The Trials by Cari Z
Author:Cari Z. [Z., Cari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Romance
Amazon: B0BJ2VV876
Goodreads: 63116857
Published: 2022-11-21T23:00:00+00:00
Chapter Six
He woke to the lightest of touches on his brow, calloused fingertips doing their best to be gentle. Camille blinked his eyes open and found himself gazing at Antonâs gaunt faceâgaunt and pale, but no longer haunted by deathly nightmares. Anton looked tender as he traced Camilleâs features. âIâm sorry,â he whispered, the near-total darkness of the cell swallowing almost all the strength in his words. âI just had to make sure you were real.â
âItâs all right,â Camille assured him. His voice was rough and his breath none too sweet, but Anton didnât rear back. âDid you get much sleep?â
âA few hours, I think. More than Iâve had in one stretch for weeks now. I donât know exactly how long.â He smiled, a broken little thing. âItâs rather hard to keep track of the passage of time in a place without sunlight.â
The anger came back, faster than Camille had expected. âThey should never have shut you down here.â
âI asked them to,â Anton said, derailing Camilleâs rising ire. âI was screaming, raging, hurting myselfâ¦sometimes Iâd get breaks between the hallucinations, and it was clear that I was making people upset. Especially Hrym. He wanted to help me, but he couldnât bear the noise I was making. There was nothing he could really do to make things better, of course, but for a while we thought there was a chance thatâ¦well, that there were other ways of mitigating the effects of the shells.â Anton sighed. âWe were wrong.â
âDarling.â Unable to stop himself, Camille leaned in and pressed a kiss to Antonâs lips. Anton whimpered and clung to him with unexpected strength.
âI keep thinking you canât be real,â he whispered. âIâve seen so many awful things, Camille. Nothing I ever wanted to see, so manyâ¦I should never have shared this spell.â He sounded desolate. âItâs inhumane, to force someone to relive the violence visited on another. I feel like Iâve died so many times I canât even count them, and even after the spell dissipates itâs hard to free my mind from the cycle. I see death over and over and over, even if I donât feel it directly myself.
âAnd now Iâve taught it to others. Iâve spread this terrible knowledge. I thinkâ¦I think that perhaps I deserve this, for what Iâve inflicted on the world.â
âNo,â Camille said firmly. âYou only shared the spell to save your friend. Itâs on Lord Jourdain and the empire what became of that knowledge. They chose to add your invention to the theater of war.â
âI knew they would,â Anton argued. âI knew it would be irresistible to them. I didnât know it was going to be thisâ¦this bad, though. What if a child has to endure this torture? What ifââ
âItâs not as bad out there as it is for you.â On this, Camille was certain. âItâs not pleasant for those affected, of course, but Iâve seen the spell in action again and again, Anton. Iâve been observing the use and effectiveness of these shells for Lord Jourdain for the past month.
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