[fan] diviners saga 02 - diviners curse

by Nicolette Andrews

  "But the prince is a member of the Order. Do you not think if he is our enemy, then the princess would be our ally?"

  Jon shook his head. "Sharing a common foe does not make you allies. If we were to get in her way of the throne, I am sure Princess Arlene would turn on us in a heartbeat."

  I stopped pacing and folded my hands in front of me as I looked out a window. A thick fog had rolled in and obscured the city from view. The summer was slipping away, and fall was right around the corner. Time was not on my side. I worried for the future, and I was frustrated by our lack of progress.

  "I think we should adjourn for the day," Damara said, standing. I turned around, and she smiled a mischievous smile before turning to Jon. "Your grace, if I could have a private word?"

  "My pleasure, my lady." He offered her the crook of his arm, and the two headed for the door. I watched them go with a raised brow. They are being familiar all of the sudden. Beau and Hilliard followed them out. All that remained once they were gone was the echoing sound of Damara's voice.

  Johai and I were left alone once more, and I felt the distance between us and at once wished he would depart and hoped he would stay.

  "Maea, you cannot trust this man."

  "I know you do not want to trust him, but I think he is trying to help. Sabine requested that he come here. He is our ally." It was a flimsy excuse, and I knew it. For all I knew he had lied about Sabine and fabricated their correspondences. In my gut, I knew I could trust him. I just did not know why.

  "Are you besotted? He is not your real husband, Maea."

  Is this is what this is about, jealousy? It seemed strange to have such common emotions wrapped up in everything else we were battling against.

  "I do not care for Jon in that way. He is helping us, nothing more."

  "Maea, do not be blind. He is one of his allies. He is a member of the Order. He was sent here by Adair to deceive you." Johai grabbed me by the shoulders and forced me to face him. I did not look away. I gazed into his eyes. There was no hint of the specter there. These were his fears alone.

  I shook my head again. I knew that I could not trust Jon fully. There was no one in which I confided without reservation. I did not feel as if I could trust Sabine any longer either. This intrigue had taken even her away from me. I could not explain this to Johai because he would not listen. He was blind to reason when it came to Jon.

  "I will think on your advice, but for now we have no other choice. We need him."

  "No, Maea, you need him. Not I... Maybe it is time we parted ways." He dropped his hands to his sides and looked away from me.

  His declaration left me shocked and without response.

  "Excuse me." He brushed out of the room, and I considered chasing after him, but I thought of my mother's warning, and I knew it would be best if I let him be. It would be best if I let him go.

  Johai did not return that night or the next day. The second day dawned, and I felt as if I had a stone set in the bottom of my stomach. I've chased him away. I hurt him by marrying Jon, and now I throw salt upon his wounds by trusting Jon above him. A more selfish part of me remembered his promise to me. "I will be with you until the end," he had said. Now the end was upon us, and I did not want to let him go. I knew where he had gone, and it took all my courage to go and chase after him. I asked Beau to join me on a trip to the playhouse, and he was willing.

  The gray storm clouds continued to gather on the horizon, and I watched the billowing gray mass build outside my window. Looks like rain, I thought. With the encroaching storm, an ominous feeling seemed to hang about the city. We arrived outside the playhouse, and one of the players let me in on their way out. I headed to the theater and heard raised voices.

  "Elenna, my love, you are being unreasonable! Destiny is just your perception. Run away with me. Leave this ugly business behind us."

  "Ah, Philippe, if only I could." She sighed.

  Philippe ignored her and pressed on. "We can start a life together in the country. Maybe raise a brood of willful children."

  She sighed again, and I wondered if this had been a continuing argument. "You know I cannot."

  I looked to Beau and felt guilty for eavesdropping, but if he was disappointed or disapproved, he did not say it to me.

  "Fine," Philippe snapped. "This is the last time I will ask you. If you do not come now, I will be forced to leave without you."

  "I'm sorry, Philippe." Her voice lost some of its musical quality.

