“Chet,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Slapping you. I—I had no idea.”
“It’s all right,” I said. “I would have slapped me, too.”
She chuckled a bit at that. When she smiled, it revealed dimples in her cheeks. Looking at her now, I realized that Bella was actually a really attractive girl... when she wasn’t trying to kill me, of course. I was beginning to see why my former self was involved with her.
I reached out and placed my hand on her cheek.
She immediately pushed me away. “What do you think you’re doing?”
I recoiled. “What do you mean? You just got done professing your love to me. I thought—”
“You thought you’d take advantage of a sad little lovesick puppy?” Her eyes were livid.
“Well—no—I just—”
“You don’t even remember the Aren I fell in love with,” she snapped. “You might not even be the same person. I—I need to go.”
A heartbeat later, Bella spun and stormed from the room.
That went well.
Fifteen
Nobody else came for me, and I didn’t see any further reason to leave my room.
Was Lucian planning something? Yes. Was there anything I could do about it? Not really. I just wanted to keep my head low, bide my time, and wait for more news of Claire to present itself.
If she wasn’t at the palace, I had no idea where I could find her, and if my father had been looking for her as long as he’d been looking for me, then what could I do that he hadn’t already tried?
At noon, a servant brought me lunch in my quarters. He dropped the tray off on a small table in the bedroom and left without so much as a word to me.
That was fine. Even the servants held grudges against Oathbreakers. Whatever.
I managed to get a short rest in during the afternoon until a clothier came in and took my measurements. At the behest of the king, I was to be ‘dressed up’ for the big shindig that night. I couldn't blame him. It was an important event, and he wanted to put on a good show. But if something was going down, I couldn’t afford to be fastened into a dressing gown.
I told as much to the clothier, and he assured me that the palace was perfectly secure and nothing like that would ever happen. Even so, I managed to convince him to give me something that was practical yet fashionable at the same time.
He still was less than thrilled when he returned with my outfit, claiming the king would have his head, but I assured him that I would take the blame and say I ordered him to do it. Which clearly, I had.
When I was alone again, I tapped the neural implant and watched as my stats displayed in front of my eyes.
AREN HALLAND
LEVEL 11
AFFILIATION: BALGYRA
PROFESSION: GUARDIAN
110/110 MP
4,700/11,000 EXP
2 AP AVAILABLE
0 FAME – UNKNOWN
660 RIFKELS
I’d gained two levels? I loved double EXP. I now had a few AP again, but as of yet, I hadn’t learned how to use it. I noted my affiliation was still Balgyra, and I had no clue how to fix that. Maybe it was somehow attached to the neural device, and so long as I had it on me, I was stuck.
Thankfully, no one else seemed to be able to read this information.
My Fame still sucked, and I barely had any money. Not like I could use it right now, anyway. At some point, I was going to need better gear. I would prefer to buy it if I could but stealing some might be my only option.
A knock came at the door, and I quickly closed out the screen with another tap of the device.
The door opened, and Bella leaned in. “Time to go. The king’s expecting you.”
I stood up, smoothed out my dinner coat, and took a deep breath, then followed Bella out of the room.
Sometime since the morning, Bella had gotten changed herself. Gone was her guard uniform and in its place was a sleeveless cerulean blue dress that ran to the floor. In addition to the outfit, she was carrying a matching clutch in her hands and had curled her hair.
When she turned and looked back to make sure I was following her, the sight of her complete form nearly took my breath away. The dress was a perfect complement to her eyes, and the way her red hair reflected the light from the setting sun gave her a fiery appearance.
“You look nice,” I said with a gulp.
“Don’t think for one minute that this makes me helpless in any way,” she said. She slightly lifted her dress to reveal a pair of steel greaves on her legs. A dagger was attached to one, and the other was inlaid with several magika stones.
Without another word, she spun and marched off.
“Where’s Hayden?” I asked when I caught up to her.
“Lucian needed him,” she said coldly.
Bella refused to look at me as she said it and just kept her eyes forward. Silence drifted between us as she led me through the halls and down corridors.
“Is something wrong?”
“Just shut up and keep walking,” she snapped.
An uneasiness settled into the pit of my stomach. She was acting strange. Granted, as far as I was concerned, I had only known her for about ten hours, so I didn’t have a lot of information to go off of.
Bella walked me past an open door, and my eyes couldn’t help but wander in as I heard people bustling about.
The king was inside talking with a few of his advisors while broadcast crews were busy setting up sound equipment in the background.
For some reason, Bella kept right on walking.
“Wait, where are we going?” I asked. “The king told me to meet him in the council chambers.”
“Change of plans,” she said.
Something didn’t seem right. The farther we went, the more tension built in my chest.
“Tell me where we’re going right now,” I demanded.
“Please don’t make this any harder than it already is,” she said with a sigh.
“Any harder than what?”
