From The Shadows : Book 2 in the Mortisalian Saga

by L. J. Stock

  “You were going to go with him.” Again, it wasn't a question. The realization had dawned on me as he’d been explaining what had gone on down in the dungeon. Grigori was still who he'd been before we'd sent him down there, and he was determined to protect me by finding out the plan that would ensure he could keep me safe. The thought of him being discovered while he was with them made my blood run cold.

  “I could have helped you more while I was with them. I would have known what they were planning. They wouldn't have questioned my loyalty after I helped my father escape.”

  “What was he talking about with the new information?”

  Grigori ducked his head just as Shannon appeared with Acantha on her heels. Someone had obviously sent for them so Acantha could heal me. My eyes searched the faces of both women before I turned back to face Grigori.

  “I told him there was a new prophecy.”

  “Which was?” Shannon asked, her disappointment at not being the one to kill Sentarka worn clearly on her face.

  Grigori shifted uncomfortably under our scrutiny and held his silence until Rasmus reappeared with Damon, who was rubbing his head with hazel eyes as dark as thunder clouds. I wanted to go to him, to make sure he was alright, but I was pinned to the spot, hanging on Grigori's last words.

  What had he told them? What was the lie he had weaved? I prayed it wasn't anything to do with the truth. I hoped he hadn't mentioned that Damon was part of the prophecy. He had so much information from being with us, and I could only imagine that his lie stuck as close to the truth as possible. It was the only way he would have remembered it.

  Grigori lifted his head with an apologetic look at Damon. Having him here reminded me that he'd found something that had led him down to the dungeons in the first place. Had he heard about the escape? Had he thought Grigori had betrayed us?

  “Gori?” Shannon sighed impatiently. “What was the lie?”

  “I was trying to buy you more time. If they thought that they had more time to organize an attack, I believed they would take it. Thánatos doesn't rush into things, but he thought he was running out of options. Somehow, they knew about the wedding being thrown here. I believe we have a spy in our midst.”

  I looked around the room at all of the faces I had trusted for so long. Who had betrayed us yet again? Who had given away this information? Did we really have a spy? The engagement was now widely known, but how could they have known where we were moving? How could they have known that the king had always planned to have the wedding in this new palace?

  I tried to mentally catalog the people who worked with us most closely. Who had known we were moving before we'd ever made the decision to go? As much as my father trusted the men he worked with, he'd been careful with who he discussed this information in front of. He knew he needed the time here before they inevitably came down on us. That time for planning was one of the things he'd discussed with me after we'd escaped.

  As Grigori prepared to reveal his lie, I held up my hand to stop him. I wasn't sure who we could trust and who we couldn't. I needed to speak to my father, Damon and Rasmus before anything else was revealed in front of an audience.

  “Wait. I think this needs to be done in private.” I looked up at Rasmus and Damon, hoping they would agree. I wasn't sure if they understood what I was trying to say or not, but if they gave me the chance I would tell them. “Can I talk to the two of you real quick?”

  Damon nodded, but Rasmus just stared as I pushed myself up to my feet and wavered on the spot as the room tilted and shifted around me. I could feel the warm blood oozing from the wound again with my sudden movement, and that was the moment Damon realized I was hurt. His eyes went wide with shock as I reached for the wall to stabilize myself, only the damn thing was further away than I'd thought and I stumbled, my feet tangling beneath me as the world spun violently in a jerky movement.

  “She was stabbed with a poisoned dagger,” Grigori mumbled apologetically, moving impossibly quickly to catch me before I fell face first into the stone wall. “Sentarka heated the blade and did an incantation I haven't heard before. I don't know if it's already in her bloodstream, but she needs to be healed.”

  Acantha stepped forward before he’d even finished speaking, her hands already outstretched toward me. I could see the worry in her eyes. Veneficus magic made her nervous, and knowing that one of them had purposefully poisoned me made her even more so.

  “Will this put me to sleep?” I asked, my words slurring. When I looked to Grigori, I saw Damon in his place and couldn't remember the switchover.

  “It depends on a lot of things. You should rest anyway, Cassandra. Your body had taken a lot of abuse from this.”

  “I can't, not yet. Could you maybe just heal me a little and finish after I've spoken to my father?”

  “I don't even know if this will work.”

  I nodded, my head moving on my shoulders like it belonged to a marionette. I couldn't forget what I had to speak to the King about. It was too important and it couldn't wait. Acantha stepped toward me again, and kneeled as her hand delicately rested over the wound on my shoulder. I closed my eyes and waited for the feel of the magic to wash through me. Thankfully, it didn't take long for my head to start clearing. It was almost as though I could feel the poison retracting from my body as she worked.

  On its heels, though, was exhaustion, and I knew if I let her go any further, I would pass out.

  “You can rest now,” I whispered, removing her hand with mine. It was warm in my palms and I knew just how much effort she'd already used to heal me. The magic Sentarka had called to poison me had been dark enough to make her work harder. I couldn't say I was surprised. Magic seemed to take a toll on our bodies, and somehow, Acantha had at least managed to clean all of the blood pumping through my body.

