by JA Andrews
It was her voice. Not a Keeper’s voice, not the voice of Lukas’s sister, or a slave, or a poor girl from the Lees. This was her own voice and it combined all those things to become something more. Something stronger.
And she listened.
Every place the collar touched her neck, she forced energy into it.
A third stone split and Lukas snarled. From the front door of the shop came a sharp crack and Lukas let out a growl.
His face twisted in fury and he set a red ring against Sini’s temple. She was drawing in so much energy, that a flood of vitalle poured into her head.
“Sleep.” Lukas’s voice broke at the end of the word.
Everything went dark.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Sini!”
The voice came from far away, clawing at her. She floated in the deepest, emptiest sleep and all she wanted was to be left alone.
“Sini!” It was more urgent this time, and someone shook her. A man. His voice sounded familiar.
The hard floor pressed against her back. Her eyelids felt thick and heavy and so happy to be closed.
Lukas. His name shot through her mind. What if it was Lukas trying to rouse her? Something tingled gently around her neck. For him she’d open her eyes.
“Lukas?” she whispered. A face came into focus above her. “Will?”
Relief washed over his face. “She’s awake,” he called over his shoulder. He peered back into her face. “Sin, are you all right? Why are you here?”
The memory of the past few minutes flooded in like someone had shoved back the curtains. She let out a groan and tried to sit up. “Lukas was here. Pest brought me to him.” Will’s arm slid under her shoulder and he helped her to sit. “Lukas left when you were at the door. Out the back.”
“What was he wearing?”
A revulsion came over her at answering. She couldn’t betray her brother like that. He needed to be safe.
But that was the collar talking, and Sini grabbed it, trying to yank it off. The metal stayed latched and dug into the back of her neck. “A red cloak,” she said through clenched teeth. “It was really…” Her mind searched for the word, battling to want to keep talking. “Fancy.”
What else? She thought of the deep red stone he’d pressed to her temple, and a surge of fury rose. She grabbed Will’s arm. “He wore burning stones. Lots of them. If you get close and cast out, you’ll feel them.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “So many of them.”
Roan knelt on Sini’s other side.
“You have her?” Will demanded.
Sini shook her head, trying to banish the sleepiness, and the room tilted.
Roan set his hand on her back, holding her steady. “Go.”
Sora stood at the door, her arms crossed, her face livid. “I take it back,” she said, her voice hard. “You do need protecting.” Will rose and motioned for Sora to follow him before Sini remembered the other important thing.
“Will!” Sini called out. “He has both swords.”
Will’s face darkened and he nodded. He and Sora disappeared toward the back of the shop.
“Are you hurt?” Roan’s face was worried and furious. “What do you need?”
Sini tugged at the collar around her neck. “The sunlight.”
“There is no sunlight, Sini. It’s raining.”
“Get me outside.” She tried to stand, and he helped her. “There’s always sunlight.”
Her legs didn’t want to hold her weight. Roan half supported, half carried her out of the room. They stepped past the front door hung broken on its hinges into the chilly rain. The clouds were thick, but to their left the sky was slightly brighter. Sini sank down on a bench along the front of the building. Ignoring the urge to just close her eyes and go back to sleep, she reached up toward the sunfire, drawing in the bits of it that fought their way through the clouds. She shoved it into the collar and the final two stones cracked.
The last of the compulsion to please Lukas scattered. The sleepiness did not, and she leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. She cast out inside her own body, looking for some way to fight it. But there was nothing specific. Just an overwhelming urge to lay down on the bench and go to sleep, despite the cold drizzle.
“Are you…”
She cracked one eye open. Roan stood in front of her, his face drawn in worry.
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine,” he said bluntly. Then he bit his lip and knelt down in front of her. He studied her, his face a still a mix of anger and concern. “Did he hurt you?”
The question sent an ache deep in to her chest. Lukas had promised. He had promised and she had believed him. She pressed her eyes shut at the memory of her legs fixed to the floor. She dug her fingers under the collar at her neck and yanked at it, but it did nothing more than cut into the back of her neck.
A sob tore out of her, and she covered her face.
He had promised.
“Can I help you take that off your neck?” Roan asked gently.
A brand-new surge of fury rolled through her. She wanted to rip it off and fling it into the gutter. She nodded quickly and leaned forward. Roan’s fingers ran along the back of the collar.
“There’s nothing here. No break, no latch…I was going to wait here for Will and Sora, but let’s get you back to the palace. The blacksmith will have to cut it off.” He ducked back into the shop and found paper for a note. Took S. back home. He propped it up in the window and pulled the door closed as well as he could. Sini considered the note for a moment. If only she was going home.
The Stronghold.
Her stomach dropped.
She’d told Lukas how to find the Stronghold. The guilt tasted sour in her mouth. “I need to get to Alaric. As fast as we can.”
“The palace is our goal. Can you stand?”
Roan helped her up, and with a hand on her elbow to keep her steady, started them down the street.
The sleepiness was beginning to fade in the face of the rain, but Sini’s tongue felt thick and dry, and everything inside her ached at the fact that she’d told Lukas how to find the Stronghold. “I’m thirsty,” she whispered
“We’ll be passing through the market soon. I’ll find you something.”
