Treason: Book Two of the Grimoire Saga (a Young Adult Fantasy series) (17 page)

Aislynn sighed. “That was my point.”

“Guards will check on you at random intervals, Vagabond,” Ithone said, as though the armies of all four kingdoms were at his command.

“Let her rest,” Aislynn said with a nod to the door.

“Ah, no, after you.” Gavin stood behind the Queen, apparently learning from his mistake the first time he’d left the room before Aislynn.

The Bloods and soldiers filed out. Once the door closed, someone locked it yet again from the outside.

Kara leaned against the headboard and released a long sigh. Flick’s paw twitched, and he moaned. Kara smiled and scratched his ear as he blinked his eyes open.

“Welcome back, little buddy,” she said.

He squeaked and burrowed back into the pillow.

Kara grabbed her Grimoire pendant from its hiding place and slipped it around her neck once more. That had been way too close. She needed the Vagabond’s help.

If guards were going to check on her at random intervals, she didn’t want them to see her reading the Grimoire. It was a miracle they hadn’t already taken it from her—they’d all likely guessed she kept it in her pendant by now. It might have been the frenzy of the last few days or the constant power struggle that had distracted the Bloods, but she didn’t want to remind them.

Her best bet of speaking to the first Vagabond was for him to bring her into the Grimoire, as he had in Kirelm all those months ago. Back then, he’d wanted to learn more of her situation. But now, it was her turn to ask questions.

She lay on the bed and took slow, deep breaths. There was no telling if this would work, but she had to try.

“Vagabond, we need to talk. Pull me in.”

Kara chanted the words under her breath, repeating them until sleep tugged at the corners of her eyes. Her eyes stopped darting around, even though she tried to move them. Goose bumps raced along her neck. The light from her bedroom dissolved, plunging her into darkness.

It worked!

“What is it, Kara?”

The first Vagabond’s voice echoed around her. Mobility returned. She stretched her fingers and sat up, but the bed had disappeared. She floated in a void, and the Vagabond was nowhere to be seen.

“Braeden is in trouble,” she said, hoping he could hear her.

“I know,” he responded.

She nodded. Of course he knew. He saw what she saw, and probably took a lot more from it than she did.

“What do I do? How can we save him?” she asked.

“I have an idea, but it is risky and may not even work. It also comes with a price.”

“What price?”

The Vagabond stepped into view as if he’d simply walked out of the shadows. He glanced over her at first without answering, his skin solid. In her head, he always appeared as he was in life: tanned, scarred, and without a hood. He crossed his arms and grinned.

“Wouldn’t you rather hear my plan first?” he finally asked.

“By all means.”

“If you allow me to possess you during his trial, your natural power would be magnified. I could force them to listen to you. But because you would undoubtedly need to use magic, the possession would take nearly all of your energy and may still not be enough to change the Bloods’ minds. I will defend Braeden, but it wouldn’t be like the time I saved you from his daru. You would undoubtedly faint afterward. You would be unconscious for several days and weak when you wake up. You would need someone to protect you during that time.”

“I can find Twin. She—”

“No one with the Bloodline. Because you haven’t made more vagabonds, your only hope is for the muses to come.”

She ignored his jibe. “That’s a pretty big risk.”

“Yes. Adele will undoubtedly sense that she is needed, but she may not be able to come. If they don’t, you will be vulnerable. Is Braeden worth it?”

“Of course he is.”

“Why do you want so badly to help him?”

“He protected me. I’m just returning the favor. It’s what friends do.”

“I know when you’re lying, Kara.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not—”

“Answer me truthfully, for once! Do you love him?”

“Just tell me what to do, Vagabond.”

“It is a simple question.”

“You can’t throw that word around! Just tell me what to do!”

“I will, but as I said, it comes with a price.”

“And what’s that?”

“You already know.”

Kara paused, and it took a few moments before it clicked in her mind. “No! I won’t make more vagabonds!”

“Then Braeden will die.”

“You—!” Kara cut herself off. Calling him names wouldn’t solve anything.

“You don’t have much time left to debate your options, my girl. Turn someone you trust. Task them to create one vagabond for every Grimoire I made. It will be your job to distract the Bloods while he or she creates your army. Do that, and I will help you save him.”

