The Bellatis stopped not outside the house, but rather, the stables. Some shifted back to human. Isobel dismounted smoothly, and I be unbound and placed on my feet.
She directed me into the stable by jerking on the whip. We walked past empty stalls to a round-roofed area with a sand floor. I scanned the large group standing within.
The Bellatis kept themselves a little apart from the ragtag bunch gathered around a tall, skinny figure with razor-sharp features. Finn. Son of Rindek, the Archmage, and brother to Demeti, who had died the night I turned my back on them all, and ran.
Finn be a Torshin, a race who manipulated life energy with little regard for the damage it might do. And by the white streaks in his hair, he’d been doing a lot of it over the last few months.
He regarded me with his tilted, crimson eyes, and grinned—revealing teeth as black as his soul.
Isobel retracted the whip, and the coven pulled away, keeping me within their circle but allowing others within it. Primarily a tall Bellati who pulled my brethren in behind him as he moved. He wore a long cape of red, shimmering material. Other than that, he looked just like all the rest of us, a little taller than most, maybe. Until you saw his eyes.
What I’d first seen in that intense gaze be hope. Hope for our future, and the future of the realms. But now, when I looked into them, madness prevailed.
Had his expression changed? Or only my interpretation of it?
The moment he moved within the coven’s circle, I sensed his energy, and shuddered. It be not at all familiar, and I’d never sensed anything quite like it. Very different from the Bellati I’d known. His eyes glittered as he gazed upon me, and my heart froze at the crimson edging in his silver eyes.
“I have waited a long time for this,” he snarled.
I drew myself up tall and regarded not only his despicable self, but the Bellatis that fanned out around him. “I’d hoped that when I walked away, it would shock some sense into you,” I replied. “I am saddened that it be not the case.”
Isobel stiffened. “You are the delusional one, not us. We are saving the realms from those who rape the land without fear of consequence.”
“Well said, my dear,” purred Galeran, putting a hand on her shoulder. The way his fingers stroked her neck spoke to their true relationship. The thing I hadn’t really understood until I walked away, and she failed to come with me.
“You slaughter millions of innocents,” I protested. “These people need guidance, not obliteration. It be not balance you seek. You seek power for its own sake.”
The Bellati’s eyes flashed, the red within them growing more pronounced. “I exist to give them consequences for their actions.” He said it like it be a declaration, his voice ringing through the enclosed space. The watching Bellatis responded, standing a little taller.
“Killing them teaches them nothing,” I stated, eyeing my brethren. I’d hoped to find them disillusioned, ready to rebel. But instead, they seemed more committed, not less.
Galeran shrugged. “I’m not interested in teaching them anything. They’ve had their chance to change. They have become nothing more than parasites upon their lands.”
I did not consider them so, but I knew he would never agree. So I argued, “Even parasites have a place in the great cycle. The residents could be taught to live in balance. This slaughter be even more heinous than what they have done to their realms.”
“They are nothing,” he hissed. “And once they are gone, the realms will not miss them.”
My gaze slid to Isobel. Hers burned with rage, and had also changed, from blue to a darker shade, with crimson highlights like the Torshin’s.
Galeran drew himself up tall before he continued. “I am the chosen one,” his voice rang through the arena. “It is my duty to save the realms.”
I gritted my teeth. “And how do you propose to do that without Nikolai?”
His eyes flared. “It will just take longer without him. And we have you to thank for that.”
I matched his stare. “Nikolai made his own choices. He chose to reject you and all you stand for. As did I.”
“You were part of the betrayal that altered the course of our history,” Galeran hissed. “And for that, you will pay.”
“I’d say I be sorry, if it be the truth,” I said. “I am sorry to have led these fine individuals into your sphere of influence. I also regret not having seen you for what you truly be. But if I had a chance to do it again, I’d still walk away.”
Galeran glowered, and the Bellatis around him shifted their stances. Much like the coven had linked to Isobel, I sensed how their energy linked to his. Like a giant web with him in the center.
There be no mistaking the rage radiating from him. But as I stood there, the coven began to sway. Red light gathered, and then arced across to Galeran before it radiated to the Bellatis.
Now that they were all woven together, an odd, vibrating hum came along with it. My hair rose off my shoulders, as did that of all the Liberis present.
Rather than fulfilling me, it set my teeth on edge. Because pulsing through it be a pleasure bordering on the obscene.
