The Black King (Book 7) (22 page)

Lyndred smiled, as if the reaction were the one she wanted, and then left, pulling the door closed behind her.

Gift walked toward Arianna. He was going to try to repair the damage the words had done, but he didn’t know how. Her arms were still crossed, and he found he didn’t want to touch her at all.

He stopped an arm’s length away from her. “What’s happened here, Ari? What have they convinced you of?”

She grinned. “Bridge and Lyndred? Bridge has convinced me that he’s as incompetent as everyone says. Lyndred has her eye on the Throne.”

“Like I do?”

“You are the first-born.”

“I gave up the Throne. I told you that fifteen years ago. I am a man of my word.”

“You no longer have a future. You are a Visionary. What else would you want?”

Her assumptions were startling. This was the sister who had once understood how much Gift disliked command. She had once called him too gentle for leadership, and in those days, he had been right.

“You told me I would always be welcome here.”

“I’ve grown up.”

They were of a height. His father had once said that they looked like the male and female sides of the same coin. But Gift wasn’t seeing that now. He was seeing how Fey Arianna had become.

“Is that why you sent the assassins after me on the Cardidas?”

She didn’t seem shocked at all. “I would never send assassins after you. I know about the Blood against Blood.”

“Well, someone used Doppelgängers to plant the idea that I was bad for the Isle in the Islanders’ heads. It can’t be traced to you. Maybe it goes to that young viper you’ve let live in this palace. Has she been trying to get rid of our family?”

“That’s twice you’ve made accusations against Lyndred. Do you know something that I don’t?”

“Perhaps,” Gift said. “I know that the Spies and Doppelgängers among the Islanders who tried to kill me were supposed to report back to the palace. As I see it, that means they were reporting to one of three people. Lyndred, Bridge, or you.”

“That’s quite an accusation.”

“Someone wanted me dead, and in a way that wouldn’t start the Blood against Blood. You’re being hostile, Ari, in ways you never would have before. What’s changed?”

She lowered her gaze. Without the intensity of those eyes, her face softened. She sighed. “I’ve been leading the Empire for fifteen years, Gift. That’s what’s changed.”

“No,” he said. “You’ve changed. Why is this palace full of Fey? Why are you wearing Fey clothes? What happened to the Islanders who’ve worked here their whole lives? And what happened to the idea of blending Fey and Islander traditions?”

“It didn’t work. The Isle is part of the Empire. It’s time to stop pretending that’s not true.”

“You were supposed to rule both,” Gift said. “That was our agreement.”

“And you’ve come to enforce that?”

“No!” He spoke louder than he intended. She was deliberately not understanding him. “I came because I heard you’re in trouble.”

She raised her eyes. “Now that you see I’m all right, you can leave.”

He stared at her for a long moment. Arianna never had this cold streak. She had been difficult and flighty. But she had never been cold.

He got a firm sense that he was talking to someone else, but he didn’t see how that was possible. He’d already checked for a Dopplegänger. He supposed she could be a different Shape-Shifter, one who made herself look like Arianna. But that would take years of practice, access, and some way of getting rid of the real Arianna. It seemed unlikely to him.

“Why are there infantry units practicing in the courtyard?” he asked.

“Because we’ve been idle too long. Do you know what happens to Fey who don’t fight, Gift?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “It seems to me that Fey who don’t fight are doing quite well all over Galinas.”

“The Domestics. Those who were never meant to fight. The others are restless, aren’t they?”

In every country he visited, he had seen Fey in trouble with the authorities. Foot Soldiers whose bloodlust had gotten out of control. Dream Riders who banded together and terrorized the locals. Dog Riders who stayed in their animal form so that they could eat their meals raw.

“Our people were made for war, Gift. When the warrior magick isn’t used, our people suffer.” She sounded like she believed it.

“Our people, Ari?” he asked. “Who might that be?”

“We’re Fey,” she said.

“I’m part Islander. So are you.”

“All Fey are part something, Gift,” she said. “It’s time you see yourself as one creature instead of two.”

“I do see myself as one creature,” he said. “A man who had a Fey mother and an Islander father. The shared heritage makes me stronger.”

