The Captive King

by Susan Copperfield

  “I’m not sure what that means.”

  Peter sighed. “It means you have an elite-level talent, and you were wrongfully put into a lower caste for another’s gain. Landen is less concerned with this than we are, but I refuse to blame him. None of us thought he’d even consider marrying again. He’s spent most of his life dancing a fine line between playing the role of a puppet and trying to counter the manipulations of a corrupt government. You swept in and changed everything on him. The things he’d planned that would take decades are going to take weeks. The laws he’s wanted but hasn’t been able to push through because of the toxic nature of his advisory council and congress can be passed. It’s a little like with old buildings; sometimes, the best way to fix a problem is to tear the whole thing down and rebuild it from scratch.”

  “I always thought each kingdom was more independent, but there are a lot of other kingdoms involved in Alaska’s business,” I muttered.

  William hummed, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “The Royal States of America remembers its roots, and although we don’t have a federal government anymore, the kingdoms have figured out we’re better together. We’re sovereign entities, but we’re reliant on the strengths of our neighbors to survive. Landen has a very special talent, and without you, it dies with him, and that hurts everyone.”

  One day soon, I needed to ask Landen what was so special about his talent. “I refuse to have seventeen children.”

  William groaned and hung his head. “No one would ever ask you to, Summer. I assure you, the number of demonic miniature human entities you spawn is entirely up to you and Landen.”

  My eyes widened. “You call your children demonic miniature human entities?”

  Peter choked on his laughter. “Please have at least one, for Alaska’s sake.”

  “So rude,” Edith muttered. “Let the children get married first.”

  “They don’t need to get married as long as they’re busy in bed,” Belinda announced. “They aren’t having any problems in that department at all. If His Majesty gets any more of a spring in his step, we’ll need to tether him to the floor.”

  My face flushed, and I kept my mouth shut, as no matter what I said, I’d make a mess of things—and confirm she was right.

  Belinda looked me over, and she nodded, her expression satisfied. “For a woman who stormed into his audience chamber and wrecked his government, you’re pretty shy. Sleeping with him isn’t something to be ashamed of. Heaven knows he’s needed someone to knock him out of his shell and get him on the move. It’s about time he formed a family.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Landen’s return with the jade necklace ended the interrogation before it could truly begin, much to my relief. I expected, given a few minutes and even a hint of encouragement from me, the five would’ve been offering baby names and making suggestions on how to rearrange the castle to be better suited for children.

  He smiled when he offered the necklace to me, nestled in the wooden box I’d sold it in. I lifted it from the velvet and turned it over in my hands, smiling at the perfect carvings speaking of a love capable of surpassing even death.

  Even knowing what it had triggered, I couldn’t help but love it for all it represented. I envied the ghost—and understood why she’d been gifted something so magnificent.

  I had no doubt the love of her life had believed her every bit as beautiful as the necklace.

  Love truly was blind. Most women would pick a man like William over Landen at first meeting. Men like Sebastian had taught me to be wary of pretty faces.

  If I’d been wise, I would’ve been wary of men with amazing tailors and perfect asses, too, but the damage was done. He’d captured my attention from top to bottom, and when I was honest with myself, it wasn’t his face or his ass I wanted.

  It was him.

  Only time would tell if I’d found the type of love capable of withstanding long years. With Landen, I had hope I’d find out.

  Without the necklace, I never would’ve met him.

  The necklace and the magic that made it, the magic of a long-lost civilization, might be what tore us apart before we got a chance to discover just how far we could go.

  “Tell them its story,” Landen said, standing behind me with his hands resting on my shoulders. “I thought you’d be the best person to tell them.”

  William’s eyebrows rose. “Better than you?”

  Landen massaged my shoulders. “Far better than me. You’ll understand once she’s finished.”

  I wondered at that but decided it didn’t matter. If they wanted a story, I’d give them a story. Spreading the necklace out on the table, I smoothed its many beads. The stones seemed warm, as though they welcomed me despite having written my death warrant. I pointed at the first glyph, and I turned my wrist so I could show them the matching symbol. “He begins with a date, five years before her birth, and he declares from her first breath, the gods had named her his.”

  In Texas, I’d told their story with a researcher’s delight. Everything had changed, and no matter how I looked at the necklace, it hurt. I worried all Landen would have to show was grief, and I’d have nothing.

  I’d be dead.

  If Peter had told me the truth, if I had cinnabar and mercury in my heart, if it was still polluting my brain, my death would be weeks in coming. I saw through the lies of our hopeful talk of children and the future.

  I fought with myself, and while it pained me to think of what I might never experience for myself, I spoke. From glyph to glyph, I read of a love declared, an eternity promised, and a loyalty I believed rare in the modern world.

  I translated to English first, then I read it as he might’ve read it to her, in Nahuatl, but the version of the old language the modern Nahua believed their ancestors may have spoken.

  English didn’t do their love justice.

  When I finished, I leaned back in my seat, my gaze fixed on the polished jade. “They were interred together in their unnamed city. She’d made a necklace for him, too, telling her side of their love. It’s not a pretty thing, but if her love could be measured by her effort, her gift is as precious as his.”

