The Lost Duke

by Kristen Gupton

  There was little conversation as they ate, though all of them were wondering how much longer their trip would remain uncomplicated. At two-days out, every one of them felt the noose tightening.

  Kanan choked down the last of his dried bread and took a long pull from a bottle of wine they were sharing. Except for Mari, they were all in pain from their ride. Even Keiran was suffering, despite his exceptional physical condition.

  Kanan handed the bottle to his son while looking across the fire at Keiran. “We need to discuss what we’ll do when the guards watching our men finally get word from the queen.”

  The vampire nodded. “We don’t really have an alternative other than to intervene. There are enough of our men in the group to take down the guards currently with them, but we have no idea how many more are on the way. They’ll need our help.”

  “Aye, I’m afraid so,” Kanan agreed. His eyes turned to Stepan. “Once that’s done, do you think we can forge a new travel document as you suggested earlier? With you in the group, shouldn’t we be able to get past the checkpoints up ahead? Those men won’t know you’ve been stripped of your command.”

  “The men at those checkpoints will be the same ones who saw you pass the first time,” Stepan said. “I think they’d find it a little odd that a group who’d been escorted into the country by a small army of guards was being led out by only one.”

  “If they’re that observant,” Jerris snorted.

  Stepan leveled his gaze at the redhead, a brow quirking. “Think what you will of us, but my men are trained to be observant. That is their entire purpose while watching travelers on the roads.”

  Jerris frowned, realizing he’d struck a nerve with their Alerian host. “Then, what do you propose we do? Should we take those other eight men with us into these woods and away from the main road?”

  “It’s not practical for a group that large to move along the courier trails,” Mari said, reaching over and taking the wine bottle from Jerris’ hands. “We’ll be passing through some tight areas, and if one of them missteps, we all get stuck.”

  “Agreed,” Stepan said, nodding.

  “What if we take the uniforms from the Alerian guards after we neutralize them?” Kanan asked. “Put them on some of our own men. Perhaps your checkpoint guards are observant, but surely they know they can’t personally recognize every guard in the country.”

  Stepan narrowed his eyes and thought. “Perhaps it could work, but they will have to remain silent at the checkpoints, otherwise, the fact they aren’t Alerian will be glaringly apparent. Your accents are clearly not native, and I doubt most of you could impersonate it convincingly.”

  “Point taken,” the older guard agreed. “However, I think that’s the best thing I can come up with for the time being. Hopefully, it won’t come to that, but I’m going to be a realist and expect someone to be getting close with Adira’s order for our heads to be brought to her.”

  “I wish I could write that statement off as exaggeration,” Stepan said. “She’s gone mad enough to request just that, though. I thought when I killed Victri that she might back down and become easier to deal with. I never imagined she’d go in the complete opposite direction.”

  * * *

  “We’ve found the group,” Mikale told Adira.

  She stood beside her carriage, trying to stretch some of the soreness out of her body. The ride over the previous day had become agonizing, and she was exhausted from being unable to sleep while the carriage had been moving. However, knowing they’d finally found the Tordanian guards made her feel like the sacrifice had been worth it.

  “How far ahead, and is there any sign amongst them of the Tordanian king or Garhan?” she asked.

  “Not yet, but we didn’t go too close, not wanting to alert them to our presence. All we could see was the number of them, and it looked like our guards who’d been watching them at the inn are with them.” His expression gave up his own exhaustion. “They are camped for the night, and they won’t be going anywhere for some time. Perhaps we can take a break, so we’re in better shape to confront them tomorrow. I’m assuming you want them all killed?”

  Adira’s eyes narrowed and panned away from the guard. Part of her thought it would be easiest for her men to simply assault them while they slept. If Keiran and the others weren’t immediately with the group, however, it would tip them off. He, along with Garhan, had already been proven capable of escaping dire situations.

  “Yes, perhaps. Is there a way around them that won’t make us visible to them?” she asked. “I want to get ahead of them, so they will come to us tomorrow. They won’t be expecting that.”

  The guard nodded and lifted his right hand to point. “There is a side road that branches off. It rejoins the main road again well past them. It wouldn’t take more than an hour.”

  “Good. Let’s do that,” she said, turning around and climbing back into the carriage. Adira wasn’t looking forward to anymore time in the vehicle, but knowing it would only be for a short while made it bearable.

  She closed her eyes as the carriage began to rattle along the road. There wasn’t much to see out of the windows as the trees lining the road were effectively cutting off most of the ambient light from the night sky.

  There was a particularly hard bump in the road, and it knocked her head back against the interior wall of the coach. Her eyes opened after the impact, but she instantly forgot the pain and locked up in terror. At first, she thought Garhan had managed to get into her carriage, but she quickly realized it wasn’t her nephew.

  A scream burned in her throat, but as the man sitting across from her put a finger to his own lips, her ability to produce any sound at all withered.

  Athan lowered his hand to his lap and offered her a faint smile. He felt the fear welling up within her, and he fed off it. It’d been a while since he’d been faced with someone so abjectly afraid of him.

