The Immortal Prince (50 page)

“Did you want to be rid of them?”

Arkady looked up from her tea, which had gone cold from neglect, and stared at Maralyce blankly. She'd been too worried since Jaxyn followed Cayal into the mine to hear what the old woman was saying.

“What?”

“The Crasii,” the old woman explained, waving her arm to indicate the three felines standing guard over Arkady. “These wretched abominations. They'll follow my orders sure as they will them other two. I can send them all walking off a cliff if you'd like.”

“Thanks,” Arkady replied, fidgeting nervously. “But it's not their fault. And I do have to return home.”

“You're assuming Jaxyn will emerge victorious.”

Arkady hesitated, not sure what to say. She was being eaten alive by fear and anticipation, wondering what was happening underground. Who was winning? Was Cayal even bothering to fight back?

“I think Cayal intends him to,” she said finally.

“Waste of effort, if you ask me, the whole damned thing. They fightin' over you, perchance?”

That suggestion almost made Arkady smile. As if she figured anywhere in the plans of two immortals. “Hardly. Jaxyn is more interested in my husband and Cayal…” Her voice trailed off. It wasn't because she was unsure about Cayal. It was because Arkady couldn't believe that in the space of an hour she had confided in two complete strangers a secret she'd kept from everyone she knew since before she married Stellan, even her best friends.

There was something about the weight of immortality that made her secrets seem insignificant.

“You could order them not to repeat what I just told you,” Arkady suggested, a little uneasily, when she realised she'd not only confessed Stellan's secret, but done it with three Crasii in the room.

The old woman smiled. “You heard the duchess,” Maralyce informed the felines. “You are never to repeat a word about what we discuss here, understand? Not among yourselves or to another Tide Lord. Is that clear?”

The three felines nodded without blinking, their eyes glittering in the candlelight.

“There,” Maralyce assured Arkady. “They'll die before they say a word now, although I think you worry unnecessarily.”

“How so?”

“You say Jaxyn's been living in your palace for nearly a year? If that's the case, the one Tide Lord with the power to destroy your husband by exposing his secret has known about him for a long time. The damage is well and truly done, I'd say.”

Before Arkady could reply the ground began to tremble and they heard a faint rumbling in the distance. She gripped the edge of the table in fear and looked to Maralyce, wondering if the old woman knew what the tremor meant. It only lasted for a moment, but it was enough to have Maralyce cursing and on her feet.

“I warned those boys…,” she muttered as she slammed the cabin door open with a wave of her arm and stormed out into the yard.

Arkady glanced at the felines. “What
was
that?”

“I don't know, your grace,” the tabby on her right replied. “A quake, perhaps?”

“Or a cave-in,” she gasped, jumping to her feet to follow Maralyce.
Cayal
…

It must have been well past midnight by now, she realised, when she burst into the yard. The night was clear but her breath frosted as she ran to Maralyce's side. Surrounded by the remainder of the Crasii, who held up torches to light the entrance, the old immortal was staring intently at the mine, as if waiting for something else to occur.

“What happened?”

“Cave-in, probably,” the old miner confirmed. “Just gotta wait awhile now, for the old girl to settle down, 'fore we disturb her again.”

“Do you think…?” Arkady began, afraid to give voice to her fears.

“Well, they ain't dead, I can guarantee that,” Maralyce informed her. “Question is, who started it, and who's gonna have to spend the next five years diggin' himself out?”

“You have to go after them!”

“Not my business.” Maralyce shrugged.

“No,” Arkady agreed, thinking of the danger she might have unleashed with her thoughtless need to set Cayal free. “It's mine.”

 

The tunnel was dark and surprisingly warm. Arkady tried not to hear the deep rumbling ahead of her. With her hand on the rough tunnel wall, she felt her way forward, following her instincts as much as any path she could see. The whole mountain creaked in complaint around her as she ran, biting back a cry of agony as something banged against her shin.

Ignoring the pain, Arkady determined to press on. Somewhere ahead of her, Cayal might be trapped. Somewhere ahead of her, Arkady's entire future hung in the balance, even if, to the men responsible for it, she was nothing more than a distraction.

