Warrior Queen (Skeleton Key) (10 page)

K
eleti made
it to the courtyard of the palace and shifted back into human. She was covered in scratches, but they weren’t serious, as her feathers had protected her. Even though she’d known that Bryce would kill her cousin, it still made her sick.

She’d grown up with Nadri. They had shared a magic.

But not a love for the city and its people.

She’d thought Bryce dead when Nadri had marked his location. He couldn’t win a sword fight. Fearing for her children she’d taken flight to see Nadri off.

Then he’d emerged. Her heart had lifted to see him alive.

A priest ran toward her.

“I’m fine. Get Bryce, the Ambassador, before the people turn on him for killing a Heavenly.” If she’d tried to grab him, she’d have been shot by the Southerner’s archers. She had gotten too close to the wall—exactly what Nadri wanted. Nadri had wanted her dead or wounded. Keleti drew in a breath. She would not grieve for her cousin. The woman she had thought her cousin to be had ceased to exist long ago.

A servant brought her clothing and she dressed, ignoring the scratches that marked her skin. Blood seeped through the cloth, but not enough for her to be worried. She was already moving. The priest would make sure that Bryce was safe—she wanted to know that he was all right. She had seen the look on her people’s faces when he’d started shooting Nadri—right now she needed to check on her children.

Around her, parts of the city were burning. Someone else would be taking care of that. She couldn’t be everywhere and she had to trust that it would happen.

She’d had to talk Driska out of helping with the actual fighting. Her wings were too fresh and would tire too easily. No, her eldest was better off being with the children. Only a handful knew that she had taken the mark, a feather had been inked down her spine. As was tradition Keleti had given the feather to create the tattoo. No Southern soldier would expect to face a Heavenly in the children’s room.

Keleti hoped no soldier had got that far.

Her steps quickened as she made her way up. The body of a palace guard was slumped on the floor. Dead. That didn’t bode well. She ran the rest of the way.

One Southern soldier in the corridor, also dead.

The door to the children’s rooms was open. Two of her warriors were there, both had bloodied swords. An enemy soldier was bound and bleeding on the floor.

“Is there any more?” She didn’t want to breathe too soon when there could still be danger in the palace.

Bryce had seen two get dropped.

“One more. He left to take care of the archer shooting at your cousin.” The guard looked uncomfortable even saying it. “Was someone really shooting at a Heavenly?”

Keleti gave a single nod, then walked past and opened up the inner door. Her three children rushed toward her and clung to her. The tension that had been driving her on melted a little. It wasn’t over yet, but the spies were gone and so was her cousin.

She kissed each child. “You are safe.”

Driska looked at her, but didn’t say a word. They would talk later. They would talk about Nadri and her lust for power. Being queen meant sacrifice. It meant remembering that every decision made had a direct impact on someone’s life.

Keleti had stopped even trying to have a life of her own, believing it to be too hard when she had so little time to spare. She needed to make that time so she could share the burden. She did have people willing to help.

Her daughter was one of them. Keleti had to trust that Driska was ready in the same way she’d trusted her daughter to shift and fly—that had been a heart stopping moment and Keleti had been ready to leap off the cliff and rescue her if nothing had happened.

She touched her daughter’s cheek. “Thank you.”

“I didn’t need to do anything.”

“You were here so I could be somewhere else. So I didn’t have to worry.” She had worried. “You were the last line of defense.”

Driska smiled as though realizing that she had been given an important job, not been shut away with the children.

“I’d have fought them off,” her son said, swinging his arm like a sword.

“They wouldn’t have got me,” her other daughter pulled a small knife from under her skirt.

Her children had been far more aware of the danger than Keleti had thought.

“Why don’t you order up some food? I have a few more things to see to.” She knew she wouldn’t get to eat with them tonight.

There was still a battle to win and water to be sourced. And Bryce.

S
eeing
the priest marching along the wall toward him, Bryce hadn’t known if it was to rescue him or to send him over to the afterlife—he had no idea if there was life after death here.

