Henrick strode forward to the table they had been using to study. “You know exactly why I am calling you names,” he hissed. His eyes held a deadly glare. “You sent your dog and his men to try to kill me!”
Luthian’s eyes narrowed. “Careful Henrick, you are stepping beyond the bounds of what I will allow.” Luthian’s hands moved a bit out from his sides, and Alador knew he was preparing to defend himself. Alador took another casual step to the left. “I assure you that I sent no one to kill you,” Luthian continued.
“Liar!” Henrick snarled, venom dripping as he continued. “Everyone knows that the Trench Lord dances to the tune of the High Minister. You, yourself, told us that Aorun was your hired hand of death.”
The guards behind him stood ready, but Luthian motioned them backwards. They obediently took a couple of steps backwards, and Alador’s eyes went wide at the realization that Luthian had put them out of the line of his fire. Henrick had been wrong. Luthian would answer with violence.
Alador’s mind raced over what to do. He could not let Luthian kill Henrick. Alador realized that he needed him in many ways. He would gladly let Henrick kill Luthian, but with witnesses, Henrick would still be killed for assassinating the High Minister. Even if he assisted, with his lack of knowledge and Henrick’s obvious wound, they could not overtake a mage of Luthian’s skill and his two armed guards.
“I assure you. I did not send Sordith to kill you,” Luthian’s cold tones held an edge of warning.
“Liar.” Henrick hissed. “You want me dead.” Henrick spit on the floor. “Do it yourself.” Fire rose up from Henrick’s hands, the guards' swords rose as they moved, and Alador made his decision.
Before Henrick or Luthian could release a spell, Alador hit Henrick square in the chest with a bolt of lightning. He had used as little power he could, but still Henrick flew backwards hitting the ground hard. Alador pulled his blade as he moved forward, and had his sword at Henrick’s throat before the man could recover from where he lay gasping upon the floor. Alador knew that Luthian was watching him closely because neither Blackguard had moved to assist nor hinder him.
“Stay down, Father. I don’t want to kill you, but I will before I let you harm the High Minister of this city and your own brother.” The blade slid a bit along Henrick’s neck drawing a line of blood; Henrick’s chin rose in response. “The people need his leadership and you sure as the gods are not capable of leading anything.” Alador’s disgust was answered by a flicker of concern in Henrick’s gaze. “...Even a drunken bed servant would think twice.”
“I should have known you would turn on me.” Henrick snarled up at him. “Damned half-breed - more concerned about currying favor and gaining power than family.”
Alador’s cold smile was warmer than the pain in his eyes: the past giving weight to his mocking tone. “Odd accusation as I have learned everything about currying favor from you.” Their gazes met for one long moment as Henrick lay helplessly beneath the edge of his son’s sword.
Luthian’s amused drawl was right on cue. “It would seem, my dear Henrick that your cost to me is now greater than the benefits you bring.” Luthian moved up beside Alador and slowly pushed the boy’s blade away from Henrick’s throat. “I thank you for a true heir that understands that sometimes hard choices must be made even amongst family. For the sake of your son, I will not order your death. I would prepare to leave Smallport and your manor home. It seems a fifth tier position has suddenly opened up.”
He motioned to the two waiting men. “Guards. Take my brother to his manor house and confine him there until I decide what is fair justice for these false accusations, and his drawing of power in my presence.” Luthian indicated for the guards to take him. They both grabbed an arm and pulled the mage up.
Henrick attempted to rip his arms free. “I’m going! You don’t need to haul me off.” He glared at the two men as Luthian nodded permission. He headed for the door then turned to look at the two mages.
“You are welcome to one another,” Henrick hissed. “I would rather be confined to the Daezun routes than ever step in your presence again!”
Only when the guardsman followed Henrick out, and the door clicked shut did Alador sheathe his sword. He glanced up to see that Luthian had turned to look at him.
