The Veiled Diplomat

by Thomas K. Carpenter

  As the carriage grew near, an irrational fear built in Zayn's chest. He sensed it in the others as they twitched, heads turning as if they were preparing to run.

  Looking through the shadow he saw the horses differently. They seemed almost skeletal, and a crimson glow emanated from their lips as if they contained a fiery furnace in their bellies. Their hooves struck the cobblestones like a hammer beating a crucifixion stake.

  His breath came short. He wanted to run in terror the other way, but the closeness of his teammates kept him from fleeing.

  As the black carriage passed them, Zayn saw the symbol for the Ruby Court, a musical note being held like a hammer, on the side of the carriage. Behind the crimson curtains, Zayn sensed a powerful presence, and his whole body tensed, concerned whatever was behind the curtains was looking for them.

  But then the carriage was past them, rattling down the cobblestone street. Zayn exhaled, hearing similar releases from his teammates.

  "That was close," said Vin. "I felt like they were looking for someone, maybe us. That was odd, and terrifying."

  "There was someone dangerous in that carriage," said Keelan. "I wonder who it was."

  Skylar shook out the shadow as if she were folding laundry, then set it onto the cobblestones. One blink later, nothing looked different from before.

  "We would have had the displeasure had Skylar not known that trick," said Zayn. "That was pretty sweet, where'd you learn that?"

  "I wanted to make a cloak of shadow, something to wear that no one else had ever worn. I found a spell and made modifications, but the shadow can't exist on its own for long. It disintegrates within a few minutes."

  Zayn nodded, mentally assigning Skylar in charge of Deception.

  "Portia, can you get us somewhere useful?"

  She nodded.

  They crossed the street, heading down a new alleyway. When they came out the other side, Zayn thought she'd erred, because the streets looked like the ones they'd originally come from.

  To their right, two bulky humanoids stood beneath an awning. They had powerful arms, olive green skin, and ridged foreheads. A neon-like sign above the door glowed in crimson magelight. As they circled towards the door, Zayn caught the name of the place.

  Stone Cypher

  The bouncers out front sucked in their guts and pulled back their shoulders as Zayn and his teammates approached.

  "Dolgant," said Portia under her breath.

  "Hey fellas," said Zayn, using a casual demeanor as if they'd been there before. "Who's the band tonight?"

  The two dolgants glanced at each other, confusion brimming on their foreheads, anger snarling on their lips.

  "Go away, fleshbags," said the dolgant with a scar on his jaw. "Stone Cypher not for you."

  "We're here on business," said Zayn, hoping to be cryptic enough to pass without creating any situations.

  Without looking away, the scarred dolgant growled out words in a language that made Zayn's throat hurt just hearing it. The second dolgant nodded and started to go through the door.

  Zayn had a strong feeling that the second bouncer was planning on grabbing reinforcements. He placed his hand behind his back to signal to get ready for a fight, but Vin stepped forward.

  "Gentlemen," said Vin, reaching towards them with something glimmering in his open palm. "There's no need for us to make a scene."

  Zayn almost didn't recognize Vin as he addressed the dolgant. He simultaneously reminded them of his considerable size and seemed like a congenial friend. The dolgants' eyes widened when they saw the glimmering in the palm of Vin's hand.

  "Don't worry, that's for you," said Vin. "One for each of you."

  Vin shook his hand, and the glimmerings doubled. Zayn tried to get a better look, but he couldn't see past Vin's bulk.

  The first dolgant, the one with the scar, reached out and took the glimmering off Vin's palm, followed by the second. They both seemed mesmerized, staring into their cupped hands as if they were holding the contents of a galaxy.

  Vin pushed past the bouncers into the bar, so Zayn followed.

  "What was that?" asked Zayn as they traversed a dark passage that led down a set of narrow stairs, noting Vin's new role within the group for the future.

  Vin shrugged. "A little trick I learned in DC."

  "I never knew you could be so charming," said Skylar.

  "As they say, you don't change DC, but DC changes you," said Vin.