  “It will scar if we don't close it now,” she whispered weakly.

  “I'm not worried about that. Thank you for getting the poison out of my system.”

  She nodded and leaned into Shannon who was already waiting at her side. She wrapped an arm around my grandmother’s waist and looked to me for guidance. It still surprised how in awe she was of the woman she now spent so many of her evenings with.

  “After you take her to her room, will you meet us in the king's study? And bring Alexa and Zander back with you?” I asked. The clearer my head became, the more I started to formulate a plan. If I could do nothing else, I was going to make a point to the people I trusted.

  Two guards helped Shannon with Acantha as I looked at the rest of the men around me. There were a few Regius Custos mixed in with the king's army, and then there were my friends. I turned my head to face Damon, who was watching me with concern as he cradled me against him. As weak as I was, it took my body a while to comply with my wishes, but my hand did eventually rise, and it came to rest on his cheek. He leaned eagerly into my touch and sighed in relief.

  “We need to go and see my father,” I finally said, feeling more tired than I had since the last time I’d been healed.

  He nodded in agreement but didn't move, and I couldn't blame him. I hadn't made an effort to move either. I wasn't sure why, but I felt as though my life was about to change drastically. These few moments with Damon felt like the precursor to something bigger, something beyond just the two of us. It felt like the earth was moving below my feet, too fast to keep up with, but I was anchored by the one thing that gave me purpose.

  “We should go,” Damon said softly.

  I nodded in response, sucking in air as I prepared myself for what was to come.

  It took me a moment to get to my feet and gather enough strength to even attempt to walk, but by the time Rasmus had dismissed the guards, the four of us made our way to my father’s wing. None of us said a word as we walked. It wasn't needed. All that would have to be discussed would be said in the meeting I had planned. As we stood in the hall of the royal wing waiting for our admission, I sent the guards to find the rest of my friends and family I trusted with my
life, and my father allowed me entrance alone before the others arrived, as I had requested.

  “Cass, your shoulder,” he started, but I held up my hand to stop him. It wasn't important now. My shoulder could be healed, and even with the chance of gaining a scar, I wasn't worried about the wound.

  “That's not why I'm here. The worst of it has been taken care of.” I looked toward Alec, who was stood with the other two guards. I was certain my next words would offend him, but that wasn't my concern. I needed my father to know the truth, and the only way to do that was to talk to him in confidence, with the people I trusted.

  “What is it?” the king asked gently.

  “I need to speak with you, without your guards.”

  My father looked from me to over his shoulder where the guards were standing. Without a word, two of them moved toward the door, but Alec stayed where he was.

  “You too, Alec.”

  “Your Highness...”

  “She's my daughter. I hardly think I'm in danger. I don't believe she wants to rule just yet.”

  Alec looked between us before following the others through the doors. I could still see his face as he looked at my friends, who were standing around waiting for me, and then he pulled the door shut behind him and I faced my father who was waiting patiently for an explanation.

  “We still have an informant in our midst. I know you trust your guards, dad, but it's serious. Grigori told Sentarka something before he escaped. I have gathered the people I know would never betray me and I would like for you to trust them enough to be here for this.”

  “You don't trust Alec then?”

  I sucked in a deep breath. In theory, I did. Alec had been my father’s personal guard for most of his life. He had dedicated his entire life to the job and had become my father’s friend in the process. I didn’t think he was capable of betrayal after all that time, but the truth was we couldn’t take the risk. I honestly wasn’t sure who we could trust and I was taking a calculated risk by invited the people I had into the meeting.

  “I don't know Alec well enough to trust him. I know you do but we have to be sure. If Grigori's right, he's bought us some time and we can't afford to lose that advantage.”

  “If that's what you think, I trust your judgment.”

  I nodded in thanks and headed to the door. Every one of the faces I trusted most in the world passed me as they entered. All but one. Rasmus stood in the hall, back straight and hands clasped at his back, his usual stance when he was within sight of my father and on duty.

  “Rasmus, you too.”

  He looked almost surprised by my invitation, glancing briefly toward Alec who was stood at the end of the hall before making the decision to enter. He looked uncertain about his inclusion. For as long as he'd been my guard, he'd been used to waiting outside of the room when I conversed with my father.

  I smiled and placed my hand on his arm in encouragement as he passed, before I shut the door behind him and looked at the faces surrounding me.

  “I invited you all here, because we have a traitor in the palace. You are the people I trust the most, so I need you here to discuss this with the king and me. As most of you know, Sentarka escaped this afternoon with Grigori's help. He was fed false information, and I hope for him to keep believing the lie. I know I can trust all of you, even if I haven't always earned yours.”

  I looked to Rasmus and smiled. I could see how proud he was to be included in this. His arms were crossed over his puffed out chest as he gave me a winning grin in response.

  “Grigori, now we're alone, would you mind telling us the false prophecy you fed Sentarka?”

  I could see the blush on his cheeks as his eyes met mine. Even now, with a smaller, more private audience, he was still embarrassed to repeat the fabrication. I offered him a smile to ease his worries, but it only seemed to make him more uncomfortable.

