by Spear, Terry
“Will the duchess be with him, do you think?” Eaton asked.
“I"m fairly certain of it. And I"m certain that Creshion will need our help.” Tarn still couldn"t believe that Sessily could be working for the dark fae assassin guild. But when he had tried to hire an assassin through Guild Master Lyon, he had said he had his best man on the job, who was working for Prince Creshion already.
Man, not woman, and women weren"t master assassins. Yet wouldn"t that be the most devious fae way of sending a man to do the job? Instead, send a woman?
He shook his head at himself. Sessily was too beautiful, too sweet, too…
The sleeping dragon fae came to mind. Perfectly devious.
When they arrived at Creshion"s chambers, Tarn knocked. “"Tis just your brother,” Tarn called out, in case Creshion wouldn"t open the door to him because Sessily was in there with him.
No one answered the knock.
Then hushed whispers. He swore a feminine voice said something like, “Oh for heaven"s sake,” and then the door opened just a hair, and Tarn saw Creshion"s scowling face.
“Can we come in?” Tarn asked. “It"s just me and Eaton.”
Creshion ushered them in. Both looked around the room for Sessily, but she must have been hiding. Creshion shut and locked the door.
Sessily climbed out of the curtained bed. Tarn and Eaton smiled.
The lady seemed to be in his bed a lot. While Creshion was not.
“What are you doing here?” Creshion asked, annoyed.
“Grieves is back.”
Creshion stiffened and glanced back at Sessily.
“It"s all right. It works well with our plan.”
“What plan?” Tarn asked. He knew the lady was here for more than the reason Creshion gave that she was just attending the ball. And the more he considered it, the more he believed Master Lyon had a secret weapon greater than any other by the name of Duchess Sessily.
“We need Mistress Nesten to serve your uncle a special drink, alone, when the queen is not with him and when no other soul is in the room,” Sessily said.
Tarn felt his jaw drop. He glanced at Creshion.
Creshion folded his arms and nodded. “Where is he now?”
“In his solar, speaking with his advisor. About you, I"ve heard.”
“I will speak with the king,” Creshion said. “He knows I"m upset with him over what he"s declared concerning me. So he"ll be expecting me to speak with him sooner or later.
Although I"m certain he will expect me to show up later than sooner.”
“Aye,” Tarn said. “His advisor will leave to give the two of you privacy.”
“You need to bring Nesten with the drinks to help smooth things over between the king and me.”
Tarn"s eyes widened. “What if he suspects they are poisoned? Or at least the king"s drink?” This was not the way it was supposed to go down.
“Nesten will drink from both. I"ll see to it,” Creshion said.
Sessily urged, “But you will counsel her, Tarn, right before she goes into the room, that she must sample the drinks and never cast a look in Creshion"s direction. At all times, she must seek only the king"s gaze. She"s nervous and you must reassure her that she is doing something that will benefit everyone in the cobra fae kingdom.”
Tarn slowly said, “Aye,” wondering what this was all about.
“And then she must offer the king either drink he so chooses, the whole time looking him in the eye. This is most important. She will be rewarded greatly if she does as we say. Creshion has already spoken to her thus. But she must be reminded one last time before she enters the solar,” Sessily said.
Tarn stared at Sessily, but saw the urgency in her expression, the hope he would do what was right. If she was the master assassin, how would her plan help his plan to succeed?
“Aye,” he said, rather reluctantly. And her eyes pleaded with him to such a degree, he straightened and said, “Aye,” again with determination.
She smiled then, such a sunshiny expression that he wished Creshion had not met the lady first.
***
Everything could go wrong with this plan, Creshion thought. What if his uncle drank of the potion and fell in love with him! Or Nesten was so nervous she spilled both drinks? Or that she looked so ill at ease, the king suspected Creshion planned to poison him?
He had to think positive thoughts. Sessily would not be involved. That was the good part.
She would be safe in his chambers until this was over.
