In deeper waters, p.20
In Deeper Waters, page 20
Passing through one of the arches, they entered the common area of the castle. Protocol required the royal family, which would include Emerick, to regroup in the safest part of the castle, which was the formidable and near-impenetrable throne room. One long corridor and a set of large ornate doors sat between Tal and the moment he’d been running toward since his rescue. Magic surged to life in his belly, lighting behind his eyes, but he tamped it down, wrenched it under his control. Athlen stumbled behind him, dropping Tal’s hand in their hurry, but he remained close on Tal’s heels as Tal broke into a desperate run. He hoped with all his being they’d made it in time.
Tal didn’t allow the doors to stop him for a moment; flicking his hand, he willed them to open, and they did in a blast of wind. They banged hard against the stone.
With fire simmering beneath his skin, his body trembled, exhaustion hovering on the edge of his senses, but determination overrode all else. He entered, striding down the purple carpet that led to the twin thrones of Harth.
The room was dark, save for a single brazier near the queen’s seat. Tal thrust out his hands and the rest flared to life, and fire roared in the large fireplace, flooding the room with light and heat.
The other occupants of the room startled, spinning to face him.
A pair of guards stood with Isa by the throne. She wore her nightgown, a robe hastily thrown over it, her long red hair in a braid over her shoulder, her feet bare. An unfamiliar man stood next to her, her husband—Emerick—looking just as disheveled, his eyes wide as he stared in wonder at the blazing fireplace.
“How did that—”
“Halt!” a guard yelled, raising his weapon. “Stop right there!”
Tal stalled his approach, pausing in the middle of the room, several feet from the throne.
Isa clasped her robe closed with one hand and peered around the guard. She gasped and brought the other hand to tremble over her open mouth. “Tally?” she said, pushing the guard out of her way. “Tally? Is that you?”
Emerick stared at him, stunned. “Was that… was that magic?”
A flurry of footsteps sounded on the stone as others filed in behind Tal, and he quickly checked over his shoulder. Athlen had shuffled off to the side, leaning heavily on the wall, watching the scene unfold. Garrett was there as well, hair and clothes in disarray, a regiment of guards behind him.
His mouth dropped open when he spied Tal. “Tally?”
Garrett walked toward him, and Tal held up his palm, halting Garrett’s progress. “Where’s Kest?”
His voice was hoarse, but he was loud enough, even over the clang of the warning bell.
“Tally?” Garrett said, his name choked out around a sob. “What… what happened to you? How are you here? Where have you been?”
Tal shook his head. “Where is Kest?” he demanded, the words scraping from his throat.
Brow furrowed, Garrett stood, his hand twitching at his side, as if he wanted to reach out and grab Tal, confirm that he was real. “In his quarters.”
Tal staggered in relief, his knees weak with it. He’d made it. He’d made it. Garrett crossed the distance between them and caught Tal by the elbow. Tal didn’t shrug free; instead he welcomed the surety of Garrett’s grip and the steadiness of his presence. “Place him under protective guard.” Tal fisted his hand in Garrett’s shirt sleeve. “Please, Garrett. You must.”
Garrett tilted his head to the side. “He already is, Tally. How do you know about that?”
Tal didn’t answer. Kest was saved. That had been his primary goal. Now he could move on to the second. Stop Ossetia. Tal narrowed his bloodshot eyes, turning back to face Emerick.
“You,” he breathed.
Emerick’s brow furrowed and his expression was one of confusion. “Me? I… I don’t believe we’ve met. You must be Isa’s youngest brother. I’m Prince Emerick, or just Emerick since we’re brothers now. No need to stand on formality. I’m happy to see you’ve returned.” He pointed to the braziers on the wall. “Was that…” He gulped. “Magic?”
Slipping from Garrett’s grasp, Tal took a step forward, allowing a tendril of power to crackle in the air. Emerick took a step back, bumping into the dais behind him.
“Did you know?” Tal jutted his chin in Emerick’s direction. His heart beat a rabbit’s rhythm. His palms were slick with sweat.
Emerick exchanged a glance with Isa. “Did… did I know what?” He squinted. A bead of sweat rolled from his temple. He pressed his palms together. “Did I know about the magic?”
