by Amanda Fleet
Faran emerged from the Great Hall, grim faced.
“How long until I’m arrested?” I said.
Faran’s eyes were dark. “As long as I can hold them off. Half of Council is baying for your blood. The other half recognises that you fought to protect The Realm and saved my father’s life.”
“Did they agree to put Aegyir in the vault?”
He nodded curtly, marching towards the State Rooms. “There are no alternatives. But people always need to argue.”
At the State Rooms, Faran stomped past the guards and pushed the door open. We passed through the first room and turned away from the area where the safe was, into a second room. Splintered wood crunched under our boots. My feet shuddered to a halt, and I stepped back. Where had this come from?
Faran froze, scouring the room, and I followed his gaze. A wooden panel that covered a niche in the wall had been shattered. The only part remaining was the lock, next to a key-pad. Whoever had broken in, had needed to use a lot of force to access the contents.
“What was there?” I asked, my mouth filling with sand.
“The key to the vault.”
My heart pounded and sweat trickled down my spine. Had someone freed all the other demons?
Faran turned on his heels. Back at the entrance to the State Rooms, he barked at the two guards. “Who’s been here?”
They stood to attention, backs stiff.
“No one, Lord Faran,” said the younger one, his face flushing.
Annoyance flooded Faran’s face. “I am not Lord Faran. Who has been here?”
Both guards shrank back at the ferocity of his question. “No one, Acting First Lord,” said the older one.
Faran clenched his fists, and I stepped in, interposing myself between him and the guards. “No one has been in these rooms, other than Faran and myself?”
The younger one turned to me, clearly terrified. “No! Lady Aeron, no one has been here.”
I propelled Faran away until he was out of earshot. He shook me off roughly.
“Cool it!” I snapped. “If no one has been there, then the key was taken earlier, before we put Aegyir in the safe. Who knew of the plan to put him in the vault?”
“Me, you. Father and Mother. Orian. Most of the Council will have suspected it, even before the meeting.”
“Right, well, it wouldn’t take a genius to work out that would be where Aegyir would end up. My bet would be on Orian, but I’m the last person to suggest accusing anyone without proof. Let’s worry about who took the key after we’ve checked whether the vault has been opened.” I turned back to the guards. “Absolutely no one is allowed into the State Rooms. If anyone enters before the Acting First Lord and I return, you’ll both be tried for treason. Am I making myself clear?”
“Yes, Lady Aeron.”
Faran cocked a brow at me, almost smiling. I took his arm. “We don’t have time for you to suddenly be surprised I can be bossy. Vault. Now.”
We made our way back towards the Great Hall and the entrance to the vault. As we approached, the cook scurried up again. She quailed at the expression on Faran’s face, and I drew her to one side. “Update me on lunch arrangements and be brief, please.”
“We have the food prepared, ready for each Guardian to collect,” she said, eyes wide.
“Good. Thank you. Organise messengers to tell the Guardians of the lunch arrangements. Dinner will be in the Great Hall as normal.”
Her mouth fell open. “You want me to organise the messengers?”
I forced myself to be polite. “Neither Acting First Lord Faran nor I have time to do it. We’re very grateful for your assistance.”
She bowed uncertainly, and I wondered which protocol I’d breached now.
Faran spat orders into his communications button and guards flooded into the Great Hall. They moved to flank the entrance to the vault.
Faran stamped down the stairs, me at his tail. The vault at the bottom was still locked, and Faran sank back against the wall, relief flooding his face.
“Is there another key?” I asked, softly.
“No.”
“Okay. You look like you’re going to collapse at any moment.”
We made it back up the stairs and Faran stood for a moment, reeling lightly.
“This door will be guarded at all times, with a second set of guards on the vault,” I said to the Captain of the Guard. “There’ll also be a full guard on the State Rooms. No one passes. As soon as the lunches have been collected from the Great Hall, everyone will be under curfew. The guards will conduct a room-to-room search for the key, and patrol the hallways. Challenge anyone who is out of their quarters and search them.”
