diviners curse

by Nicolette Andrews

  "Beau, stop, we need his information. You cannot kill him!"

  Jon was taunting us, trying to keep our guards down. He didn't want us to leave, and with Beau preoccupied, if someone came to Jon's rescue, I would not be able to fight them off. I suspected he knew I took his letter and was taunting me. I tugged on Beau's arm as Jon was starting to turn blue. He eased off at last and got to his feet.

  Jon stayed kneeling on the ground, and he glared up at us. He rubbed his throat, and when he made to stand, Beau withdrew his sword and pointed it at his chest.

  Jon looked at me. "Sabine and I have drawn close since you left, Lady Diranel. There are few that the queen can trust, and I am lucky enough to be among the trusted few."

  "You lie."

  "You don't believe me even after seeing the letter?" He arched his brow.

  Why is he toying with me?

  "May I stand? I promise I am not playing any tricks." He looked at me with a raised brow, and I shared a look with Beau. He gave me a nod, and I waved for Jon to stand. He brushed himself off and then turned to me. "I did not send anyone to warn you. Sanore is not like Keisan. A dagger in the back is to be expected. What did you say to draw their ire? I thought you would know better than to do something so foolish as to draw attention. Are you not a fugitive?"

  My hackles rose, and I scowled at him. He did not deserve the truth, but I felt compelled to defend myself. "I had a vision of Sarelle. She should have been queen of Neaux, but she was murdered; I suspect by someone she was close to."

  Duke Sixton shrugged. "Hard to say since she is dead now, but as far as I know, her death was not cleanly done, and there are many fingers being pointed in regards to her death. It sounds to me that you've made an enemy already."

  Sabine had been imprisoned for Sarelle's murder once. Jon had made a promise to Sabine. She is connected to you, more than you know, the diviner had told me of Sarelle. "Is that why Sabine sent you here, to look into Sarelle's death?" I said, voicing my suspicion.

  He wagged his finger. "Now, now, Lady Diranel, I cannot give away my patron's secrets to a convicted traitor, not for free, anyway."

  "What are your terms?"

  He smiled again, and I did not like the predatory gleam in his eye. "I made you an offer once, back in Keisan. Do you remember it?"

  I felt the heat rush to my face. Jon, shortly after becoming a duke, had proposed to me a marital alliance to tie Damara's house and his own together. I had refused, adamantly. I was disgusted by the idea of marrying a man I did not love. That felt like a thousand years ago.

  "What could you gain from a marriage to me? I am a traitor to the throne."

  "Yes, that is true, but I am not after wealth or lands. Those are valuable, yes, but you possess a gift no other man can boast. You foretold the marriage between Sabine and Adair. You saw King Dallin's death. It is your power that I am after. Together we can rise higher than anyone before us. We could be greater than any king and queen—"

  "No," I replied, ending his tirade.

  This is why he let me go, so that I would agree to his terms. I am not so desperate yet that I will give away my life to another power-hungry man. I almost did that once, and that only led to ruin. Never again.

  "You are making a mistake. You will not find the answers you are looking for without my help," Jon replied with a small frown.

  He's right. This was my last chance, and it has led to naught. Johai is slipping each day, and I am no closer to the answers than I was before.

  "I know," I said.

  "We cannot let him go," Beau said. "Now that you have denied his offer, there is no reason for him to let you live."

  Jon stared at me, wide eyed. "I never took you for a killer, Lady Diranel."

  I regarded him for a moment. Beau was right. If I let him go now, Adair would know where I was, which meant the end of my search. Jon had said Adair wanted me back; I could only imagine how it infuriated him that I had escaped with the truth.

  Jon laughed. "Oh, Lady Diranel, how you've changed since we last met."

  "Why are you laughing?" His blithe behavior was infuriating, and it only made my decision easier.

  He leaned on the back of his chair. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Shouts echoed down the hall, and heavy footfalls followed.

