How did you respect someone if you claimed to own them? I could feel my face growing hard. Ivo caught my eyes, shaking his head in warning so fractionally that I barely saw it. But he was right. We were outnumbered. Our fight would have to come later.
My vision flickered as a memory surfaced from those somehow given me by the snake people. A memory of a woman, eyes white and glassy as she whispered, “One will come to lead, but not the one who sees. One will come for memory and one for ambition. One will take the honor and one the price. But both are bound together.”
I shivered.
Some of my bees in Juste’s belly soared out, spinning through the air to join me, gathering around my head in a cloud. Juste Montpetit frowned, his upper lip curling in a way that worried me, but he only bowed politely to Ixtap who bowed back, making that ‘S’ sign in front of him again.
“Until all is accomplished,” Le Majest said, turning grandly to us. “Prepare the boat. We leave at once.”
Even Zayana looked worried as we gathered the few things we had, put them in the boat, and silently readied it for launch under the hostile gazes of our enemies.
Osprey caught my eye as he readied the boat to launch. He was just as hunched as Juste but he winked at me. Cold crept up my spine at the sight of that. He only ever winked when something bad was happening.
“We situated your boat past the falls,” Ixtap said. “From here, there are only a few rapids and then you will reach the sea.”
“Eyes forward!” Juste Montpetit barked.
We turned, looking down the river, but something in me rebelled. They were planning something – I could tell. Something that couldn’t possibly be good for me or for the revolution. If only I had a way to keep an eye on them – to spy on them.
As I thought of it, a tiny bee began to buzz, walking slowly down my arm.
Was she offering to go with them?
“Fly,” I whispered. “Wait patiently with him. Be the eyes of the hive and the ears of the swarm.”
She buzzed away. I had no idea how she would be able to get any kind of information for us, but I could feel her buzz apart from the others. It was bright and confident. She did not share my fears.
We were miles downriver before anyone dared to speak. Juste Montpetit sat in the middle of the boat, silently staring out at the shore as the boat floated down the river. The Forbidding tangled along the coast once again and his smile was spooky as he regarded it, his hands tangling round and round a small glowing snake in his lap.
I swallowed down bile more than once as I kept to the prow of the boat, using my pole to keep the nose of the boat off of rocks when it got shallow and away from the slower parts of the river, staying in the fast-moving channel at the center.
“We shall find fast allies with the Hissan people,” Juste Montpetit said. “They feel as I do about the need for peace and justice for all.”
Wing Ivo cleared his throat. “Had they no healers, Le Majest? I had hoped they could help you.”
Juste Montpetit ran a hand idly through his hair as if he wasn’t hunched over himself. “They see weakness in consulting healers. They are certain I will shake this poison on my own. I agree.”
“A lesser man would be dead already, Le Majest.” Wing Ivo’s warning was careful. And what he must have meant was that even with my bees, we were running out of time. Even I could see that as Osprey swayed slightly at the tiller. He was showing more signs of this, which meant Le’Majest was getting worse. If we didn’t find a healer quickly, he might die. And then I would die, too.
“The Hissan would not have let me leave if they believed that. Their future is pinned to me alongside the future of the Winged Empire.”
I bit my lip at his words. Was it all an act? I thought so, but what if I was wrong? What if under all of that, he thought he was doing what was right? What if he really thought he was bringing peace to the Empire? I should try to warn him, shouldn’t I?
“I saw things in that ceremony,” I said, turning to face him.
“What things did you think you saw?” There was a warning in his voice. But I had to try just once, didn’t I?
“They are not friends to the Winged Empire,” I said, as certain of that as of anything I ever knew. Behind him, Osprey was shaking his head at me, eyes wide. But, I had to try. I couldn’t let this happen without at least warning him. “The things I saw ... they have a Wing imprisoned in their territory. A man with two ravens as manifestations. Did they tell you that?”
Behind him, Ivo’s jaw dropped. He and Osprey shared a sharp look before making their faces like stone again.
