“I bow to no one, as you well know. Why are you here, Lucifer?”
“As I said, visiting an old friend,” Lucifer answers with an indifferent shrug.
In a barely contained manner, Vlad says, “How did you find her?”
“Your magic comes from me, remember? When I realized you had moved her, I followed the trail of the ward to find her here. Did you really believe you could hide her away?”
“She will not go to the Scholomance! I forbid it!”
“It does not matter if you forbid it. She is not interested. Refused my offer outright. So unfortunate. Maybe she enjoys being here in this dreadful place, this monument of your great and terrible love.”
The devil’s words are mocking, yet a relief. He has not revealed the discovery of the spell cast by Ágota to Vlad. Though I know this is for his own nefarious reasons, I am glad he has decided to keep my secret.
“She is wise enough not to trust you. As I was once wise enough to outwit you.”
“Are you still carrying on about that minor victory?” Lucifer pulls on white gloves and straightens his hat on his golden head. “Really, Vlad. You are such a petty child at times.”
Vlad starts to lunge for the devil, but I lash out and grip his arm. Casting a questioning look at me, Vlad hesitates. I have always been his weakness. I can often stave his anger against others when I desire to do so.
“I rebuffed him. Let him depart with his forked tail tucked between his legs,” I say.
Lucifer visibly rankles at my insult, but contains his anger. “Such an enchanting visit. We must do this more often.”
“You are not welcome here,” Vlad snaps with irritation.
“Yet, I can come here. Or wherever you try to hide her. You may be cunning, determined, and woefully over-confident, but you are also my former student. Do not think for a moment I taught you all my tricks. If you do, it will be your undoing.” Lucifer bows in my direction and vanishes.
“How dare he come here and—”
“He enjoys taunting you.” I release Vlad’s arm and rest my hand against my bosom. I am hungry, tired, and peeved at the night’s events. That I should have to deal with Vlad in the aftermath of my interaction with Lucifer is too exhausting to even consider. I wish the sun would rise so I could sleep.
“You refused his offer,” Vlad says in disbelief. “He would free you if you went to the Scholomance and you refused.”
“How can you be so surprised after the great lengths you went to, even as so far as to betray me, so that you could escape being the student chosen as payment for the other nine? And he would have chosen you as he would choose me.”
Perhaps sensing I am too tired to fight him, Vlad leans over to kiss my forehead. “It wounded me to betray you.”
“Yet you did. For power.”
“Yes.”
“And do not regret your choice.”
“Never.”
I sigh and close my eyes. “You always desired power above all else.”
“Did he not offer you what you desire most?”
I remain silent, contemplating this question. The answer, I realize, is no. Though I want to be free from the mausoleum, in truth, what I desire most is something altogether different.
“Did he not offer you freedom from here? From me?” Vlad’s tone is mocking, but also holds a hint of doubt.
I have heard this sound before in the voices of others who I loved and loved me. The realization that perhaps what they believed about me was not quite the truth. That perhaps my motivations and desires were not what they believed.
When the spell returns, I know my next destination. It is inevitable really. I will have to face the decisions I made that eventually stole Albrecht, my first great love, from my arms.
“Erzsébet, what secrets are you hiding?”