  “I’ll give you your voice back if you promise not to scream,” he said. “I wouldn’t want your forward progress delayed over something so trivial as you crying out for help.”

  Her eyes widened even more, and she gave a quick nod of her head. Not only were her words cut off, but so was her ability to breathe. Whatever this man was doing felt like it would kill her if it went on much longer.

  Athan laughed quietly as she leaned forward and drew in a gasp, pressing her hands to her chest. The vampire could hear her heart’s frantic beats, but he suspected she was still in good enough health to survive the fright.

  Once she straightened back up again, he could see the redness in her cheeks and the sweat upon her skin. Athan studied her for a few seconds, seeing the resemblance she bore to Ilana.

  “Now, Adira, do you know who I am?”

  She lifted her chin slightly, trying to shirk off any outward signs of her fear, though it most certainly wasn’t abating within. Her eyes ran up and down the intruder’s body, her mind struggling to put together any thoughts with the amount of adrenaline dumped into her blood.

  It was hard to keep her voice from cracking when she replied. “Someone under the employ of King Sipesh, I’d imagine? Rather clever how you managed to slip into the carriage while I was out of it at our last stop. I must be exceptionally tired to have not seen you upon entering.”

  Adira noticed he didn’t have any weapons visible, but that didn’t mean he was unarmed. She knew if she screamed, it would be several seconds before the carriage stopped and her guards could help her. The queen could only imagine what he could do to her with a concealed knife or the like in that amount of time.

  One corner of Athan’s mouth quirked upward for a second, his eyes turning toward the window. The woman honestly didn’t realize who he was. In her arrogance about her country’s supposed security from vampires, his real identity wasn’t even drifting around in the back of her mind. It amused him.

  He started to work his way into her mind a bit further, his gaze meeting Adira’s. “No, I work for no one but myself, Adira. I know w
hat I’m about to say is going to be at odds with your naïve belief that this country is buttoned up securely, but that’s not really my problem.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’m Athan Vercilla.”

  She, of course, recognized his name instantly. He was the one who’d inspired the vampires in Aleria to unite and overthrow her family a few generations earlier. And then there was the matter of Garhan’s claim that Athan was his father…

  The vampire smiled to himself and leaned back, eyeing the queen in return. “Have you nothing to say to that?”

  Adira’s pride refused to abate, and she lifted her chin a little bit further. “If you are Lord Vercilla, how did you get this far into my country without being spotted or stopped? You say I’m naïve, yet I know I have the tightest security in the world here in Aleria. After what happened to us in the past, we’ve been extraordinarily successful at keeping vampires out.”

  “Your ignorance is almost endearing,” he said, allowing his smile to linger. “Getting past your defenses is a simple feat. This isn’t the first time I’ve done so.”

  “If Garhan’s claim you are his father is true, then I suppose you have,” Adira replied, a brow lofting. “And while you do look something like him, I still have no real proof.”

  Athan looked out the window and licked his lips. “You doubt I’m his father? You still think it’s possible there’s another reason for his vampirism? Don’t you realize that, too, would have required your country being breached?”

  The queen fell silent again. Though she’d been young at the time of Ilana’s rape, the fact the culprit had escaped unseen from an inaccessible room had always troubled her. While a vampire with the types of powers Athan was believed to possess could have done it, the idea still went against what she’d been taught about Aleria all of her life.

  Athan had already shown her he had abilities she didn’t understand. Magic wasn’t common in Aleria, and she’d never witnessed it before. However, that didn’t mean it didn’t exist, and maybe…

  Athan felt her struggling, and he brought his gaze back to her. “That’s right, Adira. Your country’s defenses are nothing but a false sense of security. I’ve had no issue coming into or out of Aleria at will. Your walls and guards are very good at keeping out men, but I’m something else entirely.”

  Her eyes narrowed to dark slits, her lips tensing together. The hair on the back of her neck slowly began to prickle up, her hands knotting up in her lap. “So you really are Garhan’s father? You were the one who attacked my sister?”

  Athan lifted both his hands out toward her, palms up and let another smile surface. “Yes.”

  “Then I should have killed him long ago when I first took the throne,” she whispered, her eyes averting from the vampire.

  The initial fear she’d felt upon seeing him in the carriage paled in comparison to the instinctual, gut-seizing horror overcoming her. Though she maintained a stoic expression, Athan easily smelled the scent of the fear-induced chemicals in her blood.

  This truly was Athan Vercilla. It wasn’t a trick, and it certainly wasn’t a game.

  A lump formed in her throat, and she struggled to get out her next words without letting her voice waver. “Why are you here?”

  “Finally!” The vampire nodded to himself and laced his hands together. “To discuss what it is you think you’re going to do with Keiran, Garhan, and the rest of them.”

  “Why do you suddenly care about Garhan?” she asked, green eyes snapping back to the vampire. “You’ve let him linger imprisoned all this time, so why any concern about him now?”

  “A fair question.” Athan licked his lips again and gave a small shrug. “I allowed myself to become distracted with other things when I should have come and taken him to Talaus with me. However, there’s nothing I can do about that now, is there? I never intended for Keiran to find out about him, or to get the truth regarding my dealings here, but you had other plans. What you didn’t or couldn’t tell Keiran, Garhan now has. So, that leaves me with a problem.”

