by Clare London
Vain anger flashed in his eyes, as I knew it would. For a moment his sword wavered at my throat, his guard distracted. But as I reached simultaneously for the sword at my hip and the dagger at my back, he recovered more quickly than I’d hoped. He stepped to the same side, sliced down fiercely with his sword and cut through my belt before I could grip the hilt. Leather, buckle, and weapons fell to the ground, clattering clumsily on the cobblestones. I stepped back, avoiding the residual path of the blade, and he pushed past me, spinning me around in his wake and kicking my sword out of reach over to the Library wall. His own sword swung back up to cover me, its blade glinting in the daylight.
“You dare to insult me!” he hissed. He was furious, but enough of a good soldier to stay a sensible distance away from me, even if I’d been rash enough to attack him now I was disarmed. “You were grateful enough for me when everyone else despised you. When no one would have you! But then, I’ve learned not to expect gratitude in return for my loyalty. And not just from my fellow soldiers, but from my previous Mistress too.”
My whole body was tense, waiting either to lunge at him or to defend a strike against me. Any attempt to reach the dagger at my feet would provoke him, and I wasn’t sure how volatile he was. “Mistress Flora thought you a good soldier,” I said. “That’s all you should strive for.”
He grimaced. “That’s why you’re a condemned man and I will wear the earring of a Gold Warrior. You’re weak willed, Maen. Mistress Flora betrayed the Queen, the city, and me! I was her favorite—her special Silver Captain. She owed me for my devotion. Yet she abandoned me in the face of her own cowardice. I’ve found better Mistresses since, and ones who can offer me the attention and rewards I deserve.”
“The Queen cares for no single man,” I said, scornfully. “You’re just one of her Guard. Did you think it could be something different?”
“The Queen?” He glared at me. “No, I can’t be anything more with her, I know. You’re the proof of that, for you seem to be the only one she’d favor, yet you continue to disrespect her. That’s another example of your stupidity, for you’ve also refused the one thing that could have made you more of a man, could have made you a better servant to the Queen, could have brought you back pride and honor in place of all you threw away a year ago with that seditious Bronzeman.”
“You’re referring to the Devotions?” It was the first time I questioned the bright light in his eyes and the surprisingly forceful grip he held on his sword. Maybe he hadn’t been referring to the Queen as his Mistress but someone else, someone who’d been offering him supplements of the Devotions, an enhancement of his natural characteristics that he’d not only accepted willingly, but had craved.
“They’re for our greatness,” he snarled. “To make us better men. Since you brought me down in the battle for Queenship I’ve sought to be as good as you—better than you! And so here we are—living proof of that reversal of fortune.”
“They’re not for greatness, you fool.” I countered angrily. I was moving slowly back toward the Library wall, but I had no idea in which direction he might move first. He stood between me and my discarded sword, and I couldn’t get any closer to it. “They’re to control us, to use us for another’s desire. You can’t see that, blinded by your own self-regard. What vile pressure have you brought to bear on Mistress Chloe to supply you with them—?”
I never finished. There were the sounds of armored men in the distance, a sharp cry from a commanding officer, and a group of soldiers ran around from behind the Library. They were fully armed and led by Zander.
“DARIUS, STAND down!” Zander’s gaze flickered quickly from Darius to me and his eyes narrowed with shock. Edrius stood to one side of him and on the other side were two Silver Captains whom I didn’t know well.
Darius’s sword remained on a line with my throat. “I don’t answer to you, Gold Warrior. I’m not part of your Guard. I’ve arrested this man myself and claim the credit for that.”
Zander’s expression darkened with anger. “You answer to any Gold Warrior who calls, soldier. Stand down or be arrested yourself.”
“He came here armed,” Darius said. “He knows that breaches the terms of his service in the Household. He’s nothing but a traitor!” He and I stared at each other.
Zander barely moved but he had obviously given an order because Edrius stepped swiftly forward, bringing his dagger sharply up against Darius’s throat. Zander reached over and wrestled Darius’s sword from his hand, forcing it back into its sheath at the Silver Captain’s side.
