. The inflections. Even the cocky wit.
The other Asher, the one standing, laughs. It is not his voice. No. It's deeper now. Darker. Familiar.
My gut twists. My hands tremble. It can't be…
The other Asher waves his hand, and his form shimmers, changes. And there he stands.
My father.
Lucian.
Despite myself, memories flash through my mind. Memories of my mother escorting me to High Castle. My first trip there. Waiting for hours in the hall. Hours to see the king. Getting our chance. Walking up to the great king in front of hundreds of people. Oh, how mighty he looked. How grand. Dark hair with only streaks of gray. Black armor covering his body like dragon scales. A mighty sword by his throne, surely too big for any normal man. My mother pushed me forward to stand before him. "This is your daughter," she said.
The king looked at me then. Once. Only once he looked.
"My only daughter is dead," he said.
But, what did he mean? I could not understand. I was his daughter, and I was surely not dead. He was my father. Father's take care of their children. They embrace them. Tell them words of wisdom.
But the king did not move to touch me. He did not speak to share with me a story. Instead, he waved his hand in a gesture, and my mother pushed me to move out of the way. I did not wish to move. I wished to stay. To talk with father. But my mother pushed me more. "Please," she whispered. "Before the guards notice."
I let her move me then, move me back into the crowd. I had seen the guards. Big men in scary helmets that looked like beasts. I did not want those men to notice me. So I went back to the crowd, and then I went home. I did not see my father again. Not for a long time.
But I see him now.
He stands before me.
Laughing.
Laughing at the real Asher.
He's been impersonating him. Using illusion for… who knows how long.
I once thought Lucian dead. Gone. But he lives. He keeps my half-brother prisoner. I don't know what game he plays, but I know it is not good. Lucian was… is… never good.
"What's so funny?" asks Asher. The real Asher.
Lucian stops chuckling, adjusting his red cape. "Your audacity, my son. You always were so full of yourself, so proud."