“Not one to waste words, either,” Karigan remarked.
They convened once more at the table to resume their conversation that had been interrupted by the courier.
“I am going with you,” Karigan said before either of the men could speak.
“I think she should,” Cade said over Luke’s protest. “She has as much at stake here as we do, and is a fierce opponent in a fight. I should know.” Then he gazed at Karigan. “And she won the esteem of her king for unimaginable deeds. If any of us is more suited to go, I can’t think of a better person than Karigan.”
Karigan smiled at him and affectionately nudged his leg under the table. He did not mention her special ability, so perhaps he’d said nothing of it to Luke earlier. She was just as glad. She was too accustomed to keeping quiet on the subject.
Luke, clearly outnumbered, nodded. “All right, but I suggest she stay with the wagon when it’s time to enter the palace. Now don’t you glare at me, young lady. We’ve gone to great lengths to shield your identity, including putting forth the story of your illness. Webster Silk will have heard of it I’ve no doubt, and it is best not to tip him off that it was all a fabrication.”
“But maybe I—Tam—has recovered!”
Luke stared hard at her. “Also, by not meeting with Silk, you have less of a chance of being questioned, and you are not very convincing as a boy when you speak.”
“It would give you a chance to get a good look at the palace grounds while we’re inside,” Cade mused. “Watch the guards and so forth.”
“You are also our secret asset,” Luke said. “They don’t know who or what you are. If anything should go wrong, you can flee on that stallion of yours.”
“You aren’t giving him to the emperor?” Karigan asked.
“Of course not. I’m giving the emperor nothing.”
“All right,” Karigan said. “I’ll do this your way, but I will act on my own if I must.”
She also wanted access to her bonewood staff, but both Cade and Luke opposed the idea saying it was too risky to take their weapons out of hiding. They were apt to be detected before reaching the palace.
“If it is true the emperor has awakened,” Cade said, “they will be extra alert. Mind, I would feel better if I could have a Cobalt with me, myself.”
There was little more they could do than speculate on what they might face at the palace, and when they ran out of guesses, Luke stood and scratched his chin.
“Think I could stand to get a proper shave in town,” he said. “I have to look my best for our meeting with Silk. I’ll get my boots shined, too, while I’m at it.”
With that, Luke left them. This time Karigan and Cade decided to make good use of their time alone. There was an urgency to their lovemaking that made them both fierce, more forceful. They did not need words to know that if things did not go well at the palace, this could very well be their last time together.
A teardrop formed at the corner of Karigan’s eye and glided down her cheek.
“Have I hurt you?” Cade asked.
“No.”
He kissed her cheek, then her lips, and she tasted the salt of her own tears.
• • •
On the way to the palace, the physical separation between them—he up front driving the wagon, and she in the rear—was painful. At the height of their coupling, they had clung to one another, unwilling to let the moment pass. Every contact with Cade renewed her and renewed her determination. She would find a way home, and she would take Cade with her. After all the darkness she’d faced as a Green Rider, his presence was a parting of the clouds.
This time she hadn’t even Raven to comfort her. Instead, Gallant was hitched to the back of the wagon and Luke rode Raven up front. Luke had asked Cade to tack up Raven, saying that if Karigan must escape quickly, it was best if the stallion was saddled and ready to go. Luke was an expert horseman, so he was able to hold in the spirited stallion who’d gone too many days without being ridden. Karigan, along with everything else she was feeling, was a little jealous.
It was not long before the buildings and the commotion of the city fell away, and they found themselves on the shore of a lake—Lake Scalus, Karigan remembered from the atlas—and in its center lay an island upon which sat the palace of the Serpentine Empire. The palace was a collection of spires and copper roofs partially hidden behind a curtain wall, upon which guards patrolled. To reach the island, they would have to cross first one narrow bridge to a smaller island with a guard house, and then a second. The designers had created a city and palace that could be easily defended but not easily escaped.
