Page 114 of Nocte

One of her collective. A corrupted mind.

Nonsense. I want him gone. I want him to shut up. I want to make him shut up!

“Hush,” Caspian hisses to me. In my head, he promises,I will protect you. I will always protect you. Trust me.

I will always protect you.

“You two should go,” Altaris says. “I will clean up this mess. But you need to leave and stay somewhere safe. I have another home on the other corner of the city. Go there. Stay there. I will come to you with answers.”

No! He will come to us with lies! With devious villains and stabbing knives. They will hurt me. Kill me. Take me away from dear Caspian?—

“Don’t let her mind corrupt yours,” Altaris says. Hateful, evil Altaris. “You can hear me clearly enough, boy. Your will is still intact. That is the marvelous thing. The most wondrous thing. Your will is still intact and you can hear the truth in what I say. As long as you are in its twisted little mind, I will help you. I will protect you. I owe it to you, after all.”

“Why?”

“You don’t remember,” Altaris says sadly. “One day you will. One day you will know full well why you have every right to hate me, Caspian. But not now. Go. The address is Cage’s Street. The number is 621. A whole building, just to yourself. Stay there and wait for me to come. Go now. Before the sun rises.”

Before the sun rises, go now.

But the sun has already risen, and he is all mine.

Caspian is all mine, unchanged, unbroken.

He is all mine.

Even as I die, he is all mine.

“Wait,” Altaris says before letting us fade away. “There is something you should know. Both of you.”

“What?” Caspian demands. Impatient. Restless. He’s sat idle for too long. Sat still for too long. He needs to pin me down and see if I’ve changed. Inspect my body inch by inch. See if I have changed in my time without him.

“There is a bounty on her head,” Altaris says. “On you both. You think Mo Farley sent you here to square some debt? That was never the case.”

We know.

“She sent us into a trap,” I say. Not Caspian. My voice is so broken and frail. I laugh at the sound of it. Laugh and laugh.

“Hush.” Caspian grips me tighter. Then he lifts me off my feet and cradles me to his chest like he did that first night in the mortal realm. He holds me now as he held me then.

Even tighter.

“What’s wrong with her?” he asks.

“She is dying,” Altaris explains. “Which is why you need to listen. Why you still need my help. I will save her, but for a price. That we can discuss later. After you go.”

“Bounty,” Caspian grates. “What bounty?”

“The fae wants her for the death of her litter mate, I suppose. The heir to house Aurelius. He is dead. It happened the night you left.”

Dead.

Day.

Day is dead, but how? But why?

Caspian knows. He thinks of an answer to himself and squares it away in his corner of our huddled, fragile mind. Cassius…

Cassius did something.