Arc 2. Chapter 1-5
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“He came… here?”

Lucas’ eyes were wide and surprised. We were back home after a long day out. I had to wait until it was almost ten in the night to tell Lucas that Mathias went to the festival as my parents appeared too awake from the festivities to go to sleep.

Maintaining his gaze, I slowly nodded my head, and Lucas glanced down, looking lost in his thoughts.

“He told me he wanted to meet us tonight at the inn he’s staying, and to also cover our faces.”

“We have our cloaks in the closet upstairs, but the door screeches when you open it” Lucas said, almost pouting.

“We can oil them before. That is…” I bit my lips, unsure of how to proceed, before finally shrugging. “Let’s just open the door. If mom and dad ask, I will tell them I simply wanted to get an extra blanket.”

Lucas nodded. I told him to stay downstairs while I climbed up the stairs. The door creaked ominously, causing me to wince, but even after I waited for a while, nobody came to question me. I took the cloaks and closed the door again, before reuniting with Lucas.

“Here” I threw him the cloak, which he took and put on immediately. “No, don’t do that. Just keep it with you in the meantime. We have to wait until my parents are asleep and Thomas will wonder if you don’t appear until much later.”

“You’re right” Lucas said while sighing, taking off the cloak. He was obviously anxious to see his brother again, but he understood we had to proceed with caution.

We agreed on a time, half an hour before midnight, before each going back to our rooms to wait until then. When the time came, I walked outside, surprised but at the same time not really upon seeing Lucas already waiting for me with his cloak on.

“Do you know where the inn is?” he asked as we started walking. The town was at walking distance from the farm, so it was not necessary to use a horse; that besides, would be too conspicuous.

I nodded. “There’s only one inn in the entire town. It’s a shabby and small wood building, and there’s a tavern on the ground floor. One of my friends is the daughter of the owner” I explained, before frowning as something I didn’t considered before crossed my mind. “The problem is that he didn’t tell me his room number.”

“If it’s such a small inn I’m sure we’ll find the room easily enough” he said so as to comfort me, and from then on, we made our way in silence.

The night was illuminated by the full moon, making our walk easier, but even like that it was kind of eerie and ominous. Just imagine it: two children covered by cloaks walking on the road in the middle of the night to town alone. I couldn’t help but feel a bit insecure, even though it was the countryside and almost nothing dangerous happened here. At least, none that I knew of.

In just a question of minutes we saw the few lights that were scattered around town from a distance, indicating we were close. Because it was late almost everyone was sleeping, but establishments like taverns, brothels and gambling houses were still open and flourishing.

The dirt path made way to a cobblestone one. There was no sound except for the occasional raucous laugh or yell coming from the few opened taverns. Although the countryside was safe, the same couldn’t be said about the town. I became more alert and I could see Lucas did too. Slowly, I guided him to a building almost at the other end of town, near its border.

The inn was a simple building constructed out of wood. It had three floors, not counting the attic, and the ground floor functioned as both a tavern and the home of the owner and his family. Unlike the other taverns though, this one served as more of an eatery with the occasional drunkard looking for some quiet space to get wasted, as opposed to the other two noisier taverns in town.

When we entered, people turned to look at us before going immediately back to their own business. I saw one man sitting at the bar, drinking along with another one, and recognized the Sellan family crest sewn on the back of his uniform. I raised an eyebrow involuntarily.

And this is how they keep an eye on their charge?

I shook my head before approaching them. The two turned to look at me with hostile gazes for interrupting their drinks, but their faces changed as soon as I showed them the button Mathias gave me.

“I come by order of the Duke of Sellan. I need to convey a message to your charge… in private” I cleared before one of the men nodded his head and stood up. He guided me and Lucas upstairs to the third floor, where he knocked the door that was at the end of the hallway. Another two guards stationed in front of the door looked at us curiously, but they soon went back to their alert guarding once they decided we were not a menace.

The door opened and on the other side I saw Mathias, who gave us a brief glance over before opening the door wider and letting us in. He turned back to the guards once we were inside. “Don’t bother us unless it’s urgent” he ordered them and closed the door.

Lucas and I took off our cloaks.

After a hefty amount of time in which Lucas and Mathias avoided each other’s gazes, I lost my patience and rolled my eyes. “So? You said you had to tell me something. What is it?” I prompted Mathias while I crossed my arms. Mathias blinked, as if only then returning to his senses, before nodding and walking over to the nightstand.

He pulled open the drawer and took out what looked like an invitation. He gave it to me. The paper was hard but it felt soft to the touch, the quality unquestionable. It was shaped like a wedding invitation, with the stamp of the Sellan family sealing the letter. The words to Elaine of Tosca were written on elegant cursive on the surface.

“What is this?” I asked. Mathias opened his mouth while frowning, but seemed to think better of what he was going to say, because he closed it again before answering softly a few seconds later.

