Chapter 70. Bitter Pill.

Anne's men made even better time than Rustin had anticipated. They arrived within two days, dragging in their prize.

Upon being received by her household, Samuel was quickly prepared for his interrogation. As he recovered from his journey, Anne set aside some time for a long, protracted conversation with her servant Mikus that began with him screaming in pain and ended with him screaming for mercy.

And then it simply ended.

Anne felt grateful for the distraction that punishing Mikus provided. She would soon be entertaining a guest whose proclivity for vengeance exceeded even her own, and while she would have denied feeling anxious about the visit, she wouldn't deny feeling mildly unsettled.

That was par for the course when one stood in the presence of one of the Cardinal sins. The greatest of them, in fact.

"What did you think of that woman, Rustin?" she asked him on their way to the dungeons, on the day of Pride's arrival. "The blonde one that Mikus accosted."

"What woman?" he asked.

"The one who tried to prevent our acquisition of Mr. Bellweather," she said.

"Oh, the blonde. Well, she had a courageous spirit, ma'am," Rustin replied. "To stand in valiant defense of another is no small thing. Especially against warriors bearing the sigil of the Godwells."

"Yes, I thought so too," Anne nodded in agreement. "She was so weak, yet so willing to defy her betters in pursuit of her ideals. She's always been like that. So…spirited! Don't you find it fascinating?"

"Do you know her, my lady? You speak of her with such familiarity."

"I do, in fact. Well, I did, anyway. For a time, we were quite close. She was a scholar of the old empire, and I funded much of her research. She was so intuitive, so quick to grasp concepts that escaped the notice of her peers! She had so much potential that was ignored by others due to her Republic heritage. I invited her to stay at my home for a season or two. I…wanted her to be near me."

"You speak so warmly of her," Rustin said with a smile. "Why did your friendship end? You sound as though you were close."

"We were," Anne said darkly. "Which was why my husband found it so amusing to steal her away from me. Marcis…likes taking away the things that I enjoy. He feels annoyed when my focus is placed on anyone other than him."

Rustin's eyes narrowed but he said nothing in response, knowing that his station did not permit him to offer an opinion on Count Van Belsar's behavior. But the stiffening of his body language was indication enough of his thoughts. Anne felt grateful for his loyalty.

"No worries, Sir Rustin. My days of being under my husband's compulsion are nearly at their end. Even now, the memories of the passion I once felt for him fade like a dream in the morning's light. It was a pleasure. But pleasure always fades."

"What do you intend to do to him?" asked her Knight.

"We're just going to have a long conversation," she said. "When will Pride be joining us?"

"I'm not sure," Rustin said uneasily. "It's… difficult to stand in her presence, ma'am. Frightening, even. I spoke with her for at least ten minutes, but I can hardly remember what I said to her. Or what she even looked like, for that matter."

"Do you…still feel sane?" Anne asked him.

Rustin stared at her, with widened eyes, clearly confused by her question. "Yes?" he said after a few moments had passed.

"Well, good," Anne said, satisfied by his response. "Most walk away from her feeling terrified and possibly suicidal. I myself couldn't meet her gaze until I was over three centuries old. It still isn't easy for me to speak with her in her true form."

"Then why did you have me do it?" Rustin asked her.

"I was rooting for you," Anne said confidently. "And now you're a proven winner."

Rustin smiled to himself, pleased by the compliment he'd received. Anne hadn't been flattering him either, he really had made a remarkable display of willpower by keeping his mind intact in the presence of Pride. Not that the representation he'd spoken with had been the actual Pride. Merely a hollowed-out vessel imbued with a portion of the Cardinal Sin's intellect, used to carry out her business in the mortal realm.

There were thousands of such beings across the world, each one just as startling to behold as the one that had come to visit Anne's house. Anne herself had beheld the creature itself on more than one occasion. Those moments had been memorable, but not ones she wished to repeat.

Pride could be a lot to take in.

"…"

"Sorry, did you say something?"

"I was saying that we were here, ma'am," Rustin said, gesturing towards the iron door they now stood before.

"Ah, and so we are," Anne said. "Sorry, Rustin. One of the consequences of an immortal life is how easily I can get lost in my thoughts. I have so many memories that I could easily find myself spending weeks sitting like a statue, lost in my recollections of the past. That's why I find your assistance so valuable, my friend. You help me remain in the here and now."

