The Go-Between

by Andrea Ring

  My heart skips a beat. “With child?”

  She nods. “Zara. Zara is your daughter. She doesn’t know that either of us is her parent, but I’ve done my best to protect her. Please. Don’t punish her for my mistakes. Punish me if you must.”

  I sink down into a chair. “I have a daughter,” I say. “And you kept her from me.”

  “You banished me from your bed when Kai caught us,” she says, sniffling. “What was I to do?”

  “That is a poor excuse for your behavior,” I say. “Get dressed.”

  She rises quickly and fumbles with her sari. “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know yet,” I say honestly. “But there will be consequences. Guards!”

  LX. NILARUNA

  I should have asked Saphala the most important question: do you love Faaris?

  Because the answer would make all the difference.

  Sometimes we travel strange roads to get where we need to go. Saphala always wanted more for her life. She wanted a way out of Dabani. And it sounds like she made poor choices to make her dream come true.

  But who am I to judge? I, too, did intimate things with a man I am not marrying. I, too, will have to explain that to my future…to Kai.

  It makes my heart hurt to think about that conversation.

  Because even though Kai has played around, as Manoj hinted, it’s different for men. That is the reality. Saphala and I can be rejected for following our hearts, or our dreams. We can be deemed unworthy of marriage and family. Only a pure woman is an honorable one.

  I would have agreed with that statement a moon ago. And I still agree with it in the sense that a woman should be honorable for her husband. But I haven’t besmirched anyone’s honor. I loved Maja. I did not even know Kai. How was I to predict these events, that my actions with Maja might someday be ones I regret rather than cherish?

  When I stand in front of Kai and have to tell him of my past, I will be thinking of one thing, and it won’t be Maja’s feelings.

  I will be thinking how very sorry I am to hurt someone I’ve come to love.

  There it is. I have admitted it.

  I love Kai.

  How can I not, with his new-found hatred of figs, his absolute care for me, his regret about his mother, his worry for Jatani…and his favorite color is green, same as mine. He might not be a hero yet, but he has a true heart, and that is all I ever wanted in a man.

  If things had worked out differently…but they didn’t. I rejected love for my kingdom. And I was lucky enough to find love for my kingdom.

  I won’t let this one slip away. Whatever I need to do to hold it close, to survive long enough to enjoy its blessings, I will do.

  Even if that means I must become a mistress.

  LXI. PRINCE KAI

  I’m giving the last of my instructions to my servants and Manoj when Faaris bursts into my chambers.

  “Everyone out!” he yells. “Now!”

  I nod at my servants, and they swiftly depart.

  “What is it?” I ask him.

  “The assassin is in the palace,” Faaris says, breathing hard. “We don’t know who it is, or if they’re ready to strike, but you know the person, Kai.”

  “What? How do you know that?” Manoj says.

  “Shiva,” Faaris says. “I’ve got the girls locked up in Nili’s chambers. I think we should summon every single person you know in the compound to the throne room, and then have Nili question them.”

  I try to process this. “That’s a lot of people,” I say.

  “We can do it groups,” Manoj says. “Start with people closest to you, so we know who we can trust. We can branch out from there.”

  “Okay,” I say. “Let’s do it. You two summon the first group — royal guards and servants who reside or work in our wing. I’ll get Nili and inform my father.”

  We go.

  ***

  I knock on Nili’s door and enter without an invitation. She is sitting by the window, staring at the sea through her veil.

  “Thank the gods you’re okay,” she says, rushing to me. I hold her close. “I thought the worst.”

  “We have a plan,” I say, pulling back. “But it involves you questioning people to see if they’re telling the truth. Are you up for it?”

  “Of course,” I say.

  “Where’s Saphala? Faaris said she was with you.”

  “I sent her back to her room,” she says. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you tonight.”

  I raise an eyebrow at her, and she sighs. “All I can say is that she’s hiding things. Big things. But this is more important.”

  “I trust you,” I say. “I need to meet with my father and let him know what’s going on. Are you up for that as well?”

  Nili takes my hand. “Lead the way.”

  ***

  A guard leads us into my father’s chambers. We find him sitting in a chair in his robe. He looks green.

  “Father, are you alright?’ I ask, squatting down next to him.

  “Should I call for a healer?” Nili asks.

  “I’m fine,” my father says. “Well, I’m not fine, but it’s nothing a healer can fix.”

  “What’s happened?” I ask.

