“You have nothing to be afraid of, Mother,” Lucas said, gripping my hand tighter. “Like I already told you, Elena just saved all of our lives.”
“For which we must thank you,” the king said.
“You’re welcome, Your Majesty,” I replied.
“I hope you won’t be offended,” King Stellan said, “but I think it might be best if you remain here for now. Just until we have all this sorted out.”
“I’ve told you, you can trust her.” Lucas’s voice grew heated.
“So much power in one person,” Princess Lucienne murmured, her eyes locked on me consideringly.
“If she stays, I stay.” Lucas straightened and slipped his arm fully around my back.
“Very well,” said the king. “We cannot tarry here, but stay if you must.”
“I’m going to marry her, Father,” Lucas said in a serious tone. “So you’ll have to accustom yourself to her presence eventually.”
A thrill ran through me at his bold declaration.
“Lucas!” His mother reached out for him, but he ignored her, keeping his eyes firmly on his father.
“I’m not asking for your permission. I’m stating a fact. I will give everything for this kingdom except for this. I will not give up Elena.”
Lucienne stepped forward when her parents said nothing, and unlike them her face held no shock. If anything, her eyes gleamed appreciatively.
“What my parents mean to say, Elena of Devoras, is that we will be more than delighted to welcome you into our family.” She glanced at her father. “But perhaps it will be best if you both stay here for now. Who knows what rumors will be swirling, and—”
“We will gladly stay,” Lucas said. “I think we’ve done our part.”
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!” A mage I didn’t recognize squeezed his way into our circle. “We’ve just had word from Kallmon.”
“From our intelligencers?” The king frowned.
“No.” The man shook his head, looking astonished. “From General Haddon, Head of their Royal Guard.”
“What did he say?” asked the queen.
“King Osborne has been assassinated by a rebellion led by the general. He says that Prince Lucas and the Spoken Mage promised him our support. He wants that support in exchange for a peace treaty.”
Peace. It was a hard concept to imagine. No more conscription. No more soldiers sent off to die.
But the royals looked concerned rather than pleased.
“Lucas?” The king looked disapprovingly at his son.
“No one said anything about assassination,” Lucas said. “You know I would not lend Ardann’s support to regicide.”
Suddenly I understood their concern. I imagined regicide was a worrying precedent when you sat on a throne yourself. And no doubt General Haddon was aware of that and had chosen his words wisely. I had gazed into Mabel’s eyes, and I couldn’t believe the rebels had ever intended anything but death for Osborne. There had been too much blood shed.
“We did get a report from one of our intelligencers as well to confirm it,” the man—who must be a trusted official—said tentatively.
“What did they say about the succession?” Lucienne asked.
“She said that the rebels conducted a coordinated attack against every member of Osborne’s family. But the crown prince has disappeared without a trace. They think he might still be alive.”
“Ah, about that…” I said, his words reminding me of yet another thing I had forgotten in the chaos. “I believe we’ll find that General Griffith has him in custody in Bronton.”
“General Griffith has Prince Cassius?” King Stellan stared from me to his son.
“It’s a long story,” Lucas said.
“We don’t have time for it now,” the king said, “but I shall expect to hear it very soon.”
“This could be just what we need to salvage the situation,” Lucienne murmured. “Tell the rebels we will sign a peace treaty with Kallorway on the condition that we sign it with the rightful king—King Cassius. And tell them if they don’t agree, we might decide it’s finally time we took the fight to them.”
The queen frowned. “Put Cassius on the throne only to find ourselves in the same position in five years’ time when the son decides to continue his father’s dream?”
A thought had been circling my mind, trying to get my attention ever since Dariela’s sacrifice and Damon’s unexpected good fortune. But only now did it properly land.
“Excuse me,” I said. “I might have an idea about that.”
All four of them looked at me inquiringly, and I swallowed. But it wasn’t an idea I could let go, so I continued to speak.
“I understand you’ve heard about the sealing composition we learned from the Sekalis. What if you gave Cassius back his throne on the condition that he seal himself? Along with all the key mages who supported him. It should pacify the rebels, and it will ensure Cassius remains weak—it will take everything he has just to keep his own throne, I imagine.” My voice grew excited at all the possibilities.
“And we could make sure they use the opportunity to seal some key members of their commonborn population as well. Some of them have been supporting the rebels, so perhaps they could be chosen. I think we would find in five years that Kallorway was an altogether different sort of kingdom.”
The king and queen exchanged a long look.
“It’s actually an excellent idea, Elena,” the king said.
I licked my lips. I might be pushing my luck, but I had to take the opportunity presented to me.
“And we could do the same,” I said. “We have to do the same.”
Even Lucas looked shocked, so I hurried to clarify.
“Not you, of course. I didn’t mean that. But we have mages incarcerated right now because they proved themselves unable to control their power—or they chose to abuse it. Why not offer them a choice? Remain in prison for the rest of their days or lock their power forever. We couldn’t seal all of our commonborn that way, but we could seal some.”
The royals exchanged another look.
