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“Anyway, compared to the likes of Snapdragon, the tax returns are the only thing they can tangibly prove, and that won’t keep you here for long.” Darius slid a document through the bars of the Conformatorium cell. “We don’t have enough resources to prosecute everyone, anyway. Just do the plea bargain, and we’ll have you out of here in five years at most.”
Odalia took the document without reading most of it. The pink scars travelling up Darius’s arms were darker and went up further than her purple ones. A side effect of channelling the life force of an entire coven though him, she supposed. Or perhaps she simply wasn’t as affected because she didn’t make it to the Head in time, if that was how it worked. Alador always wore his long-sleeved jacket when visiting her, so Odalia didn’t know.
“Thank you for doing this,” she said, “I wouldn’t have blamed you if you just left the matter.”
“For old time’s sake,” Darius said, “Besides, despite what everyone else thinks, Alador doesn’t want you to rot away in jail.”
“Even after I sold our life’s work to someone who tried to kill us?”
“Didn’t you testify that Belos just told you he would make your family’s magic stronger?”
“I did.”
“Alador believes you more than your kids do, I heard.” Darius kept his eyes on the spread of documents in front of him, but Odalia noticed his eyes weren’t darting across the paper like they were a moment before. “How is he, by the way?”
She scoffed. “You get to see him more than me.”
“I have the opportunity to see him,” Darius corrected, “I don’t take those opportunities.”
“Really now, Darius, it’s been, what, twenty-five years since you last spoke to him?”
“Twenty-eight, actually.” Darius wasn’t even pretending to read the documents anymore. He ran his thumb across the tip of his ballpoint pen, like Odalia remembered he did in Hexside. “Before the past month, it was twenty-five years since I spoke to you.”
“But you’re speaking to me now, aren’t you?” Odalia challenged. It was her invitation. Her plea. Darius could refute this, correctly point out that his visits to her cell have always been for professional reasons. That he was a founder of the new government they were building outside, and that he needed to ensure anyone who may harbor even a smidgen of loyalty to Belos is dealt with. That, despite helping her plead her case in court, he meant every painful thing he said that day on the steps of Hexside, a lifetime ago.
She hoped he wouldn’t. After everything cleared up, her children had visited her cell in the Conformatorium. Amity, a few inches taller and pink hair fading to auburn, had clung onto her and sobbed for nearly an hour while the twins glared at her. They hadn’t come back since. Alador visited every week or so, to tell her how the children are (doing better without her, she could tell) and chat about trivial things in his life, though Odalia doubted he was remembering all of them correctly. Their conversations would always taper away to awkward silence. Neither of them wanted to talk about what happened the last time their family was together. And while Odalia had always contributed more to their conversations, nothing happened in the Conformatorium. There was no one else to talk to other than the echoes of her own voice.
“Alador is...different,” Darius said through gritted teeth. “You and I-we’ve known each other since we were toddlers, but Alador was the first...friend...I made without my parents’ influence.”
“He was my friend first,” Odalia said.
“You know what I mean. My parents hated him. They said his family wasn’t good enough to associate with the Deamonnes. But he was smart and listened to me, so I stayed friends with him anyway, and my parents couldn’t do anything about it.”
Odalia snorted. “Being an only child sounds wonderful.” Youngest Blights didn’t get inheritances when they eloped with commoners. Even if that commoner were a good abomination witch. Besides, there was an even better abomination witch in her social circle that she very much didn’t elope with. Or even stay friends with.
Darius glanced up at her. “You still made it,” he said. Odalia wondered if her parents had seen the news about Blight Industries when they scored that deal with the Emperor. She wondered if they survived the Day of Unity. Or the Collector.
“We made it, and then we made the super weapons that caused a stampede at the Head.” Odalia dropped her gaze to the legal documents in front of her. “I was a fool.”
“You and ninety-nine percent of the Isles,” Darius said. “I don’t think I would have questioned Belos either, if it weren’t for my mentor.”
“I don’t think Alador was wrong for what he did,” Odalia said. Perhaps this was the wrong thing to say to one of her only sources of company nowadays, but she believed the sentiment then, and she still believed it now. “You couldn’t have stopped the petrification ceremony. If Alador hadn’t told your parents, you would have been killed along with the Golden Guard.”
“You were worried, too,” Darius said, “Why didn’t you tell my parents about it?”
“I gave you my word as a Blight that I wouldn’t tell anyone.”
Darius sighed. “That’s just it. Alador gave his word, too. You two both promised that you’d wait at the ceremony while I saved Abrahm and cover me if I needed it. But Alador betrayed me.”
“He was afraid you would get yourself killed,” Odalia protested. Perhaps she shouldn’t have told Darius to talk to Alador to begin with. They were going in the same circles as they did thirty years ago.
Darius clenched his fist, and Odalia briefly wondered if she would still get her plea bargain. “I trusted him, but because of him, I couldn’t save Abrahm!” He huffed, though Odalia didn’t miss the way his breath shook. “I lost my mentor that day, and neither of you cared.”
Last time this conversation happened, Odalia had stepped in front of Alador and yelled at Darius. What did it matter, she had told him, when he could always find a new mentor? Or at least, he could have, if he hadn’t skipped the Emperor Coven tryouts the day after the petrification.
After Darius had stormed off, Odalia had wiped Alador’s tears off his cheeks with her thumb, taken his hand, and led them to Magic Theory II. But there was no screaming school bell here. There was no Alador whose face she could wipe tears from. There was only Darius. There were only thirty years of exhaustion, grief, and Titan-damned covens.
