No. Not again. Bloody Hells, not again! It was too soon. Her abdomen throbbed even now after a hard morning's practice, reminding her of just how close she had come to dying to Franken's cursed blade. But the serpent's head had been cleaved clean off. A vile creature's gambit ruined.
Twilight tensed, his gaze immediately locking with her own. “Is aught wrong, my mistress?”
No. Think. A hard stare, cold eyes. That could be any inquisitor. Any officer of the royal cavalry, in fact. And who, really, believed in rumors of diabolism? The only rumor likely to have hit the man's ear was that dozens of his cohorts had been cut down conducting a rightful trial, and somehow, Jessica de Calenbry had been at the heart of it. In light of that, wasn't his cold stare only logical? No royal officer worthy of the title save Alben had been there. Only he understood the significance of all that had happened, the many lords present aside. For no royal soldier gave two sods for a noble's opinion, a truth Jess had learned as a Squire of War.
Alben's words were the only one's a royal officer would respect, he was the only one who could clear things up, and Jess had the sinking sensation that he had been ordered to silence already, the horrific events even now covered up, for all that Jess had been vindicated. For there was no way the king would tolerate accusations of his departments being riddled with diabolic corruption. Any investigations or purging he might commit would no doubt be carried out in utter secrecy.
In light of all that, how could Vardelos not view Jess in the worst possible light?
Jess realized only when her plate was empty that she had been eating as much to avoid addressing that strangely furtive glare as she was giving herself pause to put her feelings for Joshua in order, flushing in sudden heat as she remembered sweet hours of passion in her lover's arms before bidding Rulia what Jess feared would be a final farewell the day before.
That she adored Rulia and Joshua both was something Jess could no longer deny. She wondered what Joshua would think, if he had any inkling of how her heart worked, and couldn't help grimacing at the thought of him rejecting her, for all that he had once sworn to accept her and all her eccentricities. A divided heart was one thing she feared no man could accept, even if her other love was, in fact, a woman.
“My dear Lady Jess, is aught well?” Lord Echobart politely inquired.
Jess flushed, her nervous laughter suddenly filling the chamber. “I am quite all right, Dear Lord Echobart. Merely… preoccupied with the delicious fare you have provided us with.”
Jess grimaced and swallowed, forcing herself to face her fear.
If the man before her thought ill of her, perhaps she could diffuse the tension. And no better time than the present, in the company two character witnesses who could vouch for her. If his hatred ran deeper than simple misunderstanding, well, she would just have to deal with it.
Somehow.
Captain Vardelos’s hooded gaze had never left her countenance for more than the length of time needed to issue curt replies to whatever queries were sent his way, having locked upon her like a snake sensing prey from the very moment she had entered the chamber. His only humanizing gesture was the absentminded squeezing of what looked to be a lover's locket of hair, shimmering faintly of silver and gold. Yet there could be no mistake, Jess realized, feeling her gut twist in a sudden knot of anxiety. Even now, as she attempted to meet Vardelos's gaze with her own, he suddenly found a reason to look away.
Why?
She picked up no malice, no hostility, for all that he fidgeted and squeezed his hands together, answering her innocuous queries in a voice curt and cold.
Yet despite that, she could feel his hot eyes burning into her but a moment later when she turned her full attention once more upon her plate.
“Lady Calenbry. I am given to understand that you held an impromptu lecture the other day, and included among those participants was one Rulia Vonburg, accompanied by several of her henchmen. Do you deny this allegation?”
Jess blinked, her thoughts suddenly racing. How could he possibly know that? The only one she thought to have put the pieces together had been her mother. Absolutely no one else seemed to have made the connection, yet somehow Vardelos knew of it, and was all too willing to interrogate her regarding the matter.
Heart racing, Jess forced her breathing to stay calm and measured, facing yet another man accusing her with his angry glare, her lips alone the focus of his crawling gaze. An odd act, calculated perhaps to throw her off-balance. He reminded her so much of Franken that it left her dizzy and nauseous.
She fought for breath. For control.
