Black Rose Queen: Black Rose Sorceress, Book 3

by Connie Suttle

  The work was done quickly and perfectly, lest they displease the Prophet as well. It made me smile for the first time all morning.

  Sherra

  "Kerok, I don't think he'll target just anybody," I said as I watched him toy with his breakfast. The dinner meeting we'd had the night before had ensured a restless night for both of us.

  I'd had time to think, though, in those hours spent awake. "What makes you say that?" He absently scraped butter across his bread before biting into the roll.

  "When you consider who his target is in this," I said. "He wants to kill you and the Council. I think he still wants that—more than anything. Why invade a villager who has no power left and no real reason to approach either of those targets? Your guards will kill anyone trying to get into the palace without your permission."

  Kerok considered my words as he chewed. You're right, he admitted in mindspeak. "Invading and killing villagers only gains him so much, and brings Az-ca's army running if that happens," he conceded aloud.

  "Right. He's much more devious than that. He'll look for someone with sufficient power and suitable access, unless I miss my guess. That way, he won't have to pour himself into some hapless washout or retiree to obtain his goals. That could leave him vulnerable where he is, I think."

  "If it were me," Kerok said after considering the problem for a moment, "I'd invade a few villagers to frighten the population—just to make the entire country uneasy. Then, I'd search for a specific target to achieve my goals, but only after everyone else is distracted from the many uprisings, as citizens fight themselves based on suspicions alone."

  "Neighbors who distrust one another will go to war if that happens," I pointed out. "Each believing the other could be a part of the enemy."

  "Use it as an excuse to express their hatred, you mean?"

  "Yes."

  "This is untenable, and possibly the worst attack we've ever dealt with," Kerok shook his head. His eyes became unfocused as he considered a divided population, where suspicion and hatred would thrive unless a way were found to destroy those things.

  How to do that, though? Once those thoughts invaded a mind, they may as well be controlled by the enemy. "I'm sure Kaakos is smiling, wherever he is."

  "I wanted Merrin dead," Kerok snorted. "I should have delivered that death, rather than wait for a hearing before the Council."

  "The only thing to be grateful for in all this is that we don't have an invading army tossing bombs or flying planes at us," I said.

  "I worry about the plane part, though I don't understand that term, specifically." Kerok went back to his food. "If they can manage to fly longer distances, we're in trouble."

  "I know." My weariness and lack of sleep came through in my voice.

  "Ask Hunter for a marching draught if you need it," Kerok didn't look up from cutting into the ham on his plate.

  "I don't like that stuff," I mumbled.

  "I don't like it either," he admitted. "Sometimes it's necessary."

  "I'll just have extra tea."

  He reached across the table for my left hand, and leaning forward, kissed the black rose on my wrist. "I love you," I told him.

  "I know." A smile curved his lips.

  "Thorn, here are Armon's reports on the villagers from Vale," Hunter arrived to set a pile of papers at Kerok's elbow.

  "Want tea, Hunter?" Kerok offered, turning toward him.

  "I'd take tea," he pulled an extra chair from a window and sat at our table with us, while I poured a cup of tea for him from the pot.

  "Kaakos is just as misogynistic as Ruarke ever was," Pottles informed me later, when I arrived at training camp. I'd told her about my conversation with Kerok at breakfast.

  "Does this mean he'll look for a male to invade?" I asked.

  "Or males. Thorn is correct, I think. If Kaakos hasn't arrived at that plan yet, he will, just to cause us trouble."

  "And it will have to be someone who's been in contact with Ruarke or Merrin. We're back to those villagers from Vale, and any former hostages that Merrin took from other places."

  "True enough."

  "Pottles?"

  "Yes?" She sat at her desk while we spoke, and had turned back to reading training reports before sending them to Hunter.

  "What about those current trainees that Merrin knew? The ones who managed to escape from him?"

  Pottles' head jerked up immediately and her eyes locked with mine.

