“Shit!” I turned back, seeing two liches carrying Brant down the stairs between them, his face as pale as ice in front of the Death King’s presence.
“Take him to the jail,” he told the liches. “I’ll deal with him later.”
I didn’t move to intercede when the liches carried Brant past me towards the blocky building outside the castle. The ground felt unsteady beneath my feet, as though the universe had shifted on its axis and left me stranded several miles to the left of where I’d been beforehand.
Brant, a traitor. Brant, working with the Fire Element against the Death King. Against me.
The Death King beckoned to another lich. “Take Ryan to the other Elements. They need a healing cantrip.”
Ryan. They were injured… because of Brant and the Fire Element.
“I can help,” I said. “My friend Devon keeps a collection of healing cantrips. She’s not at home, but she always has some in stock.”
“We can handle it here,” said the Death King.
Was he dismissing me? I wouldn’t blame him, since I was the one who’d brought Brant into his home, but my fragile countenance was beginning to crack at the edges, and if I didn’t find an outlet soon, I’d explode. “And Davies? Do you know—do you know where he might have gone?”
“To his allies, I don’t doubt.” The Death King turned to the other two Elements, who hurried out of the castle, speaking in urgent whispers.
“What now?” Dex hovered above my head. “Want me to fire sparks at the traitorous little goblin?”
“Do whatever you like.” I couldn’t stay here. Not with the smell of burning and Brant’s betrayal leaving cascading emotions in its wake. “I need to regroup. You… you’ll be safe here, if you want to stay.”
Safer than with Brant. I never thought I’d say that.
Elements above, what a mess.
I made for the node. I’d hoped to find the house empty so I could scream into a pillow for a while, but instead, I found Devon waiting on the other side.
“I thought you’d be out until tonight,” I said.
“The Order kept calling me,” she said. “They wanted to know where you were. I knew they’d probably send someone to snoop around until they figured out that you’d given them the slip, and besides, I wasn’t in the mood to stay for long. I was worried about you. Did you find the vampires’ master?”
“Not exactly.” I wrapped my arms around myself, my throat closing up. Why was it so hard to voice the words aloud, even to my best friend?
Devon peered at me. “Shit. What happened?”
“Brant.” I swallowed hard. “He—he’s with them. Somehow…”
I told her. Silent tears fell down my face while I spoke, and I made a half-hearted attempt to rub them away.
After I’d finished speaking, Devon was quiet for a long moment, her hands clenched so tightly her knuckles had gone white. “I am going to kill him.”
“I think the Death King might get there first.” I wiped my eyes with my sleeve. “Brant’s in jail, but the Fire Element escaped through the node. He attacked his fellow Element and just left them there.”
“I don’t—” Devon broke off. “I don’t understand why Brant wanted to break into the Death King’s hall of souls of all places. If the Fire Element’s a traitor, too, why didn’t he steal the amulets himself?”
“He probably did steal the first few, but Brant couldn’t resist taking advantage of me bringing him there.” I gave a short, bitter laugh. “He probably feigned unconsciousness so that I’d leave him behind at the castle. How could I have trusted him?”
“Don’t blame yourself for this, Liv,” Devon said. “Never.”
Another humourless laugh escaped. “He’s the one who told me I needed to learn to trust him again. How fucked-up is that?”
She took my arm and gave it a comforting squeeze. “He’s fucked-up. Majorly. He made a bad mistake in siding with the lich traitor. Is that who’s pulling the strings?”
“Not just him.” I swallowed hard. “He can’t be the person actually carving those cantrips. I think Brant and the three vampires were working together, using their homes as storerooms for the stolen blank cantrips, but as for who he’s supposed to be handing them to… I guess we’ll find out when the Death King interrogates him.”
And the soul amulets? I could guess whose he’d been told to steal. Brant’s ruse had almost taken him close enough to the hall of souls to ruin everything I’d risked my life for.
