The Lost Duke

by Kristen Gupton

  By helping the two of them remain together and escape Aleria, he hoped to atone for his past actions. He nodded to himself, slowly lifting his gaze toward Mari and Garhan.

  “I’ll do everything I can to assure the two of you aren’t separated again. I helped Adira cause both of you enough pain already,” he said before dropping his gaze away. “I will see the two of you get to Tordania.”

  Kanan eyed Stepan before grunting and getting to his feet. He looked over at Jerris. “Get the rest of this meat packed up and let’s go.”

  * * *

  Queen Adira hadn’t found sleep easy to come by. Though she’d helped herself to a good amount of wine after ordering the manor house burned down, her mind had continued to race away.

  The flames of the distant fire had filled her room with shifting, red shadows. Though her windows were closed, the smell of the smoldering rotten wood had permeated the palace.

  Sentencing the Tordanians, Stepan, and her nephew to such a terrible death had been a decision made out of fear. She’d worried not making the decision would have led her into another position of vulnerability.

  While she hated to admit it, Victri had been right. Leaving Garhan in the house for so many years alone had been crueler than just killing him outright, and it had complicated later affairs. It had been better to end it all before things moved even further out of her control, and more had to be killed in order to see a closure to the entire episode.

  There was a nauseating amount of guilt stirring within her, however. By the time the sun rose, she’d given up trying to sleep at all and stood at one of her chamber windows. She looked out at the white plume of smoke still stretching up into the sky.

  She wondered what Tordania would do with the king missing and never to return, but it wouldn’t be the first time a country had found itself without leadership. It was better for them to be without a king, she thought, than to be subjugated by a vampire. They were too far away and weak to retaliate against Aleria, no matter what happened.

  However, there was still the issue of the Tordanian king’s entourage left down at the inn to deal with. Adira frowned and pulled away from the window. She called out for her servants to dress her while she debated what to do.

  An hour later, she walked out of the palace and to the remains of the manor house. The fire had been contained to the house for the most part, only some of the vegetation around it having burned.

  Adira looked at the pile of blackened beams and unrecognizable remnants of furniture spread out before her. She wondered where the remains of the men would be within the pile, or if anything was left at all.

  The man who’d been promoted to Stepan’s post, Mikale, approached the queen, his eyes red and tired from being exposed to the fire and smoke all night. He hoped after giving her his report, he’d finally be able to turn in.

  Adira offered him a nod of recognition as he came over to stand beside her. “Have any traces of the prisoners been found?”

  Mikale shook his head and motioned at the rubble. “We haven’t dared go in and look yet. It’s still hot. We might not be able to get in there for a day or more. We had men on the ground near the building all night, however, and no one came out of there.”

  “It’s for the best,” she said quietly, turning away from the sight. “Now, to dispose of the Tordanians down in the town.”

  His brows knit together, and he clasped his hands behind his back. “What do you want done to them?”

  “Today will pass uneventfully,” Adira replied, meeting his gaze, “but tonight, I want the building torched like this one. The people can be told it was simply a freak accident. They don’t need to know the truth behind the difficult things we must do to protect ourselves.”

  He turned his eyes back toward the ashes of the house and pressed his lips together. Slaughtering another eight men didn’t appeal to him, but it would be done by his subordinates, keeping him distanced from the act. After what had happened to Stepan, he was more interested in protecting his own life than the lives of the Tordanians, anyway.

  Seeing the man wasn’t going to argue, Adira turned toward the palace. “Retrieve me just before sunset to accompany you to the inn. I want to be there—to make certain there are no loose ends left after tonight.”

  * * *

  They followed Mari’s lead across the forested terrain, the woman reluctant to give the group much time to rest. She was going to push them hard because she wanted them to survive. Mari had missed out on too much of her life already, and hurrying to a new place where she and Garhan could start out again was all that mattered.

  Alone, she knew she could get to the border in only four days, not seven. However, these men weren’t used to riding at her pace, and the horses the Tordanians rode weren’t built for the same level of speed and endurance as hers. Still, there was the matter of getting Keiran within eyesight of his men before they passed too far ahead.

  She kept sinking into bouts of anxiety over Adira finding out the men had left under falsified orders or realizing her prisoners hadn’t perished in the fire. Actually, it was only a matter of when.

  There was no way Adira was going to forget the eight men Keiran had brought with him and not make some decision regarding their fate. If what Stepan and the others had told her was true, there was no doubt in her mind the queen had taken some murderous mental turn for the worse.

  By the time night fell, Mari felt safe enough to allow the group to stop. They’d made good progress and had easily caught up with the guards who’d left the inn several hours before they’d gotten underway.

  The courier saw the men were tired from the ride, especially Garhan, who was the most unaccustomed to any physical activity. Though he’d made a dramatic improvement since Keiran found him, he still had a good deal of strength to recover. She pitied him as she watched his exhausted form drop from the saddle and immediately find a place to lay on the ground.

  Mari remained on her horse, however, and looked over at Keiran. “I gave your men word I’d get them some way to see you after they left the capital.”