  Philippe hurried past us, and he did not spare me more than a passing glance. He was frowning and swinging his arms as he walked.

  Elenna spotted us and approached me. She smiled, but it did not reach her eyes. "Maea, what a pleasant surprise."

  Unshed tears clung to her lashes, and I decided to be straight to the point as to not draw attention to the scene I had inadvertently overheard. "Elenna, I am looking for Johai. He has not returned to the villa for a few days, and I thought he would come here to you..." I couldn't meet her gaze, partly from my own jealousy of the bond she and Johai shared and partly the fact that I had overheard a personal moment of hers.

  "He said you would come looking for him. He is no longer here, as you may have noticed, but before you go, there are things we must discuss. Join me for tea, if you will." She motioned for me to join her in the room that adjoined the theater. We settled at a table, and she poured us each a cup of tea from a kettle that had been boiling on the fireplace. Beau hovered at the back of the room, but I did not mind. I was comforted by his presence.

  I steadied my breathing. I did not want to appear like a jilted lover. "He has been coming here often. Have you made progress with the Jerauchian tome?" I asked. I could not look Elenna in the eye. I stared into the swirling water of my teacup.

  "Yes, we have learned quite a lot, actually," Elenna said cryptically.

  "Oh." I rolled the cup back and forth in my hand trying to think of something to say.

  "You did not only come here looking for Johai, did you?"

  I looked up at her. I had not realized it until then, but I wanted her counsel. Despite my jealousy of her, I knew Elenna could help. She was perhaps the only person that understood. "My mother has become one with the first diviner, and she says I am the one who is destined to break the circle by killing the specter before he bonds fully with the vessel."

  "Yes, I feared that." She sighed. "Last night, I dreamed of you holding a child with black hair and blue eyes like sapphires." My first thought was of a child of Johai and mine, but that could not be.

  "Sabine and Adair's son, he marks the coming of the end. He is not to be born for months, but the first diviner said when the king dies, the events that have led to the specter's rise will culminate, and I must kill Johai before the bond is complete."

  "Do you believe that?" she asked.

  I dared not hope; I had been disappointed so many times and yet...

  "How can I believe otherwise? All signs have indicated that this must be done."

  She folded her hands on the tabletop and regarded me with her piercing dark gaze. "I never told you the truth of why I left my mother's people behind. I was training to be a priestess, as you know. When I met with the oracle, she told me that I would meet the next dreau and that I would lead her down the path which would unbreak the circle, and when I did, I would die."

  I inhaled sharply. "Why are you helping me if that is your destiny?"

  "Because I refuse to believe that I must die. I ran away to escape it, but you still found me. I refuse to die unless I am ancient and surrounded by hundreds of my grandchildren." She smiled, and it lit up her entire face.

  "I have learned that being stubborn does not change anything, but only makes it more difficult to accept the inevitable."

  "Tell me, Maea. If there were yet a way to save Johai, would you take it?"

  The question caught me off guard and was enough to derail my motivation. I did not answer immediately because it was not a simple answer. I wanted him to have
a life and, maybe secretly, a life where we could see where our relationship could lead. She taunts me with the idea of children and a life together when she knows very well that we can never be.

  "Yes," I whispered. I could not lie. If there was a chance, I would give anything to try, but I knew now there was not, and I did not want to keep lying to myself.

  "Believe me when I say there may yet be a way." She stood up and placed her hands on my shoulders. "Johai has returned to the villa. He has accepted the truth just as you must accept your own truth. Think about what I have said. The time draws near, and you have a major part to play."

  She wants to give me false hope because if she accepts her fate, then she must accept her own death. I would not argue with her, but I knew the truth. I would have to kill Johai. We left the playhouse as dusk was beginning to fall. As I was climbing into the carriage, a bell tolled in the distance, a mournful sound that echoed through me and chilled my blood. There was only one cause for the alarm. It meant that King Reginald was dead and the beginning of the end was upon us.

