I dropped to shadow, letting the blades fall free, then reappeared in front of Litha and swatted her to the ground, though I withheld my talons. I didn’t want to hurt the girl. She’d had no choice in the matters that unfolded here. She wasn’t trembling now like she had been when I first entered. None of them were. They may have tried to resist torturing Shani, but I was not so lucky. They were actively trying to kill me, and I feared that my unwillingness to harm them would result in their success. They were fighting with much more purpose and focus than they had in the Mata’s bedroom.
Litha rolled with the blow and, coming to her feet, lunged with both blades extended. I tried to dodge but was caught up by Tessa’s chain as it wrapped around my legs and I tumbled to the floor. I writhed against the thin chain, trying to break it, and I could not.
Marjory appeared just as I wondered at what point I had lost track of her, and she landed atop me. Her weight crushed the breath from my chest, and her muscular legs pinned me to the ground. She raised two wicked daggers. Her gaze fell to my chest, and she aimed her killing stroke. Then her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed, unconscious.
I gasped for breath as I shoved the girl off me. After shucking the damnable chain, I rose, unsteady on my feet, and surveyed the room. The Sisters lay in unconscious heaps where they had stood. Tessa had collapsed, the chain spilling from her limp fingers. Litha never recovered from her lunge. Her narrow swords had clattered to the ground and slid beyond her reach. I didn’t know what happened, but they’d had me cold. I would have been dead if not for whatever halted their attacks. It was when I searched for the Prince that I learned the reason for my salvation.
Prince Kaeden Rais lay on his back near the wall where I had struck him. Shani lay across him. In her hands, she held one of his elaborate longknives. One hand gripped the hilt, and the other lay on the pommel to give her enough power to drive it deep into his chest and through his heart. I reached out and gathered up his spirit.
But when I grasped it, I noticed that corded shadows trailed toward the three unconscious girls. The thick bands were wreathed in black, intricate knots and pulsed a sickly red glow through fibrous veins. The Prince’s soul wriggled in my taloned hand, trying to escape, to flee my attention, but I held it fast.
“Oh, no you don’t, you bastard,” I said. My voice resounded from the walls and ceiling as I looked upon the abomination that used to be Kaeden Rais. The bonds emanated from a single point in the Prince’s soul—a twisted tumor that pulsed and throbbed, sending tainted power through the links to the unconscious women.
I reigned in my Aspect and wrapped myself in shadow as I examined the monstrosity wriggling in my fingers. I wondered what would happen if I took it into myself. The prince was dead, but the young women were not. I also didn’t know what would happen to them should I release him to Hessa’s care.
After all the pain this man has caused, I’ll be damned if he gains a moment’s rest in Hessa’s arms.
What then? If I consumed his soul with the bonds still firmly attached, would I absorb their bonds? Would I take over the role of Master of the Sisters? Probably. The thought sickened me. I was also concerned about separating them from the Prince’s soul. I didn’t want to inadvertently kill them.
Uncertain, but determined not to harm the ladies any more than I had to, I grasped the knot and tore it from the throbbing cyst embedded in the Prince’s spirit. All three girls flinched at once and fell back still. The bond that led to the Sisters immediately ceased its thrumming, and the sickly veins that infected them withered and died. What was left was pure spirit, clean and untainted by this cabal and their abhorrent magics.
Their souls were still bound but now the strands led only to each other. Never had I heard of one who was not a Finder or Guardian being bound in such a way, and even then, only one to one. What I saw here was impossibly complex, though I had no reference on which to base my judgment. The intricacy of their interwoven spirits was beautiful to behold, and I briefly considered separating them while I had the opportunity. I could do it, yet I feared what further damage it would do to them. Severing the tie with the Prince had been risky on its own, no matter the necessity. No, I decided, It was not for me to interfere with this. They had endured enough. To take this from them as well would be cruel. I released them, and their spirits settled back within their chests; the bond disappeared from my sight.
