by Gwynn White
A hiss from Grigor quickly suppressed. “The schoolroom, sire.” Grigor’s heart skipped a beat as he waited for more on the strange books.
But Lukan turned on Meka. “And you? What do you know of Dmitri?”
A shrug from Meka. “Nothing. But I’ll ask Arkady to teach us about him, if that would make you happy.”
Tao grimaced at Meka’s ill-timed flippancy. It was troubling how much Meka loathed Lukan—and how quick he was to show it.
“Be careful, Prince Meka.” Lukan’s voice was threatening in its silkiness. “You would not want anything to befall you or your tutor.”
Meka’s fists bunched. “I did not know seeking out knowledge could cause anything to befall either of us. But I will remind Arkady of that next time he asks me to write an essay. Especially the twenty-page ones.”
Lukan locked eyes with Meka, a battle of wills Tao knew only Lukan would win. He took a step forward to intervene but caught a pearlescent flash out the corner of his eye.
Dmitri stood at his side.
Tao sank back and watched the duel between his brother and his son.
Without breaking contact, Lukan pointed at the two guardsmen who had accompanied the boys into the room. They stood respectfully at the door. “Come here. Both of you.”
The men bowed and shuffled forward.
Eyes still locked on Meka’s, Lukan said to Morass, “Prince Meka needs to learn what we are capable of. He needs a lesson in respect. Teach him.”
Meka’s eyes swept across to Morass in time to see him raise a hand axe from behind his back. The blond boy cried out, but that didn’t stop Morass axing the first and then the second guardsman in the head.
Meka’s face blanched as brains and blood splattered across his chest and face. The men slumped to the floor. But it was on an unseeing eyeball lying on the carpet that Meka fixated. That, and the guilt that seared him.
In his horror, Meka was convinced he had killed two men, just as surely as if he had wielded the axe.
Unable to bear that his son should be burdened with undeserved guilt for murder, Tao lurched forward.
But before he could burst from the fourth dimension, Dmitri grabbed him.
“Congratulations, Tao. The lesson we set out to impart has been taught and learned. Your sons now understand their adversary. That is the first lesson in knowing how to defeat him.” Dmitri took Tao’s arm and pulled him away from Lukan’s office. “In time, we will teach them about Felix. But right now they need space to absorb what has been taught. And you need perspective to see it was needed. Winter. The start of it. That is when you will see them again.”
Tao didn’t have the strength to resist as Dmitri pulled him along. Also, he knew enough about Dmitri to know that the seer, who would clearly stop at nothing to see his curse fulfilled, would not allow him to linger.
“You knew this would happen,” Tao said.
“Aye. That I did.”
“And yet you let Lukan kill two innocent men in front of my children? Why?”
“That is what I wish you to ponder in the coming months, while your sons serve out their sentence.”
“There will be more punishment?” Tao asked, aghast. Wasn’t witnessing—and being blamed for—the death of two men punishment enough?
“Indeed. A very cruel punishment. But they will only have themselves to blame for it.”
Tao closed his eyes and sobbed. A wrenching sound accompanied by no tears, it brought him no relief.
Dmitri had been right all along. He wasn’t ready to see his loved ones suffer. Perhaps he never would be.
Dmitri seemed to soften. “Years of neglect and confinement have weakened the bond between your sons. With just each other’s company for so long, their brotherhood is brittle. Lukan can easily divide them, and divided, they will fail. Everything I am allowing to happen is designed to pull them together. They need to be one in purpose, one in determination if they are to win. If it takes some pain and sacrifice to achieve that, then so be it. You should know by now, nothing gets in the way of fulfilling my promise to overthrow this dynasty.”
Tao pulled himself together. “What is your plan for my sons?”
“Felix promised to give Meka to Axel. As our ally, it is our task to help him achieve that.”
That made no sense. Why would Felix give Axel Meka? And didn’t that divide Tao’s boys—the very thing Dmitri claimed to be working to avoid?
