Her mind swam, but she tried to piece it together. “So you suppose I was adopted after the Sadoris were chased out of Tordania?”
“I suspect as much, yes,” he said. “The Tordanians killed your mother, just as they killed all the Aroothi people who settled on this side of the river. They’d only moved here to try to escape the Mother’s Plague. They were a small tribe just trying to find a place to survive, and all that happened was their extinction. Now, how do you feel about your precious Tordanians?”
She gave a lazy quirk of a brow, knowing the basic history of the previous invasion. “All the Tordanians living in the region were killed when the Sadoris invaded, too. How do you feel about your precious Sadoris over that?”
Danier shook his head, knowing he couldn’t undo her misguided loyalty to the Tordanians all at once. Her repatriation would most likely take years, but since she was the sole living Aroothi woman, it would have to be done.
Bringing back a tribal lineage thought extinct would gain him untold political grandeur. Though some Aroothi men had survived the event, lineage in their culture was solely counted by maternal lines as fatherhood could never be completely proven. She was a treasure, and he knew he’d been blessed to find her. It was possibly of greater significance to the Sadori people than the coal mines he’d captured.
The general gave her a sad smile, changing the subject. “Enough of that for now. Your necklace and claim that you were trying to reach your king hint at something. Tell me the connection between the two of you.”
Thana looked to the side, the room slowly spinning around her. All she really wanted to do was lie down on the cot and close her eyes, but the words fell from her lips anyway. “Keir is a good man. I was threatened back at the castle, so I was running to him. He’d protect me.”
“Why would the king protect one lowly servant when he is headed to war?” he asked, again scrutinizing her reaction.
“As I said, he’s a good man and my friend. He would protect anyone,” Thana huffed back, wishing more than ever the questions would stop, so she could sleep. She moved to try to lie on her side, but Danier reached out and pushed on her shoulder, propping her back into a sitting position again.
“I will be blunt,” Danier said, letting his hand fall away from her. “Are you this king’s lover? Has he turned his Sadori slave-woman into his consort?”
Thana’s cheeks burned even darker than the tea had made them. Her disjointed mind caused her to laugh a little. “We are close, and I do love him, but I’ve not gone to his bed or the like. Maybe we were headed there eventually but not yet. That’s private.”
He smiled, realizing he could use their relationship to his advantage. Still, there was an outrage underlying his expression over a Sadori being used as a house pet by the Tordanians.
Danier rose up from his seat. “You may rest now, Aroothi woman. I have work to do.”
“Keir will save me, you know,” she said quietly, slowly keeling over onto her side.
He started to walk to the exit, motioning for the guards to remain and keep watch over her. Danier paused before leaving. “If he cares about you as much as you think he does, he may try. Then, I can make him pay for forcing you into slavery.”
Unable to keep her eyes open any further, Thana rolled onto her back. Her chemically altered mind forced her to smile, and she gave one final laugh. “You will regret it.”
Chapter 5
“My Lord, the Sadoris have sent a message for you.”
Keiran sat before the fire in his tent, wide awake. It was morning, the sun just starting to cut over the mountain peaks. Jerris was lying close by, wrapped in blankets and still snoring away.
The vampire looked up to see Kanan standing there, his head poking into the tent. He quirked a brow and rose up from the ground, moving over. “What is it?”
Kanan stepped inside and held out a small square of intricately folded paper. “I don’t make a habit of reading things intended for other people.”
He took it, feeling something wrapped in the paper. Turning away from Kanan, he carefully opened the note, the necklace wrapped within nearly falling to the ground before he caught it. A jolt of fear washed through him as he immediately recognized what it was. He started to shake and hastily went to sit near the fire again. His hands went cold as he dreaded reading what was written on the paper.
The elder guard instantly knew something was terribly wrong. He moved over, kneeling on the other side of the fire from the king and reaching over to smack his son to wake him.
He could see all the color had drained from Keiran’s face. “What? What is it? What have they done?”
Jerris roused from his sleep when struck, sitting up. He switched his gaze between Keiran and his father, seeing something was horribly wrong. Being as close as he was to the vampire, he felt some of his projected emotion. Though groggy, he fixed his eyes on his friend, awaiting the answer to his father’s question.
Keiran’s eyes narrowed as he tried to calm down enough to read the note.
King Sipesh,
I have your Sadori slave in my custody. You will come and consult with me regarding a negotiation, or I will have her executed. You may bring one escort. I will be expecting you in my camp at Edinau.
General Ahman Danier
He lowered the note and looked over at the guards. “The bastards have Thana. They think she’s Sadori. How in the hell did they get her?”
Jerris blinked a few times. “What did that damn girl do, follow us?”
“She must have. This is the necklace I gave her,” he said, opening up his left hand and looking at the piece. “Why do they think she’s Sadori, though?”
Kanan remained silent, averting his eyes slowly from Keiran. There was a slight shift in the way he sat, his shoulders rounding a little.
Thanks to his recent drink, Keiran was sharp enough to sense the change in the older man’s emotional state. He fixed his gaze on Kanan, closing his fist around the necklace again.
