The Gantean (Tales of Blood & Light Book 1) (22 page)

“Do you mean we need to cut up a squirrel and read its entrails or something?” Jaasir asked. “Gods, we should have known it would be something gross and barbaric and useless.”

His insult had no sting. I said, “No animal blood will do. There is only one way to defeat her.”

“The Cedna must die.” Laith’s quick cunning surprised me.

I nodded. Every Cedna must die—that was, after all, her ultimate purpose. Yes, she must die, but it wouldn’t be easy to achieve
.
The Gantean Elders had wanted to make tunixajiq with this particular Cedna for years—but not just any kind of death would serve, not if we wanted to maintain the delicate balance of the Hinge’s magic. If we killed without the proper ritual, the Hinge might collapse. The Hinge required the Cedna. They could not exist without each other. In order to kill the Cedna properly, her blood had to flow directly into the Hinge. For this purpose had Nautien given me her anbuaq. The charm contained a sphere of Hinge crystal, onto which the Cedna’s blood must be poured, ideally as close to the actual Hinge as possible, though some believed the anbuaqs with Hinge crystal in them held enough power that the ritual would succeed wherever it was done. No one had ever tested this supposition though. To protect the Hinge’s magic, the ritual needed to happen on Gante, ideally at the Hinge itself.

“There’s a place in Gante—” I stopped, treading the border of the secret I did not wish to reveal. Even Atanurat would have agreed that we could not speak of the Hinge to the southerners. Too much power rested there; they had once stolen that power, but they had forgotten the source, and it would be a foolish Gantean who reminded them. “To kill her, we’d have to get the Cedna to Gante. There’s a manner in which she must die. It’s very important.”

“You’re saying we have to kill the Cedna in a special Gantean fashion?” Laith surmised.

“Yes, in a special fashion, in a special place.”

“And then?”

I couldn’t explain the rest; they’d rebel. They did not share my Gantean sensibilities. A bloodletting would be required, and someone would have to become the next Cedna in her place. Who would want such a burden? I dreaded that Nautien had meant it to be carried by me.

“You mean a place in Gante,” finished Ghilene, finally releasing her animosity enough to contribute to our task.

“So all we need to do is lure the Cedna to Gante and kill her in the right place, and she’ll be defeated?” Jaasir summarized. “This sounds like the beginnings of a plan.”

“She’ll resist going to Gante. She’ll know why we want to bring her there. She’s been avoiding Gante for decades for this reason,” I said.

Ghilene leaned forward, looking excited. “But she doesn’t know that
we
have a Gantean on our side to tell us how to do this sort of magic. She won’t expect Lethemians to bring her to Gante, will she?”

My heart plummeted. The moral complexities of the situation nearly overwhelmed me. I longed for Atanurat, who could help me sort out the whole tangled knot. After a moment’s reflection, I realized I had said too much. Only Iksraqtaq should handle the issue of the Cedna. I bit my lip, and tears welled in my eyes.

Laith mused, “We need to give the Cedna a reason to
want
to go to Gante. Then we can get her away from the naval battle entirely.”

They exchanged ideas for getting the Cedna to Gante for the rest of the afternoon, bandying strategies and plots and ploys. I barely listened as my stomach burbled with acidic anxiety. Some part of me, the raw Iksraqtaq part, had always known it would come to this. I had avoided it as long as I could, but my foreseen fate now loomed in front of me.

T
he slate grey
floors of Costas’s salon appeared too plain, though the furnishings sparkled with gold leaf and the upholstery fabrics looked lush and soft. I pulled my silk wrap around my shoulders while I waited.

“I leave tomorrow before sunrise.” I hadn’t heard Costas enter. He walked on bare feet to the enclave of furnishings that did nothing to make his hall feel less cavernous. He had changed his gold clothing for his usual white. “How will the coterie deal with the Cedna?”

“The plan is to lure her away from the battle in the Parting Sea. Jaasir will join the Amarian fleet to pursue her. I believe he plans to leave immediately. After he captures her, we will dispose of her in the Gantean way.”

“How do they intend to capture her?”

This part of the plan remained undecided. What bait could Jaasir offer the Cedna that she would take? I had given no suggestions. I knew my part. I saw my path clearly, and I trusted that the way would open, as Nautien had seen.

