by Talis Jones
“Are you saying I haven’t improved?”
“No, that’s—”
“No? Did you just say that after all the hard work I’ve put in these past few months, that after all that I have not improved?”
“That’s not what I—” Adrianna silenced him with a grin. Rolling his eyes he sighed, “You’re impossible.”
“But you love me,” she smiled.
Jack crossed his arms but smiled back. “I still wish you’d take your training more seriously. I believe I remember a time when you were begging to be trained.”
“Yes, I did want to be trained and I do take it seriously, it’s just…I sort of hate it. I really hate being sweaty and tired and bruised all the time.”
“But it’s for your own good,” he persisted.
Adrianna hesitated. “I like training, just not at the level of trying to be an Olympian or an assassin. And I have improved.”
“Yes, you really have.” Jack let out a huff. “I suppose we can compromise with your training.”
“Have I gone full ghost mode? Am I invisible? Should I just go home and cry over my insignificance?” Nox was standing now with a grumpy frown upon his freckled face.
“Sorry,” apologized Adrianna. Suddenly a nervous energy shivered down her body as the full weight of Nox’s task fell upon her. “What did he say? Is he coming?”
The boy bowed his head and shook it slightly. A mix of disbelief and betrayal punched through her and Jack winced as he felt it through Israfil’s bond. “He said his priority was you and that you’d figure out another way to save your friends. He’s still not that happy with the Whispers for refusing to help him rescue you in the first place so I’m sure that didn’t help.” Nox let out a tense breath. “I’m sorry, but he’s not coming.”
“And he didn’t tell you why he couldn’t help? All he’d have to do is magic himself in and out the castle!” Adrianna bit her lip worriedly. “He didn’t say anything at all?”
Nox fidgeted as if it was his fault he had little information and disappointing news at that. “No.”
“What about the camp?” inquired Jack. “What can you tell us about Eisen and his rumored army?”
Nox’s head snapped up with a glimmer in his brown eyes. “That is no rumor. It’s real, Jack. Eisen and the Iron Army is small compared to the Quidelish forces but it’s growing steadily and it’s no joke. They’re organized, they’re rough, and they’re ready to follow Eisen anywhere. You should have seen him take out one of his own with just his bare hands and—” Nox cut himself off as he realized the distress upon Adrianna’s face. “I’m sorry Adrianna, I wasn’t thinking!”
She simply shook her head and let her gaze drift through the moonlit window. Jack squeezed her hand gently. It couldn’t be easy watching the kind little brother she loved turn into…well, whatever he was becoming. He knew.
“So we’ll come up with another plan.”
“Like what?”
Jack let out a long deflated sigh. “I don’t know.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Morning came yet the Whisper never stirred. Pekka stood and stretched out her cramped limbs with a wide lion’s yawn. Footsteps echoed down the hall and she went to meet them feeling more than ready to switch places with the guard.
As she emerged from the dungeons a hand grabbed her elbow yanking her to a halt. Her groggy brain took a moment to settle her startled heart and recognize the chiseled face before her. “Prince Waseem?”
“What has Sarai been up to, Gabor?” His handsome dark face looked aged by worry and fear coiled around his eyes.
“If she has not made you privy to that information then I am also bound to silence,” she replied in her best soldier’s voice.
Addar shook her arm desperately. “She comes to the room at night with blood all over her.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but I cannot—”
“You were my soldier first, Pekka Gabor, and you will answer me!”
Pekka jumped at the sudden anger in his voice and her eyes darted around searching for anyone who might have overheard them. Never before would she have betrayed her Crown’s trust but she’d spent all last night wrestling with reality in her head and she had to tell someone. She’d be risking treason but she needed to know if she was right to question her Crown or if she was simply weak. She needed someone with which to share this burden. “Not here.”
Yanking her arm out of his grasp she led him to a small spare office. It lay simply furnished and unclaimed.
“Tell me.”
“Do you remember the Whisper named Medusa?”
“Yes, of course. She was traveling with Sarai when we first met in Adhan.”
