Last Stand: The Black Mage Book 4

by Carter, Rachel E.

  “Paige has a kettle of hot cider there.” I pointed to the second fire. “And truly,” I lowered my voice to convey my request, “I need a distraction. Thinking about that rebel after my brother…”

  “Say no more.” The woman laid her rough hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “I will make myself scarce. Call on me if you need help.”

  “I will.” I gave her an appreciative nod as the mage left me to fix the meal on my own.

  No one noticed minutes later when the contents of two waxen green bottles slipped into the rabbit stew. They were from Nyx’s inventory at the keep. Certainly no one cared that the prisoner was refusing to eat.

  “Did you do something different?” Darren poked at his bowl, his nose wrinkled in distaste.

  I shrugged. “I followed the same recipe as Hadley. Why?”

  “It tastes…” Paige frowned as she dug into her own and took a big swallow, making a face as she chewed. “Strange.”

  “Strange can be good.”

  “Not as my dinner.” Darren attempted another spoon, cringing as he swallowed. “Something must have been rotten. Or some mice got into the packs.”

  “If I get sick,” Paige looked me in the eye, “the gods won’t be able to spare you my wrath.”

  “I ate it too.”

  “Where is your bowl?” Darren stared at my hands folded in my empty lap. “Ryiah, even if you don’t like your own cooking, you need to keep up your strength.”

  “I already ate.” Lie. “And I didn’t taste anything strange.”

  “Ryiah, this stew is terrible!” one of the Combat mages started to laugh. “What did you do?”

  Another followed. “I wouldn’t feed this to the palace hounds.”

  “Leave her alone,” Hadley was the only one to speak up in my defense.

  “Gods, I would take the slops those mutts are given over this.”

  “See?” Darren’s lips twitched in a smile. “We aren’t the only ones.”

  I drew myself up, feigning upset. “I tried to do something nice. Remind me not to offer again!”

  “Don’t bristle at us.” Paige rolled her eyes. “We were only teasing.”

  “Ryiah,” Darren began, “we didn’t mean—”

  “All I wanted was a distraction!” I raised my voice into hysterics, hating this ploy but knowing I needed to act it out all the same. “Three days I’ve been forced to pretend the traitor who recruited my brother isn’t standing three yards away, set to live for a crime my brother never could!”

  Before Darren or Paige could say a word, I stomped over to the other side of camp, splattering mud against my heavy cloak and entering the royal tent. I waited for my husband to follow me inside.

  Sure enough, Darren appeared moments later, rainwater dripping from his hair and lashes.

  “I’m sorry.” The prince’s eyes sought my face; they were filled with shame. “I didn’t stop to think what this might be like for you. You’ve been so….” The prince took a step closer and cursed as his boot caught on the bottom of the tent’s flap. “Sstrong through all of thisss.” Darren made a face as he tried the words again, only to slur once more. “I f-forgotttt—”

  The prince slumped forward, and I caught him in my arms.

  I slowly transferred Darren to the ground and wrapped him in heavy furs.

  Don’t. Don’t you dare think about what you’ve just done to the boy you claim to love.

  The sleeping draught had hit just in time. The Black Mage was fast asleep, and when he awoke, his last memory would be my barely restrained outrage over the rebel’s life. The whole camp would remember that rage. I would never be a suspect in Tallus’s escape.

  I brushed away Darren’s choppy bangs and pressed my lips to his forehead. “I’m sorry.” They were the words I could never say to him before, and it felt so good to say them now. “I’m sorry for everything.”

  * * *

  I waited until the murmur of voices died down and there was only the patter of rain. Then I tiptoed back into the center of our camp, taking care to duck around trees just in case someone was still awake.

  No one was.

  Twenty knights and mages were sprawled across the camp’s floor. Twenty of the Crown’s best unaware of the true traitor in their midst.

  I ran forward to adjust Hadley so that she could breathe easier from her position on the ground. I felt guilty while thinking of my comrades—my friends—left out in the pouring rain to freeze, but I couldn’t draw suspicion by dragging them all under cover. Paige and Henry were clustered together on the ground, drawn swords scattered close by. They caught on faster than the rest.

