Treason: Book Two of the Grimoire Saga (a Young Adult Fantasy series) Page 22
Braeden turned to Gavin and spoke in a normal tone. “What would you like to talk about, Blood Gavin?”
He led Gavin away from Richard and out of the labyrinth. He had to get the king far enough from Richard to give their father a chance to leave.
“What would you like to talk about, brother?” Braeden prodded. He used the term intentionally, and got the grimace he’d expected. Hopefully, it would redirect the Blood’s anger.
“I believe I already made it clear you’re never to use that term with me,” Gavin said.
Gavin stalked out of the garden when they neared the exit, letting the gate swing shut behind him even as Braeden passed through it. Braeden caught the door and brushed it off, following the Hillsidian Blood into a small side door in the palace.
Five minutes of silent walking and unrecognizable hallways ended in an open door. Gavin stopped in front of it and gestured inside.
“Ah, no. After you, Blood Gavin,” Braeden said with a grin.
Gavin shook his head and walked inside. He stood in the center of the room and raised his arms as if to say, are you happy now?
Braeden followed. The door slammed on its own behind him, but Braeden resisted the instinct to flinch at the sound.
“What do you want, Gavin?” he asked as calmly as he could muster.
“I wanted to discuss the rescue. I want to know how you did it.”
“And why would I tell you that?”
Gavin sneered. “Aren’t we all friends here?”
“You don’t care about the rescue. You would have left them if the Vagabond hadn’t interfered. So why am I really here?”
Braeden had been careful to avoid using Kara’s name. He didn’t want to imply intimacy. If he could make them think he didn’t care about her, he would. He didn’t think it would do any good, of course, especially if his expressions were so out of control that Richard had picked up on the longing in an instant. No, it wouldn’t do any good, but he would try anyway. For Kara.
Gavin laughed. “Yes, you are so perceptive. A lifetime of lying to those who treated you like family—”
“Get on with it!”
Gavin arched his back, but didn’t respond. He stared at Braeden as if internally debating with himself as to whether or not to continue. “You are here, Braeden, because I have a plan to kill Carden. I need your help.”
Braeden wanted to grin, but resisted. It had to hurt for Gavin to admit that.
“What’s your plan?”
Gavin began pacing. “I want to draw Carden out of the Stele. So far, everything has been on his terms. We have been exposed when we thought we were safe, even in our own homes”—he paused, eyes slipping out of focus for a second before he continued—“but I want to trick him. I discovered a valley not far from where we believe the Stele to be located. I want to lure him to a camp and ambush him.”
“And that’s where I come in, I suppose?”
“We need someone he trusts. Someone who will take him there. All we need to do is kill him, and the war is over.”
Braeden tensed his jaw. Somehow, he doubted the war would end with Carden. There was the whole matter of Braeden following in Carden’s footsteps, of becoming the next—no.
He didn’t want to think about it. He couldn’t.
“Carden does not trust me,” he said.
“Make him. Tell him whatever it takes to make him think we did wrong by you.”
“That won’t take too much convincing, Gavin.”
“Blood Gavin.”
“When you begin acting like a king, I’ll address you like one. All you’ve done since—”
“Don’t. I heard Richard’s tirade. I don’t need to be saved.”
Braeden relaxed his shoulders. “If you don’t need to be saved, then where is the Gavin I knew before you took the throne? You—”
Gavin held up his hand. “Please stop.”
The ‘please’ made Braeden falter. He’d been prepared for yelling, cursing, or even a fight, but not kindness.
The Blood leaned against a wall. “The weight of a kingdom will change you. I always dreamed of greatness without knowing the consequences. I was a child before. I’m a man now. If you can escape your fate, Braeden, you should.”
Braeden took a step back.
Gavin continued as if their tangent never happened. “As I said, I need you. I can’t make this plan work without you. Can you do this?”
“Say I do. Say you kill Carden on the battlefield. What then?”
“What do you mean? The war would end.”
“I would become Blood. Are you telling me the rest of you would simply let me be? Let me go back to that mountain and rule my cold little pocket of Ourea?”
Gavin looked at the floor and didn’t respond.
Braeden slammed his fist on the door. It rattled and sent shivers into the walls.
“Answer me!” he shouted.
“You hate what you are as much as we do, Braeden,” Gavin said.
Braeden could barely breathe. They meant to kill him before he even got the chance to rule.
But wouldn’t Ourea be better off without Stelians? He’d already said as much himself. All his people knew was pain, murder, and torture. They were vicious. Evil, even.
He looked down at the rug. Was Kara better off without him, too? He’d nearly killed her once already. She’d gone into the Stele to save him and nearly been killed a second time as they escaped. He’d gotten her into more trouble than she’d managed on her own, and that was saying something.
He wanted her. For a while, he’d thought he wanted her more than anything. But even more powerful than his desire was his wish to protect her: the one thing in his life that gave him peace.
Kara was safest without him. The whole world was safer. The first Vagabond had told him once that Braeden’s part in the war would be more important even than Kara’s. Is this what he’d meant?
