He nodded. “And the twins, of course. But his Majesty ordered them to the mines as punishment for their actions. I believe he thought the low ceiling would trouble their backs, and perhaps it does, but I doubt he considered how well they’d take to the competition of it all. They do well enough down there.”
I gripped the edges of the tub. “He’ll only find another way to make them suffer. You should all forsake me – attempting to continue our friendship will only bring you trouble.” I fumbled with my destroyed clothing, cursing my numb fingers. “You may go.”
“Tristan, we knew what we were doing when we helped you free Cécile.”
“Don’t say her name,” I snarled, glaring at the water. I swore I could see her eyes reflected in its depths. “Leave.”
“I’m not leaving you in this state,” Marc said. “You’re injured – let me help you, at least.”
You are helpless. Fury flooded through me, and I rounded on him. “I do not need your help,” I screamed. The room shook as I lashed out with magic. Marc raised a shield, but the blow still sent him staggering. If it were not for the fact I was a fraction my usual strength, what I had done would likely have killed him. “Please leave.”
He eyed me warily. “I’ll not leave of my own accord. If you desire me gone so badly, you will have to order me properly. You have my name.”
I sagged against the tub, my wrists screaming against the pressure. “Never again,” I muttered.
“Then you will have to suffer my presence.”
I didn’t respond. Instead, I set to ridding myself of my filthy clothing. Taking a deep breath, I stepped into the steaming water and plunged down. It felt like hot pokers were sliding into my collection of injuries, but I relished the pain. And for a moment, it drowned the sense of her out of my mind. Ignoring my cousin’s presence, I scrubbed away most of the blood and grime until the water was the color of rust, and then I rested my arms on the edges, breathing deeply.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
Ignoring the question, I watched fresh blood well out of the punctures in my arm and drip into the tub.
“Tristan!” Marc snapped and I looked at him in surprise. He was not one to raise his voice.
“Yes?”
“Your father has kept you locked in a prison cell for months, and then today, for seemingly no reason whatsoever, he has allowed you to return home. After a mysterious meeting at the mouth of the River Road. Why? Who did you go to see? What drove him to do this to you?”
I opened my mouth to answer, then closed it again, the words sticking in my throat.
“It was Cécile, wasn’t it?”
I nodded mutely.
“Is she well?” There was more than a hint of concern in his voice.
“Yes,” I said. “For now, at any rate.” I swallowed the taste of bile that had risen in my throat. “He used me to exact her word that she would hunt down Anushka for him.”
“A promise? Were there any loopholes?”
“Yes, but she’s had no experience finding a way out of bargains and I’ve no way to get word to her.” I squeezed my eyes tight, trying to drive away the memory of her expression as she pleaded that I be spared. “So she will either succeed, or he will ensure her failure drives her mad.”
“And if she succeeds? What is your plan then?”
“I don’t have one.” Standing, I wrapped a length of toweling around my waist and retrieved a pair of trousers from my wardrobe, struggling into them. I discarded the idea of a shirt, the thought of the fabric rubbing against the open wounds on my back more than I cared to bear. Marc remained silent through all of it, but his unease was apparent in the way he cloaked his face with shadow.
“There will be no more plans, no more plotting,” I said. “I’ve overestimated myself for far too long, and look at the results. There is nothing I can do but wait for the end to come.”
“I can’t believe you mean that,” Marc said. “The cousin I know has never conceded defeat.”
“Three months trapped alone in a hole changes a man,” I muttered, sitting down cautiously on the chaise. “I’ve had a lot of time to think and to come to terms with my failures. To accept that I am, and have never been more than, a puppet in my father’s machinations.”
“You’re giving up because he discovered one of your plans?” Marc’s voice was incredulous. “Because of one lost battle you relegate yourself to the status of a puppet?”
“It’s not that the battle was lost,” I said, closing my eyes. “It’s how it was lost.” I swallowed hard. “If I had been betrayed or outwitted – that I could accept. But…”