by Cindy Dees
“Korgan is not wrong,” she said regretfully. “If the Emperor has issued an order to find you, every citizen of the Empire is obligated to turn you over to the authorities on sight. You could not move two steps outside of this place without being apprehended.”
“So I’m supposed to languish here for the rest of my days like a common criminal?”
Korgan snorted. “Not common, but a criminal in the eyes of Koth.”
Gunther scowled fiercely enough that even his son looked taken aback. He demanded truculently, “Who’ll take our rokken brother where he needs to go, if not me?”
“I’ll do it!” Korgan snapped. “If you will promise to stay out of sight.”
Gunther subsided on his log, abruptly looking well satisfied. The clever geezer had manipulated his son into making that offer. Gabrielle was reluctantly impressed. And frankly, she was glad Gunther would be staying here. His mechanical leg was cantankerous at best, and he rubbed his stump often in the evenings as if the long miles of travel bothered it.
“Where do we take this rokken fellow, then?” Korgan asked.
Gabrielle answered, “The Imperial Seat.”
The young kelnor stared. “Are you mad? We’ll all die, or worse!”
“Have a little faith, Korgan Druumedar. I would never risk the life of our rokken friend—or our lives, for that matter.” Although as she said the words, foreboding washed over. She had no idea how she was going to sneak two dwarves, a human mage, and an ogre-kin into the Imperial capital unseen. And yet she must find a way.
“When do we leave?” the kelnor grumbled.
“At first light,” she answered. “And we’ll be traveling light and fast.”
CHAPTER
5
Raina stepped out of the governor’s council chamber, rolling her shoulders to release the tension of extreme boredom. Four hours that meeting had droned on. And not one person had said anything whatsoever of the slightest importance to the Heart. No wonder the high matriarch had passed down to her the onerous duty of sitting through the weekly guild council meeting with the governess.
Raina had kept herself awake mostly by studying Syreena Wingblade, the governess who had replaced Anton Constantine. She was petite of stature with a soft cap of white feathers where most humans would have hair. The governess didn’t miss a thing that went on around her. Raina remembered hearing somewhere that Syreena was a falcon avarian, and she could see the resemblance in the predatory intensity with which Syreena regarded her guildmasters.
“A moment of your time, Emissary,” a modulated voice said low behind her.
“How may I help you, Guildmaster Aurelius?” she responded courteously.
“I wish to invite you and your young friends to dine with me tonight. Hyland House. Seven o’clock?”
“That would be lovely, guildmaster. You do me great honor.” She made a polite curtsy in the elven fashion.
His lips twitched in momentary humor at her exaggerated courtesy. While it might be appropriate among formal acquaintances, they were neither formal nor mere acquaintances.
She looked around for her usual Royal Order of the Sun guards and did not spy them. Maybe some threat had pulled them away, or perhaps they had ducked into the guard building to catch up with friends. Either way, it was midafternoon and perfectly safe for her to walk back to the Heart by herself. She relished the notion of having a few minutes entirely to herself for a change. How long had it been since she’d been that carefree girl back in Tyrel, hiking the forests and pastures around her home, lying by the bank of a stream, lazily fishing and not caring at all if anything nibbled at her hook?
It felt like decades, but not quite two years had passed since her sixteenth birthday, the day she’d run away from home rather than be made a virtual slave of the Mages of Alchizzadon.
She started out across the great square in front of the governor’s palace. The temperature had risen above freezing, and everywhere water dripped off roofs as the blanket of snow melted, a teasing hint of the spring yet to come.
The mood in Dupree was buoyant, with children running and shouting, mothers stopping in clusters to gossip, and shopkeepers sweeping the granite cobblestones in front of their shops with gusto. She breathed deeply, relishing the freedom to stretch her legs and stride across the open space like she was on the road once more.
She looked up from stepping across a small cascade of runoff water and froze in shock. Blank disbelief flooded her as she stared at the dark blue cloak trimmed with a row of runes around its hem. Its owner was half turned away from her, but a heavy line of jaw was visible … with faint runes climbing the man’s neck and spilling across that jaw.
Alchizzadon. One of the secret order’s mages was here in Dupree. Standing out in the open, turning slowly in a circle, taking in everything and everyone in the square. In a few more seconds, he would turn and spot her—
Panic erupted in her belly, sickening and hot. Her legs trembled with need to run, and she gave in to their urgings. She spun blindly and stumbled away from the threat—
And fetched up hard against a wall of chain mail, boiled leather, and solid muscle. Strong arms went around her, steadying her. Trapping her.
“Let me go!” she gasped.
“Easy, Raina. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
She looked up, and in her terror, it took her a moment to realize she was plastered against none other than Thanon himself. And he was grinning down at her lopsidedly.
“I’ve had women throw themselves at me before,” he commented drolly, “but never one as beautiful and elusive as you, my lady.”
“I have to go. Please. He’ll see me.”
“Who will see you?” Thanon asked quickly. “Who dares frighten you so?”
