Several feet ahead, the final turn that led to K’s isolated hallway came into view. Wanting to put forth a courageous front for the men who awaited on the other side, Marko inhaled deeply and steeled his expression, but the second he rounded the corner and spotted both the guards staring intently into the room, his charade fell and his heart rate doubled. Certain something bad had happened, but too frightened to ask, he wordlessly rushed up behind them and peered over their shoulders.
On the other side of the room with her back facing them K stood staring out into the garden like she had every day since her capture.
Surprised by how unaffected she appeared, Marko addressed the men. “How long has she been awake?”
“She woke up not long after Lord Mallok came by to check on her.” Simon answered quietly. “Just stumbled into the bathroom and came out cleaned up, dressed in the new clothes. Then, just as if nothing had ever happened, she resumed her position by the door.”
“And there she has remained since.” Will added solemnly.
Silence fell over the three of them as they all resumed watching the statuesque beauty who, if possible, looked even more regal than ever. Having shed the blood soaked dress from the other night, K now wore a breathtakingly beautiful backless gown whose midnight black color made the stark whiteness of her flowing curls appear even brighter in contrast.
Stars forgive me for what I am about to do, Marko whispered, low enough neither man could hear him. He then turned to Simon, knowing there was no point in delaying the inevitable any longer. “Hand me the band.”
Turning to face him, Simon opened his mouth as if to say something but hesitated. With his tongue pressed against his cheek, he reluctantly reached inside the satchel draped loosely across his chest and pulled out the band. After handing it to Marko, he glanced back through the door. “May I speak freely sir?”
“Of course,” Taking the band, Marko studied the young man closely.
“Do you think what we are doing is right?” Pausing he ran an unsteady hand across the back of his neck. “I mean… I know she stabbed Mallok and for that she deserves to stand trial. But to be drained, locked away, and starved before the verdict has even been cast… Well… it seems… unnecessarily cruel sir.”
Upon hearing his question, Marko released a ragged breath. He could feel the gazes of both Simon and Will upon him, studying him closely, hoping he would give them an answer that could ease their conscience and their minds. He also knew the two of them were not alone in their assessment of the situation. For days now, Marko had been hearing talk around the castle of his people’s disapproval of the way Mallok had been handling the trial of K. As a whole, Elementals were none violent, honest people who had lived for centuries in peace. Even petty crimes such as theft, were virtually nonexistent within Lanoria’s borders. So hearing, or in Simon and Will’s case seeing, their king act so cruelly toward another living creature without showing even the slightest hint of compassion, had many of them beginning to question their leader’s morality.
But as much as Marko wanted to give them the peace of mind they so desperately sought, he couldn’t when he too found his normally benevolent king’s behavior slightly disturbing. At the same time, he also did not want to feed any more fuel into their growing doubts. For when this was all over, and whatever fate the Council decided for K was enacted, his country’s only chance of recovering from the stress of this ordeal was for his countrymen to retain their faith in their king.
With all of this in mind, Marko schooled his expression and kept his voice flat as he responded with the most neutral answer he could come up with. “Perhaps his methods seem that way to us, but we must have faith in our Lord as his soldiers and servants, that he knows what is best.” Pausing he turned to look back into the room. “After all, who are we to doubt the wisdom of a man who has survived over a thousand years?”
“I-I am s-sorry s-sir. I didn’t mean to question our king’s wisdom.” Simon rattled out, dropping into a low bow. “I-I s-swear it will never happen again.
“Relax Simon. I am not accusing you of questioning Mallok’s authority, merely stating fact. And while I do understand why you are asking, I unfortunately don’t really understand what is happening myself.” Reaching over, Marko patted him on the shoulder. “Why don’t the two of you take the rest of the day off. Maybe go into town and get a drink at the tavern.”
Both men looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “The rest of the day, sir?”
Smiling sadly, he shrugged. “She won’t be needing guards tonight.”
Understanding relaxed the creases from their brows as they glanced one last time into the room. Staring blankly at the woman for whom they had been charged with watching for nearly a month now, both men then dropped their heads and silently walked away. Marko waited patiently until they disappeared from site, then with a heavy heart, pushed his way through the protective barrier.
“You have come to take me to them?”
Her voice, cold and emotionless, caused him to pause. “Yes, my lady.”
“Then he knows?”
“Yes, my lady.” Moving beside her, Marko followed her gaze out into the garden, “He came this morning and saw you sleeping.”
Closing her eyes, K exhaled allowing her posture to relax slightly. “And how long have I been asleep?”
“Three days, today would have been four.”
Turning her piercing blue gaze to meet with his, the first thing Marko noticed was that much of the scarring, including the large one over her eye, was once again masked. “And in all those days you did not tell him?”
“Not until he summoned me to his quarters this morning to confess my disobedience,” he responded with a slight smile.
Looking back into the garden, K sighed, “I am sorry Marko. I never should have asked you to do that. It was selfish and foolish of me to come between you and your king. I had no right and now I am afraid in doing so I have created a rift between the two of you that will not be easily healed.”
