Divided (67 page)

“I don’t know,” she muttered.  She wished she’d thought to
look around for one before Leif had closed the door.  “Feel around by the
door.  In the one near the tavern, there is always a torch there.”

Aela was certain that she had gotten further away from Leif
when she finally heard him speak.  “I have the torch.  Now I need a way to
start a spark.”  His words were so collected and calm, as though they weren’t
in danger of being captured and killed.  Again, she found that she was of
little use to him.  She had gone too far back in the cellar, and the only movements
she managed successfully sent wooden objects clattering to the floor.  She
waited, and as expected, Leif spoke again shortly.  “Here.”  She envied how
well he could move about in the darkness. 

She heard the spark after a few moments, and past what she
expected was a shelf, she could see the tiny flicker.  It lit once, and then it
went out.  Then, a scraping of stone sounded again, and again, and at last
there was a flame large enough for her to see.  She could see Leif’s form
illuminated.  He turned towards her, and she could see his face.  As he took a
few more paces, a bemused smile played across his lips.  “How did you even get
back there, princess?” he teased.

She realized, now that light was in the room, that she had
gotten behind a counter, and was atop a crate very near to a shelf.  A few of
the wooden objects that she’d sent to the floor were scattered beneath her.  A
frown possessed her lips.  She didn’t remember stepping up onto a crate—or over
any sort of counter.  Letting out a huff, she crawled off the crate and then
over the counter, to stand before Leif.  “That is impressive,” he murmured.

“Oh, be quiet,” she hissed.  Of all the talents that she had
acquired, moving well through the dark was not one of them.  She had always
hated the feeling of helplessness that darkness brought, having no idea what
was coming.  “What are we going to do?”

Now that the darkness had receded, and she could focus on
more than not knocking objects over, she could hear men shuffling about in the
floor above.  She hoped that they would not check the cellar.  “Wait here for a
moment, and when we get out, you need to find some women’s clothes.  Change
into them, and then pull your hair into a ponytail.  You will look like a woman
and they will not know who you are.” 

“What about you?” she squeaked.  A quick smile moved across
his lips, and she noticed that he didn’t look particularly worried.

After a moment, he glanced towards a few of the crates in
the corner.  “Perhaps there are some clothes down here, and I am a much better
sneak than you.  Trust me.”  He grinned at her, and she found that her fears
melted a little at it. 

Then, though, she knew that she had to ask him.  Her mouth
twitched a little, and she found herself questioning whether or not she did
want to know.  “What happened?” she asked weakly.  He had moved to the crate to
begin his search for clothes.  “What happened to him?” she tried again.

She could see, as Leif had left her to hold the torch, the
way his body stiffened against the question.  Leif took a breath, and to her
surprise, he spoke without trying to evade her.  “When he went to see the
prince, they both knew that people had found out about their relationship. 
Lavus had fought with Calis, telling him that his wedding would be this sun
up.  Calis told Taeru that he wouldn’t do it, that he would leave Telandus. 
Taeru wanted him to know who he was before Calis made that decision.”

Aela’s entire body trembled, paling.  She had suspected when
she had heard the man mentioning that Taeru was a traitor.  But to think that
Taeru had willingly placed himself into this situation was preposterous.  “This
is Calis’s fault!” she hissed.  “He said that he loved Taeru.  Taeru trusted him!”
Aela cried.

Leif said nothing for a few moments, and he gestured for
Aela to bring the torch to where he was.  She obliged, though her anger did not
subside.  “That monster!  He had to know that Taeru had done nothing!  Taeru
never tried to get information!  Why would he do this?” she cried.

A glare from Leif forced her into reluctant silence.  Then, he
looked away from her with hardened eyes.  “He didn’t think Calis would say
anything.  He did say that he might be followed, though.  Calis didn’t want to meet
him, for fear that they would be discovered—but Taeru insisted.”

“That’s a lie!” she growled.  Calis would never have placed
Taeru’s safety above his own.  He had probably never planned not to attend that
wedding.  He had always planned for this—perhaps he had always known who Taeru
was.  Her fist clenched.