“No. Did you know what your sister had planned?”
Emerick blinked. “Vanessa?”
Tal gave a sharp nod. He’d finally understood after hearing the conversation in the tavern, and the clues had fallen together as Tal tore across the countryside to save his brother. Emerick hadn’t met a shifter before Kest, regarding his power as a parlor trick, and the cat shifter had referenced her mistress when speaking to the captain. The gold was indeed Ossetia’s stamp—uncirculated, unmarked, from the royal coffers. But there was more than one royal visiting Tal’s home, a woman uninterested in Harth’s court, second in line to her own throne, blocked from power in her kingdom because of their culture’s misogyny, but not uninterested in power herself.
“Did you know what she had done in your name? In Ossetia’s name?”
“Tal,” Isa said, her voice a regal warning. “What are you doing?”
“Saving our kingdom from war.” Despite his fatigue and his haggard appearance, Tal exuded power, the picture of cold calm, though a fire raged within him. He took another step forward. “Where is she?”
Emerick fiddled with the cuff of his nightshirt. “I don’t understand what’s going on. How do you know my sister?”
Garrett joined Tal by his side.
“Tally? You’re not making sense. It’s obvious you’ve been through something awful. You need a good rest and a hearty meal. We can talk this through in the morning.”
“I was first,” Tal said, licking his cracked lips. “Murdered, since I wouldn’t give them what they wanted. Then it was to be Kest to force us to war.” He glanced to Garrett. “Ossetia planned it. Not Mysten. The unmarked gold on the derelict was blood money.”
A tense silence fell over the room, the only sound the clanging of the bell in the courtyard. Tal thought for sure there would be a vocal reaction, bluster, retorts, denials, but there was nothing except Isa pulled taut as a bowstring and the clench of Garrett’s jaw. Something had happened.
“What did they want from you?” Garrett asked, his tone stern, his gaze shrewd as it cut to Emerick.
“My magic. They wanted me to be a weapon. But I didn’t give in. I wouldn’t give it to them, so they tried to kill me on the ship.”
Garrett’s brow furrowed, and Tal saw the moment he pieced together all the information. His hand fell to the hilt of his sword, and the very atmosphere in the room changed. The guards behind them moved as one, following their commander’s lead.
“Is this true, Prince Emerick?”
Emerick’s mouth opened, then shut. His face turned red, and he pointed a shaking finger at Tal. “How dare you? These are baseless accusations! This is ridiculous! Where did you come up with these… these… lies?”
“I’m not lying!” Tal snapped, losing the tight control he had. The fires in the braziers roared, casting the throne room in blinding light, flames licking up the stone. He smothered his magic immediately, but it was enough for Emerick to pale and for the guards’ low chatter to increase.
Garrett’s hand was heavy when it landed on Tal’s shoulder, and it helped to temper him. “Men,” Garrett called, “take Prince Emerick under guard. And find his sister. Alert the queen. I’m certain she will have questions for them. And tell the gate guards to stop ringing that fucking bell!”
“This is preposterous! Isa, my dear, tell them they’re wrong. I would never try to hurt your brothers.”
Tal stiffened. Brothers. If Kest was under protective guard, why hadn’t he been escorted to the throne room?
Isa stepped to the side and allowed the guards to grab Emerick. “We’ll review my brother’s claims. Until then I think it’s best you go with these fine men.”
Tal grabbed Garrett’s arm. “What’s happened?”
Garrett’s answer was cut off as hurried footsteps announced more of the household joining them.
“Emerick!” a woman screeched. Tal glanced to where two women appeared from the inner chambers on the left side—from the wing for honored guests. One looked like Emerick—his sister, Vanessa. The other wore a cloak, head bowed, the hood obscuring her face despite the brightness of the room, but Tal recognized that cloak and the heeled boots she wore.
“What is going on?” Vanessa yelled as she took in the scene. “Have your guards unhand my brother at once! What is the meaning of this?” She pointed at Tal. “Who is this?”
“I’m under arrest!” Emerick wailed. “Vanessa, tell them you didn’t try to kill this child! That you didn’t pay mercenaries for his magic and that you didn’t frame Mysten!”