The soul that remained, however, thrashed and bucked and whipped ineffectually at my hand and arm. Losing the bond with the Sisters had substantially weakened the pathetic shade. I felt no pity as I drew it into me, using it to fuel my healing. I felt muscle knit, and I hacked up blood, spitting it to the floor. I had just wiped my mouth with the back of my hand when I heard Shani moan.
I fell beside her and rolled her over gently. She whimpered in protest.
She’s alive! Praise the Queen, she’s alive.
Shani oozed blood from her wounds, but her breathing was regular, if not shallow.
“Shani?” I whispered as I brushed her auburn locks from her face. “Shani, can you hear me?”
“Evan?” she croaked. “Is he…”
“He’s dead, Shani. You killed him,” I said. She smiled weakly. “What are you doing here? I told you to stay in the temple where you would be safe.” Shani cried out as she tried to rise and fell back.
“I told them what he had done to them, what you discovered, and the reason they could feel him before and why they couldn’t now. They were incensed. They left the protection of the temple to question him themselves. They believed they could resist his will, defy him, and demand answers from him. I followed to stop them.”
“What’s happened then?” I asked.
“As soon as we left, they could feel him again. When they confronted him, he confirmed it all and laughed at them. Then he made them torture me. He said that he would teach us all the price of insolence and betrayal.”
I heard a rustle behind me, and I rose and spun in one motion. I didn’t know what condition or disposition I would find the Sisters after all that had happened. I really didn’t want to fight them again, because I didn’t think I would win without killing us all.
I didn’t have to.
They ignored me completely, shoving me roughly out of the way, and huddled around Shani, all four of them crying great heaving sobs while the Sisters blubbered variations of ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘I didn’t mean to.’ I went to the anteroom to dress while they had their family moment. I felt very much like an intruder.
“I’m sorry, Shani. So, so sorry,” Tessa wailed.
“It isn’t your fault, Tess,” Shani grunted as Marjory wrapped her wounds with strips of clean cloth that Litha had retrieved from an adjoining room. “You didn’t want to do it. Pa—the Prince made you do it. He’s dead now. You never have to suffer his influence again.” She said the words in a growl filled with spite and hate.
“Thanks to you,” Marjory said.
“Thanks to him,” Shani corrected, nodding toward me, now dressed and sheathing my blades.
“He wants to take us away from you,” Tessa said, “drag us back to the Empire.” Shani shook her head slowly.
“He made a promise to your mother,” Shani said. “You will see he fulfills it.”
“I will not!” Tessa exclaimed. The leafed blade dropped from her sleeve, and she caught the chain and scowled at me in challenge.
“Help me up, Marjory,” Shani said. She groaned as Marjory steadied her on her feet. When Shani was stable, she pushed the girl’s hand away. All the while, Marjory monitored me to see what my reaction would be. No doubt she wondered if I intended to make good on my threat to carry them back to the empire in a box.
Shani hobbled, wincing, and fell into the Prince’s chair. She took up his glass and drained the wine from it.
“Yes, you will, Tessa,” Shani said, more firmly this time. “He’s a good man and is true to his word. You would do well to trust him.”
“I’ll
cut his throat before I let him put us on a ship back to the Empire,” Litha said. “Besides, we have to stay to take care of you.”
“I will be fine,” Shani said as she sat in the Prince’s chair. “I will see a healer, I promise.” Shani reached out and grasped a book that lay on the table beside the chair. She jerked it upward with three sharp tugs. A thin wire was attached to the book and disappeared through the tabletop.
A deep, hollow bell tolled from atop the palace. Soon, another followed it, then another and another until the entire city rang with the alarm.
“What did you do?” I asked, eyes narrowed at Shani.
“She’s alerted every guard in the city that we have attacked the Prince,” Tessa said in disbelief. “What are you thinking, Shani? They will see the Prince dead and you sitting here and think you killed him.”
“No, they won’t,” Shani said with perfect confidence. “Everyone in the palace knows of our relationship with the Prince. They won’t harm me.”