  I made one final scan of the scene before hurrying over to Tallus.

  “Thank the g-gods.” The man’s breath was coming out in white puffs of air, his limbs shaking from the cold. Someone had taken his blanket away after I’d left, probably because of my scene. I bit back a groan. The price of my speech.

  “Here.” I slashed at his bonds with a cooking knife before tossing it to the ground. I couldn’t let anyone think he’d gotten free through magic.

  “We need some of my blood on those ropes,” the knight croaked. “No one will believe I escaped that easily.”

  “I’m not letting you take any more injuries.” I grabbed the knife, but Tallus snatched it away, his reflexes surprisingly fast.

  His expression was sad. “It has to be me. You can’t awake with new injuries. They would know something was wrong.”

  I ground my teeth and looked away as the knight let out a low grunt while cutting into his palm and then pressing it against the rope’s end. You know he’s right. You need to focus on what comes next.

  “You have two hours, three if we’re lucky.”

  “Only three?”

  “The stew diluted the potion’s effects, but it was too risky to drug the ale. Most only took a bite or two at most.” I flushed in the dark. “It wasn’t a pleasant aftertaste.”

  The knight studied the range behind us. “Nyx stocked a hideout for me a day’s ride north from here. Enough supplies for a month.”

  “We need to get out of here now. Don’t worry about covering your trail. I’ll do it on my way back.” I tossed the knight some bandages from my saddle pack. “Wrap your hands.”

  Tallus opened his mouth, his question already on my mind—

  I cut Paige’s mare loose and watched her flee south. My guard would kill me if she ever found out.

  “We’re going on foot.” Tallus needed as many distractions as two hours could buy. “When they try to decide which path you took, Darren will assume you’ve fled south to the rebel base after he tracks those prints.”

  The prince wouldn’t want to waste time combing the forest when his brother’s life was at stake. He would send others later after he was back with the king, but by then Tallus would be long gone north.

  The knight swallowed heavily. “Thank you, princess.”

  “I’m one of you first.” Darren would never have made me his wife if he knew.

  I gripped the knight’s waist as we started forward, using my other hand to cast a light. A day in the prison and three days of travel with old injuries hadn’t helped, even prepared as Tallus was.

  “Tallus…” I cleared my throat and squinted up through the pouring rain at the man who had braved so much for his cause. We had walked an hour together, and as much as it pained me, I had to turn around. Any more time would jeopardize our cause.

  The knight didn’t regard me with disdain, but I wouldn’t have blamed him if he did. After all, I subjected him to that night in the dungeon. “Your sacrifice won’t be for nothing. I promise.”

  “Derrick was—” Tallus’s voice cracked, “—a great friend of mine. I volunteered for this role.”

  I never knew. I opened and shut my mouth, finding no words.

  “It is an honor to help the sister he cherished so much.”

  Breathe. My hand shot to my throat and the leather cord hanging just beneath my cloak.
>
  Tallus didn’t leave time for a reply. The knight had already turned back, a limping shadow against a mountain of black.

  I shut my eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. But it didn’t work.

  All I could see was Derrick. My little brother, the bravest of us all. And I had left him to suffer alone.

  I saw his angry face yelling at me in the palace cell.

  And then I saw the final night. Jacob thrusting Derrick before me, crippled and hopeless, waiting for his older sister to take his life. Waiting for me to betray him.

  I slumped to my knees.

  Tallus’s words entered my heart. The sister he cherished so much.

  Salty tears mixed in with icy sleet as the howling wind took control of my hair, whipping locks of scarlet against wind-chapped lips and a breaking heart. I reached up to clutch my brother’s ring through my cloak, holding on to the copper circlet like it was Derrick’s hand instead.

  I won’t let you down again.

  * * *

  An hour later, I sprinted into camp, soaked to the bone. Raw magic danced out scattering the last foliage on the ground.I prayed that what my casting would be enough to mask Tallus’s trail.

