Phony Potions

Chapter 47

The light went out as the door behind us slammed open. Osoro spun quickly to see who had entered. Losing focus on the curse, it gave a flare and knocked him off-balance. Osoro hit the ground. In the doorway was Divinis Wenrick, resplendent in his formal clothes, with a seething expression on his face.

"See, she doesn't even consider you a father... because a father would never abandon their child. And she believed you had." The BROS agent, Pepper, entered behind him. He closed the door. The quiet, restrained way he did it made my heart race. This was trouble. We were in serious trouble. "What a tenuous, weak link. What a lack of love," Divinis Wenrick said.

"Wenrick," I began. "How did you know we would be down here?"

"Divinis Wenrick to you, ungifted." His top lip curled at me. Osoro picked himself off of the ground, brushing his tunic off and then glancing up at Wenrick. "After Sir Osoro's insolence, I knew it was only a matter of time until you made your move. I put an alarm enchantment on the final door... You triggered it right when Winsor needed me most..." He sounded like he expected an apology. "But I couldn't leave you alone down here, not with what Osoro knows... what you now know, Azark... If you get away... That can't happen."

"Enchanted One, if I may..." Osoro began.

"You may not," Wenrick said. He took a few steps toward us, his soft house shoes not making a sound on the floor. Pepper followed, his dark uniform hard to distinguish in the dark. "Your love... the lack thereof... You should have never troubled us. You could not understand." He nodded, confirming to himself.

"Let me go, you psycho! He came for me. It's over. I'm rescued. Let me go!" Mallow cried, her voice hoarse.

"Quiet, beast," Wenrick said. "Azark and I are attempting to speak to one another." His back was to me again, like when I'd watched him at the circus. "Even if... only one person in the entire world loves my boy Winsor..." He gazed imploringly toward Osoro. "And... I have reason to believe that is the case, with even his own brother, Arcana Enforcement, his chosen Assistant Azark, and the Avalons charged with his care conspiring against him..."

"Your son Winsor is not an excuse for the crimes you have committed," Osoro interjected. He threw his arm behind him as he pointed at Chrys. "This is forbidden magic! You torment the boy for no reason and kidnapped the Giant! It is inexcusable and born of cruelty!"

"If there was a way to drain the life energies without breaking the skin, I would. The flesh runes are required for the spell to work," He said it with so little emotion, I knew it was true. To him, this was only a fact.

"When I consented to the sacrifices, I hadn't imagined this kind of suffering. I should have never—"

"I do my best to numb the pain and make him comfortable. Do you think I do this because I enjoy seeing my citizens die?"

"You keep him in a cage!" I cried, unable to believe what he was trying to justify. It was one thing to speak of suffering, but actually seeing this boy...

"The ones I gave rooms were discovered or tried to run. I had to kill them wastefully. This is the gentlest way."

"This is unacceptable. Divinis, I've let you have your way for too long, and you've gone mad. You need help. Surrender—"

"Insolent Avalon, to the ground now be drawn!" he chanted. Osoro's voice was next to me, shouting in simultaneous incant. "Let no spell do me unwell." His magic must have been weaker. He fell to the ground. He gasped as he hit. Mallow shouted, kneeling down to the corner of her cage and reaching out for Osoro.

"No!"

Divinis Wenrick sneered.

"You think I am some common menace? A brute like Bernard's friends were, indulging in cruelty to watch others squirm? Ridiculous to think that I ever wished for Winsor to be more like his shallow and capricious brother when I myself am so dissimilar. Winsor was always better, I realized in hindsight. Winsor was proud of his heritage. He was studious. He was focused. Bernard was a soft-willed, sheepish coward. ...how... how I let Bernard torment and tease. I thought it would make Winsor stronger. That brutish concept of strength. But love, I realize, makes one strong. Not fear. I abandoned Winsor to fight his own battles when I should have been his ally, and overwhelmed, he was defeated. I let the enemy kill him." Beneath the Divinis's spell, Osoro struggled. I edged away, trying to avoid the Divinis's scorching gaze. A hint of Winsor's helpless despair cracked his voice.