The Lady in the Silver Mask
Chapter 4: The Spell Beneath the House
The room lost all air.
Evelina looked at the golden circle, then at the boy in the guard's grip.
Her son.
She had no memory of holding him. No memory of naming him. But there was a wound inside her exactly his size.
"What is his name?" she asked.
Adrian looked irritated.
"Names complicate things."
The boy answered, "Tomas."
The name struck her like a key.
Memory flashed.
Rain against carriage glass. Her hands over her pregnant belly. A letter hidden in her sleeve. Adrian's angry voice. A wheel breaking. Darkness. A baby crying.
The golden symbols began to glow.
Adrian stepped back. "Control yourself."
Evelina laughed once. "I do not think I have been controlling myself for years."
The house trembled.
Adrian snapped, "If the binding breaks, your body may fail. The boy's gift may burn through him. I kept you both alive."
Mrs. Vale spat, "You kept her trapped and him hunted."
Tomas looked at Evelina. "Men in gray coats hunted me. They took other children too."
"Be silent," Adrian ordered.
"No," Evelina said.
The word hit the room like wind. The guard staggered, and his knife fell. Tomas ran toward her, but Adrian caught him by the collar and dragged him toward the circle.
"You think this is cruelty?" Adrian shouted. "Your bloodline can heal, awaken, bind life to life. Do you know what kings would pay for that?"
"You do not have a house," Evelina said. "You have a prison."
Adrian threw Tomas into the circle.
Golden light burst from the boy's hands and slammed into Evelina's chest.
Memories flooded back.
The escape. The crash. The birth. The binding mage. Adrian ordering the memories taken too.
Tomas whispered, "Mother..."
Evelina pushed down on the wheelchair arms.
Pain tore through her legs.
But she stood.
Fully.
The wheelchair rolled back empty.
Adrian stared.
Then he smiled.
"Good," he whispered.
The circle beneath Tomas turned red.
"You standing was the final key."
The floor opened beneath her son.
And Tomas vanished into darkness.
