“Do you recognise that horse?” Evangeline asked, feeling her stomach drop as she looked up to Glais and saw his reaction. Baxter had volunteered to teach her to ride. Hours alone in the stable meant that Evangeline would recognise his horse anywhere. She could not imagine why Darius would be here, and still with no word from home explaining everything that had come to pass recently. Glais’ lips were in a firm line, and she noticed that his hand was on the hilt of his sword that hung from his side.
She looked back to see the unmistakable red chestnut horse that belonged to the youngest Prince of Braykith was approaching at full gallop with only her brother at the saddle. Evangeline wondered if she needed to restrain Glais as he had done her, and knew such an image would be humorous and not practical.
A gathering of curious people was coming together at the gate. Through the people came the soldiers of Braykith, but Darius did not slow down or look behind him. He spotted Evangeline near the back of the crowd, but he did nothing to draw attention to that fact either. Only a few meters from where the men had gathered, Darius stopped suddenly. With the lightest of commands, the horse had obeyed him as if she too understood what had come to pass. Coming down off the horse as elegantly as he could, Darius was quick to put his hands up to show he was not armed and slid to his knees. “I am Darius of Crimah, and I seek an audience with your King.” He demanded in such a voice that Evangeline had never heard before.
All at once he was surged upon, but the soldiers seemed confused as to what to do with him now Darius was their captive. Before control could be found, another horse cleared the tree line and came towards the group. Grant was hunched over but stayed on top of the beast. His appearance had people talking, a gasping shock followed by quick, loud whispers filled Evangeline’s head, and she lost her focus quickly.
Grant’s dismount was not as gentle as Darius’, and he crumbled under his own weight. The Braykith men who were not keeping Darius on the ground went to Grant to help him find his feet.
He realised that the scene was becoming out of control and rumours were flowing faster than the truth. The truth was certainly a less entertaining tale, and it seemed that people were quick to forget that all that had happened was Darius arriving in Baxter’s horse, and Grant following in behind looking injured. Glais took a moment to make a quick assessment of what appeared before him and did the only thing his father would approve of.
“Take Darius to a cell, and take Grant to the infirmary.” He commanded and quickly he was obeyed. The crowd only parted enough to give the men a direct path back towards the castle, but the gap did not stay open for long, and Glais hated to think what stories would be circulating by the end of the evening. This needed to be dealt with quickly, and Glais knew it was important not only to the Kingdom but for Crimah as well.
Evangeline grabbed his arm, but Glais did not change his mind on what was to be carried out. He sighed, gingerly brushing the hair from her face and letting his fingers linger. She was so distracted by Darius that Evangeline did not seem to notice he was touching her at all. “I know you do not understand this Evangeline, but I need to show that the crown is still in command here. That the wrongdoer will receive the adequate punishment, and we are suspicious and ready for action against any who may have played a role in the disappearances here.”
“He is not involved.” She wanted to yell, but instead her voice was a hissing sound that Glais wish he never needed to witness.
“I know that,” Glais said. “I am only putting him in the dungeons because I cannot have him unsupervised.” He was aware that she was angry at the demands and what people already believed about her brother but Glais could not nothing about rumours. “I will speak with Father, and we will talk with Darius as soon as we can,” Glais promised. “I will be ensured he is erased of all suspicions.”
“But if you do not like what he has to say?” Evangeline stopped, curling in on herself as she tried to see where her brother was now but the crowd kept him hidden. “Sable, come with me. Suddenly I do not wish to go to the market.” And with nothing more to be said, she turned and walked away, leaving Glais knowing he had somehow taken steps forward and backwards in his attempt to woo his wife.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Evangeline tried to remind herself that Glais had promised to make this process efficient and fair for Darius, but she was yet to see him act on that promise. Evangeline had been waiting in her room, pacing quietly, and still, Glais had not returned to speak with her. Evangeline tried to do as she had been told and not to act impulsively, but Darius was her brother. He was the last remaining piece of her family. Evangeline knew that once more she would not serve as people expected, and she hoped she could be forgiven for her actions.
Evangeline walked down the stairs towards the dungeons as quickly as she could out of fear of being discovered and turned away. In her hand, she carried a basket which was covered in a black cloth. She was attempting to appear as Braykith as possible, and Evangeline believed that she had never worn so much black in her life. Her hair had been flattened by Wick into the acceptable curtains all people must wear. From head to toe, Evangeline wore different shades of black and ensured even her jewels did not have any of the Crimah red in them. She may seem impulsive, but this presentation to the world was carefully constructed.
She believed that Darius was innocent, but Evangeline was not blind to the circumstances surrounding his arrival. Evangeline would not be called a traitor to her husband for rumour's sake. Leaving Sable behind in her chambers, Evangeline had only made a single detour before going to the dungeons. Evangeline had quickly stopped by the kitchens for some bread since she was certain her brother would hungry.
It seemed like a lifetime had passed since Darius had appeared riding Baxter’s horse, and yet Glais had done nothing to help him. Instead, Glais and his father were dedicating themselves to interviewing Grant, and all the while her brother was left in the underground cells. Evangeline would not abandon her brother and let fate decide how the remainder of his life would come to pass.