With a heavy breath, Creshion headed for the king"s solar. When he arrived, the king was talking to his advisor. King Olaf"s blue eyes widened, and Creshion immediately bowed low.
“Come in, Creshion,” the king said, dismissing his advisor at once. “I wish to speak with you. You need a vacation.”
“My lord?” His uncle couldn"t have said anything that could have confounded Creshion more.
He motioned for Creshion to take a seat. “You need a vacation to the human world. Have some fun. Enjoy the beaches, the mountains, the humans. You are much too serious for one your age.”
Have fun like King Olaf did? Pick up some human from a bar and grill and turn their lives upside down?
Creshion had never wanted to visit the human world. Ever. Not after what the woman had done to his parents.
“All right,” he conceded, not wanting to, but he had to get to the more important business.
“Good, now that is settled, I"ll send you to the human world, but I won"t allow you fae travel. You"ll be there until I feel you have had enough time to enjoy the human world.”
Creshion"s mouth dropped open.
“You"ll go tonight.”
“But—”
King Olaf waved a hand for silence. “That"s my decision. I haven"t paid enough attention to you all these years, I fear.” He smiled. “Maybe you"ll even find someone you like as well as I did in the human world.”
“But—”
“That"s my final word. In a couple of years, maybe more, you"ll feel like returning to the fae world. Your brother and cousin like to visit the human world. They can keep me apprized as to how you are faring.” The king"s blue eyes brightened, and Creshion felt his body grow cold.
Before he could object one more time, he found himself standing in the middle of a white sandy beach in the dark, the waves rolling incessantly against the shore, the smell of salty water and fish filling the muggy air, and he saw a man jogging along a beach. A human man, not of the fae kind.
And Creshion cursed every fae god and goddess all over again.
***
Nothing went as planned. Well, some things did. Nesten arrived at the room with the drinks for the king, but when she found Creshion wasn"t there, she faltered. What was she to do now?
But Tarn goaded her into taking the drinks to the king and improvising. Now if only he would drink one of the drinks. Then what?
Tarn still didn"t know what Sessily had planned.
The next thing he knew, Nesten and the king were declaring love for one another, and Tarn walked into the room to see the king cradling the maid in his arms, kissing her as if he"d found true love.
But where was Creshion? This didn"t bode well.
Tarn cleared his throat. “My lord, I was looking for Creshion. Could you tell me where he is?”
“In a happier place,” the king said, looking adoringly at the maid.
This was not good. As soon as the queen saw this, she"d make Nesten toast. Or maybe that was the plan. The king would be so angry he"d retaliate against Quinnette. But poor Nesten.
Why should she have to pay?
“Where would that be, my lord?” Tarn asked. He really didn"t like where this was going.
But Creshion and Sessily had cooked this up, and he didn"t know what to do now without speaking with Creshion first.
“Leave us,” the king said.
“The queen is waiting for you in your chambers,” Tarn said, hoping that the warning would suffice.
The king seemed to break away from adoring the maid for a second and said, “The queen?”
“Aye, Quinnette. The woman you gave your fae powers to. The changeling. The woman who murdered my parents and Creshion"s so many years ago, so that she could become queen.”
He wasn"t sure if his words were sinking in or not. It was as if his uncle was in another world. A dream world.
“Murdered?” he asked weakly.
“Aye. So that she could be queen,” Tarn said again.
“My brother, and my sister-by-marriage.”
“Aye,” Tarn said.
“Where is the queen?” The king seemed to shake loose of whatever magic had enchanted him.
“In your chambers, my lord. Waiting for you.”
King Olaf began to move toward the solar doorway, hauling Nesten with him. Tarn guessed the magic was still working.
“Nesten will be in danger if you take her with you,” Tarn warned. “I will keep her safe, if you wish it.”
The king looked down at the woman as if she was the most precious person he"d ever seen, and she looked up at him so adoringly as if he were a god.
