The Return of Absent Souls (After The Rift Book 6)

by C. J. Archer

  Dane rounded on me. “Josie!”

  I turned to face Lord Claypool. I couldn’t bear to look at Dane. His face was contorted with disbelief and anger. I gave Lord Claypool a small nod of reassurance.

  He seemed to understand. “I’ll leave you alone to discuss it further,” he said, rising.

  “There’s nothing to discuss,” Dane growled.

  “I’m going to suggest in our next meeting tomorrow that we send King Phillip a letter proposing marriage between you and Princess Illiriya.”

  Dane glared at me, but when I said nothing, he strode off to the window again where he remained.

  Lord Claypool’s gaze softened as he regarded Dane’s rigid back and shoulders. “You’ll make a good king, Dane. But if you want to be a great king, you must be selfless. Glancia must always come first.” He gave me a flat smile. “Thank you for understanding, Josie. And I’m sorry it has to be this way. I truly am.”

  He left and closed the door, leaving behind a silence so profound it was suffocating. My breaths became shallow, my skin hot and tight. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought myself ill.

  I looked up to see Dane standing with his back to the window, his arms folded, and fury imprinted into every frown line. We needed to talk, but I wasn’t sure if I could reason with him when his mood was so dark.

  Chapter 11

  It felt as though we were back to those early days of our relationship when I didn’t know how to act around him. Should I hold him or keep my distance? Should I be kind or cold?

  In the end, it was Dane who made the decision for me. He strode towards me and clasped my face in his hands. “We don’t have to do as they say.” His eyes had that haunted, lost look again, like they used to in the early weeks of his memory loss. “We can get married today. Now. Then there’s nothing they can do about it.”

  He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door.

  I planted my feet to the floor and resisted. “Stop, Dane. Stop making this more difficult than it already is.”

  He rounded on me. “Difficult? There is nothing difficult about my feelings for you. They’re very simple to understand. I love you. I want to marry you.” He lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “That’s it.”

  “It’s not it. You know how it must be, so stop resisting the inevitable. It’ll be easier on us both if we accept—”

  “I will not accept anything else except marriage to you. I will not accept anyone other than you.”

  His words may have been spoken with a harsh edge, but they were the most wonderful things to my ears. Wonderful yet painful. My heart crumpled. My face too as tears spilled down my cheeks.

  Dane drew me into his arms, enveloping me in a fierce embrace. His heart raced, his blood pounded, and I could feel the emotion vibrating through him. He held me for a long moment, stroking my hair, my neck, kissing the top of my head.

  I wished it could end there. I wished I didn’t have to say more or look into his eyes again and tell him that he must marry someone else, but this was not over. With a shuddery breath, I pushed him away and stepped back.

  He stepped forward, and I stepped back again. He searched my face and mustn’t have liked what he saw because his frown deepened. “We don’t have to do what they say,” he repeated.

  “We aren’t doing it because they say so, Dane. We’re doing it because Glancia needs an alliance with Vytill.”

  He shook his head over and over, his gaze continuing to search mine as if he were looking for the woman who loved him. She was not gone, but she had to hide for now.

  “Don’t do this to me,” he murmured. “To us.”

  I steadied my breathing and met his gaze with my own. “Do you remember when Leon was king, and the subject of his marriage came up?”

  “What of it?”

  “You agreed that he should marry one of the princesses, either Illiriya or the Dreen one, when she came of age. You said then that it was something he had to do for the sake of Glancia. Why should he have to marry a princess but not you? How is this situation any different?”

  “Because he wasn’t already in love with someone,” he growled.

  I backed up to the table and perched on the edge, my fingers clutching the tabletop. It was so hard to say these things and look him in the eye, to tell him it was for the best when my heart screamed in protest.

  “Don’t pretend you don’t love me,” Dane said hotly. “Because I know you do.”

  I lowered my gaze to the floor, unable to stop my tears again. I didn’t even bother trying to deny it.

  “I know you think you’re doing the best thing for the realm,” he went on, gentler. “But how is it the best thing when I can’t be a good man without you, let alone a good king?”

