by HP Mallory
“I imagine so? Who knows for certain, though.” He took a breath. “Instead of asking Monsieur D to break the family curse, I asked him to break Audrey’s curse by allowing me to visit Prydwen, which I believed would destroy the curse on my family.”
“Why didn’t you just ask him to break the curse on your family?” Rachel asked.
“I didn’t and don’t trust Monsieur D,” responded Dureau. “I didn’t want him to know just how deep our curse ran. Obviously, he already knew it affected Audrey.”
“But he also knew it affected you, too,” I pointed out. “You admitted as much to all of us that night.”
He nodded. “I felt I had to. But I didn’t go into details, and I didn’t discuss the ramifications of this curse on my family. I wanted Monsieur D to know as little as possible.”
“Then we tell Monsieur D that he has to reverse your family’s curse in order to fight alongside us,” Rachel declared. “We just add that as an addendum.”
“We’ve already made the agreement,” I told her, shaking my head. “It’s too late.”
“It’s too late,” Dureau repeated.
Everyone was quiet as we digested his words.
I glanced at Mathilda. “Did you know Dureau’s secret?” I asked, wondering why she’d nudged him to tell us the truth earlier.
She shook her head. “I did not.”
“Then how?” I started.
“I knew he was keeping something from us, and I merely encouraged him to free his conscience,” she explained. “Especially after what just happened and the fact that your life was endangered along with his, I felt it was time for the truth.”
Dureau nodded sadly but didn’t say anything. While I wasn’t happy that he’d kept his curse a secret from us for so many months, I understood his reasons why. No one wants to divulge his weaknesses.
“So, does your curse have something to do with Luce being able to find you?” I asked him.
He smiled sadly. “As I always have one foot in the world of dreams, I’m vulnerable to dream attacks or corrupted vision-states, like the one we just experienced. My curse has given me the ability to navigate far more of the dream world than the majority of humans or magical creatures, but that ability comes with its own converse—most of the dream world can invade my mind at any moment, though I’ve mostly learned how to ward off such attacks. My ability to travel almost anywhere in the world of dreams means anyone who can enter the dream world can enter my mind: there’s a wholly reciprocal relationship between the two.”
Rachel was the next to ask a question. “Dureau,” she said, somewhat anxiously, “why do you think Luce hasn’t attacked you before now if you’ve always had this curse, or at least had this curse for as long as you’ve been with us?”
With a smile, Dureau nodded, as if he was a teacher congratulating a student on a particularly astute observation. “That’s exactly what I’ve been wondering myself,” he replied. “Luce knows I’ve been on your side.” A grimace suddenly spread across his handsome face. “Monsieur D…” Dureau growled in what was the angriest tone of voice I’d ever heard emanate from his body.
“What did he do?” I asked, grabbing his hand.
“That was the loophole in the contract I made with Monsieur D to free my sister,” snarled Dureau, apparently infuriated that he’d been tricked, although it was really par for the course for dealing with Monsieur D.
Why be surprised? I thought to myself.
All of the contracts each of us had made with Monsieur D that night all those months ago had one thing in common: there was some sort of loophole to each that would inevitably cause the non-Monsieur D party to the contract some trouble. I briefly wondered what I’d given up in exchange for learning about the Flame, but pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind. I’d worry about my own contract later.
“Explain yourself,” demanded Sinjin abruptly, with no emotion in his voice whatsoever. Dureau, who still sat on the table, looked up at Sinjin and met his gaze dead-on.
“Whatever Monsieur D did to free my sister—and for the record, I do not regret freeing Audrey for she deserved a respite from her curse, perhaps even more so than I do or ever did—whatever Monsieur D did also served to weaken the mental walls I’ve built over time to protect myself from attacks like the one Luce just forced us to deal with.”
The air completely went out of the room. Monsieur D, the man we had just agreed to allow into our alliance, was responsible for this breach—this was just another example of why we shouldn’t trust him.
“I’m a liability,” whispered Dureau. “If Luce can find me like he did tonight, he has a telepathic link to me. That means he’ll be able to see our next moves—he’ll know what we’re doing, he’ll see everything we’re planning—”
“Shh,” I said, in a last-ditch attempt to calm him. “Monsieur D is at fault for this breach, so he’s the one who’s going to fix it,” I finished.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sinjin
“Well, that settles that,” offered Mercedes, pursing her lips tightly. “We’ll have to find out where Luce is as soon as possible. If he knows about Monsieur Chevalier’s curse, he’s clearly gaining intelligence from somewhere. We can’t allow him to keep bettering his position!” she ranted, growing increasingly frantic. “We need to act, and we need to act soon.”
Though Mercedes and I had certainly faced our fair share of disagreements, I had to agree with the evaluation of the situation at hand as portrayed by the prophetess. “If I may,” I added, “I find myself wanting to add to our debate that the recent events of this evening were most alarming, not only for the trauma undergone by the frog—”
“Really, Sinjin?” the princess reprimanded me.
“My apologies,” I said quickly and smiled at said frog. “…for the trauma undergone by Chevalier,” I corrected myself. The fop merely glared at me. “But let us not overlook the fact that Luce attacked Chevalier in his own ancestral home.”
