The King's Knight (Royal Blood Book 5)

by Kristen Gupton

  Etras gave the guard a wary eye, seeing his shoulders slump. “I will tell the others we will camp.”

  Jerris opted to dismount without waiting for anyone to come to his aid. Having to be pushed up onto the horse earlier in the day had been emasculating enough. Despite having little use of his left arm, he managed to drop to the ground without much trouble.

  The others dismounted as well, Mari coming over to take the horse from Jerris to groom it for him.

  Jerris moved a small distance from the group and walked up the gently sloping face of a granite boulder jutting up from the mountainside. He got to the top of it and closed his eyes, facing into the slight breeze. “I wish you were here, old man. If this vampire catches us, I suppose I’ll see you and Patrice soon enough. Of all the ways to go…”

  * * *

  Keiran walked through the halls of the castle, thinking about what he’d seen Mother Thinliss do. He’d avoided others since, deep in his thoughts. Only when the sun had set did he seek out company, going to his room to find Thana and Corina both within, working away on small sewing projects. Zach was sitting on the rug between them, banging two of his wooden horses together, Thana’s new kitten sleeping in her lap.

  Each clack of the toys drove a spike into his head. He went and sat next to the boy, ruffling his hair as usual before gently removing one of the horses from his grip to end the noise.

  Thana lowered the piece she was working on, her new silver hand securely holding it, smiling at her husband. “We were beginning to wonder if we needed to tie you down to end your pacing about.”

  “He does that when he’s bothered,” Corina said, continuing to stitch away.

  “Indeed he does,” Thana replied, still looking down at him. “Out with it.”

  Keiran knit his brows and shook his head. “Mother Thinliss was here today. We…we have a problem.”

  “It is not news there is no love lost between the two of you.” Corina finally set her project into her lap, flexing her arthritic hands. “She always seemed like a rather cold woman.”

  “Things with her are a bit more complicated than I would have liked,” he admitted, fixing his gaze down on his son. “Far, far more complicated.”

  “Is she trying to send the Church Knights after you again?” Thana asked, moving to set the kitten on the floor before she slid from her chair. She settled on Zach’s other side, smoothing the boy’s hair back down.

  Keiran shook his head, beginning to scoot the horse he held around on the floor before him. “I only wish it was that simple. Church Knights are men. I know how to deal with those.”

  That caught Corina’s attention. “What did she say, Keir?”

  “Did, not said.”

  The old woman rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine. What did she do, Keir?”

  “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but our beloved church has elected a witch as their leader,” he said, continuing to make the wooden horse run around in front of him.

  Corina rose and moved to stand before him. She extended a foot out, pinning Keiran’s toy horse in place beneath the leather sole of her slipper. She’d been accused of witchcraft on occasion due to her herbalist knowledge. It wasn’t an accusation she took lightly, even when levied at another. “I know you may not like her, but calling the leader of the church such a thing borders on blasphemy.”

  He turned his eyes up toward her, his expression blank. “I mean it literally, Corina. A magic-wielding witch.”

  Had Keiran’s expression not been so serious, Corina would have scoffed. Instead, she carefully knelt down to join the others on the floor. “Keir, unless you saw her do something, you can’t say such things.”

  “I did see her do something. You know how hard it has been for me to work on dropping that rock through my hand?” he asked. “She picked it up and did that very thing as though it was nothing to her.”

  Thana drew in a sharp gasp. “She did not!”

  “I swear it,” Keiran replied, shaking his head again, surrendering the toy horse to his son’s outstretched hand as the kitten came over and climbed into his lap. “I asked her how she managed to actually fix the aftermath of what Peirte did in Stanth. I realized magic had to have been involved, and then she picked up the rock, dropped it through her hand, and said no one would ever believe me.”

  “I believe you,” Thana said.

