by M. D. Laird
“It’s my fault,” she said. “Will they ever forgive me?”
“They’ll forgive you if we can get rid of some of the immediate threats.”
“It should help if I accept the offer to marry the prince.”
He nodded sadly. “I will make sure you don’t have to go through with it,” he said. “Or I will die trying. Faciam quodlibet quod necesse est, I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Calab spent the night with Eve, though he did not attempt to be intimate with her. Instead, he just held her. It was the most peaceful sleep Eve had had for many months.
Eve had been surprised how Calab had taken the news. He was upset and unhappy, but he was focussed as he had been when they were under threat from the Alchitch. The danger allowed him to put his emotions on the backburner and he could concentrate on what needed to be done. He spent the night comforting her before leaving for Axandria.
The next day, Eve spoke to Jacob about increasing her guard before making plans to visit Laurentia to meet with Queene Orrla.
Calab flew to Axandria as he did not wish to be seen in the vector. He had not sent a note ahead of him to inform Prince Thomas he was visiting. The prince was not as pleasant towards him as he had been when Calab himself had been a prince, but he did not expect that he would be turned away.
He did not know the demon who answered the door, but all demon and angel guilds showed their brothers hospitality and he was shown through to the parlour. Calab had not visited the guild for a few hundred years, though, aside from minor changes in the furniture and the addition of some artwork, it had changed very little.
The demon who had answered the door entered the parlour with a tray of supper and a jug of wine. “The prince will be down shortly, but advised you to make yourself at home.”
Calab nodded his thanks before tucking into his meal.
Thomas arrived thirty minutes later. The prince’s scowl told Calab he was not happy to see him. “Good evening, Mr Hallward. What can I do for you?”
“I have come to offer my assistance,” replied Calab.
“For what?” asked Thomas, lounging in the seat opposite Calab.
“To find your Crown. Queen Genevieve said you are trying to find them to replace the king.”
Thomas sneered. “We are. But how can you help? We need an alchemist.”
“I can surely help in some way. I’m no longer under the decree so I’ll be able to midspace into the king’s guild and spy on his men for a start.”
“Why do you want to help?”
“Why do you think?”
“You don’t want Her Majesty to marry the Crown Prince? Do you want to enter the king’s guild to stare angrily at the prince as he sleeps? You are a sentimental fool.”
“From the man who paid one hundred thousand mirs for the return of his wife.”
Thomas grunted and glared at him. “Why are you here?” he snapped. “We asked the queen to help us, and she refused, but now that she has to marry a stranger she suddenly sends her lapdog to aid us.”
Calab growled fiercely. “I’m not her lapdog.” He tried to calm himself. Thomas was trying to pick a fight with him, and that would not help—for a start he hadn’t brought enough clothes with him to have a set destroyed in a scrap with another demon. “She didn’t send me. I have come of my own accord.”
“I can’t work with you.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re a disgrace.”
“Because I have regained my feelings?” exclaimed Calab. “That is hardly my fault, and I have done nothing to offend you, Thomas.”
“Perhaps.” Thomas yawned and rested his hands behind his head, “but if I work with you then I am helping your queen, and I am done with her.”
“Why?”
“She didn’t tell you? That’s surprising, she seems to have told you everything else. She tortured me because I couldn’t rescue the princess without breaking my decree.”
Calab sighed. Genevieve hadn’t mentioned that. “She is under a lot of pressure,” he said. “I’m sure she regrets it.”
“I’m sure,” Thomas said sarcastically.
“We need to help each other, Thomas. I can help you navigate the Michælis.”
Thomas snarled. “Who do you think you are? Who said you can call me by my name? You’re not a prince anymore. It is Prince Thomas to you, and I can do without your help.”
“Fine,” said Calab, picking up his bag. “Thank you for supper.”
He entered the midspace to leave the guild and Thomas came after him. Calab threw down his bag as Thomas lunged for him. Calab wasn’t sure why Thomas wanted to fight him, he presumed he was receiving the brunt of the anger that Thomas could not direct towards Genevieve, or perhaps Thomas was using the rare opportunity to engage in a fight—he couldn’t fight his own demons. Calab punched Thomas in the face and slashed at him with his claws as Thomas ran his own claws through Calab’s stomach.
They fought for the best part of an hour. It was against the decree to kill another demon, but they could tear each other up terribly and still make only non-lethal wounds. Only piercing a demon’s heart could kill them. The demons’ skin and muscles were shredded, and their clothes lay in ribbons around the midspace.
When Thomas’ anger had dissipated, he pulled away from Calab’s grasp and snarled before heading back to his guild. Calab picked up his bag and started to walk away from the guild through the midspace. He would wait for his injuries to heal before dressing and taking to the air.
He considered heading towards the Guild of Verrine in the hope that he would get a warmer reception from Nathaniel, but he instead decided to snoop around the king’s guild to see if he could learn anything.