  Removing his glance from me, he looked to the king. “I told my father that Cassandra can only conceive during the Vernal Equinox.”

  “That's... seven months away?” Zander asked skeptically. “I don’t get it.”

  “Time is the point,” Shannon said with a grin. “Gori's bought us seven months. Enough time for a wedding, consummation of the marriage, conception...”

  This time I felt my cheeks flare with heat. Discussing my wedding, and in turn my wedding night, had not been part of the plan and yet here it was, up for discussion. At least the delicate subject had explained Grigori's reaction. Thankfully, Shannon had trailed off from her line of thought and rendered everyone else temporarily silent while I tried to find my voice.

  “You just had me married and knocked up in seconds,” I mumbled.

  Shannon shook her head and grinned. I could almost hear the words 'payback is a bitch' streaming loud and clear from her mind. I guess I had married her and Rasmus off in a conversation with Acantha.

  “So what do we do? Make sure people believe that while we come up with another fake prophecy?” Alexa asked. She was leaned against the far wall, shoulder to shoulder with Zander.

  “In a word. Yes,” my father responded, his closed hand tugging his short beard. “Now we have to figure out what the new fake is? Now that the old fake is going to be held back, and who are we going to tell about the new fake?”

  I looked to my father. “The rest of the people we should trust with our lives.”

  “But how do we narrow that down?” he asked, glancing around the room with a sigh.

  “I can tell Alec, and a few of the other men I trust. We'll soon see if it gets beyond the walls.”

  “It needs to be outrageous, but important enough for them to act on,” Damon said quietly, his arm wrapping around my waist as he stepped up behind me. “They don't know about me, yet the princess is marrying me. Maybe the prophecy should include someone they don't suspect.”

  “No.” I almost shouted the word. I could see where he was going and it wasn't an option.

  “You don't know what I was going to say.”

  “Yes I do, Damon. There aren't that many men with the earth and air lineage. I don't trust the baron as it is. Making him think that there could ever be something between us, fake or not...”

  “You know I would never leave you alone with him.”

  “If he thinks for a second he will be the father of my child...”

  “What other choice do we have?”

  “It could work,” my father said quietly, his eyes holding a silent apology. “The woman commissioned for the tapestry still has her original art. If we point them in the right direction they would put the pieces together themselves.”

  “It will get him killed.”

  Silence met me. No one particularly liked the baron, just as I myself had deduced, but did that mean he should be condemned to death? No. No one deserved to die for a fake rumor about a fake baby that was conceived to smoke out the traitor.

  “No one cares about that?” I asked, looking around the room in shock. As much as I hated to admit it, this was one of the reasons I trusted these people. Whether or not I liked their answer, they were always honest with me.

  “We will protect him as much as we can. Thánatos will expect that. If he's the father of the prophesied child, there would be no way we would leave him unguarded,” Damon responded half-heartedly.

  “And when he comes to the palace for the wedding?”

  “Will he be invited?” Damon asked, squeezing my hip.

  I rolled my eyes. I couldn't believe I was painting a target on someone's back, but what other choice did I have? I promised myself I would do everything in my power to keep him safe. If he still wasn't pursued in a couple of months, we would kill the rumor. Everyone in the palace would know it was fake, because we would tell them it was the lie Grigori had told his father. Although I knew the Baron would not be informed of its fabrication. He couldn't be trusted, not since he'd destroyed the chances of a victory at the former palace.

  “If you promise to protect him, I will agree to
this.”

  “We will protect him, Cass. I swear it. As soon as we know whether or not the lie has been fed to the informant, we will act. Even if he informs the latros and veneficus that it's a ruse, they won't take any chances. They know we have prophecies that have been unreleased. With something like that out in the open, they will take out another threat. Even if the informant assures them it is not true.”

  “Is anyone else confused?” Zander asked.

  Alexa slapped him, but whispered to him regardless. The concept was a little unusual, and it was a testament to my determination that I had come up with it at all. I was exhausted, sore and my mind was ready to shut down. Even with all of that, I knew this much: Grigori's fake prophecy would be treated as the truth because it had been given directly to Sentarka, and the only people to know different would be those of us in this room. The fake prophecy that would be mentioned in front of the guards would be about the baron fathering my child. When the informant amongst us relayed this to Thánatos, he would believe Gori had told Sentarka the truth and lied to us, and just to be sure, they would surely take action against the baron, because they didn't realize that Damon had air and water and was just as much a part of this as I was.

  It was a lot to take in and even more to process, but if it worked, it would mean we would have months to live our lives somewhat normally before they struck. We would have time to prepare and replenish our armaments, to call any soldiers we needed to defend the island, the palace and us. It may have all balanced on a lie focused around one person, but that was something I could live with... for now.

  I still had a wedding to plan after all.

  Glossary

  Apollo –Apollo was the son of Zeus and Leto, twin brother of Artemis. He was the god of music, and he is often depicted playing a golden lyre. He was also known as the Archer, far shooting with a silver bow; the god of healing, giving the science of medicine to man; the god of light; and the god of truth. One of Apollo's most important daily tasks was to harness his four-horse chariot, in order to move the Sun across the sky. (GreekMythology.com)