The Atonement of a Writer

34. Broken Stitches

Slowly, Arielle made her way towards Colette. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Clovis doing the same.

His voice was rough. "You've lost, sister."

Colette gritted her teeth through her pain. "How--how did you--"

"There was a reason why your parents banned familiars, you know." Arielle didn't say anything more. There was no lost love between her and the former king and queen, but it was different for Clovis, so she kept quiet about it.

Clovis's hands were shaking. In contrast to Arielle's steady gaze, his stare wavered when he looked at his sister. "I...will be merciful."

Colette screamed again as Clovis's sword finally pierced her heart. Arielle was the only one who heard the whispered I'm sorry over her screams of pain.

Colette's pain pierced Arielle's heart. She was screaming in both physical and mental pain. In fascinated horror, Arielle watched--no, felt--waves of mana roll off Colette's body, setting fire to everything it touched. In her bitterness, even as she died, Colette had to have the final word--her mana was pouring out, and it was destroying everything.

It was the start of what the people would later dub as the "Inferno".

~*~

Julien wondered just what kind of story he was a part of.

Killian and Clovis?

Really?

What was he doing with his hand out, anyway? Why did he sneak in? Julien's head swam with the many questions. It felt like he was missing something important, but he wasn't as good at piecing together information as Lili was.

The hand, held out over Clovis's chest, was trembling. Why? What was he doing? The only explanation he had was magic.

So was he using mana? What for? From what he remembered, Killian was a healer--or, more accurately, his powers were health manipulation.

Julien remembered something Lili told him before they came to the palace--she had warned him that Killian could use his powers to manipulate not only health, but also the mana inside a person, usually related to mana-related diseases. She told him in a plea that he looked out for him, but...

Wait.

So did that mean--

No. It was impossible. Killian and Clovis were the best of friends. There was no way Killian would harm him. Then what was he acting so hesitant about?

Unless...Julien eyed the figure with rising suspicion. What if what happened to him had happened to Killian too?

Even if it were true, it still didn't answer what Killian was planning to do with that hand.

Somewhere in his brain, Julien registered the sound of a bird calling outside, but he didn't think much of it.

He watched as Killian laid his hand on Clovis's chest, soft enough that it wouldn't wake him. He waited, but he didn't do anything else. He just stayed in that position, fingers trembling, head down. He was hesitating, Julien realized. What was he hesitating about? Whatever he was going to do, he must've already made up his mind about, since he was already in Clovis's room. Julien reached out and grasped the chair leg firmly. At worst, there was a chair he could throw.

All of a sudden, Clovis reached out and grabbed the hand that was on his chest. Killian let out a yell of surprise, but with a jerk, he was pulled onto the bed. In quick succession, Clovis pinned him down on the bed, putting his weight on him so he couldn't escape.