“I was thinking the very same thing yesterday, but Gretal took care of me just fine, thank you very much.”
He laughed, and I struggled to smile in response.
It took the rest of the afternoon to get back to the Market District, and by the time we finally arrived, Cale was so tired he was almost falling over. I still needed to talk to Hazen, but didn’t want to keep him up any longer. He took the decision out of my hands, however, by taking a hold of my arm as we walked through the doors to the castle.
“Take Harbringer up to my rooms, I’ll meet you both there soon.”
I took Gretal with me as well, and we barely had to wait a few minutes before Hazen joined us.
“I think it’s a good idea,” he said to me, without preemption.
“I assume you’re referring to a conversation that we haven’t yet had, because you’ve already determined my answers based on my thoughts, and reached a logical conclusion all on your own.”
Gretal looked horrified, and I couldn’t help laughing at her expression. Hazen’s features didn’t visibly change, but some of his rigidness seemed to smooth away.
“You assume correctly.” He sounded amused. “The inner dialogue I’m referring to is the one where I silently agreed with your decision to put Harbringer on your council.”
“I need people around me that I can trust.”
“Yes, you do. Nobody is better equipped to keep you alive than Harbringer. And this way, he can continue to teach you, without you having to travel to the Academy from the border each day.”
There was a short silence following that statement, in which I had my suspicions that they were communicating silently.
“There is something else that I think we need to talk about,” I said, my voice sounding unsure, even to my own ears.
“Oh?” Hazen’s eyes found me again, and I opened my mind to them both as I verbalised the statement for the sake of my own sanity, not willing to carry on silent or one-sided conversations with them both at the same time.
“Nareon let slip something the last time I saw him. He said that he was working on a peace treaty with Fenrel. He said that it was important, that our kingdoms standing together would make a difference in the coming months.”
Hazen’s brow furrowed, and I fell silent, looking between them as they apparently sifted through my head. I tried not to let my discomfort show.
“Interesting,” Hazen finally muttered. “You are their Queen now, Bea. I’ll have no war with your kingdom, and I assume Nareon counted on as much.”
“Is it as easy as that, though?”
“No.” He looked as if he would laugh, and then his expression fell back into something resembling contemplation. “But your continued presence here will be a positive sign.”
“The Synfee Empire seems the more dangerous out of the two at the moment,” Harbringer remarked. “So you should probably keep all business on this side of the border.”
Hazen nodded his agreement, and then slid a look to the bed on the other side of his chamber. It was the first sign of weariness that he had shown so far.
“Alright,” I announced. “That’s enough for today. I’m going to head back before it gets too dark, and Hazen—if you don’t go to bed right now, I’ll drop my glamor and compel you. Except that it won’t get that far, because I’m in dire need of a feeder, so I’ll more likely end up draining the life out of all three of you.” I paused at their surprised expressions, and then squinted in confusion. “Come to think of it… how will I keep myself from draining the feeder?”
Hazen shook his head, and then looked to Harbringer. “Keep her alive, Joseph. And make sure she doesn’t kill anyone else. Including you. No, especially you.”
He shot me a last look, and then walked to me and tugged me into his arms.
“Stay safe, Bea,” he muttered, pulling away from me all too soon and moving to open the door for us.
“Thank you for everything,” I told him on the way out.
I found Cale and Rose and said my goodbyes, promising to return as soon as I was able, and then we walked back to the game trail where Gretal assured us Teddy, Quick and Sweet would be waiting with horses. As we rode, I tuned out their chattering about a winter festival that I had never heard of, and called Harbringer’s name quietly in my mind. He replied without delay.
You want to know if I’ve already seen what happened during your trial?
I bit my lip, not sure whether to be annoyed or relieved, and he looked sideways at me.
I expect Hazen already knows as well, I said, pushing my annoyance aside, and telling myself that it had nothing to do with the exasperated look in his eye.
He does.
You two are impossible.