  Further conversation was cut short when they entered a noisy bar filled with smoke. Dozens of dolgants stood around circular concrete tables drinking from pewter mugs, speaking in their native tongue. It sounded like a room full of growling dogs.

  The moment they stepped into the light, the conversation in the bar died. Every eye was focused on them, and every eye was angry.

  Zayn was certain their entrance was going to end in a fight. Then things got worse as a tall maetrie stepped from a booth.

  The maetrie's slick dark hair obscured half his face, but his awkward, almost deranged smile said everything they needed to know about him. His shoulder-dipped gait was vaguely familiar to Zayn, which worried him even more, along with the cufflinks made of teeth on his stylish pin-striped suit. A wicked curved blade appeared in the maetrie's fist as he limped towards them.

  The room full of dolgants, which at first had directed their anger towards them, watched the approach of the strange maetrie with horror-filled apprehension.

  Zayn stepped into his way, preparing to signal his teammates for battle, when the maetrie twitched his head, knocking Zayn backwards as if he'd been yanked by a string.

  The awkward smile on the maetrie grew deeper as he stopped before Keelan, who looked like he was working to contain his terror.

  "I told the Lady I'm not interested no matter what the price," said the maetrie in a singsong voice.

  Zayn realized that Keelan's terror wasn't directed at the maetrie, but at him.

  "I don't know what—"

  The words trickled from his lips, then came to an abrupt stop as the strange maetrie grabbed Keelan's arm, pulling up the sleeve of his jacket. He slapped his cocoa skin and a tattoo appeared on the inside of Keelan's forearm. A purple spider. It was the Lady's Mark. A measure of favor, and it meant that Keelan had joined the ranks of her Watchers.

  Keelan spoke softly, his eyes rounded with sadness.

  "I'm sorry, Zayn. I should have told you."

  Chapter Fourteen

  Varna, July 2015

  A mutual disagreement

  Zayn stood beneath the sprawling oak canopies at the far end of the Lady's plantation wearing his best suit, which was too small for him anymore due to his training in the Academy. The handwritten invite in delicate calligraphy to the Lady's party had arrived a week before, giving Zayn ample time to decide whether or not he would attend. He knew Keelan would be there since he'd embraced the Lady's favor since the beginning of the summer.

  He'd gone back and forth about it, eventually deciding that he couldn't avoid the Lady forever, plus he was curious about her nature. If he were to truly destroy her, he would need to understand her better, and attending the party would further his goals.

  With his Yakari motorcycle leaned against an oak tree, Zayn made the journey up the road to her plantation. Dozens of expensive cars sat on the lawn, including Keelan's silver Supra. Seeing his cousin's car made his heart jump. They hadn't talked since he'd stormed out of his house.

  Zayn took a deep breath and walked up the pristine white stairs. A Watcher in a dark suit wearing dark sunglasses took his invitation.

  Once inside, Zayn tried to get his bearings, but he'd only been in the house for Ceremony, and it had a dark imposing feel then. The bright bows on everything as if it were a wedding confused him. He heard muted laughter from deeper in the house, but hesitated.

  A blonde girl in a servant's outfit came through the entryway with a tray of drinks in her hand. She looked so small and demure that Zayn didn't recognize her at first.
>
  "Gretchen?"

  Her eyes widened with fright until she realized who was speaking.

  "Hi, Zayn," she said, glancing warily towards the front door.

  Gretchen had been the head cheerleader, and everyone in school had thought she was a shoe-in to make the Academy. At the time, Zayn had believed it as well, thinking she was his biggest competition. It'd been a shock when Instructor Allgood didn't choose her, but now that he'd been at the Academy for a couple of years, he understood why. Priyanka didn't take cruel people.

  But she seemed a shadow of her former self now, reduced by unimportance and the strain of living in Varna.

  "How are you?" he asked.

  "I'm not supposed to be talking to anyone," said Gretchen, her eyes never resting on one place, as if she were on high alert.

  "It's okay, I'm not anyone," he replied. "When did you start working for the Lady?"