That was not her only motivation for a visit. As she came closer, the corridors strangely deserted, Evangeline also wanted Darius to know that coming here was not a mistake. She might not hold immense power, but he did have one friend within this city. Stepping towards the lone guard, she smiled. “I have come to speak with Darius.” She thought being polite would be the best course of action. She was prepared to make demands should the guard ignore her.
To her surprise, the guard did not even question what laid in the basket that she carried. Instead, he nodded once almost like her presence was expected and gestured her to follow him as he escorted her to her brothers’ cell. Having never come down here before, Evangeline was unsure what to expect, and while none of the doors they passed appeared close to the luxury of the entranceways within the kingdom, Evangeline was surprised on how nice they did appear.
“Give me a shout when you are ready to leave.” The guard said and closed the door behind Evangeline. Inside the stone room was a desk and a candle, which was lit but it still took time for Evangeline’s eyes to adjust to the dark. A low cot and blanket sat to one side, and Evangeline saw that there was straw on the floors in an attempt to keep the room warm, but the straw was not fresh and had been neglected. She did not stray far from the entrance.
Darius stood in the clothes he had been wearing on his arrival, not restrained in any way but the shock of all that had happened still sat firmly in his eyes. Looking around her, Evangeline could not think that it was merely due to Braykith. Whatever Darius had been experiencing back home for the past year had been nothing compared to what he had seen, or done, recently.
“Are you allowed to be here?” Darius asked although he suspected the answer to that question.
“I brought you some food. I wasn’t sure how well you have been fed.” She offered the basket, but Darius refused to take it until finally, she answered him. “No one said I was not allowed down here, and the guard
did not seem at all alarmed by my presence.”
Darius nodded and reached for the basket. Evangeline removed the bread and gave it to him. “I do not want you taking risks for me Eva. I knew what would happen when I got here. I am surprised by how comfortable it really is.” Darius bit into the bread and closed his eyes as he chewed. “You are being fed well here.” He tried to joke, but Evangeline would not let him distract her.
“What is happening back home Darius?” she asked him. Even referring to Crimah as home had her paranoid, and Evangeline looked back to the door to see if she was being spied upon or was it simply paranoia that made her skin crawl. She shivered but ignored the goosebumps that were starting to appear on her arms. “Baxter left for Crimah only days after I arrived back here, but we have not been given any information on what he discovered.”
He chewed, savouring the taste of the bread before he tried to answer. He also needed the moment to try and sort through his memories and create a narrative. His own mind was racing between moments. The prisoner under the manor, and then the confrontation with Baxter were so jarring. He coughed into his hand and sighed before he started. “After you left, Father became worse. He was more confident than ever before that Braykith had become our enemy. Glais attacking him in the forest was proof of their betrayal.”
“Glais saved me,” Evangeline interjected, and refused to get into the dynamics of how that made her feel at this time. Just when she believed she could move past their differences. Evangeline could never tell if there was a good deed that would excuse his dietary needs. “Glais was not the one to start that,” Evangeline told Darius, keeping her thoughts to herself on her personal feelings. She had never been close to Darius, but the curse made it impossible for Evangeline to open up to him now. “Did Barret explain to you the events?”
Darius shook his head after a moment of hesitation. He had stumbled over Evangeline use of his father’s full name. “We did not do much talking near the end.” He admitted quietly.
Evangeline was surprised since it seemed that all Barret had done during her youth was ignore her in favour of Darius. “Father had taken me into the woods and was willing to sacrifice my life for Mother’s return.”
Darius nodded. “Then Father did not kill Mother?” he asked.
“I do not think so.” Evangeline sighed, hating herself for not being able to have a more definitive answer to that question. It seemed unlikely but Barret was so far removed from the quietly powerful man she had known her entire life that she was not willing to exclude anything. “I believe she died sometime during the evening.” It was the story she wanted to understand the most. “Barret had set a fire that could be seen from my window and would grab the attention of the best soldiers. He took us both to a clearing and summoned the dryad.”
“A dryad?” Darius asked, and Evangeline hated that there were so many secrets between them, and she felt they had no time to discuss them.
“We can discuss those details later.” She reached out and squeezed his hand, a promise that they would indeed have a chance to talk leisurely soon. It was a false hope, and Evangeline suspected that Darius knew that. She could not offer him a date for his freedom, or even if he would ever be free from these dungeons again. “The dryad told Father they could not do as he had asked, and he grew violent. If Glais had not discovered us when he did, then I doubt very much that I would be here now.”
Darius only nodded, and his complete acceptance of her version of the truth gave her reason to pause.
“What has Father done since I left?” Evangeline asked her brother. “I thought I would have some resistance in my story.”
“He raged through the manor and ordered all of the Braykith riders to be kept prisoner and their horses housed securely in the stables. He took your ladies, and they were also held in the prisons.” Darius paused, what came to follow was disturbing to speak of. “I did not witness much of it,” Darius admitted to her. “But I heard things while he tortured them. First, it was the women. Father believed they would be easy to break, but when they died still claiming Braykith’s innocence, he turned to the men.”
