Sworn To Secrecy: Courtlight #4 (20 page)

He turned it over to view the front and they all saw the reflective surface of a mirror staring back at them.

“What in the world?” said Christian.

“He must have stolen it from her,” said Caemon.

“Perhaps. I recognize that mirror,” said Sebastian thoughtfully. “My aunt always kept it with her. It was a gift from my grandfather and one of her most prized possessions. It’s actually one of a pair. Occasionally she would give one out to a trusted associate, but she always kept the other close to her.”

“What does it do?” asked Ciardis.

“It’s a communication system. If two mages use the identical mirrors at the same time they can see and speak to each other through the mirrors’ connection,” he said.

“She gave it to him,” said Vana suddenly. “The princess heir gave him the mirror so that he could report to her on his progress.”

It sounded plausible.

“Then where is the other one?” asked Thanar harshly.

The all looked at each other and then back at the mirror dubiously.

“Wherever she left it,” said Lillian quietly.

“He never told us what the creature was,” Ciardis said.

“And he never will,” said Thanar. At the flatness in his tone, they all looked down at the satyr below them. His corpse lay with its arms spread out and eyes open.

O
ver the next hour they disposed of the body, incinerating its ashes after searching Thomas’s effects for more clues. Nothing came up.

“I was foolish,” murmured Ciardis, speaking of Thomas. “I should have seen him for what he was. But all I could do was pity him. He looked so overwhelmed, and as if he felt just as I did when I was first questioned in the north.”

“We all made mistakes,” murmured Vana. “We gave him a chance when we shouldn’t have. We won’t make the same mistake again.”

“Perhaps you should have listened to me then,” said Thanar.

“What are you talking about?” said Sebastian in exasperation.

Thanar said coldly, “When we first captured Thomas after he’d attacked Inga, Ciardis wanted to go easy on him. I should have put a full glamour on the little shit when I had the chance. We wouldn’t be
in
this mess if I had known what we were dealing with. I warned her, I warned you all but no one listened. Remember? I said, ‘That boy has unleashed a dark magic that has been forbidden since before the Initiate Wars...’ I’d be more concerned at how this poor boy learned how to use those gifts.”

He was referring to their conversation that fateful night they had met Thomas at the midnight ball. The night they had discovered Inga’s condition and correctly assumed he was the mage who had been the source of her ailment.

Ciardis swallowed harshly but she couldn’t deny it. She had been wrong.

“Perhaps I should have,” she said, looking over at Thanar.

They spent the next hour searching for clues in the rubble of Thomas’s room. If he had a letter that would help implicate his second buyer, even better.

After Christian, Stephanie, and Thanar nearly fell over from exhaustion for a second time, Caemon snapped at them to go get some rest. “We’ll wake you if we’re under attack again for the third time in as many days.” They blinked at him deliriously and then followed the irate Weathervane’s orders.

Lillian proceeded to pace in the living room. “It’s obvious that our enemy, whether they be the duke of Carne or another member of the Shadow Council, knows where we live.”

“Then we need to move,” said Ciardis pointedly.

“I would agree,” said Lillian dryly, “But this magical house arrest is a bit of a problem.” She finished with a pointed glare at Vana.

“On this we agree,” said the assassin. She stood up, wincing as she did so. Grabbing a cloak, she headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” queried Sebastian.

“To get the restrictions lifted on Lady Weathervane. She needs to be able to move if we’re going to be constantly attacked like this.”

Lillian and Ciardis exchanged glances. Tentatively, Ciardis asked, “Will they do that?”

“If I agree to have the geas bound to me, yes,” said Vana with a wince.

“Be warned, Lillian: If I so much as get a hint that you’re planning to run to save yourself, I’ll stab you in the heart where you stand,” Vana said irately.

Lillian nodded sharply.

Ciardis noticed pale sweat dotting Vana’s forehead. “Perhaps you should wait until you’re well.”

“We don’t have time to wait,” said Vana. “I need to get to the magistrate’s court now and get the restriction lifted before they close for the evening. We have to move
tonight
.”

“Right,” said Caemon. “Well, I’ll go with you, then. For support.”