  The vampire frowned and gave a slow nod, watching as the others moved to dismount their horses. He was spent as well, but he knew he owed his men a glimpse of him after walking them into a trap. “All right. How far from them are we?”

  Her lips parted to answer, but Jerris gave a grunt as he walked closer to Keiran’s horse. “A few times before the sun went down, we crested some hills, and I could see them along the main road we arrived on.”

  Keiran quirked a brow, surprised his friend had noticed. “Observant of you.”

  Mari gave a nod and reined her horse around. “He’s right. They aren’t terribly far off, but I got us deep enough into the forest on this trail to keep a campfire invisible from the main road. Come along, this won’t take too long.”

  Jerris looked up at Keiran, a question in his eyes.

  The Tordanian king caught the look and leaned down, placing a hand on Jerris’ shoulder. “You stay here. I don’t know what she has planned, but the fewer of us the Alerian guards might recognize, the better.”

  The redhead wasn’t happy with the idea, but Keiran’s point was valid. Jerris wasn’t too hard to recognize, even by those who’d only ever seen him once or twice in the past. Besides, someone needed to keep an eye on the others. “All right, but if the two of you aren’t back shortly, I will come looking for you.”

  “I’ll have him back before the lot of you have camp set up properly,” Mari said, signaling her horse and beginning to pull away along another trail.

  Keiran turned Porter to follow the courier, hoping it wouldn’t be very far. After the day’s ride, he knew his horse was badly in need of rest. The saddle beneath him was soaked through with Porter’s sweat, and his breathing was loud. Mari’s horse had a much easier time of it, but she slowed her pace once they were away from the others.

  Keiran managed to get along side of her, despite the narrow confines of the trail. “I sincerely appreci
ate what you’re doing for us.”

  Mari smiled to herself and glanced over. There was a strange familiarity in Keiran she had to mark up to him and Garhan being half-brothers. “I’ve spent most of my life keeping in the company of the queen in order to find out about Garhan. When he showed up last night, there was no way I could possibly refuse helping, no matter the cost. Even if I die, having a few more days with Garhan first is worth it. This is the final payoff for what I endured while working for Adira and that bastard Victri all of these years.”

  The vampire nodded, recalling the images he’d seen in Victri’s mind of Mari being thrown. “It must have been hard work.”

  She flashed another look at him and snorted. “You have no idea. I’m many years older than most of the couriers, and I’ve had to fight like mad to keep up. I knew if I lost this job, I’d lose all hope of figuring out what had become of Garhan. Fortunately, that is now over, unless you happen to have need for a courier like me in Tordania. However, I’d prefer to go into training and leave the trail running to the next generation.”

  “I think I can manage to accommodate you,” he replied.

  Mari bit at the inside of her cheek. “How many vampires are there in Tordania? How dangerous is it? The powers that be in Aleria want us to believe the outside world is literally overrun with them, but in my occasional travels to visit foreign dignitaries, I haven’t seen that to be the case.”

  “Despite that sort of propaganda being pushed in Aleria, I can assure you it’s not reality.” Keiran shook his head and frowned. “The wall surrounding this country makes people think they’re protected from vampires, but Garhan’s very existence proves that is not the case. While I can’t shape shift or fly over that wall, I know at least one vampire who can. The wall is protecting your people from human invaders, but as for vampires…”

  She laughed and smiled to herself. “I’d never really thought of it that way. How many vampires are out there, though?”

  Keiran tipped his head back to look up at the sky. “Well, besides myself and Garhan, I can honestly say the only other I’ve met is Garhan’s father, Athan Vercilla.”

  “So, our government has misled us, what a surprise.” Mari’s eyes turned ahead, and she noticed how far they’d gone. “We’ll hit the main road shortly. I want you to stay in the trees, and I’ll go into where the group is camped. I’ll find a way to bring one of them to you.”

  Keiran nodded and offered up a smile. “Whatever you think is best. You’ve done well so far.”

  * * *

  Adira spent the day in a restless state. While the part of her still holding onto some humanity writhed against the thought of slaughtering the remaining Tordanians, there was a stronger part simply wanting to get it over with and almost looking forward to it.

  By sunset, she was waiting in the courtyard for the guards to take her with them. Adira wasn’t going to ride down into the town in some flashy carriage and draw attention to herself. She’d donned a servant’s dress and sat atop one of her horses.

  When the men were ready, she nestled herself in the middle of their group and left the palace, heading into town. Unaccustomed to riding anymore, the trip to the inn was uncomfortable and made worse by the rough fabric of the lower-class garment she wore. However, she knew it wouldn’t do to have the queen spotted near the inn as it burned to the ground.

  When they arrived, Adira felt something wasn’t right. Most of the inn’s windows were dark, and there didn’t seem to be any of the guards assigned to keep watch over the Tordanians milling around.

  Adira grew concerned to the point she quit worrying about remaining hidden amongst the men and raced forward. When she got to the front of the inn, the only person present was the owner. He was standing out on the porch, nursing a bottle of ale.

  She looked down at him, her eyes wide. Her heart rate skyrocketed, and a nervous sweat broke across her skin. “Where are my men?”

