Traitors

by Bella Forrest

  Even as he spoke, I could tell the novelty had lost its sheen. Like Jareth, he was vying for higher status in the queen’s inner circle, but he seemed torn between wanting what people told him he should want and what he actually wanted for himself. I imagined Gianne’s offer had been a mixture of the two, and now he was doubting what he’d risked for it.

  “There is no such position in the royal court, Sarrask. If you had come to me, I would have told you that,” Kaido said suddenly, looking puzzled.

  “What?” A look of pure devastation rippled across Sarrask’s face.

  “I do not understand why, but it would appear Queen Gianne made the title up,” he said bluntly. “There has never been a role with that name, and I do not recall reading of any newly introduced positions. Indeed, they are cutting back on exploratory branches at the moment, utilizing the fleet for military purposes instead of exploratory.”

  “You made the wrong choice, Sarrask.” I sighed, feeling a little bit sorry for him. He’d clearly been duped. “Now, you’re going to make up for it.”

  He looked crestfallen. “What do you mean? I can’t change anything. Gianne already took my father away. You saw her. When the researchers come back and ransack his lab, they’ll find something, and they’ll… kill him.” Sarrask choked on his words, his gaze dropping to the floor.

  “Where there’s a will, there’s a way—and I have a way,” I said. “First, we need to scour this place and find anything useful. That includes searching the lab. Then, we make sure everyone is out safely, before I implode the whole damn thing!”

  “How do you plan to do that?” Kaido asked, with genuine interest. “Did you bring explosives with you?”

  I shook my head. “I didn’t have to. There’s a lever underneath the trapdoor that leads to the lab from the underground tunnels. If I pull that, I’m pretty sure everything goes kaboom.”

  Sarrask nodded eagerly. “The one time I managed to get into the lab, I saw weird blocks and wires set up at various intervals around the place. I’m guessing those are rigged explosives,” he said. “I didn’t get to take another look, because Father kept locking the door after that.”

  “You really didn’t find anything to give the queen?” I pressed.

  “Not a thing. All his notebooks were locked in the cabinets, and I didn’t want to break in, in case he noticed.”

  “You could have picked the locks and then relocked them when you were done. It is a fairly simple procedure. All you need is a piece of wire and an electrical charge,” Kaido suggested.

  Sarrask glared at him. “Not helpful, Crabweed.”

  “You are the one who couldn’t open a simple lock.” I could have sworn a tiny smirk lifted the corners of Kaido’s mouth. If he’d made it any more obvious, Sarrask would’ve lunged for him.

  “So you didn’t find anything?” I repeated, distracting the brothers from an imminent brawl.

  Again, Sarrask shook his head. “Nothing of value. Well, nothing that wasn’t shut away.”

  I thought about mentioning the silver box device that Jareth had been using to contact Aurelius, to forge their plans for a coup, but I held my tongue. I doubted we’d find it again, and there probably wasn’t anything on it anymore. Besides, after what I’d seen today, I had no way of knowing how far I could trust Sarrask. His duty toward his queendom was overwhelming, and I couldn’t be sure he’d ever break free of its grasp. Until I could be convinced otherwise, I was going to keep things from him—things he might feed back to someone like Gianne.

  Ronad padded down the hallway, rubbing the back of his neck. He’d wiped most of the blood away from his nose, but the bruises had deepened, forming a pattern of purplish camo across his face. He grimaced as he pressed the side of his jaw, evidently in some pain.

  “What’re we talking about?” he asked.

  “Blowing stuff up,” I replied. His eyes widened. “Jareth mentioned a lever as the soldiers were dragging him out. I know the one he means. It’s connected to a ton of rigged explosives, and we’re going to trigger them, to bring this whole place crashing down. No more evidence, no more secrets, nothing that Gianne can use against any of us.”

  Ronad looked shaken. “Are you serious?”

  “Very.”