"Why yes, commander Vardelos. Rulia, a student of this school who if I am not mistaken is still in good standing, did indeed take the opportunity to stop by the Academy and reminisce with myself for a bit the other day. We were close friends when we had attended together, and should you have happened to pick up anything regarding the lore of this school, you would know that she was the one, the only one, who dared to search for the path to Faerie by my side, in the hopes of finding and freeing the students lost to that magic realm. A mission which I and the parents of ten score students, many of whom board with us even now, are happy to say was a complete success."
Jess paused a moment to let her words sink in, immediately understanding that a deeper game was being played here, and finding no harm in reminding a potential opponent that her hand was strong indeed. Yet far from being placated, the captain seemed all the more invigorated by her rebuttal.
“So. You admit it, then. You met and consorted with one Rulia Vonburg. I am given to understand you even went so far as to enter the sacred maze at the heart of this garden, a construction of magic that just so happens to have properties that render most people disoriented. Save for yourself, of course. Is it true that you and her party entered the rose garden alone? No others from your group followed you four?”
Jess felt her nostrils flare. She did her best to maintain a mask of civility, but she could not help but feel instant distaste for this man so eager to trap her. Why? Had she not struck down enough serpents? Could this truly be another play against her?
No. She was looking at it all wrong. Why would they expose themselves further now? There could be other forces in play, ones that had nothing to do with cultists. Perhaps those diabolists were but one element of a larger, even bloodier picture.
What was that Alben had said? Any number of rats had come out of the woodwork during King Richard's weakest moment, when one son was lost to Faerie, the other ripe to be pinned for his disappearance, and Appolonia stolen away to be sacrificed, sold into slavery, or to serve as a ripe piece to be 'rescued', declared heir to the soon to be murdered king. No doubt she would then be little more than a broodmare to whoever seized the throne, and it would be all too tempting to have her quietly killed after the birth of her first child, perhaps pinning it on whatever target the new king wanted pretext to come after with all hate and fury. Jess had no way of knowing for sure.
But whatever their ultimate goal, Jess had done all she could to knock her opponents' pieces off the board, rescue her own captured sister, and open the way for Ulric to return. It chilled Jess to think how deeply entrenched and powerful her enemies must be. Safely hidden in the shadows, while she and her family was utterly exposed.
Tactically, it was brilliant. It did not matter whether or not Vardelos was affiliated with cultists or not, if he was but the pawn of whatever powerbrokers were seeking to control the fate of Erovering. Men who might have seen infernalists, for all their dread power, as but one more tool in their arsenal. Or perhaps it was the infernalists manipulating those power-hungry men. At this point, it didn't really matter. They were one and the same to Jess. Ever since her first adventure in Shadow, Jess had been an unforgivable thorn in their side. Rescuing Highrock, the diOnnis, even members of the royal family from their vile machinations. Now, while she was still recovering from the most horrid of ordeals, would be the perfect time for those serpents to strike, hoping to pin yet
one more crime upon her. Anything to get her piece removed from the board. Treason would be the accusation. Of that, she had no doubt.
And it all made a horrific sort of sense. Who would be in a better position to strike out at her? Who else could have organized their forces to infiltrate the prince's own escort, save those close to the throne, in a perfect position to take over if Ulric was out of the picture and King Richard, terminally ill, had died of natural causes? Only men in positions of power. Men with authority over the inquisitors, over the royal armsmen, and numerous other pawns upon the board as well. Men who could arrange for replacement troops, shuffling out Alben's armsmen who had fought and bled by Jess's side, putting in their place soldiers hostile and cold, purses filled with silver and gold, happy to see Jess fall to her death after an accidental stumble, or a chance met blade.
The horror of it was, it could be worse.
So much worse.
How long could Joshua or Ulric expect to survive, with such dangerous enemies in play?
Carefully tilting her head down as if with shame, sensing Captain Vardelos's gloating eyes upon her. She waited but a moment before snapping her gaze upwards to lock upon his own, catching his stare full on for the barest moment before he abruptly turned away.
