Horrified expressions spread through the council as if it was finally settling in their minds.
“I was born a Cornay, and I was raised to do what is right. And what is right is to protect Allinan with everything I have—and without endangering any of your sons by putting them on the throne beside me.”
Maray held Sara Brendal’s gaze as she spoke the last sentence, and she saw the wisdom in the woman’s dark eyes. She saw it in the lines on her tan skin, in the proud posture of her neck. She was making them an offer to protect Heck and save face. They weren’t losing anything by cancelling the engagement, but she was making them even more important allies. She made clear their lives, their son’s life was more important than the crown.
“And so, with your blessing—” she addressed the entire council rather than just the Brendals, “—I release Hendrick Brendal from this alliance as my future husband.”
Murmurs rose and whispers of outrage filled the air as Maray waited for the message to settle. Then, she turned to Heck, inclining her head and addressing him directly. “Hendrick Brendal, I thank you for your loyalty and your willingness to put Allinan first. Allinan needs men like you, and your family’s loyalty to the crown means more than can be put into words.” She glanced sideways at Sara and Emir Brendal, reassuring herself that they hadn’t joined the upset voices of the council. To her surprise, she found completely serene faces looking back at her.
“By releasing you from our personal alliance, I am able to assign the Brendal family to a new service in this council. With Councilor Unterly’s absence, the head of the council has been vacant for too long, and I would be honored to see that seat go to the Brendal family.”
New whispers filled the air, but Maray focused on Heck, who just smiled and inclined his head before he got down on one knee and kissed her hand. “It is an honor to serve you, Queen Maray.”
A smile played on his lips as he rose again.
“Not yet Queen,” she corrected, but Sara and Emir Brendal gave her a smile as she searched the room to see how people had taken Heck’s statement.
“It is highly uncommon to change traditions just because it fits your current needs,” an elderly man in green robes at the side claimed, disapproving.
“Selfish.”
“We need a strong king on the throne,” someone else agreed. “A man who knows what he’s talking about.”
“Or a queen willing to marry into the right family,” someone added.
“Aye!”
The voices were a blur, painful to listen to. Were they right? Was she using the situation for her personal gain? Was this about her not wanting to marry, rather than saving Allinan?
“If you’re scared, you can return to your safe little world on the other side of the border.”
Maray looked at her father for help and found him shaking his head, his eyes telling her to be strong, to not show that they were getting to her. He had always told her that as long as she was in control of her emotions, she was going to be successful in diplomacy.
“The future Queen has my full support,” Heck cut into the chattering, which was now filling all corners of the room. No one listened to him. Everyone was too busy stating their own opinions.
So Maray pulled out a chair, lifted the hem of the dress she’d put on to impress the council by looking less like a defiant teenager and more like an actual monarch, and climbed onto the burgundy brocade. The room instantly fell silent, eyes weighing heavily on Maray.
“I believe in an Allinan free of tyranny and lies,” she started the speech she had rolled over in her head while she had been waiting for the council to gather. “I believe in an Allinan where a man or a woman is enough because of who they are and not who they are married to, where loyalty is to our Allinan and her alone.”
Nervousness filled her top to bottom as she spoke each word, struggling to hide how much she wanted to bolt from the room.
“And she needs us. Our Allinan. An immortal threat is opposing everything we stand for, and if we don’t act now, there won’t be an Allinan left to keep traditions.” She eyed the green-robed guy whose busy, grey eyebrows rose at her direct words.
“We are at war. And if we don’t act, we will be overrun by Gan Krai’s Shalleyn. We will be sucked dry. But if we work together, we stand a chance.” Maray glanced around the room one more time, looking each of the council members in the eye to urge them to truly listen to her. “Crown me.”
There was no whispering now. The silence that followed her words was even more profound.
Maray eyed Jemin, and his eyes smoldered back at her, reminding her of everything she had to lose.
