Hearts & Minds: Book Six in the Crown of Blood series

by White, Gwynn

  He quailed. “I’m sorry, my love,” he pleaded about her wailing. “Please understand that I have to do this if I’m to free you.” Oozing icy sweat, he bent down to kiss her.

  She shifted her face away from his lips.

  Dying inside—Katrina had never before rejected his advances—he shambled away from her. He plopped down on the closest sofa to catch his breath. His breathing only evened out when Katrina’s wailing drifted into gentle snores.

  Now to work.

  He pulled the informa out of his pocket to do some programming.

  But no matter what command he gave the Dragon-cursed device, it refused to flicker to life for him.

  After five or so minutes of effort, he tossed it onto the side table.

  Like a ripe apricot, the device split into two equal halves. In its heart, where a circuit-board usually fitted snugly, a sawed-off chunk of unrefined ruby-red ice crystal gleamed. No wonder the unnamed officer had let him filch the device. It was as worthless as one of Katrina’s knitting needles.

  Felix closed his eyes and wailed.

  Enough! He snapped at himself. It’s just a setback. Nothing more than that. There would be another opportunity.

  There had to be.

  Nine

  The Plan That Wasn’t

  Axel’s boot thrummed on the floor of the cubicle while Doctor Amaryth gathered up his things. Clay and Anna also waited at the open door for the doctor to leave. Critical players in his plan to get Nicholas into the palace undetected, they had to be part of this meeting.

  Plan.

  That was perhaps an over-statement of the facts, given that Nicholas’s ice crystal had changed everything. If it had been removed, Axel would have taken him to Zou to meet Queen Hi Lai. She had demanded that both Nicholas and Dmitri be brought to her court before she agreed to fund the formation of an army recruited from the millions of men in the Kingdom of Rain. The visit would have forced her to honor her promise. Led by Axel, Nicholas would have ridden at the head of that mighty force to Cian. They would have swept all resistance aside to deliver Nicholas to the palace for his last, fateful meeting with Lukan. The Light-Bearer would have emerged victorious.

  With crazy Lukan listening in, that visit was impossible. No one in their right mind would put a target right into the sights Lukan’s Dragon’s Fire drones. The moron had destroyed Zakar, a place of great value to the empire. It didn’t take much to figure what he’d do with Zou and Rain if he knew Queen Hi Lai and King Beric supported the alliance. Without that visit, Hi Lai had made it clear that there would be no help.

  His only other hope was that the soldiers and programmers he’d sent undercover into Cian to find Felix’s Hive would arrive in the morning at the address Tao had given him. Tao had said that the Hive was guarded by a hundred jaspers. He was counting on Tao to provide cover for his people while his programmers broke into Felix’s systems. Perhaps if Dmitri and the pantheon were on their side, Nicholas’s ice crystal could be destroyed. Until then, he was loath to share any of his still nebulous plans with his son. And if Dmitri and the gods defied him, and his programmers failed to destroy Nicholas’s ice crystal, he would have no choice but to exclude Nicholas from all planning.

  How Nicholas would take the news that he was required to operate on blind faith, he didn’t know.

  Just one more unknown in a plethora of unknowns.

  While the doctor dithered over his trolley of implements, Nicholas shifted away from Lynx and Farith. He dropped down onto the floor. His head rested on his knees with his long hair hanging like a curtain over him. He looked defeated.

  Axel’s heart ached. If he wasn’t so keenly aware of his son’s inherent distrust of him—much of it justified—he’d have knelt down next to Nicholas and hugged him.

  Now he didn’t dare.

  That distrust was just one of many things that needed addressing. No one but he could explain to Nicholas why it had been necessary to broadcast his suffering in prison, and his arrival in Treven. He could have asked Nicholas’s permission for today’s spectacle, but he doubted Nicholas would have agreed.

  Better to plead for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

  Part of the problem was that Nicholas had no concept of his extraordinary ability to shift the hearts of men.

  How could he?

  But that didn’t change the fact that Nicholas was no ordinary young man. A true Light-Bearer once caught in Nicholas’s light, no one could remain neutral. You either supported Nicholas and his cause, or you didn’t. It was as simple as that.

  And no one knew that better than Axel.

