The Shadow Tide

CHAPTER 25 - Steps

After days confined within the shadowy dungeons, Lady Belinda of House Justis had lost all trace of her radiance and elegance. It was there that Arian found her one night, dirty and dejected, huddled on a meagre mattress behind the cold, iron bars.

"I swear I didn't want to be a part of this" she wept, without Arian needing to pose a single question. "But I had no choice. I swear! Arian, please, forgive me."

The Rivena Peninsula, a region to the north of Pratoria, bore the scars of decades of fervent separatist movements. Belinda's father, the Lord of House Justis, formerly loyal to the realm, governed that tumultuous territory. He, in collaboration with King Gavin, had devised the union of their children to fortify the bonds between Rivena and the rest of Pratoria while weakening the separatists. However, it appeared that Lord Justis's plans were slightly different.

Arian had refused to visit Belinda before laying his father to rest, instructing Alma and the other participants in the investigation to refrain from speaking with her before he did. The preceding days had been consumed by interrogations of the other conspirators, including Belinda's parents, who, as anticipated, had revealed very little. Perhaps Arian would have better luck with her.

"Do you know what this is?" Arian inquired, taking an object from his pocket.

Belinda approached the bars deliberately, still crouched, to inspect it closely. Arian held a glass sphere, resembling a glass marble. If someone stopped long enough to observe it, they would see something stirring within—an ever-turning liquid vortex.

"I don't," Belinda concluded, a frightened gaze in her eyes.

"I've been working on this for weeks," Arian twirled the small sphere between his fingers. He had shed his gloves before entering the dungeons, wanting Belinda to see the stains covering his skin. "It will be quite useful if it works. And if you truly regret what you did, as you claim you do, you'll let me test it on you."

Belinda's eyes widened, and additional tears streamed down her face.

"What does it do?" she queried, terror evident in her voice.

"Just trust me," Arian extended his hand through the cell bars, the glass sphere nestled between his fingers. "Place this in your mouth. Do not swallow."

Belinda, kneeling in her soiled ball gown with tear-stained cheeks, extended her hand slowly towards the sphere, hesitating. She then took a deep breath, positioned the object on her tongue, and pressed her lips together. Instantly, her eyes rolled back, and her head leaned backward.

Arian patiently waited. One, two minutes, perhaps three. Belinda's arms dangled beside her trembling form, and her breath staggered. As time passed, Arian leaned in closer to the bars.

Eventually, Belinda stopped, her eyes returning to normal as she expelled the glass ball into her hands, panting.

"What have you done to me?" she uttered, breath quickening until she screamed and cast the object away, through the bars and toward the dungeon corridor. Arian watched the marble strike a wall and roll until it vanished into the darkness, but he didn't move.

Belinda remained on her knees, trembling and gasping until Arian heard footsteps behind him. Belinda's eyes lifted, alarmed, as she sought the origin of the sound.

Arian recognized the cadence of that gait, which halted briefly before resuming and materialized in the small pocket of light they occupied. Brethen moved deliberately, wiping the small glass sphere in the front of her vest. Belinda recoiled and retreated to the back of the cell.

"I believe you dropped this," she extended her hand toward Arian. Without rising, he retrieved the sphere and stowed it in his pocket. Brethen continued standing beside him.