“Crown me. And let me help defeat Gan Krai. If we win this war and you still don’t want me to be Queen, I will gladly step down. But let me guide you through this darkness Gan Krai has brought upon us, and I will do everything in my power to rid the evil from our beloved country.”
Maray lifted her hands at her sides and sought her magic. Slowly, flames emerged, flickering on her palms, growing denser and denser until they enveloped her in a circle, a ribbon of fire rotating around her chest.
“And who says that even with the help of all of Allinan, you’re strong enough to defeat him?” a familiar voice asked at the back of the room.
Maray turned her head and looked into a pair of curious eyes.
“Master Feris?”
“Seize him!”
While Maray was still wrapping her head around the sudden appearance of the court warlock, the council was already demanding Feris’ arrest.
Jemin and Heck were the ones who acted faster than Maray could think and raced over to Feris to constrain him.
“Where should we take him, Princess?” Jemin asked, keeping protocol in front of the council, but his eyes showed distress at the sudden distance between them and the potential danger Feris’ appearance provided.
“Take him to Commander Scott’s study,” Maray decided quickly, considering the dungeons first, but not finding storing the warlock away there a good idea with the memory of her mother’s and grandmother’s deaths still too fresh. Jemin and Heck turned the old man around and dragged him forward. “Stay with him until I join you.” She watched the trio walk away before she directed her eyes back at the council, not wavering this time.
“What’s the meaning of this?”
“They should execute him for treason.”
Maray listened patiently to the voices and all the horrible things they demanded for her to do to punish Master Feris. But to the best of Maray’s knowledge, he had acted in Corey’s best interest. Who said he was here to harm her or any of them?
“I will take the time to hear and evaluate what Master Feris has to say.” Maray was oddly calm as people’s outrage turned toward the court warlock. It meant, for once, she wasn’t at the center of their fury. With a glance at her father, who nodded and gestured with a tiny flick of his hand that it was time to go, Maray started to leave but stopped and turned once more before she left.
“Consider my request. My coronation a trap. And all our strength combined to bring Gan Krai down,” she summed up. “And now, if you will excuse me…”
Without another look back, she headed down the hallway, down the stairs, following the blue carpet under the eyes of her ancestors’ portraits, to the small chamber which was Scott’s office. Gerwin’s footsteps fell into step beside her as she was halfway there.
“What are you planning to do?” he asked with mild alarm.
Maray didn’t take her eyes off the floor. “He might know where Corey is.” It was the one thought that had been circling ever since she left the council meeting.
“Be careful, Maray,” Gerwin cautioned her. “We don’t know the reason he’s here.”
“We don’t know the reason he left, either.” This wasn’t entirely true. He had disappeared when he had fled with Rhia and not returned since, other than to deliver a message to Corey, which eventually might have led to her abduction by Gan Krai. But w
hat kind of ruler would she be if she jumped to conclusions instead of hearing people out? In a realm where magic existed and punishment for treason was supposed to be death, wasn’t it the better choice to find a reason to want to believe in someone’s innocence? And if not innocence, maybe his lack of other options?
As they were almost at the door, Wil’s and Pia’s red heads appeared at the end of the hallway.
“Did she come, too?” Wil asked and rushed toward them. “Is Corey here?”
Pia shrugged as Maray gave her a disapproving look. Had she really needed to alert Wil?
“No, it’s just Feris.”
Wil’s face fell, and he followed Gerwin, who let them into the room.
Inside, Maray found Feris constrained by Heck’s grasp, and Jemin paced restlessly back and forth in front of the small window. His tormented gaze snapped up to meet Maray’s the second she crossed the threshold, and for a second, she felt as if she was being physically drawn through space just by the intense blue of his eyes. She shook the sensation off and focused on Feris, who didn’t give the impression he was planning to bolt, making Heck’s alert towering over the man appear unnecessary and aggressive.
“Princess Maray.” Feris straightened as she came closer, his expression stern rather than the usual curious.