  Chapter Twenty One

  THE KING DIED ON THE day I had foretold, yet there was no word from Princess Arlene. Either she doubted me even now or something else kept her away. A royal decree came from the palace, announcing that Prince Reynard had been proclaimed heir to the throne. His coronation was to be held in a fortnight. Johai returned to the villa as Elenna had said, but he would not look me in the eye nor would he speak to me. The tension was vexing. I had trouble sleeping, and my appetite was nonexistent. For a few days after the king's death, I followed Johai around the villa, expecting him to turn at any moment, but there was no noticeable change in his persona. Other than the announcement, it felt like nothing had changed. I had not discovered Sarelle's killer, nor had I found out the real reason why.

  A week passed after King Reginald's death, and a summons came from the palace. The new king requested our presence, both Jon and I. Jon read the summons to us as we all broke our fast together. It was a rare moment when Johai lingered while I was in the room.

  "You should not go," Johai said to me once Jon had left to get ready. It was the first thing he had said to me in days. It was the first time we had been alone together in just as long.

  "It is a royal summons; I cannot ignore it," I replied while glaring down at the parchment, which I had taken from Jon. The idea of returning to the palace filled me with fear, but if Reynard was in Adair's pocket, I had to find a way to stop him. Even if I couldn't save Johai, I could save my kingdom and Neaux from being torn apart by Adair and his ambitions.

  "Jon is a member of the Order, as is King Reynard. It is a trap. You've been lulled by his sweet words, and you forget that we are beset by our enemies on all sides."

  I shook my head, but he only scowled at me. "Why would he wait to turn me over to Adair now? Prince Reynard has the throne; what more can he gain?" The words sounded hollow coming from my lips. Now that Reynard had the throne, it could benefit him to betray me to Adair. Johai's concern was valid, but I wanted to believe that Jon did not intend me harm. He was Sabine's man as well as the Order's. Sabine may have plotted, but I did not think she intended any harm. If Beau's account was true, Sabine was looking for a way for them to be together. I could not fault her for that because I had been struggling to do the same for Johai and me or to at least save his life. It was a dangerous game I played here, but I dared not raise suspicion, not when we were so close to the end. Goddess, give me strength to do what I must, I prayed. "I will take Beau with me if that will put you at ease."

  Johai growled his disapproval but made no more argument. The sound sent a chill rippling up my spine. He seemed normal most of the time, but the truth remained, he was at the edge, and it would not be long before he lost himself to the specter, and I had to be ready to kill him when the time came. The thought stuck in my throat and left me with a heavy feeling.

  Jon and I rode to the palace in silence. My mind was whirling with what I must do soon while trying to focus on the task at hand, and that was assessing Prince Reynard's link to the Order—how far under Adair's control was he; was there time to turn him back before it was too late? Beau joined us as I had suggested, and he rode up front with the coachman. Johai had stayed behind as I had suspected he would. I stared out the window, letting my dark thoughts chase themselves around.

  "Maea?" Jon asked, and from his tone of voice, I realized he must have called my name several times. I glanced at him. "Is something the matter?"

  I shook my head and looked out and watched the city zoom past. "It's nothing," I replied.

  From the corner of my eye, I could see him frowning, but he did not press me. He leaned forward and pulled the curtains back and looked out the window alongside me. Storm clouds were gathering in the distance, gray and ominous. The coming storm had been growing for a week without breaking. I wished it would rain and wash away these gray skies. The constant dreary skyline felt like an ill omen, but perhaps that was my own pessimism.

  "You're not nervous about meeting the king, are you?" Jon asked with a smirk.

  I appreciated his attempt at jest; it was a distraction from my worries.

  "No." I paused and decided it would not hurt to divulge more to him. "They don't trust you; they think you are still working with Adair."

  He nodded and smiled. "I suspected as much. But I don't need them to trust me. You believe me; that's all that matters."

