Necromancy In D Minor ✔️

Sonata of the Bells

Octavia hissed in a breath as a sharp pain lanced through her gut and batted away the head medic's prodding fingers. The tea and cookies in her stomach turned over and bile rose into her throat, but she swallowed to keep her food down.

Just as she'd suspected, the moment she tried to do anything but lie in bed, fatigue had trampled over her like a runaway horse. Her hands refused to stop shaking, and sitting up left her winded.

Annabelle tutted. "Don't be that way, I'm only trying to help you." She was the same bubbly bundle of youth that had treated Octavia the first time she'd landed in the infirmary. She'd bustled into the room with a bag filled with heinous concoctions and forced Octavia to drink nearly all of them.

Now she poked and prodded as medics liked to do, checking over all Octavia's bumps bruises and scars. "Your wrists are healing up nicely. They may itch a bit, though. The pain medication should start working soon." She snapped her bag shut and hoisted it on her shoulder. "I'll be back this evening with more." With that, she skipped from the room, like a child with a basket full of sweets.

Octavia grimaced and gazed out the window, measuring the distance from her room on the second floor to the ground. Perhaps she could make a run for it, hideaway in her old residence. If the netherborne hadn't destroyed it.

A knock sounded on the door, and Claud poked his head in. "The Council is here." He gave Octavia a smile and nod. "Good to have you back. We'll talk later. Pilar is breathing down my neck about fixing her jacket."

Lady Beatrix brushed last him with Levi, but no Diann. Perhaps the Councilwoman had been eaten by the netherborne. Good riddance.

"Oh, thank the gods you're all right, Octavia," Beatrix said. "How are you feeling?"

Octavia leaned back into the pillows and closed her eyes. She couldn't look into the faces of those who'd condemned her to death. "I'll make this quick and simple. Do you want my help or not?"

"Of course. Without it, Jaredeth will ruin us." Sicero reached for her hand, but she pulled it away.

"Is that the only reason I'm not sitting in a cell right now?" A frigid silence fell over the room along the rustle of clothing as the councilors shifted on their feet.

"Let's not mince words here. You all wanted me dead. And now that that plan has backfired, I'm treated to smiles and niceties. Hot breakfast, a warm bed." She looked at Sicero. "Empty apologies."

"Octavia I..." Sicero's words trailed off when she shook her head at him.

"Blame me," Beatrix said. She strode forward shoulders squared and head up, but her steps faltered as she looked Octavia in the eye, and she cast her gaze to the ground instead. "This was my doing. It was my idea to throw you at Jaredeth's feet. I thought it was in the best interest of the village at the time. And I was wrong. If you want to yell at someone, beat someone up." She held her hands out, palms up. "I'm it."

Octavia shook her head. There would be plenty of time to lament and point fingers later. For now, she needed to know if she was spending the winter in Hedalda or in Avaly. "I'll make this simple. Do you want me to rid Hedalda of the netherborne or not? If the answer is yes, I'll need your full cooperation in that endeavour. If not, then I'll leave, and you'll never see or hear from me again. As for Jaredeth, I have a way of contacting him."

"You want to help us even after the way you were treated?" Beatrix asked, her voice soft and an octave higher than usual.

Octavia scoffed. "I don't care about any of you." The cold edge in her voice surprised even her, but the words had slipped out before she could think better. Being ruthless was Quintus' and Jaredeth's shtick. She was the passive lover of mankind who tried to help everyone. She didn't want the bitterness to turn her into the monster everyone thought she was. But she wouldn't take the words back either. "I'm not leaving my students here to die."