Pekka nodded her head as if giving herself permission to speak her mind. “Sarai isn’t quite the same as she was then. She’s taken Medusa prisoner and has been torturing her for information on Eisen and his plans. I watch her act with no mercy and using her own hands. I’ve been a soldier for most of my life and I’ve seen my share of such sights but Sarai is different. She has no feeling in her eyes. She brings the girl as close to death as the Whisper’s magic will allow her to go and even then she tries to push farther.”
Addar’s face dropped, twisted with a mix of horror and sadness. “I cannot marry this person.”
Pekka’s heart sparked into overdrive at this. “You must!” Crown Sarai was already irritated with Eisen’s disruptions and Pekka panicked at what she’d do if she lost her alliance with Llyr.
“I admit I had stars in my eyes when I met Sarai Morrigan, the lost Queen of Aztlan, but there’s been a darkness inside of her and now I know, if not why then what. I cannot marry her.”
“There’s no telling what she’d do!”
Addar smiled sadly at her. “I’ll talk to her.”
The prince made his way to one of the rooftop gardens in search of his fiancé. Pekka shadowed his steps silently. As he made his way to the bench Crown Sarai reclined on, Pekka tucked herself behind a tall leafy shrubbery close enough to eavesdrop while remaining safely out of sight. He’s gone mad, she thought.
“Sarai, I need to speak with you.” Addar’s voice was calm and warm like usual and Sarai’s smile widened easily in response to it like a cat in a patch of sunshine.
“What is it?” She patted her hand on the space next to her but he shook his head and remained standing.
“I need to ask you about the Whisper you’ve been keeping locked in the dungeons, Sarai.”
Displeasure crackled through every pore on the Crown’s face. “What about her?”
“I know you’ve been torturing her. Sarai, that’s not who you are. You don’t—”
“Medusa has information I need and she refuses to give it willingly. She forces my hand, Addar. This is basic logic. I thought you’d understand that,” she snapped in a crisp but controlled tone.
“I’m sorry, Sarai. I’m sorry, but I envisioned a different future and I cannot marry you if this is the path you will choose.”
“You what?” growled Sarai. Her deadly tone set off all sorts of alarm bells in Pekka’s body as it ached to get far away from the anger pooling inside the Crown. Addar, however, seemed adamant to continue talking and attempt reason.
“I cannot marry you if you continue to torture innocent people,” he repeated firmly. A prince through and through he would not back down from a decision once made.
In the blink of an eye Crown Sarai was on her feet with her hand locked around Addar’s throat, pushing him back to the edge of the rooftop garden causing both Pekka and Addar’s eyes to widen in surprise at the Crown’s strength. This section of the garden’s wall was missing and the prince’s feet scrambled for purchase knocking little loose stones to plummet into the rocky sea far below.
“Please, Sarai,” managed Addar desperately.
Fury burned in the Crown’s eyes as she sneered, “Medusa is not innocent. None of them are innocent.”
Panicked bloomed in Addar as his air supply thinned even furthe
r. He was a fool for thinking he could talk her around but words were all he had left. “Okay— she’s guilty. Please— just explain to me—why. Please Sarai.”
The Crown took a step back and released him. Addar collapsed onto his knees massaging his throat and sucking in desperate gulps of air. “Yes, of course. I should have explained, Addar. You didn’t understand! I’m so sorry, my prince. Could you ever forgive me?”
Slowly Addar stood up and looked his Crown in the eye. “Of course, mi suverenya.”
Sarai bit her lip and rounded her eyes with a look of timid innocence. “And do you still want to marry me? Even after I was so horrible?”
Addar’s mouth curved up into a beautiful forgiving smile, the type of smile carved onto the statues of the saints. “I want nothing else, mi suverenya.”
Pekka watched him plant a kiss upon Sarai’s face and before the distraction could end she was already halfway down the flight of stairs. Running as fast as her legs would take her until she reached a more inhabited level of the palace. Pekka made a direct line to the barracks.
Clenching her hands into fists in an attempt to stop them from shaking she marched right up to Jack’s door and knocked, her mind racing wildly yet focused on only one thought: escape. The door opened and he blinked in surprise as she pushed her way inside shoving the door shut behind her.