“Don’t worry about it. I made my choice knowing the possible consequences of that decision. And I don’t regret it one bit.” Shrugging he smiled reassuringly. “Besides, he seemed to take it pretty well… although he still doesn’t know about me giving you my blood.”
“Nor does he need to know.”
Turning away from the patio, K faced him and placed her hand to the side of his face. Startled by the contact, Marko inadvertently flinched.
“I will not harm you Marko.” K soothed, her melodic voice calming him instantly. “In fact… I owe you a tremendous favor.” As she talked, K leaned in closer, and Marko could feel the haze that had wrapped around him before once again consuming his mind. Smiling knowingly, K placed a chaste kiss on his cheek and pulled away, leaving him paralyzed by whatever she was doing to him. “Should you, or any of your descendants, ever find yourselves in need of my assistance, you need but to ask.”
Unable to process a thought through the fog that had attached itself to his brain, Marko didn’t even resist as she reached down and removed the blocking band from his hand. Snapping it into place around her neck, she turned and headed toward the door. “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”
She had nearly reached the door before Marko was finally able to snap himself free of her spell. Shaking his head violently, he hurried to catch up with her. “What about Cato? Aren’t you concerned about him reading you?”
At the mention of the Seer’s name, black markings flared across K’s skin as she doubled over in pain. Knowing better than to try and help, Marko stood back and watched as she did her best to breathe through her discomfort. “He will not read me.” She forced out through gritted teeth. “That snake will never be permitted to go crawling about in my head” Inhaling deeply, K straightened up and turned her reddened gaze upon him. “But since they have managed to weaken me enough to where I can’t stop them from trying, my only hope is that I can somehow control what he sees while he is in there.” Slowly
a twisted smirk ghosted K’s lips, “Either way, I can definitely make sure his attempt to merge is painful as hell.”
Marko grinned widely. “Thanks for reminding me never to piss you off.”
“It’s not in your nature dear boy.” K responded flatly as the two of them stepped through the door.
Together they wove through the now empty halls, and quietly descended the stairs. Coming to a stop outside the massive wooden structures that separated them from their final destination, K grimaced as yet another wave of pain raced through her body.
“How long do you have.” Marko asked, patiently waiting for her to recover.
“Not long enough.” Clutching her chest, K gritted her teeth and after a few more controlled breaths, managed to get her pain back to a somewhat tolerable level. Satisfied that the worst of it had passed, she straightened and motioned to Marko, who upon her cue, signaled the guards posted on either side of the doors to open them.
Stepping inside, they hesitated a moment as the doors fell shut behind them. “Last chance to change your mind. My offer to testify on your behalf still stands.” Marko spoke lowly as they both started down the entry way into the circular room beyond. “It just seems as if you are surrendering to their will without a fight.”
“Have a little faith in me, Marko. Things are not always as they seem.”
Wide eyed, Marko gaped over his shoulder at K. “What did you say?”
With a wicked grin, K cut her eyes his direction, then wordlessly continued her journey down the hall, leaving him dumbfounded in her wake. No, it cannot be. He thought watching her as she continued to walk away from him. It’s just a coincidence. It has to be. Marko laughed at his own absurdity.
But what if it’s not?
The terrifying thought caused him pause. It had to be more than coincidence that the both of them had consoled him with the exact same words within the span of less than an hour. But other than his visit with K today, Mallok had had no contact with K since the trial began. If he had, his men would have without a doubt told him. But he did see and speak to her several times before the Council arrived.
The sobering thought deepened the creases in his brow. Unfortunately for Marko, he was out of time. For as he stood deliberating the feasibility of them both having played him for a fool, K came to the end of the entry, and without a moment’s hesitation, stepped into the main room.
Fearing the repercussions of allowing his ward to enter the Throne room unattended, Marko snapped free of his quandary and rushed to catch up. He managed to fall back into step with her just about the time every set of eyes in the main room fell upon them.
Under the intense scrutiny of the witnesses, together they continued to the center of the golden star, and stopped before the Council. Dropping into a low bow, Marko did his best to keep his voice even and his face neutral. “My lords and my ladies, I present you once again with K, Immortal ruler of Vanteria.”
“Thank you, Marko, please go ahead and take your place alongside Hilda.”
“Yes your majesty.” Raising from his bow, Marko turned to join the others, but not before stealing one last glance at K. With her head held high, she kept her eyes locked on the Council. Whatever happens, do not interfere. Her warning echoed into his mind just as he reached Hilda’s side. Turning around to face the Council he stared at K’s back and answered her with his own thoughts. I may not agree with your decision, but I made my promise and I plan to keep it.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Mallok’s voice boomed in the openness of the room, snagging his as well as the attention of the others. “We are here today to finally bring an end to this trial and decide the fate of the Immortal who is now known as K.” Narrowing his eyes, Mallok turned his attention back to K. “So I ask you this one last time, are you going to make this easy on yourself and tell us the motive behind your attack?”
“No.”
