Tam shifted his weight, biting his lip, uncomfortable with being so exposed. Leena understood his shyness—they had been friends, yes, but never on such a deep level. And now they would be more than companions. They would be confidants—accomplices. And it was time to get to work.
“Do you know what happened today, Tam? Why the fleet set sail?”
He nodded, thinning his lips. “A message arrived carrying word from King Razzaq’s allies in Whylkin. Their plan to kill the royal family failed. Two of the sons escaped, as well as the newborn babe. The fleet sent today is sailing toward the southern edge of Whylkin to meet with the army already gathered there. I believe they are to march on Rayfort.”
Leena sucked in a breath, dropping her hand. “Do you know which Sons of Whyl lived?”
“Prince Whylrhen, the man who we helped escape, was one of the survivors,” Tam murmured with suppressed glee. Leena matched his feeling, letting a grin pull across her face, imagining how furious her father must be.
“If he still lives, then there’s a chance,” Leena murmured, more to herself, forgetting for a moment that Tam was there as plans began to formulate, threading and knotting across her mind.
“A chance for what?” Tam asked.
But Leena shook her head, already ten steps ahead as various scenarios ran through her thoughts. “I’m running away, Tam. Mikza and I had a plan once, and I think, even without him, I may be able to pull it off. But that’s not enough. Even if I escape the palace, even if I make it to the docks, find a ship, get to Rayfort, that wouldn’t help anyone but me. I need information, I need to know what my father is planning, anything and everything that I can give to the foreign princes to help them win this war, to help them defeat my father. Once I’m there, I’m sure I can negotiate some sort of truce. They don’t want our lands or our people, maybe our gold but I am willing to give it away if it means a fresh start for our kingdom.”
“Princess,” Tam interrupted, voice soothing—opposite her frantic tone. “What would you have me do?”
Leena took a deep breath, but she couldn’t help it, her entire body was buzzing with newfound excitement, newfound possibilities. But everything hinged on uncovering the secrets of what her father had planned. Without that, there was no escaping King Razzaq’s reign, no escaping his gilded prison. And Tam was the only person in the world who could get the information for her. He was the key to her freedom—to her people’s freedom.
“I need you to speak with the other guards, to find out whatever they know about my father’s war tactics,” Leena began, trying to keep her voice even this time. “Anything I can offer to the Whylkin princes, anything to help them win. Where is he sending ships? Where are they planning to attack? What armies do we have already, what other soldiers are on their way?”
“If I get you this information, many more of our people will die in this war,” Tam cautioned. His pearly eyes pierced through the shadows, gleaming with the light leaking in through the door. They caught her gaze and held it, unwavering, forcing Leena to understand the full weight of his words.
She swallowed. Was the sacrifice worth it?
“I heard something from Amo,” Leena whispered, voice weak as she pictured all the young Ourthuri men that would die by the time the fighting was over. The image changed, to more men and women, of all different colors and ages, caught in the binds of her father. “He told me that my father’s end goal is not to help end the reign of Whyl and bring different foreigners to power. His goal is to conquer our enemies and extend his power across both kingdoms.”
Tam sucked in a breath.
Leena pressed on. It was her turn to command his gaze. “You are a member of the guard, a soldier. You have dreamed of a better world, yet you have followed orders that oppose the ideals you hold dear. What do you think the men fighting these battles would want? To live knowing they helped my father destroy thousands of lives? Or to die at the hands of something greater?”
Tam's shoulders dropped. His lips flattened to a thin line. He closed his eyes, paused, and then looked at her once more. “I will find out whatever I can.”
“Thank you,” she said, smiling weakly.
Leena was sure they were making the right choice, for her people, for the people across both kingdoms, but that did not make the decision any easier. Innocent people would die because of her actions. Leena just had to believe that many more innocents, now and in the generations to come, would live happier lives because of her too.
SIX
The next few weeks passed in a blur of anxiety and impatience. While Leena sat in her room, waiting for any sort of word from Tam, war plans surged forward. More ships left the harbor on an almost daily basis. Guards were thinning in the halls of the palace. Her father had regained a positive outlook, fury falling away as new schemes moved into motion. And that, more than anything, scared her.
For that first week, when King Razzaq’s rage had been at its peak, all wedding plans and social events had been cast aside. But already this week, Leena had met with Amo twice. A seamstress visited her room almost daily to fit her gown. Servants came and went with different questions about the food, the décor, and every other minute detail Leena felt she had no time for.
The bars of her cage were closing in.
Tighter.
Tighter.
Already, Leena could hardly breathe, smothered as time continued to tick away. At what point would her window of opportunity close? Had it passed already? Waiting, not knowing, wondering—all of it grated her sanity, wore it thin.
So when a knock sounded lightly against her door in the middle of the afternoon, Leena had no hope that it meant anything. A servant, most likely. Maybe her guards checking to make sure she was all right after so many hours of silence. At best, some afternoon tea. At worst, her father stopping by to cast a smug grin in her direction.
Leena never expected the truth.
That it was Tam, finally bringing her news.