“They debated, but came to no conclusions before I left. Costas, do you remember the necklace I lost—”

Costas cut me off. “What do you think of them, Jaasir and Laith Amar? Most caution me against them. They say they are not to be trusted, especially not Laith.”

“To me, Jaasir seems the more dangerous.”

“But I know him. I know he wants the Cedna’s end more than he values his own life. She brought disgrace and shame to his family. If Jaasir wants to hunt down the Cedna, hunt her down he will.”

“Laith shares his aim—”

“No. There is your mistake. Laith does what Laith wants, but what Laith wants is never so clear. Laith is not so bloodthirsty as Jaasir. The stupidest thing my father ever did was neglecting to claim Laith Amar’s lien. He’s the most talented mage I’ve ever seen. Do you know, he pulled me aside this afternoon and gave me a lecture? He seems most insistent that I marry you.”

Costas slid around the curve of the chaise and sat down beside me. “As if I hadn’t come to that conclusion myself already. Even so, I find his interest in you perplexing.” He pulled the pair of boots from beside the divan and slid his feet into them. “Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?”

“Our wedding, of course. If I’m leaving for the front tomorrow, we must be married now. I mean to have Tiriq declared my heir before I leave, and I cannot do that until we are wed.”

“Now?” My heart stuttered with surprise. “I expected it would happen later, after some planning—”

“You are going to be my wife,” Costas went on. “But I must make one thing very clear. There will be no more running away. You can no longer hide with your Gantean friends.” Atanurat’s unspoken name rang between us. Costas tapped his lips with his index finger. A muscle flashed in his jaw.

“But Tianiq—”

“Have no doubt I will find her as soon as this damned battle with Xander Ricknagel is settled.”

“Costas, are you sure this is the right thing to do?”

He grabbed me, his face twisting with sudden anger. “Why don’t you want me? You’re always willing when we are together,” he said. “What changes afterwards? Why won’t you love me like I love you?”

I answered stiffly, shocked by his passion. “I am not used to this Lethemian way of loving. In Gante mates are separate as much as they are together.” I was like a moon orbiting his planet in a long ellipse, attached only by that ung-aneraq. When I came near him, gravity pulled through the irresistible bind. When I went far from him, I felt cold and clear and free.

He stroked my hair.

I whispered. “You can’t own a person. Everyone has a place inside that no one can touch.”

His hands tightened in my hair. “But I want everything,” he whispered. “I want all of you.”

T
he wedding flashed
by me in a blur. Only a few witnesses attended: Laith Amar, a couple of Costas’s Dragonnaires, and a priest of Amassis who presided over the short ceremony held in a salon on the Palace’s first floor. I echoed the vows the priest demanded and stood in a daze while my son—dressed in the elaborate costume Costas had brought earlier—was declared the heir to the Lethemian throne.

Laith was the only one to smile and offer congratulations after the fact. My legs trembled with shock; I could hardly stay caught up with Costas as he led me up the stairs back to his private room. My husband had few words for me until he brought me to his bed, and then he wanted touch more than talk.

A brisk knock woke us the following morning. Costas sat up. “Enter,” he called. His manservant hurried into the room. “It is time already?” Costas asked.

“Time and past,” the man said. “Forgive me, I did not mean to intrude, but we depart in an hour.”

“Gods, I’m still exhausted!” groaned Costas. He shook his legs out. “Mauros, we are going to need to give my Leila a handmaiden of her own,” Costas said as he struggled into his clothing. “And a manservant for our son. Can you recommend anyone?”

“Now? We’re late, your Majesty, can’t it wait?” I had noticed Costas’s Dragonnaires had a tendency to speak to him less formally than others, perhaps as a mark of the bond between them.

Costas sighed. “I want her set up nicely in the Palace as soon as possible.”

“I haven’t time to send to the servants’ quarters and interview anyone. Can’t you leave it in the Magarch’s hands?”

“Vatsar’s coming with us. Ghilene Entila will stay here as the head Palace magitrix to mind the High City barrier. It’s already arranged.”

I grabbed my dress from the floor and wriggled into it.

Costas turned to me and put both hands on my shoulders. “Will you be all right as you are?” he asked, leaning into me. “Without a handmaiden?”

“Of course.” He had to know I’d never had a servant in my life. Could he not imagine the enormity of what I faced as his Queen? My entire world had burgeoned beyond my own grasp.

“Take good care of my son. He is the heir now,” Costas said, as if I needed reminding. He kissed me firmly before turning away.