Vana lifted a curious eyebrow, but she didn’t brush off Caemon’s offer as she would have in the past.

“Then while you get this horrible inconvenience lifted off me,” said Lillian, “I’ll discuss relocation with Lord Steadfast.” She swept out of the doorway ahead of them.

“Be my guest,” murmured Ciardis.

Before Vana and Caemon walked into the hallway, Vana said, “The package for Ciardis. It’s in the corner desk.” She pointed with her chin over at the large mahogany behemoth taking up the left side of the manor office.

As they left, Ciardis handed the princess heir’s silver mirror to Sebastian and then went to the desk. Two hours later she had pulled out every drawer on the desk, searched every nook in the wall case, and ransacked the hand-built file cabinets. Every possible container for the package stood open and empty. She had even had Sebastian join in the search. She slammed the last drawer closed in frustration as Thanar walked in through the study door.
What could have happened to the package?

“I take it you’re looking for something,” he said delicately.

She lifted a sarcastic eyebrow. “Yes, I am. You wouldn’t happen to have it, would you?”

She watched a mischievous grin cross the daemoni’s face and she thought,
Well someone’s feeling better.

“No, but have you asked the servants?”

Ciardis almost retorted that of course she hadn’t. Why would any of the servants have the package? But then she remembered that they cleaned and picked things up to dust them like maniacs. They had to—the lord chamberlain insisted on immaculate living quarters. They might have thought it misplaced if it hadn’t been put there by one of their staff.

Clearing her throat, she ignored Thanar’s grin as she rushed into the hallway and around the corner. She ran smack into a maid carrying a clean pile of folded laundry. The clothes flew into the air every which way and the maid, flustered, dropped to her knees to pick up her strewn laundry. She frantically grabbed at the linens and apologized.

“Sorry, so sorry, miss!”

“No, no, it’s my fault. Let me help you.” Soon they were both on their hands and knees gathering linens. And that was where Thanar and Sebastian found them minutes later.

Mirth flashed in Prince Heir Sebastian’s eyes. “I take it she didn’t have the package.”

Ciardis gave him an irate look and the maid squeaked, mortified to have her fresh laundry scattered across the floor in front of the prince heir of the realm.

She snatched the remaining clothes from Ciardis’s hands, gave a flustered curtsy in Ciardis’s general direction, and ran down the hall as fast as her legs could carry her. Before she could round the corner and dip out of their sight, Ciardis called from where she still knelt on the floor, “Wait!”

The maid turned in the distance. “Miss?”

“Could you please tell the butler in charge that we’re looking for an imperial package that has gone missing from the study?”

The maid curtsied briefly again. “Of course, miss.” Then she disappeared.

Sebastian gallantly held his hand out to Ciardis to help her up. So did Thanar. So she gamely grabbed both hands and let them pull her to her feet. They then retired to the study to await the butler.

As they sipped on cool lemon water, Ciardis sighed. She had aches all across her body and she couldn’t pinpoint which hurt came from which attack—the Inga incident, the under-dragon’s charge, or the satyr melee.

Ciardis surveyed the destroyed dining area, gardens, and library of the manor home. “It seems like we’ll never be safe. No matter where we go.”

Sebastian squeezed her hand. “It’ll get better.”

Instead of taking comfort in his words, she felt anger build. “Maybe, maybe not. But I think we should go on the offensive. We need to start fighting back. Targeting them before they target us. Starting with the people behind the Shadow Council.”

Sebastian frowned as he leaned forward. “Didn’t Maree Amber urge you to trust in the Shadow Council?”

She looked at him. “And she’s dead.”

“So is Barnaren,” said Thanar with a gleam in his eyes. “Yet you still want to trust the dragon ambassador.”

Ciardis leaned back and curled her feet beneath her. “The council has proved time and again they’re unworthy of trust. I think it’s time we take heed and find out who they really are. What they really want. Starting with the duke of Carne.”

A servant walked into the room at that moment. She carried a package wrapped in simple butcher paper and secured with twine. When she spotted Ciardis, she rushed over and curtsied.