She sensed it, then. Carefully controlled but flaring with dark glee. A brooding disdain. An overarching contempt. But not for her, not just. It was too broad for that. This was a man that held malice in his heart, of that she was certain, but not for her so much as for the noble class in its entirety.
She took a controlled breath. She had an enemy here, she realized. One who would be all too happy to blow smoke and start a fire of inquisition, even had there been no cause for it at all.
So very much like Franken, it sent chills down her spine. The fact that Rulia was, in all likelihood, a Velheim agent of some sort made her position all the more precarious. Jess knew she had hard decisions to make, ones she dared not put off.
Why had he striven so hard to avoid meeting her gaze? What could he possibly know? Queasy with sudden dread, she forced herself to face the most horrid question of all.
How had he known not to directly meet her stare?
There was only one way he could know that.
It was exactly as bad as she had feared.
Her heart began to pound even as she swallowed, throat deathly dry.
She knew exactly what she must do.
“And what concern is it of yours, if I and an old friend took a stroll in the rose maze together?”
Commander Vardelos’s smile was a dark, twisted affair. Jess could sense the hatred trapped within the curl of his lips, for all that he refused to lock gazes with her once more.
"So, then. You admit to meeting her in private, with her accomplices. And from what I gather, no one recalls actually giving her admittance, for all that she is supposedly a student in good standing with this school still. Tell me, Jessica de Calenbry, what was the nature of your discussion in the garden? Where exactly did you meet with her? How did you know she was coming? Did you facilitate her entrance into this college? "
"Commander Vardelos. You overstep yourself. You will cease. Now." There was a hot promise of retribution underneath the cold ice of Joshua's words. Jess blinked, surprised to see Joshua glaring at Vardelos with such intensity. She found it oddly comforting.
The commander all but snarled, snapping his head to face Joshua, taking a deep breath, fiercely containing a dark contempt Jess was chilled to sense he felt even for the prince before him. "Master Trueblood. I, as you know, represent my order here at the college, charged by the king himself to carry out my duties. I am to use whatever measures I feel are necessary to protect this school and, by extension, Erovering itself." His smile stretched into something dangerously close to a sneer. "I will not shirk from this duty, my prince, no matter who seeks to sway me. For it is in the king's name that I act. I shall protect this school from any and all threats, and that most definitely includes Velheim spies!"
Reflexes twisted Jess to the side, pain ignored, as Vardelos abruptly snapped his hand up and out, flinging not a dagger for her throat, but a vellum case containing what Jess was chillingly certain was a writ for her arrest.
Bloody Hells. Her enemies would stop at nothing to see her dead.
He turned his cruel-eyed gaze at Jess once more. "I believe, Jessica de Calenbry, that you have committed an act of treason. Rulia VonBurg of the VonBurg clan is a known Velheim sympathizer. There was an order for her arrest in effect shortly after her return from the Faerie Realms, and had she not been an agent for the enemy, she would never have felt the need to flee so abruptly."
He cracked his knuckles hidden in dark leather gloves, the room otherwise shocked into deathly silence. “I am arresting you for treason, Jessica de Calenbry. And you, Joshua Trueheart, serve as a royal witness.” His cold smile showed nothing but teeth. “You shall be stripped of all your gear and accouterments. My men below are even now securing your quarters. If you misbehave, your mother shall be deemed an accomplice.
"Our first order of business is for you to sign a full confession. We shall then track down this Rulia VonBurg, and if you do not comply in full, I assure you, your head shall most definitely be put on the chopping block! After that, you and your accomplice shall be escorted to the capital in chains for a proper trial, unlike the mockery of justice perpetrated here, where you cut down an honorable captain and his men!"
His lips curled into a snarl, for all that his gaze never left her chest. “Tell me, Jessica de Calenbry, what strings are you pulling to get our dear Captain Alben to say such hideous lies on your behalf? I have read the reports. All the claims of diabolism on Franken's part are completely unsubstantiated! I understand you are a master herbalist. What drugs did you slip that man to be so infected with wild delusion, to rant and rave so, before you took his unsheathed blade as invitation to savagely run him through? Your lord associates and Delver friends jumping in to butcher a score of men, their blades sheathed, but doing their duties!” His laughter was soft. Mocking. “Did you really think you could get away with your crimes forever, Jessica de Calenbry?”
