“No.” I tried to stand and caught myself against the wall. My limbs were like jelly. “Why would a king stage a war on his own people?”
“What better way to win over his people’s support? What better way to show the other countries Caltoth had broken the Great Compromise?” Derrick paused. “That didn’t mean there weren’t raids from their own. Greedy lords who wanted more. Assassins who thought to pocket Lucius’s coin and use it to their own gain… Like Ferren. Nyx told me you recalled something during the attack.”
And I was suddenly back in the keep’s forest: “You know the orders as well as I do, Wade, no survivors.” “Not if we don’t tell them.” “Do you really want to take that chance? Two times a traitor would only bring a slow and painful death.”
“Lucius paid Caltothian assassins to attack one of the patrolling regiments during the mock battle. He’d never expected his son to be far enough to stop it. You and Darren and the rest of your year were supposed to be in the keep.” Eve. Something tugged at my lungs. She hadn’t died saving us from Caltothian assassins, but our own king.
“The lives we lost that day, Ryiah. They weren’t because of King Horrace. They were the final proof Lucius needed to convince the others the Great Compromise was broken. From there, he just needed to secure the Pythian’s hand.”
I was breaking, and it was all I could do to breathe. And then: Wren and the others.
“You think the rebels are so noble?” I spat. “But they were willing to kill us in the desert, Derrick! You say that was for control of trade? Well, what about Montfort? What about then?” My voice trembled and caught. “Were you one of them? Did you somehow manage to escape—”
Derrick shook his head vehemently. “That wasn’t us, Ry.”
“You said the Crown is the rebels’ enemy,” I choked. “And they killed him, Derrick. Lucius is dead. They killed Wren. They tried to kill Blayne. They killed—”
“It wasn’t us!” Derrick stood and grabbed both my arms, shaking me. “I swear to you, Ry, that wasn’t the rebels. We wanted Lucius dead, but it wasn’t us. I was never there. The rebels they ‘caught?’ They weren’t us—”
“How would you even know?” I roared. “You just nod your head at every little thing Commander Nyx tells you. She’s the rebel leader, isn’t she?”
“She is, but—”
“But you claim it isn’t you!” I shoved him away. “Lucius was the rebels’ enemy, and now he is dead. How convenient. Who were those ‘fake’ rebels, then? Another group of fugitives set against the first? Pythians who were willing to kill their king’s heir to the throne? If the Pythians wanted Jerar, they could’ve just struck an alliance with Caltoth. They needn’t have bothered with the farce of their negotiations or the death of their crown princess.” The words were tearing at my throat. “And the Boreans? They’re the weakest country of all! Emperor Liang stands to gain nothing from the attack! The only answer is the rebels or Caltoth!”
I advanced on my brother, anger giving me the strength to stand tall. “Don’t you see, Derrick? You’ve been played. King Horrace played all of you. He got the rebels to do his dirty work while he sat there laughing on his throne, sending his armies to weaken our border. Even if what you said about Lucius was true, King Horrace could’ve taken advantage. Maybe those men weren’t your own rebels in Montfort. Perhaps they were soldiers of Jerar bought by the Caltothians! Did you ever think of that?”
Derrick glowered. “The ambassador shouted, ‘For Caltoth.’ Someone was clearly trying to frame Horrace and the rebels in one.”
“Or perhaps,” I said through clenched teeth, “Horrace really was condoning the attack and didn’t care who knew. Or maybe the Caltothians aren’t working with you at all, and Nyx bought off the ambassador!”
“The north can barely afford to outfit its own infantry!” Derrick raged. “You’re a mage! You know nothing of what it is like to be a lowborn soldier with nothing to gain. The Crown sends us nothing. Nyx would never betray us because she’s one of us—unlike you!”
I tried a calming breath to prevent saying something I’d regret. I didn’t know who the enemy was anymore, but whoever it was, they were still out there, and I needed to convince my brother not to play right into the palm of their hand. “The enemy could be anyone, Derrick. Even your own.”