Vanessa stared at Tal, her expression hardening. She was as beautiful as the rumors claimed, even as she regarded Tal as if he were a bug under glass.
“Vanessa,” Emerick prodded. “Tell them!”
She huffed. “Whatever you think Emerick has done, you’re wrong. He’s not smart enough.” She tossed her hair and narrowed her eyes at Tal. “You must be the little prince. I’m surprised Zeph couldn’t wring the magic out of you. I paid her well enough, though it looks as if she didn’t finish the job.”
Tal clenched his fists. His anger swelled like an incoming tide as he remembered his days on the ship. He tasted cinders on his tongue, and smoke curled from between his fingers as he reined in every desire to turn her to ash. “She tried.” He moved toward her. “I have the scars.”
“I’m sure. I can only imagine what the other kingdoms will say when they hear that King Lon’s great-grandson shares his gifts. Will they march on Harth and overthrow your mother, or will they take you in the shadows and bury you so far under the ground only the worms will know you?”
Garrett crowded behind Tal’s shoulder. “They’ll do neither.”
“Vanessa,” Emerick said. “What have you done?”
Vanessa smiled, cold and cruel. “What you couldn’t, brother. I have put us in a fine position. I’ve started a war we sorely needed to wrest control of the border mines from Mysten. And I’ve secured us a powerful ally, right, little prince?”
Tal bristled.
“Oh”—she waved her hand—“don’t look like that. I gave you a choice. You could’ve easily given up and died on that ship. You were meant to when you wouldn’t prove the rumors true. But now that you have shown the magic that burns inside of you like the rising sun, you’ll be essential in our war. The war that started this morning.”
Tal froze.
“Oh yes,” she said, nodding, jeweled fingers tapping her angular chin, “you are a smidgeon late.”
“Kest,” Tal said, his brother’s name a breathless whisper from his tight throat.
“The assassin may not have killed him, but it was a near thing, and it gave your queen the push she needed to invade Mysten this morning.”
“Arrest her,” Isa said, voice flat with rage. “Arrest her and throw her into the darkest dungeon you can find.”
The guards advanced in tandem, but the cloaked figure moved swiftly and barred the way between them and Vanessa. She pushed up her sleeves to reveal dark, sharp claws, which lengthened as she dropped into a crouch. Conjuring a gust of wind, Tal snapped her hood back and met the dark eyes ringed with gold.
“I should’ve known you weren’t a commoner,” she said, smirking. “You have the stench of royalty all over you.” She sniffed, lip curling in disgust.
“Maybe if you were a dog, you’d have recognized my scent from when you helped kidnap me on the beach.”
She shrugged and studied her claws. “Cats don’t see fine details, especially when their prey struggles and cries as much as you did.”
Garrett unsheathed the sword strapped to his side, the metal sliding through the leather. “Arrest them all.”
Vanessa’s maid bared her teeth. In a blink her clothes shredded as she shifted into her cat form and jumped over the advancing guard. She growled, guttural and fierce, and Tal shuddered, the bite from her jaws fresh in his mind. With attention drawn elsewhere, Vanessa tried to make her escape.
Garrett shoved Tal to the side, sword drawn, but the cat dodged away and ran straight to where Athlen slouched in the corner, unarmed and silently watching everything unfold.
“No!” Tal yelled.
With a jerk of his arm, Tal conjured a wall of flame from the floor. It erupted from the stone in a riot of red and orange, flames like spikes creating a barrier between the cat and Athlen. He thrust out his other hand and, with the force of will, grabbed Vanessa and pulled her backward by her hair.
She screeched. The cat yowled. Athlen skittered away from the flames as the cat skidded to a stop, claws raking across the stone, to save herself from barreling into Tal’s magic. The chamber exploded with movement. Isa ran for Vanessa, tackling her to the floor, and Garrett and his guards sprinted toward the singed cat, swords at the ready. Isa and Vanessa rolled over each other, scratching and fighting, tumbling in a flurry of silk and hair, Isa gaining the upper hand to allow the guards to intervene.