I opened my mouth to voice my reservations about staying in the Palace with Ghilene Entila in charge, but Costas had already raced from the room.

P
erhaps
I had been mistaken
to worry about being left with Ghilene Entila. She made as much effort to avoid me as I did her.

The Palace remained quiet, and though a war raged somewhere on the plains beyond the High City, we felt no impact from it. A steady rain kept Tiriq and me confined indoors. Costas had been gone for five days when a sharp rap interrupted Tiriq’s afternoon nap. I leapt to my feet in surprise; Adrastos Galatien was the only visitor I ever had, and he had left from his usual visit to admire his nephew less than an hour ago.

Four Galatien Guards surged into the room in formation, two on each side. Ghilene moved into the space they made, her simple white dress without adornment—the garb of a lien-bound magitrix—brushing against the soldiers’ legs. She brandished her magestone in a rapid sweep, and her magic hit me where I stood, locking my legs into place so that I could not move. Tiriq screamed from the sofa.

Ghilene’s magic was nothing like Laith Amar’s. Laith seduced his victims into compliance with an expert and subtle finesse; Ghilene’s spell felt barely controlled as it lumbered through my flesh. Pain rippled from my feet to my waist.

As if my thinking of him had summoned him, Laith sidled into the salon behind Ghilene, also in mage’s white, frowning at the enormous green magestone she continued to hold in an outstretched arm.

“Where’s the child?” Ghilene demanded.

I made no reply. I couldn’t breathe.

Laith pulled out his own magestone and performed his own spell. I managed a gasping breath.

Laith stepped around Ghilene to approach me. “Elementary motion control,” he said flatly. “You must account for the subject’s breath, or you risk suffocating them.”

“Are you addressing
me
?” Ghilene demanded as she faced him.

“Of course I’m addressing you. Do you know nothing? You could have killed her in a matter of moments.”

Ghilene’s green eyes snapped with mounting rage that I recognized from my days as her handmaiden. Though thankful Laith had returned my breath, I worried what Ghilene would do next. The guards remained at attention behind her.

The pain that kept my legs motionless shifted from a hot burn to a tingling cold.

Ghilene turned towards the guards behind her. “Fetch the child,” she commanded. “I can hear it squalling.”

“What are you doing?” I demanded, despite the agony speaking inflicted upon my legs. Her spell must have been intended to keep me quiet as well as still, but I found I could work my will around it. She was not as strong as Laith, not even close, but I still could not force my head to turn to watch what the guard did to Tiriq. I could do nothing as my boy’s cries intensified.

“Can you shut it up? I can’t stand that incessant racket,” Ghilene said.

“What are you doing with him?” I directed my words at Laith, hoping for his sympathy.

“King’s orders,” Ghilene said coolly. “I’m to take the child to an undisclosed location and place you under magical confinement here in your rooms.” The guard who held Tiriq moved into my line of vision. Ghilene pulled my son too roughly from his arms. She shook him, hissing, “Quiet!”

While Ghilene was distracted, Laith caught my desperate glance and gave a slight nod that I could not interpret.

“You can’t take Tiriq.” My voice rose to a pitch of hysteria. “C—Costas told me to take care of him,” I added. “He wouldn’t have commanded this.”

Tiriq fussed in Ghilene’s arms, batting at her shoulder. Ghilene examined him from head to toe before turning the hard green gems of her eyes upon me. “You devious little harlot. A bastard Galatien! Why, you’re a veritable whore, Lili! At the Brokering, no less?” She headed towards the door, saying to Laith as she passed, “I’ll put the enchantment on the room. You can deal with her.”

“No! Don’t! Don’t do this!” I cried. “You can’t do this!”

Ghilene departed with Tiriq wailing in her arms, the four Guards stepping into line behind her.

I screamed. The only thing that kept me upright was the magical compulsion that continued to writhe in my legs. “Do something!” I cried at Laith.

But Laith only watched the chamber door close with a scowl on his face. “I truly dislike her,” he said, more to himself than me. “You’d think she wasn’t illegitimate herself, the way she talks.” He shook his head. “Too much privilege and not enough practice. Always a bad combination.”

“Can you release me from this spell?” I begged, pointing at my legs. “I must go after her. I must get Tiriq.”