“They hate everything that flies,” I pushed on. “Hate the Winged Empire with all their hearts. They will destroy your Empire if they can. They will kill your father if they can. It’s all they’ve wanted for generations.”
Juste Montpetit’s expression never wavered. His wide eyes stayed innocent and his smile smooth.
“Nonsense. You’re only a foolish girl with the wrong kind of magic. These people are one with us in peace. We shall meet the commitments I have given them with integrity and dignity.”
A creeping sense came over me. What commitments had he made?
I made the sign of the bird respectfully, eyes lowered. I shouldn’t have spoken. He wasn’t ready to hear it. But if he didn’t listen, then how many people would die when the Hissan people finally got the revenge they wanted and rolled over the freshly-unarmed Winged Empire like a flood?
I was still bowed when a hand grabbed my hair.
Juste Montpetit moved with the speed of a snake. He wrenched my head back, looking into my eyes.
“The next time you utter what you think you saw, you pathetic colonial, I will cut one of those pretty eyes right from your face. Do you understand me?” His smile never wavered. His glorious curls didn’t even dislodge.
“Le Majest.” I met his eyes without allowing the spike of terror within me to show. It was all I would give him – an acknowledgment of his position.
“I want to hear agreement,” he hissed.
“And I want my freedom,” I returned. “We all want things we can’t have.”
“Osprey,” Juste Montpetit said the name like a caress. A wicked gleam danced in his bright eyes. “Take hold of this bee-lover.”
I looked past Juste Montpetit to see Osprey close his eyes for a heartbeat, biting his lip. Ivo jabbed him in the ribs hard enough that his eyes snapped open and his expression turned to stone as he strode forward.
“Keep the tiller firmly in hand, Wing Ivo,” Juste Montpetit said as the boat wavered in the river. “This does not concern you. Move even an inch and I will have Osprey hit you. Move more and I’ll have him slit your throat. I have plenty of Wings.”
“She’s my apprentice,” Ivo said calmly. “I would prefer her alive.”
“So would I,” the crown prince said. “But, like she said, we all want things we can’t have.”
Osprey stepped carefully around the crown prince and Zayana – who was scrambling backward quickly to join Ivo in the stern – and took up a place beside me, carefully taking my waist in his hands. He was so near that I could smell him. His scent reminded me of cloves.
Juste Montpetit smirked, “Shove her head under the water until I say you may stop.”
Osprey froze. I shot a panicked look at his eyes and saw my fear mirrored. There. A sharp stab of ice tore through me. His hand on my waist was trembling.
“That was a direct order,” Juste whispered. “Or have you stopped snivelling every time I send you a little casket.”
What could he mean by – Osprey moved so fast that I barely had time to suck in a deep breath before my head was underwater, my eyes bulging open as I fought against his hold. He held me by the back of the head – not the hair – and had a hand pressed between my shoulders, holding my upper body against the gunwale of the boat.
I hadn’t thought he would do that. I’d thought – based on that look, based on all he’d said – that he�
�d fight for me.
I bucked against his grip, but the way he held me kept me completely immobilized without giving me enough space to even fight him. Terror rose inside me. I fought against it, trying to remember that I must not breathe in water. Panicking would only speed the need for breath. A tiny part of me realized that the way Osprey held me was keeping the rest of my body from damage, but it was impossible to be grateful as my lungs began to burn, fire shooting from them through my body and searing my mind.
I couldn’t breathe. I needed air.
My hands hit the sides of the boat uselessly.
Fear filled me.
Long moments passed, and passed, and passed until stars danced across the green of the water and my vision flickered.
Relentless. Do not surrender.
Without my permission, my lungs opened and I sucked in a breath of water. Agonizing pain filled me. Conscious thought ended. And it was nothing but pain and more pain and the buzz of my bees echoing endlessly in my mind.
Everything went black.
Chapter Thirteen
I BLACKED OUT A LOT around Juste Montpetit.
