For the longest moment, it seemed nobody breathed. Nobody made a single sound, except for the spiders, who were, indeed, always at work and began spinning a web of grief and betrayal out of Noah’s twisted features, out of their mistress’s sly grin. But the most fun they had with the mask of iron the man of lights had taken to wearing. It was an old mask, worn in and weather beaten, and most of all tired. The man of lights had learned early in his career, before his long rides with the car had even begun that he best hide away his thoughts and his feelings inside an iron cast. And now most of all, for the queen and her spiders preyed on weakness, almost as much as they preyed on his seeming indifference. 
‘You lie,’ Noah rasped, but his voice came out unsure. The truth us for all his wanting to trust in the man of lights, there had always been an little undermining voice at the back of his throat warning him his trust was misplaced. And strangest of all, it resembled the very voice of the man of lights, for who better to know he was not worth trusting?
‘I’m afraid I do not, my pet. It is not my style to take a man in and kill him. In all these years I’ve kept this house, I haven’t once had blood spilled on its floors. Myself and my courtiers,’ she threw a perfectly careless look around the darkened room, ‘we feed on other things.’
She kept her cunning eyes on him a few more endless seconds, then turned her gaze to the man of lights, who’d been so quiet that for a moment, Noah had forgotten he was there. But the Queen of Shadows forgot nothing and she delighted in tearing away they little team.
‘But you haven’t told him,’ she chided in her singsong voice. ‘How careless, even of you.’
‘I have,’ the man of lights countered, his voice perhaps a tad heavier than it should have been. ‘He made the journey in full knowledge of the risks.’
‘I think we both know that is not true, my friend. Had he known what he was getting himself into, he would have never accused me of trying to murder him. And he wouldn’t be sitting there, shaking like a leaf. Or perhaps he would be,’ she added, after a moment’s thought. ‘Death is a funny thing, no?’

The man of lights turned his steely eyes toward Noah, who was looking him, his one good eye clouded over, almost unreadable. He felt betrayed, although he had no reason to be. He’d always known and the man of lights had never encouraged him to trust, yet he had gone ahead anyway. For every foolish choice, a price to pay and this was Noah’s.
‘What did I get myself into?’ To his own surprise, Noah’s voice didn’t tremble. He found that although his mind felt somewhat numb with shock, he wasn’t really afraid. In a sense, he’d known long before the queen had opened her mouth, before he’d met her ever. He’d known it that night at the tavern, looking into the man of lights’ unnervingly calm gaze that he was not kidding, nor was he making empty threats.
‘I told you,’ the man of lights said, as if reading his thoughts. ‘I warned you you would die on this trip and you said–’
‘I said I had no reason to live anyway,’ Noah cut in, his voice soothing, the spark in his eyes considerably dulled. ‘I remember and I’m not blaming you. But you didn’t exactly tell me the whole truth, did you? And I would appreciate it if you told me now.’
He didn’t know where this somber voice had come from. Inside, he’d been shaking but a moment ago with the sour knowledge his death would come, much sooner than he would have liked. It’s strange, he thought, in a room out of a million, all buzzing with thought inside the endless corridors of his mind. No matter how bad your situation, how tired you’ve grown of life, as the moment approaches, you always find yourself wishing you’d had a little more.

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‘It’s his precious little car,’ the queen giggled, of a sudden turned into a schoolgirl. ‘That’s why he was loath to tell you.’
‘Be silent, you harpy,’ the man of lights’ voice was low, guttural, rising from somewhere in the very pits of Hell, it seemed. And for a moment, Noah forgot about his death, forgot about the lies and the spiders lurking in the corners. His eyes shot up to witness the queen’s reaction, for he could almost see her in his mind, lashing out her long nails at them in rage. But when his eyes found her, she didn’t have a single hair out of place, an even wider grin plastered on her face. 
‘The car does not take kindly to others, I’m afraid,’ the man of lights said and for perhaps the first time since Noah had known him (which seemed like forever, to tell the truth), his voice sounded honest. Plain, with nothing to hide, no ancient secrets bearing on his judgment. ‘It is not made for mortals to ride in, it’s mine and it will only have me as its’ rider. Everyone else…’
He let the sentence hang, so Noah Tremont finished it for him. ‘…dies.’
‘Yes. The car poisons you, it would poison anyone but for its rightful owner.’
‘But you let me in the car.’
‘Yes, but the car itself did not. It wouldn’t, because it is not… it doesn’t think that way. Its’ purpose are the lights, nothing more, and all it cares about is getting from one sinner to the next. As far as the car is concerned, I am the only one who must make that journey with it.’ 