We stopped in front a set of double doors, and Bella said, “We’re here.”
They were much larger than many of the others in the palace and appeared to be made of solid wood.
She motioned for me to enter, then opened up her clutch and began rifling through it.
Grabbing the door handle, I pulled it open. The room was empty besides a few bookcases and a ratty couch. It looked like some old library.
“There’s nobody here,” I said.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as something cold touched the side of my head and electricity coursed through my body.
When I opened my eyes, Bella was gone, and I had a headache like no other I'd ever felt before. Whatever she’d done had interfaced with the neural device and incapacitated me.
I stood up and saw that my surroundings remained the same—several bookcases and the old couch. Evidently, she hadn’t moved me anywhere else, just knocked me out. But why?
I thought I could trust her, but I guess not. She was as bad as the rest of them.
Taking a step forward, I stumbled and grabbed the back of the sofa to steady myself. After taking a couple deep breaths, I let go of the couch and carefully walked over to the door.
Grabbing the handles, I pulled on the doors. They wouldn’t open, but neither were they locked since they gave a little when I yanked. More than likely, they were barred from the other side.
“Hey!” I yelled, pounding on the door. “Help!”
No one came.
Feeling dizzy, I leaned against the door for a few minutes to get my bearings. Once I was confident that the worst effects had subsided, I stepped away from the door and began slamming it with my foot.
On the sixth hit, the door gave way, and I stumbled out into the hall, falling to the floor. A hand reached down in front of me.
I grabbed hold of it and was hoisted to my feet.
It was Leon.
“Thanks,” I said. “How
did you find me?”
“I went to the council chambers like you asked, but you weren’t there. I figured Lucian might have done something like this, so I came looking for you,” he said. “I must have spent a half an hour searching and was about to give up when I heard this banging noise. I turned the corner and saw these doors were barred with a candlestick wedged between the handles.”
“Lucian doesn’t want me to attend the summit for some reason,” I told him. “Tell me I'm not too late, am I?”
Leon shook his head. “It hasn’t even begun. They’re having dinner in the great hall first. The meal is probably about over, but if you hurry, you might be able to grab a bite to eat before they move back to the council chambers.”
“Do you know how to get to the great hall? I’m afraid I don’t know my way around.”
“I’m not familiar with the palace either,” he said. “But when I was waiting for you, I saw the king leave the council room, and I followed him to the great hall, so I can probably find my way back there.”
I nodded for Leon to lead the way. Retracing his footsteps back through the palace, we only got turned around a time or two as some of the halls started to look familiar. In the end, we were able to find the hall without much trouble.
One of the large double doors stood slightly ajar, and a cacophony of voices emerged from within the great room. Leon stopped just out of sight.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I can’t show my face. I’m not supposed to be here, remember?” he said. “But I’ll be close by in case you need me.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“You came for me. Now, I've returned the favor,” he said with a smile. “Go, do whatever it is you need to do.”
I nodded and stepped through the door.
Three long tables were set up through the room. Two ran parallel to each other in the center of the great hall, and the last one ran perpendicular at the front of the room. The king was seated at the lone table with whom I could only imagine was the Balgyran ambassador to his right.
He seemed like an exceptionally ordinary sort of fellow—short, glasses, a slight build, but not too skinny, and a particularly jovial laugh. The seat next to him was empty, though a place setting with partially eaten food on it occupied the space.
To the left of the king sat Lucian.
While Xavier did not seem to notice my arrival, the same could not be said of Lucian. His eyes drilled into mine, and a bubble of panic welled up inside of me until… until he smiled?
Lucian was practically glowing at my appearance. I didn’t quite know how to take that, considering he just had me locked up.
There was an empty seat beside Lucian, and next to that, sat Bella, who also noticed my sudden appearance.
Backstabber.
She had a frown on her face and was not happy to see me at all, obviously. One second she's throwing herself at me, and the next, she's locking me up. What was she playing at? Whether she had acted of her own accord or at Lucian's bidding, I knew not. Everything was so muddled right now.
A door on the far side of the great hall opened and in walked the last person I expected to see. She didn’t have her lab coat on, but her bun and glasses were unmistakable, even from this distance.
Dr. Alton was here.
In Obsidia.
At the palace.
I needed to warn the king now. If she was here, we were in grave danger. I started making my way over to the king as quickly as I could. My movements didn’t go unnoticed, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see Bella racing toward me.
She intercepted me before I got halfway there.
“How did you get here?” she whispered harshly. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Yeah, no thanks to you and Lucian. Did he put you up to this... never mind—do you know who that is?” I asked, my words coming out in a rush as I pointed at Alton, who was, at that moment, taking the open seat next to the Balgyran ambassador.
Bella glanced over her shoulder, then said, “Yes, she’s the Chief Engineer of the sovereign state of Balgyra.”