“I know.” Devon bit her lip. “I also know the last thing you want to do is talk to him again, but did you say the Fire Element is somewhere here? In this realm?”
“Maybe he left the country like those vampires planned to.” I scrubbed my eyes again. “I honestly don’t give a shit where he’s gone.”
But Davies had passed the Death King’s stringent testing process to gain his position. For how long had he been planning to betray his master? What was in it for him? The lich, I could sort of understand. Brant, too, to some degree. But the Fire Element had one of the most important jobs in the Parallel. As far as mages went, he was set for life. Why had he thrown it all away?
On the other hand, the lich traitor was still out there, hidden among the Death King’s people. I wished there was some way I could identify who it was. Brant might know. Like he knew who was pulling the strings. He’d never volunteer that information to the Death King without force, but perhaps he’d tell me if he thought I was alone. He knew he owed me the truth.
I pushed to my feet, sucking in a deep breath. “You’re right… I have to talk to him.”
“Are you sure?” Her expression pinched with concern. “He’s going to know he can manipulate you. It’s what he’s been doing all along.”
Fresh tears pricked my eyes. “Maybe I’m just reluctant to believe he’s all bad, but he seemed genuinely conflicted. He certainly didn’t want me to become a target, but what did he expect? This is a spirit mage’s doing.”
“All right.” Devon got up. “At least take some of my fresh cantrips with you.”
“That was the plan.” I was bone-tired, but my anger burned like a fire sprite’s spark inside me. “I’ll make him regret this.”
“During our next D&D game, Brant will be forever immortalised as a slimy troll,” Devon added.
“That’s an insult to trolls, if you ask me.”
I stocked up on cantrips, but still felt more vulnerable than I had in a long time when I passed through the node into the castle grounds. The scorch marks were gone, all signs of the Fire Element’s attack cleared away, and two new liches guarded the castle.
I narrowed my eyes, looking at them, wishing I could make out any signs that they might be the betrayer. The Death King must be able to tell them apart, surely.
“What are you looking at?” one of them asked in a light, feminine voice.
I shrugged. “I need an escort to the jail. I want to speak to your prisoner.”
“No,” the lich said. “My master said—”
“She’s the spirit mage, isn’t she?” The lich at her side looked me over. “You brought him here.”
“I didn’t know…” I broke off, seeing the Water Element walking back from the jail. I crossed the grounds and met her halfway. “Is Ryan okay?”
“They will live.” Her tone was weary. “The fire mage is asking for you.”
My chest constricted. “I know helping me is probably the last thing you want to do, but I need to talk to him, and I don’t think he’s willing to confess the name of the person he’s working for to anyone else aside from me.”
The Water Element looked me over, her mouth pressed together. “If he tries to escape—”
“Feel free to fill his lungs with water for all I care.” The venom in my voice almost masked the sob hidden beneath, but not quite. “He won’t be getting any help from me.”
The Water Element escorted me the short distance to the brick building which housed the Death King’s jail. I found
my steps slowing with each passing second. Elements, this was going to be hard, but nobody could do this but me.
I walked into the jail, a shiver of fear trailing down my spine when I felt the familiar horrible chill I’d grown used to during my captivity. My hands curled into fists at the sight of Brant sitting on a bench inside the cell opposite the one I’d spent several days in myself. His head lifted when I walked in.
I indicated to the Water Element to stay in the shadows, so he wouldn’t realise we weren’t alone. Then I approached his cell.
“I should have guessed he’d send you to do the questioning,” said Brant.
“I’m not here on his account,” I said, knowing he meant the Death King. “I’m here on my own. It’s me who deserves an explanation, not him.”
He winced. “Look, I can’t—you can’t tell him. He wouldn’t understand.”
“To be honest, I don’t understand you, either,” I said. “Who are you working for? Who’s your employer? I know it’s not Mr Cobb, though it used to be. This was his backup plan, in case his first quest to take the Death King’s place didn’t pan out.”