Would his soul get lost because he was in the wrong world?

The warriors had made him kneel and bound his hands. Bryce hadn’t fought. There was too many of them and he knew that in their eyes he’d done the wrong thing. Better to be passive and follow their laws, for the moment anyway.

The priest stopped in front of him.

“You killed a Heavenly, are you aware of the serious nature of your crime?”

“Yes.” He was guessing there wasn’t going to be a lawyer. Would there even be a trial? If he died here maybe he’d wake up at home. However he didn’t want to risk it.

All the priest had to do was get the key for him. He’d done what needed to be done. The key would work and he could leave. He wasn’t ready to leave. He wanted to see Keleti. There was no need for him to rush home…

The arrows had stopped coming over the wall. The battle seemed to be calming down as the invaders had to figure out what to do next. He needed to figure out what he was going to do next. Or at least try and figure out what they were going to do to him.

“You also killed a traitor.” The priest seemed to consider him for a moment. “Bring him to the temple.”

No one argued. There was some murmuring that he had indeed killed the traitor, but the disquiet was palpable. Someone hauled him up to his feet and he was taken to the temple.

Would he be handed the key and sent back without another word?

The idea didn’t fill him with joy the way it should. He wanted longer here. He hadn’t gotten a chance to get to know Keleti better, and he wanted to learn more about this world.

In the cool of the temple, his hands were unbound, but he was still under guard as the priests conferred. The one who had first spoken to him was here.

The doors that opened up onto the cliffs were a little too close for comfort. He shivered, cold now that the adrenalin had left him. He’d killed two people today. Deliberately. The realization made him a little ill.

He’d been wrong in thinking that there would be no review of what had happened. This was the review, and his fate would be decided. And the longer the priests talked, the more sure Bryce became that they weren’t going to kill him. That would break the agreement. He’d do this awful thing for them because no one else would kill a Heavenly, not even a traitor. He’d known that it would mark him as an outsider, but he had hoped for a thank you.

Would the priests force him to use the key and leave immediately?

And what if the key didn’t work?

Most people didn’t know about the key.

The priests stopped talking and looked at him. Bryce kept his gaze level and didn’t look away.

The one with blue eyes walked over. “You are a foreigner; you know our ways but don’t have our customs. Because of that you will live. But you must atone.”

The public would want to see him dealt with. In private he’d be given the key. He held back the groan as he thought of all the things they could make him do. He didn’t know nearly enough about them to make any educated guesses so his mind latched onto all kinds of worst case possibilities.

Paraded through the street…naked?

Some form of corporal punishment? Whipping?

Removal of the fingers that had launched the arrow?

A combination of the above?

Something must have shown on his face because the priest smiled as if enjoying this moment a little too much. Bryce refused to ask or squirm.

“You will face the Heavenly and confess,” the priest said finally.

That was it?

No, there had to be a catch. He waited for it. The priest said nothing.

Bryce gave in. “And then?”

“And then you will do as she says. It was her cousin you killed. Traitor or not.”

There was more to it. The priest had a damn good idea what would happen to him, but was refusing to say anything. Bryce knew that the priest had a thing for the Queen…was the priest a touch jealous? Had he noticed that there was something between Keleti and Bryce?

What exactly that was he didn’t know. Maybe it was just a bit of lust brought on by the battle. He actually didn’t care what it was caused by; he just wanted to revel in that lust and not worry about the consequences.

The other priests left. Bryce sat, waiting. His mouth was dry and his body was starting to ache. “Can I get a drink?”

The remaining priest obliged.

He was hungry too, but that might be pushing it at the moment, so he closed his eyes. What was the state of the city? More importantly, how much water was in the city and how were they going to clear the river?

A priest returned at a run. “We are to hold him until the Heavenly opens the court for audience. She will hear his case first.”