The Captain of the Guard looked at me as if wondering who the hell I was to be giving him orders. Faran glared at him and he jumped to it. Faran draped an arm around my shoulders, needing to lean on me to hold himself up. “Thank you.”
I tucked my arm around his waist. “Come on, you’re beat. There’s nothing more we can do right now. The State Rooms and the vault are fully guarded. Lunch is organised. We should get some food, go back to our rooms and you should rest.”
29
As soon as we reached our rooms, Faran collapsed on the sofa.
“Do you need a healer?” I perched next to him. “Is there anything that will help?”
He opened one eye to peer at me. “Maybe.”
I summoned a healer to come to our rooms then brushed Faran’s hair back from his face. “I’ll go and get food while he’s here.”
I slipped out and made my way to the Great Hall, where parcels of food were laid out on a series of the long tables. I collected two packets, waving at the cook, who ticked our names off on a list. Given that the tables were mostly empty, I assumed most people had now collected their rations. A guard patted me down and escorted me back to my quarters. As we reached them, the curfew bell rang.
The healer was just packing up when I arrived. Faran had a small vial of liquid next to him, reminding me horribly of the poison Aegyir had given me.
“I don’t promise it’ll work, but try it. It won’t harm you.” The healer clicked his bag closed, bowed to me and left.
“Lunch.” I held up the parcels. “Eat first. Pain later.”
I handed him a packet, and he unwrapped it, revealing slices of a savoury pie, bread, some cold cuts of meat, and slices of a cold vegetable terrine. A second pack contained a slab of cake.
“You are a genius.” He took a huge bite out of a slice of pie and chewed appreciatively.
“Well, I knew you’d know sod-all about what the kitchens might manage given that the Great Hall would be out of commission. Outside, we have portable meals called picnics to eat if you go out for a day. This is pretty much a picnic. The cooks did well.”
Faran wolfed down his food. I fetched him a cup of water from the bathroom and unwrapped my packets. “Do you think the vault has been opened?”
“I don’t know. If we don’t find the key, I’ll ask the Chief Locksmith if he can open it, but I don’t know if he’ll be able to.”
“Who do you think stole the key?”
He paused while he finished the last bit of his cake. “Orian. Perhaps.”
“Still not a true Guardian, even though Aegyir’s been trapped? Or do you think he could have taken the key before Aegyir was killed?”
“I don’t know the answer to either of those questions.” A troubled expression settled on Faran’s face. “Aeron, I must ask you if I can do something.”
“Sure.”
“I need to take the talisman off you and see if your leathers hold.”
The request didn’t surprise me, but I didn’t want to think what would happen if we found out I still needed the talisman, even though Aegyir had been destroyed. It would be hard to defend me against accusations of treason, if I needed a magic stone to stop me from murdering people.
“Let’s wait until after your healing,” I said. “And perhaps cuff me to something before you do i
t? Right now, you couldn’t punch your way out of a paper bag convincingly.”
He poked his tongue into his cheek. “Asking for cuffs for my wife may raise a few eyebrows.”
“You mean it’s not in the marriage guide? Bit of sadomasochism?”
“I don’t know what that is, and from the look on your face, I don’t think I want to.”
I grinned. “Okay. No cuffs, but you’ll have to do something, just in case.”
I finished my meal and put the wrappings outside the door, ready for the serving staff to collect. Guards patrolled, but otherwise the hallways were empty.
“Right. You need to take this medicine,” I said. “Bedroom?”
In the bedroom, I handed Faran the bottle. The label on the side suggested taking it in three aliquots. Faran pulled the cork out and chugged it back in one. He put the empty bottle on the table with a shaky hand.
“Seriously? You’ve downed it in one? I hope you know what you’re doing!”
Faran sat on the edge of the bed, his hands by his hips, sweat already beading on his brow.