  “There’s definitely a strong earthweaving talent on that necklace,” Peter confirmed. “It’s similar to the signature of the talent producing the cinnabar and mercury, but it isn’t the same. Reuniting the pieces is probably wise, but I’m not comfortable saying that necklace is to blame for your situation, Summer. It’s too different. Has the necklace been worn?”

  I cleared my throat. “A few of us may have put it on.”

  “Have any of those who have worn it been likewise inflicted?”

  I shrugged. Owen had been one to put it on, and he’d done so mockingly. “I don’t believe so.”

  “Are you the only woman to wear it?”

  “Yes.”

  “It could be gender specific. But if you’ve already worn it, I don’t see that wearing it again could do any harm. Would you mind showing us how it was meant to be worn?”

  “Sure.” As I saw no harm in doing something I’d already done, I lifted the necklace from the table.

  Landen took it from me, startling me. He chuckled and kissed my cheek. “I’m still planning on marrying you while you’re wearing it.”

  “William has been choking on his own spit trying to keep quiet,” I said. “I don’t want to be a closet wife.”

  “I’d never keep you in a closet. I prefer you elsewhere.”

  I knew exactly what he was implying, and as I enjoyed his preference, I didn’t argue with him. “No closet husbands or wives at this table.”

  “I tricked her into signing marriage papers when she was really tired. I had one of my advisors, a judge, oversee the documentation and signing. She’s legally mine, but I’m under strict orders to get on my knee properly in the near future.”

  Belinda smirked. “I love when my conspiracy theories are right. It makes them so much more enjoyable.”

  I rolled my eyes.
“What conspiracy theory? You just had us sleeping together.”

  “He’s not the kind to jump in bed without marrying his woman first.”

  I laughed so hard tears pricked my eyes. As I wasn’t one to miss a chance to return fire, I said, “Keep believing that if it makes you feel better, Belinda.”

  Landen chuckled and wrapped the jade necklace around my throat. “You’re a wicked woman, Summer.”

  I grinned, sitting still while he secured the necklace. “I—”

  Golden light erupted from the jade necklace and enveloped me.

  I fell into cold mud, and to add insult to injury, Landen landed on me. My face submerged in muck, and I jerked with my talent to keep from drowning. A moment later, Landen rolled off me, grabbed hold of my shoulder, and jerked me around.

  I spit mud and wiped my hand over my face, smearing it around before giving up and peeling it off with my magic.

  “Oops.” Landen grinned at me. The dark muck splattered us both, although I’d taken the brunt of it.

  My mouth dropped open as I realized we’d both been teleported and all he had to say about the situation was oops?

  When I didn’t say a word, he shifted his weight and pulled his phone out of his pocket. It seemed to have survived the incident, and he tapped on the screen. “You really weren’t joking about being yanked around. We’re in Virginia, formerly the state of West Virginia.”

  I didn’t know much about Virginia, but from everything I remembered from school, the kingdom had a few pockets of civilization broken up by mountains and a whole lot of nothing. “We’re close to a cell tower?”

  “Not quite. I was going to wait to explain this until after your new phone arrived, but royals have special phones. They tap into satellites for tracking, and I can use the satellites if no cell towers are available. Give me a minute.” His brows furrows while he worked on the device, which didn’t seem nearly large enough for the satellite-enabled cells men like Sebastian owned and flaunted at every opportunity. “We’re about fifty miles from the nearest town, but we’d have to cross a mountain to reach it.”

  Landen sounded far too excited about our situation. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  “Had the Nahua come this far north?”

  “Obviously, else we wouldn’t be here.”

  “Before this discovery.”

  “No. This area was occupied by North American tribes. Outside of my specialty, I’m afraid.”

  “Can you use your talent? Is there a temple here? Can you show it to me if there is?”

  If I lived long enough to attend my own wedding, my gift to Landen would be taking him to an active dig site, giving him some tools, and letting him dig to his heart’s content. “Hold your horses, Your Majesty. I’ll check.”

  Landen slipped his phone into his shirt pocket before splashing his hand in the standing water. “I give it five minutes before someone pings my phone to get our location. William or Peter will browbeat my staff. Everyone’s terrified of them for some reason.”

  I could think of a few reasons. Montana’s king had a reputation, although I really couldn’t understand why so many feared him after spending time in his company. As for Peter, anyone with a grain of common sense would fear someone capable of flattening mountains. “Considering he could flatten your castle on a whim, there’s a good reason for that.”

  “He wouldn’t actually do it.”

  “But he can. Anyway, do you believe me yet? Cursed, I tell you. Cursed! Here’s evidence.”

  Landen grinned, dipped his hand into his pocket, and retrieved a small pill bottle. “This is not a curse. This is an unexpected vacation. I have your medication. We’re alone. The company’s stellar, the weather’s a bit nippy but nice enough, and I can watch my wife play in the mud. I now have twelve hours I don’t have to work. This is great.”

