Sovereign Hope (38 page)

Except…

“
Touching. Very touching, indeed. I suppose I should take more
of an interest in the boys my daughter fraternizes with in
future.”

…
that.

The sound of
Elliot’s voice was enough to turn my stomach to ice. I shrank away
from it, looking up and seeing Daniel first. There was a cut above
his eyebrow and dried blood streaked his face. In the low light his
hair was darker than any conceivable black, made even darker by the
ashen, sick coloring of his skin. A deep furrow creased his brow.
He was an echo of the tortured Daniel that had fallen to his knees
on the steps of the British Museum, but now he wasn’t staring after
his brother. He was staring at me.

“
Daniel…”

He recoiled at
the sound of his name. His hands tightened around me, as though I’d
slapped him. “Don’t—”

“
That’s right, Farley.
Don’t,
” Elliot called, “Don’t put
your faith in this boy.”

Daniel jolted,
and I finally turned to face my father. I found him seated on a
high platform in front of me, beside Tobin and Jacob, just as he
had been in my dream. There was a look of mild amusement in his
eyes. He smiled a thin smile and crossed his legs.

“
Go on. Ask me why,” he said. “Ask me why you shouldn’t put
your faith in him.”

I could feel
Daniel’s heart beating against me, could feel his hands holding me
to him tight. “I’m not asking you anything,” I hissed.

“
Stubborn little thing, aren’t you?” His cane lay across his
lap. He picked it up and gestured to Daniel with a murderous glint
in his eye. “I wanted to gloat over how he has betrayed you. News
like that deserves taking some time over. You shouldn’t just come
out with it. Delivery is so important in these situations, don’t
you think?”

I narrowed my
eyes at Elliot. “I think you’re crazy. And evil. And probably
insane.”

Daniel’s grip
around me tightened. I turned back to look up at him. He was still
staring down at me, as though he hadn’t heard a word Elliot said.
But he had.

“
He’s right. I did betray you.” His voice was full of hurt,
full of grief.

“
What do you mean?” He couldn’t have. He would never hurt
me.

Daniel
swallowed. “I—”

“
He made a deal, daughter. He’s been making deals with the
Quorum all along.”

The expression
on Daniel’s face confirmed it was true. He set me down on the
ground. The room was spinning like a merry-go-round and I couldn’t
seem to get off. “I had to,” he whispered.

“
Had to. Wanted to. Such a fine line,” called Elliot. “See,
Daniel here could have told the Quorum to go to hell. He could have
taken you and simply disappeared. You two could have been happy. We
wouldn’t have pursued you if we truly believed that you would do us
no harm.”

Daniel shook
his head. “He’s twisting everything, Farley. If I thought for a
second that was true, then I would have taken that option. I would
have done everything I could to keep the Quorum away from you.” His
words were firm but he looked defeated, as though trying to
convince me of his best intentions was an impossible task.

“
I believe you,” I said.

Daniel
flinched. “I don’t deserve the trust you have in me.”

“
Finally! The truth!” Elliot shouted. He stood up and
sauntered down the steps from the platform until he was less than a
few feet away. “Instead of running away, tell my daughter what you
vowed, dear Daniel. See how trusting she is of you
then.”

Confusion
welled up inside me, but I calmed my nerves and focused on Daniel.
He looked lost. Whatever it was couldn’t be that bad. I tried to
tell him that with my eyes, but he wouldn’t look at me.

“
I vowed to let the Quorum take you. That they could have you
when the time came.”

The room fell
silent. The crowd of men, women and children that surrounded us
held their collective breath. I began to feel as though my stomach
were filled with battery acid.

“
And they wanted to kill her, didn’t they?” Elliott continued.
“They wanted to sacrifice her to Aldan and get rid of her once and
for all.”

I shot Daniel a confused look. “They… they wanted to
kill me
? Is that
true?”

