THE ROYAL TRIALS: HEIR

by James Tate

  "Okay, so... wow." Ty sat back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair. "That's huge. It explains why Aana tried to kill you, right?"

  "I guess so," I agreed with a shrug. "She mentioned doing it for Nache, who I suppose wasn't super happy when she found out her husband was sleeping with a human queen. I don't know. It's a problem for another day."

  "After we deal with Father," Zan added. "Was there anything else from those visions that we should know?"

  I started to shake my head, then my gaze snagged on a familiar painting on the wall. It was the same painting that had been there in Ophelia's vision when she'd been so relieved about her sanctuary still standing.

  "Yes. Ophelia mentioned something about this building." I indicated to the space we'd made our own after it’d been abandoned for so long. "She was crazy relieved when I said it was still here and said something about important things under the sanctuary. Is there a basement?"

  Zan and Ty looked confused and turned to Lee.

  "Not that I've found," he replied, shaking his head. "And I spend the most time here out of anyone."

  My hopes dropped, and my shoulders slumped. Of course it couldn't be that easy.

  "We should look into that, too," I said, then yawned heavily.

  "We should," Lee agreed, "tomorrow. We all need sleep."

  Zan started stacking plates back onto the food cart and dusted crumbs off his pants. "Lee's right. You all look like shit." He paused, his gaze running over me. "Except Zarina. She always looks perfect." He shot me a wink, and I laughed even while my cheeks blushed.

  "Smooth," Ty teased, then gave me a pointed look—reminding me that I'd promised to stay with him for the night, no doubt.

  I gave him a sly grin and a short nod. "I need to shower and change into something less... formal." I looked down at the purple ball gown I was still wearing. "Will we all meet back here in the morning? The third trial doesn't require us to actually do anything until the end of the week when we enter the chamber. Until then, we have time to work on plans and things."

  Sagen snorted a laugh. "‘Plans and things.’ Yeah, I doubt you could have kept up the Callaluna act much longer."

  "Yes," Zan replied, ignoring Sagen. "Let's meet back here after breakfast. Ty is the best at making plans and things, but Sage, your contacts will be invaluable here."

  The exotic princess stood up and headed for the exit but nodded her agreement as she went, waving an elegant hand at us in parting.

  Zan and Lee followed her, while Ty and I hung back a few paces from everyone else.

  "Give me just a few minutes to change out of this dress," I said to him, keeping my voice low. Not that we were sneaking around or hiding anything from the others, but I was too beat to handle discussions about how I planned to juggle three lovers at once. That, out of everything, was definitely a problem for future-Zarina to solve.

  A sexy grin pulled at Ty's lips as we paused near the entrance closest to my rooms. "I could help you take that dress off, no problem."

  I smiled back. "I have no doubt. But then I'll be stuck wearing this same damn dress again come breakfast." I reached up, holding the back of his neck as I pressed my lips to his in a quick kiss. "I'll be fast."

  The burning look in his eyes said he would happily throw me over his shoulder and carry me to his room, but he eventually sighed and nodded. "I'll be waiting as patiently as I can handle."

  To underline his point, he clasped the back of my head and pulled my face to his for a kiss so passionate I could feel his desire all the way to my toes.

  It was with that buzzing, happy excitement that I hurried back to my rooms, grinning stupidly to myself as I turned the handle and opened the heavy door.

  All those fuzzy feelings dropped to my feet like they were made of lead, and I clapped a hand over my own mouth to stifle a scream at the scene I walked into.

  Chapter 10

  "Jules!" I gasped. The door slammed shut behind me, echoing the sound of a man's fist hitting Julianna's face.

  The broad-shouldered thug who'd been waiting beside the door grabbed my upper arm in a grip like steel, dragging me forward a couple of steps as Jules' assailant turned and grinned at me.

  "Finally. I thought this bitch would be dead by the time you got here," he snickered in a voice like gravel. He jerked his head in Jules's direction, where she sat tied to a chair, her head lolling to the side as blood dripped from her face. "Damn, girl. You clean up nice."

  His gaze travelled over me and my wrinkled purple ball gown, and I didn't even try to hide my shudder of revulsion.