“The reason Felix has done this is simple. He wants to con Axel into believing he will free Nicholas,” Dmitri said, clearly reading Tao’s thoughts. “In reality, Felix still hopes Nicholas will succumb in that cell.”
Tao’s mouth dropped. “I thought Felix is on our side!”
Dmitri snorted. “Then you are naïve. Felix supports the side that supports Felix. But who knows? In time, he may see the light.”
Tao didn’t doubt that Dmitri knew the outcome of Felix’s fate, just as he knew the seer would never reveal it.
“Until then, we use him,” Dmitri added. “And, as it so happens, it serves us to have Meka sent to Axel.”
Confusion blazed through Tao. “But you said my sons were not to be divided?”
“Did I?” The corner of Dmitri’s lip hooked up in a smile.
Tao waved his arms in frustration. “Just seconds ago, you said they were to be one in purpose, one in determination, to win.”
“Aye. Spend the autumn pondering on how we are to achieve that.”
Chapter 25
Lukan watched his nephews leave the room. He glanced down at the dead guardsmen and grimaced. All these years on, he still hated the sight of blood, but enduring this affront in his office was a small price to pay if it kept his heirs in check. Nicholas had torn out Morass’s eye. Who knew what his heirs would do if inspired to revolt?
Felix stood and gestured to Morass. “Low-born, get rid of these bodies.”
Morass bobbed a bow and hoisted the first body, and then the second, over his shoulders. Bowed under the weight, he left the room.
“Sire, I will send for a maid to clean the mess.” Felix pulled out his informa.
Lukan held up his hand to stop him. “Wait. Find the princes. I want to hear their reactions.” In truth, he hoped to hear them talking about whom it was they met with in the forest. He suspected it was Dmitri, but suspecting wasn’t enough. If he was to guard himself against them—especially that insolent Meka—he had to know what they were learning about the curse.
“Shock and dismay would be their reaction, I would imagine,” Felix said, riffling through screens. “You mentioned Dmitri. Any reason for that, sire?”
An image of Meka and Grigor staggering down a palace passage flared into the air above the device.
It pleased Lukan to see Meka’s ashen, sweaty face. The young rebel hung on his brother’s arm as if his legs could not bear his weight.
Unfortunately, neither spoke.
Lukan turned to Felix. “I know Dmitri has visited with them. Although I have spent nights watching them in their bedchamber, I am yet to learn what the seer is telling them.”
Felix pursed his lips. “I keep a close scrutiny, too, and I’ve heard nothing out of the ordinary, sire.”
As one, they both turned to watch Lukan’s heirs.
They had reached the stairs to the turret, where they lived.
Once in the privacy of the stairwell, Grigor said, “Don’t worry, Meks, I will get you upstairs. Then we can clean you up.”
Lukan noticed for the first time that Meka was splattered with gore. The rebel didn’t reply.
Grigor’s voice softened. “I know. It’s horrific. I wonder if Tao knew it would happen?”
Tao?
Impossible.
Still, Lukan gasped with shock. He leaned in to hear more, but a shadow peeled away from the wall and stepped in front of the boys.
Kestrel.
Lukan swore, cursing her for her timing. As far as he knew, this was the first time she had approached them. Why did it
have to be today, of all days, when he was about to hear what he longed to know?
Her pale blue eyes widened. “Meka, is that blood on your clothing?”
Meka seemed to look straight through her.
Grigor clicked his tongue. “This isn’t a good time.” He tried to push past her with Meka.
Kestrel held up her hand to stop them. “I asked a question. I expect an answer. What have you boys been doing that Meka looks so terrible?” She sniffed them both. “You stink, both of you. You are Chenayan princes. You’re supposed to set an example for the rest of the palace. It’s time you stopped smearing fish guts on yourselves. You should also start bathing more often, so you don’t look like disgraces to the family.”
Even Lukan rolled his eyes at her ineptitude.
“Sure,” Grigor snapped. “Fish guts. Now, if you don’t mind, please let us pass.”
Kestrel waved her hand in front of her nose. “Under the circumstances, that is not a bad idea.” She stood aside. “Come see me when you’re clean.”
