She heard footsteps and slowly turned her head. Sebastian was making his way down the path. She sighed softly. She had been trying to avoid him all day.
He sat down beside her and took her hand in his own. Their skin scraped as it touched, the screeching sound of stone against stone. She winced. Sebastian didn’t seem to notice.
“I...want...to...go,” he said.
“We’ve talked about this, Sebastian.”
“I...un-der-stand...how...you...are...bet-ter...than...any-one...else. I...can...pro-tect...you.”
She sighed. “I think it’s too dangerous for both of us to be there. He took me over and he almost had you once. What if he tries again?”
“The...voice...is...gone. I...am...my-self...on-ly.”
He sounded so sad. He still regretted taking Rugad’s voice years ago. Seger had managed to get the voice out of him, but it had nearly cost them Sebastian.
“I know that. But I don’t want to worry about you. I want you here and safe.”
“I...am...not...as...eas-i-ly...killed...as...most.”
She knew that too. And that probably applied to her now as well. These stone bodies had advantages. They could be shattered and they could be reassembled.
“Ari?” Sebastian asked.
She turned to him and put her hands on his dear face. She loved his slate gray eyes, the way they showed the gentleness that was such a part of him, even now, even after all the things he had lived through.
“You have to stay here, Sebastian.”
“No. You...need...me.”
“Yes, I do.” She leaned her forehead against his. There was a faint clink as the stone surfaces met. “I do. But I haven’t told you how before.”
He raised his hands and grabbed her wrists, pulling her palms away from his cheeks. Then he moved back so that he could see her. “How?”
“Remember how Seger said it could be argued that you are part of Gift?”
“She...is...wrong. I...am...my-self.”
“Yes, you are. You have lived separately from Gift for decades now. But you can’t deny that you two started as the same soul, living in two different bodies.”
“That...was...a...long...time...a-go.”
Arianna put a finger against Sebastian’s lips. “It was. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I know you no longer know Gift’s mind. I wish you did. It might make life easier.”
Sebastian took her wrist again. “Ari...“
“I want you to listen to me. There is a chance that I won’t live through this. It’s a fairly good chance.”
“The...Black...King...can’t...kill...you, Ari. The...Blood...“
“He knows. But he’s arranged deaths before. He could find a way to arrange mine. And I’m afraid he might do the same for Gift.”
“No...“ Sebastian closed his eyes.
Arianna took his hands. “Look at me. Please, Sebastian, I know you don’t want to hear this, but you have to. I need contingency plans.”
“Contingency plans?” Coulter was standing just behind Sebastian. “Why would you need contingency plans?”
Arianna glared at him. It was difficult enough to discuss this with Sebastian. She didn’t need Coulter here with his worries and his doubts. “I thought you had things to do.”
“I thought you were going to keep an eye on Dash.”
“He was putting things in the carriage.”
“Well, I can’t find him.” Coulter leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. “I want to hear these plans.”
Arianna swallowed. Since she had left her own body, she hadn’t made a single decision without Coulter. But she didn’t want him involved in this one.
“No,” she said. “I’m talking to my brother, and I’m going to do it alone.”
“He’s not coming with us.”
“He wants to. I’m trying to talk him out of it.”
“I...am...still...here,” Sebastian said. “You...do...not...need...to...talk...about...me...as...if...you...are...al-read-y...gone.”
He sounded almost angry. Arianna could hear tears in his voice. He was feeling abandoned, her poor, sweet brother Sebastian, and she could understand why.
“Will you go away?” she asked Coulter.
“I’m only going to ask you what this is about later,” he said.
“Fine. You do that.” She wouldn’t answer him. Or maybe she would lie. But he didn’t have to know that.
Still he stayed a moment longer, as if he expected her to change her mind. Then he sighed and pushed off the wall, heading toward the kitchen door.
She waited until he went inside before returning her attention to Sebastian.
