The Black King (Book 7) (8 page)

He turned. Matt was watching him, blue eyes wide.

“Rugad is looking for an Enchanter,” Coulter said.

A slight frown creased Matt’s brow. “He has been for a long time. You told us not to go.”

“Arianna has convinced me that we need to take action against him soon. We need to remove him from her body, and I can only think of one way to do that.”

Matt threaded his long fingers together. “He’d suspect if an Enchanter tried to hurt him.”

“Yes, he would. So we gain his confidence and then try an assault he doesn’t understand.”

Matt didn’t move.

“The Soul Repositories, do you know how they work?” Coulter asked.

Matt shook his head. “My father wouldn’t let me near the stuff in the Vault.”

“Well, as best I understand, they use blood to lure a trapped soul into the repository. Your father actually did that once.”

Matt’s face seemed blank. He had learned to mask his emotions whenever anyone mentioned his father. Coulter didn’t know how to get past it. Someday Matt would have to talk about his family.

“We need someone to get close to Rugad, to lure him out of Ari’s body, and then, the moment that he’s gone, help her back in. Would you be able to do that?”

Matt’s frown returned. “I don’t know the spells.”

“I can teach you some. The others—how to use the repository, for example—will have to come from the Vault.”

Matt flinched.

“Actually,” Coulter said, “the spells are the least of my concerns. I’m more worried about you spending time near Rugad. He’s a powerful man, extremely smart, and you would have to watch yourself every moment. He might have you do things you don’t want to do.”

“Then I wouldn’t,” Matt said.

“You might to convince him that you really work for him.”

Matt bit his lower lip. “How long would I be there?”

“I don’t know,” Coulter said.

“What if he catches me?”

“We’ll try to get you out. I have some ideas on how we can get to you.”

Matt nodded, but his eyes seemed far away, as if he were trying to picture this. “How would Arianna know that the body is empty?”

Coulter sighed. “You and I would remain Linked. You would let me know. I’d make sure Arianna is close by.”

Matt was silent for a moment, then said, “This seems risky. Why can’t she just stay here?”

“She’s afraid if she does, she’ll never be able to go back. We’ll be governed by the Black King forever.”

Matt frowned. “If she goes back, I’d never see her again.”

Coulter put a hand on Matt’s shoulder. It was rigid. Matt and Arianna had developed a strong friendship in the time she was here. “You’d see her again. You’d see her the way she’s supposed to be. If you did this, you’d give her her heart’s desire.”

Matt looked pensive. “I’ll think about it,” he said.

SEVEN

LYNDRED STOOD in the door of the North Tower, trying to catch her breath. All the stairs in this palace irritated her. She had never lived in a place that had so many stories and maze-like rooms. Her father said it was because the palace had once been a fortress that had been added onto, which was odd because Blue Isle supposedly never had war until the Fey arrived.

Lyndred hated it here. She associated this tower with the Black Queen, who seemed to spend most of her time here, staring out the windows as if she were imprisoned in this place.

Now Lyndred had actually come to find her. It had taken most of the day for her to get up enough courage.

Arianna was standing on the opposite side of the large room, her legs spread, her hands clasped behind her back. Her long black hair was braided and fell along her rigid spine. She wore breeches and a jerkin, an outfit that suited her more than the Islander dresses. She didn’t seem to notice Lyndred, but Lyndred had learned long ago that what Arianna seemed to notice and what she really noticed were two very different things.

“Are you going to hover all afternoon?” Arianna asked. “Or are you going to join me?”

Lyndred’s mouth went dry, even though she had been expecting the comment.

“I’ve been wondering what’s happened to you. Neither your father nor I have seen you all day. I suppose he found you?”

Lyndred felt a blush rise in her cheeks. It was involuntary, and it was appropriate, at least for this lie.

“He did.” Her voice sounded weaker than it had on Nye. Once she felt she had the most imperial voice among the Fey, but it was nothing compared to Arianna’s.

Arianna didn’t turn, but she did raise her chin slightly. “How did he convince you to leave your rooms?”

“He didn’t exactly.”

This time, Arianna did turn. It was a sharp movement, almost a reluctant one, as if she were unwilling to stop her contemplation of the mountains in the distance. “Oh?”

