“Typical,” Emmaline said.
“The priestess used to wear four golden ornaments during the ceremony of the Grand Quintet where she was at her most powerful. The Elders created forgeries of the four golden ornaments and tricked the priestess into wearing them instead. When she performed the Grand Quintet, she came under their power, and the gate closed forever. Any dragon who tried to come through into our world was corrupted and sickened, and turned into a monster. The Elders forced the priestess to tell everyone that the dragons had turned into monsters and the gate had to be sealed, and over the course of time, everyone came to believe it, even the priestess herself.”
“Oh gods…”
“I don’t know if it’s entirely true,” Priscilla said. “But Percival felt he had found enough evidence. He believed it, and from what I read of the papers—although many of them were in archaic language—it seemed possible.”
“It does seem…possible.” My heart was beating faster. The ornament could be one of the original ones.
“So what would need to happen now?” Emmaline asked.
“Percy thought he needed to find the four true ornaments…but what are the chances they still exist?”
“I think he gave one to his priestess, Margaret,” I said. “I have it. But the books we have—although they’re written by Elders—say I only need one guardian to seal the gate. Do you think one ornament would be enough to fix the gate so the dragons don’t become monsters anymore?”
“Then what happens?” Emmaline asked. “Dragons flood out? Will they be angry at us after all this time?”
“And how did my guardians get here?”
“Their sigils and their bond to you may have protected them,” Priscilla said. “As for what will happen if the gate was repaired, I certainly don’t know. No one has had contact with the dragons in at least eight centuries. But it was my brother’s wish to repair the gates to the world of the dragons. An impossible wish, I think, but now you know. It’s up to you if you want to take on such a burden.”
“Priscilla, this is amazing!” I was not in the mood to be pessimistic right now. “This fits with every little piece I’ve learned so far. I think this is exactly what I’m supposed to do.”
“Do you have any idea where Percival got the one ornament?” Emmaline asked.
“He got it from a mountain bandit trader.” Priscilla shrugged. “Down in some shady market.”
“Mountain bandits…” Sir Forrest told me, shortly after we met, that he had left the army after a raid on the mountain bandits, where Abel and the army had killed them down to the last man, woman, and child on Leonidas’ orders.
Maybe they knew something…
“Emmaline,” I said. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to burst if I don’t go home right now.” I had to tell the guys what I’d learned.
Emmaline put down the poor little dog. “Of course you can go. I can hardly imagine what will come of it all, but the emperor hasn’t exactly been good for business, has he? Cousin, thank you for your time. At least I understand—a little more—why you’re such a pill.”
I think Priscilla was very glad to see us go.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Niko
I stood on the rooftop and looked out at the dark city night, broken by lanterns that barely cast a small glow on the sidewalks. This was my city, and I knew the streets even in the darkness. I had always enjoyed the night, because it was when others became lost. It was the time when those of us who were born to dwell in shadow had the advantage.
Tonight, it had taken on a new aspect for me. I had sent Phoebe off with Emmaline du Barien; I had done precisely what my fortunes advised. I certainly shouldn’t have worried over her. No one had ever meant much to me and I liked it that way.
But I felt her loss. I kept looking for her over my shoulder. It was a disconcerting feeling, like losing a hand and trying to flex fingers that no longer existed. I felt a bond to this girl, and every bone in my body wanted to fight the dangerous sensation of affection and need, as if only this girl would ever please me now.
Forrest was furious at me, and a tiny coil of dread and doubt wormed its way through me. If something happens to her, I’m responsible.
The emperor probably had spies posted in the night. They were watching me right now, as I watched the city. I would bet money on that. They probably knew Phoebe was still at the du Barien mansion, and I couldn’t anticipate what Leonidas and Abel would do with that information. I had to trust my fortune and that had never been so difficult to do.
I realized that being alone wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
I went to Gilbert’s room with a half-empty bottle and found him still awake, just playing a game of solitaire with his head in his hand. He had changed so much since I last knew him; he had always seemed to me like a lost little boy with a spark of great talent, but now he was well on his way to confidence. He’d done better without me. I suppose it was no surprise, I had kept the boy under my wing with no interest in seeing him spread his own. That would only get in my way.
I still felt a weird kind of pride that he’d done his own thing.
“Mind if I join you?” I asked.
“Sure…” Gilbert looked at me, his expression softening just a hair, betraying his own desire for my attention, before he masked it with indifference.
I dragged out a chair and sat down, taking a swig of the bottle and handing it to him.
He looked at me. “No, thank you, Niko. I want to keep a clear head.”
“Fine, if you want to be like that. You can trust me.”
“Ha,” Gilbert said. “I certainly can’t. You had no business leaving Phoebe there.”
“It was the right thing to do, though. She’ll get along well with Emmaline, I know it. She’ll come back safe and sound.”
“But we’re a team,” Gilbert said. “A family, even. At least, we should be. But I think the only thing you trust is your dice.” He added, “It was like this when we were a duo, too. You never listened to me.”
“I kept us alive, didn’t I? Well fed, too. Do you think that was easy for kids who didn’t have my talents?”