  "You should have perfected your Neaux before coming here, Lady Diranel. The maid tried to warn you, but you still gave her the gold, a foolish mistake."

  "You knew I wouldn't agree to your proposal?"

  "No, I know you need a little more pressure. I am your last chance to gain access to the palace. I have the means to gain the answers you seek."

  "I will not agree to your terms, ever."

  He shrugged. "You say that, but deep down, you know it is true. As I see it, you need me more than you know."

  He was right. This whole thing had been born of desperation, and I had sealed my own fate with my impulsive decisions.

  He crossed his arms over his chest. "Think about it, Maea. What means more to you? Your life or your honor?"

  I shivered, and it was not from cold. Did I really think I could succeed in finding the answers? I had failed the first time; how could this time be any different? Perhaps deep down I was hoping Jon had another way, one I had not considered before. I shook myself. This was ludicrous. I could not marry him.

  "I do not know."

  He frowned and stepped aside from the entrance to the hidden passageway. "Take the hidden passageway. I will deter the guards."

  "Why are you doing this?"

  The guards were pounding on the door. He walked towards it. "Stand down. There is no one here," Jon shouted to the guards.

  "Your grace, the maid said that there was an intruder."

  "A false alarm, I am afraid." He gave me a pointed look and motioned to the hidden stairwell with his head.

  I ran past him, but he stopped me with his words. "I will come for your answer tomorrow at sunset."

  I went into the passageway, and Beau closed the door behind us. We were plunged into darkness. I did not even dare dallying to light my candle. I had to feel my way along the wall to avoid tripping over the uneven steps.

  I stumbled about and scraped my hands along the rough walls. After a long stretch, narrow shafts of light illuminated the dusty stone floor. We emerged in the kitchen, where a round woman with flour on her face stared at me with a plucked chicken in her fist.

  She screamed and threw the chicken in the air before running for the door. I ran for the door after her and did not look to see where she had run off to. I did not stop running until I had reached the busy street. Beau was close behind me the entire way.

  We hurried along, avoiding carriages and couples walking along on a sunny stroll. I pulled up my hood and kept my eyes on the ground. We slipped into the crowded marketplace, several blocks away from Jon's villa. I let the crowd disguise me and kept well away from the vendors just in case.

  I sighed. He let me go again. What was I expecting to learn? All I had managed to do was confirm he was working with Sabine, which did not put my mind at ease. In fact, I was even more concerned that I had been deceived by Sabine. I did not want to entertain the thought, but Jon might be my last hope of finding answers.

  A trumpet blasted, and I looked up just in time to get out of the way of a company of horses flying the golden horse on a crimson field, the sigil of the Neaux royal family. I slid back in the crowd. Just because I wasn't wanted by the Neaux, it did not make their army a friend either.

  Two men chatted in Neaux as the army passed.

  "Prince Reynard goes to lead an attack against the Biski, I heard," a lean man with a bald head said.

  "Has it gotten that serious, then?" his companion, a short round man, replied.

  "Quite. I heard the southern villages have been burned to the ground. They are a scourge upon the earth." He slashed his fingers across his chest in a sign of a curse.

  The men nodded as they watched the soldiers march by in glit
tering armor. One man led the company, and he could only be Prince Reynard, the king's younger brother. He wore a shining breastplate with a crimson horse painted on it and a gleaming helmet over his head. His visor was pushed back, and I could see his black beard that ended in a point and his dark eyes, which scanned the crowd. A red cloak was draped over his shoulders and trailed onto the haunches of his mount. A banner-man rode beside him, and he hoisted the sigil of the royal D'Aux family, a golden horse on a crimson field. He is Sabine's uncle and Sarelle's former betrothed. It was a small piece of irony that I saw him here after my confrontation with Jon.

  "I hear a host of Danhadines are joining them on the march," the bald man added.