  "Cane." I spit his name like poison. "What the fuck do you think you're doing here? I could have you arrested and thrown in the palace dungeon in seconds."

  I was bluffing, and he damn well knew it if his laughter was anything to go by.

  "And explain to the king why you had two of the kingdom’s most wanted criminals in your room? I don't think so, Rybet." Master Bloodeye's ruthless lieutenant chuckled like I was all kinds of amusing, and I ground my teeth together to keep from testing his theory and screaming anyway.

  Then again, without any weapons I wasn't going to stand much hope against Cane and his buddy Zach, who was the goon holding me. I'd crossed paths with them both a handful of times in the past, but my position in Bloodeye's syndicate had always kept me safe. Apparently things had changed.

  "What do you want?" I bit out, trying to ignore the agonized groans coming from Jules as she started to regain consciousness. She needed to see a medic, and fast.

  "Who says we want anything with you, pet?" Cane sneered back at me, using the name many of Bloodeye's employees had called me when the boss wasn't listening. It was no secret that Bloodeye had always treated me a little better than all the other orphans and misfits, but now I was starting to wonder if he knew more about where I came from than he had let on. "Maybe we just came to deliver a message to our girl, here." He gripped Jules's tangled, blood-crusted hair and jerked her head up to show me the extent of what he'd done. Her whole face was a mass of purple, red, and black bruising, her left eye so swollen she wouldn't have been able to open it even if she was fully conscious, and her nose had a sickening angle to the bridge.

  I swallowed back the lump of guilt in my throat—guilt that she was being used to get to me—and hardened my glare at Cane. "We both know you didn't sneak into the royal palace of Teich to teach a spying whore a lesson. Now tell me what you want and get out. I'm expecting company any minute now, and it's not the sort of company you'll want to be seen by."

  Again, bluffing. But it was close enough to the truth for my voice to hold conviction, and Cane smirked.

  "Oh yeah? Maybe the boss missed a good opportunity by not putting you on your back sooner than this." His leer was enough to make my skin crawl, and I could feel Zach's beady eyes all over my body from where he stood behind me.

  Misogynistic assholes.

  "Say what you came to say and get the fuck out," I snapped, tilting my chin up slightly to show them they didn't worry me in the least. In fact, if Jules hadn't been so hurt, I'd have happily traded punches before engaging in conversation with these idiots. All brawn and no brains.

  "Boss is concerned you're forgetting where your loyalties lie," Cane replied with a nasty smile. All teeth. "Where your loyalties will always lie."

  "So, he thought beating Jules half to death would remind me?" I sneered back at him. "Right, got it. You can go now."

  Zach snickered behind me, and Cane shook his head with a mean laugh. "Not so fast, pet. Boss wants you to steal him something, prove you haven't been brainwashed like reports are coming back, yeah?"

  My lips tightened at this insane request. Like I had all the fucking time in the world to just go running around the palace stealing useless crap to satisfy Bloodeye's greed. "Steal what?"

  "Something from the royal treasury. A stone about yay big." Cane held his thumb and forefinger apart about four inches. "Dark green in color."

  I blinked at h
im a couple times when he gave no further information.

  "That's it? Steal him a green stone?"

  "No. Steal him that green stone. He said he'll know if its the wrong one." Cane shrugged. "Whatever that means."

  I frowned, trying to work out what Bloodeye's angle was on this and coming up blank. "Okay, and if I don't find it? Asking me to break into the royal treasury isn't exactly an easy task and could very well blow my cover here." Not that I was really in disguise anymore, but they didn't know that.

  Cane's meaty fist yanked on Jules's hair as his other hand circled her bruised throat and tightened ever so slightly. "For a Waise, you sure do care about a lot of people in the Pond. First it was the kid and of course the lovely Juliana here... Who was the old woman she liked to visit, Zachy?"

  My blood ran cold, and my breath stilled in my chest. "How do you know about her?" I whispered, too fucking stunned to hide my shock.

