The Duke's mouth worked without a sound.
Ilanna grinned. Her first meeting with the Duke had made one fact plain: he wanted her and the Night Guild dead. With that understanding, she'd gone behind his back and paid a visit to the King on the same night she'd left the skull-headed dagger and the note on the Duke's bedside table. The King had proven much more amenable to her bargains—for both the Grand Reckoner's ledger and the document linking the Crown to the Night Guild. He'd offered her freedom in exchange.
She'd delivered the ledger into the Duke's hands before the raid on the Night Guild, but had kept the other document hidden away against this very day. She'd anticipated the Duke's betrayal and subsequent arrest of the Guild members. She'd intended to get into the palace again and convince the King to release the Night Guild. Her plan hadn't included being locked in the Black Spire or capture by Rhynd—she'd very nearly failed because of Duke Phonnis and Rhynd.
"Do we have a deal, my King?"
King Ohilmos studied her for a long moment, his expression indecipherable. "We do." He stood, his royal robes falling around his gaunt shoulders, and strode down the dais toward her. She knelt and kissed his outstretched hand.
"Master Gold trained you well. He always spoke so highly of you." The King spoke in a voice pitched for her ears only. "You sure I can't convince you to be the Royal Thief, girl?"
She shook her head. "Thank you, my King, but my days of crime are done."
King Ohilmos shrugged. "So be it." He turned to the Duke. "Go, Brother. Speak to the crowd and tell them my decision. My final decision."
His words cut off the Duke's protest. With a stiff bow for the King and a hate-filled glare for Ilanna, Duke Phonnis strode from the room. The double doors boomed shut with a note of finality.
"My brother is many things—fiercely loyal, honorable, and nobler than any Keadanis ought to be. But he will never understand that a King must make certain dishonorable decisions."
"Is that why you neglected to tell him about the twenty percent of Grand Reckoner Edmynd's gold you promised me?"
The King shook his head. "We agreed on five percent."
"Ten it shall be." Ilanna gave him a bold smirk. "The document will be delivered within an hour. I suppose it's too much to ask for the Duke to return the equipment his men looted from the Guild tunnels?"
"I'd have better luck convincing the rain to stop falling."
Ilanna sighed. "Not making our lives very easy, are you?"
The King chuckled. "Like Elodon says, you're criminals. What sort of King would I be if I did?"
With a bow, Ilanna turned and strode from the Throne Room. Every muscle in her body was tense, and her nerves felt frayed and ragged. But she forced herself to maintain a slow, steady pace until she had left the palace complex.
The Duke stood in Watcher's Square, addressing the crowd from atop the scaffold. He spoke in a strong, commanding voice that echoed across the open space. The angry shouts and jeers rising from the throng fell silent as he wove a tale of Voramian treachery and brutality and the heroics of the Night Guild with a skill that any bard would envy. His face bore no sign of the disgust she knew he felt. By the time he delivered the King’s decision to reduce taxes for the next two years, the crowd had actually begun to cheer.
Ilanna's eyes went to the Night Guild standing behind the gallows. Their expressions were a mixture of stunned shock, relief, and confusion. They seemed unable to understand why the Praamian Guards cut their bonds.
As she strode from the Watcher's Square, a mountainous burden of exhaustion settled on Ilanna's shoulders. She was tired, so tired. She had walked into the Throne Room and dared to speak to the Duke and the King himself with such irreverence. Yet she had done it: she'd saved the Night Guild from death. It didn't matter that they had nothing—no equipment, no gold, nowhere to hide from the Duke's men—they still lived. It had to be enough.
Now, she wanted nothing more than to sleep for a week. And eat; gods, how she wanted to eat! She hadn't had a proper meal in…she couldn't remember how long.
But not yet. She had just one more matter to attend to.
Chapter Forty-Five
Shadows hung thick in the warehouse, and Ilanna shivered as an eerie wind whistled through the shattered windows on the second floor of the abandoned building. She rubbed the exhaustion from her eyes.