  He looks at me with bloodshot eyes. “Did you know I was in love with Mita, long before I met your mother?”

  I blink. “I knew she was your mistress. But no, I didn’t know that.”

  “We were childhood sweethearts, but I had to keep her a secret. Mita wasn’t a noble — she was only the seamstress’s daughter. I wasn’t allowed to marry her.”

  “What are you saying, Father?” I ask. “That you love Mita and want to marry her now?”

  “No,” he says, eyes on the floor. “I…” He meets my gaze and rises. “Drink. We need a drink for this.” He walks over to the side table.

  “You shouldn’t drink, my king,” Nili says. “You need your medicine. Has the healer left any?”

  Father points to his bath chamber. “In there.” Nili exits, and I move to my father.

  “Please sit down, Father,” I say. “Tell me the rest.”

  He lets me lead him back to his chair.

  “I have a daughter,” he whispers.

  I reel back. “With Mita?”

  He nods, and Nili comes back to us. She hands him a cup of tea. He drinks it in one gulp.

  “Did you just find this out now?” I ask.

  He nods again.

  I fold myself to the floor. My legs just stop holding me up.

  “You know her, Kai. At least, I think you do. It’s Zara, the servant girl who cleans my chambers. I sent her for Nilaruna.”

  “Zara told me her mother works in the kitchens and her father is a soldier,” Nili says.

  “That’s what she believes,” Father says. “Mita hid her from me. I think she was punishing me for ending our relationship.”

  “That doesn’t make any rational sense,” Nili says. “If I gave birth to the second child in line for the throne, even if I were mad at the father, I’d want my child to be acknowledged.”

  Father lifts his head. “So why hide her, then?”

  Nili looks at me. I shrug.

  “Maybe Mita just wasn’t very rational at the time. And maybe she intended to tell you, at some point, but that point never came,” Nili suggests.

  “I have a sister,” I say. Nili sits beside me and takes my hand, rubbing it reassuringly. “How does this change things?”

  “It doesn’t,” Father says, “unless something happens to you. And even then, it only matters if you have no bride. We need to hurry up the wedding. I intend to acknowledge Zara, and she’s a sweet girl, but she is not ready to take the throne. We don’t even know her, not really. And I’m just repeating to you the story Mita told me. She could be lying. Maybe Zara is aware of her birthright. Maybe they’re in league. I just don’t know yet.

  “And that’s not the worst of it. Mita…she is the one who spooked your mother’s horse.”

  M
y vision blurs and my hands automatically clench into fists.

  I give Nili a long look. She bows her head at me. “You need a drink, don’t you?” she says.

  “What about me?” Father says.

  Nili rises and squeezes his shoulder as she passes him. “Indeed, we all deserve a drink.”

  She grabs the wine goblets. “Did we tell you that I can detect a lie?” she says to him. “In fact, that’s why we came here.” She takes a long sip of wine under her veil and sighs. She holds a goblet out to Father. Before he can grasp it, the goblet slips out of her fingers and tumbles to the carpet at his feet.

  “Oh!” she says. “How clumsy! I’m so sorry, my king. My hand…”

  The other goblet slides to the floor, splashing her slippers a dark red.

  She stares at the mess.

  “Nili?” I say.

  She doesn’t move.

  “Nili!” I move to her, catching her about the waist as her legs give out.

  “The wine…” she whispers.

  “Maja!” I scream.

  LXII. MAJA

  It doesn’t take me long to find Aaliyah. She’s quite popular.

  She runs The Haven, Bhutan’s premiere brothel. For three copper coins, I can enjoy the company of the women in the main dining hall. They sing like birds and dance like water sprites and can even carry on a reasoned discussion of politics, if that is my wish.

  For a silver, they will touch me.

  For a gold, I can touch them.

  Dear gods, the machinations of men! I’m no more immune to a lovely woman than any male, but to pay for their attentions…the whole thing has me blushing. I might as well have just come from the fields of a rural village…

  Wait. That’s where I’m from.

  I intended to walk in The Haven as a man and take Aaliyah’s measure, but I’m far too uncomfortable. I mentally search for her, and find her going over accounts in a small room off the hall.

  I teleport myself outside her door, and as I’m about to enter, a searing pain nearly splits my skull in two.

  Nili!

  LXIII. NILARUNA

  Kai is screaming, and I wish I could scream along with him. My entire body is on fire from the inside. And the worst part of it is that I cannot move a muscle. The poison has frozen all movement. I almost pray for it to reach my heart, so the pain will end.