“He… calls himself the Crow.” He looked at the floor. “I swear I wouldn’t do this if I thought I had a choice in the matter. But I don’t.”
“The Crow,” I said. “What is he—lich or human?”
He shook his head. “I can’t… you have no idea what he’s capable of.”
I thought of those dead liches. “I think I have a pretty good idea. Did you really fake that attack?”
“No,” he said. “The monsters he captures to test the spells on aren’t contained. They sometimes break free.”
Bile rose in the back of my throat. “He’s been catching people—and creatures—to test the spell on? As practise for what, using it on the Death King?”
But to use it on him, they’d need his soul amulet. If I hadn’t caught Brant before he’d broken into the hall of souls…
Was he lying to me even now? He’d been living a double life for at least half the time we’d been together. No wonder he’d been reluctant to let me know about his hideout in the city, if he’d always planned to use it to store stolen cantrips in.
“He’s too powerful,” he said. “It’s not right for one person to have control over so many armies.”
“And it’s okay to kill people?” I arched a brow.
“They aren’t people,” he said. “Revenants and phantoms are less than human. As for the liches…”
“You used to be one yourself, if you’ve forgotten,” I said sharply. “If the Death King hadn’t pitied you and undid the spell for my sake, you might have fallen victim to the same spell yourself. Or worse.”
“You can’t trust him,” he said, in a tremulous voice. “The Death King, I mean. He let me go because it was convenient to him, not you.”
“Funny,” I said. “I seem to remember you being fixated on constantly reminding me how I could trust you. And you know, I think part of me always knew you were a rat.”
It was easy to tell myself that, but the reality was, I hadn’t suspected. Not until the last minute. That’s what hurt the most.
He closed his eyes. “I didn’t have—”
“A choice? There’s always a choice,” I said. “So who is it who’s smuggling the coins out of the warehouse? The staff, or the supervisors?”
His voice was quiet. “Does it matter? They have no more choice than I do.”
“The Order is onto your little operation,” I told him. “That’s why they sent me after the vampires’ haul. Were you planning to tell me before they sent me after you, too?”
“They wouldn’t have.” His words sounded hollow, as though he didn’t believe what he said.
“The vampires kidnapped Trix and held him hostage in their cellar,” I added. “That’s the kind of scum you’re associating with.”
“No,” he said. “I don’t know them that well at all. I didn’t even know they were living in Vaughn’s old house until we found them there. Did you go back there? Were you hurt?”
I ignored the concern in his voice, unable to tell if it was just an act to buy my sympathy in return. “The Order has hauled all three of them off to jail. I think they’re better off than you are, considering. The Death King isn’t going to show you mercy this time.”
“He’ll turn you, too, Liv.” He looked up at me, his expression stark with urgency. “You must know how he became king. He turned his fellow liches into his willing servants, and that’ll be your fate as well.”
I stepped away from his intense stare. “You wanted me to learn spirit magic. I guess you thought I might be a useful ally. All that crap about owing someone your soul… I suppose you made that up, too.”
He shook his head. “No. I didn’t lie. It’s true, Liv… and it’s why I didn’t have a choice.”
Lie or not, he’d hidden the truth often enough that I couldn’t trust a word he said. Not about the Death King, nor about my fate as a spirit mage. When he’d asked me to learn spirit magic, I’d once snapped at him that he only wanted me to save his own soul. My accusation had come from fear rather than a rational basis, but in the end, I’d been right.
I had nothing more to say to him. If the Death King wanted to question him further, he was welcome to, but a suspicion had seized me. Back when Brant confessed to me that he owed someone his soul, someone who had a hold over him, he’d claimed the person responsible was a vampire.
Was that the person behind this operation, the so-called Crow?
There was one way to find out for sure: ask the vampires myself.
19
I left the jail and found the Death King waiting outside. He stood there, tall and imposing, and an irrational surge of anger jolted up my spine. His traitor lich had left me for dead, but he and I had both made the wrong call when it came to Brant.