  My heart jumped into my throat. Danhadine soldiers would be with the force against the Biski, just as there were Danhadine soldiers at the gates of the city. These things were not coincidence. Adair was cunning, he could use people to his own ends and I suspected he was doing the same in Sanore. There was only one way for me to find out for sure and to stop him, I had to accept Jon's proposal.

  Chapter Ten

  JOHAI WAS NOT AT THE inn when I returned. I paced back and forth in our shared bedroom, waiting for him. Despite my hesitance, I knew I needed to tell him the truth. Jon would come for my answer by the next night, and I needed Johai to understand that I was doing this for him. Fearing I would create a hole in the floorboards from my furious pace, I stopped my pacing and sat on the edge of the bed and cradled my head in my hands. A few moments later, the door creaked open, and with it, my heart leapt into my throat. How can I tell him I am agreeing to marry a man who is our enemy in exchange for information? Will he think of it as a betrayal? How could he not see it as a betrayal?

  I stood to greet him. "Johai." My voice caught speaking his name. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

  He stopped in the doorway. His hair was windblown, and a few tendrils had come loose and were hanging in his face. I must not have been guarding my emotions because he drew closer to me than he normally would. I could smell the ink on his hands and the musk that was uniquely him. "Maea, what is it?" His brows pulled together in a small frown.

  I took a step back. I needed to keep him at a distance; it would not make my choice any easier. I had thought all afternoon about Jon's proposal, and though I was adverse to it at first, the more I thought, the more I realized Jon had been right. He was the only choice I had left if I wanted to find out more about Sarelle's death. Yes, he was a member of the Order, but I did not think he was loyal to them. He had spoken out against the council at my trial back in Keisan. He had let me go not once but twice. I believed him when he said he wanted me for my power. I would not let him have it, but maybe I could deceive him long enough to get the answers I needed. The cost was more difficult to bear. I knew there was no future for Johai and me, but marrying Jon officially closed that door for good.

  "I—I—" Emotion strangled my words. Spit it out. There is no use delaying the inevitable. "I need to confess something to you."

  He frowned and took a step back. I resisted the urge to grab his hand in mine and pull him closer. Whatever had been between us in the past was better left there. The path we walked did not lend itself to love.

  "Yes?" he asked.

  "Beau and I went to Jon Sixton's villa today."

  Johai's expression changed from concern to fury. "How could you do such a foolish thing? What if he had arrested you and taken you back to Keisan?"

  I flinched beneath his wrath. I had expected as much. "I am sorry. I thought I could get more information from his study; then I might have the leads I needed to find out more about Sarelle. He can obtain information about Adair and the Order..."

  Johai paced the room, in a similar path to the one I had been walking before he entered. "Is the risk worth it to you? You are playing right into his hand, Maea. He freed you because he is toying with you. Jon Sixton is Adair's man to the core; I am certain of it."

  "I don't think he is," I replied and tried to keep an even tone. It would not help if he flew out of control. "He says he is working with Sabine to find out who killed Sarelle. He's willing to help me."

  Johai stopped pacing and faced me. His expression was stony. "And what if he's deceiving you? It would not be the first time you've been swayed by honeyed words."

  His words struck me like a blow, and I lost control. "Is that how you see me, Johai? As a simpleminded woman who is easily swayed by petty compliments and attentions. Perhaps it's a good thing I am planning to accept his proposal."

  His eyes flashed from blue to black. He crossed the room, and I backed against a desk in an attempt to escape him. "What did you say?" he said, and his voice echoed in my head, and he grew in height and appeared more menacing and terrifying. He is not himself. I have awoken the specter inside him with his rage. The intense anger boiling beneath the surface of his expression terrified me and equally cooled my own temper. I needed to be careful with my next words, or I may send Johai off the edge, and he might lose control. I felt the power rolling off him in waves, rage on top of sheer force of power.

  "Jon has offered me protection and information. In exchange, I shall marry him, until we find a way to stop Adair. I am sorry it's the only way to get into the palace. I need this so I can save you." I lowered my gaze, my reasoning sounded hollow to my own ears.

