by Anne Bishop
“We could force open the inner barriers of the lightest Jeweled Warlord and find out everything we want to know,” Archerr said quietly.
“And become no better than what we fought against all those years?” Talon shook his head. “You don’t do that to anyone but an enemy, and we don’t know yet that these men are enemies.”
“We know their presence is upsetting Cassidy,” Ranon said.
“Yes, we know that,” Talon agreed.
Ranon heard regret—and maybe a little guilt?—in Talon’s voice.
“When we find out more, we’ll decide what to do about it,” Talon continued. “That’s all. Any information you find out comes to me or Ranon.”
“And we don’t mention any of this to Theran?” Spere asked.
Even in the dark, Ranon saw the sadness in Talon’s eyes.
“We don’t mention this to Theran,” Talon said. “I’m hoping it’s just lust that’s making him stupid, but if he feels the same pull for Kermilla that we feel for Cassidy, we can’t trust him to stand for the Queen he promised to serve.”
One by one, the men wrapped themselves in sight shields and slipped away until Ranon and Talon were alone.
“Powell,” Ranon said quietly. “He said something. That’s why you’re giving these orders.” He waited. “What did he say?”
“He said, ‘It’s starting to feel like old times, isn’t it?’ And may the Darkness have mercy on us, Ranon, I think he’s right.”
Talon walked away.
Ranon leaned against the shed, feeling sick.
It wouldn’t come to that. It wouldn’t. Not while Cassidy ruled Dena Nehele.
Theran sat in the parlor, happier than he had ever been.
Kermilla was wonderful, was everything he dreamed a Queen should be. The sound of her voice quenched a raging thirst inside him, and there was a spot on her neck that had a scent that aroused him and yet gave him peace.
She had been careful not to say anything outright, but she’d made it clear to him that, having come from an aristo family, the training that had honed her innate abilities as a Queen had been far more extensive than Cassidy’s—the kind of training given to someone destined to be a Territory Queen.
Damn Ranon for stirring everything up so much that the other men were wary about getting to know her. But they would come around.
Sooner or later they would recognize the treasure that had come to Grayhaven.
CHAPTER 10
TERREILLE
She had to get out of here. Her hands shook, her stomach burned, and dinner was nothing but a foul smell in the toilet. She couldn’t do this again, couldn’t watch this happen again.
She couldn’t stand to hurt this much again.
Go. Run. Get away from this place.
Because this time she might lose someone who truly mattered, and it was ripping her heart out.
This time, betrayal might truly kill her.
Ranon stood outside Cassidy’s door, trying to leash his rage because he had to. There was no one else. Theran’s verbal barbs had turned cruel enough to drive Cassidy out of the parlor in tears, so Talon had his hands full controlling Gray and making sure the two cousins didn’t set eyes on each other before tempers had settled. Powell had walked out of the parlor and locked himself in his office. No one was sure what the man was doing in there, but they were all hoping the worst he was doing was getting stinking drunk. And Theran . . .
Couldn’t the bastard see that Cassidy wasn’t comfortable around Kermilla? But he kept insisting that Cassidy “do her duty” as a Queen and not leave the other Queen without company—especially since Cassidy was the lower-ranking Queen.
Damn Grayhaven to the bowels of Hell for slipping the verbal knife in every chance he got. Kermilla was pretty; Cassidy was not. Kermilla was vivacious—the kind of Queen who would appeal to the Blood; Cassidy was there because they hadn’t been given a choice. Cassidy wore Rose; Kermilla wore Summer-sky, which made her dominant.
Dominant his ass. Sure it gave her a little more power since Summer-sky was one rank darker than Rose, but that was all it gave her. The little bitch was just good at playing people and presenting herself to advantage. At least they had gotten a couple of answers from tonight’s little drama. The four men who had come with Kermilla had all served in Cassidy’s court—and had abandoned a real Queen in order to serve pretty gilt.
Jhorma had been Cassidy’s Consort. They all agreed they wouldn’t mention that bit of information to Gray. Hell’s fire! What had Cassidy been thinking? The woman couldn’t have been that desperate for a lover to have settled for him.
You’re here to make sure she’s all right. You can’t do that from this side of the door.
He knocked. No answer. He knocked harder, certain she was in her suite. “Cassidy?” He turned the door handle. The door wasn’t locked, so he walked in—and caught her pulling back, as if she’d lunged for the door to lock it but didn’t react in time.
No color in her face except the freckles standing out on milky ice and the dark shadows under her eyes. She stood there, frozen, so he looked around—and saw the trunks. The lids were open, and the trunks were full of her clothes and possessions.
“What’s going on, Cassidy?” he asked, putting an Opal lock on the door as he closed it.
“I can’t stay here,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. I have to go.”
“Where?”
She stared at him and didn’t answer.
He thought about the past few days and what he had learned tonight. Her former First Circle had broken her court in order to serve another Queen. And now that same Queen had come to Dena Nehele and was making herself very comfortable in the Queen’s residence—and Cassidy was breaking down under the hammer of Theran’s words and his blatant preference for Kermilla.
Cassidy . . . running.
He grabbed her arms, and it was only the years of training that kept his savagery controlled.
