by Terah Edun
Dusting off her clothes, Ciardis turned around to look at the ship that was suddenly more important to them than ever before. It represented both leverage against the imposter emperor and a confusing pile of evidence. The question was: what did all they had found mean, and what had Prince Heir Maradian been planning to do with The Marde all along?
But now was neither the time nor the place to find out.
Ciardis turned to Vana and asked, “Are we done here?”
Vana flashed her teeth in a smile. “Not quite yet. We still need to discuss what Sebastian knows about the imposter sitting on the throne as his father and how he intends to prove it to the world.”
Her tone was dark ... even caustic.
“Exactly what are you saying?” Ciardis said slowly as her mind tried to switch from figuring out how the Marde fit as the key to a plot against the imperial family of Sahalia to the current threat against the reigning family of Algardis.
“What I’m saying is simple,” Vana said coldly. “You might take Sebastian at his word. Even I might take Sebastian at his word, but the people will only see a man eager to dispose his father and take the throne for himself.”
Ciardis wasn’t sure she liked what Vana was implying. In fact, she definitely didn’t like it.
Crossing her arms with an irritated frown, Ciardis Weathervane said, “Sebastian wouldn’t do that!”
Vana raised an eyebrow. She didn’t even have to say anything. Just wait patiently.
Ciardis huffed. “But no one else would see it that way.”
“Exactly,” said Vana as she paced up and down the platform.
Chapter 9
Ciardis’s feathers were ruffled. Partly because she felt offended on Sebastian’s behalf. But also because she knew Vana was right—right to question what they knew, right to question what proof they had.
Ciardis would in any other situation, without question. She would be a fool not to have realized that her own guileless adventures in the north had helped to kill dozens of innocent victims in the Sanctuary. She may not have wielded the spelled weapon that tore their souls from their body, but she would carry their blood on her heart forever. Because she had used her power to bring down the barrier that protected them from outside forces ... and the evil that lurked within.
But this was Sebastian, Ciardis thought, as if that explained everything. And to her ... it did. Ciardis considered loyalty to her family and friends necessary above all other things. If she didn’t trust them, if she didn’t believe in them ... then what else was there?
She bit her lip as she flashed back to the first time Sebastian—and by extension—Ciardis—had realized that the emperor was an imposter. She had been in the emperor’s chamber, alone with the man.
As she had stared into Emperor Bastien’s eyes, pleading for him to give leniency to her mother and remove her from trial, Sebastian had entered her mind. Her eyes had become his. Her ears had become his. Together, their magic had combined in the seeleverbindung and Sebastian had seen the true deception through her eyes. After that, not much had happened. They hadn’t confronted his imposter father. In fact, Ciardis hadn’t even gotten a full explanation until she left the room. Fortunately, it seemed the emperor had attributed her volatile emotions to her worry and fear over her mother’s impending trial. In shock, Sebastian had almost broken their mental connection before he had rallied and managed to order her not to reveal the existence of the kasten ship to the man posing as his father. She had obeyed, barely. At the time, with no explanation and her mother’s fate relying on it, the decision to not saying anything had been hard for her—the ship represented something the emperor wanted, she was sure of it. Even if she didn’t know its full significance yet, it was a piece in the puzzle that explained the princess heir’s motivations. But Ciardis had done as Sebastian asked, because as stunned as she was ... she had realized that he was more frightened and confused than she had ever seen him, and she knew that Sebastian wouldn’t have reacted in such a strong manner without good reason.
But Vana didn’t know that and she hadn’t been there. She hadn’t felt his shock and then anger as betrayal flowed through his thoughts. Ciardis had.
Still, Ciardis knew that unless there was another soul walker like Marquis Bell present, it was a moot point. Ciardis didn’t think she could trust anyone to take her memories and share them, anyway, not with the knowledge she held.
So with resignation in her voice, Ciardis asked, “What other proof would you need?”
Vana rolled her eyes. “To do what?”
