The King's Questioner

by Nikki Katz

  She winked, and her hips gained momentum as she walked toward the foyer.

  “Good luck with that,” Kalen muttered as he slipped through the doors into the kitchen.

  The smell of roasted meats and fresh-baked breads made his stomach growl. He spotted Reign on the other side of open shelves filled with dried beans, baking ingredients, and spices. Her fingers danced along the different seasonings.

  “I have proof.”

  She jumped, her eyes widening in his direction.

  “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you.” He dragged his hands through his hair. “I thought by speaking I wouldn’t scare you. Apparently that was a bad idea.” So was his blunt choice of words, he knew.

  Reign stepped out from behind the shelves and smoothed her hands on her skirt. “You’re here, too?”

  “I’m guessing you saw your brother then.”

  Her nose wrinkled. “Is he really my brother?”

  Kalen nodded. “You both have the same memories of the day your mother died.” He paused and swallowed. “And when you were banished from the kingdom.”

  “Banished.” Her voice was low, like she hadn’t meant to repeat the word aloud. “Banished.” Louder this time. “And you expect me to return?”

  “I don’t expect you to.” In fact, Kalen realized he would be surprised if she had any desire to return at all. “However, I hope you do. There was a prophecy that the kingdom would fall if the king went through with his plans to exile you.”

  “Good. I hope it does fall. I hope he falls, too.” Her hands clenched.

  He wished he knew the words that would make her want to return with them and thus save the kingdom—her kingdom, her people. But, even more than that, he wanted to comfort her, to pull her against his chest and run his hands over her hair.

  The door flew open.

  “Help! He’s trying to attack her!” Sasha’s chest heaved as she pointed toward the foyer.

  CHAPTER

  20

  Kalen raced out ahead of Reign into the lounge. His pulse thundered in his ears, but then he heard it above his heartbeat.

  Scuffles and a yelp.

  “Cirrus, don’t!” The words echoed down the short hallway from the foyer.

  Luna.

  Kalen burst into the foyer to see Luna half-hidden behind the desk, her arms extended in front of her. The amulets dripped from her fingers. Her eyes shot to Kalen, and she nodded at the jewels. “Take them and run.”

  He shifted forward, but before he could reach her, Cirrus lunged and yanked at her hair. He spun her around, her back to his chest and his good hand gripping the makeshift staff tight against her throat.

  “Cirrus, let her go!” Kalen shouted.

  Luna dropped the amulets to the carpeted floor and clawed at his arm with her fingernails. Her eyes bulged with panic. Cirrus’s lips squeezed together, and he tightened his grip around her neck.

  “Cirrus!” Kalen reached them and grabbed at the wound on Cirrus’s arm. The prince didn’t even react.

  One of Luna’s arms dropped, and she dug into her cloak.

  “She was talking behind my back.” His eyes locked on Kalen. They had turned from pale to a dark, searing midnight.

  Luna thrashed again, her leg kicking into the desk.

  “She can’t be trusted.” Cirrus scooted away from Kalen, dragging Luna with him. “We need to leave. Now. We need to go home before the prophecy comes true.”

  Reign gasped from behind Kalen, and Cirrus’s focus turned to her. With his attention diverted, Kalen took action. Instead of lunging for Cirrus’s arm again, he shot his hand out toward Luna. Her fingers released the vial he’d seen clasped in her hand. It fell, small and cool, into his palm. He uncapped it and brought it up to Cirrus’s nose in one swift motion. Cirrus whipped his head to the side in an effort not to inhale the vapor, but he wasn’t fast enough. The prince collapsed to the ground, taking Luna with him. Luckily, his chest broke her fall, and his arm collapsed, pulling the staff from her neck.

  She scrambled away on hands and knees. Once she’d gained some distance, her hands flew to her neck, fingers spread to cover and soothe the red marks now staining her skin. She stared at Cirrus for several long seconds. With a jagged breath she reached out for the vial. Kalen corked it and dropped it in her hand. Without even looking at it, she tucked it into her cloak.

  “That was my last use,” she said.

