Mad designs
Killian
Dammit. I cussed underneath my breath. The tips of my fingers found the part of flesh between my eyebrows and gently kneaded away the ache that was now forming in my head. I heard a subtle click of a tongue. I raised my eyes. Selena had long since been waiting for me, seated silently in my office.
“Is this about the human scent smeared all over you?” She raised an eyebrow. “I’ve heard enough of her antics. Just throw her out.”
Selena leaned forward on the chair, the first movement all day. “I will when the witch gets here.”
I looked away from her, feeling sudden revulsion within me.
“But it’s something else, isn’t it? Something you don’t want to say.”
I felt my eyebrow twitch. Selena was too perceptive for her own good. I looked at her, furrowed my eyebrows a little bit.
“That’s none of your business. The human’s memory will be wiped once the witch gets here. Until then, I don’t want to hear anything, I don’t want to talk about it.”
A wave of agitation took me, forcing me to stand as I felt a knot forming at the nape of my neck.
“She’s here.” I heard Lucas’s voice through our bond.
I walked out of my office and soon found the witch and her friend waiting in the grand hall. In her usual manner, she stood cloaked in black with her staff poking out of the dark figure that was her. On her other side was her white-haired mage, who preferred to leave his cloak away from his face.
My eyes found him and then her. She slowly pulled back the hood of her cloak with a pale hand, a smile already on her face.
“Imagine my surprise when I heard you wanted me to do something so interesting.” She playfully clasped her fingers together. “It’s been a while since I’ve had to wipe someone’s memory well.”
She stepped forward. “Where is the subject?” Her strange green-colored eyes blinked rapidly. Suddenly she squinted.
“I hear it… it’s a human. How did she manage to get in?”
I shook my head, the thoughts suddenly occurring to me. In truth, it would be the first time someone had managed to snake into the park. A few rogues had been doing so, but they got only so far before being found out and killed.
I shook my head. “Follow me.”
I inclined my head and began taking the witch to the dungeons. Just before we got there, however, I could hear voices raised—female voices. That little human maid in mind had a restless voice my wolf would liken to the chiming of bells, a sweet little sound.
“Fuck, shut up,” I gritted my teeth, frowning as I stepped closer yet to the dungeons. I heard a male voice trying to de-escalate the situation, but I could figure it out well enough. It was rather clear. Selena was there. Selena had simply followed her nose to the dungeons and sniffed her out.
Fuck, it was going to be dicey.
I pushed open the doors to the main dungeons and quickly moved to the front of her cage. The doors were already swung wide open, with Selena being held at the doorpost by Lucas while the little human stood proud—scared but proud—against the wall. Her little chin was just pried in the most daring manner, an invitation if you must, for all to see, for Selena to try.
Selena turned around fast, her hair whipping around wildly.
“Kill her. There’s no reason why she should be here.”
I would have to explain at some point. There was no way I could kill her. It would go against my very nature. I would play with madness. Everyone knew it all too well—that the loss of a mate would drive anyone to madness. I flinched, my own memories betraying me.
“Since everyone is really trying to kill me, why don’t you go ahead at this point?”
My eyes found the human’s, burning with a mix of humor and anger and her usual bravado.
“Oh, I would gladly—”
Just as Selena was about to launch at her, I heard a giggle from behind my ear.
“Oh, this is even much better than I thought it would be.”
“That’s enough,” I said simply. “Leave.”
I kept my eyes on Selena. Her pretty face was one of shock, her mouth hanging open and her tongue moving about inside. She said nothing, despite how clearly she tried. The command of my Alpha’s voice, however, made it impossible for her to refuse.
She shut her mouth, squared her shoulders, flipped her hair back in place, and simply walked out with her heels clacking against the stone floors.
Now the dungeon was in the state of silence save for Selena’s retreating footsteps and the loud thumping sound of the human’s heartbeat in my ears. It almost sounded like a beat I could dance to.
“Take her memories. From the moment she found us,” I said simply to the witch, who had now taken off her cloak and handed it to her white-haired apprentice.
“Do you really want me to? She’s…” The witch raised a brow. “Strange enough.” Her eyes widened. “I don’t think I can. I mean, you know id never shy away from a good memory wipe, the longer the better,” she muttered under her breath with a small smile. She looked at the human and sighed. “I love a good challenge, I’d love to but…”
She took one step closer to the cell and then another.
“What do you mean?” I kept my voice in a low whisper.
The witch threw her dark long braid over one shoulder.
“It is as I said,” she said slowly, her voice also a whisper. “I don’t know if I can. You might not see it, but my eyes can. She’s peculiar. Then again, aren’t most humans bundles of enigmas themselves?”
She clicked her tongue in displeasure and fluttered away in her usual fashion.
“She’ll be back,” her apprentice quickly said before running behind her.
My eyes met Lucas’s, and then hers.
The human frowned. I tore my gaze away from her, keeping it on Lucas.
“Why did you let her come here?” I asked through the bond, nudging my head.
I stepped away from the cage and waited until Lucas was done closing the door to hers and we were beyond earshot.
“I didn’t know,” he said, his eyes toward the floor, his posture one of submission at our rank. “Selena, She was fast. You know how she is, one step ahead of nearly everyone except you.” He looked up. “But I promise to keep an eye on her, on the both of them.”
His eyes held his usual blue resolve, steeled by enough memories of our past to know he couldn’t fail, not now, not ever. Not especially after almost harming her before.
I walked away from him, following the scent of the witch until I found Calypso herself standing in front of the mirrors to my office.
“You know, I quite like your decision to remove the painting that your father put here. It was always so pretentious. Himself, he used. He thought he was glorious, howling at the moon like that.” Her green eyes found mine.
“Cut the crap, Calypso. Tell me what it is. Why won’t you wipe her memory?”
“Won’t? Can maybe, but won’t? Quite inaccurate.”
She looked away from me again, toward the mirror.
“Your father seemed to think he was chosen. Seemed to think that he was destined for great things. After all, don’t we all?” She smiled again.
I rolled my eyes. This was her way. She would dance around a pressing issue, never quite answer a direct question, but always find a way to link it to something about the greater good, the greater picture, the “grand scheme of things and the will of the gods” as she had put it times before.
As was her excuse for not interfering in my pain as a child and my mother’s betrayal. “It was not my design,” she had said. The memory burned in my mind, leaving a scorched earth of anger i n its wake.
My eyes found the pale silver ones of her apprentice. He simply stood as still as a rock. He, after all, had put up with her for the last few decades. He knew better than to stay.
“Yes, it was pretentious. Yes, he did believe in that. And yes, we all do,” I said, feeling rather exasperated. “But tell me why you won’t wipe her memory.”
I took another step closer. She simply smiled cryptically and looked right back at the mirror.
“You know, there will always be a big picture. It doesn’t matter. We matter. They’ll try to run for it, it’ll be the Moon Goddess today, or the Goddess of the Arcane tomorrow, or even the Fates themselves leaving some grand spectacle of something.” She smiled again.
I rolled my eyes and let out a thin breath.
“When you’re done with your riddles, then you call me. Maybe when you’re done looking at yourself. Maybe take a picture, it’ll last longer—at least only if you know how to use a phone.”
I walked away from her, heading toward my office, my patience long since running thin. And I think that had already happened—her appearance, the rejection, the matter of the fact she was a human. It was all enough to make my mind a muddled mess.
“It’s not exactly because I won’t. It’s more of a question of whether I won’t or can’t,” she said. “But I’m willing to bet it’s the latter rather than the former.”
I stopped dead in my tracks. The witch and her takes. I turned around, my interest piqued.