Letting out a breath, Leif turned to look at her.  He halted
his search and stared at her with one of the most intense stares he’d ever
given her.  “You saw Calis, and you saw Taeru.  They were in love with one
another, Aela.  I don’t think the prince did this.  And until we reach Taeru,
we have no way of knowing.  Save your anger.”  His words were so calm, again. 
Aela’s body quivered under the sound of them.  Why did they have such an effect
on her?

“Leif,” she said.  He just shook his head, and then a quick
smile turned his lips upwards.  She cocked her head at him, and a smile formed
on her own lips.  She wasn’t happy, and she knew that—but standing here with
Leif, she believed that she would be again.  With that thought, she narrowed
her eyes, and then she took a quick step forward. 

Using an arm to snake around his neck, she brought his lips
down to her own, grabbing them with all the need and want that she’d felt over
the past few phases that they had been together.  Her body lit on fire, and
every piece of her ignited in relief and desire.  She felt satisfied, and yet
wanted more.  Her feelings finally released.

Not one to miss out on these sorts of opportunities, Leif
put his arms around her back and brought their bodies closer together.  The
added closeness sent Aela’s heart into a frenzy, and her body ached and pulled
towards him.  She kissed harder against the fervor of his lips.  One of his
hands brushed along her face, and she moved against him.

At last, the two of them parted, and Aela found that her
breath was coming in shorter bursts than it had been.  Though, he was smiling—a
mixture of smug and happy—Leif turned back to the crate without a word.  She
waited, and in a few moments, he produced a small, blue dress that looked as
though it might fit her.  “I found clothes.”

“Lovely,” she said.  The two of them stared at each other
for a few moments, and then she began to smile, he returned it, and they were
both laughing at some strange occurrence after a few moments.

She took the dress from him, and then she shook her head
with disapproval.  She wasn’t sure why they had both laughed, but the moment
had felt more peaceful than it should have.  Moving behind one of the shelves,
she eased out of her boy’s clothes, removing the wrap around her breasts, and
into the dress.  The removal of pressure was unexpectedly freeing. 
Fortunately, the dress fit her exceptionally well.  It was a little outdated,
but nothing that would be noticeable.  She would need to find a different pair
of shoes, so for now, she took off her boots and used a strip from her old
tunic to pull her hair into a quick, high ponytail. 

When she reappeared, Leif appraised her for a moment before
nodding his head.  “That will work.  Find somewhere to blend in.  I’ll see if I
can’t find a way to get into the Shining District and determine where Juliet
and the others are.  I’ll find you when something has changed.”

She didn’t like the idea of leaving him, especially after
what had just happened.  She wondered why it hadn’t been mentioned.  Maybe he
hadn’t liked it, and he didn’t want to tell her when the situation was as it
was?  “Just be careful,” she finally mumbled.  “I don’t want anything to happen
to you.”

“You too,” he returned.  He stepped forward, and then he
grabbed her and placed a quicker, softer kiss on her lips.  Her cheeks flushed
at the movement.  That had not been expected at all.  “Stay safe.  I think the
guards have left for now.  We should go.  Just make sure to keep an eye out for
me.”

She nodded, and they both turned towards the cellar door. 

“A vow taken to save a person can be just as powerful as
a vow taken to save a land.”

-A Hero’s Peace v.i

The warm liquid pouring over his cheeks may well have been
his own blood.  He had seen no one for what felt like an eternity.  He sat
against the wall of his room—and he had no idea where the sun was.  Lavus had
put some contraption over his window so that he couldn’t see out, let alone get
out.  The only movement in the room were the tears that had yet to stop
streaming down his cheeks.

His room was a mess.  The moment he’d been released from the
guards, though they had conveniently placed shackles over his arms, he had torn
the place apart.  His bed was in three separate pieces, none of which were
anywhere near one another.  His clothes were strewn across the floor, his desk,
the drawers, every belonging that he had.  He’d destroyed the room. There were cracks
along the stone walls where he’d hit them, and his fingers were red and bruised
from the effort.