  “No way… We can’t just burn everything to the ground. Most of my life is in this place!” He shook his head, his voice cracking. “If we blow it up, we’re not just taking away Jareth’s lab evidence. We’re taking away our history. We’re taking away every game we ever played in these halls, and every story we ever told, and every prank we did. We’re destroying the way Naya and I began and the memories we shared. Her ghost goes with the house, if we burn it all down.”

  I smiled sadly. “I know it’ll be hard, but we have to do this. If we leave anything, we give Gianne a way to punish this family. That doesn’t just mean the brothers you don’t like and the father you can’t forgive. That means Navan, Bashrik, Lorela—all of them.”

  “What if I forget to pick up something of Naya’s? What if I leave something behind? I’ll never be able to get it back again,” he murmured.

  I rested a hand on his arm. “You’ve got time, Ronad. Go to her old room, go to the places where Jareth put all of her things, and sift through it all until you have everything you need.”

  “Many of her belongings are still in the cupboards. I did not need the space, so I did not move much,” Kaido chipped in. “I will need to gather my own things, but I would be happy to give you a few moments on your own, if that is what you want. I do not like watching sentimental behavior. It makes me uncomfortable.”

  I smiled, shaking my head in amused despair. He’d almost managed to say something with real feeling. Regardless, it was as close to an emotional gesture as Kaido could manage, and Ronad seemed to respond in kind.

  He patted Kaido on the shoulder. “Thank you.”

  “You should probably take this, too,” Sarrask interjected, removing the bracelet from his wrist and handing it to Ronad. “She would’ve wanted you to have it.”

  Ronad pulled Sarrask into an awkward hug. “Thank you. You’ve got no idea what this means to me.”

  “Yeah, I think sentimental behavior makes me a bit uncomfortable, too,” Sarrask joked, though he hugged Ronad back.

  A moment later, they broke apart, with Ronad heading off on his emotional excursion to Naya’s old room to retrieve anything he might want to save from impending doom. Kaido sprinted off toward his lab to save his supplies and experimental data, leaving me and Sarrask alone together. I wondered how many of the bioluminescent plants Kaido would be able to save; the thought of him having to give them up made me feel kind of sad.

  “Come on, then. Let’s see what we can find,” I suggested, shrugging off my gloom. “We’ve got a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it.”

  I led the way, with Sarrask following me as we headed down the hallway toward the basement. It was weird to think that this was the last time I’d be doing this, even though I’d only been in the Idrax house for a few weeks. I could only imagine how the others were feeling, considering they’d spent most of their lives here. I tried to picture what it would be like to watch Jean and Roger’s house burn to the ground, with every memory going with it. It was too sad to even contemplate.

  Forcing all those thoughts away, I focused on the mission at hand. Gianne had backed us into a corner, and now we had no choice but to blow this place sky high.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Where did all of this come from?” Sarrask asked, touching the chrome walls of the underground tunnels. It didn’t look like he knew anything about the secret passageway. I had to hand it to Jareth: he was a sneaky guy, building all of this right under everyone’s noses. Even now, I realized he must have been planning it for a long time, leading me to wonder just how long he’d had doubts about Gianne’s ability to rule.

  I smiled. “I guess your father thought he might need an escape route from the house, in case one of his sons stupidly d
ecided to betray him.”

  “If it makes any difference, I wish I hadn’t done it.” His cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

  I shrugged. “It makes a bit of a difference, but not to your father. He’s still on his way to life imprisonment. Even without a scrap of evidence to use against him, she’ll keep Jareth where she can see him. After all, he’ll be the only one who knows the truth about the elixir.”

  “Well, unless we take something.”

  His suggestion made me nervous, solidifying my previous fears that he would never truly be on our side. What if he was using this moment as an opportunity to take what he couldn’t get last time? I’d have to keep a close eye on him.

  “Why else do you think we’re down here?” I asked, flashing him a grin over my shoulder.

  We reached the steps leading up into Jareth’s alchemy lab. The red lever stuck out like a sore thumb, and though I knew what it would mean, a childish part of me was excited to pull it.