The Guild of Rexalis was in darkness by the time Calab arrived. He travelled through the guild in the midspace to check where the guards were. He was relieved to find that none of the guards present could midspace and could not sense his presence. Calab searched through every drawer and looked through every document. He used his vox to capture images of anything that seemed important.
He had not found anything that struck him as profoundly important until he found a locked drawer in the king’s desk. He tried to pass through the midspace to get to the contents of the drawer, but his hand burned and he was prevented from reaching into the drawer. The drawer was lined with adamantine!
How? He exclaimed to himself.
Calab searched the entire office and could not find a key to the drawer. He sped through the guild to the king’s bedroom and, remaining in the midspace, he checked through the king’s drawers, shelves, books and even his person, but he could not find a key that looked like it would fit.
The residents of the guild were beginning to stir as morning broke, and Calab, concerned that at least one member of staff would be able to midspace, left the guild and flew back to the Guild of Sonneillon.
The demon who answered the door informed Calab that Prince Thomas had declared that Calab was not welcome and should be turned away. Calab ignored the demon and midspaced through the guild until he found Thomas’ bedroom. Thomas was still in bed and eating breakfast with the princess as Calab entered their room.
“My apologies for the intrusion, Your Highnesses,” he said.
“Get out!” Thomas snarled. “Was I not clear enough last night?”
“Not really,” said Calab. “I actually have no idea why you have such a dislike for me, but, whatever it is, you’re going to want to hear what I have to say.”
“I doubt it.” Thomas growled. “Get out.”
“I have found something—”
“OUT!”
“—at the king’s guild—”
Thomas leapt from his bed, ignoring the protestations of the princess, and punched Calab so hard that he fell back and smashed through the window. He unfurled his wings before he hit the ground and flew back to the bedroom.
“The king has adamantine,” he said
quickly as Thomas came at him again.
Thomas stopped. “What?”
“He has a drawer lined with adamantine in his office.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Thomas slumped into a seat. He looked annoyed to have to pay attention to what Calab had to say. “What was in it?”
“I couldn’t find the key,” said Calab, taking a breath. “He had to have gotten it from a demon. Do you think Nathaniel would have given it to him?”
Thomas shook his head. “No,” he said. “I doubt it. What else did you find?”
“I don’t know yet,” he said, removing his vox from his pocket. “I have taken images of various documents, and I will need to go through them.”
Thomas nodded. “The king keeps talking about this loophole that means we can allow others to access adamantine without breaching our decree. We can assume that he is telling the truth about that—if anyone had violated the decree we would know about it. We can also assume that someone else has the second set of high prince powers.”
Calab shuddered. “What is the loophole?”
Thomas shrugged. “I didn’t ask. I wasn’t interested.”
“I can try to find it once I’ve studied these images. May I borrow your Michælis?”
“Does that mean you’re staying?” Thomas sneered.
“I’m still not welcome?” asked Calab, exasperated.
“You found a drawer, that doesn’t make us chums.”
“I found adamantine and what is your problem with me?”
Thomas was about to answer when the princess cut in. “Of course you can stay,” she said. Thomas whipped his head towards her. “Oh, don’t glare at me like that. You know we need his help. He has accomplished what I nearly lost my life and gained scars trying to do and now you’re going to send him away? If you don’t want to work with Mr Hallward, Thomas, then that is fine, but I will be working with him.”
Thomas growled at her and folded his arms. She glared back at him and folded hers. “Fine.” Thomas snarled. “It looks like you’re staying.” He rang his call bell and told the demon who attended to fix his window and arrange for a room and breakfast for Calab. “Use my office for now,” Thomas said before returning to sit on his bed and finish his meal. Calab nodded, bowed to the princess and left the bedroom.
“Do I have to remind you who is in charge here?” Thomas snapped at Eleanor.
“You are in charge, darling.” She smiled, ruffling his hair.
Thomas growled and batted her hand away. “Don’t mock me, Eleanor!”
She grinned. “My, you must be angry with me if you’re calling me by my name,” she said, pulling the blankets around her. The room was cold now the window was broken. “Why do you dislike him so?”
Thomas sipped at his tea. “He is a fool,” he said. “He has always been a fool. He’s always tried not to be a demon. He’s always tried to think like thorian or hominem, he always tries to think about others. Demons don’t do that—he makes himself look stupid. Then he reads all those Lycean books and thinks he’s better than every other demon because of it and now he has feelings. The man is ridiculous.”
“It sounds like you’re jealous,” Eleanor said.
“I cannot feel jealousy,” he snapped. “I simply wonder why he pretends to be something he is not.”
“Why do you even think about it?” asked Eleanor. “All demons are different, are they not? Just because you and Nathaniel could have been separated at birth does not mean everyone else is.”
“I am nothing like Nathaniel.”
“Right.” She grinned. “Anyway, I think you treat Calab Hallward too harshly, and he does not deserve it. I don’t expect you are going to apologise, but you could at least try to be civil especially when he is trying to help us.”
“Who put you in charge?” He snarled.
“I am your wife, Thomas, and I am merely commenting on your unseemly behaviour.”
