When Miss Between-the-Sheets Eyes had finished laying out our spread, she remained standing beside Alex.
"You may go," Myez said.
Reluctantly, the girl left, but not without one last glimpse at Alex before she closed the door. Alex didn't notice, though, or at least he'd made great effort in staring at the floor.
Myez reached forward and grabbed a slice of white cheese. "For an Aegis, you seem to draw an impressive amount of attention to yourself." He took a bite of his cheese.
Alex's eyes narrowed on Myez Rader.
"Please, let us make a toast." Myez wiped his mouth and lifted his glass.
"To?" I asked.
"To your safety, of course, and that of the realm. I understand the world is facing threats that have lain dormant for almost twenty years."
It was an interesting choice of words, and I watched him closely as I held my goblet. The others held up theirs, too.
"To the king, and may the blessings of Gaia and her spirits—if they exist—forever fall upon you," said Myez, and we all clinked glasses. Everyone took a sip—everyone but me. I pretended to drink and set my goblet down. Something just didn't feel right.
"I must say," Myez continued, scratching his chin, "you've done a remarkable job evading capture thus far, what with Lord Commodus after you…"
"What do you mean Lord Commodus is after me?" I asked. Alex had gone rigid beside me.
Myez's eyes darted between Alex and me. "Do you not know? Have you not told her?" He looked pointedly at Alex, whose expression had hardened like marble. When Alex didn't speak, Myez said, "There is a rather hefty bounty upon you as we speak."
"Bounty? On me?" I gasped, dumbfounded. "Why? And I thought Lord Commodus was missing…?"
"Oh, no," Myez continued. "He is in Orindor, I assure you."
After what happened at the games, Lord Commodus had disappeared. Or at least it had seemed that way, because no one could find him. Apparently, that was no longer true. "What in the world does Lord Commodus want with me?" I asked.
"He doesn't want anything with you." Myez looked legitimately surprised. "It's his son he's wagered the bounty for. I can't believe you don't know this, though if you've been gone from the castle for a few days…but I would have thought… No matter."
"It is not your place to—" Alex started angrily.
Myez cut him off. "Tell her the truth? You are her Aegis. It is your duty to tell her the truth."
I clenched my teeth together. "Tell me what?" I looked between Alex and Myez, but Alex was glaring only at Myez.
"As we speak," Myez continued, "there is an army of shadowguard ten thousand strong waiting behind the wall in Alioth."
My eyes widened. "What?"
Myez Rader gave Alex a disappointed look. "I'm afraid that's not all, your highness," he continued. "Lord Commodus has agreed to ally Orinder with Valdon, allowing free passage through Orindor under condition that you marry his son, Lord Danton Pontefract."
The fire crackled and popped in its hearth.
Had I heard him correctly?
Lord Commodus was wagering a truce based on a marriage proposal. And not just any marriage proposal: a marriage—my marriage—to his son. Danton.
I swallowed. And then I momentarily stopped breathing, and I was pretty sure my heart stopped beating for a split second, too. My thoughts whirled, and I might have fallen over if I hadn't already been seated.
That was why I hadn't heard from Stefan.
Lord Commodus was hinging the entire fate of Valdon and my brother on my acceptance to a marriage to Danton. Because if Orindor didn't help, that meant Alioth was cut off from Valdon, subject to the wrath of the shadowguard, and Orindor would not step in to help when that same army of shadowguard made their way along Orindor's perimeter and straight to Valdon. I didn't know Orindor's role in all of this. It seemed likely Lord Commodus had been granted amnesty of some kind, but those details didn't matter. I searched for a lie in Myez's words, but there was none. Not even the slightest hint of exaggeration.
My fists clenched.
Vera had gone very still at the end of the couch. This had come as a surprise to her, too, but Alex had known. Alex had known and he hadn't said a word of it to me. Why? But when I tried to get a sense for Alex, I found that he'd closed his emotions to me. Where I'd been able to sense him before, he'd erected a great and impenetrable wall between him and me, and this sudden wall disturbed me more than the news.