Sebastian’s lower lip was jutted out slightly. Arianna hadn’t realized until she too had become stone how much Sebastian compensated for his lack of subtle movements by making exaggerated expressions. She took his hand in her own and squeezed it.
“You are part of us, Sebastian. You are, as Seger says, a part of Gift. You have as much right to the Throne as Gift or I do.”
“I...am...not...real.”
She closed her eyes. She had always known Sebastian felt that way, but she hadn’t realized how much it hurt her to hear it.
“You’re real. You’re just different.”
“No...one...will...ac-cept...me.”
“They’ll have to. You’ll be all that’s left of our father.”
“But...the...Black...Fa-mi-ly,” Sebastian started.
“I don’t know what will happen there,” Arianna said. “I don’t know what this world will be like if something happens to me or Gift. But I assume that Rugad will still be in my body. You’ll have to get him out, Sebastian.”
“I...do...not...have...Vision.”
“I know. But it’s only a qualification for ruling the Fey. Someone needs to rule Blue Isle. If something happens to me or Gift, that someone is you.”
“I...can-not...have...child-ren.”
“Talk to Seger about that. There may be magick that’ll help.”
“Ari, I...do...not...like...this...plan.”
“Neither do I.”
“Then...let...me...come...with...you.”
She shook her head. “You have to guard the Place of Power, Sebastian. Whether it’s as ruler of the Blue Isle or as a member of the Black Family, it doesn’t matter. You must protect this place. If Gift and I are gone, then Coulter will be gone too. And I don’t want any power-hungry Fey to get to this place. It’s too easy now to find the Third Place of Power, and that’ll create a magick storm that could destroy everything.”
“I...am...not...strong...e-nough.”
She brought his hand up to her mouth and kissed it. “You are stronger than all of us.”
“I...love...you, Ari. I...do...not...want...to...live...with-out...you. I...al-read-y...do...not...have...Gift.”
She frowned for a moment before understanding him. Sebastian felt Gift’s loss not as a physical presence, but as a mental one. When Coulter closed their Links fifteen years ago, he had set Sebastian adrift. Sebastian struggled almost daily to reopen that Link and could not. Coulter would not help him. That probably explained the slight mutual suspicion between them.
“I don’t want to be without you, either, Sebastian,” she said. “But if something happened to me, I would rest easier knowing that you are taking care of things.”
He closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, like a child who did not want to hear what he was being told.
“Sebastian, you can do this.”
He opened his eyes. “It...would...be...better...to...let...me...pro-tect...you.”
She pulled him closer. “That’s what I’m asking you to do. I’m asking you to guard my back. Protect this place, even if I die. Please, Sebastian. It’s the only way.”
“What...if...you...die...and...then...Ru-gad...comes...here? What...do...I...do?”
She stared at Sebastian for a moment, feeling slightly cold. It had to be a trick of her emotions and not her body. T
he answer was so simple. She didn’t know why she hadn’t told him before.
“You take my body away from him,” she said. “You switch places with him, and you rule Blue Isle.”
“What...a-bout...the...Fey?”
“And the Fey, until you find a Visionary from our family, one you trust.”
“Ru-gad...would...be...in...my...stone?”
“Maybe,” Arianna said. “If you don’t imprison him outside both bodies.”
“It...would...be...hard,”
“Yes, but you can do it easier than anyone else. You almost did it once before.”
He smiled then. “I...did.”
“You can do this, Sebastian.”
“More scheming?”
Arianna turned. Her hearing wasn’t as good in this body as she wanted. Scavenger was behind her. She wondered how much he heard. “I want Sebastian to stay here.”
Scavenger nodded. “His presence would make yours too obvious. Still, he could be a decoy for you.”
“Yes,” Sebastian said.
“No. We’ve settled this.” She kept a grip on Sebastian’s hands, but looked up at Scavenger. “What did you want?”
“Do you know where Coulter is?”
“He went inside. Why?”