“It’s an invitation to the Sellan Duchy. If you are ever in need, you only need to go and show this to the guards to let you enter” he sighed. “I don’t think I will be able to leave the duchy for a while after I get there, but if you think it’s getting late and the transfer ritual must be done immediately, you can come. There is no temple, but it’s better than nothing.”

“I see…” I looked at the letter, placing it inside of one of the big pockets of my skirt. Mathias continued.

“How are you faring with the demon? Has it caused you any troubles?”

“No. It doesn’t feel like anything has changed, even” Mathias gestured for us to take a seat on his bed, and while we did so he sat down on the only other chair in the room. “Lucas and I had been investigating a lot ever since then, but we haven’t found any clues other than one of your father’s journals recounting he lived with the fairies for around two years.”

“I knew he travelled the world before marrying my mother, but this is my first time hearing he went as far as the fairy domain” he frowned, glancing up in thought, a trait that now that I looked at it, realized he shared with his brother. “And? What did it say?”

“Just speculations about who the demon might be, but other than that all the other books only talk about the past holders’ personal experiences with the demon. I also read one of the books that explained how to perform the transfer ritual, but that one looked pretty new, so I think it was rewritten or something, leaving any other relevant information out of it.”

“It doesn’t surprise me. I don’t really think my family was very proud of being the demon’s holder, so it’s likely they destroyed as much of the information as they could in case someone else found out about it. There was a time when my father spoke of this demon being in our family for over three-thousand years. If that’s really the case, then that’s a lot of lost history.”

“Oh, right, talking about that… we read in the same journal where your father said he lived with the fairies that the demon had been around three-thousand years in the family too. But we didn’t find the book where that was written. Do you have any idea about it?” I asked while Mathias frowned in thought.

“I think there is a book that tells the history of our family, but it wasn’t in the safe, rather in the library.”

“So you mean we don’t have that book at our disposal anymore?” I almost shouted, standing up. “Everything that we didn’t take with us is probably in the hands of the royal family now! How come you didn’t say anything before?!”

“Elaine, calm down, you’re going to alert the guards” Mathias said with a harsh voice.  Even though I didn’t want to, I did as he said and sat down again. He sighed. “Honestly? I forgot. And before you start screaming at me again” he warned with a look just as I was opening my mouth to do exactly that, “it’s not like all of the things my father said or the books that may contain relevant information are on my mind all the time. I can forget about it, no?”

I crossed my arms with a pout while glancing aside. “It’s not like you’re not right…” I conceded.

Lucas cleared his throat, and I saw from my peripheral vision how Mathias stiffened. So it was here. They were finally going to talk.

“How…” the younger boy started, but seemed to think better of what to say because he shook his head and said something different. “Elaine said you were imprisoned in Pramak.”

“I never told her that.”

“I never said that.”

The two of us pointed out, before exchanging a glance. Lucas hung his head.

“Pramak was mentioned, ok? Can you blame me for jumping to conclusions?”

I didn’t say anything and instead looked at Mathias. I was also curious after all.

“Well… during the trial the King and jury didn’t find enough proof to condemn me as a direct offender, however, due to me being the viscount’s only son, I was made to serve a small sentence for second grade involvement, most of all due to our blood relation” Mathias explained quite simply. I tilted my head.

“Maybe they would have found more proof if they actually called my family to testify” I muttered drily, before shaking my head. That didn’t matter anymore. The rage I felt against Mathias, I won’t say it’s not there anymore, because it is. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive him entirely. But things are different now. Now, my life depended on him taking over the demon. He was necessary.

Mathias glanced down, rightfully ashamed. Lucas only fidgeted by my side. Suddenly the atmosphere turned tense and heavy. I sighed.

“So you were in Pramak for three months?” I asked to keep the conversation going. There were more important things we needed to discuss now. Guilt, though I admit I was glad Mathias felt it; because that meant he actually had a conscience, and the blame I placed on him, were not the main points of our reunion.

He nodded slowly, but solemnly. “It wasn’t that bad, to be honest. Pramak is a prison for nobles, so it’s not really strict with its prisoners… all of us had our own individual rooms separated by rank, there were three main meals a day as well as brunch and tea time… we had around two hours a day in the common room to mingle with others and then another one to take a walk in the courtyard… since most of the guards are knights that are well below our rank they didn’t complain when someone wanted some extra things. And of course, the higher the rank the easiest it is to bribe them. My uncle actually sent me weekly letters asking me if I wanted alcohol or cigarettes to exchange for favors with the guards…”

“…”

“…”

What prison?! That didn’t sound like a prison at all! What the heck?!

“What’s the point of a prison for nobles like this?!” I complained, trying to contain my voice but finding it difficult to do so. Mathias shrugged, but there was a grave expression on his face despite the nonchalance of the action.