Arkady stumbled forward, almost falling on her face as the wall underneath her hand suddenly ended and she found herself tripping and skidding down a steep passageway toward a faint glimmer of light in the distance. The deep rumbling was more than a sound here. It was something she could feel. It reverberated through her very body, like a taut wire singing in a stiff breeze. It sang in concert with her fear.

Abruptly, the tunnel ended, opening into a large, torchlit cavern Arkady knew instinctively wasn't natural. Grabbing the supporting beams holding up the tunnel roof, she managed to halt her headlong flight before she plunged into the large open space. Dust floated downwards, and she could hear voices, but it took a moment before she could make out the two figures standing in the centre of the glittering cave.

Arkady bit back a cry of relief when she saw Cayal. His left arm hung at his side and his face was obscured by blood. Worse than that, he was bent over and seemed to be in excruciating pain. There were perhaps five paces between the two men in the strange, polished cavern, and neither of them seemed aware of her presence. Dust from the earlier cave-in obscured the light and gave the cavern a surreal, unworldly atmosphere as it settled.

“That looks painful,” Jaxyn was saying, as Arkady stepped back into the tunnel, her heart thumping. “Did it break? Think you would have learned by now that not even the great Immortal Prince can stop a cave-in with one hand.”

“Your concern is heart-warming,” Cayal gasped in pain. This was the accelerated healing he spoke of, she guessed, her heart constricting to see any creature in such torment.

“Ah, Cayal, I always worry about you,” Jaxyn said with vast insincerity.

“You shouldn't…really,” Cayal replied, straightening a little. He flexed his hand experimentally and although it was clearly causing him intense pain, his arm no longer seemed useless.

“But you leave me so little choice,” Jaxyn said, moving cautiously to the right. “I turn my back on you for a couple of hundred years and look at you! Lost…on the run…about to be hanged…You're a wreck, old boy.”

Still unaware of Arkady's presence, Cayal was completely focussed on Jaxyn, his eyes never leaving his foe. “And you're screwing a duke, I hear. Or being screwed by one.” Cayal wiped the blood from his eye and smiled at Jaxyn in a way that made Arkady's blood run cold. “Tell me, is he always on top or do you take it in turns?”

Jaxyn refused to be taunted, however. He kept on moving, Cayal responding in kind until the two of them were circling each other like hawks getting ready to swoop down on a kill.

“Been talking to the lovely Arkady, I see. What else did she tell you?”

“About you? Not much. She didn't seem impressed by you, at all.”

“Ah, but she was impressed by
you,
wasn't she, brother?” Jaxyn said, an edge to his voice Arkady had rarely heard before. “I hear you told her all about your tragic life. How you were tricked into becoming immortal. Did you tell her about poor Fliss? And what you did to Amaleta?”

“You killed Amaleta,” Cayal countered.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

“It's the truth. I would have saved her, but for you.”

“You sanctimonious bastard,” Jaxyn spat in disgust, always moving, always circling. “Amaleta didn't die in some noble cause you were defending. She died because you drove a bloody great knife into her chest and then stood back and watched her bleed to death, just to get one up on me. And for what? To save some wretched mortal child who was dead a year later, anyway? Tides, you're a hypocrite, Cayal.”

“Better a hypocrite than a monster.”

Jaxyn laughed. “A monster?
Me
? Did you tell Arkady some of the other things you've done, while you were painting yourself as an immortal hero? Mention what happened to Kordana, perhaps?”

“Tryan destroyed Kordana,” Cayal snarled.

“Only after you turned Lakesh into a molten slag heap,” Jaxyn reminded him, as they continued to circle each other warily, their eyes never leaving the other's. “Did you tell her that bit? Or what you did in Verinia? Why Kinta left Brynden? Why there's nothing north of the Shevron Mountains but wasteland after you and Lukys were done with it? She might have been interested in what we did in Paradina, too. Who did win that nasty little altercation, by the way? I can never remember if it was you or me. What was the body count? Two hundred thousand? Or was it three? Damn,” he added with a malicious smile, “old age must be making my mind slip.”

“That would imply you had a mind to begin with.”

“Temper, temper, Cayal,” Jaxyn taunted. “Tide's not up far enough for one of your tantrums.”