  The smirk Cane gave me was pure evil, and my heart beat so hard I could almost hear it. "It's my job to know these things, pet. Do what you're told, and no one gets hurt any more than they already are." He gave Jules's face a rougher-than-necessary pat to emphasize his point, and I fought my overwhelming desire to tear myself free of Zach's grip and punch Cane right in the smug face.

  "Message received," I growled out, my hands balled in tight fists at my sides. "Now get out before you send us all to the executioner’s block."

  Cane gave me another lingering look but released Jules and gave Zach a nod to release me. I knew without needing to look that I'd have fingerprint bruises on my arm by morning, but that was nothing on how Jules would look.

  The second my door clicked shut behind the two criminal thugs, I rushed over to her and fumbled to untie the rough ropes holding her to the chair.

  "I'm so sorry, Jules," I whispered as I worked. "I'm so sorry I dragged you into all of this. I promise I'll make it better."

  She just barely groaned out a noise in response, but it was more than enough to show me she was still alive. For now, anyway.

  "Come on, Jules. Let's get you to the medics."

  Cringing at her whimpers of pain, I hitched a shoulder under her arm and half carried, half dragged her out of my rooms.

  * * *

  The medical wing was thankfully close enough that Jules was still semi-conscious when we got there. The nurse on duty was a stern-faced woman who I vaguely recognized from my stay during week one—when I'd taken a dagger through my hand to save Lee.

  She took one look at Jules and called for help, taking my place under Jules' arm and shooing me out of the medical wing.

  Moments later I found myself smeared in blood and staring at the closed door of the medical clinic, totally at a loss for what to do next.

  "Are you looking for something, Lady Callaluna?" A voice from down the corridor made me jump, and I spun around to face the speaker, hiding my blood-covered hands behind my skirts.

  "Ah, no," I replied with a tight smile, "My maid had an accident; I was just seeing her safely to the healers, Lady Savannah." I dipped a small, polite curtsey to her as she approached, and shivered under the weight of her sharp gaze.

  She was a hard person to read. Initially I'd placed her as Taipanus's female counterpart—totally loyal to the ruling monarchs. But now I wasn't so sure. She'd expressed enough concern and regret over how the Trials were being conducted I had to wonder if she was really as loyal to her rulers as she made out.

  "That was kind of you," she commented, her gaze catching on my bare arm, which probably still showed smears of Jules's blood. "Not many in this palace would trouble themselves with the well-being of a servant."

  She said it in such a thoughtful way it seemed like her mind was a million miles away. I should have bitten my tongue, given her another curtsey, and gotten the hell out of there. But my curiosity couldn't be curbed.

  "Lady Savannah, if you don't mind me asking, do you regret coming to Teich?"

  It was a bold question, but her pensive, almost sad demeanor had me wanting to know. It was common knowledge she'd come from Verrater with Queen Filamina back when Titus had taken the throne of Teich, but it made me wonder what they'd all left behind.

  Her eyes widened slightly at my question, but she didn't look angry at my breach of etiquette. "Not in the least, child. This was my home long before I moved to Verrater to marry my late husband. When I was given the position as queen's counsel, I couldn't have been happier to return home."

  My brows rose in surprise. "I had no idea you were from Teich."

  Savannah shook her head sadly, the lines around her eyes and the pale streaks in her hair seeming all the more prominent under the dim hallway lamps. "It never fails to amaze me how little people remember of the time before the Darkness." Her gaze softened slightly as she studied my face. "You look so much like her, you know?"

  My heart stopped.

  "Like who?" I asked, even as sweat beaded on the back of my neck.

  Lady Savannah gave me a small, sad smile and shook her head. "No need to panic. I find that prolonged exposure to magic that wasn't meant for you can leave your mind a bit scattered. I doubt even Filamina sees her face in yours, and she was Ophelia's best friend."

  What?

  My jaw must have dropped open because Savannah tapped me gently under the chin. "Close your mouth, dear. You'll catch flies like that."

  "What—uh—sorry, I'm just..." I trailed off, shaking my head to try and find coherent thoughts again. "I don't even know what to do with this information."

  "Take my advice. Don't do anything with it, and certainly don't seek out the queen. They may have been friends for years, but there was a bitter falling out toward the end there—right before Filamina married Titus and left Lakehaven. You won’t find an ally in her."