Laith’s face twisted, but he made no move to honor my request. “The trouble is, I have no authority to counteract her orders. They come from Costas directly. Though had he bothered to ask me, I would have advised against giving the responsibility of securing the baby to Ghilene Entila, of all people. I can only assume he thought her a good choice for the task because she’s female, though a less nurturing creature I cannot imagine.” He sighed. “There are days when I truly would prefer to wash my hands of the court entirely and live like a recluse on a mountain somewhere. People are such fools.”

The door to the salon burst open and a fireball of frenzied fury took Laith down before the mage could react. I screamed again, still locked in place from the hips down. I barely had time to identify Miki—my Miki, Gantean Miki—in the tumbling bundle of rags wrangling Laith Amar to the ground. A blade flashed, and a bright spurt of blood splattered the grey silk of my skirt.

“Damnation!” Laith shouted. “That’s my casting arm!” Laith managed to toss Miki into a heap on the floor, flicking his magestone to fix Miki in place. He then used the stone to make small spirals above his own arm. His left sleeve hung in two pieces, and a long red slash ran from forearm to shoulder.

Miki heaved and groaned, but remained pinned to the ground as though held by invisible shackles, just like me.

“I’m sorry,” Laith said. “I’m normally far smoother with freezing compulsions. You caught me by surprise. Serves you right for this.” He jerked his chin at his bloody arm. “Now, who the hell are you, kid?”

Miki gave him a defiant glare from his prone position.

“He’s my brother. From Gante,” I explained. I had a whole host of questions I wanted to ask Miki, but not with Laith present.

Laith’s gaze snapped onto me, bright and hard with meaning I could not grasp. “Your brother? Indeed? I do not see the resemblance.”

“Ganteans do not make such reckonings by blood,” I bit out. “Laith Amar, I am the Queen of Lethemia. Release me and my brother from this vile magic at once!”

“Oh, well done, my dear,” Laith said, “Finally showing some spark, aren’t you? Honestly, I’ve worried over you for hours, and I’m not prone to worrying. You’re such a soft little thing in a nasty place like the High Court. A snail without a shell. I’m glad to see you putting up a fight of any kind, I truly am. Now, what I’d really like to do is let the three of us sit down and have a talk. Comfortably,” he emphasized. “I need to be able to trust that when I do, neither of you will try to kill me. Especially you, kid.” He scowled at Miki.

“I want my son,” I said. “That’s all I care about.”

Laith sighed. “That’s a problem—one of the several we could talk about quietly, sitting comfortably on the divan.” He pointed at the sofa.

“Yes, yes, we’ll sit and talk,” I cried, growing desperate.

Despite his bleeding arm, Laith moved like lightning, flashing his stone in Miki’s direction and then mine. The pain in my legs evaporated in an instant, but the effect was so shocking and sudden that I fell onto my hands and knees.

“I need a better word than bastard to describe Ghilene Entila,” Laith said. “It puts the rest of us bastards to shame.” He helped me to my feet and then to the sofa. I collapsed into it, wishing I could sink so far into the downy filling that I disappeared. Miki remained on the floor.

“What about my brother?” I demanded. “Take the spell off him, too.”

Laith waved his stone lazily, and Miki lurched onto his knees. “Remain where you are,” Laith said to Miki as the boy made to rise to his feet. Laith lifted his magestone warningly, and Miki obeyed.

“Now,” Laith said. “I imagine we can come to some sort of mutually beneficial arrangement. You.” Laith pointed at Miki. “Can I trust you to sit quietly over there while Leila and I discuss the current—ah—unfortunate circumstances?”

Miki threw a blade-edged gaze at the mage. Laith lifted his eyebrows and turned away from him.

“What do you want?” I snarled. Every moment we wasted was a moment I was apart from Tiriq.

“Let’s take a few steps back,” Laith began. “My brother has gone to the Amarian fleet in the Parting Sea to find the Cedna as planned. I received an aether-sending this morning from the battlemage with the fleet that she’s taken Jaasir captive. I need your help to get him back and deal with the Gantean sorceress. I suspect you know far more about the Cedna than you told us before.” His voice was as smooth as silk, inviting me to confide. Magic touched his words.

“I already told you!” I resisted. “We have to lure her to Gante and kill her in a special place.”

“Jaasir was definitely hell-bent on killing her. I want you to tell me where to take her and what to do, because I’m going after him”

“I can’t,” I nearly screamed. “I can’t!”

