After they took Claire from the room, I could somehow move again. I turned and left the great hall through the opposite door. My legs carried me away of their own accord, and I stared straight ahead.
On the other side of the hallway was another door with several large glass panes in it that allowed me to see a courtyard of some kind.
Air.
I needed fresh air.
The sun had not yet set, but neither was it visible. Dark storm clouds had quickly moved in and covered every inch of sky as rain pelted the terrace beyond the door. A flash of lightning in the distance brightened the heavens for a moment, then vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
Pushing open the door, I stepped outside.
When the rain hit my face, the world seemed to quicken again, and sound returned in full force. The low rumble of thunder and the comforting patter of rain on the stone invigorated me.
I walked over to the railing at the edge of the terrace and ran my hands along its slick stone surface.
Claire. Alton. Lucian. The king.
I couldn’t process it. It was too much.
What was going on here?
Bella followed me out into the storm, yelling at the top of her lungs. “Aren, you need to come back inside, now!”
Puddles splashed with each step she took toward me, but I didn’t turn around. “Are you going to zap me again if I say no?”
“I was trying to help you,” she said, exasperated.
“You have a funny way of showing it,” I said placidly, still looking out over what appeared to be a garden devoid of flowers.
Water began to pour down my face from my hair as it became completely soaked through.
“You don’t understand, neither Lucian nor the king have your best interests in mind,” she said.
“And I suppose you do?” I snapped, spinning around to face her.
Her dress was no longer cerulean but more of a dark teal, and her curls were all but ruined in the rain.
She opened her mouth to speak, but then pursed her lips and turned her head, letting out a long breath. After a brief pause, she replied, “Look, I don’t know what’s going on. And I don’t know what to think or who to believe. But this I do know: whatever Lucian has planned, it’s bad news. Now, are you willing to help me stop him, or would you care to just stand out here and mope?”
I stared at her long and hard while the rain continued to fall.
Did she honestly expect that I could trust her after the last move she pulled? Was Lucian playing me? Were they still in this together?
From the moment I had woken up, I’d made one bad decision after another.
No more.
I’d had it. I was sick of being somebody else’s pawn.
From now on, I trusted no one, and I followed my own path.
“Well?” Bella asked.
“Fine, I’ll play your little game,” I said. “But, by the gods, if you betray me again…”
“I won’t,” she said with an uneasy smile, then she spun to leave.
“Just answer me this,” I said.
She stopped and turned back to face me, her brow furrowed.
“Why knock me out and lock me up? Why didn’t you just tell me what Lucian planned?”
Bella frowned. “Can we talk about this inside? We’re both going to catch a cold.”
“No,” I said firmly. “Answer me or leave without my help, the choice is yours.”
She sighed, “The Aren I knew was stubborn and noble to a fault. Had I told you what Lucian had planned, you would have tried to stop it.”
“Of course, I would have! Gods, Bella, what were you thinking? Trying to kill the king.”
“Kill the king?” she asked in alarm. “What are you talking about?”
“Lucian poisoned the king,” I said.
“No, no, that’s not right,” she replied, shaking her head. “I have to go, sorry.”
Without another word, she ran off, leaving me to stand in the rain.
Taking a deep breath, I went after her. But when I got back inside the palace, Bella was nowhere to be seen.
I wiped the water off my face and brushed the stupid cowlick out of my eyes. The rain had soaked through my dinner coat, so I shucked it off and tossed it into a giant decorative pot that sat next to the door.
I started to look for Bella, then changed my mind and went to find Claire instead.
As I walked back through the great hall, each of my steps pushed water out onto the floor and sounded like I was squashing a deranged duck. I wouldn’t be sneaking around anywhere anytime soon.
“Excuse me,” I said to one of the servants who were still busy trying to clean up the mess in the aftermath of the chaos. “Do you know where they took Claire?”
The young woman looked at me in shock as if it was unheard of that I’d deigned to speak with her. “T—t—they took her to the infirmary, my lord,” she said, bowing profusely.
“It’s been a little while. Where can I find the infirmary?” I asked.
“Out the back door, down the hall, and to your right. When you can go no further, hang another right, and it’s the first door on your left,” she said with a smile. Then she gasped and added, “My lord. So sorry, my lord.”
“You’re fine, thank you,” I said.
I left the great hall through the door I had watched the Guardians take Claire, then did my best to follow the servant's directions. They were simple of course, but I was already so turned around in the palace, that I would have really preferred having a map to guide me.
Moving down the hall, I turned right, went all the way to the end, and then what? Was I supposed to go right again or left?
I shrugged and turned to the left.
First door on the right, she said?
I placed my hand on the knob and was about to open the door when I heard shouting from the other side.
“We had a deal!” a man yelled. It sounded like Lucian.
“The plan is still in motion, my dear boy,” a woman replied. Alton?
I gasped, bringing my hand on my mouth and hoping they hadn’t heard me.
This was clearly not the infirmary. Placing my ear against the door, I paused to listen.