“What do you know?” he asked.
“It should never have been an issue,” Kanan said.
“What? You’ll tell me right now,” Keiran demanded, slowly moving to stand up. The ache was back above his canines as his fangs started their slow descent downward. “Please, I have to know what in the hell is going on!”
“All right, Keir,” Kanan said, raising his hands slightly. He could see how upset the vampire was and didn’t want things to escalate after what had happened during their sparring. “As I said before, Quig and I patrolled together up here during the previous invasion. In one of their burned out camps, we found a living infant among the dead. Had anyone else found that baby, it would have been put to death. He was such a good-hearted man, though. He couldn’t nor could I.”
Keiran knit his brows, his anger worsening. “So you what, just took the baby back to the castle, and no one ever said anything to me about it?”
“Calm down, My Lord,” Kanan said quietly. “Quig and Sorna were childless, and he saw it as an opportunity. Sorna wasn’t in the castle at the time as she’d been sent away to recover from a broken ankle down in the town. So, when she did return to work with the infant, everyone just assumed she’d birthed the child while recuperating.”
Keiran turned away and closed his eyes, trying to think. It didn’t bother him in the least that Thana was Sadori. He’d always appreciated the exotic qualities in her the other women didn’t possess. Until the night before, he’d never seen another Sadori.
The elder guard didn’t know what Keiran was thinking. “Quig loved that little girl, Sadori or not. I kept their secret, seeing what joy she gave him. I never believed it would become an issue.”
Keiran wasn’t agonizing over Thana’s adoption. In fact, if Thana hadn’t been Sadori, there was a real chance she would have been slaughtered without hesitation. With General Danier holding her as a pawn, she was at least alive, giving him a chance to save her.
“Kanan, Quig and you did an honorable
thing in saving her as an infant, I find no fault in it,” Keiran said, still thinking.
What struck the young king was the overwhelming guilt about not ensuring Thana’s safety. Though there was no way of knowing she’d followed him to the border, he still took it on as his responsibility. The thought of her being taken away forever or killed was unbearable and made his anger spike.
“I have to go. I have to see what this general has to say. I’ll do whatever it takes to get Thana back.” Keiran crushed the note in his hand, throwing it into the fire.
“Absolutely not!” Kanan snapped, standing up quickly and moving around the fire. “You will not go into their camp. Most likely, it’s just a trap to bring you in and kill you. Hell, for all you know, Thana’s already dead.”
Keiran turned around in a flash, his teeth bared. His eyes were wild in his pain and fury, and he closed the remaining distance between them. “She is not dead! I will go, you cannot stop me!”
Kanan was a brave man, always had been, but seeing Keiran fly into a rage and screaming in his face made it difficult to stand his ground. He focused on the other’s exposed fangs for a moment.
“I will do everything in my power to stop you from going,” Kanan replied, aware of the danger lurking within the vampire. “The fate of this country and the lives of those in those mining towns are worth more than one woman. It would be a fool’s errand, and you know that damn good and well.”
Jerris, not accustomed to seeing Keiran in a state of rage, was unwell with the entire situation. He got up and stood beside his father. Though he hated the idea of going against his best friend’s desires, he knew his father was right.
Shoulder to shoulder with the older man, Jerris looked at Keiran. “We both will do what we must to stop you. I care about Thana, too, but it’s not right to risk everything like this. I’m sorry, Keir.”
“Then I will plan something on my own. I will not just stand idly by and do nothing. I want the woman I intend to marry returned.” Keiran switched his gaze between the two men, thinking as best he could under the circumstances.
Kanan and Jerris both stared at him, confused. In unison, they asked, “Marry?”
“Yes, and I don’t want to hear about it. Not from you,” he snapped, pointing at Jerris, “and not from you,” he said, switching to Kanan. “Not one word. I don’t give a damn what you both think of it. It may not even matter if they do end up killing her.”
The elder guard raised his hands slightly and shook his head. Keiran was very clearly at the breaking point, and he wasn’t going to push him. He realized he didn’t have any real means of stopping Keiran from meeting the general. Maybe they could come up with a sensible plan, but he needed to calm the vampire down. Acting impulsively wouldn’t do them any favors.
Kanan spoke gently. “Relax, boy, it’s safe with me, Church Knight or not.”
Now, Jerris went off, turning to look at his father. “Church Knight? Since when?!”
Kanan flashed a glare at his son. “Not now, Jerris. Let’s go to the officers’ tent to see if we can plan something. We’ll help in the course of the fight to get her back, but we have to be intelligent about it. If we go in there just ablaze with emotion and no planning, we will be doomed to failure.”
***
Keiran rode slowly up toward Edinau, his entire body tense. He kept glancing nervously over toward Jerris, but he never let his gaze linger. Jerris’ posture was just as rigid and uncomfortable, and he looked pale and sweaty despite the cold.
Their horses trudged through the snow that grew deeper as they ascended. Where the road wasn’t covered by trees, it was now about knee-deep. The animals’ breath came out in large clouds of vapor. The previous night had seen the temperature drop to its lowest point that winter, and it hadn’t warmed up much more than a few degrees even as noon approached.