“There is someone you forgot.” My brother turned on me, twin storm clouds thrashing in his eyes. “Someone who was conveniently not injured in the Montfort attack.”
“There were a lot of people not—”
“Someone important.” Derrick took a step forward, backing me into a corner. His fists were shaking. “Someone who stood to gain everything. Did you ever stop to wonder who?”
“Blayne?” I snorted. “Did you forget? He was poisoned.”
“No.” My brother’s eyes flashed. “Not Blayne. No one knows if King Lucius shared his schemes with his sons. But there is one who stood to gain the most out of the king and his heir’s deaths. Someone who could’ve decided it was time to take the throne—”
My brother staggered back as my hand slapped across his face. Tears stung my eyes as I advanced on him, screaming, “Darren would never!”
“Wouldn’t he?” My brother caught my hand before I could hit him again. “You are blind to his faults Ry. Did you forget Alex? Did you forget what you let happen to our own brother because you were too afraid to stand up to the Crown?”
“Darren never wanted that!” I yanked free of his grip. “His father was evil! Darren hated him! You have no idea—”
“Perhaps he killed him over hate.” My brother started to walk away.
“Derrick!” I chased after him. “We need to tell them what you told me. Darren and Blayne need to know the truth about their father!”
My brother turned around. “We aren’t telling them anything. You won’t tell them anything.”
“You were searching the palace for proof of Lucius’s orders, weren’t you?” I pleaded. “That’s what they told you to do, wasn’t it?”
My brother said nothing.
“Darren could help you. Even Blayne. If what you said was true—”
“The Crown can’t be trusted.” Derrick’s voice echoed cross the stalls. “Even if the two princes weren’t involved in Lucius’s schemes, do you really think King Blayne would call off a war? With the Pythians support, Jerar will win, and the Crown stands everything to gain.”
“Darren could help him see reason. Blayne trusts him—”
Derrick raised his hand. “Lucius raised Darren to be his brother’s right hand. He will serve Blayne above all else.”
“You don’t know him!”
“I don’t need to. He’s part of the Crown. He’ll betray us to his brother.”
“Derrick!” I fell to my knees, begging him not to go. “You have to stop. If they find out you are with the rebels after the attack at Montfort—” They will kill you.
“You’re going to have to turn me in to stop me.” My brother’s jaw clenched, and I saw he was no longer just the boy I’d helped raise, but a man. “I will keep searching, because one of us has to. And if you betray me—and I don’t think you will—you’ll have to deal with my blood on your hands. And you can live your life knowing you tore our family apart. It will be you who destroyed your life.”
I FLED TO MY CHAMBERS, but before I did, I made sure to dry my eyes. To clean my face. To brush the straw from my breeches. To hold my head up high and smile as I passed the regular patrol of guards.
As soon as I reached my chamber, I threw the door shut and fell to my bed, muffling a scream into the mattress. I hated Derrick. I hated him for using our family against me. He knew I’d never turn him over to the Crown, and even if his tasks now were innocent enough, I’d not be able to protect him if he got caught.
Why? Why does it have to be my brother who gets involved with the rebels? I hated Commander Nyx. Ian. How dare he try to convert me! Ray. All of those angry soldiers at the keep. Jacob. Myself. Why could
n’t Derrick have been more like Alex? Why did he have to be like me?
I hated every last one of them. I hated Derrick for asking me to choose. Because by asking me, he’d known I’d choose him. He knew I wouldn’t betray him to Darren. I couldn’t betray my brother, my own flesh and blood, the little boy who I’d spent all those days chasing around a field, wrestling in the mud… Which meant Darren could never betray Blayne, the brother he’d seen beaten and bruised, the one he’d sworn to protect. And I couldn’t count on Blayne not to condemn Derrick.
My brother had made me a traitor. And I’d never, ever forgive him.
A sob escaped my lips.
“Ryiah?” There was a concerned knock at the door.