A grassy, parklike sward made up the shoreline that circled the lake, but few made use of it, even on so fine an afternoon as this. Perhaps being exposed to the palace and under the scrutiny of so many guards made the folk of Gossham too uneasy to walk along the shore. It certainly made Karigan uneasy.
They stopped at the checkpoint at the first bridge, the flag of the dragon sigil flapping restlessly in the lake breeze over the guardhouse. Luke passed their papers, including the invitation from Webster Silk, to the Inspectors to examine. His conversational chatter with the Inspectors was much more subdued than usual, and considering the gravity of what lay ahead, it was not surprising.
It did not take long for the Inspectors to verify the papers and open the gate to the bridge. Luke and Raven led the way, with Cade snapping the reins to get the mules moving again. Karigan closed her eyes and tried to make herself small as she came under the eyestalks of a pair of Enforcers.
Hooves clacked on the stone treadway of the bridge, and water plashed against the piers. The lake air was fresh, and Karigan took a deep breath, finally opening her eyes. A sailing vessel came into view, triangular sails bent as it heeled with the wind. It was too far distant to make out the people on board, but its prow was the silhouette of a dragon’s head.
The bridge was surprisingly long, but when they finally reached the second checkpoint on the small island, they were allowed to proceed as before. Karigan kept watching the sailboat carving through the surface of the lake until it disappeared from sight beyond the main island. She then tried to focus on ducks paddling near the bridge in a V-formation and a dragonfly hovering over her knee, but it was not enough to quell her rising uneasiness.
They reached the island and were ushered through the heavily fortified gate of the curtain wall. When she saw all the armed Inspectors and soldiers, and no few Enforcers, she realized that Luke’s plan that she flee in case of trouble was unlikely to meet with success. Before they left the inn, Luke had mentioned how fast Raven was—much faster than Gallant, he assured her—but a bullet was even faster. She must remember she could not outride the weaponry of this time.
She would never reach the curtain wall gate, much less pass through it.
As the gate closed behind them, her entire body tensed. Had Luke had any idea of the palace’s fortifications? If it wasn’t already a trap, it could effectively become one.
Cade halted the wagon in a grand courtyard of fountains and flowering plants. Wide steps led up to the ornate entrance of the palace, the door adorned with carvings in an odd combination of dragons, horses, and . . . lemon trees?
A gentleman approached Luke. “Mr. Mayforte?”
“Yes,” Luke replied.
“I am Mr. Jones, Minister Silk’s secretary. On the minister’s behalf I bid you welcome. I’ll escort you to his office so you may meet with him.”
Luke nodded and dismounted. “Tam? Come here, lad.”
It took Karigan a moment to remember she was Tam. She climbed out of the back of the wagon, not sure if she was supposed to pretend illness or not.
As she approached cautiously, Luke explained to Mr. Jones, “My stallion is temperamental, and Tam here is the only one who can handle him besides me, so I’ll leave the lad out here with the wagon and the bea
sts.”
The secretary made some appreciative remarks about Raven’s conformation as Luke passed the reins to Karigan. His hands, she noted, were trembling. Meanwhile, Cade had climbed down from the wagon with one of the small casks of wine on his shoulder. He’d pulled his cap down low over his eyes.
“This way if you would, Mr. Mayforte,” the secretary said.
“One moment,” Luke replied. “I’ve final instructions for Tam.” He strode over to her and said in a low voice, “I did not know there would be so many gates and walls. I’m sorry.” Then more loudly, in a scolding voice, he said, “And no more sampling of the wares.”
And that was all. He joined the secretary, initiating pleasant chatter about the weather and the beauty of the courtyard.
Cade brushed by her and whispered, “I love you,” before hastening away to fall in behind Luke.
No, no, no! She wanted to run after him and grab his arm, prevent him from entering the palace, but she stood rooted, knowing that any such move would be seen as belligerent by all the men carrying firearms in and around the courtyard. The game must go on, regardless. They had all agreed. She clenched Raven’s reins in her hands, a scream welling up inside her as Cade climbed the steps, entered the palace, and the big doors closed after him.