  After almost twenty years of honing his alliance forces, it had taken Nicholas’s pain to finally split his soldiers into the true defenders, who would die willingly to help the Light-Bearer fulfill Dmitri’s curse, and those who merely fought for the wage Axel paid them. Those mercenaries didn’t care who sat on the throne in Cian as long as gold jingled in their pockets, and their meat platters and cider flagons brimmed at the end of a working day. It would take far more gold than Axel had to get them to leave the protection of the mines to face Lukan’s jaspers in Cian. Sadly, too many of his alliance troops fell squarely in that category.

  It was his three thousand true defenders—few in number but fierce in spirit—who would fly to Cian unseen and unheard in his thirty stealth airships. They would storm the palace in the final assault against Lukan. To reward their loyalty, Axel had invited them and their families to Nicholas’s homecoming.

  The doctor and his trolley finally shuffled out.

  Anna plunked down on the bed next to Lynx and Farith.

  Clay closed the door behind him. He slouched against it, perhaps to stop anyone entering by accident and overhearing their very fragmented plan. Not that it mattered when Lukan could also be listening in. He caught Axel’s eye. “You were right. Treygan called me to say that Felix took the bait.”

  Axel said nothing. That’s why he had made it easy for his father to steal one from the captain in charge of moving Felix and Mama to their new home. Or at least the outer casing of one. It was just one more bargaining chip he could use in his fight against Felix.

  Lynx’s boot nudged him. “The rest of us are in Treven. Where are you?”

  He jerked out of his introspection. Every eye in the room was fixed on him. Clay’s eyebrow even rode up to his hairline. Not a great start to a meeting where all he had to offer was his usual, insufferable confidence. He shot everyone a derisive smile. “It’s called suspense. I’m told it makes for good storytelling.”

  Lynx’s boot tip gently stroked his shin. “Only if it’s followed up with the actual story.” She waved at everyone. “Children, gather around… I give you”— her hand swept out in a flourish—“story-teller extraordinaire, Axel Avanov.” To him, she added, “You’re free to proceed.”

  Even Nicholas’s lips twitched. It quickly faded. “I get that this isn’t easy. But it would be nice to know… something.”

  The plaintive hopefulness in Nicholas’s voice moved Axel to say, “I would love to tell you everything, but for obvious reasons, I can’t. All I can say is that there is perhaps another way we can destroy your ice crystal. If we’re successful, I’ll make sure you’re involved in every plan we make.”

  Nicholas leaned forward eagerly. “How?”

  Axel hesitated. His alliance soldiers and programmers on the way to the Hive were masquerading as Chenayan soldiers withdrawn from Treven. Thus far, they had been lost in the thousands of troops heading for Cian. That could change in a heartbeat if Lukan learned of them. The moment they stepped foot into 24th Street, Lukan could have them arrested. That wouldn’t help anyone. “I wish I could but—”

  “No matter,” Nicholas said sharply. “Can you at least tell me why Farith, Clay, and Anna are here?”

  Axel shrugged, then looked at Lynx for inspiration.

  She rolled her eyes. “Winds! If we can’t talk properly about this, why are we bothering? The minute we arrive i
n range of Lukan’s cameras, he’ll see who’s on Nicholas’s team.”

  “She makes a good point,” Clay said.

  Axel laughed derisively. “Trust you to take your sister’s side.” But his unexpected laughter, coupled with the twinkle of camaraderie in Clay’s eye, lifted some of his tension. “I guess you’re right. Lukan be damned.” He crossed the room in two steps and sat down opposite Nicholas. His knees pressed into Nicholas’s. He stiffened, waiting for Nicholas to shift away.

  Nicholas didn’t.

  Encouraged, he said, “Clay will head the team that takes you into Cian. If anyone can get you in and out of the palace alive, it will be him.”

  Head tilted, Nicholas assessed Clay.

  Clay’s scarred face was unshaven. He was still dressed in the blood-stained, bullet-holed, whip-lashed black fatigues he’d worn during the battle in Cian and then in Atlaca. Even his braids and feathers were grimy.

  Nicholas gulped. “You’ve been so nice to me that I hadn’t noticed that you’re a badass.”