“Did any of them survive?” Evangeline asked, her stomach in knots as she tried to understand the final moments Darius had been forced to witness in Crimah, and how could her father ever do such sins against their closest allies.
Darius shook his head. “I had been kept in my room and barely given enough food and drink for the day. Father would not let me out unless he commanded it, and those were very few and far between. He only let me out during those times he was in prison with the Braykith people. He wanted me to know what he was doing.” Darius got quiet and stopped even seeing the bread he had been holding. “I once believed he meant for me to die in that room,” Darius confessed, and Evangeline offered him a gentle squeeze of affection as she held his hand. Darius squeezed her hand in return.
“Just as I believed I would never know freedom as I once did, Father came to me and told me that I needed to see his work. He said that I needed to understand why this torture was so important.” Darius did not share that he believed his father was hoping to find someone who would join him in the pleasure of a drawn out kill. His father’s name had already been tarnished enough, and at this point, it was all just speculation.
“There was a man,” Darius forced himself past his doubts. “James I believe Father said, and he was barely alive when I was obliged to look upon him. He was the last of the Braykith visitors, and Father thought that witnessing the death of so many of his own brethren would give James more reason to speak the truth.” Darius looked down at the bread, but he did not eat it. His stomach was turning over itself. He would never forget the room he had been forced to witness.
“Darius, what happened?” Evangeline gently urged him.
Darius cleared his throat gently. “I fled.” He wiped at the tear that slid down his cheek with the back of his hand. “I escaped from the dungeons, and the manor. I did not stop for anything, not even my horse. I fled, and I accidently escape right into the hiding soldiers. Baxter tackled me to the ground.”
Evangeline tried her best not to shake her brother when he said the prince's name. There had been no news from Baxter or any of the men he had left with. She was not sure if she could stomach the things that Darius had witnessed, and Evangeline was less confident that she was ready for what remained of his story, but she needed to hear it. “Darius, what happened when Baxter found you?” She asked carefully. Evangeline knew that she would not find peace until it was confirmed.
“We tussled a little, but once my story was confirmed he gave me his horse to aide my escape. Baxter told me to ride for as far as the horse will take me and then to wait for them. He promised to come find me after that.” Darius shook his head. “I only discovered when his second in command found me two days later. Baxter and Father are both dead.”
Evangeline gasped and fell against the wall, unable to support herself. “Are you certain?” She asked, but she knew the question was useless. Darius would not lie about such things, and even less likely was for him to act this convincingly. What he said was as he believed, but Evangeline struggled still to accept it. She struggled to breathe above the stench of the room, and Evangeline felt faint as she recalled Darius’ words once more.
“As I was told, there was a confrontation between Baxter and Father.” Darius paused, and Evangeline’s eyes finally focused on his. “In truth, and I doubt his own loyal man would say this lie, Baxter got lucky and Father was ignorant. Baxter killed him.” There was no emotion in Darius as he reported the acts that finished his father’s life. He found it hard to feel much of anything and was waiting for the time where he will finally discover the emotions that should gather with such news. “It was on Baxter’s orders that the men went to Crimah, intending to collect the horses and bear witness to the deaths in the dungeon.” Darius paused, picking at the bread he held but no longer eating it. Small flakes fell to the cell floor, but Evangeline reached out to
stop him.
It was not for fear of wasting food or bringing rats into his cell over the scraps. Evangeline did not wish to encourage him to continue because Baxter would always comment on her own habit of tearing food apart and never eating it. The memory was too much for her at this moment, and too personal to share with Darius.
“I was told by Grant that the rebels attacked,” Darius said. “Men and women dropped from the trees, silent in their manoeuvres. Even their chieftain was unnaturally agile although he was quite a large man, and Baxter was dead before anyone realised what had come to pass.” Still, Darius’ voice lacked the emotion that should come with delivering such news, and yet Evangeline did not fault him for it.
“Has Glais or Quintus come to see you?” Evangeline asked, her voice breathless and betraying how close she was to tears.
Darius shook his head. “I was placed here and forgotten.” He went back to eating the bread and Evangeline pulled herself up so she stood on her own two feet. Her stance wasn’t strong, but she did not fall again. “Do you suppose they will believe me?” Darius asked her, his voice quiet, and Evangeline did not blame him for his tone.
“As long as your story matches that of their own trusted man, then they will.” Evangeline tried to sound certain for her brother’s sake. “Darius, can I ask why you came here?”
Darius shrugged, his shoulders sinking as he felt the doubt creep in again. He had fought with the decision on the trails, and now he was not sure if he had a good reason for seeking out the protection from Braykith after what his father had done. “I had nowhere else to go.” Darius looked at Evangeline and rejected her when she attempted to console him. “I wish I had something better to say about my motives, but that is the truth, Eva.”
“The war that had brought Braykith and Crimah together but during the same actions it had ensured there were no other allies that Crimah could rely upon,” Darius said.
Delusions of Loyalty (The Braykith Series Book 2) Page 26