The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 4 by Bella Forrest (life books to read TXT) 📕

With something akin to regret, Elias spoke. “The curse that was placed on Siren and me, though ‘gag order’ is a better term, worked like Aamir’s golden band. Neither of us could say anything directly—you had to find out your heritage and purpose on your own, to prove your worthiness,” he said quietly, his voice echoing strangely around him. “We didn’t make the rules, but we had to follow them. We followed them to the letter with your father, in that we weren’t allowed to influence anything directly, to help. But, as a result, he learned nothing and discovered nothing about himself. As far as he knew, he was ordinary. If we’d been able to equip him… Well, things may not have happened as they did.” In the wispy dark of his throat, he made a strange gulping sound. “So, over the years we discovered ways we could bend the rules a bit, to make things easier if another Spellbreaker ever came along… and you did. Here you are,” he whispered, a palpable sorrow in his voice. It was almost worse than the sarcasm.

“I guess I’m asking the right questions now?” Alex said wryly.

“Finally,” Elias replied, though the humor sounded forced.

“What were you going to say before you disappeared in a flash of light? You said, ‘It is not their—’ or something. Then you disappeared—what were you going to say?” Alex asked, hoping the question was precise enough to garner a clear answer.

“I was going to say, it is not their battle. They were all squabbling over who gets you, not realizing that it isn’t even their fight or their choice. I mean, they could force you, but it might end up with the same results as Virgil’s feeble attempts. In the end, it is your battle, not theirs.”

“Can you make me do it?” Alex asked, trying to keep the trepidation out of his voice.

Elias shook his shifting head. “Even now, I’m not allowed to influence you one way or the other, as much as I would like to,” he jested. “So far, I haven’t come up with a way of getting you to do it, and I have been wracking my brains for a long time. No, in all seriousness, the decision has to be yours.”

A sudden, horrifying thought came to Alex’s mind. Perhaps Elias hadn’t thought of a way around the no-influence clause, but Alex could think of someone who might have figured out an emotional loophole. He wondered if that was why Siren Mave had made Aamir offer to return him to the real world, to be reunited with his mother. With a pang of bitterness, he realized there could well have been a darker, less altruistic side to the offer. If it had happened, if he had accepted the offer before Jari and Natalie had burst in, would the trip home simply have served as a sweetener, to persuade him to accept his “purpose” and give his life for the cause? A reminder of what he was fighting for, to make him feel so overwhelmed with guilt for all those who couldn’t go home—a chance to say goodbye before he gave up his life? With a sinking feeling, he understood it was a grave likelihood.

“Now that you know all of this, of course, the gag has loosened a little—it’s frankly liberating. I should have roped a necromancer in years ago.” Elias chuckled, apparently missing the confounded expression on Alex’s face. “This isn’t something I signed up for willingly, by the way—my hand was forced a long time ago. I didn’t see the noose closing around my neck until it was too late. You should always keep your eye on the unworthy snakes slithering around you.” His shadowy lips curled into a grimace, his black eyes taking on an even more distant look. Shaking out his wispy limbs, he snapped back to the moment. “I suppose what I’m trying to say is, I have had to live with that decision, and you have to be sure you can live with your decision too. Or die with it.” He chuckled again, his teeth flashing.

“I still haven’t heard an apology,” Alex said bluntly.

The shadow-man froze. “I thought we had—”

“You thought I’d forgotten you killed my father?” Alex growled. “Or perhaps you just thought I’d forgiven it? It’s been a long time since you were human, hasn’t it? Maybe you’ve forgotten what it’s like to be human, to feel the way humans do, to hurt the way humans do,” he spat.

A flash of rage glinted in the abyss of Elias’s eyes. “I have forgotten nothing.”

“Have you forgotten what you did to them—what you did to my father, my mother?” Alex pressed, feeling anger return to him, though he wasn’t sure it had anything to do with the barrier magic this time.

“I’m sorry,” Elias said simply.

“You think ‘sorry’ covers it?”

Elias fidgeted with his wispy fingers. “You think me cold and unfeeling, but my intentions that day were good. I never intended for your father to get hurt. I attacked the man hunting him, and the level of collateral damage was worse than I expected—I hadn’t had to use my abilities for a long time, and the control I had over my power was not what it should have been. I was too strong, and it not only caused an innocent man to lose his life, but it caused an innocent woman unimaginable pain. You think me callous, but while I may not have a physical heart anymore, her tears and suffering made me feel as if I did. It broke for her, and it haunts me still. I am sorry your father got caught in the crossfire of my incompetence,” he said, with a greater solemnity than Alex had ever heard from the shadow-man.

The admission affected Alex more intensely than he thought anything Elias said ever could. It was hard to hear, and as much as Alex would