“Yes. Her name is Anabel.”
Gabriel was on edge all day. His adrenaline spiked at every knock, every door slam, and once when Coal jumped on his desk unannounced. Mikelle even gave him a few weird glances during lunch and supper.
“You are…taciturn.”
“Agitated.” He said without looking up from his desk.
“Also that. Did you have too much black tea this morning, or not enough wine with lunch?”
“Both.”
“You are a fountain of words today.”
He looked up from his desk and smiled. “True.”
She refilled his goblet. He eyed it carefully. Balien once told him too much wine would make a man impotent for a time. Nightfall was not far off.
“How is your back?” he asked, taking a sip.
“No concerns. I sleep much better now, and I can drink copious amounts of wine.”
“If you were going to seduce a man, how would you do it?”
She tried very hard to keep wine from spurting out from her mouth. She was nearly successful and dabbed her chin with a glare. “You must warn me before questions like that.” She took a heavy swallow of wine. “I cannot answer.”
“Because you’re currently seducing someone I know? Lael?”
“He is very handsome, but no. Telling you would make you too powerful. A lady has great weaponry in seduction.”
“So you would wear a low-cut dress, laugh at the perfect moments, make physical contact whenever possible, be everything he wants without him knowing?”
She blinked rapidly. “No….”
“Yes,” he sighed.
“It’s the Void Mage, is it not? Do not let her push you, Gabriel. Don’t you have better things to do than worry about women?”
“Women are very worrisome.”
“For instance, you need to get me chocolate.”
“If I had a list of women that worry me…” he let his glare finish his sentence.
“Then you need to take me flying.”
“What did you do with my cat?” he cut in and looked around.
“He’s been sitting with Lael when you’re busy.”
“Traitor.”
“I know, he said he likes dogs.”
“No, the cat. Don’t you have places to be?”
Mikelle sighed and finished her wine. “I will find something more entertaining than you.” She stood and adjusted the front of her dress to reveal a little more, tittered amusedly, kissed his forehead, and sashayed out of the room.
“Stars above,” he muttered, listening to her laugh in the hall.
The sun sank, and he refilled his wine, grabbed a book and stoked the fire. He didn’t register any of the words. He could wait until Maxine was asleep to get the ring. He could stun her with a pattern and slip it off, but he did not want to alarm her in case she attacked. Then he would have a real problem. He could distract her enough while kissing to pin her hands in his and take the ring then. All this depended on the location they went, and if this was actually just a trap.
He was just beginning to register the words in the open book when a smoky image suddenly appeared in the corner of his vision. For a moment he thought it to be a specter, but the image solidified to Maxine.
Gabriel quickly stood. “What are you doing here?”
“I could not wait,” she said breathlessly and devoured the space between them, wrapping her arms around his neck to kiss his lips.
“Not here,” he muttered between breaths, but she paid no mind, and she pulled him across the study, tugging off his coat as they went. The coat fell, and she scrabbled at his shirt, scratching him needlessly.
Abandoning his concern and worry, he stuffed the haunting images of Arconians where they would not bother him. His hands trailed her torso. She wore a corset held together with two dozen metal clasps up the center. It looked like only an explosive pattern could unhinge it.
Her hands were relentless. She pulled him into his bedchamber by his belt and wrenched it free so fast he could feel the heat it left in its wake. He was far behind undressing her.
She slid up the edge of the bed, pulling him between her legs as she unlaced his trousers. Her eagerness only made him nervous, but he swallowed down his memories and pushed her to her back.
“Don’t rush it,” he said and climbed up beside her, wrapping a hand around her waist and pinning one of her legs down with his. He glanced to her hands and saw the Secondhand ring on her left middle finger. He took the opportunity of her passion and laced his hand through it, pinning it to the bed. She responded only with harsher lust, gripping his hair tighter and trying to pull him on top with her pinned leg. Her lips were furious and awakened the Class Ten instinct within him. He finally released his guarded nature and succumbed to her touch.