“Which means?” the princess asked.
I flashed her an appreciative smile. “Which means that the magical power of Luce has grown to heights not previously seen.”
“Why?” Rachel asked.
“My homeland was deeply recessed in my psyche,” Chevalier explained. “Luce should not have been able to access it. It should have been locked away, safe from those who would wish to attack me there. Such is the case with any place that you know well. The dreamworld has its own set of rules.”
“And yet Luce was able to attack Chevalier on his turf,” I continued. “He was able to bypass the walls of defense protecting this most important of locations.”
“Then he’s getting more powerful?” the princess asked.
I merely nodded. “If the attack as performed by Luce earlier tonight had gone in a different direction, the Lady Bryn very well might have been trapped for a second time,” I said. “Kinloch Kirk cannot afford to be without the protection of our own Joan d’Arc.” I faced Chevalier with an unkind expression, though I did attempt to keep it to myself. “Unfortunately, my good sir, I believe we must consider you a liability until we find a way to reinforce your mental walls.”
“That’s not fair—” the princess began.
“But it’s true,” interrupted Mercedes.
Chevalier turned to face the princess and nodded, taking her hands in his own which irked me to no end.
“Sinjin is right, Bryn,” he admitted with a small and sad smile. “I’m a liability.”
The room grew silent again. Mathilda broke the silence: “Mercedes and I will have quite a bit of work to do if we’re to find Luce as quickly as we need to. We’ll start scrying immediately.”
“Someone needs to inform the Queen and the panel,” Rachel pointed out.
“Rachel, can you take control of that subject?” Mercedes asked, to which Rachel nodded.
“We don’t have time for any more council meetings, either,” the princess announced. “It’s time for action, not discu
ssion.”
“Agreed,” Rachel said and a round of nods ensued.
“And me?” Chevalier asked. “What is to be done with me?”
Mathilda faced Mercedes, who faced her in turn. They were both quiet for the count of three seconds, until Mercedes broke the silence.
“You must stay here, where we can ward you off from the rest of the kingdom,” she told him flatly.
“Then I am in quarantine?” Chevalier asked, his facial expression revealing his distaste.
“You are a liability,” Mercedes reminded him, with no amount of apology.
“Perhaps you can aid me in my work,” Mathilda offered to Chevalier, who merely nodded.
“That’s settled, then.” Mercedes she eyed each of us imploringly. “Please sleep soundly, if you can, and know that Mathilda and I are doing our best.”
As all present began to rise, intent upon heading to our individual bedchambers, Mathilda asked one final question of me. “Sinjin, owing to the fact that you don’t require your sleep, would you be willing to bring us supplies from the forest if need be?”
“Certainly,” I answered, though I had hoped to find some alone time with my princess.
***
Later that night, I found myself having significantly less fun as I searched the forest for the elder grass and lavender Mathilda required for her scrying and location spell. I had rather begun to regret agreeing to help find the herbs necessary for her brand of magic, although I most certainly did not regret the expression of annoyance upon the fop’s face when he learned he was to become Mathilda’s permanent housemate. Had I been granted the opportunity, I would have laughed quite heartily at his misfortune. But, alas, I did not want to appear as the insensitive cad.
Bloody hell, Sinjin, I thought. What are you doing, wandering this infernal forest for herbs like a low-level soldier? Certainly one of your trainees would have been equipped for this most menial of tasks.
My inner monologue had evidently become rather grumpy. I forced myself to reconsider: after all, locating Luce was a most pivotal step in the process of winning the entire war. No military was capable of attacking the enemy without finding the location of said enemy in the first place, no matter how well-trained the militia—and, of course, given that I had led the training, our military was quite well-trained, if I did say so myself.
Re-dedicated to the task at hand, I found myself thoroughly obsessed with finding a sufficient amount of elder grass and lavender for the needs of Mercedes and Mathilda. I searched carefully under every tree and rock, moving branches and stones as needed to get a better look at each spot those herbs might hide.
“Whatever are you doing out here, Sinclair?” asked a deep and male voice I knew well. Instantly, my skin crawled as irritation suffused me.
I turned to find myself face to face with Varick. I did not trust the man, but I had to acknowledge he did have a certain skillset valuable to the Underworld court.
“I just learned what happened to the third corner of that love triangle you have found yourself in, Sinclair,” said Varick, with an air of disdain. “Such a shame to see your romantic rival brought low, is it not?”
I decided to ignore his bait. “Varick, what do you want?” I demanded, unwilling to play his juvenile games.
“Well, my former pupil, I have information you might find of interest,” he offered, as slyly as any poorly-intentioned weasel.
Alarm bells immediately rang through my head. “And what sort of information might that be?” I asked, keeping my guard up.
“Would you not like to know how Luce knew about the curse placed upon Chevalier, that rival of yours?” asked Varick. Dark intent seeped through his tone.
“I think I have a fair idea,” I replied.
“A fair idea or the truth?” Varick responded with a grin that revealed his long, yellowing teeth. He was quite unfetching.