“You were supposed to poison the ambassador!” Lucian roared.
“Keep it down,” she said harshly. “The deal was to put you on the throne; what difference does it make how that was accomplished?”
My eyes widened in shock. Lucian was making a play to become king. I figured he was up to something, but I didn’t think he would go this far.
“I didn’t want you to kill my father,” Lucian hissed.
“By all reports, he’s not dead,” Alton replied with disinterest in her voice.
“He’s as good as! Even the little bit he ingested is enough to have started eating away at his organs,” Lucian said.
“Give him the antidote then,” she said. “But know that you'll be giving up the throne... is that what you want?”
The silence was telling.
“I don’t have the antidote,” Lucian finally said. “I wasn’t planning on needing one.”
“Well, then, I guess the choice is made for you. The king dies, you ascend the throne, and that’s that.” She might as well have clapped her hands together at the end of her statement for how gleeful she sounded.
“I have to go or people are going to start asking questions,” Lucian said. “But we’re not done.”
Footsteps advanced toward the door, so I ran back down the hall where I’d come from. As I rounded the corner, just out of sight, I heard the door open behind me. I turned around and stepped as casually as I could past the hallway, stealing a glance in his direction.
“Lucian!” I said, acting surprised to see him as he walked up to me.
His eyes flickered ever so briefly before he quickly displayed a cold mask across his face. “What do you want?” he snapped.
“Is everything all right? I heard shouting all the way down here."<
br />
To his credit, he didn’t so much as blink. “Everything is fine. Why are you here?”
“I’m looking for my sister,” I said.
“The infirmary’s right over there,” he said, pointing to a door on the other side of the hall.
“How’s Father?” I asked.
He cast a glare at me. “I just came from his side. The ordeal seems to have worn him out, but otherwise, he’s fine.”
Lies, lies, and more lies.
“If there’s nothing else, I really must be going,” he said. “I have to find the ambassador.”
“What for?” I asked a little too abruptly.
Did he still plan to kill the ambassador after all?
“To apologize, you idiot!” he practically shouted. He took a deep breath before continuing, “I’m sorry, I’m just a little on edge. This whole mess is going to ruin everything.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. "Go."
Lucian nodded sternly, then stormed off down the hall.
I still couldn’t figure him out. It was clear he was up to no good. An alliance with Alton? He must be mad. But what was Alton getting out of it?
Knowing he hadn’t intentionally poisoned the king gave me a small measure of comfort, but none the less, it still happened. Where did this put me?
Should I tell someone?
If I did, who would believe me? Lucian would deny it, and then it’d be my word against his. And the king’s council wasn’t likely to trust me over Lucian. Worse, Lucian might turn it around and have me arrested for treason.
If I was going to stop him, I’d have to confront him myself.
But first, I needed to see Claire.
Seventeen
Pushing the door to the infirmary open, I stepped inside and immediately saw my sister. Claire lay on a bed hooked up to a bunch of machines—a steady, rhythmic beep filled the room.
A man in a white coat was bent over, examining her. “You shouldn’t be in here.”
“I’m not going anywhere until I’m sure my sister is okay,” I said.
The man looked up at me briefly before returning to Claire. After a few seconds, he straightened, took his stethoscope out of his ears, and removed his gloves. “She’s seems to be recovering well, but she’s not conscious yet, so you won’t be able to speak with her.”
“Do you know when she’ll wake up?” I walked over to Claire’s bed and pulled up a chair beside her.
“It’s hard to tell. It could be any minute. It could be a few hours,” he said, then he frowned. “She could never wake up. I’ve never seen anything like it. She showed up out of nowhere... they say?”
Not nowhere. Technically she came out of that green and white light. The same light I remembered when all of this started.
“Yeah,” was all I replied. I took Claire’s hand in mine and held onto her. The relief of just being able to touch her and see that she was here, gave me unspeakable solace.
“She’s lucky she appeared where she did,” the man said. “If it had been outside or in some abandoned hallway, she likely would have bled to death before the Guardians got to her, if they ever even found her.”
Nothing about this was luck. Claire clearly hadn’t been expecting the magic to send her back, or she wouldn’t have told me to save her.
A lot about the time travel magic still didn’t make sense to me.
Why had it sent Claire back? And when it did send her back, had the supreme commander been sent back, too? Why did Claire come back at a different time than I and in a different location no less? So many unanswerable questions plagued my mind. I prayed Claire would wake up soon, and maybe together, so long as her own memory hadn't been wiped like mine, we could figure out what in the name of the gods was going on.
“There’s really not anything you can do here,” the man said. “Would you like me to send someone for you when she wakes up?”
I nodded. I might not have any clue about what was going on, but there was someone who did. There was no mistaking the recognition in Xavier’s eyes when he saw Claire’s dagger among my things. He’d taken it for some reason. Perhaps he held the answers I needed.
“That will be fine. Do you know where they took my father?” I asked.
“Chief Engineer Rady is with the king in his chambers,” the man said.
“I’d like to see him,” I said.