Tarn frowned. He would never willingly drink anything Sessily mixed up in the future.
Chapter 15
As Sessily listened to Eaton tell her what had happened while she waited in Creshion"s chambers, she barely breathed.
“Maybe you ought to sit down first, my lady,” Eaton warned.
Definitely not a good sign. “Tell me what happened,” she said, trying to remain calm.
“Creshion has disappeared.”
“What? Disappeared?” Her heart nearly stopped beating.
“Aye. The king sent Creshion on a vacation. Sort of a banishment to the human world,”
Eaton continued.
Sessily let her breath out. “Oh my goddess. He couldn"t have. Not now. Not at this very moment. Not while we all have a part to play.” And she realized then that Creshion and his brother and cousin were very much part of this conspiracy. The sweet maid Nesten also. For the first time ever, she had a team to bring down her target. Or at least had had one. She had to get Creshion back.
“While Tarn was escorting Nesten with the drinks, making sure no one else forced her to give them up on her way from the kitchen, I was eavesdropping on the conversation between the king and Creshion. He told him he needed to have fun, then sent him to the human world. He can"t come back unless the king wishes it.”
Sessily scowled at Eaton. “Or unless I wish it!” She paced across the floor, then said,
“All right. What happened next?”
“Since Creshion wasn"t even in the solar by the time Nesten and Tarn arrived, the maid had to wing it as far as getting the king to drink one of the beverages. But, thankfully, the potion worked its magic, and the king and the maid have fallen in love.” Eaton looked cheered at that prospect. Then he frowned and added, “Tarn told the king that the queen had murdered his family.”
Sessily closed her gaping mouth. Creshion"s trying to keep it from his brother hadn"t worked. But when had Tarn"s telling his uncle the truth become part of the plan?
“And now the king is headed for the bedchambers where the queen awaits him.”
Which meant the king could very well want to kill the queen. But what if she killed him instead? And that definitely wasn"t part of the plan either.
The door to Creshion"s chambers opened and Tarn hurried in with a frantic Nesten in tow as she tugged and pulled and tried to get away. “Let me go to the king,” she pleaded.
Tarn tried to foist Nesten off on Sessily so that Sessily could keep Nesten there safely. “I promise to help you locate Creshion soonest, but I have to see to my uncle and help him if the queen tries to kill him,” Tarn said.
Sessily wasn"t going along with it and handed Nesten over to Eaton. “Protect her until we resolve this,” she said to him. “Where did the king send Creshion exactly?”
“I don"t know.”
But Sessily could follow a fae trail as well as any Denkar tracker could. Which is what made her a good candidate as an assassin. She stalked off toward the solar with Eaton dragging Nesten with him, and Tarn following, although he kept protesting that he had to see to the king.
“See to the king!” Sessily snapped. “He has sent your brother to a world he doesn"t want to be in without any hope of returning. Not without his ability to fae travel.”
“Or your help,” Eaton said gently.
“Aye, or my help. And he needs to assist us with this situation with the king.” She stormed into the solar and stared at the shimmering blue fairy dust trail that Creshion had left behind. “Don"t get yourselves killed before we return or we"ll never forgive you,” she warned as everyone looked horribly grave, then she waved her hand and vanished.
When Sessily arrived on the beach, she knew at once where she was. South Padre Island.
Playground of Prince Deveron of the Denkar. How could the king have sent Creshion here? It was the claimed territory of the Denkar and no other fae kingdom"s people trespassed unless they wanted to pay the price if they should get caught.
She found the trail Creshion left behind as he had walked along the white sand. She began running, not seeing any sign of him in the darkness. “Creshion!” she called out.
“Creshion!”
If Queen Irenis"s soldiers had taken him hostage…
Then she saw him, running along the beach toward her, shouting her name, his voice and expression a mixture of relief and fretfulness. “Sessily!”
