“Because Kapia loves me, and he won’t want her to suffer if I die.” Bredon narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest as he studied her silently. “Don’t you trust me, Marene?” he asked in a dangerously soft voice. “I thought we were working together, on the same side, now that we’re connected. If that’s not so, simply kill me and be done.”
“We’re connected, that’s true enough,” Marene said. “But are you really on my side, Bredon?”
“Of course,” Bredon replied as though insulted by the question, giving silent thanks that she could not discern his lies as he could hers.
“And will you remain on my side after the Djinn are dealt with?”
“I’m not stupid, Marene,” he said, dropping his arms to his sides in a show of impatience. “I realize that my death means nothing to you, but your death means my death. I’d much rather be alive and at your side when you take over Rathira, than dead.”
“Tell me, Bredon, why do you suddenly want power?”
“Who says it’s sudden?” Bredon countered. “After spending so much time with you I find that Kapia is…disappointing. I want more. Do you object? If so, tell me now and I will return to my original plan and marry Kapia instead.”
“I would not do that were I you, Bredon,” Marene warned.
“Why not?” Bredon asked. “If you will not let me stand at your side, then I don’t see why I shouldn’t do what I can to help myself. If Zakiel dies, I could even be King one day.”
“Not if I kill your bride.”
Bredon widened his eyes as though surprised, then he let a small smile play on his lips. “You cannot tell me you are jealous, Hara Marene. Not of Kapia.”
“Of course not,” Marene scoffed. “My reasons are my own, Bredon, but trust me on this. If you wed, your bride, no matter who she is, will die before you have a chance to enjoy your wedding night.”
“Is it the wedding, or the wedding night you object to?”
“I care not how you spend your nights,” Marene said, her lip curling disdainfully. “But do not make the mistake of engaging in the binding ritual of marriage. Willingly attaching your soul to another when you’re connected to me would be a mistake.”
Bredon hardly needed to hear that small confession to fully understand so many things, but the confirmation of his suspicions was welcome. “That would be no hardship, except that it will prevent me from marrying into the royal family,” Bredon said. “Of course, once you rule, the royal family won’t matter so much anyway. So I must ask again, do you object to having me at your side?”
“No, I do not,” Marene smiled, stepping closer to him. “Are you sure that Zakiel will loan his powers to you?”
“Positive.”
“Excellent,” she purred. Bredon hid his revulsion when a fresh stream of yellow saliva ran down her chin as her focus was diverted from maintaining her appearance. Maybe she wasn’t as powerful as she thought. He hoped that wasn’t the case.
Marene’s smile faded suddenly, her gaze sharpening on him. “This plan of yours requires that both Vatra and I give you our power,” she said. “That will make you quite formidable.”
“Not give, lend, and only for a short time,” Bredon said, shrugging easily though inwardly he rolled his eyes. It had taken her long enough to see the obvious. He’d begun to think he’d have to spell it out for her. “If we don’t do this, the Djinn will invade Rathira and we will all die. Even you can’t fight them all, Marene.” She glared at him, her eyes flashing red again, but this was a very important point. “This is our only option.”
“No, it’s not,” she said. She began tapping one blackened talon against a yellowed fang while she thought. Bredon remained silent, letting her think, hoping she’d soon come to the right conclusion because his patience was wearing thin.
“Be honest, Bredon,” she said finally, “do you really believe that you’re capable of manipulating magic of any sort, let alone the vast amounts required to create this shield?”
“No,” Bredon replied at once. “I have serious doubts about it, to be honest. But what choice is there?”
“I will create the shield,” Marene said. “You will take Vatra’s power and act as my connection to Rathira. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Bredon replied, not quite daring to meet her gaze for fear she’d see the triumph he was trying so hard to hide. “I’m relieved we have a plan.”
“Yes, but only if the Djinn create a new tear,” Marene said quickly.
“Yes, of course,” Bredon replied. “If.”
