Sleepers (22 page)

“What was it all for?” I asked. I wouldn’t attack first, but if I could keep him talking then maybe I could understand what had been going on in his head. “You were using me, too much of a coward to do these things yourself. If you wanted the king dead, why didn’t you kill him yourself? Why me?”

“I can’t use the magic,” he insisted. “I had my Awakening, but I’m still blocked and I know why. Our people kept me shielded while allowing you and Bryden to run around setting off explosions. I’m twice the warrior of both of you put together and I deserve access to my magic more than either of you.”

“Blocking you? How?”

“Those three idiots, the ones I turned in and had executed last week, they realized I’d discovered the truth. Everything Bryden’s been told and everything he’s told you is a lie. Once they knew, they refused to allow me access to the magic.”

“Then what’s the truth? What did you figure out that we didn’t?”

“We weren’t the only ones who were asleep. Everyone,” he waved his hand around at the town, “was asleep. The Dalagans kept everyone in the dark, letting the Fithians think they were great conquerors, when really all they were doing was farming the land for the Dalagan's eventual invasion.
All this fertile land?
That’s what they wanted. They were waiting for us to take down the king so they could attack.”

Conflicting thoughts swam through my mind slamming into each other at every pass. I’d been told so many things, had so many things revealed to me. I’d changed my beliefs more than once and now I was being presented with another theory.

“If they wanted the king dead and you knew why they were coming then why did you encourage me to kill him?”

“So he could be out of the way and I could finally marry the woman I loved.” Kellan threw his head back and laughed, but it wasn’t the laugh I’d loved so much my whole life, instead it was infused with bitterness and anger. “But you killed her, didn’t you? You were always jealous of Albree, even when we were together. Did you know that she wasn’t jealous of you? Not once. She trusted me. She loved me. I seduced you. She seduced the king. Then we used you to get rid of the king and Mags. Except you had to take it too far. You killed my love.”

I gasped. Why hadn’t I seen it? The manipulations had nothing to do with our people, but everything to do with Kellan’s drive to have it all.

Then he attacked.

Instead of beginning with a punch, like normal, he tried sweeping my legs. I jumped over his kick and I punched, but I missed, barely feeling the skin on his cheek as my fist flew past his face.

He twisted around and I landed where he had been standing.

“We don’t have to do this,” I said, holding my ground in fighting stance. I held my hands in the air, palms facing him. “This can end now. We can figure something out.”

“There’s no turning back,” Kellan said, double-punching me in the gut. The force of the hit sent me flying backward. I’d left myself open, let my guard down. I couldn’t do it again.

I sprang off the ground, landing solidly on my feet. I spun to the side, clipping him on the hip with a roundhouse kick. He stumbled and I attacked with another solid kick to his stomach. Kellan grunted and doubled over.

My elbow flew out and connected with his chin, sending him sprawling on his back on the ground, next to my dead twin sister.

I jammed my foot into his neck, forcing his chin upwards. His eyes flitted to Sebrina’s body and then back to my face, but he didn’t say anything, didn’t try to offer an apology. Nothing.

“I will not be the one that kills you,” I whispered as I leaned and hit his temple with a rock that was lying on the ground next to him. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out.

I jumped off his prostrate body and ran back into the cottage. The midwife trembled in the darkest corner of the room, holding Trevin against her ample chest. He had a bottle in his mouth and his eyes were wide as I came into view. I was relieved to see he recognized me.

“Is he?” the midwife asked me as she motioned outside with her head.

I shook my head. “He isn’t dead, but he’ll be out for a long time. It gives us plenty of time to get out of here. Do you have anything packed?”

“Oh yes. As soon as I got Trevin this morning, I began packing. I didn’t trust the king to leave the poor boy alone so I wanted to leave with him by tomorrow morning.”

“Where were you going?”

“I have relatives who live in the forest in a small community long forgotten by the king. I was hoping they’d take us in so I could raise the boy right. He’d have a bad life here with everyone knowing his parentage.”

She was a smart woman. If they stayed Trevin would have a terrible life as the son of the traitorous queen and her executed lover. No one would ever want to associate with him. He’d be a bigger outcast than I’d ever been.

“Do you mind if I take him?” I asked. “I’d like to raise him myself, to teach him about how amazing his mother and father were. I hope someday Mags will come back and they can be reunited. If you take him away to your relatives, she may never find him again.”

The midwife sighed, and nodded her head. “I’m too old to be raising babies anyway. I had hoped one of my relatives would take on the daily duties, but you’re young and strong and it’s obvious how much you love him.”

“I do love him,” I said. “As if he were my own son.”

The door creaked open and someone entered the dark cottage.

“Until his mother comes back, he is your son. Just like your mother here cared for you until I could see you again.”

I turned around and saw a woman standing in the doorway. She had my height and build. Her nose was different, flatter, not as rounded as mine. While my hair was a fiery red, hers glowed with the golden light of dawn.

“Bryden told me you’d be here,” she said.

“Mother?” I asked, sure that the woman standing before me had to be my birthmother. She looked like Sebrina. Like me.

She nodded and opened her arms. I ran into them, burying my head in her shoulder.

“I saw Sebrina outside,” she said, her voice cracking.

“I’m so sorry. It’s my fault. The man lying next to her mistook Sebrina for me. It should be me lying on the ground dead, not Sebrina. She did nothing to deserve this.”

“Neither of you did anything to deserve the lives you lead. This is the way of the world. We must take it as it comes. Our healers can help her.”

“What?” I asked, pulling away from her. “Sebrina’s dead.”

“Her spirit didn’t leave. We can’t call back a spirit, but we can fix a wound in the body. It’s really not so hard.”

“You can bring a dead person back to life?” I was stunned. There was so much I didn’t know about the extent of the magic my people held.