“You’re leaving us? Why?”
“I can’t stay!” Cassidy wailed.
He shook her and roared, “Why?”
“Theran doesn’t want me to stay. He wants Kermilla to be the Queen.”
“Who gives a piss what Theran wants?” Ranon shouted. “Forget him! What about the rest of us, Cassie? What about the eleven other men who are loyal to you and want to serve? Are you going to walk away from us too? Are you going to walk away from Gray? Are you going to walk away from the people who are starting to hope again that a Queen will rule fairly? Are you walking away from all of us because one man wants to hump a little bitch?”
She stared at him, shocked, and finally whispered, “You’re hurting me.”
He eased his hold on her, certain her arms would be bruised black by morning, but he didn’t let go.
Tears spilled down her pale, pale face. “Ranon, I can’t watch Kermilla take over another court. And it will kill me when Gray starts falling in love with her.”
Idiot woman. Couldn’t she see that Gray loathed Kermilla?
He looked at her, really looked, and realized she couldn’t see anything right now—not Gray’s love, not his own loyalty. Nothing.
He gentled his hands, and forced himself to gentle his voice. “Cassie, do you trust me? As a friend, do you trust me?”
She hesitated, then nodded.
“Then listen. Please listen. I’m begging you not to walk away from Dena Nehele.”
“I can’t stay.”
If she got to Dharo, they would never get her back. Hell’s fire, if she got to the Keep in her present state, Sadi and Yaslana would never let her come back even if she was willing.
Then he remembered the last thing Lucivar had said to the First Circle before heading back to Kaeleer: “The Queen comes before anyone else. You take care of her, the rest usually falls into place.”
Cassidy was focused on getting out, so he would take care of his Queen and get her out—and do his best to take care of Dena Nehele as well.
“All right,
” he said. “I understand. You need to get away from those people. I do understand. But you don’t have to go too far away. I’ll take you back to Eyota, back to the boardinghouse. You didn’t mind staying there, did you? You’re already packed. I’ll take you tonight. Now. We’ll slip out. No one else needs to know until you’re ready for them to know.”
“I don’t—”
“You’re the Queen, Cassie. Our Queen, and the Queen’s residence is any place the Queen chooses to live. You don’t want to stay here, you don’t have to stay here.”
“Gray will worry if I leave without saying anything,” Cassidy said.
“I’ll tell Shira enough so that she can reassure him. And I’ll come back and talk to him as soon as you’re settled at the boardinghouse. I promise.”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re upset, and rightly so.” Ranon took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He couldn’t force her to stay, but he was sure if he could get her to Eyota, he would buy enough time to convince her that there were people who didn’t care if a face was pretty or not when the woman behind that face was special. “Come with me. Give yourself time to rest and breathe before making a decision. Please.”
She called in a handkerchief and sniffled into it. “Should I leave a note? It’s proper to inform the Steward and Master of the Guard.”
She sounded so lost, so wounded.
He knew it was proper. As the Master’s second-in-command, he should inform Talon at the very least. But if he involved anyone else in the court right now, most likely Cassidy would be talked into staying here—and the next time she decided to run, she wouldn’t delay long enough to pack her things or leave a note. They’d find out about it when Yaslana landed on their doorstep demanding answers.
“No,” he said. “No one needs to know where you are. Not yet.”
He hadn’t convinced her, and he didn’t know what else to say. But he could think of one thing to do.
Using Craft, he closed the lids on her trunks—and vanished them.
Cassidy stared at the empty floor. “You took my trunks.”
“I did.” Getting his mouth to smile felt like he was trying to bend stone, but he did it. Or close enough. “I’ll give them back when we reach the boardinghouse.”
She studied him.
“What?” he asked.
She sniffled into the handkerchief once more, then vanished it. “For a moment there, you sounded like Lucivar.”
He decided to take that as a compliment. “Let’s get out of here.”
“You’ll talk to Gray?”
“I will. I hope you won’t be upset if he decides to join you.”
“Do you think he would?”
Oh, Cassie. Are you hurting so much you can’t remember that he loves you?“I do, darling. I really do.”
Ranon and Cassidy slipped out of the house, wrapped in an Opal sight shield to lessen the number of people who might be able to detect her. He trusted her to go down to the gate while he went to the stables to get a horse—praying to the Darkness that she didn’t walk onto the landing web, catch the Rose Wind, and run to the Keep. Riding double to the Coaching station, they rented a small Coach, giving the driver who should have gone with them a generous tip to watch the horse—and not ask questions.
Riding the Opal Winds, switching from radial to tether lines whenever needed, they finally reached the landing web on the northern end of his home village.
And through the whole of the journey, Cassidy never said one word.