Jerris was sick with nervous tension. Though he’d been training for battle his entire life, other than a few minor incidents in and around the castle, he’d never actually done anything.
Kanan had wanted to escort the king into the Sadori camp, but Keiran had insisted it be Jerris. He ordered Kanan to stay with the other men and troops, helping to execute the plan they’d ultimately come up with.
Jerris wasn’t thrilled at all, and he wondered if there was any chance he’d get out alive. With his teeth chattering from both cold and fear, Jerris whispered sharply, “I hate you. We are riding into our deaths.”
Keiran’s expression didn’t falter in the least, his eyes staying on the path ahead. He’d insisted on going to the Sadori camp despite the continued protests of the military advisors and Kanan. When he’d informed them he was going alone if they didn’t cooperate with him, they relented but not without several loud arguments.
The vampire straightened up in the saddle, hands tightening on the reins. There were Sadori guards not too far away, already with their weapons drawn. “No, you don’t. Now stay quiet, and let me take care of things. We’ll be all right.”
There were four guards on the road, and one other man who didn’t have a weapon in hand. Of those who were armed, three had short swords drawn, and the other had a longbow.
The unarmed man stood in the middle of the road, looking up at Keiran and Jerris, but he remained silent. He was one of the few Sadoris in the camp who spoke Tordanian and had been sent out for that reason. They hadn’t fully expected the Tordanian king to show up as requested and surprise was obvious in his expression.
Keiran stopped his horse directly before the man. He sat tall in the saddle, trying to exude a confidence he wasn’t entirely feeling. “I received the message sent by your general. I’ve come to speak with him. I am Keiran Valis Lee Sipesh, King of Tordania.”
The man gave no indication of respect for Keiran’s title. He looked doubtful, studying the self-announced king quietly for a moment before his lips parted. “You are King Sipesh? There are rumors that he is a monster. You look rather ordinary.”
Jerris looked to the side, his hands absently toying with the reins he held. The guard had nothing to add, resolving to leave everything up to his friend.
Keiran remained unfazed. He leaned forward slightly, his eyes narrowing. “I’m not here to explain myself to you. I came to speak with General Danier. Either take me to him, or I will run you over with my horse and find him myself.”
The interpreter cracked a thin smile to that. “Dismount the horses and follow me.”
Jerris looked at his friend before they both slid from the saddle and into the snow. On ground level, they casually inspected the guards as they passed into the camp.
All four of the weapon-bearing men were shivering. Though they wore coats pillaged from the town, they were terribly cold. The soldiers looked ill, and the sounds of coughing were frequent throughout the camp. There was a small fire burning near the edge of the road, and as Keiran and Jerris moved away, the guards rushed back to it.
The camp was made up of tents sitting in what had been the town square of Edinau. Most of the town’s buildings had been burned to the ground during the initial attack, leaving the Sadoris with no substantial shelter.
The way men were sitting around the camp made it clear that strategy might not have been for the best. Their tents weren’t well suited for cold weather, and the Sadoris weren’t generally prepared for times when it was very far below freezing. The only buildings left were warehouses, and those didn’t possess any sources of heat.
Each small campfire was crowded with men, trying desperately to keep warm. Their motions were languid, most not bothering to lift their heads to see the visitors. Several were curled up on the ground as close to the fires as they could manage.
The harsh sounds of breathing filled the air, making it clear that many of the Sadoris were suffering from a respiratory illness. It was only a simple cold virus, but it was impacting the foreign invaders badly.
Keiran wondered what their logic in invading during winter had been. Historically, their attacks had occ
urred in summer when the way through the mountains was easier. His initial belief it was a rushed operation looked valid.
Maybe their commander had simply thought it better to test the Tordanians’ resolve sooner rather than later. Perhaps they’d not expected the weather to turn as cold as it had. Either way, the soldiers around them were utterly miserable. Keiran realized his people, much more accustomed to the weather, had an advantage.
Keiran was shown to a large tent, the door tugged open by sentries. The interpreter went in with them before moving off to the side. The interior of the tent was much warmer than outside as this one had a fire going within.
The air was heavy with the scent of foreign spices the Sadoris enjoyed in their cooking. While most would have found it pleasant enough, Keiran immediately felt unwell, recognizing it as what permeated his Sadori victim the night before. The smell was so strong he could literally taste it. Had there been a choice, he would have exited the tent to escape it.
The ground below them was covered in rugs, and amongst several large pillows sat a man. The clothing he wore was richly colored in purple and red. It was easy to see he was a man of great wealth and most likely the general they’d been invited by.
Danier was completely relaxed and gave a nod to his guards. He studied the Tordanians, discerning guard from leader easily.
The Tordanians were stripped of their swords and knives. It had been assumed that they would be disarmed, so they allowed it to happen without protest.
General Danier then motioned for Keiran to come closer to him and sit. His attention didn’t waver from the vampire, Jerris being ignored.
“You have come! I wasn’t quite expecting that,” Danier said. “If you are truly the king, of course. I wouldn’t put it past you Tordanians to send an imposter.”
The Queen Maker Page 12