Page 41 of A Harmony of Procellarum

SQUALL

I can see how devastated she is by having picked Torrent over me, and I won’t lie. It fucking crushed me when she ran in front of him, but I’m not angry. I know how big Tiny’s heart is and I knew with them being trapped in that room together that she would see all the good parts of him I know exists. So even though I feel like I’m drowning in a pool of icy-cold water as she’s slowly led out of the room and screaming my name, I’m comforted by the fact that she provided him with something I could never. The way he held onto her, his veins popping along his forearm like he was afraid someone was going to take her from him, had me praying the motherfucker holding the gun to my head would just pull the trigger. But that would be too easy, and Raiden is right. All of this was staged by Shereen.

She forced them into a room together, single bed, single washroom, for days, and I knew the moment I stepped into their small prison, just by seeing the room itself, what could potentially happen. Torrent is not everyone’s cup of tea and he makes it really difficult to see the good parts of him. He’s buried them so deep that even his own blood couldn’t recognize them, but Tiny? She can bring out the best in anybody.

As the elevator doors close, silencing her screams, I look away and back to the man who’s claimed me, whose fingers are the instrument from which my strings are pulled. I find him looking back at me, his face finally clear and focused, his eyes a little glossy. I’m transported back to that fucking group home and to the boy he once was. It’s Victor standing in front of me with his heart still firmly in his chest and his pure, undiluted soul shining through.

I take two steps toward him, finding no resistance from the guards as Shereen takes a few steps back and sits on her throne of death. She got what she wanted anyway, and still, it must feel like defeat because this changes nothing. You can’t rewrite the stars, you can’t unravel a woven fabric and change its pattern. That’s what Victor and I are. Our threads are woven together by fate and there’s no amount of unraveling that’ll change our destinies.

Raiden watches us closely as I stop to stand in front of his brother, slowly reaching my hand out to press to the center of his chest. Torrent releases a loud exhale, his posture finally falling and his shoulders rolling forward to catch his head as it dips toward his chest. “I don’t want to be sick anymore,” he whispers as his hand comes up to wrap around my wrist. “I’m tired.”

“Where you go, I’ll always follow,” I promise him, my fingers curling into the fabric of his t-shirt.

“Always?” he asks, his thumb rubbing circles into my wrist. I nod as his eyes penetrate my very soul. I’m unable to form the words I want to tell him, and I just pray that those fibers which have sewn us together will relay all the emotions I’m feeling.

“Shereen!” Raiden calls out, breaking the moment between Torrent and me. “Let us go. Free us from the contract we made when we were so very young and lost. I’m done with this war and I’ll concede it to you and this Order if you’ll leave us alone.”

She’s still watching me and Torrent. Her brows crinkled in the center and her mouth turned down, but not with disgust. Her look is something akin to nostalgia, and with the four of us in a room together after so very long, I can feel it too.

“I didn’t bring you here to win a war,” she says as her voice wavers. “I hated you four when I left that place, and I’ll admit, I’d hoped you all suffered,” she grits through her teeth, her anger still very prevalent.

“You got your wish, Luciphia,” Torrent says as he releases my arm and steps around me. “Jane was cruel, and that whip you were so very well acquainted with became our constant companion.” His eyes skip to mine as he says, “The handle was an intimate one.”

“When Haynes found me again after you guys had signed your souls away to fire and brimstone,” she laughs sarcastically, “I was still broken inside. My scars were nothing compared to his, but I felt a kinship there. I was so tired of hating you guys, so when you showed up at that club and pulled me off that stage and I was chosen to go to Dominica, I thought that was my chance to finally fix whatever was broken inside of me. To be surrounded by the boys who knew just how broken I was. I thought you guys would save me. How very wrong I was.” She falls back in the chair and slowly begins to peel the lace gloves off her hands. “These scars are a constant reminder of that place and I used them as fuel. So when I was nearly carved up like a Christmas ham and killed on that island, I was angry. On that plane ride home, it was Kenny who approached me and said I could do great things. My plan really formed after that. I thought if I could infiltrate this organization, I could exact the perfect revenge. I started by burning down that orphanage with Sister Jane inside of it.”