“You’ll answer for this,” he growled at him. “For disobeying a direct order from a senior officer.”
Before he could finish with Darius, or I could straighten up from my position against the Library wall, there were more arrivals. To my astonishment, Mistress Chloe herself came across the courtyard, followed by another group of her own Guard.
“Release my Captain!” she cried out.
She pointed at Darius and two of her other Silver Captains came to stand beside him, their presence a direct challenge to Zander. Edrius dropped his dagger and fell back, with a confused look toward Zander.
“Mistress, forgive me,” Zander said. There was a slight frown on his forehead. “Someone reported trouble at the Library, and I was investigating what had happened.”
Chloe didn’t answer him. She looked from me to Darius, her pretty eyes wide and startled.
“Mistress,” I began. “Whatever there is between me and your Silver Captain, if there’s anything or anyone who’s intimidated you or abused your position in the House of Physic, you should tell the Queen.”
And then she turned fully to face me and her eyes suddenly narrowed. “I have no interest in discussing my Household matters with a traitor,” she said clearly and very coldly. I nearly gasped aloud. Her voice had a harsh tone I’d never heard before from her, and her expression was so fierce that for a moment I barely recognized the gentle, simple soul I thought I’d met in my previous encounters. She looked less like herself and more like… Seleste.
“Darius? Report!” Her sharp order brought a flush to his face.
“Mistress. I left the camp before Maen this morning, knowing he was on his way back here. I was able to take position here at the Library before he arrived, and then arrest him.”
I stared between them. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Zander watching the scene with astonishment almost as great as mine.
“You have been manipulating the Devotions in the same way as the Queen,” I said to Chloe, realization dawning slowly. “Deliberately. And maybe not only for Darius.”
Zander frowned at me. “The Devotions? What do you mean? I don’t understand.”
Chloe ignored him completely. “Darius told me you were a fool,” she replied to me, her delicate voice now smooth and sly. I couldn’t believe she was the same woman. “Yet you’re the only one seeing sense at last, when the others merely follow blindly. But we didn’t act independently, Seleste and I. Who do you think created the mix of Devotions for her, for the battle? I had no ambitions to be Queen, yet there were other sisters I wouldn’t have wanted to bow to. It made sense for me to join Seleste’s campaign and to aid her. And if we have a tool to enhance our men’s performance, why not use it? It makes their lives more tolerable, and our rule of the city considerably more secure. It’s been like that from the beginning of our time here—as you and your scrawny book burrower know only too well, Maen.”
My heartbeat quickened. “It seems your spy has had something more to report than chasing around after a man who merits so little interest.”
She laughed then, her voice lilting back to that of the charming young woman I’d thought she was. “Such modesty! You merit a considerable amount of interest, though you continue to deny it. Unlike my sister, I don’t lust after you, for Darius brings me plenty of his own entertainment in the bedroom. But it’s a pleasure for me to find a man who’s actually scorned the Devotions and all the benefits we tell you
it brings, and yet has grown smarter and stronger because of it.” She glanced over at Zander and his men. “How many of them would have made the same connections you have, Maen? How many of them would have had the intelligence, the tenacity and, I must say, the appetite to pursue some dusty old books back into our shocking past? Many of them can barely make the mark of their own name, let alone stomach the hours of study you must have done.” She turned back to look at me, but I’d seen the flush rise on Zander’s face at her insult.
“You knew all along? About the true history of the planet?”
She shrugged. “I suspected. I don’t need to immerse myself in cobwebs like Nerisa does to be able to confirm it, for I have servants who’ll do that for me. Or obtain the information from others who do know.” I made a move toward her, but she gestured with her hand and her Captains came swiftly to stand beside her. “You showed a touching if misguided concern about my well-being, soldier. But if you want to know who’s been abusing my position at the House of Physic—who’s been infiltrating and stealing his way in there—I believe I have a more worthy culprit. Right here.” She snapped her fingers and two more Silver Captains approached from behind the building opposite the Library, dragging a figure between them.
