Soul Seeker

43: Confrontation

Darius eventually guided her back up the trail and into the shelter of his home. Numb, she let him. The world had shifted around her. How could she ever recover from this? How would life ever be normal again? So soon after the shock of Tonraq... She had to see him.

"Where's Tonraq?" she croaked once they were inside, forgetting what he had told her.

"Did you find Fell?"

"What? I told you..." She rubbed her eyes, confused. "I told you no."

"I wanted to check. I..."

"You cared about Fell once," she interrupted. "Maybe you still do. You just push it down deep."

He stilled as if he had been turned to stone.

"You and Fell were friends once."

"Yes."

"Did he used to rake his hands through his hair to get it off his face when you first knew him? He still does that."

"Yes," Darius said quietly, the ghost of a smile curving his lips as old memories stirred. "But you – you did find him, didn't you?"

"I saw him from a distance," she said stubbornly.

"Really."

"Yes."

"Did you find a guardian?"

"I don't know anything about the guardians..."

"An interesting tale. I believe it differs to the one I heard from Sebastian, however."

"What?" Ciara said stupidly.

Two men in cloaks walked out from behind one of the patterned screens dividing the main hall, with a figure between them.

"S-Sebastian?"

Had he been here the whole time?

"What's going on?" Ciara said.

"You see," Darius said, facing her with a strange light in his eyes, "Sebastian here told me a tale that was much more lengthy and interesting. Why don't you reveal yourself to me, Embla?"

The ground swayed.

Ciara looked to Sebastian, who didn't meet her eyes. He did not look beaten. Those men were not holding onto him, he wasn't attempting to escape.

"You're joking, right?" Ciara struggled to feign lightness. "This is a joke."

"I do not joke." Darius stepped closer. "Come now, as a guardian, we have a duty to work together."

She struggled to keep her breathing even. Control, control, don't let your powers loose, don't let them see anything.

"It's no use lying, Ciara," Sebastian said, his voice hollow. "He knows everything."

"You can't control me." Ciara balled her hands into fists.

Darius sighed. "Oh, Ciara, how I wish things would have turned out differently! I would not have to hurt you at all had you remained loyal to me. You could be standing by my side right now."

"Had I remained blindly loyal while you used me."

"Used you, yes, but cared for you, too."

"Only because you didn't want to lose a playing piece!"

Fell had been right. All along, Fell had been right, and I had refused to see it. I should have agreed with Fell the minute I began to feel like something was off...

Ciara took a deep breath, as any hope she had had of making Darius see sense faded away. "How about we start over?"

Darius raised his eyebrows.