“I need an answer. We don’t have much time,” Gavin said.
Braeden nodded. “I’ll do it.”
“Thank you. Come on. We have to meet with the Bloods. I need to show you the maps and discuss the full plan.”
Braeden nodded again and waited for Gavin to lead the way. He didn’t have much time, true, but he would use what time he had left wisely. When he finished speaking with the Bloods, he would find Kara, tell her to protect Richard, and kiss her once more. After that, he would be out of her life forever.
Chapter 15
New Blood
Kara took a deep breath of the brilliant late summer air. Instead of taking Kara to a bedroom, Twin had surprised her with a picnic by one of Ayavel’s many waterfalls. Flick nuzzled against Twin’s leg, purring as the girl pet him.
Beams of light broke through gaps in the trees. The lake shimmered. Ripples broke the water whenever a fish swam too close to the surface. In the quiet of this isolated bit of the forest, Kara almost forgot about how much she wanted Braeden, or how the first Vagabond—Cedric—had threatened to kill him if she gave in.
“I missed you,” Twin said with a grin.
Kara smiled. “I missed you, too.”
“How was the rescue? I was so scared when you and Braeden didn’t come back. I thought—we all thought—”
“I know. It’s a miracle we escaped at all.”
Twin winked. “Did you enjoy the time alone?”
Kara’s smile disappeared. She cleared her throat and looked into the lake without answering.
Twin sighed, apparently gathering all she needed from the lack of an answer. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really.”
“Well, what do you want to talk about?”
The tiara.
Before Twin became her second in command, Kara had to know exactly what happened the day Twin brought her Gavin’s cursed tiara. Twin had snatched it from Kara’s fingers seconds before she put it on. If she hadn’t, the tiara would have pricked Kara with some of Gavin’s blood—he’d have been able to control he
r until his bloodline worked its way out of her system. But he could always add more. If she’d been pricked, Gavin would have had unlimited control over her. Yet Twin had somehow defied her king to save Kara.
Something didn’t add up. Yakona couldn’t disobey.
“I need to ask you about the tiara,” Kara said.
Twin sighed. “I already apologized a million times, Kara. I never wanted to hurt you.”
“I know. But how did you defy a direct order from Gavin?”
“It wasn’t a direct order.”
“Wait, but I thought…what was it, then?”
Twin shrugged. “I’m not sure. I feel so guilty about it that I keep playing that day over and over in my head, just trying to figure it out. He handed me the tiara and told me to give it to you. That was it. He didn’t tell me not to say anything—I just assumed I wasn’t supposed to. I think he knew I’d been eavesdropping and that I knew what it could do to you.”
“Then why would he give it to you?”
“I think he tricked me. It’s the only thing that makes sense. He scared the life out of me—I still can’t look him in the eye—and I think he wants me to go with you to the village. He wants to know where it is.”
Kara nodded. Now that made sense.
“You should leave me behind, Kara. I can’t let Gavin trick you again.”
“He wouldn’t be powerful enough to do that if you became a vagabond.”
Twin caught her breath, the hope in her eyes almost too painful to bear. “Really?”
“You’ll even have a Grimoire of your own.”
“Yes! I’ll come!” Twin lunged and wrapped Kara in a hug that sent them rolling onto the grass.
Kara laughed and brushed loose dirt from her pants. “Great. I need to find Braeden, so I’ll meet you somewhere. Your room, maybe? Where is it?”
Twin pointed at the palace. “See that door? It leads to a stairwell. Take it to the third floor and turn right. I’m the first door on the left.”
“Got it. I’ll meet you there. Pack lightly—only what you need, okay?”
“I will! Thank you for trusting me, Kara.”
“You’re one of the kindest people I’ve met in Ourea, Twin. I’m just lucky to have you on my side.”
Flick nuzzled closer to Twin, so Kara left her pet with her friend for the moment and turned toward the castle.
Braeden settled into a chair in an office just behind the Ayavelian throne room. The Bloods trickled in, sitting in the plethora of chairs that littered the room, silent while they waited for everyone to join them.
Icy apathy seeped into his core. He didn’t let himself feel or worry or think, afraid doing so would change his mind.
Ithone said something that involved the word ‘Stelian’ as he walked into the room, but Braeden hadn’t been listening. It had no doubt been a taunt, anyway.
The insult didn’t matter. Nothing did.
Kara marveled at how easy it was to find Braeden. She had only to ask the first maid she saw and watch which way the girl’s eyes darted. But such was the curse of being feared: everyone kept tabs on him.
She traced her way back to the throne room and waited on the steps beneath the vacant thrones. One of the guards had told her Braeden was speaking with the Bloods and would be out soon, so all she could do was wait.
A hidden door behind the thrones slid open, and the Bloods walked out. Only Aislynn acknowledged her with a smile; the rest, except for Braeden, didn’t even look at her. Braeden, though, wouldn’t stop frowning as he walked over.
“What is it, Kara?” he asked, as though he had better things to do.