And now there are three of us.
My hands tightened on the reigns, and despite the fact that I hadn’t actively given away Leif’s secret, I still felt as if I had betrayed him.
Nobody can know. Whatever his reasons are, they are his own.
You don’t need to caution me, Bea; his secret is safe.
I sighed audibly. I’m sorry. There are few people that I really feel like I can trust past the border. But he is one of them.
You associate him with Ashen, in your mind.
I haven’t made up my mind about Ashen, but they seem to be two parts of the same piece.
If Ashen is the Ambassador, and Leif is the Spymaster, it would make sense that they corroborate on most issues.
What should I do with Teddy, Quick and Sweet?
They are Leif’s men?
Yes.
Then let them go back to their jobs, but ask them to report to you. I guarantee that the information you get from them will be better than what any of your advisors tell you.
I silently agreed with him and then voiced the idea out loud to the others. They agreed readily enough, and then went straight back to talking about the winter festival.
“Remember when King Nareon strapped the fireworks to people from the dungeons, and then set them loose in the fields?” Sweet was saying, the look on his face one of amusement.
I winced.
“It wasn’t as good as the time he ordered us to bring him the moon, and offered a lordship and a man’s weight in gold to the lucky hunter,” Teddy said, causing Sweet to burst into laughter.
“He killed every man who rolled in giant boulders, and finally crowned some old crow the victor—what did she bring him again?”
“A lamp,” Quick supplied. “In the shape of a moon.”
“Ahh,” Teddy clicked his fingers. “That’s right. He liked it because the golden stand was a rather accurate statuette of his mistress at the time.”
“But then he had the goldsmith killed.”
They burst into laughter again and I caught Gretal’s eye. Her eyebrows were raised high into her forehead, and she had slowed her horse to put some distance between herself and the others, so that she was walking just before Harbringer and myself.
“Did Nareon ever celebrate anything without killing somebody?” I asked, not really expecting a positive response.
“Oh sure,” Quick said without turning around. “At the Winter Festival, all of the nobles dress as common people and must walk around begging kisses from the commoners, who are dressed as nobles.”
“So Nareon dressed as a commoner and begged for kisses?” I asked doubtfully.
Teddy laughed. “King Nareon never had to beg for a kiss. And the rulers have a separate agenda. They must dress for one of the three remaining seasons, while the hosting monarch dresses as winter.”
“Rulers?” I asked, puzzling over the plural use, as opposed to the absurd wardrobe requirements.
“Last year the Renegade King joined us, and several decades ago King Henry attended with his Emerald Mistress, along with the Renegade Ruler at the time, who was a nasty fellow.”
“Sometimes the vampire clans come,” added Sweet. “That always puts a bit of a damper on the celebrations… not to mention the kissi
ng ceremony.”
I found myself laughing, despite the utter ludicrousness of Henry Read attending a synfee celebration, let alone a clan of vampires.
“The Reads have hated the Tainted Creatures for generations. Why would they be attending Nareon’s Winter Festival?”
“The last time they came was before the revolts. The Emerald Mistress loved a party, and King Henry did too… before things became too involved.”
“Too involved?”
Sweet grinned. “The Emerald Mistress began to visit a little too often, if you know what I mean.”
I thought I did know what he meant, but when I saw Harbringer’s face, I quickly changed my mind. He must have felt my confusion, for he turned to me, his tone astonished.
“She wanted to become a feeder.”
I blinked. “She what? Why would anyone want that?”
“It’s our power, Lady—er, Bea,” Teddy explained. “When we feed on a weaker being—and most humans are weaker than us—our compulsion is like an extended release of endorphins for them. It stirs up their reaction to us, which in turn generates more energy for us to feed on. It’s like a drug for them.”
I made a face. “I don’t think I can do that to someone.”
“It’s not so bad.” Quick shrugged. “And it’s better than the other way.”
“There’s another way to feed?” I don’t know why I was surprised, I should have expected as much.