My chest squeezed until it hurt, and I had to dig my nails down into the blankets to fight back a cry. I couldn’t talk to Darren. Not now. Not while everything I knew was falling apart. My brother had forced me to pick a side. And it wasn’t Darren’s.
I held my breath and waited until he left.
Derrick had implied the one I loved could be the traitor in our midst. But he was wrong. Because deep down, I knew. If Darren had asked me to kill an evil tyrant and his brother? If he’d begged? If he’d told me it was all for Jerar? I would’ve helped.
The true traitors were the rebels. Or King Horrace of Caltoth. Or perhaps the Pythian king himself.
I was a mage of Combat, betrothed to a prince in a kingdom of impending ruin. With so many loose threads, something would tear.
And when it did, it would all fall apart.
17
I’d picked a side, but it didn’t mean I was willing to embrace it. I was still determined to stop my brother any way I could.
Even if it meant becoming a traitor myself.
If I find him proof, he can go back to Commander Nyx. And that was all I cared about. Because as long as Derrick was in the palace, he was at risk. Some part of me really did want to believe what he said about King Lucius, because after all the man had done to his sons, anything was possible.
On my three days off for the last two weeks, I scoured every inch of the old king’s rooms. Blayne hadn’t transitioned over to King Lucius’s chambers—after all, he was still in mourning—so nothing had been moved. The guards in the Crown hall only monitored its entrance, and since my chamber was a part of it, they never sought to check beyond.
I didn’t need a key. I broke the lock on the second try. I rusted the metal until it cracked with just the slightest casting. No one would ever suspect a thing.
And they didn’t. Blayne was too busy in his war chambers, meeting with his board of advisors and Darren, whose counsel served to advise those in all of Combat, with the other two Colored Robes following his lead.
But I never found a thing.
“The king would never keep the documents in his chambers!” Derrick admonished me one afternoon in the stables when I came to report my findings. “A man as underhanded as him? He probably burned them all.”
“Then why are you still searching?” I threw up my hands in frustration. “Why are you still here? Go back, Derrick. Go back to the keep before they catch you.” My voice broke. “I can’t keep doing this.”
“No one is asking you to help,” was his terse reply.
I stormed off, hating my brother even more than before. When Darren came to sit beside me that evening, I was too busy stabbing my venison to notice.
“Ryiah?” The prince’s hand slipped over my own. “What’s wrong? You haven’t touched your food in days.”
“Nothing.” I said the word bitterly, tearing off a forkful of roast and shoving it into my mouth.
“Did I do something to upset you?” The pain in his voice lanced at my heart. “I…” He lowered his voice so that his brother couldn’t hear us over the other advisors and Council at the table. “I had the servants deliver that potion, but I…” His neck tinged red. “If that’s why you’re upset… If you aren’t ready...”
My whole face flushed. “I-it’s not that.”
“Are you sure?” His eyes bore into mine until I was forced to look away, traitor that I was.
I fumbled for an excuse. “It’s Wren.” She was certainly a part of it. The lie flowed easily enough. “Every night your brother talks about Pythus. I can’t help thinking of her.”
Darren’s gaze drew dark and his hand tightened on my own. “Soon, Ryiah, we will catch every last one of those rebels. Blayne has me scouring all of Marius’s reports for something he might’ve missed. He was so thorough, but I’ve been talking with the other advisors, and I think he might’ve been going about everything wrong. What if they aren’t in the South?”
My breath caught in my throat as he continued. “We always thought that’s where they were because of all the attacks, but maybe that’s what they wanted us to think. Maybe their base is in the north.”
“Your Majesty, we have a traitor in our midst.”
I slammed back in my chair, wooden legs scraping against the floor.
Mage Mira barged into the dining hall, leading two of her favorite mages and Derrick. His head was hung and his arms were dripping blood, and he stumbled with a slight limp.
My heart slammed against my ribs so loud I couldn’t hear the next words Mira shouted. No, gods, no.
King Blayne shot out of his chair, his brother a second later.
Darren staggered back, mirroring my movements only a moment before.
