Praetorian Rising, стр. 49

"Who's that?"

"White Wall's physician."

Nodding in understanding, Camille felt her brows scrunched together, wanting to place the name in her memory but came back with nothing so much as a fluttering feeling of familiarity. "Do I know him?"

"You've met," Vesyon said, his gaze slipping over to her for a mere moment before retreating.

"I received an urgent message from Phillip," Vesyon continued. "At the time he was the Count of Charlie Town. I headed there straight away. The message said the entire village was under attack and to send additional help. It made no sense; there hadn't been a word of a mass Chimera outbreak, so there was no reason why a Praetorian would already be there. When I finally arrived at Charlie Town I understood Phillip’s meaning."

His words were heavy like molasses in her ears, pushing their way through her memories to bring everything back to the surface. Her vision swayed with blurry images of her sword slashing through the air, laying waste to screaming people, and blood—so much blood it made her sick.

"I can't explain all the details." His hand reached toward her, his fingers a bare whisper of heat along the back of her hand. It jarred her out of the sluggish pool of her past, and she blinked away the images fighting to take control.

"Yes, you can," she said without thinking. "I need to hear it."

With a small twitch of his lips, he pulled back slightly. A heavyweight of indecision slipping over his features, weighing down his already torn expression.

"I'm not sure knowing everything is best."

She nodded then, knowing that the secrets he held weren't all secrets of his own making. "Please, Vesyon," she pleaded, her voice surprisingly strong even to her own ears. "I only need to know what I did. Right now, that is enough."

She couldn't look at him anymore. Instead, her eyes slipped toward the distant mountains lining the southern border between Aspera and Dwaa. It was bitter cold on their perch, the icy chill seeping into the thin layers of her sleeping wear, and she wished she'd thought to bring a coat. Appearing to notice her chill, Vesyon slipped an arm over her shoulders pulling her in close against his side as he wrapped her in his heavy fur cloak. The gesture, though simple, made her smile despite the horror of what she knew she was about to hear.

"Charlie Town was a military base, a holding unit of weapons and our only barricade along the northern border between Aspera and the Dai'Cian Kingdom. Some of the leaders of the village, including Phillip, started to see the fissures in LeMarc's rule. Charlie Town had become a home base for the rebels, a strong fort against a tyrannical king. Once our plans to fight back were laid out, he caught wind of our treachery, and he sent in a weapon to destroy the beginnings of our rebellion."

"A weapon?" Camille echoed.

"The slaughter wasn't your fault," Vesyon said leaning into her, squeezing her shoulders. She felt the wariness in his movement, his slight hesitancy but he didn't pull away. She suddenly felt desperate to hear the truth and didn't move or pull away in fear of knocking him off his path. "LeMarc wanted to wipe out Charlie Town to send a message to the Rogues, and he needed a Praetorian to be the one to do it."

Camille lost control of her limbs as Vesyon spoke, slouching against him on the smooth surface of the wooden platform. It felt like all the air in the world had disappeared, and she was left to gasp in a gaping void. The Praecollection that assaulted her as he spoke wasn't gentle; image after image of screaming, bleeding Asperians flipped through her memory like a running marathon of gore as the words slipped into the air.

"Something happened after LeMarc set you loose on Charlie Town. Something I still don't understand and can't explain. I doubt LeMarc knew what would happen. The entirety of Charlie Town was destroyed, and when I finally found you, you were..."

Camille gasped on a sharp intake of breath, barely able to keep down her dinner as the images took over and she was lost to them. "I was what?" She pressed her eyes closed as tightly as they would go and still the past assaulted her. Vesyon wrapped both arms around her, rocking her back and forth as he spoke.

"You were kneeling in the town square covered in blood. You were holding the hand of a little boy; he must've died only minutes prior."

Camille clutched at her chest as an aching cry escaped her throat. She could see it as though she was transported back in time. The little boy, his face ashen against the red splotches dotting his cheeks and neck. Eyes wide in fear and horror, the last moments of his short life having slipped through the wide gash in his throat. Hot tears streamed down her face as she stared at the lifeless body trying to understand what she'd done.

"How? Why?" Camille said struggling to find her way back to the present. "I don't understand how I could have done this?"

Vesyon cupped her face in his warm, calloused hands, a river of tears running down her cheeks. She blinked several times as Vesyon's face came into clear focus. "It's not your fault Camille," he said with stern determination. The pad of his thumb ran over her cheekbone moving back and forth in a line of heat. "It's not your fault," he repeated, his voice soft and tender.

His fingers found their way into her hair, brushing the flyaway back familiarly and soothingly. Her tears began to slow, and the flashes of Charlie Town lessened as she focused on the warmth of his touch against her skin, the gentle way he kneaded at the tightening knots in her neck and shoulders, and the soothing notes of his voice.

"Despite the tragedy of Charlie Town, you uncovered a truth