"I hate to be the bearer of such ill news, your highness," Myez continued carefully, "and I know this must be difficult to hear, but I feel you must know the truth because I admire you. Such tragedy, yet you aren't permitted to mourn as is needed for the human soul. You are expected to act. You are expected to be the strength the people need in a time of uncertainty and unrest. You must always keep emotion at bay and fulfill your duty to your kingdom. It is a difficult position to be in, and even more difficult not to lose your humanity in the process."
I grimaced at what he was suggesting. "I don't believe I asked for your counsel on the matter."
Myez took a sip, watching me over the rim of his glass. I didn't like how he was looking at me. I didn't like the turn of this conversation and I certainly didn't like being down here in this…this brothel. I wanted out of here where I could think clearly—safely. I stood, but the quick motion made my head spin and I gripped the arm of the couch to steady myself.
The movement did not go unnoticed.
"We need to go." I forced my voice to stay calm. "Thank you for your hospitality, Myez Rader, but, as Vera said, we came to use the shortcut, and it seems you know better than me that time is of the essence."
"I also have news concerning a particular Thaddeus Mendax." Myez wasn't looking at me; he was studying his glass. But at mention of that name, I froze. "I believe he is a…friend of yours?"
I hadn't even let myself think his name since we'd left the castle. I'd put it out of my mind because it was too painful—no, devastating to think about. It was the one element that teetered inside of me, always threatening to collapse.
I felt the heavy weight of Alex's gaze as I stared hard at Myez.
Myez raised a dark brow. "Like I said, your highness. I am a businessman amongst thieves. There isn't a plot that whispers through these stones that goes unbeknownst to me."
"Then you are no better than they are!" My self-control dissolved into nothing. "You knew about Eris and his plots…you knew what was going to happen to my father and you did nothing!"
He set his goblet down, folded his hands, and put them in his lap. "You and I have very different ideas of 'nothing,' I assure you."
I was so angry I was shaking. "How dare you sit there and pretend fealty to the crown. When I leave this place, I will tell my brother and the entire guard and make sure they know exactly where you—"
"Sit down, your highness." All cordiality was gone—from Myez's tone, his face, his eyes. Something frighteningly powerful had taken its place, remnants of what I'd witnessed outside. He was done with pretenses, and I had the distinct notion that I would like the real Myez Rader even less.
In a motion too swift for me to register, Alex had drawn his sword and had the tip of it pointing at Myez's throat. Myez stared down the blade, hard eyes fastened upon Alex. He wasn't afraid.
"Don't be foolish, Aegis Del Conte. If you harm me, you'll never get out of here alive. Even if you make it past my giants, you'll never get past the women. That wound to your princess would be worse than any physical harm I could ever inflict upon her."
Fury burned in Alex's eyes, but I could not feel it. The wall he'd constructed was too tall and too strong. "We are done here." Alex's voice was cold as ice. "Daria, Vera…" He stared only at Myez.
"Thaddeus was an orphan," Myez continued, still staring up at Alex. "An orphan at the age of thirteen who appeared at the Academia one day, and if I recall correctly, you weren't particularly friendly to him at first. Or maybe that's because Lord Danton Pontefract had take
n pity on him, and you were always at odds with the Pontefracts, though I can't seem to remember why..."
"That's enough." Alex pressed the tip of the sword deeper, puckering the skin in Myez's neck.
"And as punishment," Myez continued, unfazed, "Headmaster Ambrose had Thaddeus live with you at the Aegis Quarters. Something about teaching you a lesson in humility, but I can't remember exactly how it went. Perhaps you can fill us in with the details?"
"I said that's enough." Alex's voice trembled with anger.
"But Thaddeus has such an irresistible personality. It didn't take very long for you to trust him, did it? You even trusted him with her life."
Alex blanched and something like agony filled his eyes. Why couldn't I feel it? Why was he blocking me out?