His uncle’s words were casual as he said, “You, my dear nephew, never fail to surprise me,” Luthian moved to stand before him. “I did not expect you to strike your father.” He put his hands on Alador’s shoulders, and Luthian’s searching gaze held his puzzlement at Alador’s actions.
Alador met his gaze evenly. “He breaks his word all the time. You have been true to yours.” Alador glanced at the door and back to his uncle. “You have made a promise that I intend for you to keep.”
Luthian’s cold smile sent goose bumps racing up Alador’s spine. “You will have all you asked for ..." He slowly pulled Alador forward and embraced him. “... And more.”
Chapter Three
Sordith laid back against the pillows of Auries’ bed. He had made quite the show of his injuries as he returned to the trench, and a couple of men had made sure he arrived at the brothel safely. He watched as Auries padded about her room cleaning up after them. She had checked his wounds and tended to the pain with an additional potion to accelerate healing before they had switched to more personal pleasures. He smiled as he lay with one hand behind his head watching her.
“Don’t think you can lie in my bed all day. I have a business to attend to.” Auries snapped as she tossed his pants at him.
“You don’t see clients personally anymore, Auries,” he reminded her with smirking grin. He moved to pull the pants closer.
“That you know of…” She let that fall between them. Her sniff was haughty as she turned her nose up at him.
Sordith was in no hurry to move after the injuries sustained during the fight at Henrick’s manor. The wound to the right side of his stomach had crossed the path of the more serious wound that he had suffered before the ball. Despite being the shallower of the wounds that he had suffered, it hurt the most even after the potions. “Baiting me now… I am not a man prone to jealousy, or I would have killed a great deal of your customers,” he teased. He crossed his hands behind his head, eyeing her body with appreciation.
Auries pulled a soft silken gown of blue over her head, finally hiding her exquisite body. Despite her age, she had managed to maintain much of the silkiness of youthful skin. “Men of the trench pay for a quick roll. Mages of the upper tiers want refinement. I still cater to those with a discerning taste or …” She glanced at him provocatively. " ... Unique request.” She moved to the mirror and sat down. Her soft hum and moving gilded brush began a rhythmic pace in the stillness of the room. “At least they pay for my time…” she mused as the brush continued being pulled through her hair.
Sordith opened his mouth to protest and closed it again. He was going to bond with Keelee, and to protest Auries’ lovers in the course of her craft was highly hypocritical; she did not protest at the path of death that had followed him in his own line of work. Sordith stiffly rose from the bed and pulled on his breeches. He was considering how to appease her as there was clearly something bothering her.
Once covered, he moved behind her and gently took the brush out of her hand. When she did not protest, he began working out the snarls that he had helped to tangle in her hair. “Do you want me to pay for your time, Auries?” he asked with quiet curiosity as he watched her face in the mirror.
Auries had closed her eyes at the tender ministrations of the Trench Lord. She breathed out a long sigh of frustration. “No,” she admitted.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Then why did you speak of it?” Sordith gave a tender nuzzle to her earlobe before he returned to working the brush through her hair. He was being far tenderer than she had been as she had raked it through the long blonde tresses. From this angle, he could see the hints of age hidden in her silken strands.
“You are t
he most frustrating man.” She opened her eyes to glare at him in the mirror.
Sordith flashed her a mischievous smile. “A fact you have mentioned for years,” he pointed out.
“It is true? You have chosen a bond mate?” she asked. Sordith was sure he saw pain in her eyes as they met in the mirror.
Sordith stopped the brushing and turned her to look at him. He pushed hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. “Auries. We have been friends for many wonderful years. We have both known what we were, and what our paths would be from the time you first spread your legs and I first picked up a blade.” He ran a thumb across her bottom lip as he knelt down to look into her eyes. “You are the one person I trust implicitly,” he admitted, his husky tone caressing his words.
“Then why another?” she asked, her voice trembling and her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“You are a whore, I am a thief. Some would say that is a good pairing.” Sordith stated bluntly. “You are beautiful, and trust me when I say, I have found none to match your skills in bed. But, I look upon you as my friend...” He stood up slowly, looking down at her. “...Not a mother for my children.” Sordith frowned as he looked down at her.