He sat against the single location that wasn’t coated in
debris, against the wall, with his legs bent out before him.  The only other
piece in this room that mattered to him was in his hands.  His fingers ran over
the silver and sapphire, turning the amulet over and over in his hands.  The
chain hung loosely, just touching the floor.  The amulet was comforting, and
then it reminded Calis of everything terrible in the world.  Taeru’s amulet. 
The Lassau crest, two silver wings and sapphire attached to a chain.  A tiny,
insignificant piece of jewelry that Calis hadn’t been able to put down.

Taeru had given it to him to tell Calis who he was—Taeru
Lassau, the prince that had gone missing.  Now it seemed to pulse with comfort
and agony, simultaneously, as it fueled his emotions.  He hated everything—he
hated Lavus, he hated Tareth, every guard in Telandus, Lee, and more than
anything, himself.  The only person Calis couldn’t bring himself to hate was
the one no doubt being mercilessly interrogated as he sat in his room,
powerless to stop it.  “Taeru,” he whispered into nothingness.

He hated this room, and everything that it represented.  Why
had he waited?  Why had he even listened to Taeru?  He should have known that
the wedding would never have been alright—he should have refused to listen to
Taeru.  He could have heard him out when they were both safely away from
Telandus.  In a fit of renewed anger, Calis slammed his head back against the
stone that he sat against.  It hurt, but not nearly as badly as he wanted. 

This was entirely his fault.  He had dragged Taeru into the
romance, knowing what it might lead to.  Taeru had even accused him of it in
the beginning, and yet Taeru was too kind to cut it off entirely.  He hadn’t
wanted to hurt Calis.  Even knowing that his title as the Cathalari prince
would get him killed, Taeru had stayed with Calis.  What Calis would never be
able to convince anyone of was how not treacherous Taeru had been.  He had
tried to shun every piece of information.  The fact that he wasn’t being
truthful plagued him like an illness.

If Calis had just paid more attention—he could have figured
it out for himself.  He could have kept Taeru safer.  He may have taken longer,
but he would have reacted the same—he never would have let anyone hurt Taeru. 
The fact that Taeru hadn’t told Calis was quite novel, as other than in that,
he hadn’t seemed to have any worry for his well-being.  And, even in that, he
hadn’t.  He had told Calis, gotten himself captured, and now Lavus… No.  No!

Calis buried his face in his hands, agony pulsing through
him like a thousand knives.  Any hope he’d had of Lee helping him had vanished,
after all, Calis wasn’t sure how long he’d been in here.  If Lee had any sort
of plan, then he surely would have found a way to implement it by now.  Calis
had spent a long time searching for a way out, and once, he’d managed to open
the door and promptly been half beaten to death.  His arms and stomach still
hurt.

Why would Tareth, or even Lavus, want to hurt Taeru?  His
identity was so irrelevant when looking into his face.  He was the kindest
person Calis had ever met, the best person Calis had ever met.  He didn’t have
a perfidious bone in that small body.  Lavus should have been able to see, and
he, in all his paranoia, ought to have been able to detect it.  He certainly would,
and Calis was sure they were taking great pains in trying to dismember that
part of Taeru.  Taeru would never have betrayed his family, or Calis.  He would
give them no information.  The only thing he would try to do was stop the war,
and protect those that he thought he should. 

Tareth flashed across Calis’s vision, and wild fury bubbled
into his system.  He yanked himself from the ground, slamming another fist into
the stone wall.  That lying, pathetic, rat.  He would have done anything to
advance himself—he had never cared for anyone but himself.

Calis would find him, and he would kill him.  He would give
Tareth the most painful death that anyone would ever have.  Calis’s teeth
gritted against one another, and he paced the room a few times.  Taeru, Taeru,
Taeru. 
This is all my fault.  I am going to find some way to help you,
Taeru.  Please… please, be alright.  I would give anything to know that you are
going to be alright.