“An idea that bears serious consideration,” Lucienne said slowly.
“When our immediate troubles are past,” the king said firmly. “For now, we must get back to the palace.”
I nodded, ecstatic that they had taken me so seriously and would even consider the idea. From the way Lucas’s arm tightened supportively around me, I knew he wouldn’t let them forget it, or try to brush it aside.
When his family left, a detachment of the guards remained behind, still providing us a circle of quiet amid the new busyness of the courtyard as soldiers and more guards poured in to comb the building and grounds for any sign of further Kallorwegian activity.
Lucas immediately took me properly into his arms. “You’re brilliant, do you know that?”
I smiled up at him, soaking in his presence and the wonderful fact that he was alive.
“They’ll get used to you, I promise,” he added. “It’s just a lot to take in all at once. My family isn’t used to knowing that someone else is stronger and more equipped than them.”
He brushed back a strand of my hair that had fallen across my face.
“But that’s exactly why I know they’ll accept you.” He didn’t exactly sound happy. “Royalty is supposed to marry strength.”
I smiled up at him. “I let General Griffith adopt me so we could be together, remember? I don’t care why they agree, just that I never have to be separated from you again.”
He pulled me still closer, the heat in his eyes making me shiver.
“I have promised you so much, Elena, and failed to deliver. But this is one promise I don’t mean to break. If you will become my wife, I will never stop fighting for us again. Every day for the rest of our lives. Because you are everything I need and more. Your passion, your determination, your integrity—even your maddening stubbornness. I need it, and our kingdom needs it. Together we’re going to build a new world.” Hi
s voice dropped low, delicious shivers springing up everywhere his whispered words brushed against my skin. “I love you, Elena.”
“I love you too,” I whispered back.
His kiss cut off any attempt I might have made at listing the reasons why, and so I leaned into the embrace and let my lips tell him in a different way.
Chapter 26
Later, when the building had been cleared by the Royal Guard five separate times, we were allowed back to our suites. After everything that had happened, I wanted sleep. But I wanted answers more.
No doubt Lucas’s parents were using compositions to pry them out of Lennox, but we had our own source right here. Lucas and I found Dariela in her suite, packing. She didn’t seem surprised to see us and gestured for us to take seats. We did so, and I glanced at Lucas before launching straight in.
“You said before that the actual assassination was the Kallorwegian role in the plan. What was the Ellington role?”
“Our part was supposed to be to sow confusion and chaos in the wake of the assassinations,” she said, “preparing the way for their army to sweep through the kingdom.” She continued to pack.
“And the real plan?” I asked.
She glanced over and swallowed. “The assassins were supposed to kill the king and all his family. But Walden and Lennox had planned to arrange it so that you were absent, Lucas. They had Ellingtons ready in key positions to seize power in the resulting chaos. And then you would have been offered a choice. Marry me and ascend the throne with their full support or be executed like your family before you.”
“I would never—” Lucas started to growl, but she cut him off.
“Wouldn’t you? Remember you were meant to believe Kallorwegian assassins just killed your family.” Her eyes flicked to me. “And if you had suspicions about my family’s involvement, there would have been other inducements…”
Her family had planned to make her queen. But even speaking the words seemed to disgust her, and bitterness tinged her voice as she spoke of her relatives.
“They wanted legitimacy for the reign and as smooth a transfer of power as possible,” she continued. “Naturally you wouldn’t actually have been left to rule, Lucas, but they had plans for you in the immediate aftermath. Plans for all of Ardann while the kingdom remained united behind the true heir.”
“Kallorway,” I murmured, the breadth of their plan only now becoming clear.
She nodded. “While Ellingtons seized power in Corrin, agents of our family were poised to assassinate King Osborne and his family. A deep division already splits Kallmon. In the confusion that would follow, with neither side claiming responsibility for the assassination, it wouldn’t have been the Kallorwegian army that swept across the border. Instead it would have been an Ardannian one heading the other way—an army bent on avenging not only their king, slain by Kallorwegian assassins, but the countless deaths of the last thirty years.”
I stared at her open-mouthed, and she met my eyes steadily.
“If the Kallorwegians succeeded in their assassination, is there a town or family in Ardann that would stand against such a plan? That would protest against strong leadership that promised to lead them into Kallorway and end the aggression once and for all?”
I said nothing. There was nothing to say.
“And when the dust settled,” she said, “Osborne would have his united southern empire. Only he wouldn’t be alive to see it. An Ellington dynasty would rule over the south, with a strong young queen left to lead alone—in mourning for her king, killed in battle against the Kallorwegians.”
“Only I don’t suppose they ever meant for you to rule alone,” I said softly.
She gave a humorless laugh. “Perhaps I should have said a puppet queen, bound by loyalty to her family and crippled by guilt over the blood shed to give her a throne. No, I don’t imagine they ever intended for me to rule in anything but name.”
“I’m sorry, Dariela,” I said.
