by C. T. Adams
Brianna turned to the first, a red-winged male with swallowtail wings. “Find Kenneth the guard captain and bring him here as soon as he may come. Tell him the Ard Reigh Brianna has urgently requested his presence.” The sprite zipped off in a blur of light.
To the second, smaller female sprite Brianna said, “Go to whoever is in charge at the guard barracks. Tell them the Ard Reigh Brianna requires her coterie of guards all report immediately to duty at the palace infirmary, and that I want them to clank when they walk.” The sprite bowed and was gone in an instant.
Brianna slid off of the desk again, pacing in the small space. “Is it just me, or does it seem odd that now, of all times, I’m finally put on the list? And rather than bumping off Rihannon, who is obviously unsuitable, or Rodan, who is just terrifying, you are the one demoted?”
Brianna watched her sister’s face grow pensive. “You think someone has bribed the oracles?”
“I think they wouldn’t have to. The oracles are in exile. Nobody sees them. Our only contact is with a messenger in uniform claiming to have the list they’ve given him.”
“So, they could corrupt the messenger.”
“Or kill him and replace him with someone else. Who’d know the difference at this end, and what could the oracles do about it at theirs? They are only allowed to send the one messenger. They’d have to wait until the next release date and send an additional message—and hope it got through.”
“It could work,” Lucie admitted. “But why?”
“That is an excellent question, and one I’ll get to the bottom of eventually. But for the moment we have other priorities.”
Brianna poked her head out of the office door. Catching a glimpse of Adam she called, “Your majesty, how’s it going in there?”
He stepped out into the hall. “Well, very well. Morguenna says that David is going to make it with minimal permanent damage.”
“Excellent!” Brianna turned to face the opposite end of the hallway, where Pug and Kenneth were arriving at the head of a group of guards in full uniform and obviously and excessively armed.
“Ard Reigh?” Kenneth bowed low, but used her title as a question.
“Kenneth, Pug, and Adam, could you please come into the office?” Stepping out into the hall, she addressed the guards as her friends moved past her. “Ladies and gentlemen of the guard, here are your orders.
“Four of you are to station yourselves guarding that room at the end of the hallway. I want you to be very conspicuous about it, and feel free to tell any nobles who arrive who you’re working for and what you’re doing.” Four of the guards immediately moved into position as ordered. The two remaining faced her expectantly.
“The two of you are working on an investigation for me. I will need your absolute discretion. You will report what you find only to me or to High King Leu, and no other.” When they nodded their understanding she continued, “I want you to track back the courier that arrived with the list. I want to know everywhere he went on his route, everywhere he stayed. I want to know, for a fact, that the man who arrived here was the man who was sent by the oracles, and that the list he brought is the list that they sent. There are two of you so that you can watch each other’s back, and act as each other’s witness should anyone question what you find. Again, this is for my and the king’s eyes and ears only. Now go.”
The guards gave her deep bows before leaving.
That done, Brianna hurried inside the now extremely crowded office. Adam had taken the chair behind the desk. Pug and Kenneth leaned against the wall near Lucienne. Brianna was left with a small amount of room to stand in just inside the office door. But that was fine. This wasn’t going to take long.
“What happened to David this morning makes it clear how vital it is that I get the Antonellis away from Faerie immediately.”
Nobody argued. In fact, no one said a word.
“I don’t think it is in their best interests for them to even stay here in the infirmary any longer. I was in public when I was told he was here. I’ve no doubt word has already gotten out of their location.”
Kenneth gave a nod confirming her suspicions. “There were nobles right behind us. Only the admissions clerk stands between them and the infirmary, and he won’t be able hold them off for long,” Kenneth announced.
Brianna didn’t swear, but she wanted to. Turning to the stone trolls she asked, “Adam, Pug, where’s the nearest entrance to the tunnels?”
The Diamond King answered, “The linen closet in the examination room next to the one they’re using for David.”