Gilbert sighed. “I suppose it wasn’t. But I had my own talent and you were happy to use it.”
“What do you want from me, Gil?”
“It’s hard to have a family when one person thinks they have all the answers. Even if they do. I was so young and lost when you found me; it was a relief that you had a plan back then. Only, over the years I realized that there would never be any space in our team for me. I was just a tool for your ambitions, me and my pretty face and my ability to charm people.”
There was a wistful yearning in Gilbert’s voice that I was familiar with. I used to think he was needy. Poor kid, always wanting to be loved by someone, and that someone was never going to be me.
But tonight I almost understood. Something had crept into my mind like a sickness.
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” I said. “I was a tool for your survival and you were a tool for mine. And we both made out well.”
Gilbert banged the table with his hand, startling me. “I guess it’s all part of the plan but I hate that Phoebe has to live with you. She’s a sweet girl and she’s very attracted to you, and when you’re around no one can help but bow to your will. You wouldn’t accept anything less, would you? You don’t accept weakness in yourself and you think it’s weak to care for someone.”
“It is,” I said. “Tell me it’s not. What were you in here moping about? I’ll bet you’re losing sleep worrying about Rin and now Phoebe.”
“I just wish—“ Gilbert frowned. “To think a part of me was happy to see you again.”
“Unrequited love, Gilbert? Is that the problem?”
“What do you mean?”
“You care for me more than I care for you. You knew I would never be your lover but you wished we could have been like brothers, at the least.”
Gilbert’s eyes shot to me with
fury behind them and I thought I’d probably gone too far. “Gil, I’m just messing with you.”
“No you’re not. You want to hurt me. And you’ll hurt Phoebe too. But my bond with Phoebe is much stronger than anything I feel for you.”
“Hmm.” I wasn’t enjoying this conversation anymore, but I didn’t leave yet, because that felt like letting him win.
Gilbert stood up. “Why did you come to my room?”
I shrugged. “Can’t sleep.”
“Tell me why.” His voice took on a magical quality. He was trying to use bardic magic to compel me?
I laughed. I should have left the room but I didn’t. I felt his magic pricking at me somewhere deep inside and I almost wondered, what would I say if I could only tell the truth? Was there anything behind the hard shell of my existence? I doubted it. There was no profound answer for him to pry out of me.
Niko…stay safe. Please stay safe.
For a moment, I saw a woman in my mind’s eye and I felt her arms around me as she embraced me as tight as she could. I saw pain and dread in her face as she pulled away, as deep as sorrow could reach. She was sure she would never see me again.
I remembered clutching Astria against me and willing myself not to show any fear, not to make it any harder for her.
My mother.
Now I shot up out of the chair. I had never had any memory like that before, and Gilbert was looking at me with his blue eyes and his magic penetrating through me.
Gilbert blinked, breaking the spell, and settled his chin into his hand. He knew he’d done something. I hadn’t been able to hide it, in that moment. He looked patient as I steeled myself.
“Okay,” Gilbert said. “That’s enough for now.”
His cool tone, almost threatening, was not what I expected from him. I hated feeling outclassed, outplayed. He should fucking know better.
“Don’t ever use your magic on me again,” I said.
But I shouldn’t have said that either. It only showed I was weak.
“I’m sorry,” Gilbert said.
“I don’t think you are.”
And then, before dinner the next day, Phoebe came back, and my actions were redeemed.
She was glowing, overflowing with information. “I think I have it!” she cried. “I know everything! It was Priscilla after all—and Percy was Margaret’s guardian—but I needed Emmaline to get me there—Niko was right—except Abel was there so that was strange—oh gosh. I need to start from the beginning.”
As soon as she burst through the doors she was in Forrest’s arms and then Gilbert’s. She kissed them both, with more abandon than when we rescued her from the palace—maybe now that Rin was gone, it had grown less complicated for her to share affection with those two. For me, there was just a look that spoke of attraction and caution, and for the first time I found myself wishing there was more. A throb of possessive anger raced through me. Didn’t I deserve her embrace and her sweet mouth when I had led her to the truth?
I would not demand her attention now.
But you’re mine tonight, priestess. All mine.
I had hesitated to make her all mine. If she belonged to me, she was a thing I could lose.
I could no longer resist my desire.
For a split second she caught my eyes as if she sensed my feeling.
Forrest kept an arm around her waist. “This better be good,” he said. “That was too close.”
“It is,” Phoebe said. “It’s all worth it.”
“Let’s sit down and you can tell us everything,” Gilbert said.
I’m not sure any of us expected the story she told us.
“Dragons,” Gilbert said. “A whole world of dragons underground?”
“Yes,” she said. “So Niko and Abel must have come from there!”
Was the memory of my mother from the underground world, then? Had she sent me through the gate to find the priestess?
“What saved me from becoming entirely a monster when I passed into this world?” I asked. “My sigil?”
“Maybe so,” Phoebe said. “Abel, too. But maybe that’s why you don’t remember anything that came before.”