I awoke, puking water and coughing, my lungs on fire, my consciousness a ghost of a thing I could barely keep from slipping through my fingers.
“Enough,” Juste Montpetit ordered in a weak voice. “She’s seen enough of your attentions, Guardian. Return to the stern of the boat.”
Osprey’s anguished eyes met mine and though his face remained stony, his eyes seemed as if they were begging my forgiveness. He steadied me with gentle hands, his lips parting as his head shook faintly. I could see the words forming on his lips, see the air breathing across them as he tried to find the right ones. His face had a streak of dirt running across it and his lip was bloody. I must have managed a lucky shot after all. I was too drowned to do more than lift my head.
“I said, release her.” Juste’s words were steely. “Or must I remind you again who gives the orders and who carries them out.”
Osprey let go of me like he was dropping something hot, shame burning bright across his face. He was flushed, his nostrils flaring with every breath and his fists shaking. He was on the verge of something, but I didn’t know if it was fighting or sobbing. Refusing to meet my eyes, he stalked to the stern of the boat, still shaking from head to foot.
“You don’t dare do that again, Le Majest,” Wing Ivo said carefully. He had a bruise on his cheek. When had he gotten that? He rubbed it unconsciously. “Please, don’t risk yourself. Her bees must hold you together until a healer can be found.”
“Only because she stabbed me in the first place,” the crown prince said grimly. I lifted my head just enough to see him situating himself in the floor of the boat, hands clasped to his belly and red blood again staining his shirt. My bees hummed happily in the wound, working to mend him even as my strength slowly rose again.
Zayana hurried to his side, already reaching for her belt pouch.
I wheezed as I pushed myself to my wobbling feet, looking down on him with fury in my eyes.
“Let that be a lesson to you, bees,” he snarled. “You do not defy me. You do not dare defy me or I will make you suffer a hundred times without killing you. I will burn you with fire and skewer you with blades, I will crush your bones, and I will steal your breath. I will make you wish your heart would break to save you from the agony of all I will do to you and I will make those you think care about you be the instruments of your torture. And I will love every second of it as I slowly choke out your life.”
My knees were shaking, my hands with them. But I would not let him break me. I met his eyes, refusing to look away, refusing to be beaten.
“Do you understand me this time?” he asked. Which was the wrong question, because understanding someone was not acquiescing to them.
“Absolutely, I do.”
I was proud of how my voice didn’t waver. Even prouder of how I was able to walk straight-backed to the bow of the boat, pick up my pole, and resume my position fending us off of the rocks in the roiling river. I did not look back again all day. Not even when Zayana offered me water and fish. Not even when she whispered desperately that I could eat, that Le Majest was sleeping. That she’d seen a pink lotus flower growing in the water and that meant peace. Not even when the sun dipped low and darkness swallowed us and the only light to see by was the light of our manifestations.
After a moment, Os flew low over my head, darting over the boat and out in front of us, lighting the river with purplish-white light. It was a moment before I realized his rider was on his back. A sharp pain shot through me, but I refused to think of what that might mean and what part he’d had in hurting me.
I could hear him cursing to himself fainter and fainter as he flew away. If words could slay, an army would fall before him.
Our boat was bathed in a light golden glow and when I looked up, Harpy flapped above us, in perfect time with the speed of the boat.
I glanced back, swallowing as I saw Zayana and the crown prince curled in separate spots in the hull, their breathing easy as they slept. Behind them, Ivo steered the boat, his back still straight despite hours of doing the same. I opened my mouth to speak, but he shook his head. Probably wise. No point in waking those who would harm me.
“We’ll run,” he mouthed to me. A promise that he probably couldn’t keep, but I was grateful all the same. No one else was offering to risk themselves for me.
I fixed my mouth into a grim line and faced forward again. I probably could have slept, but I felt no desire to let my guard down. Every bit of me tingled in anticipation as I waited for the next attack, the next pain, the next reminder that my life was no longer my own.
