by Frost Kay
“No, you will not.”
“Are you sure?”
Rafe crossed his arms. “They received your invitation but declined. One of my men intercepted it, and we forged a different one.”
“The seal?” Sam asked.
“Borrowed.”
“And when the Methians hear that their prince was visiting?” Tehl quipped. They did not need a war with Methi.
“Aermia won’t be blamed. The Methi prince will want you to search for the imposter but you won’t find him on account of the fact that you’re now working with him. Your alliance with Methi is secure.”
It was like he took the thoughts right out of Tehl’s head. That made him scowl. He didn’t like anyone guessing his thoughts. “I don’t like you.” The words popped out of him. Sam gave him a look of exasperation while a deep chuckle trickled out of Rafe.
“The feeling is mutual, prince. While I would rather rip you from the throne, this way will be a bit less bloody and better for Aermia.”
Amber eyes met his, and an understanding passed between them. Both had an interest in Aermia and believed they were helping the people. Grudgingly, Tehl dipped his head in acknowledgment. He would play nice for his people, but it didn’t mean he had to like the man.
“You have a few of my people in your dungeon. I want them released.”
The corners of Tehl’s lips lifted. Negotiations. He could negotiate. “Agreed, if all assassination attempts on my father’s life stop now.”
“Agreed.”
“If one of your people steps out of line and harms my family, I will obliterate the rebellion. It will make what the Scythians did to the Nagalians look like child’s play. No one touches my family,” Tehl threatened, letting his darker side peak out. A glimmer of respect resonated in Rafe’s golden eyes. Bloodthirsty bastard.
“No need for threats, prince. I take my vows seriously. I keep my word.” Rafe’s eyes darkened, looking almost predatory. The rebellion leader lazily caressed a razor-thin blade strapped to his leather-clad thigh. “But, if one hair is harmed on Sage’s head there will be nothing left of your family or its legacy. The kingdoms will forget you ever existed. She is one of the very few reasons I agreed to this.”
Tehl studied the posture of the rebellion leader with curiosity. Everything about him bespoke aggression and possessiveness when he spoke of the young woman. Huh. Sage, that petite and devious emerald-eyed nymph was the key to keeping this hothead restrained. He would not forget that little tidbit.
“Her safety is already one of our top priorities,” Sam assured the rebellion leader. “We will treat her as one of our own, even provide her with her own room.”
Rafe eyed his brother. “Be sure that you do.” His threat was clearly implied. “She will not stay at the palace. She will return to where she belongs.”
Sam smiled, a sly twinkle in his eye. “And she belongs here, with you?”
That struck a nerve. Rafe’s jaw tightened as his eyes glittered with anger. “Yes, here, with her family and me.”
“I have spent limited time with the wench, but from my experience I can tell you that no one commands her, not even you. If she stays in the palace it will be at her own behest, not yours nor mine,” Tehl spoke, eyeing the man across from him.
“You deny my request?” Rafe bit out, his face turning red.
“I am denying you nothing,” Tehl replied. “She is not yours to speak for. She is not your mother, sister, wife, or betrothed. You have no claim on her.”
Fascinated, Tehl watched the man’s face turn purple. He didn’t know that could happen. That had to be unhealthy.
“She’s mine.”
The words slid along Tehl’s skin, full of menace. Tehl opened his mouth with a retort when Sam stepped between them, raising his hands up.
“By all legal and familial accounts, she belongs to no one.” Sam paused when the rebellion leader hissed out a breath. “But, if that is a deal breaker for you, you can put it in your list of demands.”
The large man deflated like a puffer fish before Tehl’s eyes. His brother always knew what to say.
“That is, once you discuss it with the lovely aforementioned female.”
And then Sam had to ruin it.
“Fine,” Rafe huffed, looking between Sam and Tehl. “Leave the same way you entered, and be quick about it. I’d like you gone so no one stumbles upon you before I’ve had time to break the news.”
Tehl raised an eyebrow at the arrogant tone.
Rafe ignored him and continued, “I will see you in six days.” The rebellion leader turned and strode for the door.
“You would turn your back to your enemy?” Sam called.
Rafe craned his neck and smirked at them. “You would be dead before you tried anything. Plus, we aren’t enemies, are we?”
Tehl’s lips curled at his comment while Sam sputtered. He liked when people were straightforward. They were unwilling allies who would sooner stab each other, but strange circumstances set them together.
Tehl moved back into the tunnel with Sam prowling after him.
“Well that was interesting.”
“An understatement for sure, brother.”
Tehl ran his hand along the wall, working his way toward the ladder in the tunnel’s dim light.
“Aren’t you the least bit curious about what other things are hidden down here?” Sam asked.
His brother’s curiosity was insatiable. Sam would have spies crawling through these tunnels by nightfall. “Not even a bit. I am sure you will have discovered everything there is to know in a matter of hours though,” Tehl replied wryly.
“Damn straight,” Sam exhaled.
They were both silent, lost in their own thoughts as they returned to the palace. It amazed Tehl how much could change in just a couple of hours. They discovered the rebel woman and her identity. They found out Sam had grown up with her brothers, and Tehl himself had just made a deal with the rebellion. In two weeks’ time, the threat of civil war could be over, though he knew things were never that easy.