"A splendid honor that my family has enjoyed for centuries," Rustin said humbly.

"And one that I'm glad you've chosen to continue," Anne said with gratitude.

"Always and forever. Power to the Godwells."

Anne smiled at him.

__

Samuel slowly opened his eyes and saw naught but darkness.

He hung suspended in the air, naked, with his arms and legs splayed out, caught in some sticky substance he couldn't identify, which held him firmly in place. Helpless as a fly in a web. Anne sat on a stool in a corner of the room and quietly watched him as he regained his senses.

"Hello, Mr. Bellweather," she said, after he finally noticed her. "Welcome to my home. I realize your present accommodations probably aren't as comfortable as you'd prefer, but a recent acquaintance of mine deemed them necessary for us to speak. So, here we are."

Anne reached forth and gave Samuel an affectionate pat on the cheek. "You look so young. So remarkably human. You even smell like them. Whoever put you together did excellent work. At first glance, even I would be fooled. But the time I spent observing you while you were unconscious has gradually revealed the truth to me. The way you breathe, the steady rhythm of your heart, the way your muscles shift. It's a remarkable imitation, Samuel. But it's not quite authentic, is it?"

"Who are you? What do you want from me? What did I do?" Samuel moaned piteously. Anne had to laugh.

"He's incredible, isn't he?" Anne asked the other presence in the room. "An absolutely superb construction. My mother's journals described these creatures perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, I believed them to be an exaggeration. To see one in the flesh makes me realize how much more I have yet to learn."

"You speak truthfully, Countess Anne," said the slow, friendly drawl of a denizen of the southern continent. A pretty woman with curly brown hair, wearing a sleeveless white dress, stepped out of the shadows to stand beside Anne, bearing a friendly smile beneath her cute, freckled nose. "The hand of his maker is a skillful one. I'm glad you've brought this to my attention."

"I owed you a favor as well as an apology," Anne said. "Our friendship is an old one, after all."

"It certainly is!" Pride agreed. Still smiling, but not blinking. Staring intently at Samuel's struggling body.

"What's going on? Who are you people?" he asked with growing desperation.

"Oh, my apologies, Mr. Bellweather," replied Anne. "Allow me to introduce Pride, supreme ruler of the demon continent. Pride, this is Samuel Bellweather, servant, and creation of the one who dared to strike at your family."

"So pleased to meet you, sir," Pride said with obvious insincerity. She stepped closer to the man and ran her finger slowly under his chin. "Oh, he's a healthy one, isn't he? Didn't you say he took a sword wound to the leg during his capture? I don't even see a scar."

"It healed within an hour. All his wounds did. My men had to keep severing the tendons of his limbs to prevent him from escaping. They found it annoying but weren't lax in their duties. Their efforts were appreciated."

"Incredible," Pride said admiringly. "A victim that never breaks. And you say I can have him?"

"You may. As well as your brother, Ascedia's twin mana cores. Hopefully, with those in hand, you'll be able to speedily summon him back to your kingdom."

"I'm beyond grateful for your generosity, Anne," Pride said happily. "What would you like in return?"

"Two small things," Anne replied. "First, I would like you to forgive Claudia and Aiden for plotting against your brother. They were manipulated into their foolish behavior by their father, who sought, as always, to amuse himself."

"Ah," Pride said thoughtfully. "Marcis Van Belsar. He certainly is a notable lifelong hell raiser. But would he really go so far as to arrange the assassination of my kin?"

"Sloth was accidentally summoned into this world, years before he was ready to return," Anne said apologetically. "Despite knowing of my professional relationship with you, Marcis thought it would be a wonderful idea to convince his children to dispose of him and present to me his mana cores. As a gift. Aiden and Claudia confessed to the entire misdeed. Thus, it now falls to me to make amends."

"Why would Marcis do such a thing?" asked Pride.

"He is wild. He always has been," Anne said.

"Yes, he is," Pride agreed. "I can find it within me to forgive Claudia. She's an ignorant child. She can learn from this, and with Sloth's mana cores on hand, restoring him to life will be a simple matter. Aiden is a different matter, though. He's already dead, you see."

"As if I could forget," Anne said bitterly, before wisely moderating her tone of voice. "I know your nature, ancient one," she continued. "Death is no protection from your grievance. If Aiden's soul lays in torment in your realm, I ask only that you release it to the astral realm."