“To stand with us,” Ciardis replied.
Dark clouds flitted through Vana’s irises before she spoke. “You mistake me, Weathervane. I have no intention of leaving your ‘cause’ ... the one against the blutgott or the one against my sovereign lord.”
A tremulous smile crossed Ciardis’s face.
Before she could speak, Vana continued, “But make no mistake ... the emperor is my sovereign lord and I obey him in all things. Not Sebastian. Not you. However, if someone has supplanted the rightful ruler, I will fight to make sure they regret that action dearly.”
Her voice slipped into a dark tone, so icy that Ciardis felt a shiver go down her spine.
“I never realized you felt such loyalty to the crown,” Ciardis said.
Vana pierced her with a look. “You don’t know anything about me.”
Vana’s very presence communicated her threat when no actions were needed. No words spoken.
Ciardis shook her head and gathered her courage. “No, I don’t. But I think I know you well enough to know that, while you follow orders, you also make your own path. You’re a fighter and an assassin with, dare I say it, honor.”
Vana laughed. It was brittle and hollow, but true amusement laced her tone.
“Honor?” Vana said. “That’s a first. What makes you think I’m honorable?”
Ciardis looked down and crossed her arms behind her back and looked back up. “When you were sent to kill my mother, I begged you to apprehend her ... to let us carry the true tale of the death of the empress to the imperial court and have my mother tried in a court of her peers. You allowed it.”
Vana shrugged. “It made no difference to me.”
Ciardis tilted her head, and her curls fell into her face. “On the contrary, I think it did. And that very same honor keeps you bound from betraying me and my cause. In fact, it makes you bound to us. To help stave off a threat to the very existence of this empire and, if need be, to overthrow an emperor.”
Vana smiled and circled around Ciardis like a shark in the waters. Her leather outfit moved in the dark morning like a liquid shadow, while Ciardis felt conspicuous and completely out of her element in pants with a flaring tunic that only made her seem like a silly girl in comparison to Vana.
After a pause, Vana said, “There’s a phrase in the assassin world that is appropriate here.”
“And that is?”
Ciardis saw the flash of Vana’s teeth in the darkness as she smiled and came back around to face Ciardis head-on. “Only the bloody knife in the killer’s hand guarantees a conviction.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that it’s time to stop dancing around this subject,” Vana said. “I might believe Sebastian’s tale, but my belief and your trust won’t stand up at trial.”
Ciardis opened her mouth, but Vana forestalled her with a warning hand.
“I said might,” Vana said sharply.
Ciardis shut her mouth with a click of her teeth.
“And that is only because I have no reason not to,” Vana said smoothly. “But others ... might not take so kindly.”
“Others?” said Ciardis shakily. “Others like who?”
Vana snorted. “Sebastian has enemies. Always has. Enemies that don’t want to see a proactive prince heir on the throne. After all, a prince heir willing to take on an imposter on the throne might be willing to cross other lines.”
Ciardis sucked in a breath.
“Such as?”
Vana tilted her head. “Do you really think the northern nobles had no idea that Sardinia was a charade for the emperor’s own cause? And who do you think claimed the villages decimated on the edge of the Ameles Forest after you and your prince heir left the area? And what about the—”
“Stop, just stop!” Ciardis snapped. “I get it. The nobles don’t want Sebastian prying into their affairs.”
Vana nodded. “Precisely.”
“Still,” Ciardis said, “don’t you think that’s taking it a bit far? Don’t you think they want what’s best for the empire?”
Vana gave a piercing look. “Now who’s taking things a bit too far?”
Ciardis crossed her arms in irritation.
Vana let a finger trail on the dusty banner. “The nobles only do what is of interest to them. No matter what. No matter when. Remember that.”
Ciardis didn’t say a word. But she remembered being surrounded by the bloodthirsty lot during Sebastian’s appeal for their help. When she had watched them shout and scream as Sebastian battled the irate nobleman who had insulted Ciardis, she had thought then that they sounded like ravenous wolves. An apt description even now.