“
It’s not that simple.” He was staring at his feet. His chest
rose and fell quickly. “I made them promise to look for another way
to—,”

“
Semantics!” Elliot cried. He made his way closer and stood
before me. He tilted my chin towards him with the top of his cane,
the same way he had done the first time we’d met in my dreams. “The
fine print of such a deal is exactly that: fine print, often
ignored or agreed upon to placate the other party. Daniel knew what
he was agreeing to when he told Nevoi she could have you. Tell me,
what kind of person would do such a thing?”

He was too
close to ignore now, and Elliot’s cold eyes bored into me, pressing
me into the floor. I bit back the urge to call him something really
terrible and stepped away.

“
If he says there was no other way, then I believe
him.”

“
Oh? You really are under the impression that Daniel does
everything out of your best interests? What about letting me inside
your head? That was completely avoidable. Don’t think for a second
he didn’t sanction that little escapade.”

“
That…that was different,” I stammered.

“
How so? I could have killed you if I had wanted to. He knew
that, and yet he still risked your life in order to accomplish some
half-baked plan. Yes, that’s right. We know all about the talisman.
What and
who
it
is.”

For the first time, I realized what Elliot was trying to do.
It was going to take a lot more than that to drive a wedge between
us. “Daniel only let you in because he didn’t know you could hurt
me. He’s not like
you,
” I spat. I reached out and found Daniel’s hand, threading my
fingers through his. It was a moment before he responded, clutching
hold of me tight. I gave him a sidelong look to find him staring at
me with shining eyes. He looked overwhelmed. “You can stop with the
mind games now. There’s nothing you can do or say that will make me
believe you,” I told my father.

“
That’s a pity,” Elliot sneered. “It would have been better to
avoid bloodshed before the judgment seats.”

“
ENOUGH!”

The shout even
startled Elliott, and everyone in the room turned to face Tobin. He
stood on the dais with a furious look carved into his face, and he
was staring at my father. “This farce is at an end. Return to us
now!” he cried.

Elliot
blanched but did as he was told. His shoulders were stiff as he
climbed the steps to the dais. I saw straight through the defiant
look on his face as he turned to seat himself in his chair. It was
clear he had no other option but to submit to Tobin’s will, and
that fact made him boil with rage.

“
Now that this touching reunion is complete, it is time to
hand over the talisman, Daniel. It is time,” Tobin said.

Daniel closed his eyes.
There’s no
way you’re getting the talisman without a fight,
I thought. I knew him. He’d rather die than give
them what they wanted. He opened his eyes and gave me a lingering
look, filled with determination and steel. I was right. He was
going to attack. My skin was already prickling, and the hairs on my
arms stood on end. The energy inside him was building, ready to
burst forth. The memory of being in Aldan’s room—the pressure, the
light, struggling to breathe—was still so fresh. I took a deep
breath and braced myself.

“
What makes you think that you’re worthy of the life that
Aldan gave me?” Daniel’s voice rang out in the chamber, arousing a
low hiss from the crowd.

I looked on as
he faced the three men, sitting on their judgment seats like
crownless, pitiless kings. They looked back down upon him with mild
entertainment. Tobin flashed him a crooked smile, and then looked
to either side of the platform where guards had taken positions.
They stood to attention, awaiting Tobin’s orders. He gave Daniel a
sly look.

“
We are Immortal. We are never-ending. Of course we are
worthy.
You
are
trash that was plucked out of the gutter and given something that
doesn’t belong to you. It’s time you died, as you should have done
all those years ago.”

Daniel
listened to their words, expressionless. Only his eyes betrayed the
scorn he felt for them. I followed his gaze and met my father’s
eyes. Elliot twisted in his seat, apparently torn between who he
hated the most—me, or the boy daring to challenge him.

My eyes
flickered down, to find Oliver standing at the base of the dais
just below Elliot’s chair. He shot me a mournful, apologetic look
before fixing his eyes back on Daniel, watching to see what would
happen next.