She forced the scream back down and doubled over in something like physical pain. Raven lipped her ear, and she eased, slowly stood upright once again and breathed. She placed her hand on the stallion’s neck to steady herself and stood resolute once more.
She would not abandon Cade no matter what it took. They would leave the palace together or not at all.
When the doors shut behind him, Cade paused and, briefly, closed his eyes. It was like the door slamming on a crypt. A large extravagant crypt, he realized, as he took in the marble colonnades, the fabulous paintings on the ceiling, and the gold chandeliers. He hurried after Luke and Mr. Jones, aware of guards’ watching him. The wine sloshed in the cask on his shoulder as he strode along. He tried to keep an eye open for palace details, how it was defended, any sign of Arhys and Lorine, or maybe something of the Eletian, but the halls were hushed, and all he could think about was Karigan left behind in the courtyard all alone.
She is more than capable of taking care of herself, he kept reminding himself, but it didn’t help. How had it happened? How had he fallen so hard for her when he’d already prepared himself for the celibate life of a Weapon? He hoped that she would forgive him the lie if she ever found out about it, that there was, in fact, no choice. The professor had been correct in his teaching that Weapons must be celibate. Cade had given all that up, however, for something greater.
He had told her he loved her. He’d said those words before, but he thought they would have more meaning when not spoken in the midst of passion. He never found such words easy to say aloud, and he thought it was probably the same for her. At least he’d spoken the words in case events went poorly here, and if they didn’t? Then she knew his true feelings.
He frowned. He appreciated Luke’s attempt to give her a way out. She had the stallion, but not even that high-tempered beast would be able to scale the curtain wall’s gate.
They came to a large circular room with a dome ceiling, filled with the sound of splashing water and, oddly, the echoing laughter of children. A veritable grotto of ferns hung down from the ceiling, and a very natural-looking waterfall cascaded into a large basin with mossy boulders where children played with toy boats. Luke must have been just as startled as he to see it, for he halted.
“Marvelous, isn’t it?” Mr. Jones asked.
The water reflected shimmering light on the walls, columns, and the part of the domed ceiling that was not grotto. The children were up to their elbows in water, half-drenched, pushing their boats around and splashing their friends. Beyond the fountain, in contrast, sat veiled governesses like a row of mute statues.
“The emperor has fond memories of playing with boats in fountains when he was a boy,” Mr. Jones explained, “so he had this one made for the palace children.”
“How extraordinary,” Luke murmured, and Cade agreed, especially when one knew of how blood-thirsty the emperor could be. A place for children to play?
On impulse, Cade gazed at the children, both boys and girls, searching. Searching for one little girl. And there she was, with her golden hair, pushing a boy away from a boat.
“This is my boat now. Go away!”
Cade would recognize that voice anywhere. He almost dropped his cask to run to her, to grab her and make his escape.
“Harley?”
Cade ignored Luke, glancing at the governesses. Was Lorine among them? How could he tell, with their veils? The veils. One was longer than the others, like those worn in Mill City.
“Harley.” This time Luke’s voice was sharp, and he tugged on Cade’s arm. “We must not keep the minister waiting.”
Cade stared at Luke, trying to make sure he understood Arhys was there. Luke stared back just as hard and gave him a subtle shake of his head, and mouthed, Later.
Cade reluctantly followed behind Luke. He glanced over his shoulder once more and saw a dripping Arhys show Lorine her boat. He also saw in the shadows beyond, the gleam of Enforcers alongside red-coated Inspectors. Perhaps Luke was right to draw him away, that this was not the time to make an unconsidered, foolish move, but would he be able to find Arhys again at some later time? Would they even be able to gain access to the palace again?
One thing at a time, Harlowe, he told himself. There were enough immediate problems to contend with, like meeting Webster Silk, that he didn’t need to invite more trouble.