  “Good thing we didn’t waste it on Nero,” Kalen said.

  Reign stepped closer. “What happened to him?”

  Luna reached over to grab the amulets from where they lay scattered on the floor, a mess of leather cords and sparkling jewels, reflecting the sunlight flooding at an angle through the front window. She gathered them and held them up.

  Reign’s hands fluttered to her mouth. “Those are my crystals.”

  “Yes, and you can see what they do to people.” Kalen felt the agitation settling over him like an acidic mist. “They turn your brother into a murderous lunatic. They turn everyone angry. This is what we have been trying to tell you.”

  Reign extended her arm toward Luna, who handed them to her. She cupped them in open palms and peered closer. “I don’t understand. He was supposed to destroy them. He promised he would destroy them.” Her voice tripped on the last of her words.

  Luna buried her hands in her cloak. “He didn’t.” The words were quiet, no trace of her characteristic biting tone.

  “What is he doing with them?” Reign’s fingers curled over the amulets protectively.

  Kalen braced himself against the pulses of anger flowing from the crystals. “He’s been selling them to our kingdom to use as weapons. Ryndel, the King’s Law, has been turning our people—your people—against one another. He’s inciting unrest, but I worry that there’s a bigger plan at work.”

  “Where are they? How many are there?”

  Kalen paused. “I believe Ryndel has two of yours. We already destroyed one, and there are the three here.”

  “You have to take them from Ryndel.” She paused and took a breath. “We have to take them.” She swallowed hard and spoke louder again. Her fingers released the amulets and then clenched tighter as she seemed to reach a level of panic. “We have to get them. And then I’m going into hiding. This can’t happen again.”

  Kalen’s stomach twisted with nausea as he fought against the combined despair flooding from her and the magicked anger coming from the crystals. “Reign, if you’re able to calm down, without Nero’s help, please try.” He spoke through gritted teeth. “We absolutely plan to do as you ask, and we want you to join us. However, first things first.” He paused and looked to Luna. “We have to destroy those.”

  “I’ll do it,” Reign said. She clutched the jewels to her chest.

  “No,” Kalen said, the word loud and harsh in his ears.

  “They are mine. I want to be the one to do this.” She stepped backward as if expecting Kalen to take the crystals from her.

  “Reign.” He inhaled a shaky breath and tried to conjure positive thoughts to negate the magick. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much positivity in his life. His parents abandoning him, his delving constantly into the minds of criminals, his increasing headaches. But one glance at Reign and he realized how similar they were. They both had had rough childhoods, but they had moved beyond them, they were still standing, stronger, about to do something that mattered. Something like saving a kingdom. “You can’t be the one to destroy them.”

  “Why?” Her lips turned down.

  Luna swept in and plucked the amulets out of Reign’s hands. Reign lunged to grab them, but Luna danced away. “Because we’ve done it before. There’s some strange vapor that releases from them that may be the emotions trapped inside. The last thing we want is for them to absorb into you.”

  Kalen nodded, thankful for her explanation.

  “Then who is going to do it?” Reign’s empty hands fell to her sides. She glanced at Kalen. “Not you.”

 
; “Not me.” He agreed with her.

  “I’m going to do it, just as I did the other one.” Luna grabbed Cirrus’s staff from the floor and headed toward the front door. Kalen followed close behind.

  “Where are you going?” Reign asked, reaching for Kalen’s arm. He felt the heat from her touch travel up his arm and into the center of his chest.

  “She’s my friend. I need to be there to help if necessary.”

  Reign’s hand fell, and with it the heat.

  “You need to stay here and watch your brother,” Kalen said as Luna opened the door and stepped through. “He will awaken soon.”

  Reign’s eyes flicked to where Cirrus still lay sprawled on the floor.

  “Just don’t get too close to him. He reacts to you, too,” Luna called as she bounded into the street.

  Kalen let the door shut behind him, leaving the prince and princess ensconced in the lounge area.