With that announcement, Bryce was taken to a small room. There was a small window that opened up to the ocean. The cliff fell away beneath. He was too close to the edge. The door was shut and locked. It was a step up from the cave…but he was once again in lock up. It was becoming a pattern that he was keen to break.

A stub of candle illuminated the sparse room. There was a small jug of water on a stool and a pot beneath, most of the remaining floor was taken up with a thin looking mattress. He had no idea what time it was, or even if he would sleep but he lay down. There was nothing to explore and nothing else to do.

After a few moments, he got up again and took off his shirt. He used what looked like a clean corner of cloth and a little water to clean any scrapes and cuts. There was nothing too bad.

Nothing that would kill him overnight.

He lay back down and stared at the ceiling, listening to the waves hitting the cliff below and wondering if chunks of the cliff ever fell into the ocean. Would the room he was in break off and slide away? If it did would anybody care? His eyes closed. His dreams were full of falling.

The door slammed open and he woke with a start, exhaustion still tugged at his muscles. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep and yet he had as daylight was filtering through the window.

“The Heavenly is ready to hold an audience,” the blue-eyed priest announced.

Bryce’s heart gave a skip and his stomach gave a bounce. He was facing her as a…a criminal. That was an unpleasant thought, but also the truth. It was why the warriors on the wall had reacted so quickly to arrest him. He’d never been arrested before, and he didn’t like being on this side of the law.

He got up and followed.

A warrior joined them and he seemed to be expecting trouble. Bryce just looked the man in the eye and smiled. There was nowhere for him to run to and he certainly wasn’t going to leave the city and make friends with the other side.

In a great chamber that opened onto the street, Keleti sat on her throne. She looked tired. He probably looked just as bad. He felt like he could sleep for a week—right after eating until he was full. The air was tainted by the smell of smoke, and rotting meat, but there were no sounds of battle. Warriors stood at the edges of the chamber, swathed in shadows. Right now he wished he could be as anonymous. Instead he was rather more infamous.

She didn’t smile as she looked at him.

He’d been hoping for more of a thank you and less of a trial. It would have been nice if this had been done in private. But he knew this had to be done. For the people, for her and for him. He would never be able to walk around the city if he didn’t go through some kind of public ceremony.

If he wanted to stay, he needed to do this and do it well. It was then that he knew he wanted to have that chance. That choice. Hopefully, Keleti wasn’t itching to get rid of him. Her face remained impassive, but he remembered the kisses and the way her hand had felt on him. He tried to hold onto that as he faced her.

He knelt before her because that seemed like the right thing to do. However he didn’t drop his gaze the way he once would’ve. She expected to be looked in the eye, so that’s what he did. He wasn’t the same man who had stumbled through the door to her world.

“You admit to shooting and killing my cousin, the Heavenly Nadri?”

“Yes.”

“That is all, no explanation?”

Ah, this was so the servants and all of those people listening could hear his side. Were the people here just for the gossip, or because they had disputes to settle? Or maybe they had reports to make about the battle. Whatever they were here for, they would take word of his deeds and reasoning and it would spread around the city.

He had never liked being the center of gossip, and that hadn’t changed overnight. Bryce drew in a breath. “I knew that no one else would act. She was a traitor and her actions endangered everyone. I am not one of you, and I don’t share your taboos. I took no pleasure in it, but it needed to be done.”

It hadn’t been an accident. He knew that Keleti knew it had to be done—not that she’d admit that to anyone here. He was sure that the blue-eyed priest with a thing for her also knew that.

He was the fall guy. The one who’d been set up to do this unredeemable thing.

And he’d done it because he thought it would get him home.

As the silence grew, he feared he’d misjudged the whole situation.

Finally Keleti the Heavenly, Warrior Queen of the Telsila spoke. “Remove the Ambassador’s robes.”

Two priests stepped forward. Bryce flinched as they reached for him; however he made himself keep staring ahead, at her. Fabric tore as his clothing was ripped away. He clenched his jaw and refused to let them see any reaction. Naked now, he waited.