“Good. We need to move them, now.” She opened the door, leading the others into the hall. In the distance she could hear strident voices raised in argument. The male assistants who had blocked Brianna’s passage earlier brushed past, heading for the stairwell. The male healer turned a key in the elevator controls, locking it off from use before joining them.
“So the guards are a distraction?” Lucie whispered.
“Yes. And a delaying tactic.”
Their group dashed down the hall. “Kenneth, can you help Nick carry David?” Brianna asked. He nodded his assent, rushing over to the young man’s bedside.
“What do you think you’re doing, Ard Reigh?” It was worded as a question, but Morguenna’s voice had a tone of command. She might not be royal, but this was her hospital and her patient.
“The nobles are on their way. We have to get them out of here. You can come with us if you want, but we’re leaving, now.” Brianna had moved beside the door, listening hard to hear any sign of the nobles’ approach.
Kenneth held David’s shoulders while Nick took his feet. David was looking much better, but still unconscious, completely unresisting as the two of them lugged him behind Pug and Adam into the next room.
“This is preposterous!” Morguenna protested—but she didn’t get in the way. Instead, she began hurriedly grabbing spell implements from off of nearby shelves.
Lucie followed the men with Brianna taking up the rear. As she did she heard the commotion at the top of the stairs escalating, with her brother Eammon’s bellow clearly audible. “I am Ard Reigh and I say you will let me and my companions through now.”
“Shit!” Lucie swore. Brianna couldn’t have agreed more. She hadn’t expected either of her brothers to come—they had enough rank that the charade she’d set up might well fall through at a single order.
They hurried, rushing through the door past an open-mouthed woman in assistant healer’s robes and into the door to the tunnels with a laden Morguenna at their heels.
“For deities’ sake don’t tell them where we’ve gone!” Morguenna ordered in the instant before Pug pulled the lever that slid the passage door closed and activated its concealing magics.
25
KING LEU OF THE SIDHE
The cavernous throne room was coldly beautiful. Walls of white marble had been carved both with magic and by hand to depict every living thing. A checkerboard pattern of black-and-white tiles lead from the golden doors of the main entrance to the thirty-two steps up to the royal dais and the massive throne of silver-veined black marble. Sixty-four pillars of the same black marble marched in pairs on two levels from one end of the room to the other. The vaulted dome of the ceiling was painted to depict the sky, from the sun rising at the point of due east, to the darkest midnight, with a brilliant dusting of diamond stars. The faceted crystal at the apex of the dome captured even the faintest light from outdoors, reflecting and refracting the beams so that only on the night of the new moon was it necessary for the chandeliers to be lit.
The throne itself hummed with contained power and while Leu sat in it when occasion called for it, he often said it was not a comfortable seat. Nor was it meant to be. The magic in the throne acknowledged him as the Seelie Reigh—the rightful ruler of his people—but he did not believe for a moment that it liked him.
He was not thrilled to have this meeting here, but it was the only space that was both secure and lar
ge enough to hold Ju-Long in his dragon form.
The dragon, a vast bulk of scale and muscle, lay comfortably stretched out in the center of the floor. His body lay in looping ebon coils on the floor, his tail curled slightly so that its spiked tip rested mere inches from the doors. Razor-sharp spikes formed a ridge along his spine. The tips were a deep, angry red that shaded into black where they joined his body, some longer than Leu’s outstretched arms. Similar spikes formed a mane around a squarish head dominated by golden eyes with the slit pupil of a reptile. Lazy wisps of smoke drifted up from the nostrils at the end of his snout with each breath. His presence in dragon form raised the temperature in a room that was normally chilly until it was quite comfortable.
Leu had known Ju-Long since childhood and had gladly accepted the beast’s oath of fealty when he’d taken the throne after his father’s murder. Much better that the greatest of the last few remaining dragons and drakes be with rather than against him. Leu had seen Ju-Long in action once—a sight never to be forgotten.