Hard to believe I was lounging comfortably in my room just one week ago. Too much had changed in such a short amount of time.
Anxiety tickled in the back of her mind. She had freed the Night Guild, but she wasn't free of them yet. She had to make sure the next Master Gold understood the importance of a relationship with the Crown. That meant going back into the tunnels and facing the memories of her dead friends and comrades.
But first, she had to deal with the traitor. Her note had told them to come alone. With their allies in the Guild and the Bloody Hand dead, she doubted they had anyone to help. But that didn't make them any less dangerous.
The keen edge of a dagger pressed into her throat. Breath fell hot on her ear. "Why, Ilanna?" Sorrow filled Allon's voice. "Why did it have to be you?"
Ilanna remained unmoving. "Easy, Allon. I came to talk."
The knife never left her throat as the Hound moved to stand before her. A small splotch of blood stained the bandage around his head, and pain showed in the lines around his eyes and mouth. But his hand pressed the dagger to her neck without a quiver.
Ilanna raised her empty hands. "Did you come alone?" The movement sent pain flaring through her chest, and she winced.
"Did you?" Allon's eyes darted around, searching the gloom of the warehouse for hidden assailants.
"I know you, Allon. You searched the warehouse before coming out. Did you find anyone?"
Allon shook his head. "No." Suspicion permeated his expression. "If you just want to talk, why bring me here?" He moved the blade from her neck but didn't sheathe it.
Ilanna glanced toward the enormous steel door that stood in the heart of the warehouse floor. "I thought it fitting. We spent weeks here working on the Lord Auslan job. All of us: Darreth, Errik, Joost, Veslund, Jarl. And in all that time, you never once mentioned you were working with the Bloody Hand."
Allon's face darkened. "You don't understand, Ilanna. I—"
"You're damned right I don't understand!" Ilanna's shout echoed through the empty building. "You know what they did to Voramis, how they turned their city into a cesspit. How could you want to bring that here? How could you want to destroy everything we have?"
"Everything we have?" Anger flared in Allon's eyes. "What exactly do we have, Ilanna? A life of slavery? It may be dressed up in fancy titles—Journeyman killer and thug—but that doesn't change what it is. Enslavement by men who care for nothing more than gold and profit."
"And your solution for that is the Bloody Hand? You may hate the Night Guild's avarice—Keeper knows I'm more than sick of the endless grasping for coin—but the Voramians are far worse. They'd bring violence, cruelty, and bloodshed that would make even the Bloodbears look tame. No matter how much I hate the Night Guild and everything it stands for, I would never go that far."
Allon's face hardened. "Your hands aren't exactly spotless, Ilanna. I'd dare say more of the Guild died because of your actions than mine."
"I won't deny that, Allon. But the difference is the reason why I did what I did. I was trying to save the Night Guild—"
"And I was trying to save the city of Praamis from the bastards that rule over us!" Allon's voice rose to a shout. "They call themselves 'noble', believe themselves better than us. They live in their fancy mansions and grow fat on the blood and sweat of the men and women they have enslaved. Their appetites run unchecked. They do whatever they want to whomever they want, consequences be damned. They ruin innocent lives for the sake of power and control."
Ilanna's eyes narrowed. She'd never heard Allon speak this way. She'd always believed he bore the same disdain for the nobility as all in the Nigh
t Guild, yet this sounded…personal.
Her conversation with the King and Duke flashed through her mind. The King had spoken of royal bastards with the carelessness of a man accustomed to doing whatever he pleased. Most of the noblemen in Praamis had a mistress, and it was no secret that many took their pleasure with serving girls, maids, or whatever morsel of flesh happened to cross their paths.
She caught her breath. She'd never asked about his parentage—few in the Night Guild talked about or even remembered life before their days as tyros and apprentices. But Allon remembered. He remembered everything. Apprenticeship in the Night Guild began around the age of eight. The flawless memory that had made him the perfect addition to her crew would not let him forget his eight years of life before the Guild.
