Chapter 5
Cornelius stood with his back to the door, mind on what needed to be done, but he still heard it when it opened, someone walking toward him. From the sound of their footsteps it wasn’t Natalie, which might have been a relief, had it not been for the fact they were most likely Anne’s. She wasn’t any happier with him.
Anne looked down for a moment, working through how best to word things. There was nothing simple about the conversation they needed to have, and from the way Cornelius’s back tensed he was already prepared for an argument. He knew it was her, or at least suspected, which wasn’t going to make things any easier for either of them.
Cornelius turned, eyebrow quirking up as he looked at Anne, but their eyes didn’t meet. She wasn’t looking at him.
“Is there any reason for us to even have this argument?”
Blinking, she stilled, eyes still down, as though she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. There was no doubt she wasn’t comfortable. Why would she be? He’d made enough bad choices for her to want to keep her distance, yet she was still there.
“There’s no certainty it will be an argument.”
“You’re hoping you’ll be able to convince me to make the right choices.”
“Everyone’s worried about you.”
Cornelius laughed. “Which one of those ‘everyone’ asked you to talk to me?”
“Natalie, because, no matter how you might feel about her, she does still care about you.”
“Why did you agree?”
“For you, Cornelius.”
Did he believe those words? He wanted to. She cared. That much was obvious. Of course that didn’t mean she’d made the choice for him, because there were too many other reasons for her to talk to him.
“Of course.”
“Please don’t be like that. I know things are… complicated.”
“Mostly they’re complicated due to other people. No one seems to be willing to accept I know what I’m doing.”
“It’s more the reasons for your choice that bother me.” Anne breathed in deeply. “What Julian did…”
“He helped me, Anne, because he’d been in love with you for lifetimes, and he chose me to be the person to take his place.”
From the silence that followed it was obvious Anne didn’t know what to say, or maybe it was more how to say it. Cornelius studied her, seeing the tension in her body, the uncertainty in her eyes, and wished she’d actually look at him.
“I know Julian had his reasons for the decision he made.”
“Anne, look at me.”
Rather than looking at Cornelius, even though she could understand the reason he wanted her to, Anne studied her hand. “I know why you believe his plan is the best chance you have of being able to stop Titus, which is an understandable thing to want, considering how much you now know.”
“More than I ever wanted to, to be honest, but seeing that… how are you able to stand there attempting to talk me out of this after everything you’ve been through?”
“Titus is my brother.”
“Yes, he is, and do you really think I believe that’s enough?”
“Julian knew about the bond, so you also know about the bond.”
“All you need to do is say the word, Anne.”
“No.”
“Still hoping Dante will be the answer? Your soulmate, who was always going to be another person to feed Titus’s need for power, so the two of you could finally be immortal.”
Anne did look at him then, the frustration in her eyes something Cornelius expected. “I have no expectations of anyone, especially not Dante. Originally I tried to convince him to leave, but he made the decision to stay, because everyone has this idea of what my future is meant to be. Including you, which is why we’re here… again.”
“You’re upset with me for wanting to do something to help you?”
“Cornelius…”
“Not that I’m only helping you, but the rest of the Council, and myself. This isn’t just about you, Anne, although I will admit you’re the one who’s dealt with the most, thanks to Titus.”
“The most?”
“At any point you could have walked away. Until this life you knew nothing about the bond.”
“Elias Foster had his soul shredded for trying to help me leave Glimmerbrook.”
“Why not try to leave alone? Step through the wards without someone by your side, because you wanted to be free to live your life more than you needed anything else.”
“Julian would have known the answer to that question, and I’m almost certain you do too, Cornelius, but you want to make me feel bad for never doing more.”
“Being alone was too painful.”
“In ways I think you can understand, if you chose to.”
“Lifetimes have passed since then, Anne.”
“Only it wasn’t just our first parents. Titus… I don’t even know why I’m trying to explain this to you. Why I made the choice doesn’t matter.”
“Do you honestly believe that? I want to understand you, and why you stayed with Titus.”
“At first it was because I couldn’t imagine life without him. Then it was more due to him not being able to live without me. I understand it better now than I did before.”
“He chose the bond, and it slowly started to get the better of him, which is exactly what Julian told him. Your brother wasn’t willing to listen, leading to Julian being pushed into the fire that killed him.”
“Julian understood the bond better than Titus could, and he should have listened. Only I know my brother. When he was told he was wrong he saw Julian as a danger. It wasn’t the right choice, I’m not going to argue there were better ways of dealing with Julian, but Julian knew Titus better than I did at the time. He must have known what was likely to happen if he argued against the existence of the bond.”
“Yes, he knew, and he’d have made that choice no matter what. Even then he cared about you, Anne.”
“Did that have anything to do with Thaddeus?”
“Not entirely.”
“I don’t remember him, Cornelius. Julian is someone I didn’t know existed, and there has to be a reason for that, because he was Titus’s friend. His father was close to Thaddeus.”
“You were young.”
“Not so young I wouldn’t remember Julian if he was around.” Anne pressed her hands to the side of her head. “I’ve been going over it all since I first learnt about Julian, and none of it makes any sense.”
“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you the reason for the choice, because I’m not Thaddeus. Their souls are gone, according to Julian.”
“They are. All those who died in those early days faded into nothing, and it’s one of the many mysteries of Glimmerbrook.”
“Julian had theories.”
“So does Titus.”
“It all comes back to the birthplace of magic.”
“Yes, it does. Titus isn’t wrong to keep people from finding it, Cornelius, and that… I don’t want you to go looking for it.”
“Of course you don’t.”
“All I’m asking is you hear me out. I wish I could tell you there’s another way to stop Titus, but I don’t know if there is. The choices he’s made… I am the one who’s been affected by most of them, one way or another, and that… I know I could have walked away a long time ago, if I had the strength to leave him behind.”
“Is this the bond?”
“Maybe. There’s no way for me to know, because the bond’s been part of me since I was a child in my first lifetime. As it is it’s more due to me not wanting you to potentially destroy yourself.”
“Your brother’s ritual will do the same thing.”
“No necessarily. I think it does, if a soul is part of it often enough, but yours might not have been.”
“Only we have no way of knowing, do we?”
“Leonora might be able to tell you.”
“Yes, she might, but that doesn’t change anything, Anne. Even if my soul will survive I believe I need to do next, even though you obviously don’t agree with me.”
“Cornelius…”
“Going over this again isn’t going to change anything. Just leave. I am going to do this, for you and for me, because it’s the right thing to do, no matter what you might think.”