“You’re sending them after him, then?” Litha asked, pointing to me and clearly impressed. “Well played.”
I wheeled on Shani.
“I’m doing no such thing,” she said before I could speak. “You four will make your escape and provide me the cover story I need to make my tale believable. I will have a Bloodmage here in short order.”
“What do you mean, provide you a cover story?” Tessa asked.
“It’s simple,” Shani said. “The guards will be here in three minutes. You are going to fight your way out. They won’t prove much of a challenge for the four of you. When they get to me, I will tell them what happened.” Shani’s face scrunched up in pain, and she clutched at her bandages, now stained with seeping blood. Tears fell from her eyes on command as she wailed, “I don’t understand! He loved them! Those bitches! They turned on him. The Sisters killed Prince Papa!”
All three sisters gasped in shock at Shani, who smoothed her features and grinned.
“You wouldn’t!” Tessa said, clenching her fists in challenge.
“She would,” Litha and Marjory said in unison, then giggled. Marjory shook her head, and her red braids swayed with the motion. “She’ll get away with it, too. She taught us how to deceive, remember?”
Tessa stamped her foot.
“One minute left before the first set of guards arrives,” Shani said. “Girls, give me your word you will go with Evan. If you don’t, then all this,” she gestured toward the Prince in a bloody heap on the floor, “is for nothing, because we will all be dead.”
Tessa whirled on me then. “You said that if we wanted to come home once we got to Arul, you would see to it.”
“I will,” I nodded.
“Swear it!” Tessa demanded.
“You can go willingly or I will put you in a box.” I held up a hand to forestall an angry outburst. “If you come with me willingly though, I can promise blood. You girls look like you have some pent-up frustration you would like to release. I will also promise that you can return. I always keep my promises.”
They looked at each other for only a moment and nodded.
“Watch out for them, Evan,” Shani said.
“I will be there for them if they need me. I swear it.”
The Sisters looked at us as though there was more to our exchange than what was being said aloud. They were not wrong.
“Say your goodbyes and make it quick,” I said, drawing my longknives. “The guards are rounding the corner. I’ll hold them off, but we have to go.” The girls rushed to Shani, crying and promising to return. I made my way to the anteroom to begin the night’s slaughter. Every guard that rounded the corner met my silver eyes and bloody blades. By the time the girls made it out, there were eight fresh bodies on the anteroom floor.
“She said we should trust you,” Tessa said. “I’m not convinced, but I will try. What’s the plan?” I told them where to find the ship as I listened for more guards to come storming down the passageway.
“But there are several things that need doing before we leave,” I said, addressing all three. “This all became much more complicated than I expected, and I need to see it through. Willing to help?”
They looked at me warily while I told them what I had in mind. It was Marjory who spoke up first.
“You will just let us run off and trust us to meet you at the ship? What if we decide against the conditions and just don’t?”
“You gave your word to Shani,” I said. “That’s good enough for me. She asked you to trust me. That works both ways, but someone has to be the first. Know this: I won’t ever betray you, and I won’t ever leave you hanging. You have my word on that. Now, are you in or out? Box or blood?”
Litha and Marjory both smiled.
“Marjory, I need you to deliver a message when you go to your first appointment.” It told her what to say, and she nodded her assent.
The Sisters looked at one another as they considered my words.
“We must split up for the last three or we won’t make it in time,” Litha said to her sisters. With that, I set out to save Trular, and the Sisters set out to bathe in blood…all to a symphony of bells.
The Savior of Trular
I steeled my resolve and boldly strode into the second-floor salon with a smile on my face, leaving the doors open behind me. The entire estate housing the Jardir and the Mata was elegant. This space was no different. Double glass doors at the far end opened to a balcony overlooking a stone garden. The balcony held four large, slender vases with dried grasses standing tall above them. A white marble balustrade edged the balcony at waist height, and a table sat in the center, where the Jardir and Mata were taking their breakfast in the cool morning air.