“Do you want your jacket off?” I helped him out of it, by which time he was hugging himself tightly, his face contorting and his breathing ragged. “If it hurts, it’s working, right?”
He grunted. I drew him to me and comforted him as much as possible, holding him close and rocking him. “You don’t have to be all stoical with me, you know. If it hurts, then yell and cry.”
He didn’t yell or cry much, but the pain made him sweat buckets. After many minutes, he flopped back on the bed, his hair plastered to his forehead.
“Any better?” I brushed his brow clear.
“A little. I need a shower.”
I did too after so much exertion Outside with minimal washing facilities. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and headed to the bathroom.
His colour was better when he returned, and he seemed brighter. I yearned for a long shower, but we still needed to find out if killing Aegyir had freed me from his power, which meant me staying in my leathers for a while.
I waited until Faran had dressed then passed him a couple of belts. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
I held my arms out, wrists together, and he tied them. I sat on the floor, and he secured my wrists to one of the legs of the bed.
“You know, some people find being tied up a real turn-on,” I said as he tightened the knot.
His eyes widened. “Do you?”
“No.” I laughed at his expression.
“If you did, I would hope I’d have found that out before now. Ready?”
He reached behind me to unfasten the leather cord of the talisman. The stone moved away from my neck and I braced myself.
Nothing.
“Well?”
I tipped my face up towards him. “I don’t hear him and I don’t feel any different. But I don’t know if that’s because he’s gone or if he’s just biding his time. Check the leathers?”
Faran fetched a knife and drew it firmly across my sleeve. The blade danced ineffectually over the surface. Faran sat back on his heels, his posture relaxed.
“Put the talisman back on me?” I said.
“Why? Your leathers hold.”
“I know. But I don’t know whether if Aegyir gets loose and transforms back out of being mist, he’ll somehow manage to get back in my head. And I don’t want anyone else thinking that and stringing me up, just to be on the safe side. Especially given what Lord Cerewen was demanding in Council.”
He refastened the leather cord around my neck and untied me.
I sat back, rubbing my wrists where the belt had bitten in. “I need a shower and clean clothes, and then we can do the door-to-door.”
***
The door-to-door found nothing. Orian submitted to being patted down by his brother with an insolent stare.
“It’s not me who’s the confirmed traitor. Your wife is the one with Aegyir’s blood in her.”
Faran didn’t grace him with a reply. He finished checking his brother over and waited for the guards to complete their search. I pulled Faran to one side. “Check his leathers.”
Faran grabbed Orian’s arm and dragged a knife across it. The leathers held. Silently, Faran followed me to the hall and signalled the Captain of the Guard to continue the search. I glimpsed Orian smiling nastily before he slammed the door shut on us.
By late afternoon, all the Guardians’ rooms had been checked, as had all the main rooms near the Great Hall. The city itself stretched for miles, and it wasn’t possible to search its entirety. Reluctantly, Faran dismissed the guards, and we made our way back to our quarters.
“We need to get the vault open,” I said, as soon as we were alone in our rooms. “What do we do if we open it and it’s empty?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “If the vessels have been opened, the demons can reform.”
“The way Aegyir had to, after I dispersed him Outside? So we’d have time before they attacked anyone?”
Faran scraped a hand over his jaw. “No. They’re not dispersed widely. Reformation would be immediate.”
I caught my breath, my eyes widening. “So any minute now, we could be attacked?”
He sank down on to the sofa and leaned on his knees. “Well, no, we couldn’t, because they can’t attack Guardians – not immediately. But yes, the city is at risk.”
I sat next to him, chewing things over. “Should we send Guardians out to the suburbs and countryside to protect the people there?”
Faran shook his head. “The people will wonder why we’re there. But if we tell them, there will be panic.”
“I know, but only the Guardians can see the Guides or be able to do anything about them.”
He chewed the inside of his lip. “I need to talk to Mathas. And I should arrest Lilja at some point.”
Cold zipped through me and I felt sick. Yet another person who would suffer as a result of being close to me.