This time, Odalia only said, “He’s gotten better at keeping his word. He’s a Blight now. Maybe a better Blight than me.”
“I’ll take your word on it, for now,” Darius replied.
“My word isn’t worth much nowadays. Go see for yourself.”
Darius cracked a smile at that. “It’s been so long,” he said, “What would I even say to him?”
“He likes bugs with strange patterns now,” Odalia suggested, “Otherwise, just talk at him about random subjects.”
“And if he’s interested in what you’re talking about, he’ll join the conversation?”
“Yes, just like in Hexside.”
Darius pushed away his pile of documents. “It’s been...a while since we’ve talked like this.”
Odalia arranged her documents into a neater pile. “It has.”
“Your daughter, the younger one, she’s good friends with my ward, Hunter. She, my ward, and his sister and her friends—they were all trapped in the Human Realm together.”
“I’ve heard,” Odalia said. She had heard the rumors while everyone was running from the Collector. During one of his visits, Alador mentioned that Amity had shown him a scrapbook of everything that happened while she was away. Odalia didn’t think she would ever get to see that scrapbook.
“I wish you could have known them,” she said, “my children.”
“I know them through Hunter,” Darius said, “He has some classes with your older children. They’ve come over, too, to study.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Odalia said, “I wish we could have stayed friends. Maybe if we’d gone to help you save the Golden Guard. Or if he hadn’t been arrested at all. Or if he weren’t your mentor.”
“If Abrahm weren’t my mentor,” Darius said, “I probably wouldn’t have done anything against Belos.”
“If Belos didn’t want to kill witches, then. If he were really a prophet from the Titan.”
“What a perfect world you’re imagining,” Darius mused. “You’re right. In this world, we probably would still be friends. We would have graduated at the top of our class.”
“You would have, perhaps,” Odalia chuckled. Odalia had never taken to the core magics as well as she had taken to her elective classes—business, public speaking, and the like. And besides, no one could have beaten Lilith Clawthorne. “You could have been the first client of Blight Industries.”
“Your company, endorsed by one of the top members of the Abomination Coven?” Darius said, “You would have made enough to move your company to the Lungs, at least!”
Odalia was reminded of a time when she was smaller. When her hair was a richer green and her knees were less sore and she didn’t yet understand the importance of prestige and wealth. They hadn’t met Alador yet, but she and Darius would lie on her bed and fantasize about a perfect life. A life where every day was full of joy and everyone they loved would be proud of them. And Odalia would think, what a wonderful life that would be. And what she wouldn’t do to make that life a reality when she was older.
Of course, a perfect life like that didn’t exist in a world where Emperors betrayed their people and husbands betrayed their wives and children betrayed their mothers. But Odalia could still imagine.
“You could have been my best man when I married Alador,” Odalia said.
“You two could have been my guests of honor when I became Coven Head.”
“You could have come to see the children when they were born,” Odalia said, “You could have been a part of the family.”
“The Blight family, a pillar of the business world, and their friend Coven Head Deamonne?” Darius shook his head with a smile. “What would the Emperor have thought?”
“Keep up, Darius,” Odalia said with a laugh, “The Emperor is kinder in this world.”
“Then instead of Lilith,” Darius acquiesced, “I would have been your younger daughter’s mentor. She’s gotten very good at abominations, by the way.”
“You wouldn’t even be in the Abominations Coven if it weren’t for your mentor,” Odalia said, “Amity can still be in the Abominations Track, but you’d be her mentor in the Emperor’s Coven.”
“I’ve seen what they do to recruits in the Emperor’s Coven,” Darius said, “I wouldn’t have wanted to join even if my mentor was alive. Your daughter wouldn’t have liked it, either.”
Odalia waved a hand. “Of course you would have joined. Besides, perfect world, perfect Emperor, perfect Emperor’s Coven. It wouldn’t have been that bad.”
“I suppose,” Darius said, “Then your younger daughter will train under me. And your older children would be the top of their class in the Illusion Track.”
“Oracle,” Odalia corrected, “Bump switched them to Illusions because they weren’t performing well on the Oracle Track, but I could have tutored them if I had more time and resources!”
“You think they would have enjoyed Oracle magic?” Darius asked.
“Of course they would have. Amity takes after Alador more, but Edric and Emira are their mother’s children. One of them could have gone on to be a Coven Head, and I’d let the other take over Blight Industries after I retire.”
“Wasn’t that your life plan from when we were kids?” Darius teased.
“It was nice to think about,” Odalia huffed. “Doesn’t it sound nice, Darius? Alador as my loving husband and business partner, three kids with matching green hair, all of them studying the same tracks as Alador or I did, but pursuing them farther than we could ever have. And we’d have a booming business, make our own name as the new successful branch of the Blight family, and pass that to one of our children when we’re old.”
She leaned back and gave her old friend a smile. “And you could have been with us every step of the way, Darius. I would have liked that. Emira, Edric, Amity - in the perfect world, you could have been their uncle.”
Through the rusted bars of Odalia’s cell, Darius gave her a rueful smile. “I would have liked that,” he said, "I only wish it were real.”
The two fell into silence, which Darius soon ended with a promise that he would return within the week with more details on her case. As she watched him go, Odalia wondered if Alador would come to visit again. If he would tell her more about the children.
In the perfect world, Odalia could have still been their mother.