He heard the breath of a gasp, and it took him a moment to realize Maxine had not made it. His head snapped to the door.
“No,” Mikelle whispered, a hand over her mouth as she looked at Maxine. Her eyes shot to him in horror, and she ran out.
“No, Mikelle, no!” he shouted after her. He moved so fast he was not sure of his success until it was completed. He sat up and put all his weight into Maxine’s left hand, pinched her digits, and wrenched the black ring from her finger. Her angry and astonished face said it all, but he seized Void, shifted her outside Castle Jaden, broke connection, and returned in the span of two heartbeats.
He hit the floor in a sprint, jerking closed the laces on his trousers, and he raced down the hall for Mikelle not far ahead. He spotted the hem of her dress as she passed the door into the anteroom. There was a scrape of something metallic as he rushed in, nearly colliding with a knife Mikelle had pulled off a shelf.
She lunged and caught his neck, pressing the blade against his skin and pushed him back against the bookcases. He brought his hands up, breathing heavily, and eyed her with calm concern.
“You traitor,” she whispered, her hand quivering on the blade. Her other hand pushed his shoulder back, holding him steady. He could easily have thrown his weight forward and freed himself, but now was not the time.
“It’s not what you think.” Gabriel reasoned.
“It looks exactly like it. She is your Void teacher.”
“I had no choice.”
“She is the one who healed you.”
He nodded slightly.
“You are a traitor to your people.”
“I know what it looks like, but—”
“It looks like you were bedding an Arch Mage.”
He took in a deep breath. “Mikelle, would I ever do anything to harm my Mages?”
“How long—how long have you been bedding her?”
“I haven’t.”
“Sure looked otherwise.”
“Stop,” he said sternly and looked to his hand that held ring pinched between two fingers. “See this? There are two in existence. I wear one, and she wore the other. They are the only way into Jaden.” Her frown deepened, and she pressed the blade harder. “I didn’t give it to her, I took it from her. That was how she got into Jaden to taunt us, to heal me, to bring me back from the summit before I froze. I did what I needed to get it off her.”
The knife slackened a touch. “It does not change the fact that you are consorting with Arch Mages.”
“I do what I must to save my own.” He seized Void, but she did not flinch. “I have mastered it. You said you trust me.”
“I did.” She pulled the knife off his neck, and he slowly lowered his hands. “Lael needs to know you are compromised.”
He hung his head and clenched his eyes. “Please don’t.”
She released his shoulder and walked away, dropping the knife at his feet. Gabriel picked it up and watched her go, not sure if he should go after her or return to his room. He eventually wound his way back to his bedchamber and slid down the side of his bed to face the lit hearth, twirling the knife in his fingers.
If Mikelle told Lael, he would be named a traitor, and on
ce the Council found out, they would have him deposed. He would be one of the few Head Mages to be removed from the Seat. He would lose everything all over again. He could not suffer that shame.
He propped his elbows on his knees, looking at the long pale scar inside his left forearm, remembering the day he tried to end it. It was not the last time he tried to kill himself. A coward’s way out, but an effective one.
He considered ending it after the night with Axa. She took what he was not willing to give and robbed him of his desire to give it to Robyn. He had stood atop his balcony, considering throwing himself from it, knowing reflexively at the last moment he would transform to a tiger. He had seen a man in the courtyard watching him so pulled away. But the thought still lingered.
With the image of Axa released, the memories locked away flooded forth. Faces of soldiers he killed filled his mind, the shock of the Castrofax around his neck, and the nights in the dungeon rattled him. Never in his darkest imagination would he think up the things Nolen did to him. Things he could never wipe from his mind.
The pain was so great he could almost feel it again, but his mind would not let him break. Nolen gave him a whiplash for every Air Guard soldier he killed: 3,680. But that was just the beginning.
Then there was Axa and the Arconians. That horrible woman who would have him at any cost. He remembered her when he was with every other woman, stuck in terror that they would do something similar.