She slowly stood up. “I could be that woman if you gave me a chance.” She searched his face as if hoping to see some change in his position.
Sordith placed his hands on her face as he met her gaze. “As much as I care for you, Auries, you and I both know that you would grow bored with only my company. I assure you that if bonded, I would kill any others that touched you.” His words held a promised edge of violence.
Auries’ gaze wavered then dropped. “It doesn’t mean I don’t wish it differently,” she sighed out and moved into his arms. She nuzzled her face into his bare chest as he wrapped his arms around her.
Sordith gently kissed the top of her head. “I know, my sweet rose. I have always known.” He pushed her back to look her directly in the eyes. “You will just have to be content with being my nurse and best friend.”
“You bond with another, and you will pay just like the rest,” she threatened with a pronounced pout.
Sordith grinned. “I suspect that you will demand much payment and it won’t all be in slips,” he teased. “As long as I am Trench Lord, Auries, you and yours are under my protection, bonded or not. His words held a solemn vow as he held her gaze. “Now, I had best be back to the hall. I am expecting a visitor and I have already tarried longer than I probably should have.”
Auries’ arms snaked around his neck. “Not without a proper good-bye kiss,” she stated in an excessively husky tone. Her soft chastisement was followed by a slow sensual kiss.
When at last the kiss ended, Sordith whispered against her lips. “I thought you had a business to run. That was more of an offer for a longer stay,” he teased.
“I just don’t want you to forget the pleasures to be had here.” She grinned at him then stepped back. Her hands slipped to her hips as she eyed the rest of his clothing now all on the bed then him. “Go about your business Trench Lord, before I forget I have one to run as well.” Auries returned to her hair, fastening it up carefully.
Sordith chuckled and moved to the bed. He pulled on his clothes as carefully as he could, his skin was still tender in places. He grabbed his sword belt and swept it around him. The rogue would need to clean those blades when he was back at the hall, having come straight here after returning to the trench. “I will be back,” he stated with a wink as he headed for the door.
“You better or I will come marching up those hall steps wearing nothing but what the gods gave me,” she challenged as he swung the door open. .
“I would pay to see my men’s faces if you chose to do that, but I fear I would have a complete uprising, and would have to kill half of them.” Sordith grinned back from where he held the door open. “I promise Auries, this is not the last you will see of me. After all, you know just how to stitch me up.”
He turned and had taken only a couple of steps when a bottle of perfume hit the wall behind where he had stood just moments before. “Missed,” he called back. Her scream of frustration and his laughter echoed down the hall as he headed out.
Sordith arrived at the Trench Hall to find that Henrick was already there. He was pale; from blood loss Sordith assumed. Owen had put the mage in Sordith’s private parlor. As Henrick moved to rise, Sordith waved him down.
“Don’t get up. I have had a chance to rest and by the look of you, you have not.” Sordith moved to a chair next to Henrick and pulled it closer. “How is the wound?”
“Closed, but it still pains me.” Henrick admitted. Henrick rubbed the bloodstain gently. “If any ask, I have not been here. I am under house arrest.”
Sordith smirked. “Are you now?” He looked around. “Seems to me you are far from the fifth tier. Just how did you manage that?” He eyed his father with genuine concern despite the teasing of his tone.
“Well, they are outside my door, not in my bedroom. You can hardly contain a high level mage by locking him in his room.” Henrick snorted in amusement. “We have much to discuss and I have to give Alador credit, if I did not know he was aware of our ruse, I would have thought him truly turned against me. The force of the spell he used nearly knocked me senseless.” Henrick gave a nervous chuckle.
Looking concerned, Sordith glanced through at the door as if the mage would walk through it. “Do you think Luthian suspects?” He turned back to look squarely at the mage.
“I am sure he suspects, but he will not act without conviction of the truth. He needs Alador too much for his plans of conquest.” Henrick laid his head back wearily and closed his eyes as he spoke.