Her face must have showed her disturbed thoughts, because Vana reached out and put a comforting hand on Ciardis’s shoulder.
“You’ve shown them how strong you are. But now you must weather the storm as they test your strength, as they try to embarrass you, as they fight to confuse you, but most of all as they actively seek to delude you into thinking that the greatest enemy of all is the one that is in another realm,” Vana said.
“Like wolves they circle, snapping at our heels?” Ciardis said while straightening her shoulders. “But we are not prey they can bring down on a hunt.”
“No, you’re not,” Vana said decisively. “But you are also wrong. They’re like snakes, Ciardis Weathervane, not wolves. And, like snakes, they will dig into their burrows until they are once more ready to strike.”
“To bring Sebastian down?” Ciardis murmured.
“To kill the prince heir and all those surround him,” Vana said firmly.
Ciardis eyed her incredulously. “You really think they still hate him that much? With him their connections to the land have grown stronger, not weaker.”
Vana chuckled. “Ah, but you see, princess heir-to-be, the nobles are nothing if not practical. Under Emperor Bastien the noble class is all-powerful, with very little oversight. They like it that way. If a nosy prince heir gets killed in the meantime or, at the very least, sidelined permanently, all the better for them. So you see, Ciardis, if you’re going to go against the interests of the court, you’d better be prepared for a battle the likes of which you’ve never seen.”
Ciardis huffed, “They seem to be working with us now.”
“Only because there’s a bigger threat out there at the moment,” Vana said in a patient voice that edged on tortured. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or in this case, the thing that’s going to eat me trumps the smaller threat in the meantime.”
Ciardis blinked, not quite sure all of that metaphorical stuff made as much sense as Vana seemed to think it did. But that was all right ... she got the gist of it. She and Sebastian needed to keep their traps shut until they were ready to both take on the emperor and his supporters.
“So what now?” Ciardis asked.
Vana stared. “We need proof.”
“I thought you said—”
“I said that we need to be cautious,” Vana said calmly, “not to give up on this entirely. So while you’re off gallivanting in the west, I’ll get proof, allies, and find out what this blasted map could mean for us.”
Ciardis nodded and exhaled slowly. “There’s someone else you should talk to, in that case.”
Vana nodded. “For which part?”
“The proof we need against the emperor and the allies.”
“And who is that?”
“The man at the head of a small rebellion. A very small rebellion,” Ciardis said. “He knows something. Or he wouldn’t have come to us.”
“The question is: how does he know?” Vana said while rubbing her chin.
Ciardis looked her in the eye. “You’ll be finding out. Whatever it takes.”
It wasn’t a request.
Vana smiled as she dropped her hand. “Glad we’re finally on the same page.”
Ciardis said, “Scary to even think so.”
Vana walked passed Ciardis, clapping her on the shoulder as she did so. “Not scary. Just revealing. You’re growing up, Weathervane.” As Vana walked away, Ciardis heard her say, as clear as day, “And it’s about time.”
Letting out a slow breath, Ciardis turned back to stare at the ship that was at least a piece of the puzzle. An unknown piece, but a key nonetheless.
Vana came back to her after a few minutes.
“No other entrances, and the ship is still in pretty good condition for something that’s been here for at least a decade,” Vana reported calmly.
Ciardis nodded. “What do you think the princess heir had planned for it?”
“Not a clue,” said Vana bitterly, “but a bloody lot of good that ship will do if it comes time to question the emperor and the only living member of his bloodline is gone off to Kifar and dies as a result.”
“What are you saying?” Ciardis asked.
“Be careful,” Vana said. “If it would be better if none of you but that bat-winged idiot were going in the first place.”
Ciardis threw up her hands in frustration. “I know. I know it’s stupid. I know you think I’m stupid too.”