  Heavy footsteps echoed down the hall, and Savannah gave me a small shrug. "Only one week to go. Nothing will be the same after the end of the Royal Trials; I can tell you that now."

  Before I could find my tongue to question her further, she was hurrying away in her perfectly poised, elegant way with full skirts barely brushing the floor.

  Chapter 11

  Lee wasn't in his room when I went looking for him, hoping he might be able to lend some magic to Jules's healing. Or if he was, he'd locked the door and couldn't hear me knocking.

  "Shit," I whispered, leaning my head on the solid wood of his door.

  "Wrong room, gorgeous," Ty called out from farther down the hall, and I jumped slightly in fright.

  "Funny," I replied, rubbing at my cold arms. "I was looking for Lee. Is he in there, do you know? I probably should have kept those keys you all gave me, if the doors are so soundproof you can't hear someone knocking."

  Ty shook his head as I wandered closer to where he leaned on his own doorframe. "No, he said he wanted to check something out and hasn't been back to his room yet. I've been keeping an eye out." He gave me a pointed look that said he'd been keeping an eye out for me. "I thought you were getting changed?"

  I glanced down at the purple gown I was still wearing and sighed. "I was. Something came up."

  Ty arched a brow. "Something that needs Lee's particular skillset, if I'm to guess based on the dried blood around your fingernails."

  "Yeah." I'd tried to clean my hands off as best I could on my skirts but hadn't done a very good job of it. "Any ideas where he is? Or when he might be back?"

  Ty shook his head, looking apologetic. "None, sorry, little one. Want to come in and tell me what happened? You look like you've seen a ghost."

  I hesitated a moment, biting my lip as I looked to Lee's door and weighed my options. But knowing as well as I did that Lee was the instigator of the princes roaming the city in disguise—as they had been the day we met. He could be anywhere.

  "Yeah." I nodded, squeezing past Ty as he shifted out of the way for me to enter his room. "Sorry, it's just..." I heaved a huge sigh, feeling the weight of a million worries on my shoulders. "Can I use your shower? I'll fill
you in when I'm clean."

  "Of course," he replied, placing a gentle hand on the small of my back and leading the way to his connected bathroom. He cranked the taps for me, getting the water warm while I wiggled my way out of my dirty dress and yawned heavily.

  "Actually, do you mind staying?" I asked as he moved out of the way and let me step under the spray. "I'm on the verge of passing out or losing my mind—I don't even know which. But the sooner I can tell someone what's going on, the better."

  Ty nodded, hopping up to sit on the marble vanity as I closed my eyes and ducked under the hot spray. A small moan worked its way from my throat, and I heard Ty curse under his breath.

  "What was that?" I asked, wiping water from my eyes and peering out at him.

  "Nothing," he lied, his gaze hot and heavy on my body as I let the shower run all over me. "So, who got hurt and how? I'm starting to think you'd be safer moving into this wing with us."

  I snorted a laugh. "Like I need more of a sparkling sign over my head to draw your father’s attention. No thanks."

  Ty's eyes narrowed, but he let the subject drop. "So, tell me what happened in the twenty minutes since I saw you last."

  I spluttered in surprise. "Is that how long it's been? Fuck. It feels like hours." I sucked in a deep breath, squeezing delicious, fruity-floral scented shampoo into my hand. "Okay. Here goes."

  To his credit, Ty stayed silent the whole time I was speaking, and to mine, I left nothing out. Not even Bloodeye's request for me to steal a jewel from the treasury or Cane's threats against people I cared for in the Pond. His gaze remained on me, occasionally drifting over my body while I washed, but for the most part he just paid attention to my words.

  When I was done, both with my story and my shower, I heaved another sigh.

  "So, what do you think?" I tilted my head to the side as I towel dried my hair. I was wrapped up warmly in a robe that Ty had held out for me and mentally sending thanks to some higher power for whatever was in the royal palace shampoo. If I'd washed my blond, curly hair this often with the soap we used in the pond, it all would have fallen out by now in one huge, tangled, brittle mess.