Various officials and a few of his advisers swarmed him with lists of tasks and questions as soon as he walked through the door. Sam smiled at him and waved, slinking away, the traitor.
After approving the week’s menu and a series of visitor requests, he finally made it to his office. Tehl glanced at the sun, realizing it was already time to meet with his war council. What would his council’s reaction be to the deal he’d just struck? He straightened a crooked paper on his desk, briefly rethinking his decision but there was no going back. It was done. Nothing he could do now.
He shook his head at himself and abandoned the peace of his office a little early, determined to be the first one in the war council’s chamber. He avoided most of the people in the palace halls and slipped into the large, open space. The ceiling curved up, forming a dome with a glass window at its center. His boots echoed on the stone floor with each step of his approach to the round table at the far end.
The dark wooden table stood on a slightly raised dais and was one of the few pieces the palace boasted that was over a thousand years old. Tehl stepped up to his seat and ran his palm along its surface. How many kings and princes had conducted war meetings here?
“Finished watching me, Sam?” he called to his brother, lurking in the shadows.
His brother’s baritone chuckle filled the air, echoing around them. “Here, I thought you had lost all of your observational prowess. When did you spot me?”
He glanced at Sam as his brother detached from the side of a bookcase. “I never saw you.” He tapped his ear. “The bookcase gave you away. The wood groaned.”
“Damn.” Sam looked accusingly at the bookshelf. “Traitor,” he muttered, under his breath.
Tehl dropped his head, concealing his smile at Sam’s antics. He never failed to amuse him. “Is there a reason you were lurking around the war room, brother?” Tehl sank into his chair.
Sam shrugged. “Nothing new, I wanted to
listen to any gossip. You know our advisers are as bad as old women. Nothing stays a secret with them.”
“Isn’t that the truth?”
Samuel strolled to Tehl’s side, sprawling into the chair on his right. “How do you want to approach this meeting then? It has the potential to go quite badly.”
“There is no need to bring up your past with Sage’s family.” Tehl stared absently at Sam’s glinting earring and continued. “No one in the meeting will know anything about her, save Gav, yourself and I—but I say we tell the truth. That you had some key information which led the rebel to consider working with us instead of against us and that she has negotiated a meeting where we will hopefully do just that.”
Sam turned his shrewd gaze from his own boot to Tehl’s face. “Do you think it wise to mention that the rebel is a woman?”
Tehl mulled it over for a moment. He knew that some may not trust or respect anything she said just because of her gender and a couple of them had met her last night at the festival. He wouldn’t be able to hide her though. “They will meet her eventually, some met her last night and you know as well as I that she has won most of the old men over already.”
“True, the use of her injuries was truly masterful. I wouldn’t have been able to execute it any better.”
“You mean her performance?” he questioned.
“Yes. By her little act she stirred their sympathy, righteous anger, sense of justice, protectiveness, and a hint of lust. Most of them are already wrapped around her finger.” Sam sniggered. “I bet most of them would offer for her if they found out she wasn’t already spoken for by Rafe. Not that the rebellion leader knows it.”
“He is quite covetous of her, isn’t he?” Tehl still didn’t care for her, but he couldn’t deny her beauty or the appeal of her strength.
“He is more than that, brother. That man loves her. If he feels she is threatened at all then we will have some serious problems on our hands.”
Tehl sat forward and shot Sam a look before watching the door swing open. “That is why this meeting is important. We need them all to be on our side.”
“Precisely.”
Both brothers watched as the men filtered in, taking their places. Jaren was the last to arrive. The orange-haired man sauntered into the room as if he owned the place. Tehl couldn’t stand the man. When he wasn’t looking down on everyone, obviously viewing them as incompetent duds, he was throwing his daughter, Caeja, at Tehl, no doubt hoping for a royal connection.
Jaren lowered himself in his chair and looked around the table. “I hope I am not too late.”
Tehl never rolled his eyes at anyone besides his brother, but, at that comment, he almost did. Jaren purposely came in late simply to gain attention. Tehl ignored him and stood. “There have been developments in the last twenty-four hours that will affect how we deal with the rebellion.” He gestured to Sam. “Commander Samuel will share with you what he has discovered.” Sam stood and bowed to Tehl.
Tehl sat in his chair, nodding for Sam to begin.
“We have been trying to hunt down members in the rebellion.”
“Not that it has been fruitful,” Garreth interrupted. “I have come up empty-handed every time.”
“True,” Sam said, placing his hands on the table, “until now.”
A series of rumbles and questions erupted.
Sam raised a hand, and the room quieted, faint echoes bouncing around them. “Over a month ago, I received a missive detailing an information exchange that was to happen. I investigated, and, to my surprise, it was accurate. The rebel was caught and brought back to the dungeon.”
“Why weren’t we made aware of this?” asked the balding Lelbiel. He was a sharp, portly man, but extremely knowledgeable when it came to organizing anything.
“Because there was no information at the time. We interrogated the rebel intensely but they would not break.”