“What? Why?” I said.
He sighed, turning his head to me. “You know why. I can’t protect her just because you’re my wife.”
“Then you need to arrest me, too.”
“Probably. And myself.” He smiled. “Lilja’s a long way down my list of priorities.”
There was a knock on the outer door and Faran hauled himself to his feet to answer it.
A messenger stood on the threshold. “Acting First Lord. You’re needed in the State Rooms.”
“Why?”
“The guards have been attacked. The new shift found them both killed.”
Faran and I hurried to the Great Hall. At the entrance to the State Rooms, the two guards lay dead in a pool of blood. Faran and I pushed past the new guards and hurried over to the safe. It was still closed.
I let my breath go, my panic receding. Until I realised Faran’s shoulders were still bunched and his brows furrowed. He opened the safe, and I crowded close to him to see in. The vessel with Aegyir in it sat exactly where it had been. Faran reached in, spinning the vessel, checking the seal.
“Intact?” I asked over his shoulder.
He frowned, distracted. “Yes.”
He closed the safe and relocked it, issuing orders to take the bodies of the guards to the mortuary and to double the guard at the entrance to the State Rooms.
I touched Faran’s arm. “We need to get the vault open. Now.”
We made our way to the entrance to the vault. Both sets of guards stood to attention.
“Has anyone approached?” asked Faran.
All four guards shook their heads.
Faran clicked his communications button. “Chief Locksmith.” He leaned against the wall next to me, rubbing his hand over his face. “I need you to come and open the locks on the vault.”
“Acting First Lord—” From his tone, the Chief Locksmith sounded like he was going to argue.
“Just hurry!” Faran cut the line before the Chief Locksmith could finish.
When the Chief Locksmi
th arrived, he looked stern. “I can’t open the vault without the permission of the Council.”
Faran closed his eyes, a muscle in his jaw flickering. I waited for him to explode, but he just nodded wearily. “You are quite right. I’ll call a meeting. Thank you.” He turned to me, his face shielded from the locksmith by my head. “Fuck!”
I would have laughed at him swearing in English if the situation hadn’t been so serious.
The Chief Locksmith withdrew and Faran crossed his arms tightly over his chest. “I feel as if I’ve missed something.” His face creased. “Something’s not right, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
I rubbed his biceps, trying to offer support. I didn’t know what was unsettling him, but he was more rattled than I could remember.
A messenger hovered at Faran’s elbow, clutching two sealed letters. Faran held out his hand, and the messenger shoved the envelopes at him and scampered away. Faran raised a brow and split the seal on the first letter. I waited while he read. His face darkened, and he split the second seal.
“What is it? What do they say?” I said.
Before he could answer, we were flanked by guards, their swords drawn. Faran raised his head, his eyes steely.
The Captain of the Guards stepped forward, his lips a thin line. “Faran, Lady Aeron, you are both under arrest on charges of treason and disobedience.”
Faran handed me the letters – our arrest warrants – and my heart rate tripled. Both of us? He was Acting First Lord. Even if I’d been tried and found guilty, he’d have set the sentence. But now? Who would argue for us? A violent tremor ran through my body.
Faran’s thrust his chin up, drawing himself up to his full height. “On whose authority? I’m Acting First Lord.”
“My authority.” Lord Eredan emerged from behind the guards and handed Faran two more letters. “I have resumed my role as First Lord. You are no longer Acting First Lord.” He pointed to the first letter he’d handed to Faran. “You are also stripped of your role as Elected Successor until the charges of treason can be disproved.” He pointed to the second.
Faran read both of the new letters, his face expressionless. “On what grounds, Lord Father?”
“I would have thought that was obvious. Lady Aeron knew she would be made into Aegyir’s vassal if she went Outside, yet she left. You should have remained here, ready to defend The Realm, yet you followed her. Your duty was to The Realm. Not to her.” He turned to the guards. “Take them both down to the cells.”