  Currently, Anari was helping teach the youngest girls. Kyal and Laren were doing the same for the young boys at the boys' camp. All three were far ahead of the others, having been trained by Pottles.

  If anyone remained prominent in Merrin's memory, it would be those who'd thwarted his plans by getting away.

  "Then we have villagers and trainees to be concerned about," Pottles went back to her reading with a decided grimace marring her face. "Fucking hell," she whispered.

  "I'll let Kerok know when I go back to the palace," I said. "I hate to cast suspicion on those three."

  "Because we love them," Pottles growled. "Fuck you, Kaakos," she whispered. "And fuck the whore who birthed you, too."

  I wasn't sure a whore had birthed Kaakos, but Pottles sounded deadly serious, so I didn't argue. I knew nothing about Kaakos, other than he was the enemy of Az-ca. Who was I to argue with anyone about his birth, legitimate or otherwise?

  "I'll write a letter to Thorn, if you'll deliver it," Pottles said, breaking me away from my thoughts.

  "Of course," I said.

  "Good. How's the writing of the law coming along?"

  "Cole is working on it today. He says he should have something for me to look at tonight."

  "Keep me informed. The sooner we can limit two troublemakers, the better off we'll be."

  "I will. I have a question," I hedged.

  "What's that?"

  "How many laws changed regarding Az-ca's army when Ruarke ah, murdered your sister?"

  Pottles stared at the papers in front of her for a long time. So long, I thought she'd refuse to answer.

  "Nearly all of them," she whispered. "So many things happened, and none of it for the better."

  Secondary Camp

  Armon

  "At least they're competent, now," Levi stood at my side as we watched roses and new warriors training side-by-side. "The warriors' blasts are better, too, once they understood they wouldn't kill themselves with the shield still up."

  "If I hadn't seen Sherra do this from the beginning, I might have worried about the same thing," I confessed.

  "Do you ever think that history is happening all around us?" Levi asked. "I think all this will be studied in the future—if there is a future for Az-ca."

  "What we heard last night doesn't aim very far in that direction, does it?"

  "It scares me that some of our own could become our worst enemies, because we can't point a finger at any of them and say with certainty that they belong to Kaakos."

  "Kaakos and his perverted religion," I snorted. "The one that says we're evil and have to die."

  "My father said that once there were many religions, but the religion in Ny-nes destroyed them with the End-War. He said their religion favors some people over others, to create zealots—fanatics to their cause. Add to that the drug given to their army, and they have more than enough hate for those of us they see as different or evil. He said that they mistrusted anyone who didn't look like them, too."

  "What do you mean, didn't look like them?" I didn't understand.

  "You've seen the enemy captives, Armon. They're all light-skinned under their tans. None of them are like this." He tapped his hand to indicate his darker skin.

  "Did they ever have anyone with darker skin?"

  "My father said so. He said that Ny-nes' religion dictated that those people be killed, too, just like the ones born with power, or the ones attracted to the same sex—or both."

  "Is that information written somewhere?" I asked. I'd never heard Levi tell this tale before. How
could anyone target their own citizenry over the color of their skin? It made no sense to me and I told Levi that.

  "My father said he heard it from his grandfather, who heard it from his grandfather, and so on," Levi said. He looked troubled to me. I didn't reach out to touch him—we were on duty.

  "I wish you could mindspeak," I sighed.

  "That makes two of us," he replied.

  Kerok

  "Doret says that Kaakos is a misogynist, like Ruarke was," Sherra said. She and I were having dinner with Barth and Hunter. "That makes me think that he'll stay away from invading a female mind, unless there's no other choice."

  "I heard disturbing news from Armon this afternoon," I said after acknowledging Sherra's words. "He says that after having a conversation with Levi, he understands better why there were never any dark-skinned enemies seen or captured. Levi says that according to his family history, Ny-nes killed any dark-skinned citizens long ago, just as they continue to kill the ones born with power today."