  I went first, pulling myself up through the gap, brushing the dust off my legs as I stood in the now-familiar space. Nothing had changed since the last time I’d been here. Ducking down under the utensil tray, I yanked away the black box I’d put there, storing it for later. I really wished they’d made the pockets on Vysanthean pants bigger; I was starting to get bruises from all the waistband storage I was being forced to undertake.

  “What was that?” Sarrask asked suspiciously.

  “A comm device Navan gave me. Jareth confiscated it—I thought I’d take it back.”

  Apparently satisfied by my explanation, Sarrask wandered over to the far corner of the room, while I stole the key from under the utensil tray and went to the cabinet drawers, unlocking them one by one and sifting through the contents. I made sure to snatch up the journal that Ronad had been so angry about, but it was bulkier than I’d expected. I’d need a bag of some kind. I pulled an apron down from one of the wall hooks and fashioned it into a canvas tote, piling my pilfered goods inside.

  As I searched through the cabinets, I quickly realized there was nothing useful inside. All the notebooks and sheets of paper that I’d presumed were linked to the elixir were just old documents about bygone experiments, according to Sarrask. Everything was old.

  “What’s that?” I asked, turning back to Sarrask. He was fiddling with a vault tucked away under one of the workbenches, behind the façade of desk drawers. I could see how I’d missed it the first time I’d looked around; the painted panel was pretty convincing.

  “A safe of some kind,” he replied, typing in a few codes.

  “Can you break into it?”

  He grimaced. “Not without the right code. Plus, there’s a wire running out a hole in the side. It links to the rest of the explosives.”

  “Too many wrong numbers, and the whole thing probably goes up in flames,” I muttered. Jareth really hadn’t taken any chances with his notes. I would have bet good money that his actual notebooks—the ones that might be of some use—were stowed away in that vault.

  “We could try cutting it?” Sarrask suggested.

  “No way. I bet that triggers the whole thing, too.” I’d seen enough action movies to know that cutting a random wire was never a good idea. “Your father wanted to keep his secrets safe, and he’s managed it. I’m glad we got here first. Can you imagine what might’ve happened if the researchers had come in here and started messing with things?”

  Sarrask frowned. “What, so we’re giving up on getting his notebooks?”

  “What choice do we have? Besides, the secrets will be completely safe with your father, for now. He won’t give them to Gianne, or anyone. Not while he needs leverage.”

  “Guess you’re right. I just don’t like the thought of all that information going to waste,” he grumbled.

  “Look, there’s nothing we can do about that now, and we’re running out of time before the researchers get here. I say we take whatever looks useful and get the hell out of here.”

  Still grumbling, Sarrask picked up a few vials and notebooks, throwing them into another makeshift bag I’d created. I did the same, taking several leather-bound notebooks, a book on Vysanthean anatomy, and a few flimsy notepads that had been bound together with a piece of twine.

  “You know, I didn’t mean to kiss you before, in the hallway,” Sarrask said unexpectedly, making me look up sharply.

  “Sarrask, we really don’t need to talk about it. Honestly, I forgot it even happened,” I insisted, my cheeks burning.

  Undeterred, he carried on. “It’s just… love and relationships are weird concepts here. You say hello to a girl, and then her parents are calling up your parents, talking about potential dates for a wedding.” He sighed. “I’ve never spoken to a woman as openly as I speak to you. Naya, maybe, but only because she was my sister. I don’t know what came over me when I tried to kiss you. I think I just got overwhelmed.”

  “You don’t need to explain yourself. It was a shock, but let’s forget about it.” His sentiment was nice, but it didn’t make me feel any less uncomfortable.

  “It wasn’t about me having feelings for you, that’s all. Feeling so close to someone… I didn’t know what to do with that. I haven’t felt close to anyone, my entire life.” He paused, glancing anxiously in my direction. “I really don’t have feelings for you, Riley. So I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.”

  “Kissing someone will tend to do that,” I teased. I had no idea if he was telling the truth, or just trying to cover his ass, in case I told Navan what he’d done. Either way, he didn’t need to worry; I really didn’t want Navan finding out.

  He smiled. “I deserved that.”

