Page 16 of Cassian
“That’s no reason to be bragging about.You were a terrible man.Burying your dead in mylands.The land there is forever contaminated because of what you did to it.”He laughed, feeling better about things all the way around.“What do you think will happen to you when you go to prison?I shall have a faerie watching over you so that you can’t die until you’re a very old man.What do you think of that?”
“I killed her, and you saved her.I knew I was better than that.”Then it occurred to him what she’d said to him.“No.You can’t do that to me.I have the right to die when my time comes.And I plan on making it as short as time possible.”
She snapped her fingers, and a small yellow faerie appeared.He could always see them.Since he was just a little boy.Jason would catch them and do just what she said, pull their wings off of them, then kill them by smashing them with a big rock.
“This is Snow.She’ll be watching over you for the next phase of your life.You’ll be the oldest living inmate at the prison.Won’t that be wonderful for you?You’ll live out one hundred and four years with her watching over you.”He screamed no, that would be more than his life was now.“So it will.And it will not be enough to cover all the lives that you took when you were free.”
He was thinking of spending the next sixty-plus years in prison and wanted to die right then.There was no way that they’d make him sit in a prison cell for that long.He was going to have to do something that would set him free from the place.Suicide by cop was the only thing that he could think of.
“It won’t work.Nothing you think of will get you killed before I say you may die.”He asked her why she was doing that to him.“Because of the way you treated one of mine.Skye has been my child since the day she was born, and I will continue to watch over her for the rest of her life.Think of this.The people who sentenced you will long be gone before you are taken out in a body bag.I don’t usually take retribution out on humans, but you’ve caused me enough pain and sorrow to last more lifetimes than you originally got from the man in the long cape.And you will live.I have decreed it.”
“I’ll still be alive when Skye is dead.That makes me feel better.”He laughed and smiled at the otherworldly creature.“All your retribution is for naught since I’ll still outlive her.”
“Nay, you will not.She’ll be around like my other dragons for longer than that.Forever and a day, she will still be here.While you are nothing more than dust, she will be free to live her life as she sees fit.Using her magic, as I have hope that she will, so that there are more dragons born to fill the skies of my realm, where they can be as free as they wish.”He laughed again, feeling like insanity was getting the better of him.Dragons?She couldn’t outlive him.How could that be fair, he asked.“It is fair.As I said, you have killed people, humans, and shifters alike and buried them in my earth.Then you tried to kill my darling Skye.I’ve had great plans for her since her birth.”
“You can’t be serious?This isn’t right.There are no such things as dragons.”Suddenly, he found himself outside of his cell with her hand on his forehead.There in front of him was a dragon.One as scary and beautiful as he’d ever seen in any book.When it turned and looked at him, it opened its mouth wide.Fire flew from his mouth and toward him.His screams woke him up, and he ended up back on his cot all alone.“There is no way that I just got burnt by a dragon.”
But he could feel his skin burning like he’d been in the sun too long.Looking down at him, he wasn’t the least bit surprised to find blisters along his arms and hand.Lying down on the cot, covering himself up from any more visitors, he rolled with his back to the door and closed his eyes.Something was wrong with him, or he was really seeing dragons.And beautiful women who said he was going to live for a very long time.
When he woke, he was still hot.Throwing off the covers, he saw Snow up by the ceiling of his cell.He thought about trying to kill it, but she’d just send another.He fully believed that the woman had been correct in her telling him that he was going to live too long behind bars.There was no way that could be legal, and yet he believed that it was going to happen.Oh, his life had taken a terrible turn.
When his meals were brought to him, he ignored them.He’d been told when he tried starving himself before that they’d not allow it.Then Snow told him that she had magic that would force him toeat his meals.They wanted him to be healthy when he made his way to prison.Which, if he remembered correctly, would be tomorrow.He sat up to eat his meal and decided that there wasn’t enough magic in the world to make him eat whatever had turned up as his meal.
“You’ll eat it.”He found himself eating the meal, and while not enjoying it, wanted seconds.As he laid down again, his mind just too worn out to think much more, Snow began talking to him.“Did you remember that the Connors got two life sentences?They’ll not last long in prison as they are already old in human years.”He didn’t care and said as much.