She ran for him, stumbling over the sand, racing to reach him. He caught her in his arms and swung her around, set her back down, and showered her with kisses.
She tried to catch her breath and finally managed to say, “Maybe your uncle was right in sending you here if this is the greeting I get for it.”
He smiled, then frowned with anxiousness. “Take me back!”
“All right, but it"s not going to be pretty.”
They were back in Creshion"s chambers in record time and found Eaton pacing as he kept Nesten there.
“You"re back,” Eaton said, gratefully.
“Yes. Where"s the king?” Creshion asked.
“His chambers.”
“And Tarn?” Sessily asked.
“There, too,” Eaton said glumly.
“I"ll take you.” Sessily grasped Creshion"s hand and fae transported him outside his uncle"s chamber, hoping that Tarn hadn"t been hurt while they were away.
Tarn was standing at the king"s chambers, watching the shut door, listening as the king was shouting at the queen and she was shouting back.
“You"re back.” Tarn bowed his head to Sessily, then said to Creshion, “I told our uncle the truth,” Tarn said quietly to Creshion. “That Quinnette was the one who killed our parents.”
Creshion stared at his brother. “How did you—”
“You told me by way of your actions when you sought to hire another assassin three months ago, and I knew the only one you always had in mind killing was the one who had murdered our parents. Imagine my surprise to learn the target was our aunt-by-marriage.”
“I couldn"t tell you, Tarn.”
Tarn nodded. “I know. You were afraid I"d do something rash, like try to hire the lady.”
He motioned to Sessily.
Creshion glanced at Sessily.
She raised her brows. “I would have said no. Like I said no to your brother. I"m retired, you understand.”
Creshion told his brother, “Don"t believe the lady. She won"t ever retire. But you should hear what she wants in payment.”
Creshion reached for the door handle, but Sessily said, “Be careful.”
“Keep her here, Tarn. She won"t mind me.” Then Creshion entered the chambers, realized the king and the queen were in her adjoining chambers, and headed for the room.
***
Sessily heard the woman screaming at the king, and wasn"t about to let Creshion face this alone, even now
. If she could aid him or the king, she was bound to do it. Her mission wasn"t done until the queen was forever gone from the cobra fae kingdom. That would mean the queen was as good as eliminated, just in a different way than she"d first envisioned.
“Who said such a thing about me?” the queen asked, feigning disbelief. “It"s all a lie perpetrated by someone who wants me dead.”
“Is it?” the king asked, arms folded across his chest, staring at the queen, who was sitting on a cushioned bench, her face flushed, her eyes narrowed.
“Who? Who told you such lies?”
“I witnessed it,” Creshion said, quietly, looking so noble, a king in the wings himself, standing in the entryway to the queen"s chambers.
The king glanced at him, eyes widened, probably surprised to see that Creshion could return when the king had clipped his wings. The queen swung her head around and glowered at Creshion.
“I witnessed you hiring the men you accused of killing my parents. I saw you give them the money, then watched as you observed the men murder them to make sure the job was executed,” the prince said.
Sessily was so proud of him for finally revealing the truth that had gnawed at him for so many years.
The queen laughed. “Right. A small boy"s vivid imagination. You"ve always despised me and wanted me gone.”
“I watched from the king"s wardrobe. My father"s wardrobe. I often sneaked in there before my parents retired for the night and played the game of Battle Chant. I practiced so I could beat my dad. But that night, I was so absorbed in the game, I didn"t leave soon enough before they returned. I had to wait until they fell asleep, and then I could sneak out of the wardrobe. I saw everything that happened.”
The king stared at Creshion. “You didn"t speak for two years. We thought a fae from another kingdom had cast the power of silence over you.”
“She was the one who stole my speech, and my parents from Tarn and me.” Creshion glowered at Quinnette. “You can kill her to punish her for what she"s done. Or you can do something far worse.” He looked back at his uncle. “Remove her powers. Eliminate anything that she covets in life. Return her to her home.”
