The Assassin's Destiny (Isle of Dreams) (34 page)

‘Give it to me!’  she
screamed, clawing desperately for the bottle in Cain’s fist.

‘Don’t be stupid!’  Cain shoved
her to the floor, anger making him rough. 

Mistral’s voice broke with tears
of desperation, ‘I need it!’ 

The door banged open and the
twins burst into the room, wide-eyed and breathless.

‘Here!’  Phantom strode over
to Cain brandishing a large glass flask.  ‘Theriac!’

Cain took it from him
wordlessly.  Giving Mistral a furious look he turned away and ran up the
stairs.

Phantasm watched Cain vanish up
the stairs with a frown then walked over to gaze down at Mistral,
stricken-faced and sprawled on the floor.  He held his hand out to pull
her upright, ‘Just what has been going on here?’  he demanded in a low
voice.

‘I – I –’ 

‘What have you done?’

‘Nothing!’ 

Fresh tears fell from her eyes
when she realised that Cain had taken the bottle of poison with him.

‘Crying won’t help.’
 Phantasm said sharply.  ‘You’re stronger than this Mistral! 
He’s not dead yet!’

‘But he will be soon!’

‘Have I missed something? 
Or does Theriac not cure all known poisons?’

Mistral wiped her eyes on her
shirt sleeve, ‘I think it’s too late!  He knew he was going to die! 
That’s why he wanted us to be married.  He wanted to give me his name and
make sure I would be provided for if he wasn’t around –’

‘That’s ridiculous.  Not
even a Seer knows when they are going to die.’

A heavy silence fell between them
while Phantasm continued to regard her through narrowed eyes.

‘No, that’s not it,’ he said
slowly.  ‘Something else has happened … tell me what!’

‘I’ll tell you shall I?’  Cain
said, walking up quietly behind them and placing the black bottle of poison
down on the table.  ‘She was after this.’

Phantasm looked over at the
bottle, his eyes widening in recognition.

‘I’ve done all I can.’

Cain picked up the bottle and
stored it away in his saddlebag.  Phantasm watched Mistral’s eyes follow
the bottle and he let out a low hiss of anger.

‘I can’t believe you would even
think that!’

Mistral looked up, meeting his
furious glare with defiance, ‘What?  Die instead of live a miserable life
without Fabian and be Leo’s pet?  Can’t you brother?  Because I
can!  And I will kill myself rather than accept that future!’

‘I won’t let you give up that
easily!  It will hurt
if
Mage De Winter dies, but you will
cope!  We will help you –’

‘
Hurt? 
You’ve got no
idea!  And just how do you think you could even begin to help?  By
forcing me to eat like you did last time and make me go on like a living
corpse?  No thanks!  I was in hell then and I’m damned well not
living a lifetime like that!  I’ve seen all I’ll ever be without
Fabian.  I won’t, I can’t be like that again.’

‘You haven’t
Seen
anything
yet Mistral!  You’re life isn’t over, it hasn’t even begun yet!’

The sound of the door closing
made them turn.  Cain had left.

Mistral stared blankly at the
closed door then turned back to Phantasm. 

‘I want you to give Cirrus and
Spirit back to the Equus … and Prospero too.  I know he’ll be looked after
in the Valley.’

Phantasm grabbed her by the
shoulders and shook her roughly, ‘Shut up Mistral!  I will not listen to
your last will and testament and I will not let you kill yourself!’

‘And, this house … I think that
Cain should have it.’  Mistral continued in a flat voice, gazing
unseeingly past him out of the balcony doors.  ‘He can sell it if he wants
and buy that shop of his.  It’ll be my way of making it up to him –’

‘I think that you are being
slightly premature in giving away our home.’

Mistral spun around with a cry to
see Fabian walking slowly down the stairs, his chest and shoulder swathed in
fresh bandages.

‘Fabian!’

Mistral wrenched herself from
Phantasm’s grasp and ran across the room, halting at the bottom of the
stairs.  She gazed at him wordlessly, disbelief and joy mingling in her
expression.  He smiled faintly and lifted a hand to touch her face.

‘If you no longer require our
presence, I think we should go.’  Phantasm said stiffly. 

Mistral turned to him, tears
sliding down her face, ‘Wait brother – ’ 

Phantasm turned to his twin,
‘it’s time we left.’