  “As do I.” Corina drew in a long breath. She’d not been fond of the other woman to begin with. “If the other members of the church’s hierarchy don’t know of it, however…”

  “They elected her to try and keep me in check. I think their worries over me are far beyond what I’d ever really given thought to.” Keiran settled back, resting on his elbows, the kitten crawling up from his lap to plop down on his stomach. “If I go out with such an accusation, they will see it as an act on my part to try and discredit her. While those here in the castle know me and know I’m not about making up such things, Father Beezle was the only higher up in the organization who knew me. Being that close to him, I suppose it made me lower my guard. I thought if he was all right with me, that the others would be as well. It never occurred to me...”

  Thana looked over at Corina. “I must admit, I never would have suspected such a thing, either.”

  “They were so worried about me, that what she really is slipped by without their notice,” Keiran said. “I don’t know what to do. After seeing the trouble Peirte caused, I’m terrified what she may be capable of. God, how many lost their lives to Peirte’s demon? What if she can do something even worse?”

  “She may think the church elders will not believe you,” Corina reached out and placed a hand on his leg, “but Thana and I do. I have no doubt Sygian will as well. There must be recourse.”

  “I’ll speak with him in the morning,” Keiran said. With the old man being a Church Knight, Keiran thought he might have insight he lacked. “Until then, we need to keep our guard up. Who knows what might happen?”

  Thana shook her head, feeling a sense of dread welling up inside. She knew she spoke for all of them. “I wish Jerris and Kanan were here.”

  * * *

  “Sabetha, we need to have a discussion.”

  The harpy’s large eyes fluttered open, the dawn’s light only just beginning to brighten the horizon. She fluffed her feathers and sighed, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. “What?”

  Athan placed his hands on either side of her head, forcing her to stay awake and focus on him. “Where is Baden?”

  “No Baden.”

  He gave her a single quick shake, frowning. “No more games, Sabetha. I know he was here while I was away! I know you saw him!”

  Her eyes flew open and she jerked her head back out of his grip. She extended her wings at her sides and rose to her fullest height, towering above him so he couldn’t do it again. “No Baden!”

  “Eldeen saw you with him!” Athan countered, hardly intimidated with her sudden illusion of size. “I know he was here! Confess it!”

  It was rare for Athan to get openly angry with her, and she didn’t respond to it well. Sabetha gave a deep hiss and sidestepped away from him. She held an open contempt for the ravens he fawned over. “Ravens are stupid! Trickery! Jealousy! They want what I have! No Baden!”

  “The ravens don’t lie!” he shouted back, following her as she tried to evade. “I saw him with you through their eyes!”

  She began to sway back and forth, the long, thin, silver feathers of her head all standing on end and pitching forward. Her clawed hands clenched and relaxed repeatedly. A few plaintiff grunts came from her.

  Athan drew in a long breath, forcing himself not to reach out and strike her. Whether she was holding Baden’s location secret or not, she was his only means of seeing out into the wider world around them.

  “Sabetha, I’m not angry with you,” he said. “I know Baden is just taking advantage of your weaknesses. I need to know where he is, so I can bring him back home where he belongs. He is in g
reat danger out there.”

  “You will only kill him!” she shot back in defiance. “I know this! You think I am that stupid? Sabetha isn’t smart, but she knows things!”

  He raised his hands between them, his anger becoming harder to repress. “I do not think you are stupid, but you need to remember where your loyalties lay, Little Bird. I am the only reason you are alive. Don’t you dare ever forget that.”

  “And I am the only reason you know what happens beyond these walls,” she replied, her feathers smoothing again, though she didn’t sink back down to her usual height, continuing to look down at her master.

  When Athan replied, his fangs were visible, his cheeks starting to burn red in his frustration. “Baden is out there and wants to see me killed, Sabetha. Do you have any idea what that would mean for you? Others would come into this fortress if I were to die, and you would be tortured and slain for being a monster!”

  Her feathers stood on end again and she began a faint, nervous trembling. Her hands became fists. Athan had told her all her life that the humans of the world would kill her for simply being what she was if anything were ever to take his protection away. Yet, she knew Athan would kill Baden if he were found.

