The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 6 by Bella Forrest (books for men to read .TXT) 📕

hope he keeps his end of the bargain,” he said, giving a tight laugh. Alex shook his head subtly, hoping that wasn’t the Head’s attempt at humor. If it was, Alex pitied the poor man even more. “Sorry, I realize that was in poor taste. I mean to say that there will be no other way of getting them out of this place. The palace is both a fortress and a labyrinth, and I could not even begin to guess where your friends are,” Virgil added, fidgeting uncomfortably.

“So what did you mean when you said it won’t come to that, for the people at Starcross?” Alex pressed, shifting the conversation in the direction he wanted it to go.

Virgil smiled his strange, discomfited smile, though it was cut short by a jolt of electricity. “Well, it has all worked remarkably in our favor. You see, all the soldiers who were formerly at Falleaf are now at Starcross, and nobody is watching Hadrian,” he said, getting a touch excitable. “Hadrian is going to rally his own students, and get the survivors out of Starcross, back to Falleaf, where he will shut the portal behind them.”

Alex frowned, unconvinced. “What about the soldiers at Starcross?”

“The army there is large, but they are lazy. Plus, Julius won’t expect it. He won’t have time to send backup—by the time he even hears they’re gone, the portal will be shut and a swath of his force will be stuck there,” explained Virgil. “Not everyone can do the impressive heavens-opening thing he likes to do, and only he can fly back the same way. He will be royally—pardon the pun—screwed.”

Alex sat back, impressed by the skeletal man before him. It seemed Virgil had taken sides, at long last, and though it didn’t wash away the sins of all the terrible things he had done, it was clear the hybrid royal wanted to make amends, no matter the cost to himself. That, irrespective of how much he could actually absolve himself of, was something to respect.

Alex whistled. “That’s quite the plan.”

“I’m just sorry I can’t take your place,” Virgil said, sounding sincere.

“Why the sudden desire for martyrdom?” Alex sniffed, wondering what had come over the Head.

“It isn’t martyrdom I seek, Webber, it is redemption… as I have said,” Virgil began quietly, a solemn expression on his face. “I believe the shift came when you informed me of our mutual relation—my father. I was furious; I didn’t want to believe a word. To me, Leander Wyvern had always been a monster who razed villages to the ground, murdering innocents and suffocating infants as they slept—the nightmarish fables they told children to make them behave. I never, for one moment, thought to question it. I was told I was the product of an attack, though the man in question was never named. He was this spectral enemy who had hurt my mother and made my stepfather loathe my very existence.” He sighed with sadness.

“Only, he wasn’t,” Alex said softly.

Virgil shook his head. “No, he wasn’t. Stuck in those cells, in that windmill, my mother finally told me a story I had never expected to hear. It was a story about love… about a young man and young woman who loved each other more than anything else in the world, but they stood on either side of a dangerous line. They gave up their love to protect one another, only to find each other again during wartime, when they better knew their own minds. She loves him still, thinks about him still, but could never breathe a word to me about him. Julius had threatened to have us both killed, on the spot, if word ever reached him that I knew of my heritage. In fear, she kept it from me, though she had wanted to tell me, over and over, all these years,” he whispered, his voice tense with emotion. “Every time she’d heard me or him say a bad word about Leander, it had torn her up inside. The suffering she has had to endure, to keep me safe… I want to be redeemed for so many things, Alex. Knowing who I am has given me a strange sense of closure. When before, I was not ready for death, now I am. I wanted to do this, to take your place, for my father, for her, for the people I have killed.”

“I’m sorry you can’t take my place, too.” Alex laughed bitterly. “But Julius has spoken—I have to be the one to die, to pay for my crimes against the royals,” he added, putting on the king’s voice.

Virgil chuckled, the sound a strange, raspy thing in the back of the man’s throat. “I would switch with you in the room, if I could, but Julius has insisted he be present, to ensure everything goes the way he wants it to,” he explained, sighing heavily. “He’s asked me to build a barrier, to protect him from any silver mist fallout there might be. I had no choice but to accept. I hope you can understand.”

Alex nodded, though it was a bitter pill to swallow. Given that Julius was not the sort to change his mind, Alex realized, once again, that it was going to be up to him to get the spell right. More than that, it was going to be up to him to give his life for the cause, after everything he’d done to try to avoid it. At last, he could see why Virgil had been so afraid in the past, when he’d been forced to do the counter-spell at his stepfather’s behest. A twinge of sorrow made its way through Alex’s veins, making him feel a flicker of sympathy for the way Virgil had been forced to do the tasks, back when he was so much younger and so much more afraid than he was now. It seemed they not only shared a relation, but they shared the same fears too.

“I understand why you want to do