Phantom moved quietly over from
the kitchen table, giving Mistral an angry look before he followed his brother
from the house.  The door banged shut behind them and Mistral immediately
turned back to gaze uncertainly at Fabian.

‘Are you real?  Or am I
dreaming?’ 

Silently, Fabian reached out and
took her hand and pressed it against his warm body.  She curled her
fingers against his skin, feeling the warm pulse of life beneath her
touch.  Stepping into a dream, she moved closer, feeling his arms wrap
around her, careful in their hold.  She closed her eyes and laid her head
against his chest.  The bandages were rough beneath her cheek, the flesh
beyond warmed by the heart she could hear beating.  She opened her eyes
and gazed up at him.

‘You’re alive.’ 

‘Very much so.  Now are you
going to tell me what that was all about?’ 

Guilt flooded through the wonder
on her face, ‘Do I have to?’

‘Yes, because I already heard
some of it and unless I was still delirious it sounded like you were about to
kill yourself.’

Unable to hold his gaze, Mistral stared
down at the floor.

‘Mistral?  Please tell me
that is not what you were going to do.’

‘I – I thought you were going to
die –’

‘Well that’s immaterial since I’m
obviously still alive.  Although I don’t feel in the best of health right
now.’

‘Oh Fabian!  I’m so
sorry!  Come and sit down, the fire is lit … I’ll get you something to
eat!’

Mistral immediately began moving
around the small kitchen, mechanically ladling out a bowl of stew and filling a
jug with water while her emotions rocketed from wild elation to sheer panic as
she alternated between the two realities of Fabian alive and Fabian dead. 
Hurrying over to where Fabian had settled himself on the sofa, Mistral placed
the food and jug of water on the low table in front of him and perched on the arm
of the sofa to watch him eat, satiating her silent gaze on his living,
breathing self.  He looked pale but his eyes were clear... a sudden
thought sprang into her mind.

‘How do you feel?’

Fabian shrugged and winced
faintly at the movement, ‘Well, apart from having a sore shoulder,’ he smiled
ruefully down at the bandages wrapped around him.  ‘Not too bad,
considering.’

Mistral nodded and quickly
dropped her gaze before he could read her expression.  As she suspected,
he was weaker than he would be normally, both physically and in his
resolve.  Mistral felt the beginnings of a plan to change their future
stirring in her mind.

‘Wine?’  she asked leaping
to her feet and walking towards the dresser.

‘No, thank you.’  Fabian
murmured, watching her thoughtfully while he took a drink of water.

 ‘Well, would you like me to
fill you a bath then?’  she asked, moving to stand closer to him again.

Fabian regarded her attentively
over the top of his cup then sighed and placed the cup down, ‘No, what I would
like is for you to sit down and tell me what happened this afternoon.’

Mistral gritted her teeth. 
This was not part of her plan.  She took a deep breath but could already
feel her temper fraying.

‘Where would you like me to
begin?’ she snapped.  ‘Perhaps with the part where Cain thought you were
going to die?  Or maybe the part where Cain told me you definitely were
going to die?’

Fabian reached out suddenly and
pulled her onto his lap.  She resisted for the briefest part of a
split-second then curled up against him with a defeated sigh. 

‘Mistral.  I am not
dead.  There is no point in speculating on what may have happened.  I
can understand your distress, but what I can’t understand is why you felt the
need to try and kill yourself.  I thought we had agreed that you would use
your new name to live if I were no longer able to take care of you.’

There was a whole world of
argument Mistral could make to that statement but she went with the one that
leapt to her lips, petulant, irrational and so typically her.

‘Don’t make me sound like a kept
woman Fabian!’

‘You know I didn’t mean
financially.’

‘And I don’t like being made to
sound like the type of female that lurches from disaster to disaster, always in
need of a knight in shining armour to save her either!’

Fabian sighed, ‘I don’t have any
shining armour.’

Mistral exhaled slowly to stop
herself from really losing her temper.  She inhaled again and drew in a
deep lungful of his scent.  Warm, alive and right next to her. 

Smiling slightly, Mistral put her
plan into action. 

Tilting her head, she began
gently kissing the edge of his jaw, reaching up to brush her fingers across the
unbandaged part of his chest, feeling him move and respond to her touch,
holding her more tightly.  Her pulse accelerated at the sound of his
breathing quickening.  She sat up slightly, kissing him hungrily while she
started to unbutton her shirt.