Pride laughed, amused by Anne's words. "If I had his soul to release, I would. Aiden is beyond my reach, Anne. I know not where he dwells, but it isn't in the perdition of Pride. I swear it."

Anne frowned at the other woman's words. With any of the other Cardinals, she would have been wary of being deceived. But Pride was, well, too prideful to bother telling an untruth. Lies were beneath the dignity of her throne.

"What could that possibly mean?" Anne wondered.

"Perhaps your son recanted his sins just before he was murdered?" Pride suggested. "It's been known to happen. Doesn't usually work, but there's the occasional genuine plea for redemption."

"That would be…nice," Anne said.

But she doubted Aiden had the strength of character to do such a thing. He never found fault with himself. It was his greatest flaw. Despite how hard she'd tried; Anne could never convince him to see his own flaws. The boy genuinely believed himself to be perfect.

Which was why she'd been so certain that he'd fall into Pride's hands upon dying.

Where was her son?

"What was your other request?" Pride asked her.

"Ah," Anne said, returning her thoughts to present matters. She gestured towards Samuel and said, "Peel back the layers of this creature's mind. The source that informed me of his existence made several claims that can only be corroborated by him. Share with me everything that he knows."

"Why is this so important to you?" Pride asked her.

"It should be important to you as well," Anne replied. "Despite his attempted mischief, Marcis is not the one whose machinations brought down your brother and his servants at Bremburg. A separate power intervened. A necromancer. A sorcerer of eld, somehow reborn into this modern age."

"They were our most persistent foes," Pride said with a frown. "In the dawning of this world, they were an unmatched power. Unstoppable. You can't just kill them, you see. For many of them, death was merely an awakening to their gifts. Destroying them required a concerted effort. We only succeeded when the din of our endless battle finally provoked the wrath of the lunar queen."

"The cataclysm," Anne said in awe.

"That was one of the words that described the event," nodded Pride. "It ended with the near extinguishment of their kind. The lunar queen does not appreciate being woken from her naps. To this day, I still can't believe the necromancers were arrogant enough to challenge her."

"Great power affects the way people perceive reality," Anne said. "Even the last of them, the radiant one, believed he would one day avenge his people against her. A nation of them, wiped from existence with a wave of her hand, but he still thought he could—"

"It wasn't with a wave of her hand," Pride corrected her. "They made their threats to her while she sat silently on her throne. She didn't even bother to gaze in their direction. She simply crooked her finger and one of the moons fell from orbit and landed on them."

"There were once two moons?" asked Anne.

"Yes."

"And you saw this happen in person?" Anne asked her.

"Yes. Our forces survived her displeasure because we were quick to kneel and apologize. Something the necromancers felt too prideful to do. Being in the presence of Queen Pasithea was the only time that I have ever felt small."

That was something that Anne had never known. Pride was the ruler of the cardinal sins. She had battled the necromancers at the height of their power and had even slain many of them in personal combat. For someone like her to proclaim another's superiority…

Well, that was just a very good reason to stay away from the moon, wasn't it?

"All the more reason, we need to confirm my informant's information," Anne decided. "Necromancers are hopelessly insane and enamored with their own strength. The damage this one could do is unthinkable. It could even be in the realm of possibility for him to bring down another cataclysm on this world. A final one."

"That must not be allowed," Pride said in agreement. She then turned to Samuel and held his chin in a firm grip. "You will speak," she told him. "You will tell us everything."

"What are you talking about? I don't know what you mean! Please, just let me go!" Samuel whined.

Pride frowned at his words and tightened her grip. "Seize feigning ignorance, creature. My eye is upon you. I know what you are. You will submit to me. Your creator cannot save you now."

In response, Samuel Bellweather began to laugh.

"Is that right, you ridiculous relic of a bygone era?" he sneered. "You have no idea of whom you speak! The reach of my mistress is beyond compare! The world will be hers! Why should I submit to you when your heads will be the ones to roll at her feet?"

"Her feet?" Anne asked. "A woman?"

It suddenly occurred to Anne that this wasn't going to be very difficult at all. As amazing as this creature was, it appeared that his mind didn't quite match the quality of his body.

In other words, the boy was an absolute fool.

