by James Tate
“Y-yes, my lady. Upstairs. They refused to continue on without you.”
I nodded and didn’t waste my breath on any further discussion before racing up the narrow stairs on bare feet with scarlet-painted toenails. The stairs opened out to a long corridor with several doors on either side, but that tingling intuition that had saved my life so many times pushed me past the first few until I stood outside a door with a seven carved into the wood.
As suddenly as it had come, all the panic and desperation flooded out of me once more. All that it left behind was worry and uncertainty.
These were the royal princes of Teich, heirs to the most powerful kingdom in our world. So what if we’d had some stolen kisses in the dark? We had only known each other a little over a week. What made me so positive they cared for me? There was clearly something going on with Sagen, so how was I to know if they hadn’t been sharing the same moments with any of the other ladies behind closed doors?
My moment of crippling self-doubt was cut short by the door swinging open with a bang, and Zan’s dark-eyed gaze meeting mine.
Relief washed through me, and I saw all the answers to my paranoid mental questions reflected back at me. These three royal pricks were falling just as hard for me as I was for them.
“Luna,” he breathed, grabbing me around the waist and dragging me into his embrace. My arms wound around his neck, clutching him just as tightly as he held me, and for the longest moment we stayed just like that.
Pulling back from me just a fraction, he peered into my face and his thumb caressed my cheek. “Where have you been? We searched—”
“Lo!” Ty exclaimed, snatching me from his brother’s arms and wrapping me in his own rib-crushing bear hug. “You’re back,” he murmured, his voice thick as he tucked his face into my neck. “You’re safe.”
Before I could respond, Lee jabbed Ty in the ribs, making him grunt and loosen his grip just enough for his younger brother to steal me away.
“Calla, my heart,” he whispered folding me in a tender hold that had my heart fluttering and my breath short. Any doubts I’d just had were totally alleviated. These three cared—titles, money and influence be damned. What we had was real, no matter how short-lived it may turn out to be.
“We searched everywhere for you,” Lee told me, reiterating what the woman on the road outside of town had said. “Where were you?”
“I...” I started to respond but found I couldn’t. Not that I didn’t want to, but that I simply had no recollection of anything past the fire. Past the terrifying man who’d plucked me out of what was sure to be my funeral pyre. Something about his memory made me shiver with fear, so I kept that to myself.
“How long have I been gone?” I asked instead.
“Three days,” Zan answered, and shock dropped my jaw. I carefully extracted myself from Lee’s arms so that I could address all three of them. It was then that I noticed the two guards sitting at the small table, looking decidedly uncomfortable.
I raised my brows at Zan, then cocked my head in the guards’ direction, silently asking if it was really safe to discuss things in front of them. More importantly, shouldn’t they be wearing their masks?
“It’s fine,” he answered my unspoken question with a shake of his head. “Captain Jefferson and Lieutenant Greenjoy are loyal to us. They won’t go running to our father.”
I pursed my lips in anger at the mention of King Titus and his treacherous plans for his own sons. “But your masks?”
It was Ty who answered me, running a hand over his short, dark hair and giving me a small grin. “Apparently Zan breaking the oath really did break it permanently. We’re no longer magically bound to conceal our identities if we so choose to do otherwise.”
“And thank Sal for that, too,” Lee added, his fingers still resting on my waist like he was afraid I would disappear. “It was becoming all too tiresome wearing that damn mask every day.”
“Not to mention sweaty,” Ty muttered.
The older of the two guards gave me a polite nod and gentle smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you properly, Lady Callaluna,” he said with a gruff voice. “I’m glad to see you in one piece. We were concerned...” He trailed off, flicking a glance at the princes before clearing his throat and saying nothing more.
“What he means, Luna,” Zan explained, “is that the last time anyone supposedly saw you, you were being carried from a burning building by a hooded stranger. They said you were dead, soaked from head to toe in blood and totally lifeless.”
I locked my jaw and gripped my elbows to fight the shudder running through me. That creature had seriously messed me up—far more than I should have been able to survive. Yet here I was. In one piece.
A tense silence hung over all of us as Zan stared at me, and I simply stared back. Neither one of us spoke, and it was Ty who broke the moment.
“Lo, can you tell us what happened?”
I shook my head, blinking to break the stare down with Zan and turning to face the broad-shouldered prince who’d perched on the edge of the bed. “No.”
Zan spluttered a noise of disbelief. “No?”
“I don’t remember anything so I can’t tell you.” I shot him a defiant glare, then frowned. “Wait, three days?”
Lee nodded. “Yeah, almost exactly.”
“That means that this trial ends in two days!” I exclaimed. “Where are all the other ladies? Surely they weren’t content to just sit around and wait for my body to show up?”
Zan scowled at me, but it was Captain Jefferson who responded. “Ah, no ma’am. They continued on their quest with the rest of my men. As they were all to split up, we needed to send one for each of them.”
I did a quick count and found that, thanks to the deaths in the market and during the storm, there had to have been just six ladies and six guards left. How strangely convenient.
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Zan snapped, folding his arms over his chest with barely contained anger. At me, by the looks of things.
I frowned at him. “How so?”