  “Why, thank you.” Clay bowed at the waist. “I don’t know if anyone has told you yet about Norin oaths?” He glanced at Lynx.

  Her braids and feathers bobbed. “He understands what happens when we break an oath.” She glanced at Nicholas. “You do remember, don’t you?”

  “The Winds damn those who break oaths,” Nicholas replied curtly. “And I can claim the oath-breakers life.”

  “Exactly that.” Clay punched his chest. “I make you an oath on my life, Light-Bearer, that I will use every ounce of my badass-ness to help you fulfill your destiny. I will get you into the palace. And I will get you back out again. Of that, you have my word.”

  Nicholas’s eyes sparkled too brightly. He tossed his head, and a hank of hair fell over one side of his face. “That bullet hole isn’t going to be a problem?”

  “I’ve coped with worse.” Clay pointed at Axel and Lynx. “We’ve got a few ideas on how we can make it into the palace. We still have to fine-tune them, but we’re hopeful.”

  Nicholas hitched in a breath. “How–” His face fell. “Sorry. Need-to-know basis only, and I guess right now I don’t need to know.”

  “I don’t have dead people talking to me,” Clay replied. “If you hear anything that might be useful, please pass the information along.”

  “You will be the first to know.” Nicholas turned to Axel. “Farith and Anna? Why are they here? Is it because of the Blade Furnace?” He exchanged a smirk with Farith but didn’t acknowledge Anna.

  Just as Anna had studiously avoided eye contact with him.

  Axel suppressed a sigh. Anna was one of his true defenders, but she wasn’t his first choice to protect Nicholas while they snuck him into the palace. They had been on the airship when Lynx first noticed Anna’s in-born confidence falter whenever Nicholas gravitated toward her, which, given his painfully obvious attraction to Anna, was most of the time. Lynx was convinced that after years of mooning over Clay, Anna’s heart had shifted to Nicholas. And like so many young men before him, within hours of being on the airship with Anna, Nicholas had fallen headlong for her.

  Axel wasn’t convinced.

  Without any encouragement from Clay, Anna’s passion for him had burned brightly throughout most of her life. Not even her betrothal to Xipal had dimmed her hope that, despite their age differences, one day Clay would be hers. Now that Xipal had been disgraced, Axel couldn’t see Anna giving up even the slightest chance of being with her love. Not even for Nicholas the Light-Bearer. Lynx disagreed with him.

  Still, why Nicholas’s hormones had to strike now, he’d never know. Surely a Light-Bearer on a mission to destroy an empire as vast and powerful as Lukan’s would be immune to such mundane things? If he were Dmitri, he’d have arranged it thus.

  The seer obviously didn’t share his view.

  As to be expected, Dmitri had no trouble sporting with them by making an already difficult situation even more fraught.

  The obvious solution was to exclude Anna from Nicholas’s inner circle during the attack. It was the option he’d pushed during the many hours he, Lynx, and Clay had spent on the airship going over alternatives for getting Nicholas into the palace. In each scenario, Clay had insisted that both Anna and Farith be included on Nicholas’s team. In private, Lynx had backed her brother up. Axel had surrendered. He prayed to every god in the pantheon that he didn’t live to regret the decision.

  “You trust them, don’t you?” Axel asked. “Because that’s why we chose them. If you don’t want them on your team, speak now and we’ll deploy two other soldiers.”

  “Don’t change them.” Nicholas’s voice spiked. He cleared his throat. “Anna can fight way better than I can, and Farith is more”—he frowned as if searching for a word—“level-headed than me.”

  Farith snorted. “I’ll remind you of that daily, Cowpat.”

  Nicholas grinned at her. “It’s only because you don’t have all this Light-Bearer crap going on. I have to think about people’s feelings, meanwhile, you can just stomp right over them.”

  “I could not have said it better,” Anna murmured.

  Farith jabbed Anna with her elbow. Anna elbowed her right back.

  Just as Axel raised his hands to call for order, Clay grabbed both girls’ arms. “Save that for the guardsmen.” He smiled wryly at Axel. “Seems I have my work cut out for me.”

  “You asked for it.” But he returned Clay’s smile.

  “Talking about asking for things? I have a request.” Nicholas shifted to sit on his knees. “I know it’s stupid, but if I kill Lukan, can I be like a Norin raider and have feathers and beads, too?”

