Finding Heathcliff

Ten

"Do you understand?!" Uncle Arcturus asked again, his raised voice finally dispersing the fog clouding Astrid's mind.

She looked at Orion and he looked back at her, nodding. He knew... What did he know? She shook her head, looking at the regent through the flames again.

"No, I don't understand," she replied truthfully. "Angels are not supposed to exist, that's what I was told. And if they do," she added carefully, "then they are good, virtuous beings who would never declare war against humans."

Unless... they are the fallen... Her mind whispered, reminding her what she had read in the Book of Angels, making her recall the mysterious man. And finally it clicked-- the black-clad army shimmering within the flames were fallen angels, and her mysterious man was one of them...

The regent laughed heartily, dispersing her thoughts, "So you know about angels. Your tutors told me about your love for the old books gathering dust in the library. I'm glad that you found at least something useful in them. These are fallen angels Astrid, wicked and cruel..."

"...and coldhearted. They are the angels punished for their sins. Demons." Astrid finished his line, not wanting to believe it herself.

How could the spellbinding man who used to take her breath away and send her heart racing whenever they met, be a demon? He had tried to kill her, but she had had a feeling that deep underneath that cold, dark and dangerous facade he wasn't... heartless... Since he had vanished from her life, she had started to see him as Heathcliff from her book, a tormented, misunderstood soul...

Orion took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, making her focus on her uncle whose gaze blazed as it pierced through her, making her lean closer to Orion as he screamed at her, "You are wrong. Fallen angels are not demons. They are bloodthirsty monsters, they caused the last war, and since then, they never stopped killing our people!"

While the regent took a few calming breaths, Astrid straightened up, waiting for him to continue. What did she say to make him so angry? She gave Orion a cold sideways look-- she didn't appreciate his knowing more than she did about this. He should have told her.

"One of your predecessors, Queen Starla, made a treaty with them. Stopping the last war was her trial," Uncle Arcturus announced after a while, sounding calmer.

Astrid gulped, taken aback. Would her trial be something as impossibly difficult as trying to prevent another war? She didn't feel like something like that was in her power, she couldn't see herself as a negotiator. But then again, she couldn't see herself as a queen either, or a wife, or... She simply felt entirely unprepared for the life awaiting her beyond the pages of her favourite novels, beyond the walls of the castle's library where she had spent too much time growing up.

"What kind of treaty?" she asked, voice faltering, when she noticed that the regent was waiting for her reaction.

"The treaty which permits the monsters to come out from wherever they are hiding once a month, each Black Night, and kill as many of us as they please."

Astrid could perceive Deimos' feelings at those words as a near physical pain. The unexpected sensation, coupled with the sudden realisation of what those words implied made her gasp, attracting the sorceress' attention. The flames scattered again momentarily, but the woman collected herself even as Astrid spoke to her uncle, "What... what does it mean? The shuttered windows... The monthly ball... Your guards everywhere... Do we, your court and a few handpicked guests hide inside this impregnable castle while outside..."

"The guests are chosen from our loyal subjects by lottery, child, they are hardly ever the same people. Those who are not in the castle with us on those nights, have to protect themselves."