“Because this whole trial is a sham,” Lee responded, his fingertips tracing one of the lace patterns at my waist. Belatedly, I noticed I was in a gown that matched my nails—bright red and made almost entirely of a gauzy, almost see-through lace with full, floor-length skirts.
Unease tugged at me, begging to know where this dress had come from and how I had ended up wearing it. Flashes of disjointed memories showed an expensive home, lush bedding, and an ageless woman painting my nails while I lay paralyzed.
Shaking my head to clear it, I focused on what the princes were saying. The trial was a sham?
“Explain that,” I urged Lee, shoving my clothing concerns aside for now. “How is it a sham?”
“Because the magic in those stones you were all given is little more than a booby trap. They pull on each other, so when split up they’ll tug you toward another one. But only amongst themselves, never to any new ones or the crown itself. It’s a wild goose chase, Calla.” He looked unhappy about it, but not all that concerned.
I shook my head, not totally understanding. “So how did your father intend to choose a Seeker at the end of this trial? If no one is actually capable of recovering the crown, then surely no one can win?”
Zan barked a bitter laugh and nodded to Captain Jefferson, who produced a gleaming, golden crown from a bag on the table. It was studded with red jewels almost identical to the ones we’d been given from our former queen’s crown... but they weren’t the same.
“It’s a fake,” I announced, stepping closer to inspect it. “A good fake, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not Queen Ophelia’s missing crown.”
Ty grinned when I looked over at the princes for their reactions. “How can you tell, Lo?”
“Uh,” I hesitated. “I have a good eye for replicas.” It was sort of a requirement when one made their living stealing jewels from the rich. Besides, this crown didn’t thrum with ancient magic like the stones had when I’d h
eld them. “So, what? The plan was to give someone a replica crown to pretend they’d recovered the original?”
Captain Jefferson nodded. “We were instructed to give it to Lady Gracelin, as she would be most open to the deception.”
I raised my brows at him. “But you didn’t.” It was a statement, not a question, but he shook his head in response anyway.
“We did not. I got the feeling the young princes might like to choose their own Seeker, since this is their kingdom to inherit, after all.” He cleared his throat again, giving the princes a respectful nod. His allegiance was clear in his eyes, and I could see why they were trusting him.
His lieutenant, on the other hand, simply watched with intelligent eyes but hadn’t uttered a word.
“So?” Ty prompted. “Will you take it, Lo?”
Confused, I looked back at the fake crown and shook my head. “No. Sorry, but I don’t see any need for this deception. Besides that, if we want any chance of taking down your father before his nefarious plot succeeds, you’re going to need the power contained within the original crown.”
“Calla,” Lee said gently, like I was a wild animal he didn’t want to spook. “That’s not possible. Our father has been sending scouts out for years, and they all return empty-handed after wandering in circles and just running into each other over and over.”
I shrugged. For some reason I knew what I was saying was the truth. “Did they ever try putting all the stones together?” My marked shoulderblade tingled, and I frowned as another fragmented memory danced across my mind—too fast to grasp.
Ty grunted a noise. “Once. The person holding the bag exploded. The servants were still cleaning pieces of him out of the tiles months later.”
My eyes widened, and my hand intuitively went to the pocket in the side of my gown. How I knew it was there, I couldn’t say, but I was thoroughly unsurprised to find the pocket contained nine gently humming stones.
“Luna,” Zan started, his tone cautious as his eyes followed my hand. “Please tell me you don’t have all eight stones in that pocket.”
Lee sucked in a gasp as I gave Zan a weak smile. “Nine,” I corrected him. “I found an extra one inside that thing that attacked Liesel.”
“How did you get the rest?” Zan pushed, and yet another fractured memory pushed up through the foggy haze of my mind, of me slipping my hand into the dress pockets of the other ladies while they looked straight through me. Like I was a ghost.
But that didn’t make sense. Not if they had all split up. It would have been a physical impossibility for me to track them all down, steal their stones, and make it back here.
Yet, here I was. Totally healed and wearing a dress I’d never seen before, with a pocket full of magical stones.
“How is this possible?” Captain Jefferson breathed, his eyes the size of saucers. “I was there the day that they tried reuniting all the stones. I saw what became of that poor soldier.”
An odd sort of smile touched the lips of Lieutenant Greenjoy. “Wild magic,” he murmured, speaking for the first time since I’d arrived. “It’s been theorized that only someone with the power of the ancient ones could safely handle our late queen’s magic. That’s why that soldier exploded and why our good king hasn’t attempted to touch them himself.”
“But that isn’t possible,” Lee argued, his brow furrowed as he stared at my pocket. “Not even we have wild magic. It’s unique only to the gods. Not even Queen Ophelia had wild magic.”
Greenjoy shrugged, his sharp gaze still on me. “That you know of. Our late queen was a great one for keeping secrets. Besides, I don’t have all the answers, Your Highness. I’m just a former academic turned soldier in order to feed my family.”
No one spoke for a long, tense moment, and I shifted from foot to foot.
“I don’t know how I got them,” I blurted out when the tension became too much. “Not for sure. I don’t remember anything much past the fire. But...”