He remembered the body of a young girl, horribly mutilated, brought to him and declared to be Robyn. He could not tell otherwise, but how he wished he had realized his miscalculation before it broke him.
Memories of a public flogging, learning he had weeks to live, backhands, weakness, and utter drowning despair filled him. Worst of all, he held the Silex in his hands. But he gave it up with full knowledge that he could kill Nolen and flee with it. Gabriel had been so broken, he did anything Nolen asked, even against his better judgment and will.
Lastly came the killing blow. Mikelle would have died unless he did instead. He could not deflect the spear aimed for her with anything but his body. He remembered gasping on the ground with the spear stuck through his gut. He realized he wanted life more than anything and fighting with every ounce of strength left, only to feel it slip away as he took his last breath.
When his life was renewed, and his Elements returned, he was not unbroken. Part of him was still despairingly shattered. He did not know if he could ever be the same again.
He finally accepted that fact. The weight on his shoulders suddenly became suffocating and Gabriel wept. He could not handle the affairs of a kingdom when he was such a mess, and now ‘traitor’ was thrown in to the mix. It would be much easier to let someone else deal with the Mages than him. The Arch Mages would surely kill him by the end of the battles, so there couldn’t by any point in dragging it out. Ending it now would simplify many things.
He gripped the knife tightly and looked at it through blurry eyes.
Chapter 28
Ryker slipped into Void and sent twenty patterns out into the gray darkness. Eighteen pings answered. Each one connected to a specter he released on the world. He was pleased to see all but two remained walking. He would replenish their numbers later.
Quietly he shifted outside Castle Jaden and pulled on the patterns. From all around the world each specter hesitated. Some were a hundred miles away in Cinibar, and some were much closer, but they all headed towards Ryker. He closed his eyes and tugged each one to figure out exactly where they were, slowing the advance of some and rapidly speeding the others. They all needed to convene at the same time, and if he played his tiles right, they would all arrive within a few minutes of each other.
He shifted his way to Aidenmar. The kingdom was ripe with Mages though most had returned to Castle Jaden. It was snowing faintly as he slipped through the streets searching for a Mage House.
Oddly, Mages convened in community houses in the capital Cato, grouping Elements together. They built beautiful structures of tall white buildings. Pentagon shaped parks were in the center, and training grounds on the roofs. It was the perfect place to pluck Mages. Usually he had to roam with alert eyes searching for someone laying a pattern, or lurk on the road to Jaden, but here he could pull them right out of the halls.
There were few Mages within the Fire House tonight, though it was built to hold several hundred. Whether Aidenmar had grown weak in their bloodlines or the Mages simply returned to Jaden was uncertain. A dozen wards set around the House to keep it from burning down, falling over, and crumbling. But none of them kept Ryker from shifting in.
He shifted up the floors until he felt kinetic energy ping his senses. A man walked through the hall just ahead of him, and Ryker stopped his shift to observe. The man was older with stark white hair and a slender frame. He walked with a tall mug of something steaming hot and a crust of bread bunched in one hand, while balancing a key between his fingers.
“Evening,” Ryker said as he rounded the corner.
“Greetings,” the man nodded and continued walking.
“Ne many Fire Mages here tonight.”
The man paused. Ryker could smell tomato soup. “Not any ‘round here anymore.”
“All return t’ Jaden?”
“Right you are, or t’ their families.” The man raised his mug of soup and continued walking.
Ryker grabbed the man’s arm, snapping his fingers and pointing them at the man’s head. The stranger gave a sudden start and his knees buckled. He fell to the ground, red soup spraying over the white stone walls like a horrible homicide. Ryker’s grip held the man’s spirit from slipping into the next world, and he quickly set his Void pattern to twist the spirit to his will.