  My head snapped up. “Of course you can.”

  “You don’t know that,” he said.

  “And you don’t know otherwise.”

  He grunted. “I somehow doubt that being raised as the heir to two kingdoms by a cold elitist like Yelena made me considerate.”

  I swiped at my damp eyes to see him better. “Dane, you are considerate. You’re kind and compassionate. You’ll make a great king, with or without your memory. It’s in your nature to protect those weaker than you. That has nothing to do with me.”

  He jerked his head away but not before I saw his eyes moisten. “Don’t you dare suggest you’ll be my mistress.”

  “I wasn’t going to.”

  I didn’t tell him that I would leave Mull forever. If he was going to reside at the palace with another woman, I didn’t want to be anywhere near it.

  He strode to the door and pulled it open. “I don’t know if I want to be king,” he said over his shoulder. “So far, I hate everything about it. But I do know one thing. I don’t want to do it without you. I will marry you, Josie.”

  Meg’s sympathetic ear was just the tonic my frayed nerves needed. That and the cup of wine her mother put in front of me.

  “I’ll give you another when you finish that,” she said, patting my shoulder.

  “It’s going to take more than wine for my heart to heal.” I gave her a grim smile. “But thanks anyway. You’ve been very good to me, Mistress Diver. I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve brought to your door.”

  She sighed. “At least you’ve brought guards as well. Their protection is a comfort.”

  “Dane’s protection is more of a comfort,” Meg added. “Now that he’s king, the Deerhorns won’t dare touch us.”

  “I wouldn’t count on that,” I said. “Besides, he’s not king yet.”

  The news I’d brought from the palace hadn’t been news at all to the Divers. Dane’s announcement had somehow reached Mull already and spread like fire through the village. The market buzzed with it that morning, and Meg claimed the villagers were enthused about the notion of Dane being their king.

  Her opinion was confirmed when Lyle and Mr. Diver returned home from work, an escort of two guards in tow. All four piled into the kitchen, their faces flushed, eyes bright and smiles on their faces.

  “It has already begun,” Lyle said, peering into the pot warming over the fire.

  “What has begun?” I asked.

  “A gathering in the village green. Everyone’s calling for the captain to be confirmed as king.” He punched me lightly on the arm in a rather awkward, not quite brotherly, way. “You’ll be queen, Josie.”

  I sighed.

  “Lyle!” Meg snapped. “Don’t be so insensitive.”

  Lyle frowned. “What’d I say wrong?”

  His mother handed him a bowl of stew. “Eat this and don’t talk.”

  Mr. Diver clamped a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Wise words to live by in a house full of women.”

  His wife and daughter both rolled their eyes.

  Mr. Diver accepted a bowl from his wife along with a kiss. “We’ll eat and run,” he said. “We don’t want to miss the rally in the green.”

  Mistress Diver frowned at him. “I don’t l
ike it. You should stay here.”

  “It’ll be peaceful,” Lyle said around a mouthful of stew. “It’s just all the villagers showing support for Dane.” He shrugged. “It’s our way of saying if the nobles don’t accept him then we won’t be happy. It’s likely no one important will listen, but we want to do it anyway.”

  Despite Mistress Divers’ protests, Meg and I returned to the green with the men, including the guards. The gathered crowd was nothing like the mob that had caused the riots in the days before we’d left Mull. While the faces were largely the same, the mood was entirely different. Back then, anger and frustration led them to become violent. Today, a sense of hope bolstered their cheers.

  Ingrid Swinson, standing on the edge of the crowd, spotted us and waved us over. “Josie! It’s so good to have you back.” She gave me a hug.

  At the sound of my name, those standing nearby turned around. They smiled and I received more hugs and congratulations. The response was quite different to the one I’d received from Sara mere days ago. Dane’s declaration continued to work its magic.

  “Isn’t this exciting?” Mistress Meekles said. “To think, I’ve met him.”

  “Is he as good as he seems, Josie?” Peggy asked.