“You did that? After that, the old Luciphia asked you to be her Vanquisher, knowing what your ties were to us,” Raiden finishes as Shereen slowly nods, the scarred fingers of her hands curling around the bones of the arms on the throne.

“I trained and I soaked up every bit of information I could, then waited. It took years, but I was patient, and when the time came, I sliced that bitch’s throat open. I took this amulet from around her neck and I knew my quest had just begun. Over the years, I learned how easy it was to be swayed. I could see the fame and the wealth. Presidents of the United States, musicians, models, actors, politicians, and world leaders falling to their knees, begging for something only spilled blood would provide,” she spits to the side, her disdain evident. “And I knew my enemy was bigger than just you four. I wanted to take down the Order.” She stands again, her words making my hairs stand on end. “I did that. I’ve wiped out every Magistrate, save for your brother, and as we speak, every temple is being dismantled. This organization, controlled by me, no longer exists and that feels better than any revenge I could exact on you four. I’m saving many people’s lives from worthless sacrifices. I’ve done my part, and if Haynes wasn’t sequestered on an island, I would have him here before us too. Just so he could hear what I have to say. I no longer blame you for what happened in that home. We were children, and I know I played a cruel stunt today, but I just needed to let go of the last vestiges of my anger. We’re all free as of right now from the Order.”

“Free?!” Torrent bellows. “Who the fuck is free?”

TORRENT

The demon unfurls his anger in my chest as the word ‘free’ echoes around the room. I haven’t been free since I was ten years old.

“Torrent!” Raiden calls out to me, but his voice sounds like it’s underwater, distorted and garbled as I stare at the woman who’s had a hand in what I’ve become. I never directly blamed anyone for the responsibilities that fell on my shoulders in that orphanage, but to have had her pull some strings in my adult life is only catapulting me over the edge.

“Who’s free?” I reiterate as I walk toward her, her eyes widening as she takes a few steps back. “We all have blood on our hands. People have died for the Order’s ambitions, including yours.” I shoot each word at her like a perfectly aimed blade, sinking them into her chest cavity.

“Torrent.” Squall comes to stand beside me, his hand wrapping around my bicep. “Let’s just leave.”

“Leave?” I shrug his hand off my arm. “I was promised freedom and I’m feeling a bit jilted.” I turn to look back at Shereen as her chin lifts with a smug look. “You told me I would be free.”

“You are free, Torrent,” she says. “Look around you. There are no more Magistrates. We’ve dismantled the Order.”

She knows nothing of being held hostage for most of your life, or committing a selfless act to save your friends and then having that act haunt you for the rest of your life. I often question if it was ever worth it to drive that hatchet into Father Robert’s head because at the end of the day, my scars aren’t just skin deep.

“So you’re our savior now?” I hold out my arms and take another step toward her, making the guard who had his gun aimed at me previously slowly raise it again. “Should we kneel to you, Luciphia?”

“Torrent.” Raiden steps up beside me, his voice filled with authority. “Let’s leave.”

“To go where?” I ask him. “To what life? Back to Dominica? You want to hide there forever? I’m not hiding anymore.” I turn back to Shereen. “You didn’t uphold your promise.”

She gives me a confused look and slowly shakes her head, the pity wafting off her in crushing waves. That look is like gasoline to a torch and I explode outward.

I rush toward her, my hands outstretched, aiming for her throat and needing to feel her pulse weaken under my palms. It’s quick, those last few seconds. Raiden screams my name and Squall screamsno, then a loudbang!And the fire that exploded from me gets sucked back inward as my chest blooms with the inferno. Still, I reach her, even though I feel like I’m walking through tar. My heavy arms fall to her shoulders, nowhere near the column of her throat. I look into her wide, watery eyes, watching as her mouth moves, but no sound comes out. I hope she sees the gratitude in my eyes because finally someone has given me my wish and I truly am free.

Before I can even form the words to thank her, she’s shoved out of the way, and then there’s Squall. Those light blue eyes have never changed. They have held nothing in their depths but love for me, and that’s what I find there now as I struggle to take in a breath.

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