“I thought I’d find you here,” he said.
“You thought I’d go running back to him, is that it?” Furious tears stung my eyes, ready to join the ones which had fallen without my noticing.
“No, I thought you’d want to speak to him alone,” he said. “Did you gain what you needed to know?”
“The person behind this calls himself the Crow,” I said. “I think he’s a vampire, and the three rogue vamps the Order has in custody might know where to find him.”
“I see,” he said. “Do you wish to go to the Order?”
I blinked furiously, cursing the emotions clogging my throat. “It’s that or ask the vampires on the council for another appointment with Lord Blackbourne, but I can’t rely on them to step up to help us. They don’t get how urgent this is.”
“The Order doesn’t either,” he said.
“They have Cobb, too,” I reminded him. “I don’t know if they’d let even you see him, but he knows this Crow person if the vampires don’t. Brant is… he’s too used to lying. I can’t trust a word he says.”
“In that case,” he said, his tone as impassive as always, “I will come to the Order. I’ll leave my other Elemental Soldiers in charge here.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “I know the Order won’t let me go and see them alone, but if it’s dangerous for you to leave your castle unattended—”
“No more than usual,” he said. “After we speak to the vampires, I intend to find where my traitorous Fire Element is hiding.”
“All right.” In truth, I’d rather cut off my hand than go to the Order. The notion of telling them about Brant’s betrayal made me ill. I’d worked so hard to save his soul, yet in the end, he’d ended up losing it anyway.
The Death King’s masked face was turned towards me. I couldn’t read his expression, as usual, but I was pretty sure he could read mine. I broke my gaze away. “Where’s Dex, by the way?”
“Last I saw, he was in Ryan’s company.”
“Oh. At least he’s safe.” I’d lost too many allies already. “Are you sure the Fire Element won’t come back while we’re gone?”
“I have my people ready to watch the node. They’ll make him suffer if he returns.” His tone dripped icicles down my spine. “Afterwards, I suppose I will be in need of a new Fire Element.”
“And I’ll be in need of a new boyfriend.” I didn’t manage a laugh. It was too absurd to think of Brant as a traitor. I’d always known he worked with people on the wrong side of the law, but it wasn’t my place to judge what others did when it was impossible to take a step without running up against the Order’s boundaries. Here in the Parallel, the laws were lax, and Brant had still steamrollered over them. He’d helped in the capture of innocents. He’d worked with people who’d tried to kill me. And the scumbag had still tried to pursue a relationship with me while acting as though nothing was wrong.
Could I really have been happy with him in the long-term? I’d wanted certainty and stability and I’d thought I’d found it with him, but if I’d let him take me into his inner circle, I’d have spent the rest of my life looking away while he did things that he deemed necessary to survive. Things that hurt other people.
Besides, stability wasn’t in the cards for me, not anymore.
The Death King and I left the castle behind and crossed through the node. We landed in the main road near the Order, and when I turned back to my companion, he had his human disguise on. Between one blink and the next, he turned from remote and terrifying into someone who you might pass on the street every day. Certainly not someone who could claim your soul and turn you into a monster, as Brant claimed. He was talking shit, I knew, but the Death King carried his own arsenal of secrets. As for the Order…
My heart plummeted as the sound of screaming drifted over from the street ahead. Smoke billowed out from the rooftops. Dammit. Please tell me it isn’t Brant’s allies.
I broke into a run, catching up to one of the Order employees fleeing the building. “Hey! What’s going on?”
“There’s been an attack,” she said. “A fire mage—”
“Dammit.” The Fire Element must have come straight to the Order. I heard a voice yelling after me, but I was already running towards the building, where the Order employees were fleeing en masse. Members of the public were out in the street, too, thinking it was an ordinary fire and not an act of arson by a power-crazed mage.
Touch of Death (Order of the Elements Book 2) Page 18