“Wait,” Marene said suddenly. “I have a condition.” Bredon looked at her calmly, though his heart suddenly skipped a beat. “After Zakiel shares the power of Vatra with you, I will assess your strength. We will proceed only if I’m convinced you’ll be able to withstand the forces you’ll be subjected to. After all, if you die in the middle of this, I will lose my connection to Rathira and there’s no telling what would happen then.”
“Of course,” Bredon said. “I’ve no wish to die, Marene.”
“I’ve no particular interest in seeing you die either,” Marene said, leaning toward him. Bredon managed, barely, to keep from flinching back. Instead, he forced himself to lean toward her in return, then frowned as though struck by a thought.
“Marene, my knife, the one you used to track me with, will it still work?”
“Work?”
“Does the dark magic you placed on it still work?”
“Of course,” Marene sniffed haughtily. “My magic never fades, Bredon.”
“Excellent,” Bredon said, smiling. “It occurs to me that I should return that knife to Kapia, after telling her that the dark magic has been removed from it, of course.”
“You wish to keep an eye on her?” Marene asked sharply.
“No,” Bredon said. “I wish to keep an eye on Zakiel. Where he goes, there goes his sister.”
“Yes, I see what you mean,” Marene said. “If you aren’t with them, we’ll have no way to know what they’re up to.”
“The problem is that Kapia put it into the Cradle of the Moon Orb,” Bredon said.
“That doesn’t matter,” Marene said. “The magic hiding that was broken the moment the orb was removed. One moment.”
Bredon watched as Marene pulled the scepter out again and began waving it around. He felt the hair stand up at the back of his neck and along his arms, but was careful not to allow so much as a change in his breathing to reveal his true feelings.
“There,” Marene said triumphantly, pointing to the knife, still in its leather sheath, lying on the ground between them. Bredon picked it up and stuck it in his belt without bothering to look at it closely. It wouldn’t do for Marene to suspect he cared about the object or, worse, his true reason for asking her to fetch it for him.
“Thank you, Marene. I better go make certain they’re working on recalling the pyramid.”
“Don’t let them dally, Bredon,” Marene warned. “I want this finished.”
“As do I,” he said with feeling.
“Bredon,” she said, then waited for his eyes to meet hers. “Do not betray me. If you do, I will cause you much pain. Never doubt it.”
“I’m not a fool, Marene,” he said daringly. He bowed low, held it for a long moment, and when he straightened, Marene was gone. He released a sigh, then went to find Zakiel. Things had changed. Drastically.
***
Bredon found Zakiel, Karma, and Kapia waiting for him in the king’s private sitting room, exactly as they’d agreed upon. He paced across the room, then spun around and paced back as he struggled to clear his mind and order his thoughts.
“You caught her in a lie, didn’t you?” Kapia asked, her voice providing the calm he needed.
“Yes,” Bredon replied. “More than one.”
“Come sit with us, Bredon,” Zakiel invited. “I’ve got some brandy already poured for you.”
“Thank you, Zakiel,” Bredon said, taking the cushion beside Kapia. He picked
up the goblet, but didn’t raise it to his mouth. Instead, he took a moment to be sure that Marene wasn’t eavesdropping, then he looked up and met Zakiel’s gaze.
“Marene just discovered that unmaking the tear in the pyramid won’t keep the Djinn out of Rathira,” he said.
“Why not?” Zakiel demanded tightly.
“Because the Djinn have just discovered that the new scepter is drawn to Zatroa,” Bredon said. “Marene didn’t tell me, of course, but I saw the answer when she lied about it. ShaiTyan will use his new scepter to find the one Marene has, and make a new tear.”
“How is it that they didn’t know this before?” Zakiel asked as he tried to absorb the news.
“Never before have two sacred scepters existed at the same time.”
“Can Zatroa be destroyed?”
“No, and do not suggest that in Marene’s hearing,” Bredon warned. “If she had the slightest suspicion you even entertained the idea she’d destroy you.” He picked up the glass of brandy and took a healthy swallow. “I made a plan with her.”
“Yes?”