"You mustn't be too hard on yourself," Myez continued. "Anyone would have made the mistake and everyone did. No one saw what he was because he'd charmed the entire court, just like his father before him. No one had even suspected the darkness inside Lord Eris until the Dark Reign came to pass."
I took a step back and sank onto the couch, my mind reeling.
No.
Eris was Thad's…father?
I felt Myez watching me, waiting for the realization to hit. And, oh, did it hit. It kept hitting and slugging and punching me. I'd watched him do it. I'd watched him stand there while Eris killed my father. I'd watched him threaten Fleck, a boy he'd stood up for countless times. So often I'd wondered why. What could've propelled him to turn on me for that monster? But if Eris really was his father, then I could make the tie. Sort of.
And that fact also made him my…
Cousin.
Alex still gripped his sword, but it had dropped a little, like his arm suddenly felt too heavy, and his eyes looked through Myez rather than at him.
It was Vera who finally broke the silence. "Idiot."
I wasn't sure who she was calling the idiot, but right then I felt like one. "We've got to get going." It was my voice, but it was like someone else was using it. "Vera, I believe you know where the shortcut is."
The half-giants burst into the room, and this time there were more than just two. There were five. Vera's eyes darted back and forth, and she growled, "What is this?"
Now that Alex's sword had pointed in a new direction, Myez stood, his palms outstretched. "I told you: I am a businessman."
"Business be damned!" Vera said. "Mercedes won't stand for—"
"I'm afraid what Mercedes will and will not stand for does not matter. Lord Eris simply made a better offer."
"The king has more!" I said. "Tell me what you want and you will have it!" I hated using a man I despised as collateral, but I was desperate.
Myez absently touched the golden hoop at his ear. "Unfortunately for you, you cannot give me what I want. All the gold in this world isn't worth what Lord Eris has promised."
The half-giants pressed in and attacked. We fought back, and to my acute disappointment, they were faster than the full-blooded giant. Their blows knocked me easily off balance, and there wasn't much space to move in this cramped room. Somewhere I heard Myez say we were to be kept alive, but I was too focused on staying alive that I didn't hear all of it exactly.
I was the first to be caught with my arms twisted behind my back, and my bad arm throbbed like someone was trying to dismember it. I struggled against my captor's grip, but chains had more give. Vera's arms had met the same fate, and it was Alex who continued fighting. He was amazing to watch, really. So fast and fluid, so unpredictable with perfect control. The three remaining half-giants stood around him, unable to get near.
Myez watched, impressed, but when Alex started downing his half-giants, "impressed" quickly transformed to "irritation." More half-giants entered the room, and Alex was moving to attack when Myez held a knife at my neck. "Stop or she'll be wishing for death."
Alex saw me, and his sword stilled mid-sweep. Fury swept over his features, but in the end he dropped his sword on the ground with a clatter, resigned. The two nearest giants grabbed his arms and secured them behind his back.
"There, you see?" Myez lowered his blade, and then he lashed out across my cheek fast as a whip. My cheek burned and I cried out as warmth dripped down my jaw and neck.
Alex jerked against his guards, furious.
"If you try anything," Myez continued, "she will pay for it. Do we understand each other?"
I'd never seen such hatred cross Alex's face, and still I felt none of it.
Myez looked at the fallen half-giants near Alex's feet. "Perhaps I should've sent the girls," he mused. "Take them below, and see that they stay put until Master Thaddeus Mendax arrives."
Chapter 6
Heart of Darkness
After Myez Rader had stripped us of all our possessions, Alex, Vera, and I were escorted out of his office by the half-giants. Myez, in his infinite wisdom, spared five giants for Alex alone. They led us deeper underground through a maze of hallways and twisting corridors until we reached the dungeons. It was dark down here. Dark and damp, with the pungent aroma of sewage and ripe body odor. Strange whispers and growls and inhuman cries echoed down the stone corridors.
We passed rows of barred doors and windows. All were dark, but sometimes I caught the glint of eyes, torchlight refracting in the silvery, slit-like pupils. A black, skeletal hand with claw-like black nails gripped the bars of another cell. I couldn't see the face that belonged to it, nor did I want to. It made some strange clicking sound in its throat as we passed, and I was suddenly thankful for the bars and our half-giant escort.