He looked more like a real guard with his uniform wet and his shoes muddy. “How did you find me?”
He gave her a slightly guilty look. “The guards at the gate were to notify me if you left the palace.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You’re watching me?”
“No, I am doing my job and making sure you are safe.”
“Are you watching the other Keepers? Will leaves the palace all the time with Sora.”
Roan shifted. “We keep tabs on Will as well, for his safety. Today, it was reported to me that Pest had taken you into the city. Since he was supposed to be on his way to Marshwell, that needed investigating. Will was with me at the time, and said he’d had some lingering doubts about Pest’s intentions toward you.”
“His intentions?”
“Something about Pest’s emotions being more guilty around you than was necessary.” Roan looked at her pointedly. “How does Will know that?”
“That’s a question for Will to answer.” She frowned. “He said nothing to me about Pest.”
“Apparently he said nothing to anyone. He told me that complicated emotions were common enough that if he investigated every time it happened, he’d never get anything else done.” Roan waited, as though she would explain that to him. She kept her eyes forward and tried to not think about how thirsty she was. “Regardless,” Roan continued, “the news troubled him, and he sent his hawk to follow Pest.” This earned Sini another pointed look. “How exactly is Talen trained to help him follow someone?”
Sini’s legs felt heavy. “Another questions for Will.”
With a disapproving look he continued. “Between Talen and Sora, we were able to track you to that shop. While Talen seemed to believe Pest
had moved on, Sora was sure there were people inside the shop. Care to tell me how she knew that?”
She felt a flicker of irritation. “Will you stop asking me questions about other people and just finish the story?”
“You know the rest. When we found the door locked, Will and Sora were both convinced you were inside, so we forced our way in. We found you alone, lying on the floor.” His grip tightened on her arm. “For a moment I thought you were dead.”
The street gradually grew busier and the drizzle ended. They turned a corner into the wide square that held the bustling city market. Sini stumbled on an uneven cobblestone and her legs almost gave out. Roan helped her to a bench set against a fountain, surrounded by merchants. The commotion set Sini’s head spinning and she reached up for more sunfire. The warmth of it helped a little and her mind perked up.
“How long is the tiredness going to last?” Roan asked.
“I wish I knew.” She tried to swallow. “Is there anything to drink?”
Roan stepped out past the edge of the merchant carts. “Nothing close. And I’m not leaving you here. There are enough guards in the market that one should pass shortly. You can rest until we see one.”
Sini nodded. The dryness in her mouth was growing unbearable. She leaned back and closed her eyes, trying not to think about her thick tongue. The merchant from the cart next to her called out to folks passing by. Sini glanced over at him, surprised to find him familiar. He caught her eye and gave her a wide smile.
He turned to face his new captive audience. “Scarves, jewelry, perfumes, trinkets!”
“You’re the merchant from the Lees,” Sini said.
The man grinned. “The young lady and her guard friend.”
The man’s merchandise was all pushed well inside the roof of his little cart lest the rain begin again. Roan plucked at a silk scarf hanging down inside the cart. Made from thin, bright green silk, it fluttered gently. “Your fortunes have improved.” He ran a skeptical gaze across the finery in the cart. “Earned all this from selling musty cloaks in the Lees, did you?”
“My cart never holds all my wares,” the wiry old man assured him. “Different people need different things. Sometimes the same people need different things on different days.” He glanced at Sini. “For instance, you again look like a young woman who’s in need of…something.”
“Do you have anything that will change someone back into the person you used to know?”
The man stroked his beard, which was much tamer than the last time they’d seen him. “That would be expensive. But I have found that most other people haven’t changed more than I have myself.”
She considered his words. “What if they’ve grown cold and let hatred taint their mind?”
“More’s the pity.” His old face grew somber. “Those things usually have roots in some great pain. The most hateful among us are often worthy of a great deal of pity.” He shot her a smile. “Is there something more concrete you’re after today?”
“Water would be lovely.”
“No water.” He pulled out a drawer at the back of his cart and rummaged through it, pulling out a glass bottle. “But I do have fine old yellow wine from Greentree.”
“I don’t feel up to wine at the moment.”
“Yellow wine is medicinal.” Roan peered at the bottle. “And rare. Neither of us are carrying nearly enough money for that.”
The old man waved away his words. “We can always trade.” He dismissed Roan with a quick glance, then turned to Sini. “That garnet ring on your finger?”
She closed her hand into a fist. “No.”
“Perhaps the silver circlet around your neck?”
Sini let out a tired breath. “If you can get it off, it’s yours. We can’t seem to manage it.”
“I’ve seen quite a few clasps in my time.” He shuffled over and Sini turned so he could see the back of her neck. “Ah, yes.” His fingers tickled along the collar for a moment before she heard a click. “Naponese. There’s a hidden spring. Takes only a slight pressure, but it has to be in just the right place.” The silver band hinged open and he took it off her neck. Sini rubbed the skin under it, expecting to feel some sort of freedom. All she felt was the chill air against her newly bare skin.
“Did it used to hold gems?” the merchant asked, examining the silver.