Lyndred shrugged. “There are certain things a woman does in her life that she doesn’t want her father to see.”

“A woman?” For once, Arianna didn’t seem to understand. “You had female troubles? If so, you should see one of the Healers.”

The comment startled a laugh out of Lyndred, then her blush increased. “I wouldn’t call it trouble. My father knows I have lovers. He just doesn’t need visual confirmation.”

Arianna’s cold blue eyes widened slightly as if she hadn’t expected this. Then an expression flitted across her face—amusement? Annoyance?—it was impossible to tell before the expression vanished. “And who is the lucky man?”

“Unimportant,” Lyndred said.

Arianna’s gaze became hooded, and without her saying another word, Lyndred knew what she was thinking. She would ask servants, other Fey, guards who Lyndred’s lover was, and she wouldn’t stop until she found out.

“Did you come to see me for advice, then, about your lover?” Arianna asked.

Lyndred smiled. She couldn’t help herself. “No. I’ve had lovers since I came into my Vision.”

“Are the two events—your getting your Vision and taking a lover—related, then?” Arianna asked.

The question was so prescient, it startled Lyndred. She had to pause before she answered.

The two events were linked. But she didn’t know if she should tell Arianna that.

“What did you See that encouraged you to first take a lover?” The question was softer than the others, a bit more intimate, as if Arianna were a friend who was entitled to know.

Lyndred stepped inside the room, and closed the door. It was time to get closer, to see if she could use these questions to her own advantage. “I Saw a blond man who would give me a child and break my heart.”

“And you sought to prevent that?”

Truth, then. It would be her weapon. “I want no man to have that kind of power over me.”

Arianna’s eyes narrowed, and this time Lyndred thought she saw a trace of laughter in them.

“You are the most independent member of my family I have met in years.” It was an obvious compliment from a woman who gave none. She beckoned with her hand. “Come stand beside me, and look at this small kingdom. Do you know how insignificant it is?”

The switch in topic startled Lyndred. She crossed the room, past the columns and the tables, until she reached the floor-to-ceiling bubbled glass.

Below, the courtyard was barely visible, and beyond it, the city of Jahn extended for miles. Her great-grandfather Rugad, the Black King, had been killed east of here. This land was powerful enough to slaughter the greatest of the Fey. She did not think it insignificant.

Arianna was watching her. “You disagree with me, don’t you?”

The question wasn’t hostile. Arianna seemed to like Lyndred’s spirit, even though Lyndred didn’t know why.

“I think any place that can defeat the Black King has to have significance,” Lyndred said.

Arianna’s body went rigid. It seemed like an involuntary movement. Then she relaxed. “Blue Isle is part of the Fey Empire now.”

“Yes,” Lyndred said, “but it’s the only part that entered voluntarily. You could have held this place against the rest of the Empire, and dared them to try to take it.”

“I could have,” Arianna said, as if that had never crossed her mind.

“Our grandfather tried to conquer this place and failed, then our great-grandfather tried and failed. That makes Blue Isle significant, don’t you think?”

This train of thought seemed to bother Arianna. Lyndred felt a perverse pleasure at shaking her seemingly unshakeable cousin.

“I think,” Arianna said, “that the Black King ultimately got what he wanted. Blue Isle is part of the Fey Empire, ruled by Fey.”

“With its own traditions intact,” Lyndred said.

“Like Nye.” There was a definite edge to Arianna’s voice, one Lyndred had never heard.

“And if the Islanders rebelled in any way, we don’t know if we can hold them down.”

“Are you sleeping with a rebel then?”

“No,” Lyndred said. “You called this place insignificant. I told you I didn’t think it was.”

Arianna took a deep breath as if she were trying to calm herself. Then she turned back toward the window. “What made you do so much thinking about Blue Isle?”

Lyndred felt dizzy. She could talk about Visions now, and Arianna was the one who opened the door. Unexpectedly.

“My Visions,” Lyndred said. “They’ve increased since we’ve come here.”

“Do you think that’s because of the Isle or because something significant has happened?” Legitimate questions, both of them, but neither were very helpful. Arianna was good at word games.