“Yeah.” Sweet turned back to the path ahead. “Killing people.”
“Oh.” I felt my shoulders slump. “I forgot about the whole assimilation process thing.”
“It’s how most of the nobles feed,” Sweet continued. “And most of the feeders are willing. Afterwards—“
Quick suddenly shot the other man a look, and Sweet fell silent. I glanced between them.
“What? They eat them?”
“Aye,” Quick said. “We’ve heard that you didn’t support the consumption of the flesh meat. The kingdom has been buzzing with rumours.”
“What rumours?”
“I heard that you threatened to burn anyone who partook of the flesh meat in Flintwood,” Teddy quipped, sounding just fine with the idea.
Harbinger laughed then. “It seems your little stand might have been misconstrued.”
“It seems so,” I agreed, dumbfounded. “Do you think it’ll work?”
“It might have, if you hadn’t done it in Flintwood.” Teddy glanced over his shoulder. “Flintwood is a peasant city. They wouldn’t be consuming flesh meat there.”
“But they were. I kicked it into the fire, that’s where my threat must have been misconstrued.”
The three men said nothing for a while, and then Quick grunted.
“Perhaps you should pay the place another visit. Either they’re poaching the human kingdom or else Flintwood has a wealthy benefactor.” He turned to meet my gaze, his eyes narrowed in golden suspicion. “A wealthy benefactor is never a good thing.”
“Either way, they’re poaching the human kingdom.” I scrunched up my nose, and we rode the rest of the way to the border in silence, as I grappled with the next task on my list of impossible pursuits.
After crossing into the Synfee Empire, I organised for Teddy, Quick and Sweet to go to Ravenport to investigate who could be tampering with the waterway the next day, and then retreated to my rooms. Harbringer had gone off to hunt down and acquaint himself with the various Council members, and I sat alone in my bath chamber, peeling off my bandages. My shoulder would scar, but it seemed that I had passed the stage of possible infection, and my stomach—though looking terrible—didn’t hurt as much as it had the day before.
I stared at the opposite wall, following the line of painted tiles as they swirled with some design or another, and had almost managed to lull myself into a state of half-sleep when Nareon suddenly appeared, leaning against the wall that I stared at. I screamed and then grabbed the towel that lay on the stool beside the tub, pulling it right into the water and doing my best to cover myself.
Nareon himself seemed to be surprised.
“I couldn’t have picked a better time if I had tried.” There was a smile in his voice. “But you don’t seem as pleased to see me.”
I stared at him, my mouth hanging open, and then something slithered into my mind. He was right. I wasn’t pleased to see him.
His slate-grey gaze narrowed, and he stalked toward the tub, his eyes locked on my face.
“What is it, Spitfire?” He knelt by the tub, his arm resting solidly against the edge. “Tell me what has changed.”
“The throne test. Ashen changed into you, and tried to compel me. And then later on, someone filled my head with a nightmare. A nightmare of you controlling me.” I shook my head, suddenly wanting to shrink away from him. “I just… how did you appear like that?”
He didn’t move, but I could hear his faint sigh.
“You think the worst of me, and I let you.”
“I want you to tell me about all the times you’ve controlled me in the past.”
“Once, perhaps twice, though I didn’t truly mean it the second time. And I’m assuming you’re talking about my control over your mind, and not simple compulsion.”
He thought compulsion was simple?
“I am.”
“Well the first time was when the Force-users attacked, and I called you to me.”
I swallowed over the sudden lump in my throat. “That’s not so bad, what about the second time?”
“I hadn’t meant to control you, but after my death, I willed you to stop crying.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t even been aware that I was holding. “And that’s it?”
He reached out, fingers tracing the slope of my cheekbone. His touch was cold, but surprisingly, I could feel him.
“That’s all, sweetheart.”
Suddenly the door burst open, and Harbringer strode in, a worried looking Gretal in toe. I wanted to scream again, but a laugh bubbled from my throat instead.