  Knowing they needed privacy so the emotions wouldn’t latch on to anyone, they paced toward the end of the road, where it curved sharply in on itself and to the upper elevations. Instead of turning to follow the path, they walked toward the cliff’s edge. The flat surface gave way to jagged rocks right before the ledge stopped in a sheer wall to the valley below. Kalen let Luna walk ahead, hoping the distance would be enough that the emotions wouldn’t seep in his direction once they were released.

  Luna faced away from Kalen toward the abyss in front of her. She removed the hood of her cloak, allowing her silver hair to tangle and twist down her back. The wind tugged at the strands as they shone near-white in the horizontal rays of the sun behind them. She reached into her cloak and pulled out the cords. The faceted edges of the jewels blinded him as they reflected the sunlight. She dropped them to the ground. Booted toes nudged the amulets next to one another. She took a deep breath, and then, with a hefty swing, she bent over and slammed the staff head onto the surface of the first jewel.

  Wisps of airy black tendrils pushed through the crack and twisted into the air. Kalen poised, ready to rush forward if they turned toward Luna, but they continued upward, thinning further and separating until they were no longer visible at all.

  She smashed the second one, and before the black trail fully disappeared, she lifted the staff to swing again.

  “No!” The shout erupted from seemingly nowhere, yet somehow Kalen had been expecting it, tense with anticipation. Nero would not let such masterful work be destroyed so easily. “Those took years to create. They’re my life’s fortune. Stop!”

  Nero came running at Luna from the switchback above. Kalen sprinted forward in an attempt to stop him.

  It was a collision of arms and legs, heads and staff.

  An unfortunate collision.

  The staff struck the jewel just as Kalen and Nero reached Luna. The black thread wound its way upward but then twisted, latching onto the object closest to it.

  Nero.

  His eyes bulged. His chest heaved. His rage built.

  And he shoved Kalen. Hard.

  Kalen flew through the air like he’d been kicked by a massive beast, the force of Nero’s hands lifting him off the ground. Kalen’s arms whirled as he tried to regain his balance, but he kept moving away, shifting, scuffling.

  His feet fought for purchase.

  And then there was nothing.

  He plummeted as if the weight of the world clung to his ankles. His gloved hands grabbed for something, anything, to keep him from falling off the edge of the cliff. His boots dug at the wall, searching for holes as he continued to slip and fall. Gloves grasped at anything, the errant stone or wisp of a root. He slid farther, until he stopped suddenly. Hands gripped his own, and his head jerked upward.

  “I’ve got you.”

  Luna, little Luna, lay on her stomach, her arms stretched down the mountainside so her hands held his own. He knew she couldn’t hold him for long. He frantically tried to find a groove wide enough to support his weight. He slipped, one leg swinging wide, and his toes finally caught a small ledge. A gasp escaped his lungs as he fought to hold himself steady.

  Suddenly his gloves slipped, and Luna’s eyes widened.

  “Hold tight.” She adjusted her grip.

  The arms of his cloak slid down, allowing the barest gap of skin. The leather of his gloves continued to slip from her hands.

  “Help!” she screamed, the sound wrenched from her mouth. “Is anyone around? Please, can anyone help me?”

  His hands slipped farther, and his pulse thundered in his ears. He looked down at the gaping jaws of the mountain beneath him and then up at Luna.

  A shadow cast her in darkness. Nero loomed over her, ready to thrust her into the abyss, and Kalen along with her.

  CHAPTER

  21

  Nero’s eyes were darker than a starless sky. His palms lifted to propel Luna forward.

  Suddenly he jolted sideways. A glimpse of red hair and then Reign started beating on the sorcier’s chest.

  “How dare you?” she shrieked. “How dare you use me as a weapon?” She shoved him back a step. He blinked repeatedly at her, as if she spoke a foreign language.

  Luna adjusted one hand so she gripped Kalen’s wrist. It allowed for a little more stability as he looked around for another foothold. A pulse of anger enveloped him, but he isolated it and continued to concentrate on staying alive.

  “You used me. You told me you were helping me, and you used me.” Reign’s voice wavered between anger and hurt. She shoved him again, and he shuffled, unbalanced. “I trusted you, and you destroyed it. You destroyed me, everything I’ve built and tried to accomplish. You made it all worthless. Even worse, you turned it against innocent people.” Another shove. Nero tilted off-balance, as if his legs couldn’t support his own weight.