A blast of sound, like a symphony of train horns, blared down our corridor with so much force, it came with a gust of hot air that singed my nasal passages. The sound was followed by shouts and yells that sounded human, though I couldn't be sure. The half-giants didn't seem concerned, merely annoyed, but I found it unnerving. The size of a creature making a sound that powerful—well, it made me wonder how in the world they got it down here.
We finally reached our intended cells. Apparently, the maze of corridors we'd just walked through housing creatures from Pan's Labyrinth was considered the low security section. Our cells were in the floor, like an oubliette, with small metal grille hatches for entry. Or maybe they were keeping us in the sewers. I guessed I'd find out soon enough.
One of the half-giants unlocked a grille then shoved Vera inside. I listened for her landing, which was farther down than I'd hoped. When it was my turn, I braced myself for impact. The hard floor jarred my ankles and knees and I fell forward, catching myself with my bad arm. I clenched my teeth and groaned in pain as the grille above closed and locked over my head. My world turned black, except for the golden grid of flickering light above.
It took a bit for my eyes to adjust, but once they did, I saw that my cell was more like a burial chamber. It wasn't much larger than a casket, perfectly rectangular and carved out of the hill. There was a dark pile of something in one corner that smelled sour and rotten, but the cell was otherwise empty. I found the cleanest segment of flooring I could and sat, leaned against the wall, and proceeded to stare at nothing while cradling my left arm. On occasion, I heard a distant cry, but for the most part, this area of the dungeon was quiet. Alex and Vera were just on the other side of these walls—if only I could talk to them, maybe work out some kind of plan, but instead I was left with only my thoughts for company.
And my thoughts were not welcome company.
I'd read books about being trapped in dungeons. Of course, it's nothing like experiencing it first hand. Like in the Count of Monte Cristo when Edmond Dantes was trapped in the Chateau d'If for six whole years. But that was a novel. Not once did I believe Alexander Dumas would actually leave him there to die. If he had, there wouldn't have been a story. When you're reading, you can pretty much always guarantee that the author isn't going to kill off the main character (unless you're Alfred Hitchcock), so if the main character ends up in a rat-infested, rank and fetid dungeon, the main character is probably
going to get out somehow.
The problem with real life, however, is that you're not a main character. You may think you are one, but once you step out into the world—or worlds, as mine would have it—you realize it's more likely you've been cast as that negligible "jogger girl with brown hair." You're nothing but a clip on the big screen, probably without speaking parts and completely inconsequential to the actual plot. The world moves as it has always done—without you—and it doesn't care if you live or die. The sun rises and the sun sets without your help, and your big ideas of change and reformation seem idealistic at most. If the world were a river, you'd be a dead leaf floating on top of it, dissolving into your constituents until you were scattered like dust. But the river would rage on.
Those were my thoughts as I sat uncomfortably for the second time in my life inside of a dungeon. Having experienced it before only made this second time so much worse. My ignorance wasn't around to fuel my hope. I knew that good didn't necessarily win in this world, and I didn't have a father around to come to the rescue. The only other person who might have succeeded in rescuing me was trapped in a cell right beside mine.
Losing a parent changes a person. That safety you felt is suddenly stripped away, leaving you standing alone and naked in a cruel world. Responsibility rests on your shoulders, and if you drop it there will be no one to pick it up. So instead you hold it up, straining with everything you've been taught, hoping it'll be enough to keep you from being crushed.
But I couldn't dwell on that. Remembering my own vulnerability would never help me get us out of here. I didn't know how long we'd been in our separate cells. Hours? A day? Time doesn't move when you're trapped in complete and utter darkness.
Myez had taken everything I owned. Including my bindingbooks. Since we'd left Valdon, I'd wanted nothing more than for Stefan to write, but right then I pleaded silently that he hadn't. I didn't want his words in Myez Rader's hands.
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