  Athan stood there, continuing to leer at her, awaiting her decision and inevitable surrender. “Sabetha, do the right thing and you will hear no more of it!”

  Sabetha gave a whimper, clicking her beak together as she debated what to do. She loved Baden. They had been playmates since he’d been a boy. She’d seen what Athan had done with other children of his upon their betrayal, and she couldn’t allow that to happen to Baden.

  Moreover, she also knew that she was absolutely indispensable amongst those Athan kept near. He might hurt her, but he wouldn’t dare kill her. She would gladly endure whatever Athan would put her through if it spared Baden’s life.

  She gave a single nod to herself and locked gazes with her master. “No Baden.”

  Athan’s entire body shook in his rage. In an instant, he lost control of his better senses and reached out, grabbing the leathery feathers over her chest and casting her across the room.

  A flurry of lost feathers fell to the floor around both vampire and harpy. She gave an ear-splitting shriek as she struck the wall on the opposite side of her room, collapsing to the floor.

  Athan strode over, his chest heaving with his furious breaths. “I will not play games with you, Sabetha! I will rip it out of you if I must!”

  She trembled, but slowly pushed herself back up to her feet. Blood dripped from where the roots of her feathers had been torn from her chest.

  Tears formed in her vacuous eyes, her gaze cast to the side. “No Baden.”

  The harpy’s resolve to keep Baden’s location a secret from him struck something, and Athan felt some of his anger abate. He’d let his son and Sabetha simply grow too close. He knew if he harmed her further, he risked making her sick or killing her outright.

  Though harpies were absolutely brutal to one another in the wild and could generally take a great deal of abuse, Sabetha was hardly like the others. He hated that he needed to rely on anyone as much as he did her, but she was absolutely irreplaceable.

  Athan nodded to himself and broke his glare away from her, letting out a long breath. “Very well. I will find him on my own, Sabetha, and when I do…”

  She turned toward the wall, placing her hands on the top of her head and stooping down, becoming as small as she could manage. It had been decades since Athan had laid a hand on her. “Go away.”

  “Gladly.” Athan turned toward the door, exiting and locking it behind him. He didn’t fear her running away. She was terrified of the outside world and wouldn’t leave the safety of the fortress. She always tended to become more agreeable after a few days without food, though.

  Deep down, however, Athan knew he’d feel like hell for what he’d done once the rest of his anger waned, and he needed to simply get away from her. The truth of it was, Sabetha was his longest standing companion. No one ever stayed in his life simply because they wanted to, but she was as close as he could get to having that.

  Sometimes, things just had to be done.

  Sabetha stood back up when she heard the door lock. She moved across the room, picking up the large feathers ripped from her. The harpy set them on the dresser where she would easily see them. “Don’t forget, Sabetha. Don’t. Always will be an again. Always will be an again…”

  Chapter 8

  It had been weeks since Keiran had shown any interest in certain things, and Thana hadn’t been expecting it when he’d come up behind her and cinched his arms around her waist. She smiled and tipped her head back against his shoulder, closing her eyes.

  He gave a quiet growl and licked the side of her neck, his hands gripping at the fabric of her dress.

  Thana drew in a gasp, her body going rigid in fear. In a flash, she pulled back the thumb of her prosthetic and deployed the blade from it. She jerked away from him and spun, terrified who she would see standing there.

  Keiran raised his brows and frowned, staring down at the blade aimed at him. “Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for…and I haven’t even tried anything weird yet.”

  Seeing that it was really him, she placed her hand over her heart and shook her head, lowering the weapon. “I’m sorry, Keir! I…I just had this sudden vision that it wasn’t you. I think the stress has gotten to all of us.”

  “Athan did crawl in bed with you once, I can’t fault you,” he replied, looking to the side. “Thank you for not stabbing me, though. I’ll make certain to announce my identity next time.”