  The man didn’t immediately recognize her, but as he looked behind her to see the entourage of guards closing in, his eyebrows rose up. Why the queen was before him and dressed like a commoner baffled him, but he was fairly confident it was Adira.

  Having to break the news that her men were long gone made his expression go dark. “Your Majesty, the guards left this morning with the Tordanians who were boarding here.”

  “What?” she asked, leaning toward him. “They left here? Where did they go?”

  He shrugged and set the emptied bottle he held on the railing of the porch. “I don’t know. It wasn’t my business to ask where they were headed.”

  Adira straightened up in the saddle and looked over at Mikale. “Why would they leave? I said nothing was to happen here until I arrived tonight!”

  “I didn’t send anyone down here,” he replied. “There was no communication between the palace and this inn at all today.”

  She turned toward the innkeeper again, her lips tensed down into a thin line. “And you heard nothing? They simply packed up and left?”

  The man lifted his hands, palms up before him. “Your courier showed up at sunrise. I assumed she was delivering orders from the palace telling them to go.”

  Adira felt her hands go cold around the reins she held, the tingle of her face blanching white rushing over her cheeks. Long ago, she’d suspected something between Garhan and Mari, but any possible relationship between them had been neatly terminated when she’d had her nephew locked away.

  A horrible realization overtook her at once. Garhan and the others must have somehow escaped the fire and used Mari afterward to deliver faux orders to get the Tordanians out of the capital.

  “That traitorous little wench!”

  Chapter 8

  The Alerian guard who’d addressed Mari that morning was the first to notice her approach. He sat close to the edge of the road, tending his campfire as the other guards lingered around the perimeter of the campsite, making sure all of the Tordanians remained together.

  He rose up when he spotted her and walked out into the middle of the road. Whether she was following them outright or back with more orders, he wasn’t sure. He’d brooded over their encounter that morning all day, and he was still upset.

  Mari went straight to him and reined her horse to a stop. Remaining in the dominant position over him helped keep her bravery up. The pain from her run-in with Victri didn’t need to be exacerbated if the guard decided to get aggressive.

  “I need to speak with the leader of the Tordanians again. It is extremely urgent,” she said.

  He crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance. “About what? Must have been some ride for you; all the way to the palace after we left, receiving more orders, and then catching up to us again.”

  “It was, and I’m exhausted. The sooner I get this taken care of, the sooner I can get to sleep,” she replied, feeling heat come to her cheeks.

  The guard couldn’t see the blush crop up in the darkness. Still, he didn’t immediately get out of her way. “What is it you need to tell them now? I suppose I’m not allowed in on this one, either.”

  Mari leaned forward in the saddle and lowered her voice. “This morning’s meeting with the Tordanians was simply to convince them to leave the capital without an argument. Queen Adira and King Sipesh thought it would most effectively be delivered by someone they had no reason to distrust rather than one of the men who’d been holding them captive. Since they agreed to go after my talk with them earlier, the powers that be knew it would be best if I delivered them some measure of reassurance.”

  The guard thought about it but didn’t move. “I don’t like it. They’ve been more than cooperative so far, so what sort of reassurance do you think they need?”

  Mari rolled her eyes and looked to the side, keeping her forward lean in the saddle. “Their king has specific orders on where they are to go after leaving the country and what they are to tell others. I do, however, have some news from Queen Adira for you.”

  This caught his attentio
n and his arms fell back to his sides. “Which is?”

  She suppressed her urge to smile at his changed posture. “Queen Adira is willing to offer you thirty ounces of gold for every day you knock off this seven-day trek to the border. I know I can make it alone in four; I have many times. With a group this large, you have a fair shot at getting there in five. That’s quite a bit of extra gold for your pockets.”

  The notion of earning an entire year’s pay for running the Tordanians harder excited him. His expression changed again, this time into a smile. He nodded and looked back at the Tordanians. Most of them were still up and moving around, grooming their horses and setting up camp.

  He looked back up at Mari, his attitude remarkably improved. “Just a moment, I’ll get him for you.”

  Mari finally let her smile show, and she nodded as he turned away and walked toward the other men. She realized she was squeezing the leather of the reins hard enough to have lost feeling in her hands and fingertips. The small woman let go with both hands, shook them out, and closed her eyes to try and calm her nerves. Lying to the guard wasn’t something she found easy, but she hoped her outward appearance wasn’t giving her intentions away.

  The Tordanian she’d spoken with earlier was ushered out to her before too long. He was agitated from being pulled from the group, his current exhaustion not making him particularly agreeable. When he saw the female courier, however, he took a deep breath and continued to walk straight toward her. The Alerian guard went back to his campfire and sat, though, he kept his eyes trained on them.

  Mari moved her horse around the man to put it between him and the Alerian watching on. Afterward, she slid from the saddle and stood close to the Tordanian, her nervousness finally cracking the surface.

  Her eyes widened, and she dropped her voice to a whisper. “I’ve returned with your king. He’s just into the trees here at the side of the road. Walk with me, but we must make it quick before the guard gets too curious.”

  He nodded eagerly and moved with her toward the edge of the road, the horse being left in place.