  She shook her head tightly. "I work for Carl's Catering."

  "Can you show me where the rest of the party is?" he asked.

  As Gretchen led him towards the voices, cutting through expensively furnished rooms, she spoke in a lowered voice.

  "I never expected you would join the Academy."

  Even though she'd wanted to join, she said it in a way that suggested she was disappointed.

  "I never expected it as well," he lied. "But sometimes we have to do what we can to survive."

  While his experience at the Academy with seers and prophecies had taught him that his deception on getting chosen on Ceremony night had likely not fooled the Lady at all, he still preferred that the kids he went to school with believed the illusion.

  It wasn't that he wasn't proud of what he'd done in the Academy, because he was. But what the world thought of the Academy, and what it actually was, were two different things, and without that first misimpression, the second would be difficult to maintain.

  They entered the Grand Ballroom, the place where the Ceremony was held, but it looked so different that he hardly recognized it. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, glowing with soft magelight. A white carpet stretched across the hardwood floor, muting the hard soles and high heels treading upon it. The well-to-do of Varna milled about the room holding champagne glasses and chatting softly, wearing expensive clothing.

  Zayn tugged on his ill-fitting suit nervously. While he had no love for almost anyone in the room, he still felt their judging sideways glances keenly.

  He saw Keelan on the far side of the room with Aunt Lydia, laughing with Mayor Finch. They all looked like they'd just come from the opera and that the mayor had told a delicious joke. Zayn wasn't ready to talk to his cousin yet, especially not in the presence of Mayor Finch.

  He considered using his sensing imbuement to listen in on the many conversations around the room, but thought that might be too obvious in a room full of former Academy students. He didn't see the Lady, not that he knew what she looked like, but he thought he would know if he saw her. There were rooms off the Grand Ballroom in which people were talking, so he assumed she was holding court in one of those.

  Zayn made a circuit around the room. No one made any motion to speak to him, but they gave him polite nods as if they knew how he ranked to the Lady. As he passed one room, he saw a tall figure with one shoulder dipped wearing a pin-striped suit. He had his back to Zayn, but he sensed the man was not human. He was talking with the Speaker, who was wearing a pristine white dress that made her blonde hair almost ghostly. They seemed to be in disagreement, but Zayn didn't linger long enough to discern anything else.

  He was considering going to talk to his cousin when he sensed a presence near him, mostly through the reactions of the guests around him. He knew the Lady had entered the room by their averted eyes, but he didn't expect her to come right to him.

  The Lady was beautiful, and alien, and human—all at the same time. Her skin was the color of lilacs, and her hair, an alternating silver and black, had been woven together into a braid that sat like a crown on her head.

  He'd expected—no, wanted—to hate her right away, but he found a burgeoning desire in his heart. He knew it was some foul sorcery that she was inflicting on him, but it was hard to fight.

  She was tall with curves that had been carved out of time. A vision flashed in his head of her standing on a rising ziggurat with legions of followers on their knees in worship before her.

  A name breathed from his lips before he could restrain himself.

  "Entana."

  She reacted with surprise, her purple eyes widening before narrowing.

  "I have not heard that name in a long time," she said in a melodic voice. "I go by Arcadia here."

  The spell that she'd put on him earlier, either through the force of her true name, or because she had dimmed her aura, no longer compelled him. He found himself free to act as he would.

  "Lady Arcadia."

  "Zayn Carter," she said with a secret smile as if they'd met before. She drank him in with her luminous purple eyes.

  He couldn't believe his fortune—or misfortune—to be standing before her, and for a moment, in pure instinct, almost summoned Abzu, the Hidden Blade, but remembered that if he did, he would have to kill her or it would turn on him, and then the whole town would die from a lack of her poison. There was a part of him that wanted to do it, to strike out for all the misery she had created, but the faces of his family—Sela, Maceo, Neveah, Izzy, Max, Imani—rose up in his mind, reminding him of the price of his choice.

  So he calmed his beating heart and set aside his animosity. Lady Arcadia watched him wrestle with himself, raising a manicured eyebrow in acknowledgement when he had stilled himself.