  I studied his face, looking for a hint of deception. A year ago, I would never have trusted him, but during the time we had spent together, he had been forthcoming with me in almost all things, except for when it came to Sabine. Their relationship was murky, but I believed him when he said he was Sabine's emissary in Neaux. He, too, had changed during our time together. Gone was the arrogant young lord I had first spotted in the hall of entertainment back in Keisan, and in his place remained a gentleman of balance and reason.

  I smiled at Jon, realizing I had been silent for too long. "And what if I were to say that I do not trust you at all and I have used you this entire time for my own means?" I teased.

  "Then I would say I have been used in a most pleasing manner." He winked, and I laughed at his playful jest.

  We arrived at the palace in short order, and as we pulled up to the palace, Jon's demeanor stiffened and the laughter in his eyes faded. The quick change was disconcerting and unlike Jon. He turned to me before the carriage door opened.

  "Maea, I must warn you, if the king is a member as you suspect, then that means he is in Adair's hand. Listen and learn what you can, but do not take risks or else you may end up back in Adair's hands."

  "When have I ever done something reckless?" I asked with an arched brow.

  He returned the expression with an even more skeptical one. "I seem to remember you breaking into my home twice and threatening my life."

  "Those were more desperate times. Besides, I seem to remember a young man who tussled with a lord over a game of cards," I countered.

  He did not smile, and his somber mood sobered me as well.

  "I promise not to do anything foolish."

  He sighed. "Thank you."

  Beau was waiting for us outside the carriage, and his expression was vacant. I wondered if Johai and Beau had talked. I knew he did not trust Jon, but he never voiced his disapproval to me. Jon offered me his bended arm, and we walked through the palace doors. Courtiers were gathered in circles, chatting and laughing. Many wore black, a sign of mourning for the late king. Despite their dour clothing, no one seemed concerned. Life in the palace carried on as usual, the death of their monarch was nearly paltry. I hurried to keep up with Jon as to not draw any attention. My reputation had not been repaired since Princess Arlene had spread rumors about. I was still uncertain what had been said. I felt courtiers' eyes on me, and when I turned to look, heads looked in the other direction or someone laughed too loud and forced. They're talking about me. That will hurt my cause to bring King Reynard to our side.

&n
bsp; We were shown to King Reynard's chambers, a room not far from the throne room. It was handsomely decorated. A long table was in the center of the room, and to the far right an august fireplace dominated the wall. The fireplace was covered in dark marble that gleamed as a fire flickered with reflected flame. Tapestries were hung from the wall with different depictions of battles and royalty sitting upon gilded thrones.

  The table itself was tidy and without clutter. At the far end, a stack of parchment lay beside a quill. Reynard stood as we entered and came over to us. His movements were precise and without wasted movement. His beard was styled to a point, and he wore a simple brocade of black with subtle hints of gold on the buttons and in the stitching.

  "Duke Sixton, Duchess Sixton, thank you for coming. Please take a seat." He motioned to a pair of oak chairs pulled up to the table.

  Jon pulled out a chair for me to sit, and as I did so, anxiety tightened my chest. I did not think I would fear Reynard, but now I did. What do you want from Jon and me? What does Adair hope to gain from an alliance with King Reynard? What has Adair given you for your allegiance? This was the place to get the answers, but I feared tipping my hand and playing right into Adair's. These proceedings would be handled on a dagger's edge. A servant scurried about the room. He brought us goblets of wine in fine golden cups and then he went to stoke the fire. A fragrant incense tickled at my nose, and I focused my attention upon King Reynard.

  The king walked down to the far end of the table. He stood over the parchment without taking a seat. He leaned forward over the table and looked down at the documents before looking back to Jon and me.

  "I am sure you are curious as to why I have called you here," Reynard said.

  "I must admit a bit of curiosity, Your Majesty. I expected your summons, but not one for my wife as well." Jon nodded towards me, and I bobbed my head in the king's direction. His gaze lingered on me for a moment before shifting to Jon.

  "Yes, I suppose you would be curious." He picked up a piece of parchment and walked over to us and laid it down on the desk. "Read that if you will, Duke Sixton."