“You’re here!” She gasped as the door swung open and her jaw dropped.
Tam was impassive to her greeting, eyes flicking to the side while everything else in his expression remained the same. Leena followed his sight, gaze landing on the two bodyguards beside the door, eying Tam curiously, and offered a slight nod in understanding.
They were not alone. And they were being watched.
“Princess, may I come in? Your father asked me to speak to you in private,” he said, bowing curtly.
Leena highly doubted her father had sent him, especially when he had gone out of his way to remove Tam from Leena’s service, but her bodyguards would not question an order that had any chance of coming from the king.
“Please,” she agreed and stepped to the side. Tam walked around her guards and closed the door behind him.
Biting her tongue, Leena stepped farther into her room, away from the door to lower the possibility of being overheard. When they reached the balcony, she allowed herself to speak, whispering, “What did you find?”
“It’s all in here,” he told her, and pulled a roll of papers from his overcoat.
Leena grabbed it, unfurling the pages, hastily taking in the words. But the more she read, the slower her eyes moved, the more concentrated she became, the more concerned.
Her father had it all figured out.
Leena shuffled from one page to the next, each time hoping one would reveal a weakness, an opening to take down her father. But King Razzaq was nothing if not thorough in his destruction. The Whylkin princes were doomed. They all were.
“Have you read these?” she asked as she flipped the last page, heart sinking to the ocean floor a thousand feet below.
“I have,” he said, voice grave.
Leena rolled the papers between her palms, wringing the sheets, crumpling them in her frustration. Stomping her foot, she turned on her heel, pacing across the balcony. “Is there any point now? To run? To even try?”
“I don’t know,” Tam murmured.
�
�What should I do?” she asked, spinning to face him, shrugging with helplessness.
Tam shook his head slowly, a sad smile across his lips. “If you find the Whylkin prince, there is no guarantee that any of what we’ve found will help. I’m not sure any amount of information or preparation will be able to stop your father, not with the plans he has set in motion.”
“But?” she prompted.
“But I wonder if you would be able to live with yourself if you did nothing.”
Leena stopped, chest caving in as though punched, hunching over as the breath whooshed from her body. Stumbling, she shuffled to her bed, falling on the soft cushions as her father’s words flashed across her mind.
You are playing a dangerous game, daughter, one you do not know how to win.
Had he been right? Had she been deceiving herself this entire time, dreaming of a new life, of a better future? Leena hated to believe she could have been such a fool—how could she, a girl who had barely stepped outside the palace walls, beat a king? How could she, a princess, not a soldier, stop a war?
And yet, Tam’s words rang true. Even in the face of impossible odds, Leena could not just sit and do nothing, could not rest idle and let all of her hopes slowly slip through her fingers. If she were a fool, she would rather be a defiant fool than a submissive one, would rather die trying than live to ask herself what if.
No matter how crazy or idiotic, her decision was made—and just like when she watched Prince Whylrhen defy her father against unbeatable odds, a little voice in her head whispered, or brave?
Leena sat up, taking a deep breath. “Tam?”
There was no turning back now. And there was no time to wait. Leena jumped from her bed, crouching to retrieve the little box with her mother’s things, the box with the balm that would cover her tattoos.
“Tam? I have to leave today. I can’t wait another moment. The wedding preparations are hurtling forward faster than I ever dreamed, and if this information you found is true, we cannot afford to lose any more time.”
Fumbling through her dresser, Leena found a small satchel—the least ornate one she owned. There were no gems and no pearls, no fine embroidery, but the material was still an expensive silk that likely wouldn’t blend in with the common folk. But there were no other options, so she began to pack it full. First, the letter from her mother, wrinkled from being read so many times. Second, the ring Mikza had given her, pieces of his golden chainmail coiled and braided to fit her finger. After that, a baby rattle she had stolen from her brother’s crib long ago and never returned. Next, her jewelry and any other diamond-encrusted items she could find that might garner her a bribe and passage across the sea. And finally, the papers from Tam, proof that her information was true.
Gazing around the small room, Leena was almost amazed to find there were no other items she would miss, nothing else she needed to take. But every other moment of joy from her life was safely tucked away in her memories, not tied to baubles and trinkets and clothes.
“Are you ready, Tam?” Leena reached for the ointment, prepared to conceal her tattoos. But as her hand closed around the jar, she realized the room had grown utterly silent. Too silent.
“Tam?” Leena asked, dropping the ointment and the satchel on her bed, rising slowly to look out toward the balcony.
She froze.
He stood in the doorway, stance wide, hands before his face, holding up the curved sword of the Ourthuri guard. In the sunlight, it was blinding, gleaming bright while the rest of his body was silhouetted. Dark. Dangerous.
Leena stepped back, hesitant.
“Tam?”
He didn’t say anything. But a moment later, he didn’t have to. Tam walked one foot forward, and Leena gasped. The face that had always looked too young for his years, bulbous cheeks pinched with dimples, was now alight with savagery. A cruel smile twisted his lips. But worse, so much worse, was the look in his eyes.
