Phoenix13: Redemption (Phoenix13 Book 2)

Part #10: Red Dawn: Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Outside the King's door, Jason paced back and forth in agony. His heart hammered and his palms were slick with sweat. Every nerve in his body felt like it had been lit on fire. Disbelief spiraled through his mind, the weight of it crushing his chest and closing his throat. "No," he said, shaking his head. He stopped dead. Planted his feet and bared his teeth. "No fucking way. No fucking way I can do this."

Rosetta watched him from the other side of the hall. There was pity and sorrow written across her face as she followed his agitated movements with haunted eyes. "It's the only way," she murmured. "The Cult infected the king because they think that you will never be able to kill him. But if you don't, the city falls, my prince. Your people die. I'm so sorry, but in order to save Nathandria your father must die."

"Then you do it!" Jason yelled, unable to keep back the flood of pain and fury any longer. "You go in there and fucking do it if you're so goddamn sure!"

"I am sorry, prince," Rosetta said. She looked close to tears. It was the closest Jason had ever seen her come to losing control of herself. There was a hitch in her voice when she spoke again. "I am sorry, but it has to be you. You're the one the Cult's trying to reach. You're their enemy. Only you can undo their cruel deception and stop the Strocosia Morbus before it achieves its deadly goal. It's the only way."

"No," Jason shook his head. He backed away, repeating the word over and over like a petulant child. His shoulders struck the wood and metal of the King's door and he was forced to stop. "Please, for the love of the gods, don't make me do this."

"You must." Rosetta strode toward him. She reached out as quickly as a striking cobra, framing his face between her gloved hands. As she leaned in close, he smelled her sweet honey-scented breath and felt her warmth on his skin. "The king is but a shell of his former self, my prince. You knew that when you found him hiding in his room, unwilling even to walk amongst his people for fear of catching the disease. Is that the King James McKinley that you remember from your childhood? No. There is something deeply wrong with him, my beloved prince. You know it. I know it. Whatever happened to him in Carceris Caeci has tainted his noble heart. That James McKinley is already dead. It is only his body that lives on in that ill-fated room behind you."

Slowly, unsteadily, Jason turned from Rosetta's touch and faced the huge ornate doors. As he reached out and knocked, he felt the first tear streak down his face. "King McKinley," he called, his voice breaking on his father's name, "it's me. It's Jason. I've gotta talk to you about something."

"You're doing the right thing," Rosetta whispered. He felt the soft brush of her fingers against the back of his neck. The sound of her padded footfalls echoed down the hall. And then she was gone.

It took James a moment to unlock the door. The loud clanking and clicks were intermittently joined by even louder cussing, a mixture of Nathandrian slang and garbled Àmandinian oaths. Finally, after what felt like years, James forced open the doors and ushered Jason inside. "Come in," the King said when Jason opened his mouth to explain himself. "I already know why you're here."

Inside, the room was almost entirely lightless. The cozy, inviting golden glow of the chandelier high above had been extinguished; in its place was a single electric lantern on the king's bedside table that flickered and grew dimmer with every passing second.

"Dad," Jason said once they were inside. His throat began to close up again, and he swallowed thickly. "King McKinley, I mean. Is it true? Are you really... not all there?"

In the half-light, Jason couldn't quite read his father's expression. James stood as still as a rabbit beneath the watchful eyes of a hawk. After a moment, he let out a long sigh. "I didn't want to have to tell you this," James said, "but I guess there's no choice now. The cat's out of the bag, as they used to say."