To Kill a Wizard: Rose's Story (The Protectors of Tarak Book 1) (26 page)

We reached our destination after creeping within the elaborate passageways that no doubt weaved throughout the entire castle. Meisha settled on the wooden bench as if we relaxed in the gardens, rather than a dusty, cramped space, lit only by a single flickering lantern at our feet. She slid a metal bar to the side, revealing a rectangular space where we had an easy view of the stunning sitting room.

Fabric of gold and mahogany spilled down the walls, creating a flowing nest for the furniture in the center of the room. A wide couch with mahogany and gold strips faced two chairs with the same fabric. A low table sat in the middle of the sitting area, with trays of delicate foods, and steaming cups of tea.

“What are we doing here?” I asked, for the thousandth time.

This time, quite unexpectedly, she turned to me. Sadness etched across her face. “Your training has been unusual from the beginning. Were we not at war, it would have been a slow, careful process. We would have made certain there were no gaps in either your understanding or your dedication to us.”

“So, you’ve brought me here to… educate me?”

She nodded. “More than you know.”

A flicker of fear lit inside me. “Meisha, what’s going on?”

“You do not trust us. Understandably so. It took me a very long time not to think of Blair as my enemy. To understand who my true enemy was.” Her gaze searched my face. “Blair thought showing you Sereus would be enough to earn, if not your complete loyalty, at least your faith that you fought on the right side. But now she realizes there is a better way.”

“But—?”

There was a sound in the room. My question died on my lips.

Meisha closed the sides on the lantern so that our only light source came from the room itself. We both turned and scooted forward, cheek to cheek, to peer through the slit.

An old woman strode into the room, with hair the color of lightning. She bore herself as only a queen could, with an arrogant disdain as she peered at the room from beyond her sharp, upturned nose. Without a word, she settled herself on the couch, spreading her black velvet skirts and lounging back.

Blair followed slowly after her. She paused behind the woman’s back, and the hatred in her eyes sent chills of fear racing down my spine. There was death in that gaze.

“Sit.” The old woman ordered with a word as sharp as a blade.

Blair’s body snapped into motion, and a look of misery flashed across her face before it was replaced by a neutral one. She sat, back ridged, in one of the chairs.

“Tea?”

The old woman laughed, a harsh sound like the snap of a whip. “From you? No.”

Blair raised a brow. “You doubt the power of your own spell?”

“Of course not,” she said, smirking. “Knowing your True Name makes you as bound to me as a dog on a chain. I do, however, doubt that not everyone is as obedient to me as you.”

My head spun. If she had Blair’s True Name and was misusing it… well, it took a terrible person to do such a thing.

After a moment, Blair replied in a neutral tone. “Between The Orb, the mark on their wrists, and their oaths, the women here are as bound to serving you as I am.”

My hand snaked to the leather bracelet hiding the Mark of The Protectors. Ice raced through my veins. Had I become this old woman’s puppet without even knowing it? Or did the fact that I hadn’t spoken the oath make a difference?

The woman flashed a condescending smirk. “And yet I have not specifically forbidden most of them from killing me, as I have you.”

For a second, Blair’s shoulders hunched. “What are you doing here?” She paused overly long. “My queen.”

I’d suspected… but actually knowing Queen Gaudias was who I spied on… sickness settled in my belly. If I was discovered, would I be hung? The queen wasn’t known for her kindness.

“You know why I’m here.”

When Blair didn’t react, Queen Gaudias’s eyes narrowed.

“My spies came to me with a very interesting piece of gossip,” she hesitated, letting her words settle in. “Calyce’s daughter has finally been Chosen.”

My breath caught. All this was about me?

Only the rapid rise and fall of Blair’s chest indicated the queen’s words distressed her. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Tell me.”

Blair’s mouth snapped open. “She’s here.”

The queen’s eyes twinkled. “Then why are you still recommending I abandon Tarak?”

Blair crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Because we’ve been fighting with the wizards for so long. We’ve lost too many Protectors. And just a few weeks ago, we lost Crista.”

The queen waved her hand. “Must you mention that disappointment again?”

Fury snapped Blair’s head up. “Her extreme wealth of magic was the sole reason we hadn’t lost this war when it first began. And even knowing how valuable she was, you took her life!”

Queen Gaudias drummed her finger on her leg. “Well, how was I to know that? Do you think I want to abandon my kingdom? To seek refuge with some foreign ruler who will tolerate me only as long as I have the funds to do so?” Her hand clenched into a fist. “No! Never! You and this… Rose girl, will finally end this war.”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

The queen’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you say that?”

Blair reached forward and took one of the mugs of tea in her hands. She brought it to her lips and took a sip before speaking. “The Protectors are no longer powerful enough to keep the shield up. Not without Crista. The wizards used a dangerous amount of their magic to break our shield at Sereus.” She paused, taking another sip of her tea. “I would say we have a few days to perhaps a week before they return. And this time, they will be successful.”

The old woman paled. “Was Crista really so important?”

“Yes,” Blair hissed, “but perhaps you were so used to torturing slaves, who could just be
replaced
if they died, that you hadn’t considered what happened if Crista bled to death, for your amusements.”

“Oh, is that what this is about?” The queen tried to hide the nervous tremor in her voice behind another smirk. “Are you angry I killed another one of your friends?”

“That isn’t what this is about.”

“No?” She asked in a tone that was too high. “Well then, I have a simple solution, recruit more girls.”

“No.” Blair’s answer left no room for argument. “Already we recruit ten times more than before the war, most knowing they won’t past the test. We can’t take any more.”

“And yet you waited fifteen years before returning to Duggery for Rose.”

“She wasn’t ready.”