“If I don’t, you’ll really let him die? After all he’s done for us?”

“Yes.”

Kara cursed under her breath, though loud enough for him to hear.

“This is what I meant, Kara, when I told you vagabonds cannot love. This is the lesson I learned with Helen, a lesson that broke me. Please, don’t make me do this to you! Just learn from my mistakes! Braeden is leverage. He is your weakness. If you care for him, if you love him, others can use him to make you do what you otherwise never would.”

“You still don’t have to do this. Not now, not to prove a point.”

“You are too stubborn to learn any other way. Whatever your choice in this matter, I win.”

“You’re sick.”

“I’m not. I tried to teach you this lesson already, but you wouldn’t listen. You had to learn it for yourself, the hard way. This is real. This is life or death. This is what others will do to you if you choose to save him. So ask yourself: is he worth it? There is no escape from a promise you make to me.”

Kara took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around herself as she debated her options. She had no plan. She couldn’t save Braeden without the first Vagabond’s help, but either way she chose, her mentor truly would win—she either had to create more vagabonds or let the boy she cared for die.

Making more vagabonds was wrong. She would only be risking their lives, as well as tempting the Bloods to go to war against her. Kara would become a pawn to her dead mentor’s will if she didn’t uphold her beliefs. But could she really let Braeden die to avoid that?

“Damn you,” she said under her breath.

“So you’ve decided?” the first Vagabond asked.

“Yes.”

Kara took a deep, steadying breath. Regret stabbed at her, but she didn’t have any other choice.

The creak of the prison door opening woke Braeden before he realized he had once again fallen asleep. Light from the brilliant morning outside blinded him for a moment as it streamed through the barred windows of his cell. As he blinked away the spots in his vision, a fleet of guards entered the room. Each took slow steps, no doubt unsure of what to expect from a chained Heir.

Demnug pushed his way through the group and knelt, releasing the ankle constraints before he lifted Braeden gently to his feet. Braeden sighed with relief, and the black scars framed by the holes in his pants slowly began to heal.

The soldiers led him out of his cell and through dozens of halls, likely knowing they didn’t stand a chance if he broke free of the arm restraints. But Braeden walked on, un-prodded and led without even a chain between himself and the captain.

The procession took ages. They climbed stairwells and turned down long halls in an endless labyrinth that reminded Braeden of the maze of tunnels in the Hillsidian castle. Though the poison in his blood slowed his gait and weighed his feet, he forced himself to remain in his Hillsidian form and focused on staying calm.

They passed a cluster of Ayavelian maids in aprons who gasped as they saw the black blood trail from his wrists. They muttered and clicked their tongues as he walked by, but he ignored them and focused on composing what he would say to the Bloods.

Demnug rounded a corner and walked through a massive set of doors into a grand throne room. Four elegant chairs sat in front of Aislynn’s three thrones. Gavin, Frine, Ithone, and Aislynn each sat in these forward chairs, waiting for him to enter.

Evelyn stood behind Aislynn, one arm on her aunt’s shoulder, and glared with unmasked loathing at Braeden as he entered. The spaces behind Frine and Ithone were empty, their Heirs taken as they were in the battle. Soldiers from every kingdom lined the walls, a dozen or more bodies thick. Braeden would never have been able to fight his way out of the throne room, but he didn’t intend on trying.

Though it was custom for soldiers to always stare straight ahead, every guard in the room watched Braeden as he stopped before the members of the royal jury. Demnug bowed and walked into the crowd without looking back, his guards following him until Braeden stood alone.

Gavin groaned in disgust. “Don’t insult us any further, Stelian. Show us your true form.”

Braeden took a deep breath and focused on keeping his voice steady. “This is my true form, brother. This is who I have been for the last twelve years, and this is who I will be, whatever you four decide today. I kept the secret of my heritage because I knew this would happen, regardless of everything I’ve done to protect Hillside. I only kept my secret to protect myself, never to hurt anyone.”

“Hillside is no longer your home, nor should it have been,” Gavin said. The statement stung as much as the spikes, but Braeden tried not to let the pain register on his face.