It turned out that Webster Silk’s chambers were not too far from where the children played in the fountain. The room Mr. Jones brought them to was less an office than an opulent drawing room, a place for gentlemen of means to relax and sip brandy, or, perhaps, try some of Stanton Mayforte’s wine. A palace guard was posted outside the door, and another within. Also within waited three men, one of whom was Dr. Ezra Stirling Silk, wearing his characteristic dark specs. Cade tried to shift the cask to obscure his face. Dr. Silk would undoubtedly recognize him, even disguised as he was.
“Your visitor, Minister,” the secretary said. “Mr. Stanton Mayforte.”
“Thank you, Jones,” said the youngest looking of the trio. With a start, Cade realized this was Webster Silk, and he saw the resemblance to Dr. Silk. This couldn’t be right. Webster was supposed to be the father, but he looked much younger than Ezra. Cade knew Webster had lived an unnatural number of years, but looking so youthful, as well?
Mr. Jones bowed and withdrew from the room, closing the door behind him. Silence settled among the men.
Until Dr. Silk asked Luke, “So where is the third member of your party?”
“Tending the horses,” Luke replied.
Cade twitched. Why would Dr. Silk care about a lowly servant boy?
The third man in the room, a portly gentleman, said, “Luke, dear fellow, you aren’t trying to protect her, are you?”
Cade felt the blood drain from his head. They knew Luke. They knew Tam was a “her.”
Trap.
“She’d have been suspicious if I asked her to come in,” Luke said. “We’d been playing she’s ill all along.”
“You didn’t want to give our scheme away,” said the portly man. “Very commendable.”
“You can put the cask down, Mr. Harlowe,” Dr. Silk said.
Cade did not move, glimpsed the advance of the guard from the corner of his eye. Sensed another who must have lain hidden coming up behind him.
“You are under arrest, Mr. Harlowe, for traitorous actions against the empire and fomenting unrest.”
Cade took a breath, did not reply. He heaved the cask at the first guard and spun to meet the second with a fist to the man’s jaw. Both guards went down, just like that. He tensed to s
pring out the door. He would run, grab Arhys, go to Karigan.
“Well done, Mr. Harlowe,” the portly man exclaimed. “But far, far too late.”
Cade whipped around just in time to see the fire flash from the muzzle of a gun. White hot pain bore through the tissue of his shoulder and shattered bone, as the impact threw him to the floor.
STARLING AND SILK
Cade could not recall hitting the floor, but there he lay, writhing in agony as though a molten spike had been pounded into his shoulder and left there to burn. The slightest movement turned his vision white.
“Cade?” It was Luke kneeling beside him. “I’m sorry, lad, I’m so sorry.”
“Now none of that, Luke,” said the portly man. He held his pistol at his side, the muzzle still issuing smoke.
“I did not expect a mess in my office, Mr. Starling.” Through the pain, Cade recognized Webster Silk’s voice. “There are other ways he could have been subdued.”
“I’m very sorry, Minister,” said Mr. Starling. “I am too fond of my firearms.”
A glance revealed to Cade that the room was now filled with booted feet. The gunshot must have drawn additional guards. The wine cask had rolled away, and the man he’d knocked over with it had either recovered or been removed. He touched his shoulder, and his fingers came away bloody.
“You set us up,” he said to Luke between gritted teeth.
“I had no choice.” Luke bowed his head.
“There are always choices.” Mr. Starling stepped forward and hovered over the two of them. “Mr. Harlowe, you and I are going to spend some time together getting to know one another. You see, we have many questions about your role in the uprising in Mill City, among other things, and my job is to extract the answers to those questions from you.”
Inquisitor, Cade thought, losing hope even as blood leaked out of him.
“And don’t worry about your wound over much,” Mr. Starling said. “You are in Gossham, and we have very good menders who will heal you. I do so like beginning my work with a fresh canvas.” His smile was anticipatory, grotesque.
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