"She's a beauty beyond mortal comprehension!" Samuel raved. "A veritable angel of light! You shadowy monsters should drop to your knees in reverence, knowing that my flesh was sculpted by her divine hands, that my mind was pried into existence from the shores of death itself. Yet as perfect as I am, I am MERELY a secondhand reflection of her endless glory! Weep knowing that you can never compare to her!"

"Are…all of a necromancer's servants so enthusiastic in praising their creators?" Anne asked Pride.

The demon's weary sigh was answer enough. Then she said, "Get to the point, creature."

"The point?" Samuel said mockingly. "Fool! For you, there is no point! No point in hoping for a continued existence! For my maker will surely come for you in order to punish you for your sin!"

"The sin of snatching away a forgotten tool like you?" Anne asked him.

Samuel roared in fury and struggled to reach her. He only settled down after Pride slapped his head back.

"You don't know anything!" he shouted at Anne. "My mistress adores all of her creations! We stand at the pinnacle of existence! All of us are equal in her favor!"

"Oh, it's worse than I feared," Anne said sadly. "We wasted our resources capturing a mere drone. An unimportant worker bee. You don't know anything, do you, Samuel? You're just a microscopic cog in her catastrophic plan, aren't you?"

"NO! NO! I AM THE THIRD OF HER RISEN!"

"I have absolutely no idea what that means," Anne said in a bored tone of voice. "But I do know that third isn't first. Whatever purpose you were created for, you've already served it, haven't you? We may as well toss you aside like she obviously has."

"EVERLY WOULD NEVER DO THAT!" Samuel bellowed with a lunatic's certainty.

Pride grinned menacingly, pleased by Samuel's reaction. In her mirth, she didn't notice Anne's reaction to the boy's words.

"Everly?" Anne asked in a stunned voice. "Your creator's name is Everly?"

"Do not speak her holy name!" Samuel shrieked. "You're already dead, anyway!"

"Why?" Anne demanded to know. "Why am I already dead?"

"Because your brute abused her mother!" Samuel cackled triumphantly. "None may harm blessed Lyona! None may harm the mother of the Empress!"

Anne paused for a few moments and considered the creature's words. Then she turned to Pride and said, "The necromancer's name is Everly Vae Balsar. Another extended member of my household, I'm afraid. Marcis' fourth child."

"Anne, seriously," Pride said with genuine concern. "What exactly is going on in your life, lately? This is…this is terrible. Is everything okay at home? I apologize if this sounds overly critical, but it seems that your children are out of control."

"She's not my daughter, I don't even know her," Anne said defensively. "She's the child of a…of a friend of mine, and Marcis."

"He slept with your friend and impregnated her?" Pride said incredulously. "And you stayed with him?"

"Don't say it like that!" Anne said with tears in her eyes. "I wanted him to be happy and I wanted her to be happy, and I just…I wanted to be happy as well! I'm fifteen hundred years old, and I always have to be everything for everyone, and my son got murdered and oh my god, the daughter of the woman I adore killed my son and my granddaughter and I'm just now realizing that in this very sentence and it's all because MY HUSBAND IS A LYING, SELF-CENTERED, MURDERING BETRAYER AND I REALLY DON'T NEED YOU TO BE JUDGEMENTAL OF ME RIGHT NOW, OKAAAAAAY???!!

In response, Pride turned to her friend and gave her a firm hug.

"You're not the one to blame for this," she said.

"I'm not the one to blame for this," Anne sobbed.

"Your husband is a monster," Pride said.

"My husband is a monster," Anne wept.

"You need to settle this," Pride said.

"There will be blood," Anne vowed.

"Good," Pride said as she stepped back. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No," Anne said as she wiped her eyes. "No but thank you for offering. What comes next is between family."

"I understand," Pride said with a nod. "Do you need anything further from this creature?" she asked as she gestured at Samuel.

"No. No, he's already validated my informant. Not in the manner I expected, but everything checks out. I think I can trust whoever it is, now. Feel free to take him."

"Thank you, Anne. You always settle your debts, honorably," Pride said. "I'll have my people pack him up for shipment. Once I've finished stripping his mind of any remaining secrets, I'll share any relevant information with you."

"Thank you, Pride," Anne said. "You've always been a good friend to me."

"I'm obviously the best at everything I do," Pride said with no humility as she exited the room.

Anne laughed at that, amused despite her mood. Then, she clenched her fists angrily as she returned her thoughts to today's horrifying revelations.

Marcis, she thought hatefully.

Everly.