“Dragons will crap bricks before that happens,” Meka mumbled, speaking for the first time.
Grigor hoicked his brother’s arm over his shoulder and started up the stairs. “Tao will be back,” he murmured. “He won’t abandon us. Not after this. He’ll take us fishing again. Just like he did all summer. We’ll be far away from here, and everything will be fine.”
Meka wrenched his arm away and turned on his brother. “And how do you figure that? Is Morass going to tell him? Or Felix? Maybe Lukan?”
Grigor bit his lip. “I just know he will be back.”
“Then you are an idiot.” Meka staggered up the stairs and vanished into his apartment.
Grigor slumped back against the wall and closed his eyes. “Please, Tao, if you can hear me, come back. We need you like never before.”
Lukan grabbed the informa from Felix, tossed it onto the floor, and crushed it under his boot.
“My brother!” he raged. “Working to undermine me. After everything I did for him, for Lynx, his horrible children—this is how he repays me?”
When Felix didn’t reply, Lukan rounded on him. “And you say nothing!”
Felix pursed his lips. “I wonder if the princes know Tao is dead? Grigor seems to have an inkling. But Meka—” Without asking for permission, he sat on Lukan’s sofa.
Lukan was too angry to object.
“Why else would they discuss the possibility of Tao knowing what happened here today?”
Lukan forced himself to calm down enough to consider Felix’s words. He sat, too. “So you think it is possible that they don’t know? In that case, what is Tao teaching them?”
Felix steepled his fingers. “Neither of them seemed to have any idea of who Dmitri is.”
Lukan had to agree with him. He stood. “And I intend to keep it that way. And if Grigor thinks he will ever leave that lake again, he’s mistaken.” He strode to his desk and searched for his informa. It wasn’t in its usual place. He sighed. “Felix, find Morass on your informa and tell him to see me.”
Felix pointed to the crushed device on the bloody carpet. “Can’t help you, sire. That was mine.”
Lukan swore and yanked open drawer after drawer in his desk. When he didn’t find an informa, he tossed the contents out onto the floor.
“May I suggest your pocket, sire?” Felix face remained expressionless, but Lukan clearly detected mild amusement in his uncle’s voice.
It irked him. “Don’t try me, Felix. The Burning is merely delayed, not canceled. Your wife could still find herself amongst the dead.”
Felix’s face blanched. “I merely try to assist, sire.”
Lukan turned his back on his Lord of the Household as he dug into his pocket for his informa. It had been there the whole time.
His hands shook like he was the drunk and not Kestrel. Tao’s coming had rattled him more than he could have imagined was possible. It had even made him hint to the fact that his heirs weren’t actually his sons. Hopefully, Felix hadn’t noticed that. Whatever happened in the future, he would staunchly deny ever slipping up.
He spoke into his informa. “Morass, as of right now, you are to assign two guardsmen to each of my heirs. Unless they are in their bedchamber, under the scrutiny of my cameras, they don’t even go to the commode without an armed guard.” He tossed the informa down onto the desk. “Tao will never get near them again.”
A rustle came from Felix’s side of the room, and Lukan turned to his uncle.
“Of course, sire. Guardsmen are bound to keep the dead away,” Felix said in a toneless voice.
Lukan refused to acknowledge that Felix could be right. To do so would mean he would never sleep peacefully again. Flushing Lynx from those mines with a Burning was absolutely imperative. And the sooner that happened, the better—before Tao corrupted his heirs.
Chapter 26
Curled up next to the door, Talon watched the light below the hole brighten. The sun was rising in the real world. The world that existed beyond the door. Beyond the impenetrable walls. Even beyond the drip he barely heard anymore.
He hadn’t slept well. He rarely did, but last night had been particularly bad. He had made the mistake of thinking on the number of scratch marks he’d made on the wall since his failed escape.
One hundred and seventy.
One hundred and seventy lines scratched into the rock, each one marking the moment when the light in his prison turned gray. And that didn’t count the days—unknown how many—that had passed before he had started marking off the days.
He wasn’t sure why he did it.