“This arrived for you by courier, my lady. We thought to store it in your room. Didn’t know it was supposed to stay here,” the servant said.

Ciardis reached out with a relieved expression on her face as she took it. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure, miss,” said the servant with another curtsy as she backed out of the room.

Gripping it tightly Ciardis stared in apprehension at the seal of the Algardis Empire imprinted on the crisp brown paper that wrapped the package. This was the item sent by the emperor in his quest for his sister’s plans. This was another clue into what it was the princess heir had set about accomplishing—perhaps the most important one.

“Expecting something important?” asked Thanar curiously.

“No. I mean yes. I mean...I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you open it and see?”

“We don’t have much time before Vana returns,” said Lillian, re-entering the room with a cheerful voice. “I’ve found a place for us to relocate to—”

Her voice trailed off as she noticed the visible tension in the room. It was sharp enough to cut a knife with. With an irritated sigh, she moved to stand in the center of the lounge area with her hands on her hips. “All right, what’s going on?”

Ciardis traced the edges of the imperial seal with a free hand until she could bear the strained silence no more.

“On the first day we returned to Sandrin, the night of the ball, the emperor instructed me to find out everything I could about the princess heir and her project in the Ameles Forest. He said he would send two items that would be useful from her possessions. This is one of those items.”

Lillian lifted a cool eyebrow, “Why are we just being notified of this?”

Ciardis looked up at her mother defiantly. “Because the emperor was explicit—if I told you or anyone else, then he would order your execution.”

Lillian lifted her chin. “Then he must not find out.”

Ciardis shook her head miserably as she turned angry eyes on Thanar. “The only reason
anyone
in this house knows is because Thanar can’t keep his mouth shut.”

“You’re welcome,” said the prideful daemoni prince while he leaned back on the chaise with his legs crossed.

But Sebastian’s quiet contemplation beat her to the punch. “He’s right. You can’t do this alone.”

“And you only have two days before my trial to discover the princess heir’s secrets anyway,” said Lillian, looking directly at the package. “Perhaps whatever is in there will tell us what manner of beast she engaged with to destroy the city of Kifar.”

“That should solve my father’s quandary,” Sebastian urged. “He only wants to keep the empire stable and my aunt was a master of making calamitous events happen.”

Ciardis snorted. “That was an understatement. Well, then, I think it’s time we opened the emperor’s first gift.”

She unsealed the package and slowly revealed its contents. It was a tarnished silver key. No inscriptions on it indicated a use and she had not the slightest idea what it opened. Carefully she prodded it with a hint of magic, hoping the touch of a mage would unlock its secrets. It sat in her hand—still.

Turning it over and under revealed no clues. Reluctantly she passed it to Sebastian, who passed it to Lillian, who passed it to Thanar. They all tried to extract a reaction from it. They all failed.

“Any idea what it could open?” Ciardis asked quietly.

Thanar held it up and began tossing it in the air after a while. “It could be anything. Keys are never just keys.”

“As much as I wish to disagree, he’s right,” said Lillian. “With the right touch, the right bit of magic, that key could become another object entirely or transform its size from tiny to as big as a horse and unlock the gate of the city of Kifar. We have no idea what power it contains or which lock it fits.”

“No, we don’t,” said Sebastian. He snapped his fingers at Thanar.

The daemoni prince obligingly threw the silver key to him. Sebastian caught it in swift hands as he traced the carvings on the key with a fingertip.

As Ciardis watched him she had an idea; it wasn’t that far of a stretch to think that two things that belonged to one person might also have similar uses. Besides, the key was small enough to fit into the only other object of the princess heir’s that they had in their possession.

With excitement she told Sebastian, “The mirror! Can you give it to me?”

He reached forward to the table and handed over the small and delicate vanity mirror to her.

With pursed lips and frown lines on her forehead, she bent over it, looking for an opening. Not one presented itself. Then she ran her hand along the base of the mirror. It felt odd—like an opening existed that she just couldn’t see. Hoping against hope, she placed the key against the notch in the base by touch. It slid in with a
click
. She waited for the mirror to activate. For something to happen. Nothing moved. Frowning, she shook it.