  “Cool, so we agree never to bring this up ever again?”

  He nodded. “Agreed.”

  I wiped my brow in a mock gesture of relief and bundled up the items we’d taken from the alchemy lab, pushing one of the bags into Sarrask’s arms as we headed for the trapdoor. I was about to move down onto the first step when he spoke again.

  “But you should know that you’re a unique kind of girl. I’ve never met anyone quite like you. Any man would be lucky to have someone like you.”

  I tried so hard not to roll my eyes. “Thanks. I’ll let Navan know you think so.”

  That seemed to silence him, and we made our way down into the passageway, throwing the apron-bags over our shoulders.

  We hurried through the tunnels and out into the main body of the house, reaching the entrance hall within a few minutes. Ronad and Kaido were already standing there, empty-handed. I presumed they’d already stowed their belongings away on the vessel that Kaido had waiting outside.

  “You got everything you want?” I asked.

  Kaido nodded. “I managed to pack up most of my laboratory, as I had a system in place for just such an eventuality. It always pays to be organized.”

  “Without that organization, I’d have still been here when the research team arrived.” Ronad laughed, though his eyes were rimmed with red. “He’d packed all of Naya’s things away and labeled everything, down to the most specific detail.”

  “How else are you supposed to find what you’re looking for?” Kaido wondered, seemingly baffled by Ronad’s laughter.

  “How about you? Did you find anything useful?” Ronad asked.

  “Not really. Most of the good stuff was locked away, and the vault was rigged to blow,” I explained. “Take all this stuff, and I’ll run back and pull the lever. I should have a couple of minutes to get out, so leave the hatch open and the engine running.” I pushed my apron-bag of goodies into Ronad’s hands and set off down the hallway, retracing the steps I’d just taken.

  “Be careful!” Ronad yelled after me.

  It felt weird to be alone in the escape tunnels again, knowing what I was about to do. It had to happen, but that didn’t make it any easier. I was destroying Navan and Bashrik’s childhood home and everything they’d ever shared here. They hadn’t had the same opportunity that Ronad, Kaido, and Sarrask ha
d been given, to gather together anything they might want to keep. Moreover, I was destroying memories of Naya, not only for Ronad, but for her brothers too. It really didn’t leave a good taste in my mouth.

  I paused in front of the narrow stairwell, my eyes fixed on the red lever.

  Taking a deep breath, I lunged upward and pulled down hard on the lever. It clicked into place. A small, rectangular timer appeared beside the lever, bright red symbols flashing on a black background. It was time to run.

  Sprinting all the way back through the tunnels, I bolted out of the wardrobe door into the basement and staggered up into the hallways of the ground floor. I didn’t slow until I reached the front door, tearing out onto the gravel driveway, where the sleek silver vessel was waiting. It was the same one Kaido had brought us to the Idrax house in, which seemed oddly fitting.

  Ronad was waiting by the open hatch. He pulled me in, and the small ship rose into the air. I expected the explosion to be instantaneous, but for a couple of minutes nothing happened. The mansion stood like a silent giant among the beautiful gardens and towering, redwood-like trees. I glanced at the bracelet on Ronad’s wrist, with the oval of onyxscye in the middle. Soon enough, it would be all that remained of the stone that had built the house in the first place.

  We were a good distance away when a tremor bristled through the air, and a thunderous crack boomed below us. Fissures rocketed up the sides of the house, and the structure fell in on itself. It tipped into the lick of the rising flames that grew taller by the second, engulfing everything. Glass smashed, stone shattered, and black smoke billowed out, while a chemical odor filled the air. I’d never smelled napalm before, but I had a feeling it was something similar to the aroma stinging my nostrils.

  Within a few moments, a blaze had taken hold of what remained of the house, destroying everything inside. The hatch closed with a whirr, prompting me to peer through the windows instead. I could see into the skeleton of the mansion. I watched as furniture disintegrated, the staircases fell away to nothing, and the last of the roof caved in on itself. The fire spread to the garden and the trees, lighting everything up until the smoke was so thick that it hid the wreckage from view.