“We caught this one in the war chamber.” Mira had her men jerk my brother forward, and I heard his whimper as he dropped to his knees, a sickening crack echoing as his bad leg slammed against the marble tile. Derrick. “He was making a list. Looking at the books. Keeping a count of each city’s regiment. Writing names.” She spat the words and a drop of saliva hit my brother’s shirt. He made no move to wipe it away—he couldn’t, his hands were bound behind his back.
Lists? Numbers? My pulse stopped as the facts came into play. My brother had never been looking for proof. His whole story about King Lucius was a lie. He’d been gathering information for the rebels on the Crown the entire time. And he’d been using me to get it.
Betrayal rippled across my chest. And what was worse? My heart still bled for him. Even when I knew the truth. “It has to be a mistake,” I pleaded.
“It’s not.” Mira’s eyes lobbed daggers at my own. “And for all we know, you were helping him. He’s your brother, seems to me a traitor wouldn’t fly far from the nest.”
“I wasn’t—”
“If you ever accuse my betrothed of treachery again”—Darren’s voice rang out low and ominous without a second glance my way. His fists were white on the backs of his chair—“you will be disrobed and tossed in a cell to rot. Do you understand, mage?” He didn’t even address her by name.
A hot flush of shame threatened to drown me.
“That’s enough, Darren.” Blayne’s eyes were glued to my face. “Mira, have your men take him to the dungeons. Ryiah, Darren, you will come with Mage Mira and me to the war chambers. Now. The rest of you, continue your meal. You breathe a word of the rebel’s presence to anyone, and I will have you thrown in a cell right along side.”
“RYIAH.” The king met my eyes, and his ice-cold gaze bore into my own. Even though he was a good deal younger than Lucius, I could see his father staring right back. Lucius had trained his son well.
I could only hope it was still Blayne on the other side.
“Did you know your brother was a traitor to the Crown?”
Deep, slow breath. No sudden movements. Shock plastered on my lips. Terror in my eyes. Fury and betrayal burning in my lungs. “No, I-I didn’t.”
It’s not a lie. It’s not a lie. I thought he was a good rebel. I thought he cared about the kingdom. I didn’t know he was helping prepare the Caltothians for a war.
“I told you, brother,” Darren snarled. “Ryiah would never betray us!”
“If you can’t keep that temper in check, I will have you tossed out of this chamber!” Blayn
e countered. “Gods all know your beautiful betrothed can do no wrong. Any fool can see the way you look at her. But I am not blinded by love, Darren, and I am asking her a question. As her king. It would do you well to remember your place.”
“It would do you well to remember she tried to save our father!” Darren shouted. “Ryiah tried to save Wren! She was attacked in Mahj! You tell me I am blinded by love, but she would be the last person in the world to betray the Crown, and it would do you well to remember I answer to you as your Black Mage, not a servant.”
“One more word, brother.” Blayne’s voice boomed across the room. “One more word and I will have you thrown in the dungeons too. I am your king, and you will not speak to me like that again.”
Darren wrapped his arms around my waist. He didn’t say another word, but his stance was a statement of its own. I shivered in his arms and prayed the brothers’ fight had kept Blayne from noticing my deceit.
“I say we string the rebel up like the lowborn scum he is—” Mira’s eyes made a not-so-obvious slant toward my own, daring me to counter her claim. “—and then feed him hot coals. One at a time. It’s been a while since the people saw a traitor burn from the inside.”
Darren’s arms and the look in Blayne’s eyes were all that kept me from lunging to tear her apart, limb-by-limb. Fingernails dug into the palm of my hands, and I imagined it was her skin instead.
“Please,” my voice came out in a croak, “let me talk to Derrick first. You don’t know anything about the rebels. M-maybe he has information—”
“Which we will get after a couple hours of torture,” Mira drawled.
“How would you know?” I countered. She was so eager to get to my brother, and a part of me knew it was for that day in Caltoth. “None of the other rebels have ever succumbed to questioning. They chose death or found ways to take their life—”
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