*Grandfather,* Ranon called as soon as he dropped the Coach from the Opal Web and skimmed over the landing web. He could handle a small Coach when riding the Winds, but using Craft and power to hold one steady as it skimmed above the road was an untested skill. *Grandfather!*
*Ranon?* Yairen sounded muddled. Then the voice on the psychic thread sharpened. *Ranon?*
*I need help.* He could picture his grandfather pushing himself up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. After all, anyone in their right mind who wasn’t demon-dead would be asleep at this hour. *I brought Cassidy. There’s been some trouble.*
*Is she wounded?*
The genuine concern in Yairen’s voice told Ranon that he’d made the right choice. *Not her body, but her heart is wounded.*
*Gray?*
*No. It’s . . . complicated. She was going to leave us, Grandfather. I convinced her to come here instead.*
*Where?*
*The boardinghouse.*
*Go slowly, grandson. Give this old man a little time to prepare. I will meet you at the house. Janos will come too.*
*Thank you.*
Yairen broke the link. Ranon slowed the Coach to the pace of an ambling walk—and hoped Cassidy wouldn’t ask him why the Coach was suddenly wobbling so much.
By the time he set the Coach down on the street in front of the boardinghouse, there were lamps shining in the windows of several rooms, and doors and windows were open to let in cool night air.
“We’re here,” he said, holding out a hand.
She slipped her hand in his, still saying nothing as she followed him out of the Coach and into the house.
His grandfather waited for them in the front parlor.
“The Rose has come back to us,” Yairen said, smiling. “It grieves me to know you sorrow, but you are among friends here.” He gestured to two chairs and a table. “Come and sit with an old man.”
She sat, and she seemed so empty Ranon wondered if he’d brought more than a husk to Eyota.
Yairen waved a hand over the table. Two mugs and a carafe appeared. Using Craft, Yairen poured dark, steaming liquid from the carafe into the mugs.
“This is a special drink,” Yairen said. “I usually make it when strong men need to speak of things that are troubling their hearts, but I think tonight your heart could use this.”
“I don’t think I can speak,” Cassidy whispered.
Yairen smiled gently. “Even silence has a voice. Drink. Perhaps we will talk. Perhaps not. Perhaps I alone will talk and tell you more about the music of my people, even give you the first lesson in how to play a drum.”
Cassidy took a sip of his grandfather’s special brew of spiced whiskey and coffee. She took another sip. “I would like to hear more about your music.”
“Good.” Yairen looked at Ranon. “Are you still here, troublemaker?”
“Troublemaker?” Cassidy asked.
“Bah.” Yairen waved one hand gently in front of his face. “The stories I could tell you about that one. Go on, now,” he added, pointing at Ranon. “Leave us to talk without your bothersome presence.”
Cassidy snorted and took another, larger sip of the brew.
*Tend to your business, grandson,* Yairen said. *The Rose will be safe here among us.*
*Don’t tell her too many stories.* He looked at Cassidy. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“You promised to give me back my trunks when we got here,” Cassidy said.
“Oh. I did, didn’t I?” This time his smile wasn’t forced. He called in her trunks and set them at the other end of the parlor.
“See?” Yairen said, laughing. “Troublemaker.”
An hour before sunrise, most of the First Circle gathered in a meeting room.
Ranon had figured he would face anger. He’d figured he would face temper.
What he faced was so much worse.
There was a chilling blankness in Gray’s eyes, and Ranon couldn’t shake the conviction that what was under that blankness was a violence that even the Blood would find shocking. There was a smoldering fury in Shira’s eyes, and he hoped with everything in him that he wasn’t the target.
He brushed lightly against the first of her inner barriers—and found nothing comforting.
*My first loyalty is to the Queen, remember?* he asked her.
She didn’t respond, but he sensed a little less tension in her. He didn’t blame her for being angry. All he’d told her was that he and Cassidy were leaving
the mansion and she should inform Gray so he wouldn’t be searching for her and alarm the First Circle. Of course, Shira and Gray had assumed Cassidy would be with him when he returned.
The other men looked a little pissed off at being summoned so early in the morning. Except Powell, who sat quietly, staring at his hands—especially at his left hand, which a Queen had broken because he cared more about people who needed food and clothes than about the Queen’s purse.
Then Talon entered the room and put Sapphire shields around the room and a Sapphire lock on the door.
“All right, Ranon,” Talon said. “You were very specific about who should attend this meeting—and who should not. We’re here. Now talk.”
He heard temper that was chained—but not for long. Not if he said the wrong thing. Talon outranked all of them, had centuries of fighting experience, and had locked them all in a room with the strongest predator in Dena Nehele.
Had locked him in a room with the strongest predator.
“I took Cassidy to Eyota, to the boardinghouse,” Ranon said.
Gray snarled and took a step toward him.
Powell raised his head and stared at him.
He didn’t want to turn his back on Talon, but Gray was the more volatile threat, so he faced the Warlord Prince who had been a friend—and might now be an enemy.
“She was going to leave us, Gray,” he said quickly, wanting them to hear him, to know why he made this choice before someone’s temper snapped the leash. “She was going to leave all of us. When I went up to her suite to check on her, her trunks were packed. She was going back to Dharo.”
“She wouldn’t leave without telling me,” Gray said too softly as he took another step toward Ranon. “She wouldn’t leave without me.”
“I had to get her out of here, get her hidden so she would feel safe. I promised to come back and tell you, and I have, Gray. As soon as I got her settled at the boardinghouse, I came back. To talk to you. All of you.”
“You should have talked to us first,” Talon growled.