At my entrance, both turned to me. The Jardir smiled. The Mata, in her dressing gown, looked lovely in the glow of dawn. I made a beeline for her. My only thought was of her. She rose to greet me. I took her in my arms and kissed her. I felt her watermelon-scented breath against my face when it rushed from her body as I plunged the longknife into her heart. It killed her instantly. It was the least I could do for her. I caught her and carried her to a sofa, and laid her to rest. A piece of my heart died with her. I wasn’t in love with Galateia, as such, but I did have feelings for her. You don’t get as close to someone as we had become and feel nothing. Though I was saddened, I knew it was necessary. With the Prince dead, she was the biggest threat to the kingdom—and to Arul.
The Jardir made a surprised gasp. His chair clattered behind him as he rose. Still in his bedrobes, he was unarmed, though he eyed a flimsy eating utensil, no doubt wondering if it would aid him in defending himself against me.
I went to the table and sat in Galateia’s seat. The Jardir had backed against the railing, his face a mask of fear and accusatory disgust. I deserved it. Hessa help me, I deserved it all. Once he recognized that I was not going to immediately attack him, he cautiously straightened his chair and retook his place at the table. He eyed me warily as I sampled bits of food from the Mata’s plate.
The Jardir cleared his throat. “I assume it would do little good for me to call my guards. Do I have that correct?”
“You do, Jardir,” I said. “I apologize for the necessity, but I needed to speak with you.”
“With me?” he asked in shock and glanced toward the sitting room. “If what you have to say to me is anything like your conversation with my wife, I would like to decline the audience.”
“On the contrary, I have come to congratulate you,” I said. I leaned back in my chair and took up the Mata’s wine.
“Congratulate me?” he asked.
“Of course,” I said. “You saved Trular. Your treacherous wife, it seems, was plotting with the Prince to overthrow King Zameel.”
“Of course she was,” he huffed. “We all were. I heard about your own role in uncovering the informant within our alliance.”
I heard the swish of fabric then. The Jardir whirled at the intrusion and gasped.
“Palasia?” he
breathed, open surprise at seeing his old lover striding onto the balcony written across his face. “What are you doing here?”
“Ah,” I said. “I’m glad you could join us.” I rose and kissed Palasia’s cheeks before retaking my seat. “Wine?” I offered, raising the Mata’s glass. Palasia shook her head in the negative before speaking.
“An absolutely lovely young redheaded girl murdered my husband last night.” She said. “She complimented me on my part in identifying his treasonous actions and bravely taking a stand in defense of Trular against civil war. One of yours, Evan?”
“A friend,” I said, refilling the wineglass.
Palasia addressed the Jardir. “She said that my support of your bold and decisive action was critical in maintaining the peace within our borders and that you would need my continued support to ensure a peaceful transition, considering the current climate. I am here to offer you my support…” She paused and smiled warmly. “…in whatever manner you require, My Jardir.”
He looked at Palasia for several long moments. I could almost see his mind whirling.
“I am humbled, Palasia, that you would choose your kingdom over your own family. I am certain the King will feel the same.” The Jardir looked pointedly at me and spoke in a flat tone. “Especially when he sees the plethora of hard, undeniable evidence we will produce.” His message to me was clear: he would play the game I set up, but he was letting me know in no uncertain terms, that he expected to win. He would. There would be no doubt that the Prince had been set to make a move against his father. He would likely have succeeded, and the king would realize this.
“Coincidentally,” I said, “the Mata has several documents in her bedroom that detail much of their treasonous plan, including names, timelines, and pre-agreed treaties designed to speed the transfer of power and outline everyone’s place in the new regime. It’s all quite thorough. I would misplace those pages that bear your signature, if I were you, Jardir. The rest should prove more than sufficient to make your case and explain why you had to kill the Prince when he refused to be taken into peaceful custody last night. It’s unfortunate, really, but he was completely unreasonable.”
Oathbound: The Emperor's Conscience, Book 2 Page 25