There was no time to explain. “He’ll take me. They’ll poison me. Do terrible things—”
Thanon cut her off sharply. “No man will harm you while I draw breath.” His arms tightened protectively around her, drawing her deeper into the folds of his black cloak and even closer against his big, hard body.
As much as she wished to bury her head against his chest and hide like a child, the compulsion to stare at the mage who’d come for her was too much to resist. She turned her cheek against the tiny, cold links of steel mail and caught sight of the mage, who now faced her nearly fully.
A second shock, possibly even greater than the first one, coursed through her. Had Thanon not been holding her securely, her legs might very well have collapsed from under her entirely.
Surely not.
It could not be.
And yet she would know that face anywhere. The same … and yet not the same. The jaw heavier and more square. Brow thicker. Skin sallower. The suggestion of laughter at any moment gone from around his eyes …
Justin.
She tore free of Thanon’s grasp and took off running, her own white-and-blue cloak billowing out behind her.
Justin spotted her coming and moved rapidly toward her as well. They collided as he wrapped her up in a bone-crushing hug, and she all but strangled the life out of his neck.
“Thank the Lady,” he breathed into her ear. “I didn’t think I would ever see you alive again. Why did you leave like that? I’d have gone with you—”
“Is all well here?” a stern voice said behind her.
She winced at Justin, then smoothed her facial features into calm and turned to face Thanon. “My humble apologies for worrying you before. I thought I saw an old enemy, but instead I found an even older friend. My lord Commander, this is Justin Morland of Tyrel, a dear family friend.”
Thanon nodded tersely, looking Justin up and down suspiciously. “Have you need of me and my men to escort you back to the Heart, Emissary?”
“Nay, my lord. Truly, I do not. Next time I go out, I will send a message to you. We will stroll the long way to wherever I must go and I’ll tell you all about the trouble Justin and I managed to get into as children. You’ll be appalled.”
Than
on looked appeased by the offer of a walk with her and even cracked a smile. “I shall look forward to hearing how disobedient a child you were.” He bowed crisply and took his leave, looking every inch a dashing military officer.
As he strode away, Justin muttered out of one side of his mouth. “Who in stars’ name was that?”
“Imperial Army officer. Not a man to anger if you wish to live.”
“Good thing I didn’t pick his pocket, then.”
She swatted Justin on the shoulder, then tucked her hand in the crook of his elbow and began walking back toward the Heart. She had no doubt Thanon, and likely several of his men, were still surreptitiously watching her, so she was careful to observe strict propriety with Justin. But she did murmur, “What’s happened to you? Are you all right? You look different.”
“Oh. That. It’s the magic. It changed me.”
She pulled away a little, enough to frown at him. Up close, the changes in his face were even more apparent. And now that she took notice of it, his entire body was thicker, coarser, and more muscular than before. “Magic doesn’t change people’s appearances,” she disagreed.
“It does when the bottled spirit of an ogre mage is stuffed into you.”
She stopped and turned to stare at him, pushed him all the way back to arm’s length. “Did the mages do this to you? How dare they! Why, I’ll—”
“Is everything all right here?” a definitely threatening voice demanded from behind her.
Dregs. Thanon again. She turned to face the Imperial officer, who loomed menacingly, backed up by a half dozen of his men, weapons drawn, and black expressions spoiling for a fight.
Speaking quickly, she explained, “Justin gave me no offense. He merely shared some upsetting news from home. I’m sorry if I worried you, my lord. Thanks be to you for your vigilance on my behalf. I cannot tell you how much it means to me to know that you and your men are always looking out for me.”
Thanon’s thunderous scowl eased slightly as he glanced down at her hand resting on his forearm in supplication. “Always, Raina. You have but to call for me and I will come. My life is yours.”
She stared, startled at the declaration. Speechless, she bowed her head and sank into a formal curtsy. Mailed hands lifted her by the shoulders, and Thanon stepped close enough that a low rumble came out of Justin’s barrel chest.
Thanon murmured, his breath warm against her temple. “Never bow to me. I would that you see me as a man, not a soldier or an officer or an Imperial official. Give me that much hope at least that one day you will see me as more than a mere acquaintance.”
Nonplussed, she stared at him as he released her, stepped back, swept into a flourishing bow, and then turned and strode away, his men in tow.
“Who in the name of the monsters below does he think he is?” Justin demanded.
She turned back to him and looped her hand around his forearm. “He’s commander of the Talons of Koth, an elite Special Forces unit, and he’s accustomed to getting his way. The fact that I am not falling all over myself to be with him has him a bit confused.”
“He’s sweet on you,” Justin declared in disgust.
She laughed, relieved to hear her old friend, surrogate big brother, and childhood crush in that annoyed observation. “Whatever gave you that idea?” she replied gaily. “Now. Tell me everything. Start with the night I ran away from home.”
They strolled across Dupree toward the Heart building with Justin filling her in on his months-long search for her, his return to Dupree, and his recruitment by Kadir of the Mages of Alchizzadon.
She stopped him short of the Heart steps. “Swear to me that he didn’t coerce you in any way.”