Empty.
Completely and utterly empty.
Gone were the warm brown irises, the friendly expression, the prideful gleam as they worked together for a better cause, a just cause. His eyes were white, vacant pearls devoid of any sign of life, as though Tam had disappeared, leaving an imposter in his place.
“Tam,” Leena murmured one more time, weak, but there was no longer a question in her tone. Tam was not here, his body maybe, but not him.
He lunged forward, air whistling as the sword cut through the space where Leena’s skull had been. She dropped to the floor, hands reaching for anything that might help as a scream ripped through her throat.
Her fingers wrapped around something metal, and she swung wildly as Tam’s sword made another slash for her face. The candlestick in her hand clanged against his blade, knocking it off path, but before Leena had time to reach back for another swing, Tam had righted his weapon.
A princess against a trained warrior?
It was no contest.
“Help!” she shouted, fending off another blow. “Help!”
Tam’s hand whipped down, tearing the makeshift weapon from her grip and throwing it across the room. Each thud of metal on stone stopped her heart. He knelt down, leaning over her, pressing the curve of his sword against her throat, moving slowly, as though he was enjoying the sight of her struggle.
Leena pushed against his arms with all of her strength, but it did nothing to stop the pressure. She squirmed, but could not dislodge his heavier frame, could not free her legs to kick him away. She shook her head, but that just made the blade sting more.
“Tam,” she whimpered, trying to find her friend in the void. But it was useless. And in less than a second, her windpipe was cut off, unable to make a sound.
Then he was gone.
Howling.
Rolling off her, jerked to the side by an unseen force.
Leena gasped, swallowing air, coughing as she rolled toward the door. Her bodyguards were charging through the opening.
“Princess?” they called.
Leena coughed, unable to respond, and shook her head.
A hand gripped her leg, pulling, and she slid backward across the floor, using her nails to grip the tiles. A body fell on top of her, a heavy crushing weight. Blood dripped onto her cheek from above, warm, drop after drop as she waited for the pierce of a blade in her side.
Would it hurt?
Would she fade quickly?
Would Mikza be there to welcome her home?
But then boots slid into her vision, and before the sword could fall, her bodyguards were there, dragging Tam away, locking his arms behind his back and holding them steady.
Leena dragged her crumpled body to a seated position, leaning against the wall, breathing heavily as she rubbed the sore area below her chin, pulled her hand away to check for blood.
“Princess?” A ragged whisper filtered into her ears.
Leena looked up into muddy brown eyes, slowly clearing, filling at first with confusion and then with horror.
“Pr—”
The hilt of a blade thudded against Tam’s head, and he slumped, eyes closing, body going utterly still. Lodged in his shoulder was a small knife, the weapon that must have freed her the first time. But now, Leena couldn’t help but wince at the sight of so much red seeping out, staining his golden silks.
“What happened, Princess?” one of the guards asked.
Leena shook her head, whispering, “I don’t know.”
“We must bring him to the king immediately.”
“No!” Leena gasped, jumping free of the wall, rushing over to the bodyguard, laying a pleading hand on his arm. “Please, no. It wasn’t Tam, I mean, he wasn’t himself. Something happened, someone poisoned him or drugged him.”
“Tamarin attacked a royal princess, he must face the consequences.”
“Please,” Leena begged, stepping back, eyes falling to her unconscious friend—a man who had given her so much, a man she couldn’t bear to see punished for a crime she knew in her heart he would never commi
t. Then her gaze shifted to the two bodyguards watching her sadly, and she realized they hated the task as much as she did. “Please, no one has to know. Take him to someone who will treat his wounds. I will never speak of this day again. It will be our secret.”
The two men looked at each other quickly, passing unspoken words. Leena kept arguing.
“My father will kill him,” she implored, “and I can’t bear to have another death on my hands. Not another guard. Another friend. Please, he is your friend too.”
Their gazes turned dark, found one another, and they nodded almost imperceptibly.
Leaning down, each bodyguard grabbed Tam by one shoulder, lifting his body from the floor, grunting from the exertion. Watching from a distance, she bit her lip, wanting to question but knowing there was no more to say. And then the first bodyguard, the one who had spoken to her, looked up and held her gaze. Raising his brows, he glanced toward her bed, to the bag of jewels sitting open, the little jar of skin-colored ointment, to all the evidence of her escape.
And then he looked back at her once more before shifting Tam’s weight and stepping with his partner toward her door. They didn’t say where they were taking him, what they were doing. But Leena knew they were listening to her pleas, to all of her pleas, when two words drifted across the open space of her room.
“Goodbye, Princess.”
Was it her relationship with Mikza, who used to be one of them, that changed their minds? Or was it listening to her mournful cries, night after night while she was locked away in her rooms? Was it simply two men unable to say no to a beautiful woman? Or was it possibly two more Ourthuri hoping for a better life for their people? She would never know why her bodyguards, two men under oath from the king, decided to break the rules and help their princess.
Leena's Story - The Complete Novellas (A Dance of Dragons Book 4) Page 9