“
Aldan gave me more than my life back,” Daniel said. “He gave
me discipline and understanding that you would never be able to
comprehend.”

Tobin sneered. “Well, that’s surprising to me, I have to say.
From where I’m sitting, it looks like those particular attributes
have failed you significantly. Maybe when I pull that little spark
of life out of you, I’ll be able to see what qualities you were
truly made up of. But right now, I’m willing to go out on a limb
and say it isn’t
discipline and
understanding.
”

Daniel stepped
forwards and the guards sprang into action, running to place
themselves between him and the other men. Anxiety tasted hot and
bitter on my tongue, but Daniel remained focused.

“
He gave me something else, too.” His voice rang out high and
clear in the vaulted room, undeterred by the men standing in front
of him. “He gave me every single soul that he had ever taken. He
gave me the hundreds of people that died at his hand since he came
into existence. He gave them back their voices and then he gave
them to me.
They
are the talisman… and they want you dead.”

Tobin stared
at Daniel for a moment in stunned silence, and then all three of
the Reavers burst into hysterical laughter.

“
Impossible… truly impossible,” Jacob gasped between breaths.
“It would have driven him mad to allow them all to exist inside
him.”

Daniel’s lips
tightened into a hard line. He glared at Jacob. “He was stronger
than any of you. He gave them their voices and lived alongside them
for over a hundred and fifty years. And now they live inside
me.”

The truth of
his words rocked me. That was what had happened when Aldan passed
all of that power to Daniel? It was the people...all the people
that he had killed, passing from one into the other?

“
You’re full of lies, boy. I should find a bigger box and
throw you back in the ocean where you belong,” Jacob
declared.

The words had
barely left his lips when a fiercely bright light leapt from
Daniel’s hands and chest like javelins of white fire. The air was
thick with pressure in an instant, and the light snapped and coiled
like jagged whips to strike Jacob where he sat. The chair was
thrown onto its back with the force of the attack, and Jacob
tumbled out of it and rolled onto the floor, convulsing in agony. I
was unable to tear my eyes away. I watched as the light kept
coming, slamming into his body.

The guards
were slow to come forward, but when they were finally spurred into
action, they raced towards Daniel from all directions. The two
nearest to him reached out and were catapulted through the air to
land at the feet of the two upright judgment seats, their bodies
broken and unmoving. The other guards halted in their tracks,
suddenly uncertain how to proceed.

Tobin growled
and kicked the closest smoking corpse away. He got up out of his
chair and took a step closer to Daniel. I went to scream out a
warning but my voice jammed in my throat. Suddenly I was writhing
on the floor in agony myself. The pain was blinding. All I could
see was Tobin’s hands, which were wreathed in blue and green
flames. They looked so cold. I could feel the reach of them inside
my mind, though, and they were far from it. I was burning, every
inch of me burning.

“
Stop now, or I will put an end to your little girlfriend,” he
yelled.

I bucked on
the ground, trying to escape the pain, but it enveloped me, filling
every part of my being. Daniel’s light went out in an instant, and
Jacob’s body lay discarded on the floor.

“
Let her go,” Daniel said.

“
Gladly,” Tobin replied, breathing heavily. The sharp knives
of pain withdrew from my mind. “It seems we have come to an
impasse. I know you are unaffected by our powers, but she isn’t. If
you refuse to cooperate, then I will make sure her death is as
horrific as possible, and you will watch every last second of
it.”

Daniel locked
Tobin with a hate-filled gaze. The power crackled at his
fingertips, desperate to be unleashed again. From the corner of my
eye, I saw Oliver sidling across the base of the platform. He froze
when he saw me look over to him and then inched back his suit
jacket to reveal a large bowie knife tucked into the waistband of
his belt.

It was one of
the crude knives that the guards carried. He must have stolen it
from one of the dead men when no one was looking. I shook my head
at him, willing him not to do anything stupid.