Becoming Magical [2]

C H A P T E R - 2 6

Sophie never thought she'd want to be the creation of a band of murderers—but now she wished for it more than anything else she'd ever wished for.

So what if Mr. Forkle had cared?

That didn't mean the rest of the Black Swan did. Grady was convinced they were evil, and she needed him to be right. She'd worry about what that meant for her life later.

All that mattered was bringing Alden back.

For that she'd need proof. Something she could show Alden to call him out of the darkness, seal the cracks in his mind, make him him again.

"Someone will need to alert the Council," Alvar announced, appearing from nowhere.

Sophie clutched her chest, wondering how long he'd been standing there.

"I can go," he offered, noticeably not looking at his father. "I believe the Councillors are in their offices right now."

Tiergan held up his hand. "I think we should wait. We need to prepare a place in the house where Alden can comfortably stay. Otherwise they'll want to move him to Exile."

Sophie tried to block the image of Alden locked up in one of those cold, tiny rooms from her mind, but it wormed its way in anyway.

"But if they find out we kept this from them—" Alvar argued.

"They won't. And even if they do, we can explain that we were giving it time to make sure nothing changed. I'm sure they'll be especially accommodating in your father's case. He was one of their best Emissaries."

"But—"

"We're going to wait a day!" Tiergan insisted. "I'll take full responsibility if they're unhappy."

Alvar stepped into Tiergan's personal space. "Since when have you had even the slightest concern for anyone in my family? In fact, shouldn't you be celebrating right now?"

"I may have disagreed with your father on certain things—but I have never wished ill on him, or anyone else in your family. I am simply trying my best to help, and as the most senior official in this room, what I say will be what goes."

Meredith said, "This is not the time Al, Sir Tiergan. We have much pressing issues on our hands."

Alvar's eyes narrowed, but he didn't argue. "I guess I'll go check on my sister, then," he said as he stalked out of the room.

Tiergan rubbed his temples. "I'm probably not the best person to be assisting with this situation."

"They're going to need all the help they can get," Elwin said sadly. Alden started to thrash again and Elwin forced more sedative down his throat. "It's wearing off quicker and quicker."

"Soon it won't work at all. You can't alter consciousness when there's no consciousness to alter."

"So there's still some consciousness left?" Sophie asked, unable to hide the hope in her voice.

"Not the way you're thinking, Sophie. When your sanity breaks, it continues to break, splintering into smaller and smaller pieces. In the beginning the shards are big enough to still react to certain things. But as they shatter further they'll become completely unresponsive."

"How long will that take?"

"It's different with every person. With Prentice it was slow, because his mind was so strong."

Alden's mind was strong too—supposedly one of the strongest in their world. Hopefully that meant she had more time.

"You really think they should keep him here?" Elwin asked as he wiped the sweat off Alden's forehead. "Won't it be too hard?"