The bowed head of the captive figure was white-blond, the clothing rough and not city-made.
And behind the three figures walked Seleste, the Queen.
Chapter Thirty
THE SOLDIERS fell to their knees. Dax was already held down, with his arms bound. He didn’t struggle, and it appeared he’d been seriously winded, at the very least, resisting his capture.
I stayed standing.
Seleste had a small group of her own Guard with her, as would be expected, including another Gold Warrior, but I saw she nodded down to Zander as she took up position beside Chloe. The two sisters looked at each other, and then Chloe inclined her head as a mark of respect for the Queen. It was only slightly mocking.
“You may stand,” Seleste said to her men. There was a clatter of leather and metal as they all stood to attention.
I couldn’t take my eyes off Dax. I couldn’t tell if he’d been seriously hurt, though I didn’t see any blood. My fear for him manifested itself as nausea, and my horror at my own part in bringing him back into the city was even more galling. I’d sent him to the House of Physic because I thought he’d have an ally there, when instead I’d sent him directly into the arms of an enemy!
“Maen.” Seleste approached me, much to the consternation of her men. She allowed four of them to flank her, but I could see her angry impatience with them. She’d never lacked courage, though maybe her boldness today was because she had no fear of me as a threat to her personal safety. I watched Chloe draw back with Darius at her side. The soldier inclined his head into her neck as if whispering to her and Chloe flushed a little, her cheeks pink as a girl’s, a look I now found obscene. I didn’t see Kiel anywhere—that was one thing I was grateful for, if it meant he’d escaped the ambush.
And then Dax raised his head to look at me.
There was an open but shallow cut on his forehead and his tunic was torn at the neck, but his eyes were sharp enough to suggest his pain wasn’t too severe. I glanced over to the Library, then back to him. He gave the slightest nod. I hoped that meant he’d helped Kiel to escape the soldiers. I tried to express so much more than that in my face, and I even started to move toward him, but Seleste stepped in front of me.
“Kneel, soldier,” snapped one of the Gold Warriors beside her. He drew his sword to cover me.
I recognized him now, he was called Lyril, and Darius reported to him. Zander stood now at Seleste’s other side, staring at me.
I ignored both of the soldiers and spoke only to Seleste. “Let him go. You’ve tortured him enough in the past and gained nothing. I’ll do whatever you want.”
She laughed, her voice low, examining me with obvious distaste. “As if that might be of interest to me now. I’ve tolerated your empty devotion for too long. Now I find that in return for my patronage and favor, you’ve betrayed me to the Exiles, and continue to do so with no remorse at all.” She glanced over at Chloe. “I thought my sister a paranoid fool, suggesting we clear the eastern block this morning. Assuring me we could expect traitors to step recklessly into our midst and we should allow no obstruction in capturing them.” She stared back at me, her eyes blazing. “She even suggested you’d be sufficiently blinded by lust to come back with him into my Household—into my city! But she was proved right, I see. Right about everything.”
Chloe smiled gently. She was gloating.
Seleste gestured toward Dax’s kneeling body. “The boy was always your weakness, Maen. Luana was right—you are flawed. I’ve wasted too much time on you already. You can watch his execution and then attend your own.” She turned first to Lyril, but hesitated. Then she turned the other way to look at Zander. She put a hand on his shoulder and smiled up at him. “Zander, you have always been a perfect example of a loyal Warrior. You will perform the execution.”
Zander looked perturbed, but he nodded. “Of course, Mistress. I’ll take the Exile soldier to the cells and complete the necessary sanctions—”
“You will do it here and now,” she interrupted. “He kneels before you. Behead him! The longer he lives, the more irritated I become.”
“No!” I cried, in fury and shock. Lyril’s sword darted nearer, its blade whispering against my skin. If I moved to stop this, I would die alongside Dax.