Not that Calis had done a good job of ensuring that remained
true.  There was no way that Taeru wasn’t being put through all sorts of agony
to try and wrench information from him.  Knowing Tareth, Taeru was probably
being put through pain for the sake of pain.  Calis clenched his fists, and he
could feel the familiar blood oozing between his fingers. 

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside of Calis’s door. 
His heart leapt in his chest, and he listened intently.  “You cannot stop me
from seeing my son,” his mother hissed.  Calis growled and tossed his head away
from the door.  He had no interest in seeing Claudia.  He could try to escape
if they let her in, but they would be expecting that.

“Ma’am, these are orders from his Majesty himself.  You have
our apologies, but…”

Claudia snarled angrily, and her voice was louder the next
time.  “I have the bloody paper.”  Calis assumed she was thrusting said paper
at them.  After another brief exchange, the door opened just enough so that the
men could push his mother through.  She staggered a little and looked
indignant.  “Oh my…” she whimpered.  “What is this?”

Calis narrowed his eyes.  He wasn’t in the mood to deal with
his mother.  The woman who had plotted against their father.  A woman who could
have been taken down to the dungeon and rightfully tortured for the things
she’d done, but no, instead an innocent,
perfect
man was there.  “Why
are you in here?” he snapped.  He was not going to be kind—not to anyone—until
he saw Taeru again, safe.

“Calis,” she said.  She sounded like his mother, and not
like a woman who might try to explain to him why what he’d done was wrong.  He
would hit her.  Tradition and courtesy be hanged, he would strike this woman if
she did.  “You’re bleeding,” she said, looking to his hands.  Calis stared
blankly at her.

He didn’t bother to look at his hands, as he was well aware
that he was bleeding.  He intended to make it worse when he hit the wall
again.  “Perceptive,” he hissed.  He turned away from her, not needing the
sight of anyone.  Perhaps Lavus had done him a service by prohibiting people
from seeing him.

“Darling,” she started.  He was—he was going to have to
assault his own mother.  This infuriating, suffocating woman who had never
understood him, not like she ought to have.  She had been too busy trying to
claim power for herself.  “Calis, I know you’re upset.  I know this isn’t what
you expected to happen.  I know your father has been unreasonable.”

Everything was about Lavus.  That was probably why his
mother and Lavus had gotten married, he theorized, she had been so obsessed
with him.  He must have been drawn to how everything she did was influenced by
what he did.  Too bad he didn’t realize that it was because she wanted to
murder him.  Calis just scoffed.  “You don’t know anything, Mother.  Not of any
value.”  His words were venomous, and he felt no remorse.

She flinched, and he didn’t have to be looking at her to
know that she had.  “Calis, you have to understand.  He is a Cathalari prince. 
Your father is reacting like anyone would. You couldn’t have expected any other
reaction.”  Calis narrowed his eyes.  She was just reiterating how much of a
fool he’d been.

“I didn’t know who he was, Mother,” he snapped.  Why was she
in here?  Had she really come in here to waste her time by trying to tell him
that Taeru deserved any of what was happening to him?  Surely she wasn’t that
daft. 

Claudia took a long breath.  At least Calis’s tone wasn’t
lost on her.  “But now you do,” she said sharply.  “He is from Cathalar.  The
very country that we intend to go to war with.  He deceived you.  How can you
not see that?”

“He did
nothing
!” Calis turned, and his eyes burned
with fury.  He took a step towards her, and she rightfully jerked back.  He
intended to hurt her—he would kill her if he had to.  He would not listen to
her pretend to know Taeru Lassau.  “He did
absolutely
nothing!  He
hasn’t spent years plotting to murder the ruler of Telandus!  He hasn’t
betrayed his own brother in cold blood for an advancement in position that
he’ll never get!  He hasn’t brought on a war that this country will never
win—he hasn’t doomed Telandus!  We have.  We have! 
We
have!  WE HAVE! 
You want to punish someone for betraying Telandus?  Go down into that
interrogation room and strap yourself in, and take your treacherous son with
you.”  Calis let out a hollowed laugh.  “Perhaps I ought to tell father the
nonsense you two conspired in his absence.  The paranoid fool knows nothing of
treachery, and yet it lives all around him!”

