"No, not really. I want to know what happened to me that night."
She nodded as if she understood. "Simi, is there anything that can undo what Acheron did to Zarek's memory?"
"Nope. Akri infallible. Well, except for a couple of things, and we don't talk about those 'cause it makes akri cranky. I like that word 'infallible.' It just like me. Infallible."
"Then it's hopeless," Zarek said under his breath. "I have no proof that I'm innocent and I'll never know what happened there."
"I'm not so sure," Astrid said, smiling at him. "Don't give up on me yet, Zarek. If we get proof of what she says, then my decision will stand. You're innocent. No one will be able to argue against it. My sisters won't let you be judged wrongfully."
He scoffed. "I was innocent when I was stoned to death, too, princess. Excuse me if I don't have a lot of faith in justice or your sisters."
Astrid swallowed. It was true, the innocent often suffered, too. Her mother and sisters dismissed that fact as the way of the universe, even though her mother did strive to give justice to everyone.
Sometimes unfair things did happen. There was no way around that.
Zarek was a perfect example.
Still, he needed to know the truth about what had happened to him. He deserved that much.
"Simi? Is there any way you can show Zarek what happened that night?"
Simi tapped her forefinger against her cheek as she thought that over. "I suppose so. Akri didn't say I couldn't 'show' him anything, he only said I couldn't talk to him."
Astrid smiled. Simi had always been extremely literal in her interpretation of everything Acheron ordered her to do.
"Will you? Please?"
Simi walked over to Zarek and took his chin in her hand.
Zarek started to protest, but something seemed to seep into him from her hand. It held him paralyzed.
Simi angled his face until he could stare into her now red and yellow eyes and there he saw the past.
Everything faded from around him and all he could focus on was Simi's eyes. The images flickered across her pupils, then straight into his mind. He didn't remember any of it having happened. It was like watching a movie of his own life.
He saw the fires of his village burning to the ground. The bodies scattered. Things that had haunted him for centuries. But that wasn't all he saw this time.
There was more...
Forgotten images that had been taken from him.
He saw himself stumbling upon the village. Bewildered. Angry. The damage had already been done; he wasn't responsible.
Someone else had come to the village before him.
He saw the old crone, whom he took into his arms as he always did. Only this time she said more than her usual accusation. "Death came looking for you. He killed everyone because he wanted us to tell him where you lived. We didn't know and it made him angry." Her old eyes had burned with hatred and condemnation. "Why didn't you come? It's all your fault. You were supposed to protect us and it was you who killed us. You killed my daughter."
He saw the old woman's face. Felt his fury again as he saw what the Daimons had done...
Zarek's heart pounded as he realized the truth.
He was innocent of killing his charges.
None of it had been his fault. He'd been making his normal rounds when he had spotted the fire and he'd rushed to them, but by then it had been too late.
Thanatos had come to the village during the daylight and destroyed it. There hadn't been any way for him to save them.
As he watched her eyes, Simi took him through his forgotten five-night trek to the Apollite village where he'd gone to seek those responsible for the deaths at Taberleigh.