“I am sure if you had given me an hour with him, he would have been singing a different tune,” Zachael, the combat master, remarked. Tehl didn’t doubt it. Zachael knew more about combat and painful uses of pressure points than anyone.
“This situation was…delicate. It required a certain touch.” Sam’s face hardened. “Some took it upon themselves to interrogate the rebel without our knowledge or permission. When we were informed, the rebel was near death. It was luck they survived.”
“How bad was the damage?” questioned the grizzled William.
Tehl eyed the older man with a crazy head of gray hair. The man was an animal when it came to any form of battle on horseflesh. The night of the festival, he had told Sage her scars were a thing of beauty. Tehl was sure that when William figured out who the rebel was, he would be on their side.
“Broken ribs, nose, too many cuts and lacerations to count, bruises, dehydration, and starvation. Also an infection that caused a fever, and fluid in the lungs.”
Tehl watched his advisors’ eyes widen at the severity of the injuries Sam was listing. “Let it be known that the men who disobeyed me were punished severely. They are no longer with the Guard and are barred from the palace.”
Shock radiated through the men. The punishment had been harsh.
“Surely that was a little bit heavy-handed. It was a rebel, after all, a traitor. I am sure those men only wanted to please you as do we all,” murmured Jaren, slick as oil.
“Their punishment was hardly sufficient, I assure you.”
All the attention focused on Gavriel, who had thus far been observing the table in silence. “They didn’t do it for the Crown. They did it for their own sick pleasure and the thrill they received from having power over another person.”
Jaren eyed Gav with distaste before dismissing him, looking back at him with a fake smile on his face. “My mistake, my lord.”
“So this rebel recovered and agreed to work with us? Against the rebellion?” Garreth asked, knowing full well who Sage was. He was the one to carry her to her room when she left the infirmary.
“With time, we were able to reverse some of the indoctrinating that had been taught.”
“So we have a spy in the midst of the rebellion?” Jeb inquired, a quiet man with black hair peppered with gray. He had more knowledge about Aermia—how? Geography? Their history? Legally?—and the surrounding three kingdoms than probably all the people of Sanee combined.
“No. We have an liason,” Sam answered.
“You want us to work with the rebellion?” Jaren asked incredulously. “That’s ridiculous. They are traitors and deserve death.”
Tehl ground his teeth to keep from shouting at the idiotic man.
“You would rather we attacked our own people?” William retorted.
Jaren glared at William for a moment before turning his eyes on him. “They are not our people when they are opposing us, they are our enemies.”
“They’re not our enemies if they will work with us,” Sam drawled.
Jaren opened his mouth then wisely shut it when all eyes moved to him, his face turning the color of his hair.
“Have you contacted the leaders of the rebellion then?” Gavriel prodded.
“We have,” Sam continued, “and they will negotiate. They are not some group of disgruntled ragtag farmers. They are organized, they are armed, and they have a vast network of supporters. If they attacked right now we could overtake them, but only at significant cost to ourselves and great loss of life.” Sam gazed around the table. “If we allow ourselves to be embroiled in a civil war, the Scythians will take Aermia. That is something none of us wants. Our kingdom needs to be united in strength before we can deal with anything that Scythia throws at us.”
“What is in it for them?” Lelbiel asked.
“They don’t want bloodshed either. We are not yet sure what they want. We are to meet in six days and exchange demands; three days after that, we can begin negotiations.”
“You trust this liaison?” Jaren prodded.
Tehl stood and stared the table down. “Yes
, I do. Some of you met the rebel last night.”
A few confused looks were passed around but a pair of clear gray eyes met him in understanding. William obviously knew whom he was talking about.
“So when do we get to meet this liaison?” Jeb asked.
“You will meet her at the exchange,” Sam replied.
All sound ceased in the room. Various expressions of surprise and shock moved over each man’s face. Slowly understanding dawned. A series of curses and movements exploded in the room. Each man shouting over the top of one another.
“A woman?” hissed Jaren.
“A woman liaison, how quaint… and exceedingly unusual,” remarked Lelbiel.
“It’s never been done before,” stated Jeb.
Tehl waited for a while, until they got themselves together before nodding for Sam to continue.
“Yes, a woman. An important woman,” his brother emphasized. “She is high in the chain of the rebellion’s command and well loved by them. She will be highly useful to us.”
“A woman?” Garreth muttered, as if he wasn’t in on the secret. “It’s bloody brilliant! No wonder we haven’t been able to find their messengers. Women have circles that men never enter. Imagine the network of spies you could form with someone planted among them.”
Sam grinned at the Elite captain. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“A moment,” Zachael growled. All the men looked at the wrathful dark man, vibrating with anger. “Do you mean to tell me that the Guard you removed beat this woman?”
“Yes.”
Disgust and rage raced across the combat master’s face before he released a breath. He looked Tehl in the eye before bowing his head in shame. “Forgive me, I had no knowledge of their actions.”
“You are not accountable for their disobedience. You train the men well, it is their decision to follow your commands as well as mine.”
Zachael lifted his head, guilt still weighing down his shoulders.
“Such a trauma can break the mind even if the body heals. I trust your word that she will make a trustworthy ambassador.” Jeb hesitated. “But is she prepared for this responsibility?”