Her eyes were wide, and they flickered with uncertainty as
they regarded him.  Perhaps Claudia would be the one who sealed his fate—he
didn’t think he cared.  He couldn’t remain in this room, and being silent would
earn him nothing but that.  “Telandus deserves to fall,” Calis said.  Once
again, her eyes were widening, further this time.

“You think your sudden change has nothing to do with the
enemy prince that you’ve been frolicking about with?” she asked.  Calis stepped
forward, and he brought his hand forcefully across her cheek.  It felt better
than it should have, and he wasn’t sure he could stop himself from doing it
again.

“I never loved you—just as I never loved Father or Tareth. 
Taeru Lassau changed nothing about me.  He only showed me that I didn’t have to
isolate myself from everything because I knew that if I didn’t, I would be
betrayed and stabbed in the back.  Taeru is everything innocent in this world,
not only innocent of what you accuse him—but
innocent
.  No one in
Telandus even knew the meaning of that word.  Pure, uncorrupted, compassionate,
gentle, kind—he’s never wanted anything but to help others.  He’s put his life
in danger over and over again to do what he thinks is right!” 

For some reason, her mouth was moving but no sound was
coming out.  She’d just been slapped, and Calis was surprised that she hadn’t
reacted.  “Calis!  Don’t be blind!  He came to Telandus from Cathalar!  Surely,
you can see that wasn’t an accident!”

“Taeru wanted to stop the war,” Calis howled.  “He wanted to
make sure that pointless blood wasn’t spilled because your husband pushed for a
war he can’t win!” Calis shouted.  He advanced on her again and she retreated
at once.  “Get out of here, Mother!”

“No!” she cried back at him.  Strange tears had formed in
her eyes, and he wondered if he might be causing her to go mad.  Then, he
figured that she had already been there—for quite some time, if he was
correct.  That was what happened when someone married Lavus Tsrali.  “Calis!  I
don’t want you to hate me!  I want you to see that he isn’t perfect!  He is
capable of corruption just as we all are.  You think because he is foreign that
he can’t plot against you or anyone else?”

“He is, though.  Bloody… he
is
!” Calis screamed it,
and his voice sounded so hoarse and broken that he wasn’t sure he was
comprehensible.  He collapsed to his knees, clutching his head desperately. 
“He’s brave, strong… stronger than you understand! 
You
just don’t
understand that someone can be innocent of your conniving, deceitful
thoughts!”  Tears flowed freely from his eyes once again, though he hadn’t
wanted to do so in front of this vile woman.  “I’m not the fool, Mother.  You
are.  You’ve always been!”

“Calis!” she shouted in return.  She moved towards him, and
he pulled his body up, shifting towards her menacingly.  She staggered back. 
Coward,
he thought bitterly.  Not as though she could take him on, though, he
supposed.  He ought to wring her neck, right here, standing in this room.  That
would give Lavus something to think about.  Lavus wouldn’t care, though, Calis
realized. 

Claudia may have been the only one in the castle who did
care about Calis—fool that she was.  Taeru flickered across Calis’s mind. 
You’d
hate that, wouldn’t you?  To think that I killed my mother in a rage for
hearing her slander you… it would not matter to you.  You probably wouldn’t
even want Lavus or Tareth dead.  Oh, Taeru…
Calis pulled back, focusing on
controlling his tears.

His mother was taking long, unsure breaths, and yet she was
still standing in the room with him.  He wondered to what end she was in here. 
Had Lavus put her on the task of bringing him back to their corruption? 
Doubtful.  “What do you want, Mother?” he asked unforgivingly.  “Why are you
here?”

“I don’t want to lose you,” she whimpered.  Oddly enough,
Calis thought that she may have meant the words.  “I want you to know that we
aren’t monsters—that others are capable, that this one time… I…”