Perhaps he needed those marks to tell him that time existed. That he existed in time.
No one had come to rescue him. They never would. He either had to get out by himself or he would die here.
Death wasn’t an option. At least, not yet. Not while he could still breathe, think, dream of freedom—and work at picking away more blocks from the walls.
He had removed another twenty blocks. But no matter where he dug, he’d hit a solid mass of the hardest cement he could imagine. It didn’t matter how hard or how long he clawed at that cement; it barely flaked.
In the face of his despair, he hummed music.
But he had to keep trying, in between resting his ragged fingers. He needed his fingers for other things, too. Like climbing the walls. Every day he climbed, using the nooks and crannies in the blocks as foot and handholds. He knew every inch of his cell, including the ceiling that he once couldn’t reach.
Sadly, it held no mysteries for him.
Sometimes in his despair and loneliness he almost called Dmitri, but the squelch of Morass’s eyeball in his hand always drove those thoughts away. Dmitri brought his curse with him, the one that said that Talon had to overthrow the monsters.
Just staying alive was a challenge. How could the seer possibly think Talon could destroy an empire?
“Wise decision, Nicholas. I have tens of thousands of monster soldiers. I call them guardsmen. Like Morass, they feel no pain or fear. They obey my will even if it means losing an eye, a limb, a life. They will not permit you near me, let alone give you a chance to kill me.”
Talon refused to listen to Lukan. He stood. Even though the gray light hadn’t reached its farthest spot, he strode to the wall with his time markings.
“What do you have on your side?” Lukan demanded, ignoring Talon’s wish to ignore the intrusion. “A seer whom you don’t even trust. Allies who couldn’t even be bothered to come and look for you.”
Talon grabbed a chunk of cement off the floor. With all his strength he lashed out at the wall. The cement crumbled.
“Where is Axel? Why didn’t he come for you? At the cottage, your mother said to run and that Axel would find you. But he didn’t come. He’s some ally, isn’t he?”
Talon didn’t want to admit that he’d also wondered why Axel had never come for him, but he couldn’t stop the thought invading his mind. To cover up his weakness, he
ferreted through the rubble for another piece of cement.
“You are alone in the world, Nicholas. No one cares about you and your curse. No one will help you fight me and my monsters.”
Talon dropped to his knees and clutched his head, wishing the voice would go away, that it would stop regurgitating his worst fears—his worst nightmares—to him.
But of course, Lukan didn’t stop. He never did.
“It would be better if you stayed where you are rather than trying to fight me.”
I can’t stay here, Talon finally thought back in defense. If I do, you will win. I might not be able to destroy you, but I can’t let you win by destroying me.
The gray light reached its farthest spot.
Talon groaned and groped for a solid piece of cement. When he found one, he stood and made his mark.
One hundred and seventy-one.
Perhaps today would be the day he found something other than that other wall behind his diggings.
Chapter 27
Rifle clenched in his hands, Axel crouched down behind a man-sized ice crystal stalagmite and peered out into the darkness. He smiled in satisfaction. As planned, Lynx, Clay, and Princess Anna—King Chad’s daughter—had yet to arrive at the site Clay had chosen for Lynx’s final test. If she passed, Heron would assign her to a platoon in the morning.
Clay had devised a series of obstacles Lynx had to overcome before “killing” Anna. Axel was on Anna’s team in this war game, and it was his job to make sure his teammate survived Lynx’s stalking. That was why he had arrived early, so he could set up a route for Anna follow to escape her hunter.
For Axel, the purpose of today’s exercise was not to prove that his wife could stalk and kill prey or, once enlisted into a platoon, Chenayan guardsmen. After her raider training and years of survival in the forest, that wasn’t in doubt.
His purpose was far more important: He needed Lynx to understand how impossible it would be to quickly train Nicholas as a full-fledged general to lead the alliance. To that end, the route he had chosen for Anna made it easy for him to defend his teammate and almost impossible for Lynx to attack. His Lynxie would need her strategic wits about her if she stood any hope of passing today’s test.