With My Last Breath, Book Three (13 page)

I returned her stare coldly as she continued to study me.

‚How can this be?' she asked. ‚What is the meaning of this?'

‚Do you think that you are the only ones who control Fate?' I asked humorlessly.

‚You are not. We have simply allowed you to hold that role … and for far too long.

That will end soon.'

‚Will it?' she replied with icy, eerie calm.

I took a step toward her, intent on restraining her, on holding her down until I could decide what to do, but she took a long step back.

With a strange and horrible screech, she thrust her head and shoulders back and her clothing fell to shreds and dropped to the ground around her ankles. As she stood naked, her wrinkled skin turned ebony black and hideous bony wings ripped from her body, fanning to fill that entire side of the room. She opened her eyes and they were blood red.

‚Will it?' she asked again, her voice hoarse and dripping with the evil that I knew she was. The temperature in the room plummeted, the cold radiating from Lachesis herself. I shivered, as the hair raised at the nape of my neck. I could see every quick pant of breath that I took hanging in the air.

Glancing down, I saw that her toes had turned into razor sharp talons, scratching the floor as she took a few more steps. Then suddenly, she took flight through the room, shooting over my head and out my open windows.

Rushing to my balcony, I watched as she flew quickly from the palace and into the night. In horror, I realized that a long, scaly tail hung behind her. And then she was gone and I was alone, breathing hard as I leaned against the balcony railing.

What did this mean? Where was she going?
What the hell was she
?

I desperately tried to calm myself but dizziness from fear, from the blood loss, from the shock of what had just happened overtook me and I crumpled to the ground in a heap.

My tattered clothes lay in a pile in front of me and I concentrated on them as I sent out a silent plea for help.

Mother, I need you.

And then I closed my eyes.

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With My Last Breath, Book Three

Chapter Fourteen

‚Help her! Help her, Hecate,' a voice pleaded anxiously.

My mother. I tried to open my eyes but my eyelids were too heavy. It felt as though a brick lay on each one. I struggled with it for a moment and then gave up. I didn’t have the strength to move or to speak. All I could do was listen.

‚Hecate, what has happened?' Ares muttered hurriedly. He was anxious as well. I could hear it in his voice. ‚What is wrong with her?'

Where was I? Was I still in my bedchambers? I inhaled a breath and in it, I could taste the roses that drifted in on the breeze from the gardens. I was still in Camelot, that was certain. The night air was thick with dew, roses and brambles. I could smell the damp earth from outside and the moss that covered the palace walls and I could feel the salt from the sea on my lips.

What was wrong with me? I was physically drained, my energy gone. I couldn’t lift my hands or move my legs. I could hear Hecate rustling beside me, moving, perhaps mixing something. Glass and metal scraped against each other and then a pungent odor filled the room, clinging to the inside of my nostrils.

‚What the hell is that?' Ares boomed.

‚Hush, Ares,' my mother cautioned.

‚I care not who hears me,' Ares thundered. ‚I wish to know what the witch is going to feed my daughter. It smells like death.'

‚Perhaps that is exactly what it is, war god,' Hecate muttered. ‚You do not need to know what my magic contains, only that it is very powerful. Lachesis drank from your daughter’s blood. You can see the wound in her arm for yourself. Your daughter’s pure blood has now fueled the Moirae. But because of that, it has left Harmonia impotent and spent.

‚I shall have to use strong magic to revive her. Do not worry yourself, Ares. I’ve used this very potion on others, including your other daughter, Ortrera. She came through just fine and so will Harmonia...and her baby.'

Something cool forced my lips open and the most vile liquid I had ever tasted dripped down my throat, sliding into my belly like fire. The repugnant potion churned within my stomach, rapidly spreading through my blood with every beat of my heart. I felt it return my strength and as it did, it forced a shrill scream from my lungs, jerking my body into a sitting position as I shrieked.

Guinevere clapped her hands over her ears as she stared at me in panic.

‚Harmonia, stop!' she murmured. ‚Are you alright?'

I quieted the unconscious scream and assessed myself. Was I?

‚I don’t know,' I answered. ‚I think so.'

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Hecate patted my arm. ‚You’ll be fine now. Our concerns should not be with your well being, but with Lachesis… and what she has done with her new knowledge.'

‚What do you mean?' I asked anxiously.

Hecate stared at me patiently. The sympathy that I found in her gaze was startling and I inhaled.

‚What is it?' I asked quickly. ‚What has happened?'

She sighed and my parents drew closer, making me instantly nervous. I wasn’t sure if they meant to restrain me or comfort me.

‚As you know,' she began, ‚Whenever someone travels time, there is a risk… a risk that something will be altered. Any change, no matter how small, can cause massive ripple effects, effects that start small, but gradually widen until they create devastatingly large changes.'