  "That makes no sense," Hunter said. "Are they not exactly the same? That's like killing the few spotted horses foaled, because they don't look like the usual black or brown ones. Those are people. How ignorant can they be in Ny-nes?" he huffed.

  "Hunter, when was the last time anything about Ny-nes made sense?" Barth asked the rhetorical question.

  "I find it disturbing, my friend," Hunter replied.

  "As do we all," I agreed. "But like those born with power there, we don't have the ability to intervene. All we can do is attempt to push them back when they attack us."

  "I have a question," Sherra said. "It's off-topic, but it just came to me."

  "What's that?" I turned in her direction.

  "We divine things from objects at times. Can we perhaps find those invaded by Kaakos that way?"

  Barth sat up straighter at Sherra's words. "I would certainly be willing to try it. I've never heard of anyone invading an object to pass on malevolence. I have no idea whether it's even possible to place a part of yourself in something inanimate." Neither of us mentioned Barth's divination of the objects taken away from Merrin; that could lead to other tales we didn't wish to tell.

  "If this works out, maybe we'll have some defense against Kaakos' terror. If we suspect someone, we divine their favorite belongings," Sherra's expression was thoughtful.

  "I'm hoping we can use the same method to track down his spies," Hunter said. "It angers me that we've had this going on without our knowledge."

  "Coordinate with Adahi," I suggested. "He knows more than anyone about that particular subject. He's probably still tracking them, unless I'm mistaken."

  "Will he answer my mindspeak?" Hunter asked.

  "As well as he'll answer anyone's, I suppose." At times, I found it disconcerting that there were no threats available to be used against a ghost, when he chose not to obey anyone's commands.

  Including the King's.

  I wanted to hear more about Adahi's death in Ny-nes, too, but Adahi appeared reluctant to discuss that subject.

  How did King Thorn separate the living body from the dreamwalker, and keep them apart? That act must have required a great deal of talent and power.

  I wore King Thorn's ring. I studied it on my finger while the others talked. How much would I give to be able to speak with my namesake, and ask questions?

  Shall I join you? Adahi's mindspeak sounded in my head.

  Please, I replied. I think we have questions.

  Sherra

  How had I not seen the ring on Kerok's hand until now? I certainly hadn't noticed it before, so it was new, or new to him. Perhaps it belonged to his father, and he was only now wearing it.

  I resolved to ask him about it later, when Adahi appeared and took a seat at the table.

  "I have questions," Hunter told Adahi.

  "I will answer if I can." Adahi dipped his head in a half nod.

  "You've been hunting the spies in Az-ca?" Hunter began.

  "Yes. They are not easy to find at times. Kyri helps upon occasion, but she is kept busy with other things, you see, and cannot spend her life tracking down this disgruntled one or that, to determine who they all are."

  "You make it sound as if there are many," Barth began.

  "I believe you may have discovered recently that one spy can recruit and infect others?" Adahi presented it as a question.

  "We've heard that, yes," Kerok agreed. "It doesn't sit well, as you may imagine. I want to know what we can do about it."

  "You've already made a start, but it may not go as quickly as you need it to go," Adahi replied.

  "What start?"

  "You've started mending the disconnect between the royal city and the outside villages. You understand that trust can only be built slowly between those two things, as the separation was building for more than two decades. So much can happen in that time, and the people from those villages will not trust easily again."

  I could see Kerok's mouth tighten. He didn't wish to speak ill of his father, but his brother, Crown Prince Drenn, had been left in charge of the Council for nearly that long, and the trouble had mostly come of that.

  "Let's speak the truth here, Thorn. Drenn didn't care that the villagers suffered, so long as he could pull the Council under his sway. Whether they'd started that way or not, they became greedy and grasping, just as Drenn did," Hunter pointed out.

  "I wish to also point out that Thorn was busy with the army during that time, and wasn't available to do anything about it. It matters not that you feel guilt over not being involved—when would you have had the time?" Barth raised a hand as Kerok started to protest.