Fabian immediately grabbed her
hands and pulled them away, ‘What are you doing?’

She glared at him, ‘Starting our
life.  Right here and now.  This had been hell for you and for
me.  I know I couldn’t live without you Fabian, and I’m not waiting till
the Sight magically manifests itself in me before we can be together.’

Fabian’s eyes darkened with
anger, ‘Today should have shown you the exact opposite Mistral!  If the
Divinus had not been able to hear Eximius’ thoughts the Isle would have been
unprotected and fallen effortlessly into the hands of Rochfortes.  The
Divinus cannot live for ever!  You need to master your gift before his time
draws to a close.’

‘Oh please don’t give me a
Leo-style “The Isle Needs You” speech!  Because, quite frankly, I’m not up
for being some kind of selfless martyr to the Isle!  All I really want is
you!’

‘You have a rare gift.’  Fabian
said more gently and began to do up the buttons on her shirt.  ‘It has
more far reaching consequences for every living being on this Isle than I think
you comprehend.  However, on a personal note I don’t want to have to live
without you either.  You were nearly killed in that battle – again,’ he
paused to give a sigh, ‘and it’s happening too frequently for my liking. 
The sooner you can take less dangerous work the better as far as I’m
concerned.’

‘I’m not going to thank you for
taking that arrow for me.’  Mistral snapped stubbornly.  ‘You weren’t
wearing armour!  I was!  I would have been fine!’

Fabian did up the last button on
her shirt and met her angry gaze calmly, ‘No Mistral, you would have
died.  That arrow would have pierced your armour and then you.  I
know the only thing that kept me alive until Cain found the right antidote was
the Craft.’

‘You know about that?’ 
Mistral stared at him, her stubbornness swiftly replaced by surprise.

‘Of course I do.  Why do you
think I’ve had such little care for my life in the past?  I hated the fact
that I had some unwanted force trying to protect me all the time.’

Mistral fought back the ironic
look she could feel spreading across her face.  That was just how she felt
about his overprotective behaviour towards her.

‘Yes, I see the irony
there.  You can stop trying to hide it.’ 

He smiled and Mistral grinned,
joy leaping in her heart as she gazed at her Mage, alive.  Alive and
hers.  Well, almost.   

‘Please can we give up Sight now
Fabian,’ she suddenly begged.  ‘I’ve really had enough.  We’ve waited
half a year now and nothing has changed with my wretched gift!’  Seeing
his face instantly set into the familiar stubborn expression Mistral
immediately changed tactics.  ‘And we are married now, it is sort of expected
of us,’ she tried hopefully.

Fabian smiled and stroked her
cheek, ‘Yes, we are married.  Although our wedding night will be memorable
for all the wrong reasons.’

‘Oh I don’t know.’  Mistral
gave him a look from beneath her eyelashes.  ‘I got to take your shirt
off.  It wasn’t so bad.’

‘If only I had been conscious for
that part.’  Fabian murmured, running his fingers lightly through her
hair.  ‘Sadly, all I can remember is Cain pulling the damned arrow
out.  And believe me, I would rather remember your hands than his.’

‘He saved your life.’
 Mistral said then sighed.  She had a lot a making up to do with her
brother.  And the twins.

‘Yes.  I think I can finally
forgive him for giving you that manticore potion.  He does seem to know
his way around a brewing kit after all.’

Mistral smiled sadly and laid her
head against his uninjured shoulder.  She had no idea how to put things
right between her and her brothers.  She hoped that by the time she
returned to the Valley they would have forgiven her, or at the least tried to
understand how she felt.

‘Now.’  Fabian looked at her
intently.  ‘Tell me everything that has happened since we left the
battlefield.  Has there been any news of the outcome?’

Mistral blinked.  She had
forgotten all about the fight for the control of the Isle. 

‘We left as Leo was organising a
second wave.  The Council were about to enter the battle with them, but
you know the Ri had already pretty much won it in the first round.’

Fabian grunted, ‘Standard
glory-seeking Council tactics.  Allow others to do the work then sweep
down in the dying throes to claim victory.  I am sure it went down well
with the Ri.’

‘Nothing the Council does goes
down well with the Ri.  But I think they’d rather have this one than the
Rochfortes.’