We traveled for hours into the night as the warmth bled from the earth into the cooling air and goosebumps rose along my arms and every place that my torn clothing exposed my skin to the air. I ached everywhere, inside and out. My heart ached most of all.
I was so tired, so shoved to the edge of myself that I was seeing visions. Little flashes of forest and Forbidding kept filling my vision. I blinked rapidly the first time and it disappeared immediately, but after it happened three more times, I started to get a headache. Almost drowning wasn’t good for a person.
At long last, a glimmer of gold appeared on the horizon. Dawn.
But it was not dawn. The glow was more muted, more faint. And as we drifted closer and closer, I realized what I was seeing. The port. Karkatua. And with it, Juste Montpetit would no longer need my bees and my life would be forfeit. I tensed, wrapping my arms around myself to try to keep from falling apart. I needed a plan and I didn’t know where to begin. Because though Ivo was on my side, he wasn’t strong enough to stand with me against Juste and Osprey. And while Zayana was sympathetic, she was too weak to help. And while Osprey might see hope in me, he would snuff out that hope in a moment if he was ordered to.
I swallowed down bile as the lights grew closer and brighter.
In the distance, the real sun began to rise, painting the morning a vivid pink and ultramarine. So beautiful. Perhaps it would be my last dawn. I tried to savor it, staring out into the bright sky and then closing my eyes as I sucked in long breaths of soft dewy air.
I heard the rustle of feathers and then felt a whisper on my neck, as warm and soft as it was hard to hear.
“With all my honor I am laid before you. With the breaking of my grip on the sword, I am prostrate. With my still-beating heart presented, I am at your mercy.” Osprey’s voice was thick with sorrow.
“Where did you learn those words,” I whispered back, eyes still fixed on the dawn.
“They were the words offered by Illui King of the Citrine Islands when he offered his swords in surrender to the Winged Empire.” His voice was hoarse.
“And what happened to him?” I asked.
“They beheaded him.”
“Perhaps I will do the same,” I said icily.
“That is your choice,” he whispered, his breath hot on my neck, and th
en he was gone.
I spun, looking for him, and saw him in the stern of the boat, whispering with Ivo. Osprey’s eyes were puffy and red. Ivo shook his head, pointing to where Zayana and Le Majest remained asleep in the hull of the boat. Osprey leaned forward, his body language more insistent and then Ivo glanced at me and sighed.
Osprey stepped back again, making the sign of the bird and then Os popped into existence beside him, a bright flare of purplish-white light. His manifestor leapt onto his back, soaring toward me. I barely had time to gasp before he swept me up in his arms, drawing me tight against him.
“One more time, House Apidae. You vowed to fight alongside me. I am asking that you let me show you something that will help. One last flight and then I shall let you go to fly free with Ivo until my binding forces me to hunt you down.”
We swept up into the air, speeding over the flashing river and toward the city. Furtively, I rubbed the armband he’d given me. That feather would come in very handy if he did end up tracking me. I would know when he was close. I peeked at the feather. It glowed bright and hot.
“What are you going to show me?” I asked warily.
My lungs still ached even as they breathed in the fecund algae scent of the river. My body felt like exhausted jelly. I was still getting frustrating flashes of painful memories from my torture in the Cobra Temple and those headache-inducing momentary visions were still disorienting me.
As we neared the walls of Karkatua, a memory flashed over me – the man with two ravens stood on the hill where Karkatua stood now. He pointed toward where I was and his ravens shot out like arrows, a flock of other birds following. Behind them, Claws roared, their polearms held high, their feet churning up the swampy grass as they charged.
I swallowed. He’d been a general. And they put him in that tower.
I shook the memory away.
“It will help with hope. Help with knowing why we are sacrificing everything for this.”
“Why you might be willing to drown me in a river?” I asked.
His body froze. His words dripped with sorrow.
Hive Magic (Empire of War & Wings Book 2) Page 8