Laith shook his head. “That isn’t the answer I want to hear, Leila.” He said my name with a bitter inflection. “Look, I can’t help you unless you help me. Costas left Ghilene Entila in charge of Tiriq, and I haven’t much choice but to go along with her on the surface of things, because she has the backing of every Dragonnaire on the premises. They don’t go against Costas’s orders. If you tell me what to do about the Cedna, I’ll see what I can do about your son. It’s a big risk, you understand.”

“Costas never would have given those orders,” I stormed. “Never. Ghilene’s lying. She’s a horrible, spiteful creature. She’s lying so she can take my son away from me.”

Laith looked thoughtful. “Well, that’s an interesting theory. I’ll think I’ll ask to see the written proof of Costas’s orders. Excellent idea.”

“Let’s do it now!” I cried. “Who knows what she might do to Tiriq!”

Laith shook his head. “I’ve got a brother to rescue, too. I need to know how to kill the Cedna. Tell me, and then I’ll go explore this conundrum about your Tiriq.”

“Sayantaq,” Miki hissed at Laith from his corner, his dark eyes narrowed to sharp slits. “Don’t tell him anything, Leila.”

I stared at Miki. All the Elders of Gante judged me through his eyes, but what could I do? If explaining what I knew about how to properly kill the Cedna was the price of Tiriq’s rescue, I had no choice.

“Please,” I begged Laith. “I’ll do what needs to be done about the Cedna. I promise. I’ll help you find her and your brother. I’ll do the deed in the proper way, but I can’t tell you where to take her; I can’t tell you how. It’s—it’s a Gantean matter.” Laith was not Iksraqtaq. He would not understand and he could not perform the ritual.

Laith frowned. “What a mess.” At first I thought he spoke of his bloody arm, for he brought it across his lap and stared at it, but he continued, “I don’t understand what Costas sees in Ghilene Entila. Her talent is untrained; she lacks control and discipline, but he made her one of the lynchkeys to the barrier, anyway.” He shook his head. “I thought Costas a better judge of character than that.” He cupped his magestone in his right palm, closed his eyes, and made a few finger motions with his left hand. Then he brought the magestone over the cut in his arm and ran it back and forth. Before my eyes the wound began to knit itself back together. I’d never imagined magic could do such a thing.

“There,” Laith said as he came out of his trance. “It’s nearly done me in, but hopefully the scarring won’t be too bad.”

“Done you in?” I echoed. The wound wasn’t that
bad.

“The magic,” he said, tucking his magestone away. “Healing’s costly work.” He spoke more to himself than me. “In the Aethers you can barely tell the difference between blood and aetherlight.” He brought himself back to the moment, snapping his eyes open to study me. “I’m more drained than I thought. I’d better get myself to the Temple to rejuice.” He stood. “I’ll find out what she’s done with your son and whether she has proof of the orders. I’ll see if I can get in touch with Costas, too. It seems wrong to separate a mother and child this way.” He sighed and stood. “I’ll be back shortly. You can’t leave this room. Ghilene’s spelled you in.”

I shook my head, sick at heart as he departed.

“
M
iki
, what are you doing here?” I cried as soon as Laith left. “How did you find me?”

“I’ve been trying to find a way to get to you for days and days,” he said. “I didn’t go far after I ran off. I hung out around the townhouse while you were there, but I couldn’t find a secret way in. That place was guarded from top to bottom, but here, at the Palace, there’s more ways in. I got in through a tunnel that runs from the Temple of Amatos into the western wing. Lymbok told me about it back on the
Wind
. I figured out where your rooms were, and this afternoon I was just waiting until all those people left before I came in, but I heard you screaming, so I came early.”

“Thank you, Miki, though I don’t think Laith Amar really meant me any harm. I thought you’d gone to find the others, Tianiq, and Merkuur, and Atanurat. Lymbok and Amethyst.”

“How was I supposed to do that? I’ve got no money and no idea where they might be. I’ve been following you and getting to know the High City.” He looked around the sumptuous chamber I’d been given in the northern hall of the Palace. “Nice digs. I heard you were the new queen. Is that true? Do you have any food? I’m half-starved.”

I tried to open the door, but it repelled me like the wrong end of a lodestone.

“You try,” I said.

Miki opened the door with ease. Apparently only I was affected by Ghilene’s confinement spell.

“I expect you can get some food down in the Palace kitchens. Tell them you serve the queen. And Miki—see if you can find Tiriq. Or at least find out where he’s being kept.”