“I knew nothing about any of it,” she said. “Up until last summer when they finally decided I was old enough to be told the truth of their plans. All I knew growing up was that I must always train harder, must always be the best. But now I know that even my parents’ marriage was arranged by Duke Lennox, strategically planned to produce the strongest possible children—since the Ellingtons needed a child of the correct age to embody the perfect image of a ruler.”
She gave a tight smile. “They waited to have children until Princess Lucienne was born—they needed our ages aligned after all if they wanted one of their children to marry a prince or princess—only then it took them years to fall pregnant. Imagine the irony if the perfect breeding pair had been unable to produce a child. But then, just after Lucas was born, they fell pregnant with me.”
She paused.
“It still seems ironic to me, though. For twenty years I was pushed to be the best—and now it turns out they always intended for me to marry into power. I fought for so long to prove I was good enough on my own, stronger than all the Ellingtons who had come before and failed to win our family prominence.” Her voice dropped. “Perhaps all they really wanted was to break my spirit. To prove I wasn’t good enough so that I would make no protest when they took control of my reign.”
“Perhaps,” said Lucas, his voice showing no sign of the tears that clogged up my throat and prevented me from speaking. “But they didn’t, did they? Because here you are standing when they are falling. It is my sister who will rule as queen one day, not you, but right now you’re proving that you would have made a far better and stronger ruler than your parents ever intended.”
His words seemed to do more than any sympathy from me could have done. Her back straightened, and a determined look came into her eyes.
“And you succeeded, you know,” I said. “You were the best in our class.”
She laughed dryly. “Except for the two of you, you mean. The Ellingtons have been planting the seeds for this plan for decades. And then you came along, Elena, and upset everything. They’ve been trying to work out how to deal with you for nearly four years now.”
“I thought you didn’t know anything about it back when Elena arrived,” Lucas said.
“I didn’t. But I made my parents tell me everything last summer, once they broke the news. There has been ongoing disagreement among the broader family on the correct handling of the Spoken Mage. At first Walden was convinced he could befriend you and turn you against the other families. He thought he could unlock your powers and shape you into the Ellingtons’ greatest weapon.” She shook her head.
“The balcony collapse? That was him. All those attacks on you? Him. Well, except for the last attempted abduction during exams. That was only partially him.”
“So it really was the Kallorwegians?” I asked.
She nodded. “They demanded he help them abduct you as proof of loyalty. When the abduction failed, Duke Lennox insisted that Walden pull back from interaction with you. He was becoming concerned that it might raise someone’s suspicions. They always walked on a knife edge, their true plans at danger of discovery from both sides.”
She turned back to her packing. “But Walden always held out hope he could sour you against the other families and win your outright loyalty. I think only your relationship with Lucas finally disabused him of the notion. And by then my family had settled on a new plan of action. They had decided that letting the Spoken Mage loose in Kallorway would be exactly to their liking. They did their best to help the Kallorwegians capture you on the front lines.”
“But they nearly killed you, too,” I exclaimed.
“My patrol wasn’t supposed to be there, remember? And when we did stumble into the trap, those attacking mages and soldiers didn’t know who I was—or care either, I imagine.”
“But even that plan didn’t work,” Lucas said.
“No, you constantly eluded them,” she said, “growing past their expectations. You showed no sign of siding with them, and they couldn’t risk pu
rsuing such a connection more openly without risk of being exposed. You resisted capture by Kallorway, but equally showed no inclination to storm Kallmon on behalf of Ardann. I’m not sure what they would have done next if Walden hadn’t acted on his own.”
Something in me didn’t want to hear her words, but another part couldn’t stop listening, desperate to understand everything that had happened to me since my powers were unleashed.
“While we were away,” she continued, “Walden had access to all of Lorcan’s records. He stumbled on some information about you. Something about your parentage?”
She frowned. “I didn’t entirely understand that part, but apparently he spent months combing through the library, researching some connection you have with the Sekalis? He’d been to the Empire before you arrived and understood something of their culture. He’d even kept a Sekali contact that he could use for clandestine communication. He informed the emperor of your ability to speak compositions and of your connection to the Empire, thinking it was time you were removed from the equation altogether.”
She got a distant look, as if remembering something. “Lennox and my parents were furious with him for months after the Sekali delegation arrived with the proposal of a marriage alliance.” She looked at Lucas. “My family needed you here for their own plans.”
“I don’t think an alliance was really the Sekalis’ primary motivation,” I said.
“No, and that’s what Walden always claimed,” she said. “He maintained it was only you they wanted, and I suppose he proved himself right. And when the delegation returned with Lucas in tow, and the rumor spread that you had run to Kallorway, he triumphantly pointed out that things couldn’t be more perfect.”
She stopped and shook her head.
“He knew you would head for Cassius, so he sent word ahead about your new ability. He wanted you captured and taken to Kallmon. Once there, the Ellington agents would have freed you and, one way or another, sent you straight into a final showdown with Osborne. What more perfect way to ensure Kallorway devolved into chaos?”
Voice of Life (The Spoken Mage Book 4) Page 31
