by Ashley Nixon
They glared at each other for a long moment. “Stay with her. I’ll go get Cove,” he said and left.
None of this felt right, and his heart raced. He’d made enemies of all his friends tonight.
As soon as Barren entered the house, Cove and Hollow turned to face him. Barren wasn’t sure how long the ambassador had been home, but when they looked at him, they were not happy.
“Where have you been?”
The pirate hesitated, preparing himself for what was next, but a harsh knock on the door interrupted him.
Cove set his jaw, and his eyes grew dark with accusation. “What did you do?” he asked evenly.
Barren didn’t say anything and the knock sounded again. Hollow was already rushing upstairs to tell the others to hide.
Cove glared at Barren. It was the angriest he’d ever seen the ambassador, and when Cove spoke, the words slipped between his teeth.
“Hide. Immediately!”
And Barren did. He hurried down the stairwell and into the basement.
***
Cove stepped toward the entrance and stretched out his hand. He let air fill his lungs as he opened the door and found Ben on the other side, surrounded by soldiers. He released his breath.
“Ambassador,” Ben stood silhouetted in his doorway. He appeared slightly disheveled and Cove wondered at the gash across his face. It appeared fresh. “What I have to tell you might require a seat, ambassador.”
“I’m not faint of heart, Ben,” Cove replied evenly. “And it doesn’t take an army to offer me news.”
Ben chuckled humorlessly. “These men are here to search your house. The assassin, Aethea Moore, has escaped our custody.”
“Escaped?”
“Perhaps I should rephrase. They believe the assassin was helped. Three of the men who were knocked unconscious say someone attacked them. Two others are dead. Now, if you will be so kind as to let my men do their job,” Ben said.
“Surely you do not think I would harbor an assassin,” the words escaped Cove’s mouth as a hiss.
“I would not accuse you of such treason, ambassador. But a scoundrel will hide anywhere he feels safe.”
Cove raised his head and smirked, then he stepped away from his door and allowed the men entrance.
“Go ahead,” he said. “Search.”
“Check the basement,” Ben ordered.
Cove stood aside, hands behind his back as the soldiers’ boots thudded against his floor. Ben walked about the foyer, observing its finery. “I heard you inherited this house after your father died. Tragic that you would come into such wealth at the expense of his death.”
Cove’s jaw tightened.
“Tell me, ambassador. What do you make of this?”
Ben held up a thin piece of rope. It had once been white, but now it was frayed and dirty.
Cove laughed. “You cannot be serious. It’s rope.”
“Odd that when we found the assassin, she was already tied up, don’t you think? To my knowledge there is one man who uses this rope to tie his victims.”
Cove looked perplexed.
“Come now, ambassador, don’t play dumb with me,” Ben warned.
Cove’s eyes narrowed. “I assure you, Mr. Willow, I would not do you dishonor.”
“Barren Reed!” Ben said through his teeth. “It is a known fact that Barren Reed carries rope to bind his victims before the kill. Do you think it feasible that he was at the ball? And why would he tie up the assassin who was to kill his uncle, the man who tried to hang him?”
There was silence, and then Cove began to laugh. By this time, Ben’s soldiers had returned from their search of the basement empty-handed. “You have wild theories, Mr. Willow, but it would have been impossible for Barren to infiltrate my ball.”
“Unless you let him in,” Ben accused.
“Oh yes. Unless I let him in,” Cove said drily. “Lord Willow, let me advise you that the next time we have an escaped assassin on our hands, do not call upon me to suggest I’m in league with the enemy. There are far more important concerns at hand.”
Cove opened his door. “Leave,” he commanded.
Ben took a step toward Cove, and the ambassador felt his blood boil. “You keep your dirty secret for now. I’m on to you.”
Ben stormed out of Cove’s house, and the soldiers followed, sending apologetic looks Cove’s way as they went. When they were safely outside, Cove slammed his door shut.
“Hollow!” he called.
