“I want to believe you.” Faust shook his head, touching his chest over the Mark of Linos. “But I have seen differently,” Faust said. “I have felt it.”
Lars gripped at his tunic when he crossed his arms. “Please describe it.”
The swirling emotions in Lars’s eyes gave Faust pause. He took a deep breath and clenched the gemstone in his palm. “I see Qinn’s memories as dreams from time to time,” Faust said. “I am surrounded by red, fire, smoke, and ash in a charred forest. Vasil is in the air. His wings are enormous and he’s yelling. Qinn calls to him through the raging hot wind. Vasil jerks to Qinn and he’s there, hand outstretched and angry, and then”—Faust inhaled slowly, letting it out just as slow—“and then there is pain.”
Lars’s jaw locked. “I refuse to believe it. He would never hurt Qinn,” Lars seethed to himself. “Qinn mentioned nothing of the sort when Sor watched over us. There must be more to that memory.”
Faust bit his lip. Lars’s anger was hard to endure. There was something in his latest memory, but without knowing more, it seemed irrelevant to mention.
“How did Vas treat you before?” Lars asked in the silence, the edge of his voice softening.
“Friendly,” Faust said quietly. “A bit too friendly because he needed a consort, but he didn’t push himself on me. He tested me.” Faust stared at his hands as if blood still stained them. Emotions boiled within him and his breath caught. So many innocent people died. “Vas is angry with me for what happened to the Kingdom of Windilum by my hands.”
“What happened to Windilum does not completely fall on your shoulders,” Lars said with great certainty.
“But-But it is my fault. I did whatever was asked—”
“No. It is not all on you. Vas must share that blood on his hands. He did not help you.”
Faust blinked back tears. “How can you know that?”
“Someone else in our guild gathered information from the mainland often. She will be your ally as well once she returns to the guild. Which should be soon,” Lars said. “If Vas had moved to save you, there would have been less of Windilum’s blood spilled. He is equally to blame, as I am certain Photis would have told him.”
Faust barked out a small laugh despite himself. “He was quite angry.”
Lars startled. “He’s still alive?”
Faust nodded. His grandfather must’ve hidden well to avoid detection by the Guild of Antiquity’s informant if the look on Lars’s face was anything to go by.
Lars cracked a smile. “Well,” he said, “let’s hope Vas has been honest with Photis.” Lars’s smile fell into pure amusement at some thought he didn’t share with Faust.
“Both Vasil and Photis have looked at me with guilt, Lars. They know something,” Faust said.
Lars mused to himself.
“Ignas wouldn’t let Vasil make any claims on me either. He,” Faust paused, “he knew something, too.”
“Who is this Ignas?”
Faust gripped at the gemstone against his palm. “Ignas Chevaliar, your descendant.”
Lars’s pupils blew wide. “But they were all killed.”
“He survived somehow.” Faust laughed. “Right in plain sight as a lord. He was the hidden King of Windilum, too, getting ready to oust my family.” Faust’s expression fell. And now Ignas was his consort. A consort who still wasn’t fully truthful.
“Never thought I’d meet a Chevaliar who tried to take on a Kingsley. Do I need to speak with him as well?” Lars asked, his eyebrows pinched in mild annoyance.
Faust tilted his head.
“He has hurt you. I can tell.”
Faust shook his head. “He has kept a lot of secrets just like my brother, ah, I mean the real King of Alios.”
Lars nodded, but his eyes swam with quiet anger. “I do not condone keeping secrets from the High King. You must know what is going on in all the kingdoms.”
Faust blinked. Lars was the first to think so.
Lars sighed, leaning back on his hands. “And here I thought things would have maintained some order. Guess I was hoping for too much. The High King establishes each kingdom and may establish new ones,” Lars said. “I will speak with this descendant of mine. He must not do everything at Vasil’s beck and call nor keep you in the dark.”
“You will not hurt him,” Faust blurted, his magic flickering under his fingertips.
Lars regarded Faust, and he continued to stare longer than Faust was comfortable with.
Lars cleared his throat. “Is he your…consort?”
Faust’s face grew hot. “One of them,” he mumbled.
Lars gasped. “Two?”
Faust ducked his head.
Lars rested his head on his palm, inhaling deep. “I see we must have a very long conversation about consorts later.” Lars looked to the table, his gaze distant. “I have missed so much being stuck here in Drokan.”
“What do you mean?” Faust asked. “You have a life as Cian. Certainly it kept you here.”
Lars shook his head. “The real Cian is gone, never to return. I have only been aware for a little less than a year.” Lars said. “I-I tried to find Sor in time, but by the time I had enough control, it was too late. If I had, Cian would’ve had the chance to learn what I knew. Merging with me would have saved him and given me another full life to live as if it was my own.”
Fear crawled over Faust’s skin. “What do you mean?”
“When a soul from the past rises again, it’s as if we have lost our memories, and we regain them if Sortiris performs the Festival of Life in time. If not, everything we were reborn as is gone forever. We begin to separate and only know of our own pasts.” Lars regarded Faust with a faint smile on his lips. “You are an echo of what Qinn wanted to be—a kinder soul, able to trust. And from what I have gathered, your Linos is an echo of how much Lin wanted to protect Qinn.” Lars took a deep breath, his eyes darkening with despair. “If you do not claim a gate and Sor does not perform the Festival of Life for you soon, Faust Kingsley, High King Qinn will rise again, and your life will end.”
Chapter Twelve
Faust swallowed. An echo. “Is-Is that why Vas calls me Qinn?”
Lars eyed Faust. “Vas can sense your magic on a deeper level than I or any other stone user can. He recognizes you as Qinn—his magic recognizes you as Qinn, his equal and a lover he lost.”
Faust clenched the gemstone. Vasil might prefer he no longer existed if it meant having Qinn back.
“Vas will not sacrifice you, Faust Kingsley,” Lars said into Faust’s prolonged silence.
“He has not once addressed me by my given name.”
“He won’t until he can’t sense Qinn anymore,” Lars said. “It is a part of his nature. He can pick out souls that were given a second chance, and Sor would deal with them. They worked as a pair. Has Sor contacted you?”
Faust considered Lars’s words. This confirmed Sortiris played a key role in restoring the order Lathil destroyed. “Yes,” Faust said. “He said he would save me.”