He gave a cold shake of his head, Jess speechless with shock. "No, Jessica de Calenbry, I do not believe for one moment the noble lies and fluff used to cover your crimes, men you manipulated so blatantly as to leave a trail of furious barristers and lenders behind, swearing that your vile accomplice did intimidate and terrify all of them into selling writs of debt to you, an illegal maneuver if ever there was one!
"Rest assured, woman, your day in court is far from over. I shall see that farce in the sealed room below, the sight of your butchery, is declared a mistrial, and we shall have you properly tried in the capital for each and every one of your nefarious crimes. With charges of fraud, blackmail, and murder of a royal officer added to treason for good measure!"
He turned to Prince Joshua, his smile coldly mocking. "You shall have to forgive me, Your Grace. I'm afraid I must leave you here with a contingent of my men for your safety, while I see to escorting this prisoner in a search for her accomplice."
Jess, locked in a stupor of disbelief, gazed at Vardelos as he actually brought out a pair of metal cuffs, hard links of iron between then. He flung the cuffs at her skull like a weapon.
Jess flipped back from her chair, landing straight on her back, feeling the jolt through her spine, the cuffs whistling past her with bone cracking force.
“Sign the papers, traitor! I, unlike Franken, won't waste my time pussyfooting around with the likes of you!”
Lord Echobart was speechless, gazing at the captain as if he were an unexpected cockroach crawled from under the table. Joshua was pale white with barely suppressed fury, yet Jess noted he stayed his grip, for all that his knuckles were white with clenching the hilt of his blade so hard.
Jess locked gazes with Captain Vardelos’s hotly contemptuous eyes. Saw the dark hunger he tried so hard to hide.
Her growing fury wa
s abruptly cooled as a sudden insight washed over her.
He was baiting her. He was deliberately attempting to goad her into striking him.
She could taste his dark anticipation even as his gaze locked upon her furiously clenched fists, Jess picking herself up from the ground, jolted out of her calm by his furious act.
Just as he had no doubt intended.
Jess forced herself to relax, straightening up the chair slowly.
“Pick up those cuffs, prisoner! Put them on, or I shall be well within my rights to beat you into submission!”
Jess smiled coldly at the vile man before her. Only now did he dare lock gazes with her. Only now did he let her sense the utter murderous contempt he felt for her. When it would throw her most off balance, when it would work to his advantage, goading her with shock and fury to commit an act of aggression which would be all he would need to claim grievance against her, and assure she was utterly within his power.
And she understood his ploy perfectly.
How to bait one's enemy was one of the first lessons aspiring Agents of the Crown were taught. Lessons Jess knew all too well, many of the Crown's best agents recruited directly from Eloquin's Squires of War.
She had a sudden recollection of Eloquin's piercing gaze fixing all his Squires to stillness in the training grounds just outside the main building of Highrock, the imposing structure carved into the hard wall of the cliff face, so many centuries ago. "Just as I have taught you all how to shatter your enemy's body, how to break his resolve, as an agent you will learn how to gain his trust, his heart, how to unlock the doors to his darkest secrets, his deepest fears." All the Squires present had shivered with anticipation, reveling in the thought of mastering new ways to emerge triumphant in the battlefield, new ways to test themselves, to best their enemies.
"You have all practiced the art of enticement, and most of you have done passing fair." Jess grinned to see several of her female classmates blush brightly, even as her male counterparts chuckled with, she thought, somewhat obnoxious pride. She and Malek alone exchanged sheepish glances. She couldn't bring herself to seduce a boy with cold calculation, far preferring to be romanced by whichever innocent lad she fancied, for so long as he had the courage to court her heart, before Mord would inevitably frighten them off. Girls were so much easier, and Mord, for whatever reason, didn't begrudge her female companionship.
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