A booming knock echoed through the chamber, disturbing the king’s musings. “Enter.” Leu’s voice carried easily through the room and outside the doors, the throne’s magic amplifying it without the slightest distortion.
The brass doors swung open, revealing Gwynneth, in full uniform. Behind her stood Asara.
Gwynneth bowed low, placing her right fist over her heart in the traditional salute. Only when Leu acknowledged the action did he speak. “The Lady Asara, your majesty.”
Leu didn’t rise. “Send her in. Then leave us.”
Gwynneth gave a curt nod, then backed from the room. Asara walked in past her. The vast brass doors closed behind her with an ominous boom.
As was proper, Asara had sunk into an obeisance upon entering the throne room.
“You may approach the throne.”
Asara rose. Moving with exquisite grace, she swept up the aisle. She glided past the dragon’s deadly spikes, then yard after yard of coiled dragon, but gave no sign of fear, showing nothing but seeming confidence.
Deities but she was lovely. She’d borne him children, but there was no sign of it on that body, slender, yet sweetly curved beneath the ice-blue satin she wore. The strapless dress revealed her smooth, milk-white shoulders and clung to her like a second skin as it skimmed over her torso. It was cut high, to show the tops of her perfect thighs, then came to a point, modestly covering pubis and ass. Flowing over her thighs and down to the floor was a filmy layer of sheer, shining fabric as delicate as mist, lightly embroidered with beaded flowers that shaded from pure white to deepest midnight.
Her hair hung in silver-blonde waves to her knees, the front sections pulled back with a sapphire clip to bare a face as unlined and perfect as the first day he’d set eyes on her.
Asara stopped just short of the dais: twelve sets of three steps each separated by a small landing. She dropped into a low curtsy, head bowed and eyes lowered. Her movements were perfectly proper, but there was steel in her spine. Part of him admired her spirit. But only part.
“Your majesty.”
Leu rose from his seat and strode down the stairs to stand directly in front of her.
She held the curtsy, and though he knew it would quickly become painful, he let her. In this case a little pain was no bad thing. He only hoped that it would only be a little pain. He might not love this woman, but he valued her. He did not want to see such beauty and strength laid waste—did not want to believe her a traitor.
“As you made your long return from the hunt, you met with the prince of the doxies. The same prince who hours thereafter used a sample of my hair to activate the portal to the lady Brianna Hai’s apartments and execute a raid that could have led to war.”
She didn’t flinch; didn’t react at all, merely held the curtsy. Studying her, Leu could see her thigh muscles beginning to quiver with the strain.
Leu reached forward, displaying the king’s ring on his finger. It was a simple band of gold, set with the seal of his office, an actual seal that he pressed in wax to prove the verity of documents going out under his name. But it was much more than that.
“This ring is a most useful tool, milady. Did you know that it has been spelled to protect the wearer from treason? Should it so much as brush a traitor’s flesh, it will sear and scorch to, even through, the bone. Shall I touch you with it?”
“I am no traitor.” Asara looked up, her gaze locking with his. “Yes, I met with the doxie. I was angry, humiliated. I wanted to hurt you. The best and easiest path was to hurt her.”
“It could have led to war.” Leu’s silver gaze locked with her blazing blue eyes.
“No.” Asara’s voice was firm. “It wouldn’t. The girl is young, but she’s no fool. She was a member of the guard, even if only briefly, and she retired to earth with high honor after saving her king. Brianna would never do anything that might risk war—even if it cost her her life.”
Leu reached forward, cupping Asara’s cheek in his hand. The ring on his finger remained quiescent. His eyebrow rose, but showed no other physical reaction.
“You wanted her dead. You tried to arrange for it to happen.”
“She was not on the list. It was not treason.”
“You tried to kill my daughter!”
“You know as well as I that if she is to survive in Faerie she needs to be able to take care of herself. Which she did. Admirably.” Asara’s voice was a trifle sour as she spoke the words. “I want,” Asara said coldly, “one of our children to succeed you.” Her mouth twisted in what amounted to a wry grimace. “I am not, however, in any hurry to see it happen. I have counseled all of them to patience. You never wanted the throne. I believe you will eventually tire of ruling and will step down voluntarily.”