  "I see a great weapon in you," said Lady Arcadia.

  Zayn had to catch himself from reacting, because at first he'd thought she meant Abzu, the blade in his arm, but Antheka had told him that it was impervious to sight, so he realized she meant his training in the Academy.

  "Priyanka Sai is a great teacher," said Zayn.

  "She is my greatest ally and longest-standing friend," said Lady Arcadia.

  The way she said it, with chin raised high, suggested she was imparting a message. Zayn decided not to take the bait, but had nothing to say, so he looked around the room.

  "Your Aunt Lydia has taken to living in the Gardens quite nicely. Have you considered moving your parents there as well?" asked Lady Arcadia.

  "They're happy with their living arrangements and I wouldn't presume to move them," said Zayn.

  "Well spoken, but you don't have to mince words around me. I know Sela and Maceo have no love for me," she said.

  She appraised him with a curl in her lip. He felt like a rat in a cage.

  "They prefer their space, and I don't think anyone in the Gardens would appreciate my dad painting murals on the sides of their houses," said Zayn.

  "Then why did you accept my invitation today?" asked the Lady.

  Zayn looked up into her purple eyes. "I was curious."

  "Curious about what?"

  Zayn swallowed. He sensed the people around them moving away as if they expected a confrontation.

  "You."

  Lady Arcadia leaned back her head and a melodic laughter rose from her lips in a smoky alto. The quality of her voice surprised Zayn.

  "I like you, Zayn Carter. You're not afraid of me, unlike the rest of them. You marched into the enemy lair to scout the monster you aim to kill," she said in a hushed voice, eager in her delivery.

  His whole body stiffened. He felt like he had his head in a trap. She watched him with such amusement that he had to will himself not to run.

  "I'm not here to kill anyone," he said.

  Lady Arcadia studied him, her eyes reading him as if he were an open book.

  She lowered her voice until it tremored with excitement. "You think I don't know. I have survived this long for a reason. I see. And I see your face in my visions far too frequently. Not today, not now, for you have your family to care for. Your brothers and sisters
. Neveah. Max. Izzy. Imani. Your cousin, Keelan."

  The fear, the need to flee, evaporated in her threats. "Then why don't you kill me and get it over with?"

  "You think you're the first to think of it? To try? Darling Zayn. If I killed everyone who didn't like me there wouldn't be anyone left.

  "Believe me, I am aware of how the majority of this town sees me. But unfortunately for you, and fortunately for me, I want to continue to live for a very long time."

  "Even if it means killing people to get what you want," said Zayn.

  Lady Arcadia kept her face calm and serene, but he could see the steel beneath, the willingness to do what it took to survive.

  "I've tried to minimize my impact to the town. Whatever you may think, I do not enjoy spreading misery," she said.

  "Why are you telling me this?" he asked, confused and hurt by this new knowledge.

  "Because I would prefer we live in symbiosis, rather than opposition. You can be useful to me, to Priyanka especially, but only if you set aside your foolish quest," she said.

  He couldn't believe he was having this conversation with her. His mind felt like a soap bubble ready to pop.

  "What does that even mean?" he asked.

  "Not everyone who works for me stays in Varna," she said. "While my most loyal Watchers stay here and protect the town, keep things running in order, there are those that work outside of Varna, sometimes at my direction, but mostly with Priyanka, furthering the causes she sees fit to influence."

  Before she'd spoken, he'd hardened himself against her words, but as soon as the offer was laid bare, he softened, mulling what she had to say.

  It had never been his intention to join the Academy of the Subtle Arts as a career path. He'd only joined to further his crusade against the Lady, so that he could learn the arts necessary to kill her. But what he'd found with Priyanka Sai and the instructors, he enjoyed greatly. They were doing what he wanted to do in Varna, righting things that were unjust.

  But what if foiling the Lady was impossible? What if there was no way to kill her and keep the town and his family safe? He would get to leave Varna, explore the world. Sure, there would be danger, but better than the alternative.