“I swear. He offered me magic and a chance to keep you safe. Those were all the incentive I needed.”
She squeezed his arm affectionately. “Still. I would not have you caught in the clutches of those people if you did not wish it. You can tell me the truth. I have rank now and a measure of influence in the Heart. We can help you break free of the mages if you wish it.”
“They would take back their magic,” he responded with a sad smile.
“You can learn more magic in the Heart!”
“Yes, but taking my magic from me would kill me.”
She spun to face him. “What exactly have they done to you? Not to put too fine a point on it, but you don’t look entirely like yourself.”
“Noticed that, did you?” he responded wryly. “Like I said, they placed another spirit inside me. Or more precisely, the essence of another spirit, distilled down mostly to just his knowledge of magic and capacity for shaping and using magic.”
“He who?” she asked suspiciously. She knew Justin too well, and right now, he wasn’t telling her something.
“An ogre mage who was once a powerful member of our … little group.”
It pained her to hear Justin refer to himself as one of them. The Mages of Alchizzadon always had been and always would be her enemies. But then, the ramifications of the ritual he referred to distracted her. “Is this other person sentient? Does he possess you? Do you retain his memories?” She added in horror, “He does not control you, does he?”
“No. I’m still me. It’s mostly just his magic they inserted into me.”
“Did it hurt?”
Justin did not answer, but a fine ripple of memory passed across his skin. It had hurt. A lot.
“Here’s the thing, Raina. Some of the mages want to do the same thing to you. Well, not what was done to me but what was done to the ogre mage. They want to take your magic from you and store it.”
“For what purpose?” she exclaimed in dismay.
He pulled a face. “To place it in a more malleable and cooperative subject than you.”
“Hah! No daughter of my house will ever cooperate with their unnatural schemes,”
“Speaking of which, I’m sorry I did not believe you that night when you came to me and told me what they had planned for you.”
She resumed walking, unwilling to go inside the confines of the Heart building just yet. “I didn’t blame you for not believing me. I hardly believed myself. No one in their right mind would believe they wanted to use me as a broodmare to help them raise a super-mage.”
“They still want you for that purpose,” he said quietly. “But if you’re not willing to help them, some of them are willing to simply steal your magic instead.”
“Did you come to warn me? How did you slip away from them?”
“I did not slip away. They portaled me here magically and gave me this mark upon my arm to activate when I am ready to go home.” He showed her an intricate mark on his left forearm.
“Home to Tyrel?”
“No, Raina. Home to Alchizzadon. I’m one of them now.”
She shook her head in denial. It was not possible. Her best friend had joined her greatest enemy. It was the worst kind of betrayal, and yet she could not bring herself to hate Justin. He was the first friend from Tyrel that she had seen or spoken with since she left almost two years ago.
“What have they done to you?” She whispered past her constricted throat, “What have I done to you?”
“You’ve done nothing to me, muckling. All my choices have been my own.”
She reeled at the use of his old nickname for her. The wash of fond memories of their childhood scraps and games together nearly undid her fragile composure.
Choosing to attack rather than burst into tears, she challenged, “So you did not join the mages in order to find me? You did not allow them to put another spirit into you so you could be closer to me? You are not here in hopes that you will be the Mage of Alchizzadon I choose to father my children for them?”
Justin’s face might look different, but his eyes were exactly the same as she remembered. And right now, their azure depths swam with pain. “Kadir offered me a way out of Tyrel. A way to be more than just a peasant toiling for my tax money. In spite of your fondest wish for it to be so, I did not do any of this for
you, Raina. I did it for me.”
His words were a slap in the face to her. She’d always had her family’s name and rank. Her extraordinary talent for magic. Her mother’s inherited beauty. She had never been bound for an ordinary commoner’s life—a life she now knew to be miserable and soul-destroying, a life of constant toil that ground a person down until he or she was no more than grit under the Empire’s heel.
It had never occurred to her to wonder what Justin’s fate would be. She had always assumed they would end up together, and he would live a life of comfort and ease, linked to hers. But when she’d left, she’d taken his future with her.
“I’m so sorry, Justin. I didn’t know. I didn’t think. I should have realized how my running away would affect you. I should have waited for you to believe me. We could have gone together—”
He pressed a finger to her lips, silencing her. “The past is finished and gone, muckling. We have only today to live.”
When had he gotten so wise?
He shrugged. “Our decisions and choices have brought us to this moment, and we are both alive and well.”
“And together again,” she added.
He smiled at her, but it was no longer Justin’s funny, crooked grin that invited a person to laugh along. It was the smile of that other spirit within him, serious and apparently a bit uncomfortable with her.
They completed their lap around Heart Square, and she noticed Sir Hrothgar standing on the steps of the Heart, staring down at her disapprovingly. At least he had the good grace to give her and Justin a pretense of privacy as they walked and talked.
She veered down a side street, her pace picking up considerably as she ditched her overseers. She hustled Justin into a tavern where they could get a bite to eat and continue their conversation in genuine privacy.