I kept my eyes trained on Hecate’s solemn face.

‚What has happened?' I repeated in a whisper.

‚Close your eyes and hold hands,' she instructed quietly. We quickly did as she asked and our minds were instantly filled with visions.

The world had turned black.

Everything was just like the Wastelands where Cadmus was being held… void and cold. I shivered as I watched the images unfold in my mind.

Mortals were heartless, war raged everywhere. Thunderous dark clouds encapsulated every city as far as my mind could see. It was a bleak place and it was because of the Fates. I knew that without doubt. Because they did not have to continue their charade in order to keep me contained, they had turned the world into what they wanted it to be. Their only purpose now was to find the sword. They did not care what happened to the mortals. And the mortals were killing themselves.

Even the Spiritlands was dark and Olympus was ravaged and war torn. Houses were demolished, the land was quiet and black, the people were miserable.

I gasped and yanked my hands away, ending the visions. I jumped from my bed and rushed to the windows. The lush rolling mountainside below me had turned brown and dead. Black clouds swirled overhead, while dry leaves and withered rose petals blew across the countryside.

‚What will happen?' I cried. ‚What can we do?'

Hecate studied me sadly. ‚I know not,' she admitted softly. ‚This is like nothing that I’ve ever seen. They have changed everything. But we must repair it. If we do not, I fear that everything will be lost.'

‚That is not an answer, witch,' I glared at her. ‚I only need to know what to do.

Point me in the right direction and I will gladly do what I need to do.' As I glanced around at my mother, father and Hecate, I realized something. Lucan was not here.

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‚Where’s Lucan?' I asked hesitantly. ‚Ares, you are back from the skirmish.

Where is Lucan?'

Ares shifted his weight and glanced at my mother. She looked pained as she studied me.

‚Harmonia….' her voice trailed off.

‚What?' I asked in alarm. ‚Just tell me. What has happened?'

Guinevere pushed her shoulders back and cleared her throat. ‚He’s in the dungeons.'

‚The dungeons?' I cried. ‚Why? What the hell is going on?'

Ares stepped forward. ‚Your parlor trick,' he explained quietly. ‚You saved the young squire in front of an entire group of soldiers and then Lucan carried you away.

They’re crying witchcraft and claiming that Lucan was involved.'

‚Lucan… but that’s insane,' I stuttered. ‚But what about me? I’m the one who did it- why am I still here and Lucan is confined to the dungeon?'

‚Well, that’s a little tricky,' Ares shook his head. ‚Hecate froze time.'

I stared at him blankly. ‚Hecate did what?'

Hecate interjected. ‚I froze time. We needed to meet to decide what to do.

Everything can still be salvaged, but we will need Zeus’ sword to do it. We cannot rectify anything at all if they burn you for a witch, Harmonia.'

The mental image of being tied to a stake and burned alive caused me to shudder.

How did I get myself into such messes?

‚I see,' I replied. ‚So then, witch, what do you propose that we do? My mother believes that the sword might be hidden at the king’s parents’ property somewhere, but we know not exactly where. How do we find it? And what about me? They want me dead. Surely, though, Arthur will listen to reason. He knows me. He knows that I am not a witch.'

Again, they stared at each other uncertainly.

‚Harmonia, everything has drastically changed. Not only has the world itself changed, but the people here have changed as well, products of that environment.

Arthur is… not the same,' Ares explained.

I raised an eyebrow, trying desperately to conceal my alarm. ‚Meaning?'

‚Meaning that Arthur is not currently the warm, good-hearted person that you know him to be. He has grown cold much like everyone else here. He’s as ruthless as anyone I’ve ever seen,' Ares admitted.

‚No,' I shook my head. ‚I don’t believe that from him. He’s the most compassionate man I’ve ever known.'

‚He was,' my mother agreed. ‚But no longer. Not right now. The boy who you saved? Arthur ran him through with his lance… he didn’t want a person tainted by witchcraft to live.'

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I gasped. The image of the sweet boy’s face passed through my mind and I flinched at the thought of Arthur killing him. This couldn’t be happening. I shook my head.

‚It’s true, daughter,' Ares confirmed. ‚I was there and I saw it myself.'

‚So what do we do?' I asked limply.

‚We get the sword,' my mother replied simply. ‚It’s the only thing we can do.'

‚I suggest that we free Lucan from the dungeons,' Ares offered. ‚Harmonia, you and he should ride to find the sword. We don’t want to leave him here- we don’t want them to execute him before you return with the sword.'

I nodded, finally able to suppress my panic. If we had a plan, I was fine. I could work with a plan. And there was no way in hell that I would leave Lucan here alone.