  Seeing his crestfallen expression, Thana quickly got the dagger retracted again. She closed the distance between them and draped her arms over his shoulders, pushing back her embarrassment for reacting like she had. “He isn’t here, though, and I can think of ways to make it up to you that I certainly wouldn’t entertain with that old wretch.”

  He quirked a brow and a lopsided smile crept up. Keiran put his arms around her waist, pulling her close. “Is that so?”

  Thana nodded and rose up on her toes to meet him in a kiss.

  He closed his eyes and pressed his lips to hers, needing the distraction badly; the brief scare already being forgotten.

  A knock came to the door.

  “Every damn time,” he growled, pulling back and snapping his head toward the door. “What?!”

  “A word?” came Sygian’s voice through the heavy door.

  Keiran closed his eyes and shook his head, shoulders rounding as he turned away from Thana. “Right now?”

  “Corina said it was quite important we discuss something,” came his muffled reply.

  Thana put her hand against Keiran’s back and pushed him gently. “Go on. I’m not hard to find. If you’re lucky, I’ll still be in the mood and not so quick to try and kill you.”

  He huffed and gave her a small nod and smile before going and stepping into the hall.

  The grand councillor greeted him with a smile, though he could see the displeasure in Keiran’s expression. “Bad time?”

  “An interesting one, if nothing else,” he replied. “It is important, though.”

  Sygian began to walk down the corridor with the king at his side. “Corina said you had something happen with a certain religious leader of ours?”

  “Aye,” Keiran gave him a sidelong glance and folded his hands behind his back as they went. “You had the decency to tell me about her attempt to use the Church Knights, not that you are one, of course.”

  “Of course,” Sygian replied, flashing a quick grin. “Mere speculation on my part, I suppose.”

  The vampire nodded. “Regardless, she came here yesterday, demanding I resign.”

  “That must have taken a fair amount of nerve on her part,” he replied.

  “More than she had any right to have,” Keiran said. “We got into an argument, and I finally asked something I’d long wondered.”

  “Which was?”

>   He sighed. “Having dealt with Peirte and the demons he’d set loose here, I wondered how she had been able to fix the problems he’d left in his wake in Stanth. Magic like he used leaves behind strong remnants…”

  Sygian lofted a brow and narrowed his eyes. “And you see no way for her to have wrapped it all up without help?”

  “Supernatural help,” Keiran added.

  “You suspect she’s a summoner in her own right?” Sygian asked.

  “That was my first instinct, and I said as much, but she replied she was no summoner. Then, I watched her repeat the only bit of magic I myself have ever been able to do at will. I called her a witch, and she didn’t deny it.”

  Sygian came to a halt, looking Keiran over. While he was inclined to believe the king, like Corina, he knew he needed to proceed with caution regarding such claims. “The little parlor trick with the rock you’ve been doing?”

  “Aye, but it’s no parlor trick, I assure you,” Keiran said. “She did it as though it was nothing to her. The more I think about it, the more it all makes sense.”

  “Unfortunately, it does. It would also help explain some of her fearlessness.” The grand councillor moved to stand directly before Keiran. “Something like that would be of great interest to the Church Knights, I’d imagine. They would have the resources to feel her out a bit more, to verify or refute the claim…”

  “If only I had a way to contact them about such a matter,” Keiran replied, smirking. “If I’m correct and she is a magic user, we may have some very serious problems.”

  “Things like this tend to get passed on to the right ears. I’m certain the knights will take interest in it. It would be a reason for concern, undoubtedly.” Sygian squinted and looked to the side. “I think a bit of research into her background might be in order. Let me see what we…they can do.”

  Keiran gave him a smile, though it was tempered by the fear he honestly had of learning the scope of Adreth’s abilities. “Thank you, Sygian. Now, if you don’t mind, I had something I needed to attend to with Thana.”

  “Ah, to be young again,” Sygian replied, shaking his head and motioning back down the hallway. “Go on, and leave this business with Mother Thinliss to me for now.”