Relinquish(95)

By the time I’ve brought him up to the events of this afternoon, Eamon has leaned forward, his elbows against his knees and fingers steeple before him. “So you’re only under the king’s control when you’re with him, right?”

“Yes, but so far Bastien has remained relatively normal. I think Aloysius’s pride believes me so tightly wound around his finger that Bastien no longer matters. We act like complete strangers when anyone is around, apart from Alesta, of course.”

“And you trust her?”

I nod. “Bastien still keeps an eye on her, but she has given me no reason to doubt her yet.”

“Only one slip could be fatal, Illyria,” he warns.

I smirk. “Now you sound exactly like Bastien.”

“Well, in this case, I’ll take that as a compliment. You can’t be too careful.” He leans back in the chair, closing his eyes. “I’ve seen this played out over and over in my mind. Spent the past year watching you fall in love with Aloysius again and again. He’s the reason I lost you.”

“You know that isn’t true. You pushed us apart long ago.” I speak softly but know the sting of my words will still hurt.

Staring across the room at him now, I regret the way we parted ways. Him broken and me confused and tormented. None of this ever should have happened. He should have been the one giving me a shoulder to cry on, not Bastien. “I know how hard it must’ve been for you to look into my future, to know that someday I would be sitting right here, but you should have trusted me.”

Eamon twitches as he sits up. “You think I didn’t trust you?”

“What else could I think?”

He blows out a breath, shaking his head. “It was never about my lack of trust in you. It was a lack of faith in my own abilities.”

I curl my finger around a strand of hair, contemplating what he has just revealed. Then it hits me. I jerk upright in bed. “You saw something else, didn’t you?”

The sound of the keypad unlocking and the door opening sounds distant to me. I don’t realize Bastien has returned until I feel his hand upon my arm. “Illyria? What’s wrong?”

I don’t look away from Eamon. “He was just about to tell me what little detail he forget to mention about my future.”

Bastien’s grip tightens on my arm. He swivels his head to stare at Eamon, but he doesn’t notice either of our gazes. His eyes are downturned, focused on the floor. “Eamon?”

His shoulders rise and fall as he takes a deep breath. “I didn’t see any point in telling you…”

“Well, there is now,” Bastien growls as he raises his arm to grip my shoulder. “So start talking.”

Eamon clears his throat before he speaks. “For the past year I’ve been monitoring Illyria’s future, trying to find some way of altering it. I know it’s impossible, but the thought of losing her to that monster… It was more than I could bear.”

Surprisingly, Bastien nods in agreement. “So what haven’t you told her?”

“There’s nothing to see past her wedding night. It’s all blank.”

Bastien stiffens beside me, but I don’t react. This isn’t a surprise to me. “I’ve already seen that, Eamon. I know what happens.”

“You never said…” Eamon trails off, lifting his head to look at me.

I shrug. “What was the point in hurting you even more? I get married to an evil monster. End of story.”

Bastien and Eamon both cry out.

“How can you be so apathetic about this?” Bastien asks.

I release the breath I feel like I’ve been holding for over a year. “Because it haunts my dreams every night.”

“You’ve known all this time,” Eamon whispers, plunging his hands into his unruly curls. “I was trying to save you from this. To protect you from the pain.”

“And all you did was alienate her and force her to deal with this on her own. Smooth move,” Bastien growls beside me. I can feel his anger in the strength of his grip upon my arm.

“I didn’t know.” Eamon protests, beginning to rise from his chair. Bastien’s grip on my arm slackens and I know he is going to rise up to meet him.

“Stop it!” I cry, surging to my feet. “I am sick and tired of you two bickering. You’re family, for goodness sake!”

Eamon comes to a complete halt, blinking rapidly. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

Bastien groans. “Great. This is exactly how I wanted him to hear the news.”

I could kick myself for letting Bastien’s secret slip out, but in the heat of the moment, I used what ammo I had available. “I’m sorry, Eamon. That wasn’t… I shouldn’t have said it like that.”