“You will loan me Vatra’s power, and Marene will draw on it to create the shield.”
“That won’t work,” Karma said. “The power of Rathira and the energy of the tear must be woven together to create the shield. I’ve worked with the power of Rathira enough to know that it will not recognize Marene. She is no longer of Rathira in any way.”
“No, she isn’t,” Bredon agreed. “A fact I was very much counting on.”
“I don’t understand,” Karma said.
“First and foremost, Rathira must be protected from the Djinn,” Bredon said. “The shield is the best, and only, idea I’ve heard that can make that happen. I think that with Marene’s power, and Vatra’s connection to Rathira, combined with my connection to Marene, there’s a chance we can do it.”
A long silence fell as Zakiel, Karma, and Kapia absorbed that statement. Bredon expected an argument from Kapia, and braced himself when she broke the silence. “How did you manage to make this seem like her idea?” she asked. Zakiel looked at her in surprise. “I know Marene,” she explained simply.
“It wasn’t so hard to do,” Bredon said relieved by her apparent acceptance of the plan. “I put forth the idea with myself as the one wielding the power and creating the shield. She went along with that until she realized that I would be using her power through our connection while at the same time holding the power of Vatra. Then she decided it would be wiser for someone with magical experience to create the shield.”
“How did you get her to agree to this without admitting you know that the Djinn won’t need the tear in the pyramid to make a new tear?” Zakiel asked.
“This plan is contingent upon the Djinn creating a new tear before she unmakes the existing one,” Bredon said. “Of course we’ll all be surprised when the Djinn make a new tear anyway.”
“Bredon, do you think she can do it?” Kapia asked.
“She said that she can do it, and I know that she did not lie. So yes, with my help, and Vatra’s, she can do it.”
“All right,” Karma said. “Let’s assume that the Djinn make a new tear, and Bredon and Marene are able create a shield before any Djinn manage to come through. Then what?” Everyone looked at her blankly. “What do we do about Marene?”
“Is she really so strong now that she cannot die?” Kapia asked.
“Yes, and no,” Bredon answered, choosing his words carefully. “Her physical body can be destroyed. Not easily, but it is possible. However, as you pointed out yourself, surna, if that happens, she might just possess someone else.”
“Perhaps Vatra will find a way around that,” Zakiel said, studying Bredon intently. “After we deal with the Djinn, of course.”
“Perhaps so,” Bredon said.
“All right,” Karma said, clapping her hands together. She hadn’t missed the silent interaction between the two men, but she would ask Zakiel about it later. When they were alone. “We need to go find Tiari and Ren and begin the search for the keystone. Before anything else, we have to get that pyramid back on Rathira.”
***
A short time later Karma stood beside Zakiel at the back of the King’s Audience Chamber, watching as Kapia, Tiari, and Ren prepared themselves to look into the three orbs and, hopefully, learn the location of the keystone. Nikura sat beside Karma, his eyes on the orb maidens while he spoke silently, repeating all that he’d overheard between Marene and Bredon. Karma channeled just enough energy into the Ti-Ank for Zakiel to be able to hear Nikura as well. When Nikura was finished, Zakiel’s grip on Karma was so tight that it was painful. She flexed her fingers and he immediately loosened his grip.
“He certainly understands Marene well,” Karma said softly. “At least, I hope so.”
“Meaning?” Zakiel asked.
“Don’t get angry, Zakiel, but how do we know that it’s not us he’s manipulating instead of Marene? He certainly sounded sincere about wanting to switch sides.”
“He did sound sincere,” Nikura agreed. “But his scent told the truth. We needn’t doubt him.”
“Thank you, Nikura,” Zakiel said with obvious relief. Karma squeezed his hand gently.
“What do you think, Nikura?” she asked. “Will she be able to create the shield?”
“I think so,” Nikura said. “This may be our only chance at it, so it’s worth a try. It was quite clever of Bredon to have maneuvered Marene into doing it.”