“It’s there just for appearances. A lot of the people there even use the opportunity to make more connections and plan their next crime. Of course” he added, “there are different zones in the prison depending on your crime. Those who commit murder or torture have harsher sentences and less liberty than the rest of us. The zone I stayed in was for small crimes like fraud, corruption, money laundering, tax evasion and embezzlement. Mostly financial crimes of that sort.”

“Yeah, small crimes like money laundering…”

“Mine was classified as a minor magical offense” Mathias continued, ignoring my glaring sarcasm. “The crime was aiding my father on a forbidden ritual involving necromancy. If it had been father who ended up in prison it would have been a major magical offense, and he would have been put in another zone with a larger sentence, but since it was me who was filling in for him, they didn’t give me much of a penalty… of course the story would have been different if my uncle wasn’t there” his face turned darker now, his eyes showing hostility, “without a title I would have ended in a normal prison for commoners… and then maybe I wouldn’t have been able to get away with so much.”

Well, of course. Money calls money, and those who have it rarely have to face the consequences of their actions. It was frustrating but that was how the world worked, unfortunately.

I sighed, lowering and shaking my head. “To think the main culprit managed to get away unscathed…”

“I wouldn’t say unscathed, he’s dead” Lucas corrected me, but I shook my head again.

“Dying is easy. You just escape what you did and don’t have to look back. A life sentence though… now that would have given him time to think of what he did and wallow in his failure” I responded. Though if he really had been imprisoned for life then that would have been a problem too. With a demon inside him and no way to pass it on to his son… I shivered just imagining what kind of outcome that would have had.

In any case, though it was nice knowing what had been going on in Mathias’ life these past three months, we had been putting off the most important thing. Or second, after the demon trapped in my body. I looked at Lucas with purpose, pressuring him with my eyes to stop stalling and just talk to his damn brother once and for all. Lucas fidgeted, feeling my gaze, but there was little he could do before giving up and sighing.

He glanced away, embarrassed, but his question was obviously directed at his brother. “How have you been? Apart from prison life and all…”

“I would say… good? Though I’m not sure” he glanced down, also avoiding his little brother’s eyes. “A lot of things had changed in so little time… and many more will continue to do so… And you? Are you… are you happy?”

“I… yes, I guess. Elaine and her family are good people… Diane was difficult at first but now everyone is really nice to me…” he looked at me, and I nodded, vehemently, because this was nice and all but they had to advance a little with this conversation! Lucas pursed his lips, before finally saying what he had to. “I’m sorry. For everything. That time after Elaine woke up… I shouldn’t have lashed out like that. You’re my brother, the only family I have in this world and… and I pushed you away, even though everything you’ve done has always only been for me.”

“That’s…” Mathias looked surprised. What, he really thought those awkward questions were going to be it? Psss, as if. “Lucas…” he tried again, seemingly having lost his voice.  He cleared his throat, pink tainting his face. He sighed. “When I was there… in Pramak, I had a lot of free time. For the first time in my life I had nothing to do. No appointments, no lessons, no one to respond to… and so, I thought. I thought a lot, about everything. About what I’ve done and what drove me to it, about how much fault I had in all of this…” he lifted his head, fixing his eyes first on me and then on his little brother, “and I realized… that you were right. I always put everything upon my shoulders, all the responsibilities… because if I had to choose between the two of us the only one that needed to suffer was me, and I would be lying if I say I don’t think like that anymore, but… but you are your own person. I know that, it is difficult to accept because I’ll always want to protect you, but I know it. And I… I want you to know, that I respect you, and that never… it was never my intention to make you feel… like that…”

He glanced away, and Lucas only looked at him, even though Mathias was the one avoiding his gaze now. After a while, Lucas lowered his head, and when he spoke his tone was full of sadness and melancholy.

“Is this the last time we will be able to speak like this? I mean…” he clarified when Mathias looked at him in confusion. “From now on… you will be the heir of a duchy… and I’m by all accounts a peasant… it’s probably going to be difficult seeing or talking to each other… most of all because our… I mean, your uncle is not supposed to know of my existence…”

“I… guess” Mathias said, confirming that notion. The two brothers stared at each other for another moment, before standing up at the same time. They hugged, and I looked away from the intimate moment.

I was sure this was not a definite goodbye, but just because of that it didn’t mean the next time they saw each other would be soon. Who knew how much longer they would have to wait to be with each other again. This time, I really didn’t know.

In case you're wondering why Mathias wasn't given a larger sentence, it was because it was determined at court he had been under the influence of the seal of servitude, and, like in real life, coercion is considered a mitigating factor. Of course neither Elaine nor Lucas know this, and Mathias will NEVER tell them he was practically his father's slave, so he has no defense against what Elaine says in this chapter.

Also, today is October 12th, or Month of Libra, Day 20. In other words, Elaine's birthday!

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