  “He’ll make an excellent king,” I said. “But it’s not yet decided.”

  “We can still hope.” Peggy patted my hand. “Lucky you.”

  “Um…”

  “I remember him from the fire,” Peggy’s husband said. “Good man. Hard worker.”

  “And to think he’s going to be our new king!” Mrs. Meekles clapped. Those around us joined in and soon the rhythmic beat spread through the crowd.

  A chant of “Captain for King” started quietly near the front and built to a steady crescendo when it reached the back. It was interjected with whoops and cheers that would have been heard at the outskirts of the village itself. If Dane were here, he’d be embarrassed.

  It was something he would have to get used to. The people of Mull loved him.

  The cheers suddenly turned to jeers. I stood on my toes again but couldn’t see what was happening. Then several people around me shouted in anger. A woman screamed. The crowd moved as one, knocking into each other, pushing me until I was separated from Meg, Lyle and the guards.

  I could just make out Meg’s voice calling for me over the crowd’s shouts of anger.

  “Meg!” I called back as I was jostled further away.

  The crowd parted as a horse reared. Its hooves punctured the air, perilously close to cowering villagers. Someone tried to grab the reins, only to pull back when they recognized the rider.

  It was Lord Xavier, and he was glaring at me.

  Beside him was a man wearing the sheriff’s uniform. He sat on the saddle, one hand resting on his sword hilt, his thick brow protruding like a cliff over his eyes.

  “Disperse!” the sheriff shouted.

  “Why?” someone in the crowd shouted back. “We ain’t doing wrong!”

  “You are not allowed to gather in large numbers like this! A law was passed after the riots. Disperse!” he shouted again. “Or I will use force.”

  “This is a peaceful gathering!” someone cried.

  Lord Xavier drew his sword and pointed it at the speaker. “I recognize you. You work for my father.” He pointed the sword at another man. “And you rent one of our houses.”

  The man shrank back and the crowd swallowed him up. Some people moved away, muttering and shaking their heads. They were too afraid of the consequences if Lord Xavier recognized them. No one in Mull could afford to go against the Deerhorns. They controlled too much, and with the duke of Gladstow on their side, there was no way to overrule their authority.

  Lord Xavier rose up in the saddle. “Hear this! The former captain of the palace guards is a liar! A pretender! A traitor to Glancia!” His face reddened beneath his hat and a bead of sweat dripped down his hairline near his ear. “It is only a matter of time before his claim is disproved and he will have to face justice for the crime he has committed.” He sat again and raised his sword. He pointed it at me. A sneer stretched his lips into a thin gash. “Anyone who aligns themselves with the traitor will suffer the same fate as him.”

  The weight of the crowd’s stares pressed down on me, but it was that sneer that opened up a pit of despair in my stomach. I was grateful for Meg’s hand wrapping around mine and the guards, Lyle, and several others surrounding me. It was a comfort, yet it worried me too. They would be tainted by being associated with me.

  We hurried back to the Divers’ house through streets shrouded in dusk’s eerie glow. No one said a word until we piled into the kitchen.

  “Something must be done about them,” Meg exploded. “The Deerhorns should not be allowed to break up a peaceful gathering like that. Where will it end? Can we not have fairs anymore? Is the market considered an unlawful gathering? Did they even tell anyone about this new law?”

  “No,” her father said darkly. “But they can do what they want.”

  “They shouldn’t be allowed! That’s the point.”

  Lyle scoffed. “Who’s going to stop them? You?”

  Meg folded her arms and bit her lip.

  Mistress Diver glared at Lyle and shooed him out of the kitchen. He rolled his eyes but dutifully left. The guards followed him.

  Meg used the extra space to pace the floor, hands on hips. “This is wrong. It’s not fair. Without a king, we have no one to turn to, no one we can appeal to.”

  “Wait for Dane to come to the throne,” Mistress Diver said.

  “That could take weeks. Months! The Deerhorns can do what they want in the meantime. Besides, Dane’s going to be busy with running the kingdom. We need to be able to appeal to someone running the village!”