My mother laughed and stroked my hair. “I didn’t come alone. My men have already laid Sebrina’s body on a pallet and the healer has begun his work. I’m sure she’ll be okay or I wouldn’t have left her to see you. She’ll be asleep for days while she heals so she won’t know the difference.” She kissed me on my forehead. “Amazing! You look just like your sister.”

“Where did you see Bryden?” I asked. “He was supposed to wait on the boat for us.”

My mother smiled. “Like any man he does as he chooses. When he saw the castle begin to fall, he sped back to one of the main ships. He begged for help, for someone to trail you and Sebrina. He feared for both of you, knowing that while the battle was won, your war still continued. He’s a smart boy.”

I nodded. Of course Bryden had gone back for help. He’d never left me alone yet, not even when he couldn’t be with me. No one had ever looked out for me the way he did.

“But you?” I asked. “Why did you come? Are you able to defend yourself?”

She laughed, a tinkling sound like falling rain on a warm afternoon, and I instantly felt safe. “Sebrina took after your father, an adventurer with no magic. You, my dear, took after me. We’re both very powerful in magic. I am afraid of no man or woman.”

“Do you fight too?” I asked.

She laughed again. “No, no, that came from your father.”

“I’d like to hear more about him. About you too,” I said. “Oh, I want to know you all!” I held back the sobbing I felt rising in my throat.

“There will be time for all of that, Lianne, but for now we have to have to take care of your friend’s baby. They are preparing rooms for us in the castle as we speak.”

“In the castle?” I asked.

“That is your home, isn’t it? They told us you’d been raised there and our leaders want you to be comfortable during the transition. I’ve never lived in such a fine palace, it will be a treat. Bryden will be joining us there. I assume you’re anxious to see him again?”

I nodded. I couldn’t wait to see Bryden, to thank him for everything he’d done for me and to tell him about Kellan’s final betrayal.

“The man on the ground next to Sebrina,” I said, “he’s the one that tried to kill her. His name is Kellan.”

My mother’s blue eyes narrowed. “Everyone knows exactly who Kellan is,” she said. “The king spilled his secrets faster than a thief facing the execution block. We know Kellan turned over our three spies to the king. He will be held responsible for their deaths. He will talk and then he will pay.”

Trevin spit on my dress as the leader of the Dalagans sat on Rotlar’s old throne. I’d heard the king was held in the dungeon but as for Kellan, no one would tell me what had happened to him. As long as he wasn’t running free then I didn’t care.

Bryden sat to my right, his eyes rapt on the Dalagan leader, Marek. I couldn’t judge his age by his smooth skin or light gait, but his gray hair, still speckled with red, told me he was much older than he appeared.

We’d been asked to gather for a celebration the same night the castle had been taken. I’d donned one of my old dresses, still hidden in the back of the closet in my old chambers. It wasn’t anything fancy, just blue linen, but it was the best I had. Trevin, on the other hand, wore a shirt and nappy. It was the only thing Renee could find for him on such short notice since all of his clothes had been burned at the king’s order.

Marek smiled and I automatically smiled back at him. He wasn’t even looking at me, but I was so happy the war was finally done. The intrigue, the drama, and the feeling of being so alone in a land I didn’t belong in. I was among my people, finally.

“We’ve come a long way in sixteen years,” he said. His voice carried through the room, echoing off the walls in back. A raucous applause broke out, peppered with a few cheers. “We finally have fertile land to settle on, but our work here isn’t done.”

I raised my eyebrow at Bryden. Fertile land? That’s what Kellan had told me in that twisted story he’d made up about our people.

“It’s time to lift the spell and let the Fithians see the truth. They have never been strong. They were never our conquerors. They’ve spent the last forty years believing they defeated us when in
fact,
we were just preparing to take over their land when our once fertile land died. Everything they believed was a lie to keep them complacent and away from our people.”

He paused and I held my breath. Bryden trembled next to me.

“It worked better than we could have ever imagined thanks to our own children, Lianne and Bryden!”

Wild applause broke out and we stood, facing the crowd. Bryden waved and I nodded, then we quickly sat down again.

“Is it true she killed her sister, the new queen?” someone yelled behind me yelled. My stomach twisted in knots as I thought of Albree falling to her death.

“Yes,” Marek said. “Three cheers for the Queenslayer!”

The roar in the crowd overwhelmed me. I attempted a smile because I feared angering them, but sadness layered my soul from the loss of life at my hand.

“We placed them here as infants to gain the trust of the Fithians and then to tear them apart after the Awakening. We couldn’t be prouder of our children.”

Kellan had been right. They had used us and now I’d forever be known as the girl who killed her sister. We’d been as ignorant as everyone around us, a kingdom of mostly good people whose only fault had been living on fertile land. I lowered my head onto Trevin’s and breathed in his sweet baby smell to quell the rising nausea. This was never how I wanted to be known.

“There are still two crown princes to deal with,” Marek said as Daniel and Matthew toddled on stage. They looked frightened, grasping the hands of their royal nurse. Their little eyes grew bigger as they took in the crowd. At two and three years old, they had no concept of what was happening to them.

I grasped Trevin, holding him tight to my breast. I silently thanked Mags and Aric for being his parents and not the king. He was spared a role in the spectacle.

I felt the fires lick through my belly again and I grasped Bryden’s hand with my free hand, shifting Trevin to my hip. Now, more than ever, I needed to stay calm. I could do nothing in a room filled with sorcerers infinitely more powerful than me.

Bryden’s hand squeezed mine and I felt my knuckles grind into his. His face wouldn’t show it, but his anger matched mine. The last few weeks we thought we’d been doing the peaceful thing, what our people would have wanted. Now we knew it was all for naught.
Just a setup.
Everything we’d fought for, a lie.