  Axel and Lynx’s eyes met in space. The anguish twisting her face mirrored his own feelings. How casually everyone spoke about destroying Lukan and the empire. No one had yet acknowledged what Nicholas had just verbalized. Gentle as Nicholas was, he had to pick up a weapon and kill his father.

  Patricide. An act that went against all nature. Judge and executioner. No easy task for an adult. How much more difficult for a young man who had yet to grow a full beard. Even if he had been treated as cruelly as Nicholas had.

  Lynx jumped off the bed and landed with catlike grace on the floor next to their son. “In the forest, we killed for food, clothing, and, on the odd occasion, to stop ourselves becoming something else’s lunch.”

  “Survival.” Nicholas’s blue eyes bored into her. “Your point?”

  “You watched Morass murder Uncle Tao. Tell me about that?”

  “What do you want to know?” Nicholas’s hands pressed down onto the floor. Anchoring himself to the stone?

  “How do you feel about it?”

  Nicholas’s fingernails dug into the floor. “I still miss him.” Axel strained to hear him. “But he never came, even though I called for him.”

  “But Cricket did. And Dmitri.”

  Nicholas’s eyebrows rose. Then his hand drifted to where his ice crystal hid. “Of course. You know everything. What are you actually asking me? If I agree with murder? Of course not. But even so, I would have killed Lukan that night if I could have.”

  “To avenge Tao?”

  “That… and because I was angry.”

  “How did the anger work out for you?”

  Nicholas laughed grimly. “Oh, very well, thank you. I got flung across a room by a monster and cracked my head open. Woke up in a dark cell. So, sure… the anger was great.”

  Lynx’s arms lifted as if to hug Nicholas. She bit her lip and dropped them to her side. Axel marveled at her restraint.

  Nicholas gently cupped Lynx’s face. “Mom, I’ve thought about it a lot. Murder. Killing. Survival. People’s rights. I was responsible for Oleg’s death. I made a decision to sever his knee tendons. That meant he couldn’t save himself. You could argue that I acted out of survival, but I will never do that again. There was no justification for it.”

  No justification? Axel’s brow knotted. Across from him, Clay, Anna, and Farith froze. Eve
n Lynx stilled. If Lukan were listening in, he would certainly see Nicholas’s decency as weakness and exploit it.

  “Many would differ,” Lynx said carefully. “Oleg was mind-controlled. He would have killed you without a thought.”

  Nicholas grinned at her. “Thank you for making my point. He was mind-controlled. He didn’t know what he was doing. If he had been given a choice, I doubt he’d even have been in Atlaca that day. But he wasn’t given a choice.” He turned his quelling blue eyes on Axel. “This war is being fought in my name. That gives me some rights. Do you agree?”

  Axel considered reminding Nicholas about his ice crystal. He refrained; the Light-Bearer knew very well what was at stake here. That didn’t stop him choosing his words and actions carefully.

  He bowed his head in acknowledgment of Nicholas’s status as the figurehead of the Pathfinder Alliance—and then spoke with the full power that came with his title of Lord of the Conquest. “I will do my best to honor your wishes within the mandate Dmitri has given me.”

  Nicholas dipped his head with the polished decorum of a crown prince raised in a royal salon. “Just as you have a mandate from the seer, so do I. My business is with Emperor Lukan Avanov. Please don’t kill guardsmen and other mind-controlled Chenayans in my name.”

  The air whooshed out the room.

  Clay and Anna shuffled. Farith pressed up against the rock wall. Lynx twirled her feather and braids.

  Even Axel rocked back. His hesitation exposed weakness, but he still took a moment to gather his thoughts. This time it wasn’t Lukan’s exploitation he worried about.

  Nicholas had turned out to be a tougher opponent than he’d imagined. How was he to make Nicholas understand that just because the alliance didn’t shoot Lukan’s jaspers, those jaspers wouldn’t attack them? It would be carnage. He, Lynx, Clay, Anna, Farith… everyone he cared for would be slaughtered.

  “And if you somehow survive such carnage?”

  Axel jumped at Dmitri’s intrusion in his head. A smile spread slowly across his face. Welcome. We sure could use your help.