Garrett and his men encircled the enraged cat. She stalked in a line as they approached, eyes focused on Tal, lips curled back over her fangs. She growled when the guards closed in, backed to the wall of the throne room. In a last-ditch effort to escape, she charged, vaulting over the line of raised weapons and landing in front of Tal. She pivoted and took off at a sprint toward the open side door.
Tal shoved his hands outward and the doors slammed shut, blocking her exit.
“There’s no way you’re escaping,” Tal said, sparks popping from his fingertips. “Surrender, please.”
“Run!” Vanessa yelled, struggling against the guards. “Run! They’ll kill you if you’re caught.”
The maid didn’t hesitate. Dodging the guards, she sprinted right toward Garrett, her furred body hurtling toward him. Garrett dropped into a fighting stance, his sword drawn. She didn’t slow. They would collide, and Tal saw the bloody end for one or both if he didn’t act.
Without hesitation Tal cracked a whip of fire that sizzled and sparked. He caught her by the back leg and yanked her off course. She screamed, writhing, but Tal held fast.
He fell to his knees, grunting as his bones banged on the stone.
The doors from the royal household chambers wrenched open, and his mother barged in, a picture of fury in a brocade gown. She was followed by knights, with his little sister, Corrie, right behind them.
She surveyed the scene, sharp gaze settling on Vanessa and Emerick, both in the grip of castle soldiers, and the growling, snapping cat wrapped in a rope of fire. The scent of burned fur filled the room, and the queen wrinkled her nose.
“Detain them all!” she shouted, arm sweeping regally over the scene. “Lock the siblings in the guest quarters under heavy guard.” She pointed to the cat, whose struggles had weakened but who still swiped her massive paws at anyone who dared venture close. “Kill it or throw it in the dungeons.”
Tal jerked on the cord of magic binding the cat, and she shrieked. In a ripple of skin and fur and a cascade of sparks, she transformed back to her human form, and Tal immediately released her. Glaring at Tal, she lay on the floor, on her hands and knees, dark hair draped over her naked body. Garrett tossed a cloak over her, and she clutched it to her as the knights surrounded her and dragged her to the dungeons.
The rest of the guards easily subdued Emerick and Vanessa, escorting them to the guest wing, swords and spears aimed at them. Emerick pleaded with Isa. And Isa, with arms crossed over her chest, agony written in her features, turned away, red braid swinging. Vanessa remained stone-faced despite the cruel curl of her lip, and with head high, she peered down her nose at Tal as she strode past.
“You lost, little prince,” she sneered. “The war has started, and your magic is at the mercy of Ossetia.”
Shaking with fatigue and rage, Tal stood and faced her from the other side of a cross of spears. “I’ll die before I let anyone use my magic for war.”
“A bold claim, but as you’ve proven, you’re exceptionally hard to kill.”
“Enough,” the queen snapped. “Take her away until I can deal with her and him,” she said, indicating the wrecked Emerick. “Thank goodness they finally silenced that blasted bell. The whole kingdom doesn’t need to know what happened here tonight until we’re ready to tell them.”
Once the hall had cleared and all that remained were Tal’s family and Athlen, the queen’s visage softened, and she crossed the floor in a flurry of skirts. She cupped Tal’s face in her hands and stared at him with rapidly filling eyes.
“My son,” she said, voice trembling, her thumb smoothing over the line of his cheek. “My son. You’re alive.”
“Kest,” Tal said. “Is he…? Did they…?”
Her face shadowed. “They tried,” she said. “But your brother is strong. He’s resting under guard.”
“But the war—”
“Shh, my son,” she said, touching her forehead to his. “Let me see you first. I thought you were gone.”
Tal leaned into her touch, eyes closing at the gentleness of her hands, her familiar fragrance washing over him.
“I’m here,” he said.
“How?”
Tal opened his eyes and smiled. He pointed to where Athlen had slid down the wall, sitting on his haunches. Athlen looked as tired as Tal felt, his eyes sunken, his skin pale, his cheeks hollow. Tal’s stomach fluttered as Athlen raised his weary gaze and gave Tal a small, fond smile.
“Him.” Tal placed a hand over his heart. “Athlen saved me. And there was a village girl, Dara, who healed me.”