“But?” Lee prodded when I chewed my lip, and I puffed out a long breath, withdrawing my hand from my pocket and wrapping my arms around myself.
“But... I think I know where to find the crown. Or at least the general direction it’s in.” I shuffled over to the small, threadbare couch and sat down. It was like the wind was gone from my sails and exhaustion was setting in. I sat before I fell.
The five men all stared at me expectantly, and I closed my eyes for a brief moment, locating that niggling tug within me, the one that vibrated on the same low frequency as the stones in my pocket. Almost without noticing what I was doing, my hand returned to the pocket of my dress and fingered the magical stones.
“North,” I whispered, opening my eyes to address my princes. “Not as far as Isenmedin but close. Is there a town there?”
The princes exchanged a glance between themselves, and the two soldiers grimaced.
“There is,” Zan replied to my question. “The town of Ironforge. It was an industrial area that mined metal ore from the mountains nearby.”
“Was?” I repeated, my brows shooting up.
Zan nodded. “It’s an outlying village, practically on the border with Isenmedin. One of the first that was reported as having all its inhabitants disappear overnight.”
My princes looked grim and the Captain looked concerned, but Greenjoy looked positively giddy. Something flickered in his gaze that smacked of familiarity, but I couldn’t place my finger on it.
“If you believe that propaganda,” Greenjoy added, with a small smile that left me somewhat uneasy. “So who knows what we might find.”
11
“Where’s Jules?” I asked after the two military men had left the room in search of dinner.
Ty waved a hand toward the door. “Down the hall. She’s done nothing but mope and complain since you disappeared.” My brows shot up in surprise. Jules had been upset that I might have been dead? “Not because she was holding out hope that you’d survived. She just doesn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“Ah,” I sighed. Of course, that sounded more like the new Jules. She couldn’t go back to Master Bloodeye empty-handed, telling him I’d been killed. That would only get her killed. So it was really no surprise that she was still here sponging off the princes’ money as long as possible. “I should go and see her.”
I made to leave their room, but Zan stepped in front of me and kicked the door shut with his boot.
“Luna...” he purred, narrowing his eyes at me. “You’re not leaving this room any time soon. Not until we clear the air of something.”
Something about the intensity of his gaze made me nervous, and I ducked past him to grab the door handle. “Maybe later?” I suggested, tugging on the door but getting nowhere. His boot was still firmly against it, and when I spun to confront him, I found myself trapped between the door and one very determined-looking prince.
“Now, Luna.” His tone was as hard as his expression, and I swallowed the nerves bubbling through me.
Not wanting to hold his gaze any longer, I looked over his shoulder to Lee and Ty, but neither of them looked particularly interested in saving me. Damn them.
“Okay, sure. What did you want to discuss, Your Highness?” I focused my attention on his chest, eyeing the button two from the top. He was having none of my avoidance tactics, though, and grasped my chin between his fingers to force my gaze back up to his.
I mean, I probably could have still refused to look at him, but that would have been getting a bit silly given I had no idea what he was about to say.
“You think that’s cute, calling me that?” His voice dipped low and quiet, and I got the distinct impression that my attempt to push him away was having the opposite effect. “Tell us what really happened, Luna. It’s obvious you’re holding something back, and you’re not leaving this room until you tell us.”
Neither of his brothers spoke, but from the corner of my eye, I saw Ty fold his arms over his broad chest. Damn it. No help from that corner.
“You�
��ve been gone for three full days,” Zan pressed, his voice almost pleading. “We thought you were dead. You don’t understand what that did to me. Us. To us.” His eyes were sad. Pained. It made me feel like a total shithead.
I sucked in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then released it in a heavy exhalation.
“Fine,” I whispered, feeling defeated. If I were honest, I wasn’t even surprised that they’d sniffed out my omission. These three were scary in tune with my thoughts. “So, after that thing attacked Liesel and killed the guards, I figured it needed to be stopped before it kept killing the villagers. So, I attacked, and that’s when I saw it swallow Liesel’s stone.”
Zan frowned in confusion, but didn’t back away even an inch. “What stone?”
“The crown stone?” Lee asked, and I gave him a short nod. Zan had released my chin, but I didn’t bother trying to get away again. “Why would it swallow her stone?” Lee’s question sounded mostly rhetorical, like his academic brain was already going a million miles an hour on the problem.
I shrugged. “I have no idea. But after I killed it and cut it open, I found an extra one in its gut, which sort of suggests the crown isn’t far from here, right?”
“So what happened after the fire started?” Zan pressed, not letting me distract them with talk of missing magical artefacts. “From what the villagers said, you wwerepretty badly hurt by then.”
Biting my lip, I gave another short nod. “I was. It—the animal—had severed my hamstring, and the fire was blocking my exit...” I trailed off with a shudder as fresh memories of pain and blood and fire swept across my mind.
“So how did you get out?” Zan pushed again, but this time his voice was softer, more coaxing. “How did you turn up here, completely healed and with a pocket full of the queen’s jewels?”
“Who was the man who pulled you out of the fire, Lo?” Ty added, and I flicked a glance over at him. Why was I keeping secrets? It’s not like I actually knew what had happened after I’d passed out.