“This is the last time I take a bath,” I groaned.
“Gretal came to find me, she said she heard you scream.” Harbringer’s black eyes were trained on Nareon’s hand, which still hovered over my cheek.
“She’s fine,” Nareon snapped, rising fluidly and taking a step in Harbinger’s direction.
“Oh crap, not this again.” I rose shakily from the tub, clutching the wet towel around myself, and tip-toed over to Harbringer, sliding myself smoothly in front of him, so that I faced Nareon.
Annoyed grey eyes flicked down to me, and I tried to fold my arms, to make myself look more intimidating.
“Nareon? I assume there’s a reason you appeared here? Is there something you needed to tell me?”
“He appeared without you calling him?” Harbringer interrupted, voice hard.
Nareon’s eyes flew back up to Harbringer and I made a frustrated sound as he took another step closer.
“Nareon! Concentrate!”
He scowled. “I came to tell you that someone from your kingdom has been breaking into Fenrel’s prison.”
“Are they trying to free one of the prisoners?”
“No. They’re sneaking in there to communicate with someone. The only problem is, I can’t get a good read on who’s doing it, and I can’t figure out who they’re talking to. The prisons are too secure.”
“What should I do?”
“You should ask the Power Thief to vacate your bath chamber.”
“Nareon…”
“Invite Hazen here. Tell him to bring a large contingent.”
“What? How will that help?”
“It will give him a reason to halve the number of prison guards without raising suspicion. Then I can slip in and see what’s going on.”
“He’ll never agree to it. I don’t even think I agree with it.”
“Do you trust me, Spitfire?”
Not in the slightest, I almost said. But then I remembered the small truth that he had just afforded
me.
You think the worst of me, and I let you.
“If I did trust you, I would be entrusting you with your own enemy kingdom, Nareon, and giving you a perfectly good opportunity to wreak havoc.”
“I’m dead, sweetheart—I don’t have an enemy kingdom.”
“Why have you been watching them, then?”
“For the same reason that you should be. Your enemies can move about this side of the border just as easily as they can the other side. They were inside the castle the night Fenrel was killed, even after the others had been chased away.”
I frowned. “I need some time to think about this… But either way, Hazen needs to know, so I will meet with him.”
“Deep down, you know you can trust me,” he said, and then disappeared.
I remembered the others then, and clutched at my wet towel warily.
“Gretal, could you help me re-do all these bandages?” I asked, avoiding Harbringer’s gaze.
She scurried out of the room and returned lugging her medical supplies, which Harbringer smoothly slid out of her arms.
“Leave it with me,” he said.
This seemed to rattle her even more, and she nodded wordlessly a few times before disappearing again.
“Really,” I murmured, “it’s unfair to frighten someone into compliance.”
He didn’t answer, merely took my arm and marched me out of the room, pushing me gently into the armchair beside the bed. He tumbled Gretal’s medical tools onto the bed and disappeared into the dressing room for a moment, returning with a bundle of clothing, which he dropped into my lap.
“Go ahead, I won’t look,” he declared, turning around.
I stared at his back. “Aren’t you overdoing it, just a little?”
“He chose the one moment when you just happened to be alone to appear, Harrow. You might trust him, but he’s ingrained himself so deeply into your mind, I suppose it would be hard not to. I’m not leaving you alone again.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“You heard the stories the men were telling. The Nareon in your mind and the real Nareon are two very different people. Do you really think he will be content to spend his time as your loyal servant while you rule his kingdom?”
I stood up when I realised he wasn’t going to turn back around and sorted through the pile of clothing he had dumped on my lap. He hadn’t given me a fresh towel, so I just pulled on the undergarments without drying, flinging the towel at his back before slipping into the too-big nightshirt and cotton pants. He picked up the towel wordlessly and I immediately felt like a brat.
The Soulstoy Inheritance Page 14