“General Gabor?” he asked in his midnight voice full of darkness and calm. She shook her head slightly not yet entirely sure of what she would say or do. “Pekka?” he asked softer.
Pekka felt embarrassed. A trained solder her whole life and suddenly she was shaking like a leaf in front of a man almost ten years her junior. You’re acting weak, she thought. Get it together. She looked around and noted the messy blanket on the bed that matched his mussed up hair and shirtless torso. He’d been taking a nap. With a last steadying breath she looked Jack in the eye knowing he wouldn’t miss the desperation there. “I need to get out of here.”
Jack’s brow furrowed in concern but Pekka’s keen eyes caught the whiff of skepticism in his face. “Out of where, exactly?”
“Out of this castle! Out of Mordréda! Out of Quidel, even!” she shouted nervously. “I can’t stay here. What if he tells her it was me who told him?”
Jack caught her arm and steered her toward his cot motioning for her to sit down. “Explain.”
In a frenzied rush Pekka told him about Sarai’s sessions with Medusa, how she told Prince Addar, and the whole disaster between the prince and the Crown. Jack listened keeping his face carefully unreadable. Once she’d finished, Pekka’s hands felt steady and her heart a bit calmer. She didn’t know Jack Cromwell very well, besides rumors of his days as a thief and enforcer, but she knew he was a Whisper and might be the only person who could help her escape. “Please, I can’t stay here. If Addar tells her—”
“He won’t tell her,” stated Jack calmly as he leaned against the wall hooking his thumbs in his pockets.
“Even so she might suspect—”
“Why did you come to me?” he asked cutting off her spluttering pleas.
“I…I know you’re a Whisper and if anyone can get out of here and disappear it would be you.”
“If I could leave then why would I still be here? Especially after the Crown took my Whisper sister prisoner and has tortured her mercilessly since. Don’t you think I would have freed Sa and escaped by now?” His eyes bored into hers and Pekka felt a trickle of fear down her spine.
“I think you’re still here because of her. Because of Adrianna,” whispered Pekka confidently. “I think that this game has more players than I see and if you don’t help me it will only be a matter of time before I die.”
Jack crossed his arms and Pekka knew he was clenching his fists underneath them because the muscles on his arms stood out strong and taut. “Why would I help a person who has the blood of my sister on her hands? I ought to punish you for your part.”
“Yet you won’t,” she replied, her voice suddenly dry.
He gave her a long hard look. “What is it you want?”
“I don’t understand…” replied Pekka confused. Had she not just asked him to help her?
“Why exactly are you escaping?” he pushed.
“Because I don’t want to die!” she snapped.
Jack fixed her with a calculating gaze that felt almost invasive. “Is that all?”
“No,” she breathed. The thought hadn’t even truly entered her mind until this moment but as she thought it she felt its truth warm her blood. “I want to undo this mess I had a hand in creating. I want to restore Oneiroi to the world my grandmother told me about in stories.” Her body felt no trace of fear anymore. “I want to join the Iron Army.” She felt confident, ready, alive. Jack must have noticed it too because after a long pause he nodded his head.
“Don’t contact me outside of official matters. Wait for me to come to you.” He walked over and opened the door dismissing her.
Pekka stood up crossing the room in her graceful stride. Pausing she added, “I’m sorry about Medusa.”
Jack narrowed his eyes briefly. “You might be able to help her. If we can time everything right…” he mused in hushed tones.
Movement caught his eye and he looked up to see a young beanpole of a boy struggling to carry an armload of armor to the armory to be fixed and polished. Pekka took the cue and left his quarters briskly. Jack watched her closely as she disappeared then sighed lamenting the loss of his nap. Rubbing his face resignedly he threw on a shirt and went to find Adri.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The doors swung shut with a soft but heavy resounding boom and the Crown’s Council silenced themselves before their ruler. Her recent pet, Christophe Ammon, trailed behind her not given a seat at the long dark wooden table. Crown Sarai motioned for everyone to sit. The air felt stiff and flickers of meetings past whispered in their minds, they hoped this one would be somehow different. Perhaps this time they would do more than raise their hands feigning votes for the Crown’s new laws and budgets. Perhaps this time they would be permitted to think.