Scavenger bit his lower lip as if he were deciding to tell her. Finally, he sighed and said, “Wisdom is following Matt.”
“Wisdom?” She had to think for a moment, before she remembered the Fey man she had met on a handful of occasions. Scavenger said that Wisdom had once been Rugad’s Charmer, but Rugad had cut out his tongue for some heinous crime.
When Wisdom had arrived at the school shortly before Arianna, the Healers had offered to fix his tongue and that had put him in a horrible panic. He had been afraid of Rugad’s retaliation, which they had thought silly. They had thought Rugad dead.
Now they knew better.
“Why would he follow Matt?” she asked.
“Matt was the one who brought him here,” Scavenger said. “He was the only who seemed to understand Wisdom.”
“So he invited Wisdom to go with him?”
“No,” Scavenger said. “I think Matt knows better. But if Rugad sees Wisdom, he’ll know that Matt is not there to serve him.”
“What can we do?” Arianna said. “They’ve already left.”
“How...“
She looked at Sebastian. That was the closest he had ever come to interrupting her.
“...do...you...know...that...Matt...is...be-ing...fol-low-ed?”
To Arianna’s surprise, Scavenger flushed. “I sent a few people to watch him. They’ve reported back.”
Arianna glanced at Sebastian. Sebastian looked almost angry. “Was this Coulter’s idea?”
“No. It was mine.”
“Then you’re getting in Matt’s way as effectively as Wisdom is. Recall those people at once.”
“But you have to know what’s happening to Matt.”
She glared at Scavenger—or at least, she tried to glare. “We sent Matt alone because we trusted him.”
Sebastian stood. “I...will...tell...Coul-ter...a-bout...Wis-dom.”
“Why?” Arianna asked. “We can’t do anything.”
“May-be...he...will...want...to,” Sebastian said.
Arianna shook her head. “You just want to get Coulter to contradict me. Don’t ask him to take you along.”
“I...have...made...you...a...pro-mise, Ari,” Sebastian said. “I...al-ways...keep...pro-mises.”
“I know you do. I’m sorry. Warn Coulter about Wisdom then, but tell him I don’t think we can do anything.”
“I...will.” Sebastian gave Scavenger a cautious look, and left.
Arianna watched him go. Her brother seemed uncertain, frightened for her, and unhappy. But she couldn’t change that. She needed him here. She needed him to think about the future.
“So,” Scavenger said. “You’re making contingency plans. You don’t believe in young Matt after all.”
If she could have stood up quickly, she would have. As it were, she settled for clenching a single fist. “We are fighting the Black King of the Fey. My father barely managed to defeat him using all the magick the Isle had.”
“And you lost to Rugad. That’s why you’re afraid of him.”
“I’m not afraid of him.” But the words came out quicker than she wanted. It sounded like an automatic denial instead of something she believed.
“You’re afraid of him. That’s why you stayed here so long.” Scavenger glanced at her clenched fist as if it gave away secrets. Perhaps it did. “You should never have been here this long. You’ve let him get entrenched. Now you’ll never get him out.”
She peered at Scavenger. “Who’s afraid of the Black King now?”
His dark eyes met hers. For the first time since she’d known Scavenger, she thought she saw embarrassment in his face.
“You never made a place for me in all your plans.” In traditional Scavenger fashion, he had tried to turn the blame back on her.
She smiled. “I did. I want you here with Sebastian. You have to help him if something happens to me.”
“Help him how?”
“If I die, and Gift dies, Sebastian needs to protect this Place of Power from Rugad.”
“How do you propose he do that?” Scavenger asked.
“By taking back my body.”
“Sebastian?”
“You know he can do it, and you know the magick needed even if you can’t perform it. You can help him.”
“But he won’t be able to rule the Fey.”
“That’s right. But he can take care of Blue Isle, and find someone in my family—one of my cousins maybe—with enough Vision to take over the Black Throne.”
“That’s assuming there’s no Blood against Blood.”