  It was another reason I had chosen night. It was harder to track.

  In minutes, I was sliding into the tent, discarding my cloak, and drying my hair before feigning sleep beside the prince.

  Ten minutes later, the first person awoke.

  “Darren! Ryiah!”

  The prince stirred once, and then his head fell back to the side.

  “Your Highness!”

  Darren shot up at the same time as me. His head crashed into my chin. I fell back, tasting blood as the prince placed a hand to his head, wincing. “Paige? What is it?”

  “The rebel escaped—”

  “What?”

  “He—”

  Darren staggered out of the tent, shoving his feet into boots and shouting for the rest of our men before she could finish. “Henry! Markus! Landon!”

  “Paige?” I groggily blinked my eyes and attempted to stand, falling back as if I were much weaker than the rest. “D-did you say the rebel es-escaped?”

  “Must have slipped an elixir in our meal.”

  “M-my stew?” I groaned and reached for her shoulder. “The s-storm! The supplies were w-with Hadley.”

  “She was also in charge of transporting the rebel.”

  “The s-storm must have made it easy f-for him to slip it in t-the food.”

  “I don’t know how he got it. We searched him thoroughly before we left.” The knight helped me up, her back tense. “The whole camp was out for hours after you left.”

  My heart caught in my lungs. “L-left?”

  Paige raised a brow. “When you stormed off to your tent. The prince went after you, and then everyone started dropping at once. Do you remember anything at all?”

  I shook my head, feigning ignorance. “I remember Darren a-and then he fell and I… I guess I must have drifted off too.”

  The two of us started toward the camp, Paige half-carrying me as I got back “control” of my limbs.

  “I m-must have eaten too much.”

  Paige snorted. “At least now we know it wasn’t your bad cooking.”

  “Hmmm.”

  “I’m sorry, my lady.” Her serious tone returned as she addressed me directly. “Earlier I was out of place. I know how much this must upset you now that the rebel is loose.”

  I waved the knight’s apology away, quickening our pace toward the others. Darren had already gathered everyone else by the horses; their voices grew loud as we approached.

  Ten minutes later, we were pouring over a map of the territory.

  As I had hoped, they had discovered the missing mare and drawn their own conclusions.

  “We don’t have time to debate the context of his escape!” Darren’s voice rose above the storm, stunning the rest of our unit to silence. “Gods only know how many hours we lost already!”

  “You think he’ll try for the king?” One of the mages folded his arms. “In that condition, he’s hardly a threat, and we already sent out an envoy—”

  “He has my horse and he’s headed south!” Paige snapped. “If the rebel has any sense, he’ll warn his comrades in the palace and take up in the desert with the rest of his traitorous kind.”

  “The rebels have managed to stay hidden for years. This man was our one chance.” Darren fisted the map, the whites of his knuckles visible under the others’ light. “I am not going to waste our time prowling the mountains in the middle of the night. That traitor is headed south.”

  I ducked my head as the others nodded along. I couldn’t believe our luck. If Darren insisted no one remain behind, Tallus would have better odds than we hoped.

  “Ryiah and I will return to the palace immediately with our guards.”

  “But the king’s orders—”

  “The Black Mage and his second-in-command are more than capable of taking care of themselves, contrary to my brother’s opinion.” Darren glowered at the knight who had spoken. “The rest of you are to scout every inch of the south. The minute I arrive in the capital, I will have more of the Crown’s Army dispatched to help find that traitor while I investigate the palace. I’m not going to sacrifice our search for my ‘protection.’” Ember flared in the crown prince’s eyes. “If Blayne has a problem with it, he can take it up with me. You have ten minutes to pack up your gear and split into three parties.”

  “That thief stole my horse!” Paige stomped around our site, throwing her saddlebags against the ground ten minutes later. “That no good, piece of—”

  In ordinary circumstances, I might have laughed. “You can ride with me.”