“I’m a demon, Princess. I should be able to behave in an unseemly way if I want to.”
She laughed and ruffled his hair again.
“Stop doing that!”
“Oh do stop pouting,” she said, kissing his cheek. “Let’s get up.”
“Stop telling me what to do!”
“I’m sorry,” she purred. “Perhaps I could lie here whilst you exert some authority over our relationship.”
A small smile crept to his lips. “I know when I’m being manipulated, you know.”
She smiled coyly. “Do you want me to stop?”
He turned to her, his eyes gleaming, and she laughed as he pinned her to the bed.
“Have you found anything?” Thomas asked Hallward as he entered his office to find him sat at his desk.
“I don’t think so,” replied Hallward. “Though it may be worth Princess Eleanor having a look at the images to see if she spots something I don’t.”
Thomas nodded and called for Arakiel. “Tell Her Highness to attend my office,” Thomas told the demon. “It is unfortunate that Her Majesty cannot midspace and open the drawer for us.”
“Yes,” replied Hallward. “I imagine she could do something with her alchemy to get in unseen, the Alchitch could, but she has only scratched the surface of understanding her magic.”
“She can make shields.”
“I think that is reflexive. She doesn’t consciously know how to do it.”
“She won’t help anyway. We need to find the key.”
The princess entered the office. Thomas considered telling Hallward to move from his seat, but he sat opposite him instead, and the princess took a seat beside him.
“Do you have any idea where the king might keep the drawer key, Princess,” asked Thomas. “Have you ever seen him put a key anywhere or wear one?”
“No,” she said. “I can’t recall that I have. Is the lock made from adamantine as well? Will it not just break open?”
“It is. I tried to force it, but I couldn’t. I need a key.”
“What about the keys for the shackles? They might fit.”
“It is worth a try,” said Thomas.
Hallward nodded. “I will return tonight—I will try every key you and Nathaniel have.”
“Princess, Hallward wants you to look through the images he has taken of the documents in your father’s office to see if you can spot anything amiss.”
The princess nodded. “I will,” she said. “It might also be useful for me to write down everything I was planning to look at when I got into the guild to see if there is anything you have missed. If you have the time, you could try to find my arcanus in the tunnel. I dropped it when I was captured. I have two more, but it may be useful to have another.”
“You have three arcanus stones?” asked Hallward, his eyes widening.
“It started out as one.”
“Ah.”
“Princess,” said Thomas, “who was the alchemist you took that stone from?”
“I don’t know…I was only fifteen at the time, and I have only seen him once. If my father still uses alchemists, then he will need to pay them—he will have some records of payment somewhere. He used to use a bookkeeper to keep the Crown’s records. He fired him years ago, but there may be some old records in the office he kept within the guild’s attic or at his place of business in town. His name was Merric.”
“I can search the bookkeeper’s office as it is not on the guild premises,” said Thomas. “Hallward, you can search the attic. Search the armoury as well and see if you can find any adamantine weapons. We need to find which demon gave the king adamantine and who crafted it as well as find the Crown. I’ll visit Nathaniel to rule him out and collect his keys. After I have searched the bookkeepers, I will visit Arkazatinia and Vernasia to see the other princes.”
“What should I do?” asked the princess.
“Well, you can’t fly or midspace so you’ll have to stay here for now, but I suppose
you can accompany me to visit the princes—perhaps they may say something useful. In the meantime, scrutinise everything Hallward finds.”
She nodded. “We should purchase a vox whilst we’re in Arkazatinia so we can keep in contact with Mr Hallward and he can send us what he finds.”
Thomas rolled his eyes. “You’re determined to drag us into the future, aren’t you?”
“We have a flying carriage. What is one more thing?”
Jacob had doubled Eve’s guard, so she now had four on each shift. She had apologised profusely to them and promised she would make it up to them when this mess was over. Not before she had to drag them to Laurentia for a few days to allow her to train. Since the battle with the Alchitch, Eve would usually forgo her guard in the Realm of the Fae, as it was heavily Cloaked, and give them time off while she stayed there, but, after Orrla’s comments at the recent CRM, she no longer felt safe without her guard.
The guards said they understood, Captain Leliel had also advised her they would ignore her if she gave them time off anyway as the risks were too high. The angel’s comment turned Eve into a blubbering mess once more.
Eve tried to cut down the time she spent in public and the time she spent with other people, even her own people. She felt afraid and paranoid that everyone was plotting against her. She had requested her guards take her to the cabin in the Cambrian mountains where she had spent days hiding with Calab from the wraiths, but Leliel had assured her it was not necessary. He had told her that the cabin was no warmer and comfortable now than it had been when she stayed there, and they would protect her, whatever the threat.
Still, Eve needed some time to clear her head before she went to Laurentia, and instead of camping in the mountains, she rode her horse across the plains. The guards had checked Aethon’s saddle before she left to ensure it hadn’t been tampered with before allowing her a small glimpse of freedom as the stallion galloped at full speed away from the Guild of Impærielas, away from the Crown, and away from her role as queen.