Braeden turned to the other Bloods. “I want to do whatever I can to redeem myself. Blood Gavin informed me that some were taken yesterday. I will go to the Stele and free them, if you will let me.”

Ithone laughed bitterly. “How is this not a trick to simply get home? Your father’s reputation precedes you, after all. I doubt there is anything you could do to redeem your derelict honor.”

“I have honor.”

“Pray tell,” Ithone said.

“I’ve killed a hundred or more isen to protect Hillside and its neighbors.”

“No doubt with the powers you inherited from your father,” Blood Frine pointed out.

“I saved Blood Gavin from my father yesterday with those same powers,” Braeden countered.

Gavin tensed his jaw, but didn’t answer.

“Bloods, I must confess something,” Aislynn said. The other three yakona on the platform turned to her.

Braeden’s heart leapt.

“You recall the time I spent jailed in Carden’s prisons, tortured for information on your locations. I would not speak, and when his guards failed to break me, Carden himself caused me the worst pain I have ever felt in my life.”

Braeden’s heart fell again. She’d lied. Except for the slivers technique, Carden hadn’t tortured her; Braeden had. He looked at the queen and saw Aislynn’s eyes slip out of focus.

She took a deep breath. “That night, when I lay curled in my cell and thought that I would surely break, a young woman snuck in and helped me escape. It was none other than Braeden’s mother, the Lady of the Stele. She ushered me into a carriage and returned with the then-young Braeden, whom she wanted to also free from Carden’s wrath.

“Braeden’s mother smuggled us both out of the Stele. Though isen ambushed her, he and I were nestled in a hidden compartment and stayed safe until Richard happened upon us. She gave her freedom to save my life, so I lied to Richard in order to protect Braeden. I told the boy to shift form. In doing so, he could claim to be a Hillsidian orphan I rescued from the Stele. I feel as though, in a way, we rescued each other.

“I caution you all, then, against killing a yakona who has proven himself so unlike his father. To do so would destroy the value we place on goodness in the world, as scant as it has become.”

No one spoke or questioned her account. The other three Bloods stared at the floor, and a glimmer of hope sprung to life in Braeden’s gut as the men fumed over this new information.

Gavin glanced up first, his brow furrowed. “Braeden, I don’t doubt that somewhere in your heart is an ounce of kindness, but I also firmly believe that any good you have done was for selfish reasons. Though I appreciate Aislynn’s rescue, you had nothing to do with it. Killing you would bring us one step closer to eradicating evil from our world entirely. I must consider that.”

“Would killing him not be an evil act?” Aislynn demanded.

“No,” Gavin said, but he didn’t look Braeden in the eye.

“How do you vote, then?” Frine asked.

Gavin gestured to Braeden. “I vote to kill this traitor. Blood Ithone, do you wish for the Heir to the Stele to live?”

“No. Blood Frine?”

Frine watched Braeden, dissecting him with his glare before finally whispering his reply. “No. Blood Aislynn?”

“Yes,” she said with a sigh, her vote outweighed.

“Then let’s not delay this any further,” Gavin said.

He signaled to Demnug, who drew his sword on command. The captain hesitated, and Gavin rolled his eyes. The conflict in the Demnug’s face dissolved into disgust. Braeden figured Gavin now controlled the man’s mind, but he no longer had the strength to care.

Demnug flew backward as if pushed by an invisible force. He hit the wall with a groan and fell into the crowds of soldiers.

Kara stood at the open double doors and lowered her hand from where it pointed toward Demnug’s crumpled body. She walked into the room, her figure shrouded in black wisps that framed her like a cloak. She stopped just in front of Braeden, but didn’t once look at him. Judging by the swirling black wisps clinging to her body, the first Vagabond had taken over.

“You have defied me for the last time!” Gavin yelled.

He stood, but Kara just raised her hand in response. The stone of Gavin’s seat sprang to life, quickly growing over his arms to lock him firmly in place.

“I am above you,” she said. Her voice had two pitches: her delicate soprano, and the churning bellow of a man.

The soldiers murmured. Some aimed their weapons at her, but Kara continued after just a short pause.

“I am above your rules and pettiness. I have only ever tried to unite these nations in peace, and you have only ever fought me tooth and nail. You are disgusting, all of you.