"What happened, Allon? What happened to you as a child that caused such hatred?"
"Absolutely nothing!" Allon bared his teeth in a snarl. "I had a life as close to perfect as an unwanted bastard could have. Food, clothing, a warm bed, a mother that loved me even if my father never acknowledged me. And they took it all away when I became 'an inconvenience'! A three-year-old child, ripped from his home and condemned to live in the streets because no one could know the truth."
His eyes flashed. "Do you know what it's like to watch the only person that cares for you die a slow, painful death, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it?" Sorrow mixed with his anger. "She starved to death. She gave me the scraps of food she begged, stole, or whored herself out to buy. She endured it all, for me!"
Ilanna's gut twisted. She could find no words.
"So yes, I hate them. I hate every Keeper-accursed one of those men and women too noble to know what it's like to lie awake at night praying to deaf gods for a bite of food, a scrap of cloth to keep out the cold. To feel the agony of watching your mother slowly die because the man who calls himself a King is too much of a coward to acknowledge the consequences of his wantonness."
Ilanna's eyes widened. King?
"There is nothing I wouldn't do to make them understand the pain I felt as I sat beside my mother and watched her slowly waste away. All the while, those bastards in the palace eat and drink to their hearts’ content."
The King’s words flashed through her mind. "Sadly, my generation has produced no unwanted offspring." He'd said that without any sign of deceit. He truly believed he had no royal bastards. Yet the Duke had given the King a strange expression—one filled with guilt, perhaps?
Realization hit her like a blow to the gut. The Duke's desire to protect his brother superseded his sense of honor. Would Duke Phonnis hesitate to dispose of a royal bastard if he believed the child's existence could be used as a weapon against the King? She doubted it.
If the King knew he had a bastard son, and that the bastard was a member of the Night Guild, he never would have permitted the Duke to eliminate the Night Guild. The Duke had had to keep Allon's existence a secret from the King. It was the only way to eventually be rid of the Night Guild once and for all. For more than thirty years, he'd withheld the truth from his brother out of a desire to both protect the King and be rid of the stain on his family's honor.
Yet in doing so, the Duke had nearly brought about the destruction of Praamis. Allon's treachery had come within a hair's breadth of giving the Bloody Hand control of the city.
"I understand wanting to make the nobles suffer, even the King. But that doesn't justify all the death and bloodshed you've caused."
"I know. I…" Allon dropped his eyes. "I didn't want it. But I had no choice."
"You always have a choice!"
"You don't understand." Allon lifted his gaze to meet hers. "I had to do it…to protect you."
Ilanna flinched as if struck. "What?"
"The Bloody Hand came to me the day you returned from Voramis. They said they knew someone from the Night Guild had killed their men—a man and a woman."
"And you just told them it was me?"
"I had to!" Desperation flashed across Allon's face. "They threatened to expose me to Master Gold, give him proof that I was working with them. I couldn't face the Sanction." He shuddered.
"So you told them it was me. Knowing full well the torments they'd subject me to would be far worse."
Allon's face burned. "I…I tried to fix it. I knew the Duke had put a massive bounty on your head, so I alerted him that you were going to try for Lord Auslan's vault."
Which explains why they were waiting for us, she thought. He'd left one of the Arbitors alive so the alarm would be raised.
"The Duke would have captured you, imprisoned you, probably tried and executed you. But in that time, I would collect the reward and find a way to break you out. We could take the money and get away from Praamis."
Fury burned in Ilanna's chest. "And if you couldn't find a way to get me free?"
Allon winced, his eyes falling to the floor. "An execution by the Crown would be kinder than the fate the Bloody Hand had in mind for you." His expression grew pleading. "Besides, if anyone could cross the Field of Mercy alive, it would be you."
"How long?" she growled. "How long have you been working for the Bloody Hand?"
Allon refused to meet her gaze.
"How long, Allon?" she shouted.