“It makes your magick stronger. It makes your spirit weaker.”

He stared at her.

“Islanders are weak people, Gift, and they’re only a small part of the Empire. They are no more important than the Nyeians or the L’Nacin.”

“We have our own magick,” Gift said. “We are as important as the Fey. We’re just different.”

She shrugged. “Believe it if you want. But—”

“I don’t believe it,” he said. “I know it. And so did you. Islander magick defeated the Black King. Islander magick put you on the throne. Islander magick is what’s important here. Fey magick lost the battle for Blue Isle.”

Her face didn’t move, but her eyes seemed to grow colder. “The battle for Blue Isle will be but a footnote in Fey history. What matters is that the Isle became a part of the Empire. In that, the Fey won.”

He took a step toward her and reached out his hand. Somewhere inside that impassive face was the sister he had known. Something had changed her and he was determined to find out what.

“Arianna,” he said, “what happened here? What changed you?”

She looked at his outstretched hand, then lifted her gaze toward his. “You touched the Black Throne.”

He felt the blood drain from his face. He hadn’t discussed that with anyone. How had Arianna found out? Had she Seen it? He wasn’t sure if he should deny it or if he should tell her the truth.

But she took the decision away from him. “It wanted you.”

“I rejected it.”

“No one rejects the Throne.”

“I did,” Gift said. “Just as I did when we were young.”

“You don’t understand what it takes to lead the Fey. You will not help the Empire if you find a way to overthrow me.”

“I don’t want to overthrow you, Arianna. You are the Black Queen and have been from the beginning. I simply wanted to make sure that you’re all right.”

“And now you are convinced that I’m not. It’s a short step from there to believing that you need to take over the Throne to protect the Empire.”

“I won’t take the Throne,” he said. “That hasn’t changed.”

“I think it has.”

His hand was still outstretched. He lowered it, then curved his fingers into a fist. “I’m interested in the Throne, Lyndred is interested in the Throne. The only one whom you haven’t accused is Sebastian.”

“Sebastian is no longer a factor.”

His nails bit into his palm. “What does that mean?”

“It means that Sebastian has left the palace.”

“Why?”

“Because his spirit is yours, Gift. He was a doorway, a way for you to get to me. He didn’t belong here.”

“He’s our brother.”

“He’s made of stone.”

Another chill ran down Gift’s back. Arianna had always believed that Sebastian was a real person.

“Have you destroyed him?”

“Of course not,” she said. “He’s on his own now.”

“Where?” Gift asked.

“I believe he lives with Coulter.”

Gift frowned. “He’s at the Roca’s Cave?”

“I think so.”

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t want him here any more than I want you here. You threaten the Empire.”

“Arianna, I am not interested in the Empire. I don’t want the Throne. I came here for you.”

“All right,” she said. “Let’s pretend I believe that. I don’t need you, Gift.”

“Then why is Lyndred here?”

“Because she amuses me.”

“That’s a lie.”

Arianna clasped her hands behind her back. “All right, then let me tell you the truth. She’s not ready to be a threat. She’s too young and inexperienced. Bridge is too stupid.”

The harshness grated, but Arianna had always spoken plainly. There had just never been such obvious deviousness behind her words before. Seger had been right; there was something wrong with Arianna. Gift just didn’t know what it was yet.

“I need a Visionary beside me, Gift,” Arianna said, “and Lyndred was the only one. I can’t trust you. You’ve touched the Throne, and now you have your own pet Shaman. You came here, ready to take over the Empire. Shaman in hand, and Enchanter beside you.”

“Enchanter?”

“Isn’t the woman who traveled with you an Enchanter?”

“Skya is my guide.”

“You needed a guide to get back to Blue Isle?”

“I needed a guide to get out of Vion in a hurry.”

“You’re out. Why do you need her now?”

He looked at Arianna for a long moment. “I should think that would be fairly obvious.”

“Do you love her?” Arianna asked. It sounded like a business question.

“No,” Gift lied. “But one of us needs to give this Empire an heir, don’t we?”

“Is she pregnant?”