“It’s as good a lead as any we have,” Forrest said, “I never did quite understand why the Emperor was so bent on pursuing the mountain bandits, once I saw that they weren’t actually terrorizing the citizens of Pero. The ornaments could still be there. I don’t ever remembering hearing about any treasure during the raid. It’s as good a lead as any. I know the area well.”
“It’s south of here, too,” Gilbert said. “So the Emperor might think, at least for a while, that we decided to go to Gaermon and stay out of his way after all….”
“Niko, I thought…you wanted to wait for Abel,” Phoebe said.
She was trying to get me on her side, I thought. She still wanted Abel with us. She would hardly be able to help it.
And we still needed Abel, I thought, but I decided to pick my battles. We could check out the mountains first.
“Actually, I think we should move without Abel on this one,” I said. “This isn’t a trip to the gate. That’s when we would need him.”
Forrest looked a little relieved. “What about Rin?” he asked, with a glance at Gilbert.
“Hopefully he knows how to keep out of trouble,” Gilbert said. It was a testament to how much stronger Gilbert had grown that he seemed to accept Rin’s depature. Gilbert couldn’t handle goodbyes very well. “He already chose to leave us, and…I’m sure he will want to stay near his sister.”
“I like this plan a lot more than the other ones,” Forrest said. “I’m itching to get back on the road.”
“And if we found the other ornaments we might all feel stronger like Forrest did,” Gilbert said. “Besides that, one assumes we would no longer need the Elders to confirm us at the temple, so we could skip that step entirely.”
“My plan wasn’t so bad, was it?” I asked, looking at Phoebe.
She flushed, but she looked back at me. “It wasn’t, but we do need to talk about how it was approached.”
“How about tonight?”
“Fine, Niko. We’ll talk.” She looked at me as if to say she hadn’t forgotten our last encounter when she slapped me.
She was getting bolder by the day, this girl, and I would have thought myself annoyed by it. I didn’t like surrendering any control, and Phoebe would have control over me even if she was meek as a mouse, simply by being the priestess. She held my life in her hands, and my pull to her increased by the day. But she wasn’t meek. I knew, now, that the blood of dragons was in both of our veins. And I think she was starting to slowly realize just who held the strings around here. Peasant girls weren’t taught to take charge of men, and she wasn’t without reluctance, but she didn’t hate it, did she?
I didn’t hate it either. Not as much as I should’ve.
But she would still have to fight me for it. I would not be easily possessed.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Phoebe
I wondered what I had gotten myself into. A night alone with Niko? He had never asked to have me to himself before. After dinner he told me he would be in the bedroom shortly, and I went ahead. I was fairly tired. Two nights ago was the quartet and I hadn’t gotten a good rest since.
I walked into the bedroom and Polaris had a hot bath drawn for me, with scented salts to soothe me.
“Master Niko thought you might like a bath,” she said.
“Master Niko never asked me what I would like.”
“So you don’t want the bath?” She looked at it like she was wondering what it felt like herself.
“Um…no. I want it. He just drives me nuts.”
“I understand.”
“Does he drive you nuts too?”
Polaris blinked. “I think maybe he does. He doesn’t use me for the function I was designed for very often. He’s always asking me to do everything, and it makes things difficult. I was not designed to clean or drive carriages. That’s what you
mean, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” I said. “Although I think he uses me for the function I was designed for. I need to learn how to use him instead.”
“What function is he designed for?” Polaris asked.
I snorted. “I’m still figuring it out.”
I couldn’t resist the bath even if it felt like some kind of trick. The water was the perfect temperature and I sank into it from the neck down, after setting aside my clothes and the golden ornament, which I had not taken off ever since the Quartet. I wanted to keep it close. I stared at it and thought over and over about my conversation with Emmaline and Priscilla. If it was all true, eventually I was destined to have four children with my guardians as well. I had hardly processed that part of the legend at the time, but I had always wanted children. I knew Forrest did too. I could hardly imagine it. We could never be happy together, could we? Was there any way?
All of it felt like a dream that would slip through my fingers, but if it was just a dream, it still didn’t hurt to imagine. All of us happy together, the true bond I would share with all four of them, and four beautiful children. I saw a black-haired, intense little baby boy in Forrest’s arms—he would dote on him and teach him the sword. Surely a beautiful girl with a lovely voice for Gilbert and me. We could dress her up but she’d be tougher than she looked, and maybe she would be next in line to be the priestess. With Niko, I liked to imagine the baby would be a sweet and honest little girl just to contradict him, because that was fun. And with Abel…well, he would be short, poor guy, because Abel was the only one in scale with me, but he would have the greatest powers.
I held the image of them all in my mind, but then I dashed my hand through the water. I thought it would make me feel better to imagine all that, but it only tore at my heart.
Wretch sat on the rug and stared at me in her awkward cat way, but she was useful because I knew when Niko was coming. She suddenly bolted up and dashed to the door, flying onto his shoulder as soon as he came in.
He picked her up, scratched her between the wings, and then put her outside the door and shut her out. I could hear her little yowl of protest outside.
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