‚Ares and I will remain here,' my mother continued. ‚We’ll try to contain this situation as best we can. But this goes without saying… you need to find the sword quickly. It is hard to say what the Fates will do in the meantime, daughter.'

I nodded solemnly. She had never been more correct.

‚I will accompany you,' Hecate added quietly. ‚We no longer need to be quite so careful about making changes here- we will change everything back to its rightful place with the sword. You will need my assistance.'

Ares agreed. ‚That is a wise idea, witch. You will protect my daughter with your life.' It wasn’t a suggestion or a request. It was a bold imperative. I shot Hecate an
I’m
sorry
look behind my father’s back. She shrugged understandingly.

‚I will do what I can,' she replied. Ares glared at her, indicating that her best was not enough. She ignored it, turning instead to face me.

‚So, first we need to free Lucan,' I pointed out. ‚And then we will ride out.'

‚It won’t be difficult,' Ares said. ‚Time has stopped here. We will walk into the dungeons, I’ll break his chains and we’ll … in fact, let us not talk about it. Let us just do it.' He waved his meaty hand and we were all standing in the front of the dungeon’s iron gates.

The smell from the dungeons was moldy and stale and my nose automatically wrinkled. It was eerily quiet. Nothing moved, even the air was still. It was as though we were walking through a paused movie. It was the strangest feeling.

Ares shoved his fist through the metal keyhole of the gate and it tumbled impotently to the floor, clanging loudly against the stone. He pushed the gates open and motioned for us to continue through.

‚Ladies first,' he grinned.

I rolled my eyes and walked past, anxious to find Lucan. He should not be in this place. This was a place for murderers and thieves.

The darkness down here was blinding- it took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust.

Torches were few and far between. I could hear Hecate muttering beneath her breath, Courtney Cole 89

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but I couldn’t understand what she was saying and frankly, at this point, I just didn’t care. My sole focus was on Lucan.

Turning into a long, damp hallway, we began looking into cells. Dank and dark, these were miserable little holes used for housing the scourge of Camelot’s society. I cringed away from the walls. Inside each cell, a dirty, hardened criminal was frozen.

Some were chained in corners, some were hanging in chains from the ceiling and one, a particularly dangerous looking man, was standing frozen with his fingers wrapped around his cell bars. His legs were manacled and bleeding onto the floor. His icy blue eyes stared sightlessly at me and I unconsciously moved away.

‚He’s here!' Ares called from the front. I hurried to catch up.

Breaking through the cell doors, Ares rushed inside. I gasped as I turned the corner to follow him. My beloved was dangling in mid-air, his wrists bleeding as the manacles cut into his skin. His face was bruised and blood dripped down his bare toes onto the stone bricks.

Tears welled up as I rushed to him, my eyes stinging. Ares was already lowering him from the ceiling onto the floor.

‚Wake him,' he implored to Hecate. ‚Wake him and leave here. Don’t awaken anyone else until you have passed the palace gates.'

She nodded. ‚That’s the plan, war god. I can only keep time still for so long, but a few more minutes shouldn’t be a problem.'

I knelt next to my husband, stroking his battered face.

‚Why did they do this?' I whispered. ‚Why did they beat him? He’s a valued knight. Arthur loves him.'

‚Arthur
loved
him,' Guinevere corrected. ‚He doesn’t love anything anymore.

Everything has changed, daughter.'

Cold fingers curled around my belly. ‚I can’t leave you here, then,' I murmured to her while I stroked Lucan’s bloody hand. ‚What will he do to you?'

‚Nothing,' she replied, meeting my gaze calmly. ‚He will do nothing to me. You were the one who healed the boy. He has no reason to suspect that I am anything other than his wife.'

‚But you said that he doesn’t love anything now. What about you? He loved you more than life.'

She shook her head sadly. ‚He’s empty, dear one. He loves nothing. He has been hardened to the world. But he won’t harm me- I’ve given him no reason. Just find the sword and return so that we can fix this atrocity. No one here deserves this.'

I nodded, listening to Hecate mumbling her incantations as she hovered over my husband.

‚There is one detail,' Hecate muttered, looking up at me, ‚That I haven’t told you.'

‚And that is?'

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‚He cannot remember you. If I bring him back just as he is, he would never leave here. He would stay to try and clear his name. I will take his memories and return them to him later.'

Dejection filled the pit of my stomach, heavy and cold. I was sick of being in positions where my husband didn’t remember me. He was mine and he should know that he was mine. But I understood the need for it now and nodded silently. Hecate returned her attention to Lucan.

‚Awake,' she whispered finally. ‚Awake, awake, awake.'

His eyes opened, his beautiful warm, dark eyes. He focused on me since I was directly in front of him. There was not an ounce of recognition in his gaze and I steeled myself, feeling overwhelmed by déjà vu. I had been in this situation once before in Eris’