Leu stepped back. “I tired of ruling less than an hour after they put the crown on my head and this ring on my hand.” With a gesture he signaled permission for Asara to take a seat on a small stool that sat on the third landing, a dozen feet from the throne where he, once again, took his seat.
She sank gratefully, and less than gracefully, onto the proffered seat.
Leu looked down on her, a debate raging within him. She wasn’t completely trustworthy. He knew that. But she was brilliant and cunning, and the ring had shown her to be no traitor. In the end he decided to take a chance.
“Unless I take drastic action, I am fated to die at the hand of a traitor, and soon.”
Asara’s eyes widened. It was a full minute before she spoke. “Not by my hand. I swear it.”
“One of the children?”
She considered that. “I don’t like to think it.”
“Nor do I.” The words were dry.
They sat in silence for long moments. It was Asara who finally broke it.
“May I ask a question?”
“You may,” Leu answered.
“Why is the dragon here?”
“Should you have failed the ring’s test, he would have gotten rid of the evidence.” He saw her give a slight shudder. “Since you passed, he will perform another service.”
“Please, your majesty.” Asara’s voice was soft. “I do not wish to have my mind and memories altered. I can hold my tongue.”
“I am sorry, Asara. I don’t think you would talk. But even as fine an actress as you would not be able to fool our children. You would look at them differently, without even meaning to. We cannot afford to take that risk.” He used the royal we deliberately, and saw her take note of it. He watched her give a hard swallow followed by a tiny nod. When he stood, she stood with him.
The dragon stirred, turning its head so that its great eyes stared directly at her.
“I understand,” Asara answered.
Leu watched as she steeled herself. Standing tall and proud, she stared unflinching into the slitted golden eye. Her next words were addressed to Ju-Long. “Do it.”
When the deed was done, Leu ordered a pair of guards carry the unconscious woman to her private apartments and sen
t Morguenna to tend to her. It was the least he could do, and not much at that.
When the doors closed and he was alone again with Ju-Long, Leu settled onto the throne, his expression pensive.
“A word your majesty?” the dragon rumbled.
“Go ahead.”
“Have you chosen Brianna your successor then? Admittedly, she’d be a good queen. She is both honorable and strong. But she has little, if any support among any Sidhe other than the guard. The lesser Fae like her, and she does have alliances with the stone trolls and now the doxies, but her mother was a convicted criminal. Ulrich may not be her enemy any longer, but he is not her friend. Your other children—”
Times were desperate. Leu was not willing to mislead Ju-Long, or lie to himself any longer. “If neither Ulrich nor Asara is the traitor, it must be one of my children.” Leu’s words were bitter acid in his mouth. “Who would you have me choose as a successor?”
“What of Eammon and Rodan?”
“I’ve not completely discounted Eammon. Fatherhood and the right woman have been good for him.” Leu met the dragon’s gaze, his expression dark and troubled. “But there have always been whispers … rumors … about Rodan. I did not wish to give them credence … but if he is truly likely to ascend to the throne, I need to know. I must be sure.”
“I can have Chang look into it.”
“He will need to be discreet.”
“He always is.”
26
NICK ANTONELLI
There were twists and turns and stairs leading downward. Without Adam to guide them he’d have been hopelessly lost. As it was his stomach was in tight knots knowing that he was trusting his life and his brother’s to relative strangers. He wanted to believe that Adam, Pug, and Kenneth the guardsman were acting in his best interest. Intellectually he knew that they were his best chance of getting back to home and sanity. But he didn’t like feeling helpless. He was used to being in charge—and armed. Now he was neither. The healers had taken the weapons Adam had given him, which upset him more than he could say. And while he wasn’t precisely claustrophobic, being stuck underground with only the light of Adam’s lantern to guide him was making him jumpy.