“K, you have obviously lost your ability to mask, otherwise you would not be standing before us as you are.” Lady Kirsten joined in. “Please, just tell us what you had to gain by downing Mallok and let this all come to an end peacefully.”
“Gain?” Cocking her head, K half laughed as she regarded Lady Kirsten angrily. “I have gained nothing and instead lost everything.” Stepping forward, K slammed her fist against her chest. “I have been betrayed and downed. My own kingdom was ripped from my grasp by those I trusted the most and my people enslaved.”
With each passionate word she spoke, faint black marks flickered on the exposed skin of her back and arms. All around Marko, hushed whispers confirmed that he was not alone in this observation, and if the look on Mallok and the Council members’ faces were any clue, they had taken notice as well.
But despite her mask failing and her scars beginning to show, K continued her rant. “I have been gone from my people’s lives for so long, they no longer know who I am, much less who they are. And just as I am about to begin to try and get things back as they should be, I am kidnapped from my land and brought here to stand trial for a crime that in the end, caused no one harm but myself. So you tell me, Lords and Ladies of the Council, what exactly it is you think I have gained?”
“While all this may be true, it is the fault of no one but yourself that these things have happened.” Serefina retorted from her seat beside Kirsten. “Or would you deny that as well.”
“I have denied nothing Serefina.” K bit out. “I just refuse to explain my actions to the same people who have plotted my demise for years.”
“That is not true.” Elymas calmly regarded K as her fury fell upon him. “Not once have I been a part of any meeting of this Council where your ‘demise’ was the topic of discussion.”
“Ahhh, Elymas. Though the oldest in form, you are the newest to this Council, brought on only because they needed someone with your particular abilities to cast their spell upon me. But you of all people should know exactly how fickle their temperament can be. Or have you forgotten already the way you were treated before they found themselves in need of your services?”
Furrowing his brow, Elymas’s lip curled slightly as he cast a sideways glance down the table at his fellow Council members. “No, I venture to say I have not… nor will I ever.” Heaving a heavy sigh, the burly man softened his gaze as he turned his attention once again to K. “And it is because of my history I should hope you would know I would never conspire against you behind your back.”
Softening her expression, K smiled up at the Caster. “No Elymas, I don’t believe you have.”
“Enough of this idol chit-chat.” Brink abruptly interrupted. Rising to his feet he glared down the table at Mallok. “We have already been here for nearly a month and I for one am ready to go home. So if you are going to have Cato read her, then let’s get on with it, if not let’s get the sentencing over with.”
“No one will be laying a hand….”
K began to threaten her tormentors, but her words were cut off as the air was suddenly ripped from her lungs. Gritting her teeth, she did her best to breathe through the crushing pain which unfortunately only continued to intensify.
Standing back with the other witnesses, Marko fought the urge to rush to her side knowing it was not what K wanted and that doing so would only put him at greater odds with his king. Instead he was forced to watch again as K struggled to overcome the curse the Council had placed upon her. However, unlike the previous times Marko had witnessed this occur, K appeared to be struggling more to recover. And after several long minutes she could take it no more and collapsed to her knees before the room of on-lookers.
“The Link as finally taken effect.” Mallok sighed. Rising from his chair he came around the podium to stand over her as she continued to fight for each breath of air. “You brought this on yourself.” Kneeling down so he was eye level with her, he placed one gloved finger under her chin to raise her gaze to meet his. “Now tell me what I want to know and I will put an end to this unnecessary suffering.”
“Go to hell Mallok
.” Panting heavily, K glared up at him through a curtain of sweat drenched hair.
Shrugging, Mallok rose, “Cato, I believe she is ready for you.”
“It would be my pleasure.” Standing and walking around the table, Cato smiled wickedly down at K’s crumpled form.
“What of her pain?” Kirsten asked, watching with concern as K continued to suffer. “It’s transmitted through touch. Shouldn’t you stop it before you attempt to read her?”
“Perhaps I can help with that.” Pulling a vial from his pocket, Elymas joined the others at the foot of the table. “This potion temporarily blocks the pain of whoever drinks it.”
“Excellent.” Cato laughed, snatching the vial from Elymas’s hand. “Now I can read her and she can’t make me feel her pain.”
Elymas glared down at the Seer as he down the bright orange contents of the vial. “I had intended to give that to her.”
“It’s better this way.” Cato shrugged dismissively. “Now she can’t try and hurt me when I read her. So tell, how long does this potion work?”
“You should be able to resist pain for an hour or so.”
“If you had something like this, then why didn’t you offer it in the beginning and save us all this time.” Brink snapped, jumping into line beside them.
“Because you fool,” Elymas barked down at the insolent young Jumper. “I can create something to block the pain, but I can’t do anything about her ability to block his attempts to read her. For that the only thing we could do was get her weak enough so she was unable to resist.”
Ignoring their arguing, Cato kneeled before K. “I have waited centuries to get in that head.” He chuckled wickedly. “And now I will finally have my chance.”
Forsaken (The Shadow Chronicles Book 3) Page 32