  Her father sat at the table with a heavy sigh. “We can’t appeal to the governor. Doing so will put an even bigger target on our heads.”

  Mistress Diver sat too. She looked as though the stuffing had been knocked out of her.

  Her husband placed his hand over hers and gave her a flat smile. “What I want to know is, why did Lord Xavier come at all? The sheriff could have dispersed the crowd without his lordship’s presence. If it had turned nasty, he could have been in danger.”

  “He was preening,” Meg spat in disgust. “He wanted to show us how powerful he is. He thinks he can’t be touched.”

  “I wonder if his mother knew he was there,” Mistress Diver said.

  “She must,” I said. “He wouldn’t do something as public as that without her approval.”

  Mr. Diver’s words got me thinking, however. The sheriff could have handled the situation, so why was Lord Xavier there? Perhaps it was to put terror into the minds of the people, or blacken Dane’s name.

  Or perhaps he was meant to be seen. But why?

  Max.

  Max had taken a contingent of guards with him to fetch Brant from the Deerhorns’ clutches. Lord Deerhorn might not believe in magic, but his wife certainly did, and she was the dangerous one. She would not sit idly by while her plans were scuttled. Lord Xavier’s presence in the village was meant to make us think they weren’t going to bother trying to beat Max to get to Brant first. But that didn’t mean they hadn’t sent a small army in his stead.

  “I’d better go,” I told Meg and her parents. “It’s getting dark.” I said my goodbyes and Meg walked me to the door. I wouldn’t worry her with my theory. Not yet.

  She didn’t hear me when I bade her goodnight. She was still distracted by her own anger and frustration. “When this is over, and the Deerhorns have been put in their place by Dane, I hope the governor is forced to step down. He doesn’t deserve to be in a position of power. The sheriff too. We just need someone worthy to stand in their place.” Her frown deepened and her lips twisted to the side as she thought. “Any ideas who would make a good governor, Josie?”

  “There’s someone in this village who’d make an excellent governor. She’s liked and respected, brave and kind. She c
ares about people and wants to do the best for the villagers, no matter who they are. She just lacks confidence sometimes, but I think she’s getting better.” I hugged a stunned Meg then left her to contemplate her future.

  The look of panic on my face was enough for Dane to request a break in the meeting he was conducting with the ministers and advisors. He ushered me into the small office near the council chamber and cupped my face.

  “What is it?” he asked. “What’s happened?”

  “Nothing. Well, something, perhaps. I don’t know. There was a gathering in the village which Lord Xavier and the sheriff dispersed, saying it was illegal.”

  He searched my face. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”

  “I’m fine. But it got me thinking. It seemed strange for Lord Xavier to be there. It felt forced, like a show. Then I started wondering why his mother would send him into the village to be seen. I think it was to distract us from what they were really doing.”

  “Which is?”

  “Intercepting Max.”

  He dragged a hand through his hair. It was already messy, as if he’d spent the afternoon raking his fingers through it repeatedly. Dane hated meetings, and I suspected these ones were rather intense. They were certainly long. It was no wonder he was taking his frustration out on his hair.

  “You should send more guards after Max,” I urged him.

  “He already has several. He’ll be fine, Josie.”

  “But—”

  “He’ll be fine,” he said again. “He’s smart and capable. The Deerhorns are on the back foot. Lord Xavier’s presence at the gathering today proves it, and I can see in the meeting that Lord Deerhorn is rattled.”

  “Lady Deerhorn is the one you have to worry about.”

  He grasped my shoulders again. His gaze held mine. “You’re the one who worries me.”

  I pulled away. “Don’t, Dane. My mind is made up.”

  “As is mine,” he said darkly. “Josie—"

  “Dane!” called Lord Claypool from the council chamber doorway. “Are you ready?”

  Dane lowered his head and sighed. “I’ll come to the cottage when these meetings are finished.” He kissed my forehead. “I promise I won’t be so…” He waved a hand towards Lord Claypool, watching us with a scowl on his brow like the chaperone of a pretty maid.