  Maja! I scream in my head, and suddenly he’s there, pushing Kai and the king away, bending over me. He kisses me, and I try to kiss him back, but I can’t, I can only stare at him in statue-like horror, my eyelids will not even close, but I do heave a mental sigh of relief, because his kiss takes away the pain.

  “Better?” he asks.

  Yes, I think to him.

  “Brace yourself,” he says, and it reminds me of the time he tore the spell from my chest, and I know he’s about to do something similar.

  I can’t brace anything, so I give him what I can. I love you, Maja. I love you.

  His hand transforms to a dragon’s claw. He slices me open from throat to belly and digs his claws into the wound. He begins to siphon the poison into his claw.

  The poison hits my lungs. I take one final ragged breath.

  I can’t breathe, I think to him, panicking.

  He doesn’t acknowledge me. He’s concentrating fiercely.

  Stars appear in my vision. My head’s growing muzzy.

  “Breathe into her mouth, Kai,” Maja says.

  Kai bends over me, tears swimming in his eyes. My vision blurs. He seals his mouth over mine and blows in a deep breath, once, twice, three times.

  The stars clear.

  “Again!” Maja says to him.

  I get more of Kai’s sweet breath. Without warning, my eyelids close.

  I open them back up.

  Kai leans back and smiles at me through his tears.

  “Again,” Maja says. “We’re almost there.” And Kai breathes into me again, this time taking advantage, kissing me for real.

  I’m able to kiss him back.

  Maja seals my wound and sags against me.

  “Maja,” I say, my voice dry and raspy.

  Kai moves to Maja. “Maja, are you okay?”

  Maja lifts his head and holds up his claw. The tips have withered, turning a sickly green. Yellow pus oozes from them.

  “Can you get rid of it?” Kai asks.

  Maja nods. “A vessel.”

  The king grabs one of the goblets from the floor and hands it to Maja. Maja holds the razor-sharp ends of his claw over the goblet and drips the poison in.

  My stomach turns and I look away. That was in my body!

  “Let me help you to a bed, “ Kai says, but Maja waves him away.

  “See to Nili. I’ll be fine.” He slowly climbs to his feet and turns to the door.

  Maja! I scream in his head.

  He stops but doesn’t turn back.

  You’ll always be in my heart, I whisper.

  Truly? he thinks.

  Truly.

  FAQs

  Do you have a website? Visit me at www.andrearing.net. If you comment on my blog or send me an email, I will answer.

  Can I sign up for your mailing list? Please! Sign up by clicking here!

  Have you written any other books? Yes! For the latest list, visit my website or Amazon.

  Note to my readers: Thank you for beginning this journey with Nili, Maja, and Kai. As an independent author, I rely solely on my readers for support. I’d love to hear from you! Send me an email. Write a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Comment on my blog. You’re the reason I write, and I’ll never forget that.

  Dedication

  To Jackson, my eldest son, who shares my taste in (and love of) books. A couple of years ago, when you’d ran out of reading material and came to me for recommendations, I asked you what your perfect book would be about. You shyly told me (while extracting a promise of silence) that you liked the sci fi/fantasy adventures that had a bit of romance in them.

  I’ve never forgotten that. I write with you in mind, my perfect reader. If you, an intelligent and well-read young man, like my work, I know I’ve hit my target. You’re my guiding star.

  About the Author

  Andrea Ring was born and raised in Orange County, California. At age eight, she wrote an essay proclaiming she wanted to be an “auther” when she grew up. It only took her thirty years to realize her dream.

  She enjoys beating her four children at Boggle, reading science fiction and fantasy, and eating bacon. She hates to exercise, but loves taking walks with her family through Old Towne Orange. She's lucky to be married to the love of her life.

  Her favorite ride at Disneyland is Indiana Jones.

  Her favorite movies are The Princess Bride and Better Off Dead.

  She thinks every book should contain a love story.

  Did we mention her love of bacon?

  Visit her website at http://www.andrearing.net.

  Copyright Page

  THE GO-BETWEEN Copyright © 2015 by Andrea Ring

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Originally published in 2015 by Square Gorilla Press. http://www.squaregorilla.com.

  Cover art and design:

  Jay Walsh, http://jaymeanoiche.daportfolio.com

  Acknowledgements

  Jay, you have created the perfect dragon! Someday it will be a tattoo! Thank you!

 

 

 
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