  “Reign, stop!” Luna shouted. Her grip on Kalen tightened as she twisted her head to watch the duo.

  “You.”

  A shove.

  “Destroyed.”

  Another shove.

  “Me.”

  “Reign, no!” Cirrus’s voice rang over the edge of the cliff.

  Nero collapsed like a marionette whose master had dropped the crossbar, allowing the arms and legs and body to fold in on itself. He listed to the side and, helpless to stop the momentum, tumbled over the edge of the cliff. He didn’t utter a sound as he fell through open space. Kalen closed his eyes, not wanting to watch what would happen when Nero’s body connected with the chasm floor below.

  A stronger grip replaced Luna’s. Cirrus appeared in Kalen’s view and his good arm now locked around Kalen’s.

  “Hold on.”

  Kalen dug his feet in and scrambled up as Cirrus lifted him from above. Luna had led Reign farther up the road, still on the switchback but away from the boys, as if to prevent Reign’s emotions from overwhelming them and causing further harm.

  Once his feet were on solid ground, Kalen bent over, chest heaving. “Thank you,” he managed.

  “Thanks for not killing me when I”—Cirrus swallowed hard—“tried to hurt Luna.”

  “Yeah, I think I’m going to be holding on to that flickerfly ring for a while longer,” Kalen said.

  Cirrus traced a circle in the dirt with his boot. Kalen straightened, and they looked over to where Luna spoke to Reign. “What do we do now?”

  Kalen squatted and gathered up the cracked amulets. Even ruined, they blinded him with their brilliance.

  “Four down. Two to go,” he said. “We need to get home.”

  They walked over to Luna and Reign.

  “Everything okay?” Cirrus asked as the girls’ conversation stalled.

  Reign gave a shaky laugh and backed up several yards. “Everything is far from okay. I just killed a man—”

  “You lost control,” Kalen said. He took a step closer, but she held out her hand so he would maintain his distance. He wondered if it was a gesture of protection for herself or to keep him farther away from her emotions. “It wasn’t intentional, and we can work on
that.”

  “You saved Kalen’s life,” Luna said. “And mine. If you hadn’t arrived when you did, Nero would have surely pushed us both over the edge. He was like a man possessed when he absorbed the crystal’s negativity.”

  “But”—her hands rose to her mouth, as if she could prevent a wail from escaping—“he’s dead. And I am a part of that.”

  Cirrus ran his fingers through his hair. “He’s dead. I’m not dismissing that, but we need to keep moving. We have the ability to save others from these amulets, if only we can return in time.”

  “Spoken like a true prince there.” Kalen nudged Cirrus’s shoulder with his own.

  “Hey.” Cirrus winced and rubbed at his still-healing wound.

  Reign shook her head. “I don’t know if I should go. I don’t know if—” But her words were interrupted by several voices shouting from the direction of the shops.

  “What happened?”

  “Is it an eclipse?”

  “I can’t see!”

  “Don’t move. Everyone stay back from the edge.”

  The foursome glanced at one another and came to an unspoken agreement. They had to figure out what was going on. They ran toward the center of town but stopped short. Townspeople rubbed at their eyes or held their hands out in front of them so as not to run into something. Several lay on the ground where they had tripped in their haste to flee. And there, facing them, cloaked in black, stood the sorcier bounty hunter from the tournament. His black hair was tied in a low ponytail, and his pale skin seemed to glow.

  Kalen threw out his arms to protect the girls, and it was only then that he realized that Luna had disappeared.

  “Bloody crow,” Cirrus muttered under his breath. “Here comes the darkness.”

  “Fancy running into you here,” the sorcier called to them across the crowd, his voice soothing.

  Kalen felt a foreign presence pushing at his mind. A pressure nudging his senses. The hairs on his arms stood upright, and he mentally rebelled against it.

  “Who is that?” Reign asked in Kalen’s ear.

  “He followed us from Mureau. He’s a bounty hunter with an ability.”