“The truth,” I grumbled.
He smiled even more broadly. “It does affect our military operations, certainly, but it may also affect your love life, trivial as that is to me. Would you like me to share such information, Sinclair? The offer will not remain on the table for long.” He was baiting me again. The trick was not to rise to the bait, but to keep my wits about me. And, in a battle of wits, I certainly had the advantage over the elder vampire. Ancient though he was, he had never been able to outwit me.
“I have never been one to miss out on a limited time offer,” I pointed out with some regret. Something seemed fishy, as the Americans would say.
“This may come as quite a surprise to you, but I have made sacrifices,” Varick began, immediately causing doubt to rise to the surface of my mind.
“Sacrifices, you say?”
He nodded. “I know the concept of personal sacrifice comes difficult to you, but I am far more familiar with the idea,” replied Varick, ever so snidely.
“You do carry on with too much fluff and artifice in your delivery,” I grumbled. “Make your point, man.”
“And what, may I ask, is the trade-off here?”
“Trade-off?”
“The quid-pro-quo,” Varick clarified.
“I am afeared I miss your point, my good sir,” I said, feigning stupidity.
Varick glared at me, for he knew I was playing a game. “You scratch my back and I scratch yours.”
“I prefer never to be in close enough proximity to you that I could smell your toxic breath, let alone touch you.”
His glare deepened. “I shall give you the information you want in exchange for something I want.”
It occurred to me there must be a catch, were I to take him up on his offer—which every instinct told me not to do. My instincts had rarely led me astray in the six hundred years I had walked the Earth and I had a strong feeling they were spot-on, once again.
“If this information affects the court of the Queen,” I started, but Varick interrupted.
“Sinclair, you disappoint me.”
“And you disgust me, but who is keeping tally?”
His mouth creased into an exasperated frown. “If I taught you anything in the years in which you were my pupil, it was that nothing is free, ever has been free, or ever will be free in the marketplace of information,” muttered Varick contemptuously. It seemed to me that he had given up something that was of great value to become the spy he was today. Interesting, to say the least; suspicious, to say a little bit more.
“Varick, I know not what your information has cost you—”
“Sacrifices. Numerous sacrifices.”
A haunted look filled the eyes of the decrepit old vampire, whose skin had become roughly four shades paler than it had been a year ago. His hair had lost its luster, not that it had ever had much to begin with. He’d never been an attractive man, certainly, but he now bordered on revolting.
“I am not interested in bartering with you,” I announced firmly. “If you have information pertinent to the Queen…”
“When you are ready to discuss the particulars, find me,” Varick said and before I could ponder his bizarre comment, he simply dematerialized, leaving me alone in the forest once again.
“Is it customary for you to have late night meetings in the forest with Varick?”
I wheeled around at the sound of the princess’ voice and found her facing me with a smirk upon her beautiful face.
“Is it customary for you to follow me?” I returned.
She laughed. “I could ask you the same question.”
“Well, it turned out to be quite fortuitous that I was keeping an eye on you.”
She nodded her agreement, but her mind seemed elsewhere. “What was Varick talking about?”
I shook my head. “I know not.”
“I don’t trust him and I don’t like him.”
“I concur,” I answered.
“And I’d beware about whatever news he says he has for you.”
“You are not telling me anything I do not already know, my pet,” I assured her. She nodd
ed and grew silent. “Do you care to join me in my hunt for elder grass and lavender?” I invited.
“Sure,” she said. “Good thing I’m helping you, too, because you weren’t looking in the right places.”
“I admit I am not cut out for this type of work,” I replied with a shrug.
“Come with me,” she said and laughed as she led me down toward the creek that bisected the forest.
“I trust you are processing our evening together in the best way possible?” I asked, wanting to cut right to the chase, as the saying goes. This was a conversation I had wanted to have with her the morning after our evening together, but timing had not leant itself to my cause.
She looked up at me in surprise and then took a deep breath. “I’m doing my best.”
“What does that mean?”
We reached the creek, and she pointed at the elder grass that grew in tufts along the water’s edge. I nodded my thanks and approached it, leaning down to begin collecting it by the handful.
“Is there something going on between you and Audrey?” she asked.
I turned to face her in surprise. “No. Why would you ask?”
“She couldn’t take her eyes off you at the meeting.”
I nodded. “I noticed the same.”
“Then it’s fair to say you haven’t told her… about… us?”
“I have not yet had the chance, no.”
She nodded, appeared displeased with my response.
“And I believe it fair to say you have not yet alerted Chevalier to… us?”
“I meant to,” she began, shaking her head, “but then Luce attacked him, and I haven’t had a chance.” She took a breath. “I intend to, though, of course.”
“As do I, my pet,” I responded.
She nodded again, studying me. “Do you… do you feel the same as you did last night?” she asked shyly.
“How do you mean?”
She shifted as though she were uncomfortable. “Um, do you still feel the… same way about me?”
I stood up and carried the damp elder grass up the slight incline, where I deposited it on a large rock just beside her. Then I smiled down at the little imp as I wrapped my hands around her upper arms. She appeared nervous, though I could not say why.