Lyndred would have to be direct. “Have your Visions increased lately?”

The skin around Arianna’s eyes tightened, as if she were struggling to control her expression. “Since you arrived?”

“Yes,” Lyndred said, her heart pounding.

“No,” Arianna said. “My Visions have not increased.”

“What about other Visionaries? I haven’t talked to any. The Infantry Leaders seem too busy with maneuvers, and I don’t know of any others.”

“Except your father.”

Lyndred always forgot that her father had Vision. It was so minor that it seemed like he had none at all. “My father rarely Sees anything.”

Arianna was silent. Lyndred hadn’t expected that.

“So,” Lyndred said, “if no one else has had increased Visions because of my arrival, then it must be the Isle that’s doing it.”

Arianna tilted her head upward. A Hawk Rider circled around the tower, and then soared toward the courtyard below. Arianna’s eyes tracked it. Lyndred watched it too, wishing it were a Gull Rider, wishing it were Ace, but knowing it was not.

“You give this Isle too much power,” Arianna said.

“I give it none that it doesn’t deserve,” Lyndred said. “It killed a Black King.”

“Did it?” Arianna’s voice was cool. “I still feel his power.”

A chill ran down Lyndred’s back and she didn’t know why. “Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Bother me?” This time, Arianna sounded surprised. “Why would it bother me?”

“Because I thought you helped kill him.”

Arianna turned toward her. There was something alien in her eyes, something so calculating that it almost made Lyndred take a step backwards. “If I had helped kill him, I would have brought Blood against Blood on our people.”

Well, that was one question answered. Arianna knew about Blood against Blood.

“But....” Lyndred frowned. “I thought you were there when your father killed Rugad. I thought you were part of it. And proud to be part of it. That’s what we heard in Nye.”

“Lies,” Arianna said softly.

“But you were there, weren’t you?”

“Oh, I was there.” Arianna’s voice was completely flat. Its tone matched the strange look in her eyes.

“Then—”

“You don’t understand,” Arianna said. “I gain inspiration from Rugad.”

The very idea took Lyndred’s breath away. “I thought your goal was to create peace for the Fey Empire.”

“Rugad’s rule included peace.”

“But that wasn’t its goal. My father said that Rugad’s peace was really a rest before the next stage of conquest.”

Arianna smiled. “Your father is sometimes smarter than we give him credit for.”

Lyndred flushed, wanting to defend her father, but knowing that Arianna was deliberately trying to change the topic. “So that’s what you did? Create a rest instead of a peace?”

Arianna’s smile remained on her face, small and self-satisfied. It made her eyes seem even colder. “Think about it. I had inherited a Fey army startled and shattered by the surprise at the Cliffs of Blood. An Isle that was once rich but had to be destroyed because of the recalcitrance of its own people. Two groups who did not get along. The continents of Galinas, Etanien, and Vion were fine. If we increased production there, we’d compensate for this ruined place. I put the Empire back together. In fifteen years, Fey and Islanders have intermingled, their cultures forming one. They’ve both accepted me, the Fey as their Black Queen, the Islanders as their hereditary queen. The Islanders believe that I will always maintain a peace. The Fey know better. At least, most Fey do.”

Lyndred felt the rebuke. “But, no, they don’t. They’re worried. I came from Galinas. You’ve never left this Isle. You don’t know what they’re saying about you.”

“What are they saying about me?”

The door had opened all the way, and Lyndred lied without a second thought. “They say you’re Blind.”

Arianna stepped back as if slapped.

“They say that you’re not trying to conquer Leut because you can’t See. They say you’re playing it safe because you don’t want to harm the Empire. They say your Islander blood has ruined you for battle forever.”

“How could I have been Black Queen this long and be Blind?” Arianna’s temper was rising. Lyndred could almost feel it. It had a strength to it, an unnatural strength.

Lyndred paused. Should she continue, or should she back down? But she had told her father she would find out—and what could Arianna do to her? She certainly couldn’t harm Lyndred, not with the Blood against Blood. She could banish her, but that would solve Lyndred’s problem, make certain that her Vision wouldn’t come true. At least, the Blue Isle Vision.