“Yes, it was,” Karma agreed. There was something about the idea of Marene using the power of Rathira for any reason that bothered her more than a little. She tried to tell herself it didn’t matter so long as she used it to permanently block the Djinn from invading Rathira again, but it didn’t help. Since she had no better ideas, she kept her concerns to herself.
“I understand why he brought up the subject of marrying Kapia,” Zakiel said a little too casually. Karma knew this was the reason he’d squeezed her hand so tightly. “It was a relief to know threat wasn’t against Kapia specifically, but I don’t understand Marene’s concern over ritual.”
“They are connected,” Nikura said. “Perhaps a promise made by one would become binding on the other.”
“If that’s true, then we need only ask Bredon to swear that neither of them would harm any citizen of Rathira,” Zakiel said. “We’d have no more worries concerning Marene again.”
“Good point, Highness,” Nikura said. “I will give the matter further thought.”
“Thank you, Nikura,” Karma said, then turned to look up at Zakiel. “You aren’t planning to interfere, are you?”
Zakiel glanced down at her, then back to Kapia with a reluctant sigh. “No, I will not interfere. It is their decision to make, and none of my business.” Karma nodded as she broke the thread of energy connecting her to the Ti-Ank. “Will you tell me what is troubling you then?”
“I still do not know how I’m to share Vatra’s power with Bredon, or anyone, for that matter,” Zakiel said quietly. “Father said it would come to me, but so far it hasn’t. That troubles me.”
“Maybe it will come to you the moment you need to do it,” Karma suggested.
“I hope so,” Zakiel replied.
“You won’t believe this, Zakiel,” Kapia said, standing up with the Moon Orb in her hands. “The keystone has been right out in the open for centuries.”
“Is it close by?” Zakiel asked.
“Very close,” she replied. “Just outside Father’s private sitting room, in fact, on the balcony. But it won’t do us any good until morning.”
“Why not?”
“Because the sun is about to set, and Tiari will need to be able to see,” Kapia said.
“Can’t you use the Sun Orb to see by?” Karma asked Tiari who joined them with Tomas, Ren, and Marl.
“I don’t think its range is large enough,” Tiari said, frowning. “If there is need for us to do it tonight, we can try, of course. It’ll be dangerous though.”
“Of course not,” Karma said. “It’s just as well since we’re all exhausted anyway. A few hours of sleep won’t hurt any of us.”
“Yes, Karma, you’re right,” Zakiel agreed. “We will all meet in the King’s sitting room at sunrise.”
***
Kapia tossed and turned in the big, soft bed she’d slept in for years and, yet, she could not get comfortable. Nor could she silence her own mind. After what felt like hours, she tossed back the covers in defeat, got up, and pulled on a robe. She crossed the room in the faint light of the fire still burning in the fireplace, and flung open the doors that led out to her private balcony, sighing softly at the bright light of the moon. She stepped out, breathing deeply of clean night air. If she hadn’t just spent a month traipsing through the mountains in snow and rain, the light breeze that blew across her face would have felt cold to her. As it was, it felt refreshing.
She leaned on the railing and looked up at the stars, distracting herself by trying to find the constellations she’d learned as a child. It was better than dwelling on Bredon. Where he was. What he was doing. What tomorrow would bring, and what would happen after he connected with Marene.
A quiet sound reached her ears and she stiffened, her every sense suddenly alert. She moved across the balcony on silent feet and peeked through the open doors to see the outline of a man moving toward her bed. The balcony held no weapons, and she was far too high to jump to the ground. She was going to have to confront him, whoever it was. She watched as the man stopped at the side of her bed, then turned around, but after the bright moonlight, she still saw just a shadow.
“Kapia?”
“I’m here, Bredon,” she said, the tension leaving her in a rush. She stepped inside and watched as he walked toward her. When he was only a few steps away from her, he stopped and stared. Kapia frowned.
“Oh,” he said softly. Kapia glanced down, realizing at once that the moonlight behind her rendered her thin silk night clothes nearly transparent.
The Quest for the Heart Orb (The Orbs of Rathira) Page 32