Maray inclined her head, acknowledging his conformity to protocol when addressing her. “Master Feris.” She stopped in front of the warlock, not half-intimidated by him since she knew about how Corey had always been so much stronger than him. And Maray was stronger than Corey. “Have you come to mock my attempts to defeat Gan Krai?” She didn’t care that her words came out like a mockery themselves.
Jemin was at Maray’s side in an instant, posture tense and frame stable, but his hand had darted to his side to draw his sword, which was now hovering before his chest, ready to cut the man’s tongue out.
“On the contrary, Princess.” He glanced behind Maray. “Ambassador, Wil.” Then he gave Jemin a long look, which Maray feared would push Jemin over the edge, but before he could break, Feris winked at him. “Put that stick away, boy,” he said, his eyes displaying the curious sub-tone again.
Jemin fidgeted. His eyes found Maray’s again, waiting for her to give some sign whether she wanted him to stab Feris or spare him. But that wasn’t for her to decide. Not until she knew the truth.
“I am not here to hurt anyone,” Feris continued. “I am here to help.”
Gerwin, quiet until now, stepped forward and seized the warlock by the front of his long mud-brown robes, making saw-dust fly in the artificial light. “You have my wife’s blood on your hands,” he growled, not at all diplomatic. “Don’t pretend you’re here to offer your help.”
Maray stumbled backward, getting out of the way as her father’s dagger spun in his other hand and found its way up to Feris’ throat. Her back hit Wil’s chest, who stabilized her and pulled her behind him just in case there might be an escalation. Jemin’s gaze flickered to her for a brief second as if checking she was all right, that pained expression filling his features again. Maray gave him a nod of reassurance from behind Wil’s shoulder.
Between Heck and Gerwin, Feris struggled to find his composure. He surely hadn’t expected a blade at his neck. His mouth was opening and closing in search of an explanation.
“Take your time,” Gerwin encouraged with a deadly voice—deadly as Maray had never heard him before. “While you are looking for an eloquent way of rephrasing your part in what happened, people are dying out there. Innocent people.”
As she listened to her father, Maray could almost taste the bitterness in his words. Feris’ actions had inevitably led to her mother’s death. Intentional or not.”
Feris found his voice again, and his eyes, drained of all curiosity and filled with emotion instead, glanced at Maray. Guilt was written all over his features. “I never meant for all of this to happen. I thought I was protecting Allinan and Corey.”
“You thought wrong.” Wil entered the conversation, sharp as a razor blade. “Corey would have been better off without your so-called help.”
A flash of pain crossed Feris’ face at Wil’s words. Maray remembered the way Corey had spoken about him. Her adopted father. The only family she had. How he had held her powers back because he wanted to protect her from exposure, from the wrath of the people who despised devil-children.
“Maybe you are right, Wil,” Feris answered, much to Maray’s surprise. “Maybe Corey would have been better off without me. She might have died long ago, though, but she would have been spared all the hatred of the people who didn’t understand the powers she holds. She may have been spared having to right my wrongs…”
“The binding spell,” Maray thought aloud. “You put that spell on my mom.” A surge of fury ran through Maray, and her palms heated, ready to realize a storm of fire into the room. “You made Langley into a Shifter along with Neelis. You have all the shifters’ fates on your hands.
Feris held her gaze, the authority of a scholar correcting his student raining down upon her. “I protected my family, my country, my Queen.”
“You may have helped Corey find a way to break the binding spell, but it was also you who hooked up my wife with those needles and tubes to drain her blood. You, who helped Rhia bargain away her daughter and her granddaughter—my daughter.” Gerwin’s hand was shaking, pushing the blade into Feris’ long beard. Maray watched strands of gray float to the ground. She had never seen her father so enraged, so out of control.