“I’m not sure if that’s possible. The king is in critical condition,” the man said.
“It’s important. Please.”
The man averted his gaze, then sighed. “I have to give Rady a report on the girl’s condition. Come with me. I’ll see what I can do about getting you in to see the king.”
“Thank you.”
I squeezed Claire’s hand one more time, then stood and followed the lab tech from the room. He led us down a series of corridors and up a flight of steps, then down a few more halls where he finally stopped outside a rather regal looking door with intricate woodcarvings along the frame.
“Let me do all the talking,” he said before he knocked.
The door opened slightly, and a steward appeared in the doorway. His eyes lit up with recognition at the sight of us. “Come in,” he said, swinging the door open the rest of the way.
The king was in bed, tucked under his covers. A tall man in a white coat and a young woman stood beside him.
“You need to administer his medicine once every two hours,” the tall man, who must be Rady, told the maid. “And make sure to alert me immediately if his condition worsens.”
“Yes, sir,” she said bowing.
He turned and acknowledged us standing at the end of the bed. “Ah, Michael, what news of the princess?”
“Princess?” I blurted out. “She’s my sister, and no one calls me a prince.”
I immediately felt ashamed for my outburst as Rady cast me a dark glare. “The king legally conferred her title following your disappearance. The matter deeply grieved him, and he hoped to make up for it.” He forced a smile, then turned to Michael. “Now, how is she?”
“She’s in perfect health but has yet to awaken,” Michael said.
“Very good,” Rady said. “We should leave the king to rest. Come.”
“But—”
Michael held up a finger, silencing me. He wouldn’t dare have done that to Lucian, but I suppose it was okay for the filthy Oathbreaker. “The boy would like to speak to his father.”
“Absolutely not—”
“Lucian?” the king asked weakly.
“It’s Aren, Father," I spoke up before anyone could stop me.
“Aren!” he said in surprise, then he coughed harshly. He opened his eyes and struggled to sit up in bed.
“Stay still, Your Majesty,” Rady said, rushing to his side. “You shouldn’t be moving in your condition.”
“Bring the boy near,” the king whispered.
Rady frowned, then motioned for me.
I walked over and knelt down beside the king’s bed.
Reaching over, he grasped my hand. “Your sister, how is she?”
“She’s fine,” I said, not wanting to worry him needlessly.
He coughed several times. When he settled, his eyes drilled into mine, then he glanced at Rady and Michael. “Leave us, please.”
“Yes, sire,” Rady said. He looked at the maid and added, “Remember what I told you?”
The young girl nodded.
“Let’s go, Michael,” Rady said and walked out of the king’s chambers.
“You, too, Kaci,” the king said to the maid. “You may wait just outside the doors. Aren will send you back in when he leaves.”
“Yes, sire.”
The king waited until the door was shut before he spoke, “You used the dagger.”
“Come again?” I asked, taken aback by his forwardness.
“I’m dying, Aren. I don’t know how, and I don’t know why, but I know it, and I’ll not beat around the bush,” he said before breaking into a hacking fit.
; When his body had quieted, I answered his question, “I suppose we did use it. To be perfectly honest, I don’t remember a thing.”
The king frowned, then mumbled to himself, “That’s interesting… and unfortunate.” To me, he added, “I’m afraid I don’t know what to say about that.”
“What is it? The dagger exactly?” I asked. Perhaps now I could get the answers I’d been looking for.
“Are you familiar with the seven forbidden magics?” he asked.
“I suppose I might have been at one time, but I’m afraid I can't recall,” I said.
“It really did a number on your memory didn’t it?” Xavier asked. “No matter. Spread out across the land, there are wells of magic that long ago had been sealed away due to their incredibly powerful nature.” He coughed again, but it was over quickly. “Each is unique, and each is incredibly deadly in the wrong hands. One of them has the power to cause anyone to love you. Another gives control over the sun.”
I’d seen that one before. It’s what the supreme commander used to destroy the world.
“Well, one of them gave the bearer control over time itself. The story goes that one of our ancestors from a millennia ago, before the wells were sealed, crafted this dagger,” he said as he pulled the dagger out of the bedside table and handed it to me. “It’s been in our family for generations.”
“After you left and Claire was crowned a princess, I gifted this dagger to her.”
“Why Claire, why not Lucian?” I asked.
“Lucian has always been too aggressive, and I didn’t trust him to use the dagger’s magic wisely.” He started coughing again, and this time, he grasped his throat as he struggled to breath.
“But what does it do exactly?” I pressed when he’d settled once more. Time was running out.
“It gives the wielder a second chance. A chance to right past wrongs and forge a new future,” Xavier said. “Now that you've used this dagger, this is your second chance. Do not waste it. Beyond that I do not know. That knowledge was lost centuries ago, and none others have used the dagger since its crafting."
“I—I have to tell you something,” I said nervously. “Lucian—”
“Go on. Lucian what?” the king asked.
“Lucian poisoned you,” I said.
Sworn Guardian: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (Forbidden Magic Book 1) Page 13