  "Until now, the enemy hasn't let up long enough to allow Thorn to involve himself in that convoluted mess," Armon said. "The problem has now dropped inconveniently into his lap, after the deaths of his father and brother. Nobody complains about Drenn's death anymore. Even his former Council cronies don't miss him; they only miss their sources of income—legal or not, that Drenn allowed them to have."

  "They're not fit for anything else," Levi pointed out. "They'll likely starve, unless someone takes pity on them."

  "There's your first source of disgruntled citizens," Adahi advised. "I'd watch them carefully, Thorn, if I were you. Information—important information—can still be gleaned from that unholy gaggle, and may prove to be a treasure-find for any spy who listens."

  "Will you be watching them for us?" Hunter asked.

  "My dear Crown Prince," Adahi turned toward him. "You know their names, so they're easy enough for your own spies to watch. I search for those whose names you don't know."

  "That's—that makes sense," Hunter sat back in his chair with a sigh. "Thank you, Adahi, for your continued efforts on our behalf."

  "I promised a King named Thorn long ago that I would spend my efforts to help a future King named Thorn," Adahi said. "If you look at your records, word spread of the phantom after your birth. I may have done a few things before that time, but my efforts certainly increased once you were born."

  "He also kept an eye on Sherra, because Kyri and I asked," Pottles admitted.

  "Both are important to me," Adahi's eyes became slits as he dipped his head. His admission made me squirm in my seat—he'd known about the Bulldog and her pets. All three were now dead. One because of an outdated law and Merrin's actions, the other two dead because of Adahi.

  Not that they didn't deserve it, I reminded myself.

  Don't feel guilty about those two deaths—they were inevitable, either then or shortly in their future, Adahi informed me. You have no blame in this. As for the first one, you and I know that law is unjust, and should never have been enforced—especially in that case.

  I'll start working on an update, I replied. I hope Kerok sees things our way.

  If you can't convince him, perhaps together we can.

  I'm willing to work with you, I said. Anytime. Just don't, well.

  Don't hit you again. I promise to never do that. I shouldn't have done it to
begin with, but the situation with Ruarke went wrong and I needed you to stand with me against him—and Kaakos.

  I understand the necessity, but I'd like to be better prepared next time. Surely there's a way to separate the dreamwalker from me if needed.

  My dear, that only can occur during sleep or death.

  His words shouldn't have surprised me, but they did. We will talk of that later, he said. Let us turn our attention to the subject at hand.

  "If we're to determine whether anyone has been recruited by Kaakos, or whether they're in his grasp already, what are we looking for?" Barth asked. I readied myself for the ensuing debate.

  "Why didn't we think of this before?" Kerok tossed out a hand as I followed him toward our suite. "Handing out census papers is ideal, and we can keep them categorized by village, and ask that they be updated every few years—as we used to do. We can include the questions about former military training or service. That will pinpoint the ones to watch."

  "It's still a great deal of work," I pointed out. "We need to recruit more diviners for this."

  "Barth has the lists, so you can go through those if you want," he replied. "I'm exhausted. Let's get in bed." No clothes—skin to skin, he added in mindspeak. I wish to hold my black rose against me. I'll do my best not to wake her, too.

  "I'll do my best not to wake," I said aloud, as he opened the door to our suite.

  Ny-nes

  Merrin

  It took several hours before I realized I was in Ny-nes. Kaakos' mind control deserts me when he sleeps, and I am grateful to have my senses back in that time.

  I imagined that no one could hate Thorn as much as I. That was before Kaakos' mind invaded my own.

  His hatred was a blast furnace that could melt iron, and it terrified me in those lonely hours I was myself.

  As much as he hated Thorn and Az-ca, however, his hatred for another—a woman named Kyri—was hottest of all.

  As I couldn't read his memories, I didn't know why he hated Az-ca and desired its destruction. I'd learned that all along, Ruarke had played me for a fool. He'd never intended to hand the King's City to me.