“And it is also me, who is here to help now.” Feris’ voice had calmed, his tone soothing and sincere. “Don’t you think there isn’t a day that I don’t regret the decisions I made.” He looked around for help, not finding it in Wil or Jemin or Heck or even Pia, who kept still in the corner of the room, probably readying herself to step in if necessary. But something inside Maray’s heart told her that if she had been able to forgive Corey for her part in her mother’s death, and Rhia for bringing all the drama upon them, why shouldn’t she give the warlock at least a chance to do the right thing? It was true that he had helped Corey break the binding spell, and it was true that without his help, Laura would have never had at least a chance of a life free from the curse that had been her grandmother.
“Dad,” Maray slipped past Wil, who didn’t hold her back, so focused on Feris that he probably didn’t even notice.
Gerwin relaxed his grip on Feris’ robes and lowered his blade, sending another flock of beard-hairs flying.
“We all lost someone. The two of us lost Mom, Wil lost Corey, and Master Feris lost his life at court.” Maray’s heart ached as she spoke, but she knew it was the right thing to do. What good would it do if they worked against each other? Feris was the only one who knew where Corey might be and what Gan Krai was up to.
Feris grabbed for the life-line Maray had thrown him. “You didn’t lose Corey. She is very much alive and somewhat herself. Even if Gan Krai is pushing her mind further and further to see how long it will take until she’ll break.”
Wil gasped behind Maray, and Pia stepped out of the corner like a bright-red shadow. “You said you’re here to help,” she reminded Feris. “What do we need to do to free Corey?”
Feris’ eyebrows rose, making him look frustrated and curious at the same time. “I wish it had been Corey who slipped out of Gan Krai’s camp.” He swiped over the remainders of his beard with two fingers. “But she is too fresh, too important to be left unattended. While I am an old fool. Krai no longer cares for my presence nor my assistance—now that he has everything he wants.”
Jemin growled at the window. “Everything but the Princess,” he corrected. And it was clear by the way he pronounced it that he had wanted to say, ‘my Princess’.
Maray’s blood turned hot at the sound of Jemin’s possessive words then cold at the thought of what Feris’ proclamation meant. “What was he going to do with you?” she wondered, the warlock shrinking an inch under her stare. Whether it was respect or fear
, Maray couldn’t tell.
“He was not going to let him leave, that’s for sure,” Heck gave his opinion and let go of the arm he’d been constraining, no longer finding a use in the effort.
“I told you I am here to help,” Feris repeated.
“And I told you I want to know how to find Corey,” Wil pushed.
The tension in the room was thick like a haze, making it hard for Maray to remain calm. A glance at her father, who was still eyeing Feris with deep-running anger and disappointment, made her see that the best chance of making things right was to hear Feris out, to give him a small stage. If they couldn’t figure out Gan Krai’s specific plans any time soon, it might mean their deaths. Especially with the trap she was hoping to get the council’s support for—a death trap, for herself, not Gan Krai if she didn’t do it right.
And then there was Corey. She couldn’t leave Corey behind. Not because of Wil’s pleading gaze or the fact that Corey was her friend, but because they needed her powers to defeat Gan Krai.
“Tell me, Master Feris,” Maray asked, finding her voice even more polite than she had intended. “If you care for Corey—”
“Do you think I would be here if I didn’t?” Feris interrupted her, and Jemin snarled impatience at the warlock.
“Where is she?”
Feris lowered his head, a gesture of defeat. “Between worlds.”
It was Jemin who seemed to understand first. He pushed away from the window and skewered between Feris and Maray. “Between?” His features were disorganized, wonder and fear and curiosity fighting to gain the upper hand. “I thought that was a myth.”
Heck, Wil, and Pia’s faces resembled Jemin’s expression, but Gerwin simply said, “How can that still surprise any of you?” He hardly sounded like the loving father Maray had known. “When everything—everything—seems to be true. All the monsters, the demons, the powerful magic that slowly destroys us…” He was following his own train of thought, and Maray could see it there in his eyes that he was slumping into a barrel of grief—the grief he’d so heroically swallowed in order to follow his duties. She suppressed the urge to put her arms around him and joined the others in waiting for an explanation from Feris.
Two Worlds of Dominion Page 17