  “If I must.” The knight grumbled as we finished loading my roan with supplies. “But no talking. We are hunting a rebel, my lady, not building a friendship.”

  “I would never dream of it.” I yawned—this time from real fatigue—and swung up into the saddle, reaching for Paige.

  My guard was too busy staring at a dark stain on the top of my boots.

  The rebel’s blood. I had been standing too close when he cut himself for the rope.

  My heart pounded violently against my chest.

  “When did you injure yourself, my lady?”

  “Oh, that?” I laughed uncomfortably. “Must have cut myself when I…” When I did what? Paige was always nearby. “You know what? I think that might have been from the rabbits caught for the stew.”

  “So not old, then.”

  Was it just me, or did she sound suspicious? “Well, old as this evening.”

  Paige continued to stare at my boot.

  “My lady and Paige.” Henry’s call rang out over the din of orders. “We are ready to head out.”

  Grateful for the interruption, I turned to Paige with a nervous grin. Don’t see my fear. “Time to return to the palace.”

  The guard didn’t say anything else as she helped herself into the saddle.

  7

  It only took us eight days to reach the capital.

  It took all of one breath to watch Darren race across the throne room to his brother. That twisting in my chest was a rising suffocation, and it was all I could do to stand there next to Paige pretending I was glad to see Blayne was still alive and well. I didn’t want to see that young, proud king relaxing in his gilded chair with a healthy glow and that lying courtier’s smile plastered to his face. I didn’t like to see the way Darren’s face lit up when he took in the same.

  Seven nights of riding on and on, trading mounts at each inn we passed, only remaining long enough for a meal and an hour’s sleep—two at most.

  All because the Black Mage feared for his brother.

  I tasted bile and made myself swallow. I should have been ecstatic—Tallus was safe, the keep’s rebels were undiscovered, and, with our good time, I had an extra week to search the palace while Darren and the others inspected the Crown’s guard. After all, every secon
d counted now that the Pythians had officially set sail, and I only had three weeks before they would reach our shores.

  “Ryiah…”

  I glanced up to find Blayne beckoning me forward with the crook of a finger.

  I approached and the king gave me a lazy smile, leaning back against his throne. “Well, you look a lot more like your usual self, sister dear. I must say the dresses never felt sincere.”

  I will never be your sister. My nails stabbed into my palms, and for a moment, I couldn’t move, save for the rise and fall of my chest.

  “Ryiah isn’t a lady of court, brother. She’s a war mage.”

  Darren’s voice brought me back to the present. Breathe. Over a month away from the enemy and I’d forgotten what it felt like. If I didn’t get control of my emotions, someone would notice—any of the guards or Mira who stood scrutinizing my appearance with a scowl. Good to see you, too. I looked up through sopping locks and pressed my lips into a shaken smile, listening to the drip, drip as slush collected on the tile beneath my boots. Breathe.

  Now speak.

  “Funny.” My voice sounded strange even to my own ears, hoarse and too high. “I was going to say the same about you. Sitting on a throne while your brother and I protect the kingdom. Anything more would be off-putting.”

  Speaking such words at his father would have resulted in the guillotine, but Blayne was evil wrapped in grace. Verbal spars were nothing he couldn’t handle.

  “How I have missed your humor.” The new king narrowed his gaze, fingers tapping loudly against his armrest. “And yet my brother informs me that the rebel escaped. Right under your watch.”

  “He drugged our supplies—”

  “Used in the meal you were cooking,” Mira interrupted callously. “How convenient.”

  “Go ahead and say it. I dare you!” I started forward, but Paige jerked me back with a sharp tug on the wrist that stung.

  I fought her grip, but the knight held me in restraint. “Don’t bait her,” she hissed.

  Little did they know it was all for show.

  I wrestled in the knight’s grip for a moment longer, playing up the part while Darren bristled in my defense.

  “Ryiah is the last person who would help a rebel escape, Mira. I had to tear her off the man during interrogations. Believe me, my wife would have liked nothing better than to slit the rebel’s throat who recruited her brother to their cause.”