The senator raced down the stairs. “See that Ben’s men do not linger on my property, and send for Jonas and the others.”
The senator nodded and left the house. Cove turned with deliberate steps toward the basement. The place was a mess. The soldiers had wasted no time searching behind things and throwing boxes about, but they’d never noticed the floor. Cove threw the debris aside and pulled open the latch on the tunnel door. He barely waited for Barren to climb out before he attacked.
“You helped her escape?” Cove’s words were biting and he pushed the young pirate.
“Cove…” Barren tried to speak, but the Ambassador silenced him, placing a finger square in his face, grabbing his collar.
“Did you kill those men?”
“What do you think?” Barren glared at Cove and the Ambassador let go of him roughly. “They cuffed her hands in front of her.”
“Where is she?”
“In the stables.”
Cove ran his fingers through his hair and sighed angrily. “This was stupid, Barren!”
“I did what I had to do!”
“You did what you wanted to do!” Cove countered. “This is my realm, Barren. You don’t get to make the decisions. I cannot undo what you’ve done.”
Barren was silent. His throat worked. Words came back to him from the trial. Words that felt very heavy. There are people who feel the repercussions of your choices. He had known this, but when faced with the choice to allow their one lead to escape their grasp, to return to Maris and face the noose or to free her, he’d chosen the former, which meant Cove was left to deal with Barren’s mess.
He felt invisible as he watched Cove. His eyes were dark, and a heat touched his skin that made Barren very aware of his anger. He gave orders and directed men to join the hunt for the escapee. They were still acting their part. Others were to find a way to get Aethea into the house. But it was the last order Cove gave that hit Barren hardest.
“And his ship. Burn it.”
And as he said it, he looked directly at Barren.
“Burn my ship?” he wanted to be angry. Anger touched his words, but he knew he had no right, and Cove didn’t really owe Barren an explanation for his actions.
“It will be searched if it isn’t destroyed,” said Cove. Suddenly Barren understood what he’d heard the day he arrived in Arcarum. Leaf had overheard Hollow talking about vandalism at port. It had been a cover, an act. Something they could blame when the need for it arose.
When Cove’s men had left to carry out his orders, the Ambassador came from around his desk. He ensured the doors to his study were closed, and he turned to Barren.
“What’s done is done,” he said, but Barren could hear the way Cove fought for control of his voice. “But I need you to know that I don’t understand why you couldn’t trust me.”
“I…”
“Don’t tell me you trust me,” the ambassador interrupted him. His voice was a command. “Because if you had, you wouldn’t have done this. I know your reasoning. You probably felt there was no other way. But there was. You had me. Of all the people who could have…manipulated this situation to our benefit!” He shook his head. “But you just refused to see it.”
“But how long would it have taken you to ‘manipulate this situation’ as you say?” Barren asked. “After she’s dead? She was to be hanged at dawn!”
“I had men prepared to ambush the ship and kidnap her. I asked you to trust me.”
“Why couldn’t you have told me?” Barren deman
ded. “Did you not trust me?”
“I do not broadcast my actions,” Cove countered. “It’s better that way, things don’t go awry. But obviously I was wrong this time.”
Barren opened his mouth to speak. He wanted to say he was sorry. But he also felt it was better that he didn’t speak.
“I’m not sure you ever understand that you aren’t alone,” said Cove, and his voice quaked with anger. “But let me remind you that none of your problems are worth a life lost.”
The ambassador turned from him at that moment. “They will take Aethea to the tunnel. We’ll keep her underground, interrogate her, and proceed from there.”
Barren nodded, and then looked directly at the ambassador. “Cove, I am…sorry for this.”
“Perhaps you are,” he said.
***
Barren, Cove, and Leaf made their way downstairs into the basement. Cove opened the door that led into the tunnel from the sea cliffs. His men were there waiting, and they helped lower Aethea into the tunnel. Her arms, feet, and mouth were bound. They carried her all the way from the end of the tunnel to the basement area. Once there, they placed her in a chair and bound her to it.