“Not yet,” he said. “I thought we would make our home on the Isle, and you would have a hand in raising the child. After all, the child would inherit if something happened to you. I thought that you and I were a team.”

“There is no room for a team to rule the Empire, and no need for you to groom one of your children as an heir to my throne.”

“I saw Mother,” he said, “in the Place of Power in the Eccrasian Mountains. She said having an heir was the most important thing.”

“Mysteries often mislead,” Arianna said.

“Mother never has, and you know that. She’s the one who trained you.”

“I abandoned that training long ago,” Arianna said. “It wasn’t right.”

“It’s what made the Fey follow you in the first place. You had no clue how to rule the Fey. You were raised Islander. If you just remember who you are, and who I am—”

“You are the Heir to the Black Throne.”

“I’m your brother. I care about you.”

She turned away from him and went back to the east windows. It felt as if she were looking for answers at the end of the Isle, as if she were trying to see the Roca’s Cave.

“A ruler cannot care about anyone, Gift.” This time, the voice sounded like Arianna’s. The mixture of sadness and regret in her tone was what caused it. “I can’t care for anyone. It will become a weakness. You know that. People have crossed your Links in the past, just as they have crossed mine. It’s better not to have any Links at all.”

Gift felt cold. Coulter had told her to close her Links fifteen years ago. Was that what made Arianna this cold unfeeling person now?

“Our father loved us,” Gift said. “He loved our mother. And he was an effective King.”

“A king of a small island. He could afford to have weaknesses.”

“Even with the Black King of the Fey pressing down on him?”

“Even then,” Arianna said.

Gift took a step closer. She raised her head, and her eyes, reflected in the glass, met his. She had been watching him just as he had been watching her. “You can’t mean this.”

“But I do. Our mother’s love for our father made her trust him. Our grandfather’s love for our mother brought her to the Isle in the first place. Only Rugad seemed to see things clearly, and that was because he didn’t have his emotions engaged.”

Gift felt his breath catch in his throat. “You’re using Rugad as a model for how to rule?”

“Of course.”

“You hated him. You were going to set up your rule so that you never made the same mistakes he did.”

“His mistakes were minor. They were recoverable.”

“Dying? Losing the battle to us and our father? That’s recoverable?”

“Yes.” Her smile was secretive, almost as if she were inviting him to guess at something, as if they were playing a game with rules he didn’t understand.

“Arianna, you can’t mean this. Tell me it’s all a joke.”

“I mean it,” she said.

“Rugad is the worst model you could have chosen.”

“Rugad was the greatest ruler the Fey ever had.”

“Rugad died in the middle of losing a battle.”

“In a war he won. Why do you keep forgetting that Blue Isle is part of the Fey Empire now?”

“An independent part. The first part to join voluntarily, just like our parents wanted. And they wanted us to rule in a new way. They said that to you the day you decided to become Queen.”

“Yes, they did,” she said. “They were wrong.”

Gift frowned. Her words played in his mind.
What changed?
He had asked her and she had immediately said,
You touched the Black Throne.
He had thought it an accusation, but what if it wasn’t. What if it was an admission? What if the light that shot out from the Throne was what had changed her, infected her somehow? What if Rugad hadn’t become the ruthless man Gift remembered until he touched the Black Throne?

“Mother said you were infected with a dark magick.”

Arianna started. For the first time since he arrived, Gift felt as if he had seen a real emotion from her. “She said that in the cave?”

“In the Eccrasian Mountains, just before I came here.”

“What else did she say?” There was an intensity to Arianna’s question now, as if a lot rested on Gift’s answer.

“She said that I shouldn’t see you. That sometimes dark magick ignites other dark magick.”

“Did she?” Arianna asked. “What did you take that to mean?”

“Nothing then. I wonder now if something didn’t happen to you, something recent.”

“Because I have changed my way of ruling?”

“Because you’re so cold and bitter.”

She threaded her hands behind her back. “You sound like Bridge making everything about emotion, not logic.”

Gift’s cheeks grew warm from the rebuke, but Arianna didn’t stop.

“I’ve been on my own for years now, Gift. I’ve had time to think about this. I know what’s best for the Empire. I’ve studied it. I know what should and shouldn’t be done.”