  He released me and stormed across the room. He stood beside the door with his hand on the knob. I turned away to face the wall.

  "You would marry a man you do not love for so little?"

  The accusation in his tone stung more than the words. Once I may have hoped for a chance for Johai and me. That was before my memories had been erased. Before I knew that I was destined to be his salvation or his destruction. That was before Adair had betrayed me. I did not want to fall in love. It only led to heartache. In part, that was why I was willing to accept Jon's proposal. Along with access to the Neaux court, his position as a duke could take me back to Keisan, back to where it started and where I would finish this game at last.

  It was a lie to say this was all for Johai; I had other motives as well. I was searching for Sarelle's killer for my own reasons too. The diviner was right. I had to choose, and I had made that decision the moment Jon set me free. Now that I chose the path, I must walk it.

  "I am sorry, Johai." I meant much more than the marriage. I meant it for everything. I was selfish at heart. I wanted him to live. I did not want to kill him, and I wanted to stop Adair and the Order. I waited for him to leave, but he lingered, and I felt the need to explain further. "I need to get into court, find out more about Sarelle's death. If I can prove that Adair was somehow involved in her murder, then maybe we convince King Reginald to march against Adair and take him from his throne..." I had turned to face him once more as I spoke, and his shoulders were taut.

  "You would start another war for your revenge?" Johai asked, his back to me still. "Are your feelings for him so great that you would raise an army to right the wrongs against you?"

  "I do not want war," I replied hotly. In fact that was what I was trying to avoid. I had spoken without thinking. I felt lost and without a plan. I was not a strategist. I did not know how I could stop him. "Adair on the throne is dangerous. He will raise an army himself and soak the earth in blood to get what he wants."

  "You do not know Adair at all if you think he would do such a thing. He is cunning, not a warmonger. He will take what he wants with as little blood on his hands as possible." Johai glared at me over his shoulder. He did not wait for me to reply. "And if King Reginald agrees to raise an army and go to war with Danhad and if he manages to dethrone Adair, what then, will you give him the crown and let King Reginald rule over both kingdoms?"

  I scowled and looked away. I could not stand beneath his ire. I had never seen him disappointed in me like this. "I had not thought of that," I replied.

  "No, it seems you have not thought at all as of late."

  Why is he doing this to me? He's never been this c
ruel before. Then I realized. I looked up, and Johai was grinning in a devious way.

  "So you've realized," he said.

  "How long have you been in control?"

  He cocked his head to the side as he regarded me. "Today? Only a few moments. The boy's defenses are weakening. He cannot keep me back much longer. I am glad to see you've turned your attentions from your hopeless task of stopping me," the specter said using Johai's voice.

  "I have not given up. I am the one who will break the circle," I said with conviction I did not feel.

  "Your words say that, but your actions tell quite another tale. You can chase your own phantoms, diviner, but remember, in the end you are mine." He laughed a hollow ringing laugh that was grotesque coming from Johai's mouth.

  When he stopped, Johai blinked and stared at me as if seeing me for the first time. "Maea, you are crying."

  He came over to me and brushed the tears from my eyes. I shook with my sobs. Elenna had promised to help, but I feared it may be too late. I was already losing Johai little by little, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

  The next day came too quickly, and I did not know where to begin. How did I accept a proposal to a marriage of convenience? There would be ground rules, of that I was clear. I would not be cornered into something that I did not want. I had to maintain at least a level of control. Had there been another choice, Goddess knows, I would have taken it. However, there were no more options left at this point. Time was running out.

  I spied Jon's arrival from my room, where I had been collecting my thoughts. When I spied the Danhadine royal emblem upon the carriage door, my heart skipped a beat. This was it, the moment of truth. I headed for the door after checking my reflection in the mirror. I had twisted my hair up and wore one of my cleaner gowns. I no longer had any of the fine trappings of the Danhadine court I once enjoyed, but I wanted to at least present myself with some measure of dignity.