Leaf stepped forward and withdrew a knife at his belt. Aethea’s eyes glinted. He cut the gag from her mouth, and she breathed heavily once she was free. Holders were attached to her thighs where guns and knives had been. Her hair was tangled around her face, and her eyes smeared with black. Barren found himself comparing her to Larkin in his head. They’d both been hostile, they’d both wanted to fight. While Larkin was fire, Aethea was ice.
“So what now?” she said. Her accent was thick, clipped. “You kill me?”
“We don’t plan to kill you,” said Cove.
“If I cooperate,” she clarified.
“Well, that’s only fair,” said Barren.
She glared at him, and then at Cove. The way she looked at him, the way she talked—she was disgusted.
“Did Datherious hire you to kill the king?” Cove asked directly.
“Among other things,” she said.
“And how did he find you?” asked Barren.
She smiled wickedly. “Through a partner.”
Barren and Cove exchanged a glance.
“You are from the Octent. Why would you join a cause for the Commonwealth?” asked Cove.
“Because I have been a slave,” she said between her teeth.
“But you are free now,” said Barren. “And yet you chose to pledge to an organization that kills the freest people in Mariana?”
“You are free because you do not obey the law,” she said. “But you have no idea what it is to be a slave, and you have nothing to fight for. That is why you steal and kill.”
“I’m not really seeing any difference between you and me,” said Barren. “Except that you have a weapon that I do not.” She just stared. “Where did you get them? Where did the bullets come from?”
She had a smirk on her face, and then she laughed. “Men,” she said. “You think I’ll kneel before you? Spill all my secrets because you have a little muscle? Please. You’ll have to try harder.”
“I don’t understand you,” said Cove, narrowing his eyes. “You admitted to killing five of our men with those bullets. You turned the other three over to Tetherion. Perhaps to deceive him? And not three days later, you’re the woman who tried to kill him with those same bullets. Why?”
“Tetherion is a madman,” she said evenly. “You know he seeks dark magic to ensure his throne, and if he does get it, he’ll destroy himself and everyone in the Orient.”
Cove narrowed his eyes. “I’m not so certain that you don’t want that.”
“What sort of magic does Tetherion seek?” asked Barren. “The bloodstone has been destroyed, unless he seeks to use your weapons to gain power.”
Aethea laughed. “Tetherion is not yet privy to my weapon of choice. But I thought you smarter, Barren Reed. If the bullets exist, it should be obvious to you that there is other magic for Tetherion to claim. Rumor has it he’s in search of the King’s Gold. It’s said to be a channel through which mortals can wield magic. He already has one of the five pieces.”
Barren thought of that jewel around Tetherion’s neck. Had that been the King’s Gold?
“And how did he come by that?”
Aethea shrugged one slender shoulder. “Shortly after Lord Alder’s visit, I am sure.”
“My father? He would give nothing of power over to Tetherion,” Leaf argued.
“Not willingly,” she said. “But he must satisfy the Elfin treaty so that he may keep his throne. You destroyed the bloodstone, Alder had no choice but to replace it.”
So Lord Alder had an alternate motive for keeping Barren from the bloodstone.
Why would he give something so powerful to Tetherion? His mother and father had hidden the bloodstone to keep Tetherion from coming into that sort of power. Perhaps Lord Alder was merely trying to bide his time. He had only given over one piece. There were four more, but where were they? And was Lord Alder planning to hand those over, too?
“Do you know where he’s searching?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “There’s only one place I know to get dark things,” she said. “That’s the Underground. And there’s only one dealer in the Underground who will handle dark magic. No one else is brave enough.”
The Underground made Barren uneasy. He and Leaf had a past in the market, one he’d prefer to keep secret. He met the Elf’s gaze and knew Leaf felt the same way.
“Did he give you the weapons?” asked Cove.
“She gives nothing away,” Aethea spat. “I bought them.”