With a frustrated growl, Ciardis snapped her lips shut, irritated at herself for not holding her frustration in. Angry that she couldn’t be as stoic as Vana or as suave as Thanar. Whatever came to her head, she blurted it out.
Taking a shuddering breath, Ciardis stared hard at Vana’s back. Her vision was so intent that she was sure that the assassin could feel her gaze like needle marks between her shoulder blades.
Good. Because what she said next was something she’d been waiting a long time to say.
“I may not be as fierce as you. Or as strong as Thanar. Or as kind as Terris,” Ciardis said in a halting voice. “But I am trying. I am doing by best. You have to take me for who I am.”
The trembling echo of her voice trailed off inside the warehouse.
Vana didn’t move. She kept her gaze on the kasten ship.
“I don’t disagree,” Vana said finally. “I do accept you for who you are. Despite the ... mistakes you’ve made ... you’ve grown. But it’s more than growth, Ciardis. You need to be proactive instead of reactive. Being one step behind the enemy will get you killed one day.”
Ciardis swallowed. “All I can do is try.”
Vana nodded. “There’s one other thing.”
“Really? Just one other?” Ciardis snapped, her voice riddled with irritation. There was only so many putdowns a girl could take in one hour, after all.
Vana kept staring at the ship as she said, “The other thing is this, Lady Companion Ciardis Weathervane. You’re not stupid. Far from it. But you are overwhelmingly naïve.” Then Vana turned to her and put both hands on her shoulders with a small squeeze. “And you’re far too powerful to stay this naïve.”
Ciardis stared into her eyes as Vana searched hers.
“Do you understand me?”
Lips suddenly dry, Ciardis answered hoarsely, “I think I do.”
And she did. She was facing challenges that would make even a seasoned warrior shirk, and small mistakes on her part cost people their lives. She knew that.
Vana nodded and dropped her grip from Ciardis’s shoulders.
Then Ciardis whispered, “But we don’t have a choice ... the emperor has ordered Sebastian and me to journey to Kifar and seek out the princess heir’s last remaining piece of her project.”
“Just be careful, Ciardis,” Vana said. “The noble courts aren’t the only ones that wa
nt you dead. The emperor has tolerated you thus far because you bolster his position at court and amuse him at the same time. But make no mistake: cross him and you’ll regret it.”
Ciardis grimaced. “Have you heard anything else at court recently?”
“I have ears everywhere, and what I’ve heard would chill your bones,” Vana said. “Don’t think for a moment that if it suits him, the emperor won’t make sure you die on the road there under ‘tragic circumstances.’ He planned for you to go. If he found out that you knew about the ship and his secrets, he would no doubt ensure you met a dire end. What’s left to the imagination now is whether he plans for you to come back.”
Chapter 10
“I’m no fool,” Ciardis said. “And neither is Sebastian. We know he is testing us, and honestly I think he’s a little bit of afraid of our power ... together with Thanar. But I don’t think he wants us dead.”
Vana gave her a look.
“Yet, I mean,” Ciardis hastily added. “He has too much riding on our cooperation. He needs us now more than ever.”
“Whatever he needs from you,” Vana said, “he can procure from someone else. An individual he controls. An individual he trusts.”
“Easier said than done,” murmured Ciardis. “Who else is foolish enough to challenge a god?”
A small chuckle escaped Vana’s lips. “True enough words are rarely spoken,” the assassin said.
“Just being realistic about it all,” Ciardis said with a bone-cracking stretch of her muscles, “and if the emperor does want us dead, well ... a tragic accident on the way to or from Kifar, as you put it, is the perfect way to accomplish that. Which is why I brought you here.”
Vana sighed as she rubbed her temple and leaned fully on the railing. “Why couldn’t Sebastian see through the guise before? He’s known the man all his life ... you can’t tell me that in all those private audiences and meetings alone with his father he never recognized that the man he was hugging was an imposter.”
Ciardis grimaced. “I don’t think it’s as clear-cut as that. It took Sebastian gazing through my eyes to see that deception.”