Queen Gaudias leaned forward, gripping the arm of the couch. “You sought to protect her from her fate.”

Blair stared down at her tea. “I think you’re making too many assumptions.”

The queen’s voice dripped with venom as she spoke. “The prophesy was very clear that I couldn’t interfere, so I will not. But I wanted you to know that I’m watching everything,
very
closely.”

Blair took another sip of her tea, seeming completely unaffected by the queen’s threat. “So you’re going to ignore my advice and stay in Tarak, even though I’m telling you we don’t have the strength to keep the shield up much longer. All because of a girl.”

The queen tossed her head in annoyance, sending the loose ringlets flying. “Well, I have faith in her.”

“Because…?”

“Do I always need a reason, dear?” The queen’s annoyance gave way to excitement as her painted lips stretched into a sagging smile. “Well, all right, if you must know. I have both her parents now. And if she should fail to win this war, I’ll kill them.”

Blair said nothing for a very long time, before finally speaking. “I hate you.”

Queen Gaudias rose and circled Blair like a shark. At last, she bent down, and I was afraid I’d miss the words spoken into her ear, but they were loud and clear. “Sometimes at night, I think of the sounds those wizards made when they were dying. It helps me drift off to sleep, for there’s no sweeter melody.”

Blair’s hands curled into fists, but she sat still.

The queen’s voice dropped. “And no one screamed harder than the man you loved.”

“Liar!” Blair shouted, rising to her feet. She panted, crowding the queen. “He never screamed.”

The old woman looked up into Blair’s face, and without blinking an eye, threw her last words like blows. “You would know. Stuck there, so close you could almost see him, touch him, and yet because of my command you could do nothing to save him. It must eat you up inside.”

Blair screamed and raised her fist. Beads of sweet gathered at her forehead as she tried, pushing her hand towards the queen. But her fist simply shook above her head, never moving more than an inch.

Queen Gaudias smoothed her skirts. “Make sure that dear girl gets my message, will you?”

She flounced from the room like a much younger woman, and the door slammed behind her.

Blair sank back into her chair, her face in her hands.

I almost shifted on the hard bench, but a movement kept me still.

A hawk-faced woman stood behind Blair. With a sharp nose and thin, dark brows arching over coal-black eyes, she held herself poised behind Blair like a snake ready to strike. Her full, blackberry colored lips twisted into a sneer.

“What do
you
want?”

The woman responded by leaning closer to Blair. One rebellious strand of curly dark hair escaped and fell across her eye. With a long-fingered hand, she tucked it back into the tight bun at the base of her neck.

Blair turned and glanced at the woman. “Say something or leave, Nazar.”

The name dropped on me like a bucket of ice water. This was the woman who’d tortured Asher.

Both the women in the room stiffened like frightened deer.

My necklace grew hot against my throat.

Meisha’s hand closed around my fist.

Sweat dripped off my forehead as I stared at my fist wrapped in her hand. Fiery heat swallowed our hiding place.

It was me. I realized it with a startled rush.

Releasing my magic, the room instantly cooled.

I sensed Meisha shaking her head in the shadows.

We turned back to the room.

Somewhere not too far away, I sensed Asher waking. His eyes held terror. “Rose?”

And then my awareness of him faded.

“Shouldn’t you be following at your master’s heels?” Blair said, throwing the insult at the other woman.

Nazar frowned, her gaze sliding past our hiding place. “Do not think to distract me with your bad manners.” Her accent made each word a sharp, ugly thing. “I only came to tell you that very soon I shall be the Head Protector.”

Blair stood and faced the other woman. “So you say each time I see you, and yet, you’re still nothing more than the queen’s guard.”

Anger smoldered in Nazar’s eyes. “When I am the Head Protector, you will suffer.”

A second later, Nazar’s body was flung backwards like a ragdoll, striking the wall with a sickening crunch.

Blair smiled and walked over to her, then leaned down as if to help the woman up, but instead simply said, “I think it’s time for you to go.”

Settling into her chair, Blair ignored Nazar as she rose unsteadily to her feet.

Nazar stumbled towards the door. “This is not over.”

A second later, the door slammed shut.

Raw dread flashed over Blair’s face as she rubbed her forehead roughly with her palm.

I glanced at Meisha, feeling we were watching a private moment and shouldn’t be.

“I didn’t mean for you to hear all of that.”

My gaze slid back to Blair, who returned my gaze with her own frank one.

“But it was time you knew what we’re up against.” Unnamed emotions raced across her face. “And not to worry, she hasn’t killed your mother all these years because she can’t.”

“How do you know?” I asked, touching the wall that separated us.

“Because that would mean she was interfering with The Fates. She fears them too much to do such a thing.”

My heart pounded. “I don’t understand.”

Blair’s gaze bore into mine. “Your mother’s choice not to join The Protectors, to fight to remain with your father and you, is the reason so much now lands on your shoulders.”

“But she didn’t stay with us.” The words were laced with anger I didn’t realize I still felt at my mother’s abandonment.

“No, but she tried to. And your father tried to keep his family together.” Her disapproval drew lines at the corners of her mouth. “They couldn’t possibly believe the terrible consequences of their selfish decisions, until they’d lost everything they’d fought so hard for.”

My thoughts spun. “Why didn’t my father ever tell me?”

Blair rose and began to pace. “Magic, of course, and the risk that telling you might cost your mother her life.”

“But how would—?”

She spun and leveled me with a glare. “I didn’t come here to teach you a history lesson. I came here to show you why it’s so important you help us, and why you save Tarak.” She stood up straighter. “Your mother ran from her destiny, which ended in terrible consequences. Will you run from your destiny?”