“She?”
“Yes, she goes by the name Sabine.”
“And how does she come by these…weapons?”
Aethea shrugged. “How does anyone come by anything in the Underground? Things are stolen, things are traded.”
“Can you take us to her?”
“A visit from the Ambassador of Arcarum won’t win me any favors,” she said.
“What about a visit from Barren Reed?”
“You’re not asking the most important question,” said Aethea, and the smirk on her face made Barren’s stomach clench. “Don’t you want to know where she is?”
The Underground was much like the Network. There were dealers spread all over Mariana. There was no limit to its geography, no limit to what it could provide. The only difference was the Underground dealt with illegal goods. “She is in Aryndel.”
Barren knew his face drained of color. Aryndel was out of the question. Barren would never ask Leaf to relive that part of his life. Where Fira, his love, had died in his arms, stabbed to death by filthy men. After that, Leaf had let himself be taken to Estrellas where he was imprisoned. What horrors he faced there, Barren had never heard, but for some reason, he didn’t imagine it was anywhere near the pain he’d felt losing Fira.
“No,” said Barren. “We can’t go there. We won’t go there.”
“You seem to perceive correctly that it is not safe,” she said. “Take some comfort in knowing that you’ll hardly stand out. You’ll be among others who are sinners just like you.”
“I will not take my crew there,” said Barren. “Bring this Sabine here.”
“Bring her here? To Arcarum? I highly doubt my supplier will accept an invitation to the ambassador’s mansion.”
“And I could not risk her here,” said Cove. “You’ve all overstayed your welcome.”
It didn’t feel right. Going to Conn where his father had died had been hard for him. He couldn’t imagine Leaf’s grief. Or the thought of forcing him to relive Fira’s death. The Elf was so quiet about his past. He bottled things up tight. Would a visit to Aryndel merely set him off? Barren didn’t want to find out.
“If the supplier is selling the weapons or this King’s Gold, she must be stopped,” this time it was Leaf who spoke. “We will go to Aryndel.”
Barren turned on the Elf. “No, Leaf”
<
br /> He smiled at the pirate, and Barren could tell something had changed in the Elf’s eyes. They burned with both grief and fury.
“We’ll go,” he said evenly.
And Barren didn’t argue.
“Very well,” said Cove. “I will make arrangements.” He looked at Aethea pointedly. “Need I remind you, if you lead us astray, you will pay the price?”
“You threaten death as if you think I fear it.”
“I’m not threatening a peaceful death,” he said. “If you betray us, I’ll ensure you die the same death my brethren did.”
She glared at him, her lips thin. They turned their backs to her and left.
***
It was late, but there was light under Cove’s study door, so she knocked. There was a pause and then he opened the door. He was still pale, but his eyes were lively.
“Larkin,” he said and bid her to enter.
The room was empty and warm. She turned to face him and he closed the door.
“He wants the compass in two weeks,” she said. “What can I do?”
“I’ve recently learned Barren is no longer in possession of the compass,” said Cove. “Aethea Moore took it from him at the ball and it was confiscated. It is now in Tetherion’s possession.”
Now what would she do? Barren had not told her this, though there had not been time. She hadn’t seen him since their encounter in the woods.
“What am I to do now?”
“The only thing you can do,” said Cove. “Go to Maris.”
Larkin’s eyes widened. “But that would mean betraying Barren. And what would I do there? Take back the compass just to offer it to Ben?”
“Barren must think you’ve betrayed him in order for this to work,” said Cove. “Go to Maris where you have stronger ties. Reestablish yourself as a noblewoman among your family, and discover why this compass is so important.”
“Returning to Maris is not so simple,” she said. Though she’d told Ben otherwise, he had been right. No one would believe her, least of all the twins and the king.
“It will be,” said Cove. “Your father has left the door wide open for you. All you must do to gain Tetherion’s trust is return with some secret that benefits him. Something that shows your loyalty to the crown.”