“Burn every Class Three ac lower y’ encounter, ac make your way t’ Castle Jaden,” Ryker whispered, letting the specter go. Flame immediately erupted from its feet, spreading upwards to his head. His face held a blank expression as he walked down the hall. Embers burned where his feet touched, smoldering the carpets, but the building did not burn. The sweet smell of smoke filled Ryker’s lungs.
It did not take long for someone to see what was causing the smoke. She was a simple girl, a little rotund, and dressed in a sleeping gown. Ryker snapped towards her in a blink-shift, and her body collapsed as soon as he touched her neck. She gave him a frightened look before he took control of her spirit.
“Brand every non-Mage y’ see with your hand, ac make your way towards Castle Jaden.”
Castle Jaden appeared on the mountain as the sun sank behind. The castle gleamed with a hundred bright fires in the cold stone. The horses were lathered from the uphill effort, but they trudged faithfully at a trot. Robyn could hardly contain her excitement.
They reached the gates after nightfall. The guards stopped them and checked the carriage along with its inhabitants. She hoped the guards would not recognize her, but they were trained to know the faces of dignitaries and gave her proper bows with their surprised looks. They treated Malain with more respect as they searched his things for stowaways.
“Go t’ him,” Malain whispered as the guards searched. “Leave your things in the carriage and run.”
She gripped his arm and kissed his cheek before sweeping into the protective fortress of the greatest castle ever built. Structures soared above her, and pinpricks of window light casted halos in the mild fog. Few people were out, the shops were closed, and the general hum of the castle was muted by the gloomy weather. As soon as she was out of view of the gate guards, she ran.
The clap of her boots and snap of her cloak whipped the cold night as she tore towards the Lodge on the far end of the courtyard. She passed a few surprised Mages, but no one stopped her until she heard a gasped “Queen Robyn?”
She skidded to a halt on the slick stones and saw Mikelle, hood up, walking alone.
“Whatever are you doing here, my friend?” Mikelle breathed and glanced at the tower where Gabriel’s hearth fires illuminated the fog.
&nb
sp; “I have to go to him.”
“Tonight…is not a good night.”
“I have no choice. I have waited too long.”
Mikelle pinched her lips together. “I warned you.”
Robyn took off without another word, making for the twin lights beside the main Lodge doors. She pulled the heavy door open and hit the stairs, taking them as fast as she dared.
She made it to his floor and walked the rest of the way, adjusting her hair and clothes. She had to be able to talk when she saw him and explain herself before he shifted away. Lael was not at his desk, and his lamps were extinguished. Only a small light from Gabriel’s hearth illuminated the anteroom. She moved quietly down the hall and into his study, hearing blood thunder in her ears in anticipation. He was not at his desk. His bedchamber door was cracked, so she silently peeked her head around the door.
He sat on the floor by his bed, arms draped over his knees with his head ducked between. His shoulders shook, and she realized he was sobbing quietly. She watched silently, wondering what could possibly bring him to tears. She had never seen him truly cry. He mourned the alleged death of his father in a morose way, cried tears of joy when he was freed of the Castrofax, had glossy eyes after she found him with a slit wrist in Urima Manor, but she had never witnessed him all-out weeping.
Gabriel released his eyes and wiped his cheeks, moving his fingers to lay a pattern she could not see. He set it against his bare chest. She saw a dark smear just below his fingers. It was blood. He had a thin horizontal cut in the center of his left chest that was slowly bleeding.
He took a deep breath and seemed to collect himself, staring at the spot between his boots as if he came to some mental agreement. He lowered his leg and leaned back on the bed to brace himself. His left fist clenched something silver. He pressed the tip against his chest beside the cut, and Robyn realized with a cold chill that it was a knife.
She burst through the door and ate the space between them in four long strides, throwing herself into his arms. He did not look up when he heard her, instead he lowering his head, contorting his face as he fought the tears. She wrenched the knife from his fist, and collapsed in his lap, wrapping both arms around his head and held him to her breast.
Unlocking Void (Book 3) Page 20