A silence seemed to swallow the room, a moment in which Noah Tremont thought a thousand thoughts and yet knew none could help him. He would’ve liked to ask why he was still being sick now, as he wasn’t in the car and hadn’t been for some time, but he knew it wouldn’t lead anywhere. Much like any poison, its’ reach was long, potentially endless, and deep down, he already knew he was past saving. He felt it inside his bones, in all the lives he’d never get to experience. 
And it had been his choice, he’d wanted to ride inside the car, he’d wanted to find what had killed his sister, and he had not.
He gave the man of lights the slightest of nods, which carried with it a million unspoken sentences, or perhaps just the one, and the man of lights understood, and as quick as lightning, turned his attention once more to the queen of lies.
‘But you did not deny killing Cami,’ he said, the name tasting strange on his lips. Again, that feeling like he knew her somehow, that familiarity he couldn’t seem to place.
The queen gave his a mocking smile and sunk even deeper into her pillows. ‘And do you really think I’d tell you if I’d broken the laws? If I had indeed killed this poor girl, I would’ve made sure that you never found out,’ she spat and something shone in her eye, something wild. A hunger or perhaps, a hatred.
‘You’ve come all this way, killed this poor boy in the process and for what, to accuse me of a crime I would not stoop to commit? You’re getting slow, my darling, you should’ve known I would never do that. I have no use, no patience for the games of mortals anymore. But do tell me, how did she die? It sounds delightful.’
Noah glared at her, but the queen didn’t so much as flinch. He wondered, for a moment, if she truly didn’t see anything wrong with her words.
‘Cami Tremont,’ the man of lights began, a resigned look on his face, ‘crossed my path, it seems…’
‘Two months ago give or take,’ muttered Noah.
‘But something went awry with her. She stood in the light and saw, but it seems, she was not cured of her demons, she became haunted by them and took her own life.’
A strange thing happened then. Noah had half expected the queen to burst out into yet another fit of her cruel laughter, but the queen remained silent, frowning even. He watched, more than a little in awe, as the queen’s brow darkened, her mouth fell slack and her right eye bore a slight twitch.
‘Dark tidings indeed,’ she murmured, her eyes fallen into the dust-ridden floor. ‘But I had a feeling something like this was happening on earth,’ she said, after a moment, fighting to regain her composure. ‘The only thing that truly surprises me in this tale is your lack of judgment, which I can only blame on your being excessively tired. What reason would I have to kill an innocent, when that takes far more from me than it does from you?’
The queen spat the words, her pout snarling at the man of lights. 
‘You planted the idea in my head,’ the man of lights said slowly, but kept his head down.
‘You let that idea be planted there,’ she shot back, her eyes alight. ‘It used to be you were immune to my spiders once. And now, you’ve let them play you like a fool. You know very well my spiders would’ve done nothing if the idea hadn’t already been in your head. Do you really think I’d grow weak in my twilight hour? Did you really think I’d be foolish enough to risk angering the Others? Then you’ve grown more careless than I thought, old friend.’
‘My queen, I can’t go by your word alone,’ but the queen would head none of it.
‘There was a time when my word would move mountains. I grow weak. My House grows weak and you dare come in and accuse me of betrayal? Perhaps you have not been doing your job as well as I entrusted you to, my servant. Perhaps it was you let the girl slip and now you’re looking to lay your blame elsewhere. Or perhaps your little car is at fault here. I would not steal the food from my own mouth, what don’t you understand?’

‘Then perhaps we will take our leave,’ the man of lights said, standing up abruptly, making Noah fumble and follow suit. They headed for the door, but the door stood askew. It seemed to grow ever further and no matter how close they got to it, they couldn’t quite seem to reach.
‘No, you won’t,’ came the queen’s ice-cold voice from the divan. ‘No one comes into my house and accuses me of theft, not even you.’

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***to be continued***
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