“Is his plan such a bad thing? To unite the isle under a single rule?” Sordith asked carefully. He did not want to anger the mage, but at the same time, unification seemed a positive thing for both cultures.
“It is not the idea of unification that I am opposed to, Sordith. It is the motivation behind it.” He opened his eyes. “Renamaum wanted much the same thing, but his purpose was purer. Luthian … well Luthian wants it as a status of his power and glory. He does not work for the good of the Daezun, of the Lerdenians, and definitely not the dragons.”
“Who is Renamaum?” Sordith was puzzled at the casual use of the name.
“Oh, sorry my dear boy. It is the name of the dragon whose stone Alador has harvested.” Henrick explained.
Sordith nodded. He had discussed the beast only briefly with his brother. He was still concerned about the path that Henrick and this possessed stone had put Alador upon. “If we defeat him, it will be by Alador’s unifying of these very elements. Would you crown the reckless boy a king?” Sordith asked carefully.
“Who else would you suggest? It cannot be won without mage powers, or the Lerdenians will never kneel.” Henrick sighed wearily as if the weight of the world were upon him.
“What of you?” Sordith asked curiously. “You work so hard behind the scenes lining everything up when you could walk in and best Luthian now. You could seize the title of High Minister without a war, then you and Alador could unite the isle.”
Henrick opened his lips to say something then snapped them shut. He slowly closed his eyes again. Sordith could read on his face that the man had considered this, the waging emotions were not hidden. “I cannot assume the mantle of High Minister now or ever.” He opened his eyes; and when they met Sordith’s, they were determined. “It is not meant to be my place… my place will be elsewhere when all is revealed.”
“Your place? Do you know something of the future you are not telling us?” Sordith pressed, not one to let a secret slip passed him. He did not like the idea that the mage was keeping things from them.
“Yes.” Henrick’s calm confirmation lay between them for a moment. “And when I can reveal it, I will. Do not press me on the matter,” Henrick said firmly. “But it will deny me any place of power within the Lerdenian kingdoms.”
“So you mean to see Alado
r as High Minister or as a King?” Sordith did not know if he wanted to be under his impetuous and highly temperamental half-brother.
Henrick put out one hand with his palm up. “He will rule as the first King of the Grand Isle. He will bring about a new age for the island as a whole.” Henrick prophesied. “Dark times come for the isle, and if it is not united before the tides of change flow then magic as we know it, dragons as we know them, all will cease to exist.” As if to emphasize his point, his hand snapped shut.
“I have not told Alador of what is to come. He flees at each level of responsibility. Alador still sees himself as that outcast small village boy. The mage in him does not see the power that he wields within his veins as a Guldalian and from the stone that he harvested. Until he can make decisions as a king, I will not reference this.”
“What if he never can, Henrick?” Sordith asked gently. “What if this task you speak of is beyond him?”
“Then the race of dragons will slowly die away, hunted out of fear, superstition, and for their treasures in blood, bone, and cave.” Henrick stated softly. “Magic will be lost to the world of men as we know it. A dark time will come upon the world, and when it ends, all... All I have ever known will be lost in the pages of time.”
Sordith sat for a long moment taking this in. He got up and moved to his liquor cabinet, rummaging through it. Finding what he sought, he poured them both a stiff drink. He moved back to Henrick handing it over solemnly. He toasted the mage then firmly stated. “Then we don’t just rebel against a tyrant.” He looked Henrick solemnly in the eyes. “We train a king.”
Chapter Four
The lightning cracked overhead illuminating the practice yards. The day was dark with clouds creating shadowy figures dancing in the eerie light and falling rain. The crack of swords clashing, the spattering of large drops of rain combined with murmurs and curses between the rolling rumbles of the storm. Water ran down the walls creating streams that swiftly ran into the scattered drains; kept clear by the numerous recruits.
Pseudo-Dragon (The Blue Dragon's Geas Book 4) Page 3