“No, she’s not. She’s the crazy scientist who put this in my head,” I said, pointing to the neural device.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Bella said, exasperated. “Is this some sort of sick joke?”
“I need to warn the king, her presence here is dangerous,” I said and took a step forward.
Bella cut me off.
“Aren, stop. You need to leave, it’s not—”
“There he is!” the king shouted.
Bella winced.
Xavier had the largest smile on his face as he enthusiastically waved me over.
Alton’s eyes went wide when she saw me, and I could visibly see her body tense.
Bella stepped aside, and I made my way over to the king.
“Father, I need to—”
“Where have you been?” he asked. “I was just telling the ambassador that you’ll be joining us for the summit this evening.”
Alton had pulled out a device and was furiously typing away on it.
“That’s wonderful,” I said. “There’s something really important I need to tell you.”
“What is it?” he asked.
“You need to st—”
My body went rigid—my arms and legs locked up.
Alton cast me a perfectly wicked smile.
She—she controlled me again? I thought Leon had disabled that.
Lucian. He said he had one of the palace techs look at me. He must have turned it back on. Or had Leon only managed to override the current directive and not the whole program?
“What is it?” the king asked.
Alton tapped the device a few more times, and I heard my own voice say, “Nothing. It can wait until later. I’m going to get us drinks.”
“Fabulous!” the king said. “We’ve got a spot for you right on the other side of Lucian. There should still be some time for you to grab a quick bite before we move to the council chambers for the talks.”
Without another word, my body marched down the aisles against my will and through a small door at the back. On the other side was the kitchens where the staff busied about getting plates ready for dessert.
I was surprised to see Izaiah there pouring several glasses of wine. When he turned around, he about jumped out of his skin.
“There you are,” he said with a sigh. Then he looked suspiciously at me and waved his hand in front of my face.
I wanted to ask what he was doing, but no words came out of my mouth.
He smiled and snorted, then pulled a small vial out of his dinner coat.
What’s that?
He poured the contents into one of the glasses and handed me the silver tray they sat on.
Poison! Alton is working with Lucian. Oh gods, they’re going to kill the king. Come on, Aren, think. What can you do?
I fought against the override in my brain as hard as I could. I pushed, I pulled, I shoved, I kicked, but nothing freed my body from the cursed control.
Izaiah opened the door for me, and my body walked back to the king’s table, visibly cool, calm, and collected, as if nothing was wrong.
I tried to shout: “They’re going to kill you!” But no words came out. I tried to throw the plate and the glasses on top of it, but my body wouldn’t respond.
Every single ounce of me tried to delay what was about to happen, but my feet kept moving forward against my will.
I held the tray out for the king, angling the poisoned cup toward him. I watched as he slowly plucked the cup from off the tray and lifted it toward his lips.
Don’t drink it! Stop!
The king began to sip, and I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, I wanted to hurt Alton and Lucian and whoever else was wrapped up in this.
Then, suddenly, the king spat it out, spraying wine all over the table, as a green and white light appeared in the center of the room.
All conversation in th
e great hall stopped, and eyes turned to watch the ball of swirling magic that grew in size with each passing moment. Without warning, a body flew from the light and screams erupted throughout the room as it flew straight into Alton, knocking her down and sending the device flying from her hands.
I felt control of my body return to me just as the light disappeared and the room returned to normal. A moment later, the king collapsed and shouts rose up from around the room.
Slowly, I turned my head toward that body that had flown out of the light.
It was Claire.
Sixteen
Blood poured from wounds on Claire’s chest and back.
This was Claire as I remembered her—the Claire who’d been stabbed to death. Here she was with the same injuries, bleeding out on the dining hall floor.
The room was abuzz with screams, people running here and there, chairs being knocked over, plates crashing to the ground—but I didn’t hear any of it. My eyes stood transfixed on Claire, and I felt as if my heart stopped beating in my chest and the world had frozen for a moment.
Time slowed as a flurry of people descended upon on Claire, then blue lights washed over her as Guardians cast their Healing spells.
My eyes moved to the king for the briefest of moments to see him being carried from the room by two Guardians and a man who looked like a physician of some kind. When I turned back to Claire, the bleeding seemed to have stopped, but still she remained unconscious.
She’d lost so much blood. Too much. Her clothes were coated in it, and it had begun to pool around her while the healers worked.
Alton was nowhere to be seen, nor was Lucian.
In all the excitement, I found my legs held fast to the floor. I wanted to rush to Claire’s side, but my body wouldn’t respond.
Did Alton still have control of me?
I didn’t think so.
Under her command, I was a prisoner. Now, I felt paralyzed by a different source, my entire world focalizing on my sister's fragile form.
Bella ran up to me, frantically screaming in my face, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of Claire as several Guardians lifted her onto a food cart that had been cleared off.
Sworn Guardian: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (Forbidden Magic Book 1) Page 12