At that moment I didn’t care.
Zander paled, and something fierce flared suddenly in his eyes. He stared at his Queen in wary astonishment. “He’s a city soldier, Mistress, or was once. A soldier is entitled to the forms and rights that we all have, following sentence of death.”
“He’s entitled to nothing!” she snapped.
The soldiers in Zander’s group exchanged startled, furtive glances. Lyril was frowning; his gaze slipped over to Zander, then back to me, as if unsure how to proceed. None of this followed usual military procedure, the strict rules they all lived by.
“He’s already under sentence of death and escaped me once before from Mistress Luana’s Household,” Seleste continued. “This is the equivalent of a battle threat, and I am ultimate commander of the Guard. Who dares to challenge that? This traitor has been caught trying to steal the precious resources of our citizens, and so he merits no trial, no representation, no honor in his death. He’s disgraced the city and his Guard, and has plotted with desperate fugitives to overthrow the authority of your Queen.”
“You are the one who has disgraced the city!” Dax snarled, startling us all. He stretched himself up, straining against the ropes on his arms, his face angry and streaked with sweat, a trail of blood from the cut on his face marking a jagged path down his cheek. The soldiers on either side of him grasped at his shoulders, pulling him back. “I’ve no loyalty left for someone who hoards those resources when others are dying for need of them, someone whose authority was nothing but stolen goods in the first place.”
“What does he mean?” Zander asked his question of no one in particular.
Lyril stepped forward and cuffed Dax viciously on the side of the head. Dax choked and slumped farther down onto the ground. Lyril then proved himself even more of a coward by kicking Dax when he was down. I growled in protest and tried to move in front of Dax to protect him, but Seleste’s Captains reached me first, holding me in place. Dax groaned once, then fell silent. It looked as if Lyril had knocked him unconscious.
“Mistress, let me carry out the sentence,” Lyril cried, his eyes shining with an unhealthy pleasure in his work. “Then for the disgraced Gold Warrior too.”
“Maen too?” Zander looked shocked. “There’s no evidence of treason proven against him, surely?” His gaze darted to me then back to his Queen. “Mistress, I’ve been with him over the last few months and he’s always been a loyal citizen.”
Darius spoke up behind Chloe, his tone respectful, but his
words far from it. “Your watch has been only cursory, it seems, Gold Warrior. Mine has been far more… intimate. He’s been to the Exile camp and returned unharmed. He’s been with the Exile leader—the disgraced Bronzeman, kneeling here. Alone. For all we know, they’ve been plotting against the city ever since the Bronzeman escaped from custody a year ago.”
“Difficult when the Bronzeman was reported dead months ago,” Zander replied with spirit, turning on the other soldier. “What mischief are you creating here? I myself was at that conflict and saw him fall. Maen had nothing to do with the Guard in battle at that time.” He turned back to me, puzzled. “How can any of this be true?”
I spoke quickly, just to him. “Some of it I won’t deny. I’ve met with Dax and the Exiles. But we came back to the city to expose the true story of this planet, as shown in the early Histories. It’s not as we were told, Zander.”
“The Histories?” Zander seemed to have forgotten he was in the presence of his Mistress and that I was her prisoner. “Those old books Kiel works on?”
Chloe had come to stand at Seleste’s side and now she touched her sister’s arm, her voice urgent. “I believe Kiel is the name of the scribe who was with the Exile traitor at the House of Physic just now. Unfortunately we weren’t able to catch him as well, but we will. He’s as much a conspirator as the others, of course.”
“Kiel?” Zander’s voice was barely above a whisper. His eyes narrowed as he stared at Seleste and Chloe together. Neither of the Mistresses seemed to be listening to him.
“And then he’ll be executed too,” Seleste said. She whirled around and must have caught sight of Zander’s horrified expression. “Don’t tell me you want a Remainder to have access to sanctions and honor, the same as a city soldier?” She laughed carelessly. “You are stupid as well as confused, soldier.”