“I think Rugad is smart enough to get rid of me and Gift without resorting to that,” Arianna said.
Scavenger frowned. He glanced up at the mountains, toward the area where the Roca’s Cave glinted its magick light. She knew he couldn’t see that light, but she could. She could also feel its pull, a pull she didn’t really want to answer.
Then he turned to her. She thought he was going to ask if she was smart enough to get rid of Rugad without starting the Blood herself. Instead he asked, “Do you really think you’re going to die?”
She stared at him. This strange magickless Fey was the only one whom she could answer this question honestly, the only one who would know a half-truth or a lie if she presented it to him.
Still, she couldn’t bring herself to say the actual words. “I think we waited too long. I think he’s got too much power now.”
“So why go?”
“You know why.”
Scavenger grinned. “So you have another contingency you haven’t told any of us.”
She frowned at him, not quite understanding what he was saying.
“You expect to die getting rid of Rugad. You’re the only one who can take out your own body without igniting the Blood.”
She was relieved this stone skin didn’t blush. It would have given her away.
“You will die as you kill Rugad, opening the door for Gift,” Scavenger said. “That’s why you’re preparing Sebastian. You hope he’ll take over until Gift arrives. If Gift isn’t already here.”
She sat before him silently for a moment. She hadn’t put those thoughts into actual words, but she had known that option was there—and that it was probably the only possible option.
She had known it for a long time.
Scavenger leaned forward and, to her surprise, kissed her cheek. It was the gentlest thing she had ever known him to do.
“I never thought you’d be the courageous one, but I’m glad you are.” He stood. “I’ll do whatever I can to keep Rugad out of the Roca’s Cave.”
“Thank you.”
He glanced over her shoulder at the door, as if making sure they were alone. “Don’t thank me. Listen to me instead. We have had
several Blind leaders, not just the ones you’ve heard of, the one who went crazy.”
Arianna felt her breath catch in her throat. “How do you know this?”
“I’ve studied, remember? All of them went Blind after years of Sight. They knew how to interpret Visions, and they kept powerful Visionaries, usually family members, at their side, interpreting those Visions. The last part of their rule wasn’t the best part, but it never hurt us.”
“You think Rugad will do that?”
Scavenger nodded. “Don’t expect him to be crazy. Don’t expect him to be frightened or insecure. Expect him to use the resources around him to protect himself.”
She remembered Rugad’s plan, how he was going to keep her a prisoner in her own mind, and use her Visions as his own. “Do you think he’ll try to capture me again?”
“It would be the most logical thing he could do.”
Her gaze met his. Her heart was beating hard. “Has a Fey leader ever committed suicide?”
“I don’t know.”
“Will it bring on the Blood?”
“I don’t know that either. But there’s never been a Shifter ruling the Fey.”
She saw it in his eyes. He was giving her a way. Shifters, even practiced Shifters, sometimes got stuck in a Shift. And if a Shifter got stuck between forms sometimes the halves were not compatible. She knew exactly how to do it, too. She would start a Shift, get it to the proper spot and then stop the Shift, leaving it to Rugad. He controlled her Shifting mechanism—he had proven that to her—but he had never had to deal with a crisis. And if she waited for the right point, he might not be able to.
“Would the Powers believe it was an accident?” she asked.
“I think the Powers take a liberal approach to Blood against Blood,” Scavenger said. “I think they want to avoid it as much as the rest of us do.”
“You think?” she said.
He shrugged. “There’s no way to know. It all involves risk.”
“Yes,” she said. “But I wish the risk were mine alone.”
“So do I,” Scavenger said. “So do I.”
NINETEEN
GIFT STOOD on the deck of the Tashka, watching as his cousin made her way through the streets of Jahn. He gripped the railing, the polished wood cool beneath his palms. The air was chilly and smelled of rain. Clouds threatened in the distance. Soon he wouldn’t be able to stand here and stare at the palace. Soon he would have to go below decks.
The Black King (Book 7) Page 21