This distance between them hurt, but she’d brought it on herself. The hair on her neck stood on end as Gavin turned to watch them. She needed to find a place where she could talk to Braeden alone.
“I was going to take a walk through the gardens. Care to join me?”
He shook his head and walked off, gesturing for Kara to follow. She frowned, but obliged. They walked in silence until he turned into a small office just beyond the main hall. Books lined the dark shelves, and the drawn curtains shut out the light.
He shut the door. “I have an errand to run.”
“Um, all right. After that?”
He sighed. “No, Kara. I’m occupied.”
“Since when are you so cryptic? We can still work together—”
“Look, I’m doing what you asked!”
Kara wanted to believe he was still just hurt, but the way he narrowed his eyes made her step back. For several seconds, she couldn’t form words.
His eyes softened as he watched her expression, which seemed to weaken his resolve. He held her shoulders, but his fingers inched up to her face.
Before she knew it, he kissed her.
This kiss—number three, wow—was different from the others. The first was timid, uncertain as to what either wanted. The second was raw passion. But this one was fearful. His fingers barely brushed her skin, holding her as if she would break into dust at the slightest touch. Her mind numbed, and neither confusion nor happiness coursed through her.
This kiss was full of a new emotion: loss.
He broke away.
“What—?” she asked.
He brushed a thumb along her cheek. His touch spread sparks along her skin.
“I have to go, Kara. That’s all I can say. I tried ignoring you, tried pushing you away like you did to me, but I can’t do it. I could never hurt you. But do me this last favor, okay? Take Richard with you. Make him a vagabond. He’s not safe here anymore, and you’re the last chance for him to have a home. I told him to find Twin, so he’s likely with her now. Will you do that for me?”
“Of course, but—”
“Thank you.”
He kissed her again, and the loss seeped into her once more. Her thoughts trailed out of her grasp, and she wound a finger into his hair. He stopped at her touch, let out a sigh, and rubbed his nose against hers.
“Goodbye,” he said.
“Braeden, what is going on?”
He smiled, took one last look at her, and let go.
“Stay out of trouble, at least,” he said.
He opened the door and left, just like that.
Air wouldn’t stay in Kara’s throat long enough for her to respond. She didn’t know what to think or say. The kiss made her question the hope she’d felt back before they’d left that hidden room in the Stelian grottoes. A kiss like that left her without any hope at all.
He’d said goodbye and meant it. Whatever happened in that meeting with the Bloods ruined everything.
She took a deep breath before she noticed the stares coming through the open door. A few ladies in trailing gowns and even a half dozen guards watched her. At least the Bloods were gone.
“Are you all lost? Move it!” Kara shouted.
Most of them flinched, but they all hustled back to their lives. The guards looked away from her and twitched back into position.
She turned down the hall and walked toward Twin’s room. Whatever Braeden had gotten himself into, it was bad. Guilt churned in her stomach. She’d wanted to keep him at an arm’s length, not lose him forever.
Kara’s feet stopped on their own in front of Twin’s door, but she didn’t look up until it opened.
Twin looked her over. “Why are you staring at my doorknob?”
Kara glanced through the doorway without answering. Flick jumped over a packed bag on the bed, chasing something she couldn’t see.
The hair on Kara’s neck stood up, so she looked over her shoulder. A figure moved back behind the corner in the hallway, out of sight, as if someone had been watching her and not wanted to be spotted.
Great, now she had a tail. She slipped into the room and closed the door behind her.
Braeden ducked back behind the wall in time for Kara to only see a lingering shadow. She would know she was being followed without knowing who it was.
Good. Hopefully that would make her leave.
He had wanted to tell her everything would be okay, but it would have been a lie.
The sooner Kara left Ayavel, the better. She needed to be in the village, turning and training more vagabonds. He could only hope they would keep her distracted long enough for him to kill Carden. Once the man died, she wouldn’t need to be in the middle of this mess anymore.
At least, that’s what Braeden kept telling himself. He had no idea if it was true.
He took a deep breath and headed back down the hall, pausing only to kick a soldier’s foot back into a broom cupboard. He closed the door with more force this time to lock the dead spy inside.
Braeden had also let Kara think the Bloods were following her because, in truth, they were. This spy had been Ayavelian, too.
He headed down the hall to the drowng Gavin had waiting for him outside, but took one last look at the closed bedroom door. He hoped he’d made the right choice.
Kara took a deep breath and sat on the bed. She needed to get it together. If she had been crying, it was no wonder everyone stared at her after Braeden left.
“Is everything okay?” Twin asked.
“No, but we have a job to do. Is Richard here?”
“Yeah, he just needed to wash his face.”
Richard came out of the bathroom at the mention of his name. He still held a towel to his chin, and droplets of water clung to his beard. He paused when he saw Kara.
“Vagabond,” he said with a nod.
“What’s wrong with Braeden?” she asked.
Inwardly, she cringed. Jumping into a conversation without returning a welcome was rude. She meant to apologize, but Richard answered as if she hadn’t done anything offensive at all.
“I have no idea. After he and I spoke, he walked off with Gavin and told me to find you.”