  “What problem is that?” Adira’s hands were clenched together tight enough to cut circulation off. “I intend to take care of Garhan once and for all, and Keiran might as well be removed, too. I cannot let two vampires out into the world in good—”

  Athan’s expression went dark. His head tipped forward, his brows knitting together. The corners of his mouth quickly pulled down, and when he cut her off, his voice was just above a growl. “You are in no position to decide what is going to happen to those two, Adira. While you have enough men out here to potentially take out Keiran and his men, make no mistake, they would be no challenge for me. Keiran is mine, and now that he’s met Garhan and undoubtedly found some common bond with him, I can’t let anything happen to him, either. This whole episode of you inviting him here wasn’t in my plans, and finding out about it made me furious. You’ve potentially ruined something I’ve been working on for years, Adira. That tends to put me in a very, very negative frame of mind.”

  Her brows rose up and her eyes widened. The deep-seated anger Athan felt over the situation was being transmitted to her, stirring her own emotions further. She gave thought to calling out to the carriage driver for help, but she knew it would do no good.

  Athan relaxed a little, and his expression softened. “You only have one chance to get out of this. Would you like to hear me out?”

  She gave a small nod.

  “Good.” He flicked his gaze toward the carriage window again. “Keiran and Garhan belong to me. Though I never intended Keiran to meet his brother, the fact is, he has. Therefore, they both must be allowed out of the country. Keiran has undoubtedly learned things that will make it much harder for me to work with him in the future, but getting him out of here with his men alive will count for something, I hope. You won’t stop them from leaving. I don’t care if you follow them or keep a watch over them, but you will make certain they all leave. Is that understood?”

  “And what of the courier and my traitorous guard escorting them?” she asked, feeling the need to push back and take some control.

  Athan drew in a long breath. He knew Adira was trying to save some of her dignity, but he didn’t have anything invested in the woman or the Alerian guard. “I only care about the Tordanians and Garhan. Do what you will with the rest of them, but Garhan and the Tordanians must be allowed to leave peacefully from Aleria. That is all I care about.”

  The queen nodded once and looked out the window, trying to keep what was left of her nerves in check. She gave brief thought to having assassins follow them and kill the entire group once they were out of her country. She wondered how much Athan would see, and if the technicality of having them killed outside of Aleria would still bring his wrath down upon her.

  Athan shook his head, his teal eyes slowly panning back to her. Though Adira had some natural ability to shield her thoughts as her sister had possessed, it wasn’t as advanced, and he still knew what she was mulling over.

  “Don’t even consider it, Adira,” he said. “Just remember how easily I appeared in this carriage tonight. Make no mistake about it, there is no where you can hide, and there is no guard or group of guards who can protect you from me. None. Do as I say, and I leave along with them. After, you will be allowed to go on ruling your country. Choose otherwise, and I’m sure one of your daughters will be able to run this place just as well as you ever have.”

  She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw, trying to muster up the courage she had left. A few seconds later, Adira turned her head toward him, preparing to give Athan an order to leave, but there was no one else in the carriage.

  Chapter 9

  “Something doesn’t seem right,” Keiran said to Jerris.

  They lagged a short distance behind the others. Their pace had slowed to keep a closer eye on the larger group along the main road. The travel had been easy enough, but something unsettling had cropped up within range of Keiran’s senses.

  The redhead shrugged
. “I think we’re all on edge about this. I know we got a head start coming out of the capital, but surely the queen has other messengers or soldiers who could have caught up with our men by now. Did you notice how they sailed right through the last checkpoint? I didn’t even see them being stopped and forced to show their papers.”

  “There’s no way Adira is going to let us walk out of here after going through all the trouble of bringing me here in the first place.” The vampire’s eyes narrowed, and he tried reaching out with his feelings again, but whatever it was sat just beyond his grasp.

  Jerris furrowed his brow and lifted a hand, pointing to the others. “What’s your take on them? I like Garhan well enough so far.”

  “There are some deep issues amongst our three new friends,” Keiran replied. “Stepan has redeemed himself to the other two, and while he’s sincere about wanting to help, Garhan and Mari still have some doubts in their minds and rightfully so. We don’t know all of the dynamics of their relationship, but I can see things went badly.”

  “They’re us, you know. You, Thana, and I, just in a different country where the circumstances weren’t quite the same,” Jerris said.

  Keiran gave a slow nod. The thought had crossed his mind that the trio reflected his own little circle of friends. “Remarkably similar, though, I think you would have handled the situation better than Stepan must have when Garhan was imprisoned.”

  “I wouldn’t have withheld information about your fate from Thana, if that’s what you mean to say,” the guard replied, faintly smiling. “And I would have worked on finding away to get you out of that house instead of worrying about furthering my career. Stepan, however, I think I figured him out. It doesn’t justify the decisions he made, but I see some of his reasons.”

  Keiran had gained a few insights, but he was legitimately intrigued to see what Jerris had come up with. “Go on.”