“Which would be why you're doing so well for yourself here in Glaeba with your boyfriend, I suppose,” Cayal suggested. “I mean, it doesn't take any magical power at all to bend over and grab your ankles.”

Jaxyn smiled. “Insulting me isn't going to get you out of this, Cayal.”

“What were you planning, anyway, Jaxyn? Make yourself at home in Lebec and wait for the Tide to turn?”

“Good plan, I thought,” Jaxyn agreed. “Particularly as it turns out I was right.”

“Your standards are dropping. There was a time a country this small wouldn't have warranted your attention.”

“There was a time the people of Amyrantha feared and respected the Immortal Prince, too,” Jaxyn reminded him, as they continued to circle, matching each other pace for pace. Arkady couldn't tear her eyes away. It was like watching some strange dance for which only Cayal and Jaxyn knew the steps. “And look at him now…all pathetic and tragic and wanting to die.”

“What do you want with these people, Jaxyn?”

“The same thing you want, Cayal. Somewhere to rest my weary head while the years tick away. I just happen to like doing it in a bit more comfort than you. With a lot less agonising over it, too, I might add.”

Cayal shook his head. He was standing much straighter now, although he still seemed to be in pain. “It won't be easy, Jaxyn. Not this time. The Tide's been out a good long while. The human race has progressed. They've moved beyond folklore and worshipping gods. They've even explained away the Crasii. These people aren't going to fall at your feet the moment you announce you're a Tide Lord.”

“I don't need them to.” Jaxyn shrugged. “All I need is the Crasii. Once every gemang in the country turns their back on their human masters and starts following those they were bred to serve, just watch how quickly Glaeba falls.”

Cayal had no argument with that, which terrified Arkady. If Jaxyn was right, taking Glaeba was going to be as easy as giving the command. What had Mathu said to her once?
If the Crasii ever took it upon themselves to revolt, we'd be in a lot of trouble.

“Suppose one of the others has their eye on Glaeba?”

“Then they can fight me for it,” Jaxyn replied, unconcerned. “Starting with you.”

This was a side of Jaxyn she'd never seen before and it horrified Arkady. The idea this man—this amoral, unprincipled
monster
—not only could, but probably
would,
destroy everything she loved, everything she knew, filled her with anger. And an overwhelming sense of helplessness. How could anybody fight something so insidious, so ephemeral?

So unbelievable…

Cayal shook his head, wincing with the pain he was so desperately trying not to show. Arkady didn't blame him, understanding that to show weakness in front of a man like Jaxyn was to expose one's throat to the wolf. “I don't want to rule your wretched little country.”

“Let me guess…all you want is Arkady…how sweet.”

Cayal laughed so derisively, it cut Arkady to the core. “Tides, what would I want with her? She's so full of the importance of her own opinions it's a wonder her spine doesn't snap under the pressure. You want her? Take her. I don't give a toss.”

Jaxyn shook his head, frowning. “You know, it irks me that I can never really tell if you're lying.”

“Try to imagine how much sleep I'm going to lose over that news, Jaxyn.”

They were still circling each other, but the circle had gotten smaller as they talked. Arkady wasn't sure if Cayal realised Jaxyn was closing in on him. Perhaps the pain was distracting him.

“Try to imagine how little I
care,
Cayal,” Jaxyn replied, and then he moved, so quickly his arm was a blur. Arkady cried out a warning, but it was too late, the knife Jaxyn wielded plunging into Cayal before he had a chance to react.

His eyes glittering with malice, Jaxyn glanced over his shoulder at her cry, and she realised she'd given herself away.

The instinct for self-preservation took over, without consciously thinking about it, Arkady turned and ran. Her last sight as she fled up the steep tunnel was Jaxyn thrusting the knife into his immortal companion over and over again until there was nothing but blood and dust and the rumbling protests of a mine on the brink of collapse.

Arkady ran. Her heart pounding with fear as much as the exertion, she bolted back the way she'd come. The mine rumbled around her, the creaking replaced by the sharp crack of splintering rock. The mine was breaking up behind her, taking the cavern and probably Cayal and Jaxyn with it. She didn't have time to dwell on what that meant, but her eyes blurred with tears as she stumbled out of the mine and into the ring of torch-bearing felines.