"Since before we met," the Hound said in a quiet voice. "Master Hound found out the truth somehow and came to me. He offered me a chance for vengeance against my father"—the Keeper-damned King of Praamis, Ilanna thought—"He would become Master Gold and would make me the master of House Hound." His eyes searched hers. "I wanted to make things better—not just for the Night Guild, but for the city of Praamis. No more bastards would suffer because of Kings and nobles too cowardly to take responsibility for their actions."
"Even after everything you knew about the Bloody Hand?" Ilanna couldn't believe it. "You’ve heard the same stories I have, Allon. You know what they’re capable of."
"And that's exactly why I had to do it, Ilanna." His eyes sparkled with a ferocity she'd never seen. "The First of the Bloody Hand himself met with me. He sat and talked with me, shared his vision for a city controlled by the Night Guild and the Bloody Hand. By the people, not men who rule because of titles and slaves. There was something…otherworldly about him. An almost divine light burning in his eyes. I know it sounds silly, but he seemed somehow more than human."
Ilanna gaped. The Hound's face had taken on an almost fanatical expression.
"They offered a better future, for all of us. I had to take it."
"At the cost of hundreds of lives." Ilanna shook her head. "How can you believe that is anything close to better?"
Allon winced. "That's not how it started out. They wanted to join the Night Guild peacefully, and together we would take control of the city."
Nothing she'd seen about the Bloody Hand spoke of peace. They had preyed on Allon's desires, manipulated him into doing their will.
"But Master Gold kept refusing, kept swaying the Guild against the Bloody Hand. He was the one who made the Bloody Hand act out of violence. Which is why they needed to get rid of him."
Revulsion twisted in Ilanna's gut. Of course it was him. Allon had planted the dagger—her dagger—in Master Gold's chest. No doubt he had poisoned the wine as well. He had framed her for Master Gold's murder, just as he had left falsified proof of her thefts.
She had no doubt it was him. The Royal Scribe had described forgery as an art. "Any forgery is possible for an artist of passable skill," she'd said.
In Allon's room, she'd seen the sketches of her. The same sketches that had to have been reproduced for the Bloody Hand to recognize her face. He was more than just a passable artist, no doubt about it. He had only to ask Master Hound for a sample of Master Gold's handwriting, and he could practice until he had the forgery just right.
An icy hand of horror gripped her. "Were you always the one sending the notes? The ones that appeared to be written by Master Gold?"
Allon hung his head, but nodded.
"Why? Why
me?"
"Because of Sabat. And because of Master Gold."
Her brow wrinkled in confusion. She didn't understand.
"Once you declared the Black Spire as your Undertaking," Allon said, not meeting her eyes, "Master Gold began showing an interest in you. Master Hound had someone keep an eye on you. Especially after you did the impossible and succeeded. If Master Gold actually managed to convince you to join him, you would be a real threat. But after Sabat…"
"Master Hound saw a weakness he could exploit." Acid rose to Ilanna's throat. "And he used it—you used it—to get me to break into the mansions of those nobles under the Crown's protection. Which led them to complain to the Crown and turn the King and Duke against the Night Guild." The final pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place. "The Bloody Hand wanted the Duke to weaken the Guild, to thin the herd. With most of their opposition eliminated, they could take over."
Allon swallowed. "You understand."
"Of course I understand, Allon!" A fresh wave of anger washed over Ilanna. "I understand that you blackmailed me for five years. I understand that you lied to my face even as you used my body. I understand that you tried to get me arrested and executed by the Duke, and convicted of murder and larceny by the Night Guild. I understand you betrayed me and the rest of the men you called your comrades to both the Bloody Hand and the Duke. All of these things I understand. One day, perhaps may even be able to forgive."
Hope surged in Allon's eyes.
Ilanna's voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "But I will never forgive the fact that you are responsible for the death of my child."
Chapter Forty-Six
"Ch-Child?" Horror filled Allon's eyes, and his face turned a sickly grey-green. "I thought…it was just a house!" he whispered. "With the Lord Auslan job, you had more than enough to build another. I never imagined…" He jerked to the side, retching.
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