  Alaska’s king had gone mad from being overworked. When I got him home, I’d lock him in our bedroom for at least a week. “We could’ve been dumped in a death temple,” I reminded him.

  “But we weren’t.”

  I found it difficult to argue with his logic. I opened my mouth, struggling with how to explain why it was never a good idea for a king and his pitiful excuse for a queen to disappear on account of ancient magic no one understood.

  “Come on, Summer. Where’s your sense of adventure?”

  I hated that question so much. “It’s hiding in a safe place, shivering in terror. I’ve already had an adventure. I’ve had several adventures. Adventures involve close brushes with death.”

  “We’re going to have an adventure without any death involved.”

  I gave up. If an adventure was what Landen wanted, who was I to talk sense into him? I’d go on an adventure with him, and if I found a single trap, I’d enjoy winning against him for a change. “Sure. Why not? What could possibly go wrong?”

  Landen glared at me.

  I reached out with my talent to discover an entire city waited beneath our feet, and the enormity of the find overwhelmed me to the point of tears. It dwarfed every site I’d ever visited. Not even Tenochtitlan at the height of its splendor and glory could hope match it.

  Thousands upon thousands upon thousands would’ve lived in the city—had lived in the city.

  Their bones lingered, cold to my senses.

  “Summer? Are you all right? You’re pale.”

  I was pale? Shock and awe factored for certain. “There used to be a city here, Landen. Thousands of people lived here. It’s bigger than any other Nahua or Mayan site I’ve ever been to. It’s huge.”

  Landen grinned. “How far down is it? Can we reach any of it?”

  Beneath a foot of mud and muck, the soil changed to powdered stone, which blanketed the entire site. It reminded me of the ash blankets covering sites like Pompeii, but I couldn’t detect any of the telltale signs of volcanic activity. I concentrated, struggling to distinguish between worked buildings, bodies, and debris. No more than two feet beneath us was the tallest of the structures, likely a temple. No, likely a sacrificial altar at the temple’s peak. “I think the city’s main temple is beneath us. It’s a foot or two under us. The rest of the city was likely built around it.”

  “How tall?”

  I shrugged. “I’d have to do some digging and get to the second layer so I can see what I’m working with. Something buried the city—something unexpected and violent.” If I could get my hands into the stone dust, I’d have an easier time identifying the buildings.

  “Any idea what buried it?”

  “Whatever it was, it happened fast. There are bodies scattered everywhere.”

  Landen’s eyes widened. “How do you know?”

  “I can feel their bones.”

  “And you said there are thousands of them here?”

  I nodded.

  “Were there bones at the other sites?”

  I really needed to take Landen to a site and show him the reality of the temples and the trophy skulls embedded in the walls, the bones decorating the floors and ceiling, all placed in reverence to their gods to prevent the world from ending. “Not like this. There are bones, but they’re either burial sites or part of sacrificial rituals. The placement is deliberate. These bones are scattered throughout the city.”

  “Their bodies were left where they’d fallen.”

  “Or buried alive. I think they were buried alive, like what happened at Pompeii. But it’s not volcanic ash. It’s stone dust, as far as I can tell.”

  “What do we do now?”

  The ‘we’ part of the equation threw me off. Alone, I could do little. With a king backing my claim—with a king a part of the discovery—we’d get equal credit. I didn’t know if I had time to see the city unveiled. It would take a lifetime to uncover the city’s secrets, a lifetime I didn’t have.

  No, it would be a mystery to me, even if I beat the odds and survived the cinnabar and mercury determined to poison me.

  Still, I couldn’t resist a little grim humor. �
��Care to conquer Virginia so I can have this city as my site?”

  He laughed bumping me with his elbow. “I’m afraid not. It’s not because I don’t want to give you an entire ancient city to explore as you please, but Virginia isn’t a good investment. We don’t want it. Trust me on this one, please.”

  “Can I ask why not?”

  “Their brand of politics gives me hives. Robert tried to marry me off to his daughter. She’s fourteen. That was last year, and he wanted an immediate wedding date.”

  I shuddered, and it horrified me there were places with worse problems than Alaska. “That’s disgusting.”

  “That’s what I said the instant I was out of earshot. Betrothals among children happen often, but they’re never so… so…”

  “Lecherously different in age?”

  “Right. Three to five years is the average. William’s daughter is betrothed to Texas’s prince. He’s five years older than she is. They grew up together, and they’re a bonded pair.”

  “Oh. She’s a leech?”

  “No, Prince Adam’s the leech. From my understanding, it was love at first sight on both of their parts. Good for them. They’ll get married when she’s fifteen.”

  “That’s really young.”

  “If William’s to be believed, his daughter is already about ten years ahead of her actual age, and while young, it protects her and Prince Adam. If they’re safely married, they’ll be left alone. They can barely be separated as it is, and Texas law allows for them to be wed when she’s fifteen.”

  “That seems weird to me. No daughter of mine is getting married that young,” I swore.

  Landen chuckled. “And how old can she be?”

  “When she’s a legal adult, she can decide for herself when she gets married—and who she marries. And there will be no selling off of any child of mine for political reasons.”