Roan frowned at the man. “They’ve been lost.”
“No matter, the silver is lovely, and the clasp is in excellent shape.” He clicked the collar closed and tucked it into his drawer. “Your wine, my lady.” He popped the cork out with a flourish and handed it to her.
The glass was smooth and elegant, the neck wrapped in a band of purple ribbon dotted with glass beads and dangling a round yellow tag. She took a sip and the light-yellow liquid flowed through her mouth like a burst of life in the desert. She took another drink and felt a warmth start in her chest and spread outward. The flavor was light and lemony with a hint of something spicier, and the combination perked up her mind.
“That is delicious.” Sini blinked and sat up straighter.
“Can you walk again?” Roan asked. “We should get back to the palace.”
At her nod, he helped her up and offered his arm. She leaned on it as they started through the square.
“What is this?” Sini held up the yellow tag. It wasn’t a perfect circle, more like a rounded flower petal, or a seashell. The underside was light, almost a pearly gold, and perfectly smooth. The top was rougher, dimpled with hundreds of tiny impressions. The bright yellow glittered in the dim sunlight. Ripples of something lighter, like frosted cream, shimmered across the surface when she tilted it. “It’s beautiful.”
“Dragon scale.” Roan stretched to see over the crowd with an irritated expression. His hand on her back exerted enough pressure to keep her moving. “Where’s the guard?”
“A dragon scale?”
He spared her a glance. “Not a real one. The story is that yellow wine was first made in caverns that had once held dragons and the floor was littered with dragon scales. So they decorate the bottles with them. Today they’re made of glass. Or painted silver, if the bottle is expensive enough.”
She took another drink of the wine and her mind cleared a bit more. “This doesn’t look like glass or silver.” Her mind might be waking, but her feet still felt like they were tied to stones.
“C’mon, Sini. Put your arm over my shoulders. Where is the useless excuse for a city guard?”
She complied and Roan half urged, half carried her forward. In the next street they found a guard, and Roan commandeered his horse. He helped Sini up and, ordering the guard to come with them, they moved quickly toward the palace
By the time they reached it, Roan had collected three more guards. Sini felt a bit like a prisoner surrounded by the serious young men. The yellow wine had worked wonders, though. Her head was clear, and she felt mostly-normal by the time they reached the queen’s study, where, although there was no queen, Madeleine and Roan’s father sat at the table and Alaric leaned over a map of Greentree.
“Lukas knows where the Stronghold is,” Sini blurted out.
Alaric straightened. Madeleine frowned at Sini’s wet hair and muddy pants and Sini fought off a moment’s irritation that once again she had shown up before this woman looking like a gutter rat. Madeleine’s frown deepened when she took in Roan’s condition.
“What is she talking about?” the duke demanded of Roan.
The irritation flared into anger at the idea that she couldn’t answer for herself. She forced herself not to snap at the man. “Pest lured me away from the palace,” she said, speaking to Alaric.
The Keeper’s brow dropped at the word ”lured.”
“He offered to show me where my mother was living. But it wasn’t my mother he took me to, it was Lukas.”
Alaric stared at her “Here? In the city?”
“He has houses here.”
“Houses? Plural?” Alaric sat down hard in his chair. “And
he knows where the Stronghold is?”
Sini tried not to notice the appalled expressions on Madeleine and Duke Heath’s faces. “I didn’t want to tell him.” The word wrung out of her. “He…forced me to.”
Roan tensed at the words.
“Forced you?” Madeleine’s voice dripped with scorn.
Understanding dawned in Alaric’s face. “A compulsion stone.”
Sini sank into a chair and rubbed the skin on her neck.
“He put some sort of necklace on her,” Roan said, “with blue stones.”
Alaric moved around the table to sit next to her. “It’s not your fault, Sini.”
“Then whose fault is it?” demanded Madeleine.
Guilt washed over Sini again and she closed her eyes.
“Sini?” Alaric set his hand on her shoulder and waited until she met his gaze. “It’s not your fault. When Lukas used a compulsion stone on Will, it took him ages to fight it off.”
“I wanted to fight it, but there was no sunlight. There was a small fire, but I couldn’t get enough energy to do anything.”
Alaric squeezed her shoulder. “Now you know what the rest of us feel like all the time.”
“If the Keepers had been here at the palace like the queen has commanded more than once,” Madeleine said, “this would not matter.”
Alaric’s jaw clenched, but he nodded. “They should certainly be brought here now.” He grabbed a piece of paper from the table and wrote a hasty note.
“Send this by raven to the Stronghold immediately,” Alaric commanded a guard standing by the door. “Find the queen and Douglon,” Alaric ordered another. “And notify me the moment Keeper Will returns to the palace; we have to go get the others. Roan, prepare a carriage to leave immediately. The Shield and Mikal will need to sit, the twins will need to lie down. Rett and Gerone should be able to ride. Bring at least a dozen guards.”
Roan nodded and started for the door.
Madeleine and the Duke both watched him obey with narrowed eyes.
“You’re not going,” Madeleine declared to Roan.
He paused. “I am. Excuse me.”
Before he could leave, his father stood. “Your place is here, with Madeleine.”