“Why do they get to live out a good short life, and I have to live for what seems like forever?”He was told that they couldn’t allow him to live forever, as that wouldn’t be something that humans did.“So it was on the table that I lived forever?Your boss is very vindictive, don’t you think?I never killed Skye, much to my heartache.But she’s treating me like I’ve done it several times over.”
“But you did.Kill her, I mean.The only reason that she is alive now is because of the faeries that were with her each time you tired.You were not all that good at some of the times you took her out.It was easy for us to make sure that she lived for a great many days more when you were out of the way.”It figures.She’d have someone treating her to magic while he kept trying to make her dead.“Not that it matters now, however.She is immortal and has enough magic that she could kill you, no matter if she was with you or not.She’s powerful in her own right.”
“Figures.Everyone has powers but me.”Snow told him that was the way it was to be.“How much magic do you have?I’m betting not much for how small you are.You probably can’t do much at all for all your professed power.”She laughed at him.
“I know what you’re doing.I’ve been around humans all my life and know when someone is trying to bait me.It won’t work.I’m much smarter than you are and can beat you at your own game.I will not kill you because I like the plan that is in place to keep you living for a long time.”He said it wasn’t fair.“I believe it to be very fair.What you did to some of your victims was very wrong.And three times you simply killed because you were bored.That is not the work of a good man.”
“I’m not a good man.”Snow neither agreed nor disagreed with him.Instead, she sat on the windowsill and left him to himself.Putting the now-empty tray on the floor and sliding it out of his room, he laid back again, this time with his hands behind his head.“I’ve done things that no human would ever do without the money that came along with it.I was paid well for what I could do better than anyone I knew.”
He thought of all the people that he killed and thought that it was going to be worth it to be able to say he’d murdered so many before his thirtieth birthday.However, he was going to pay for it now; living out a long life behind bars would take so much from him.He needed the freedom to roam and wasn’t going to get that while in prison.He wondered briefly if he’d be in a wheelchair when he was as old as dirt.
“Nay, you will be as spry as you are now.”He didn’t like the little creature reading his mind, and she told him that it was just too easy.“I will keep you company for your long years, too.We’ll talk about many things that will be going on.And I will keep you updated on Skye and her family as well.It’s the least I can do after you failed so many times.”
“I didn’t fail.I killed her several times, you said.”She told him that, yet she still lives.“She lives by magic and nothing more.”
“As you will live and die by magic and nothing more.”You’ll live these years that the queen has given you without fear of dying.That should make you feel better.You’ll have pain, but not as much as dying would give you.”He looked up to where she was sitting and wanted to scream at her.But he knew that the cells were being monitored.What would it look like if he were suddenly screaming at the top of his lungs?He had a sudden thought.“It won’t work for you.You cannot make them want to kill you, no matter how insane you try to make yourself be.”
“Go to hell.”He decided that he wasn’t going to talk to the little creatures anymore.He knew that at some point he was going to, but for now, he was happy with his decision.The thing was going to annoy him enough that they would think him addled in his old age.“Christ.That’s going to be avery long time from now.”
~*~
“I’m satisfied with the way things went today.”Raven was curled up next to Cassian in the bed.It was just after midnight, and they were both tired.“I know that Lady Earth said that he’d live a long time, and that’s good too.He should be made to suffer as much as he possibly can.Skye is certainly going to be sleeping a good deal better with him gone from her life.”
“She’d been having nightmares since she and Kings got together.Some nights she will lash out at him just so she can make herself feel safe in her dreams.”She told Cassian that she’d never had a nightmare that bad.“I’ve had them before of my parents.The only way that I could get rid of them was to sleep with my brother nearby.Brenin brought me out of the dreams before they got to be too bad.”
“He’s a wonderful man and my good friend.”Cassian kissed her on her shoulder and moved his mouth to her throat.She loved it when he would lick her there.It made her shiver in anticipation of what he might do next.“You’re suddenly not too tired, are you?I mean, I thought you said you were exhausted.”
“I am, but not for you.”He slid over her, and she turned on her back to look up at him.“I want to make love to you tonight.Make the day end on a special note that you and I can share.”
“I love you, Cassian.”He said that he loved her as well.“You’re my life, I hope you know that.”
“I do.And you are my breath.I couldn’t survive without you by my side.”She bared her throat to him when he was kissing her other shoulder.“You taste like a dream, and I’m going to make sure that I don’t miss a part of you tonight.”