“I bring before you a new proposal,” announced Crown Sarai. She noticed her council members sit up straighter with interest and she almost smiled. “I propose the construction of the Crown’s Palace. It will be located in a central location in Oneiroi with a wing in each territory: Quidel, Aztlan, and Llyr.”
Lady Portía smoothed her rust-colored skirts and leveled her gaze with the Crown’s. “Might I inquire as to why you desire another home when you’ve already conquered this one?” Lady Portía was one of the very few who ever had the boldness to question the Crown. Sarai appreciated this, but only in secret.
“This is the Quidelish castle and it deserves a Quidelish representative. Likewise the Aztlanean palace will be rebuilt and fitted with an appropriate ruler. Furthermore I am placed at a far extreme from Llyr’s palace, no doubt a factor in their tendency for independent thoughts. With a central and separate location for the Crown of Oneiroi it will be advantageous politically as well as easier to enforce rule over all the Oneiroian subjects.” Crown Sarai folded her hands placing them before her upon the table and turned to Lady Portía with a sweet smile. “Do you understand?”
“Yes, mi suverenya, but you also open yourself up to an attack on three fronts,” she cautioned.
The Crown remained unruffled. “The brilliance lies in the design. Its defense will go deeper than stone.” She leaned in with a challenging gleam in her eyes. “I'm not asking, Lady Portía. I'm commanding.”
Lady Portía bowed her head regally in strained acceptance. A few seats down the table across from her however, a scarecrow of a man let out a jovial, if not slightly intoxicated, laugh. “Of course it makes sense! It’s basic logic. It’s a wonder it hasn’t been done before! Absolutely elementary. Brilliant, mi suverenya.” He bestowed a condescending look of pity upon Lady Portía that made her skin crawl in fury. Lord Otin was a simpering prick who could never miss an opportunity to kiss the
feet of their Crown. She felt slightly mollified when she saw the flash of disgust on Crown Sarai’s face. You can’t fool her, you little weasel, she thought happily.
“Any other questions?” inquired Crown Sarai formally. An older man with fading orange locks raised his hand slowly and the Crown gave him a bored look. “Lord Devon, I’m guessing your questions revolve around the budget for such large projects?” He gave an apologetic smile and lowered his hand. “It is, of course, a valid question but do not worry. It will be no great burden for our treasury.”
“Who will you be appointing on the Quidelish and Aztlanean thrones, mi suverenya?” Lady Portía hardly dared to ask such a question but she had to know.
Crown Sarai gave her a businesslike smile. “That remains to be seen.” Sweeping her stern eyes until they met with every member of her council she warned them, “This is our priority now. I want my castle. It will be the focus of our meetings from now on, which will be weekly instead of monthly. The top architects and craftsmen will be interviewed. I expect you all to contribute your share of the effort. Logistics, designs, employees, and any other suggestions or research will be welcome. I, of course, will be making the final decisions but make no mistake that your participation will be noted and assessed.” She added this final part while looking at Lady Portía. The Lady smoothed her skirts again in an attempt to hide her smile.
The meeting proceeded for a mere twenty minutes more before Crown Sarai dismissed them but for the first time in months as the Crown’s Council left they were abuzz with excitement. They were given something to do, something to work on, and they were grateful. It had been so long since the Crown’s rally speeches that most had forgotten what she’d even said in them. But it didn’t matter anymore because this was exciting, challenging, and important. And they were the ones deemed worthy enough to handle it.
* * *
Sarai left the council meeting in high spirits. She’d had many homes but none would topple the Crown’s Castle, and it made her head spin in a deliciously dizzy way that she hadn’t felt since she began planning her coronation. Bright movement caught her eye snapping her out of her thoughts. Recognizing the figure ahead of her she motioned for Christophe to leave. Turning down the hall the girl took she followed Adrianna into the small courtyard garden. Adrianna was dressed in a lavender chiffon dress, modest but enchanting, and Sarai smiled to herself pleased.