Adrienne (30 page)

There was no wind and yet Adrienne knew she was falling. Her head pounded from the noise, which remained constant even though she covered her ears. It affected her whole body. Her vision had crackling fuzz over everything, though there was nothing to see, and her skin tingled painfully. She twisted her body this way and that, trying to relieve the discomfort. She felt herself losing consciousness again.

She clenched her fists against her temples and screamed, “Stop.”

Her scream was the last thing she heard before she lost the battle with the madness and fainted.

Guards rushed up the throne dais to aid their king. He looked at the woman sprawled across his lap in confusion. She had dropped out of thin air and surprised the hell out of everyone in the room, including him.

“Your Majesty,” one of the guards yelled. They pulled their swords, ready to do battle.

A mere gesture from him stopped them.

The queen, who stood slightly behind his throne, stepped forward and laid a hesitant hand on the girl’s forehead. “She seems feverish. Perhaps a student from the mage school who misused a spell, my lord husband?”

He stood with the girl in his arms and regarded her. “No errant spell can breach the barriers in place around this palace. You know that, wife. This girl is not here by accident.” With a nod to the man closest to him, he handed the girl over, relieving his burden.

The man looked at the girl and then his king. “What would you have me do with her, King Hollace?”

“Take her to the infirmary and contact Caradoc to see to her. Keep her under close guard. I want to know the instant she awakes,” he ordered gruffly. “She has some explaining to do.” His gaze followed the girl as the guard carried her away.

How had the girl breached the barrier spells around the palace? The mages who constructed the barrier had made sure it was impregnable. Hollace knew of no one with enough magickal prowess to break it.

Chapter Twenty

“She’s coming around. Get King Hollace,” Caradoc said. He leaned over the girl when she looked at him. “You’re okay now.”

“Whe… Where am I?”

King Hollace answered from the doorway, “You are in my palace, young woman. The question is how did you open a portal into my throne room, and for what purpose?” He searched over her with an angry brown gaze.

Caradoc opened his mouth to speak.

“Silence, old man. I want to hear from her,” Hollace barked. “Answer me, woman.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

King Hollace took a threatening step towards the bed. The queen stopped him with a hand on his arm. He glared back at her and she smiled in response. She turned to the girl on the bed and said, “I am Queen Tacita. This—” she motioned to Hollace, “—is King Hollace. Who are you?”

Caradoc glared at the woman, then bowed his head to hide his expression when she looked at him. He couldn’t stand her. She was too tall. Her height matched her husband’s and that put her head over Caradoc. She shared Hollace’s red hair color, but her eyes were blue instead of brown. Her frame was toned and her clothes were cut to show it. She would be a beautiful woman if not for her height.

He glanced at the mystery woman. She smiled at Tacita and Hollace. The girl was either too stupid to realize the trouble she was in, or a very cunning actress.

She answered, “I am…” And stopped. She whispered, “I…I don’t know.”

“You have forgotten your name?” Tacita asked with concern.

Hollace snorted. “Don’t encourage her, wife. She is faking to get out of punishment.” He signaled to Caradoc.

Tacita turned to her husband in shock. “Is that necessary? The child obviously has gone through an ordeal.”

“And she will go through much more if I find out she is lying to me.”

Caradoc pulled an orb out of the air and held it up to the girl. It turned dark grey, which caused him to push an agitated hand through his dark brown, close-cropped hair. He rubbed his bare chin, missing his beard in that moment. He had to shave it off when it started revealing his age by going grey, but he missed how stroking it helped him concentrate.

This was a mess.

He turned to Hollace and shook his head. “She isn’t lying, Your Majesty. She has no memory the orb can discern. Someone used magicks to wipe it clean—for what purpose, we can only guess.”

“See, my lord husband, the child is not lying to you,” Tacita said. She stepped forward and took the girl’s hand. “Can you remember anything about yourself—anything at all? Perhaps the spell did not fully do its job.”

The girl closed her eyes. “Ad…Ad…” She stopped with a grimace of pain.

“Adele. Does that sound familiar?” Tacita asked hopefully.

The girl shook her head.

“Well, Adele shall be your name until you can tell us what it really is. Alright…Adele?”

“Adele,” she whispered back.

Tacita stood and turned to Hollace. “My lord husband, please meet Adele,” she introduced.

Caradoc chose that moment to interject. “I don’t know if it is wise to be so jovial, Your Majesty. The girl… Adele has an abundance of latent magickal power. It is true her memory loss is magickal in nature and the process can be reversed, but she could have easily inflicted this amnesia on herself to avoid persecution.”

“Doesn’t the Guild usually use memory erasure spells as punishment?” Hollace asked in a bored manner.

Caradoc tried not to show his surprise at Hollace’s question. He didn’t know Hollace knew anything about the sole Mage Guild he allowed on Kakra’s soil. “Yes, yes. But, Your Majesty, the Guild would usually put a tracking spell on the individual. There is no such spell on…Adele. The spell could easily be someone’s idea of revenge. Though that doesn’t explain how she ended up in your throne room.”

Hollace glared at Adele. “No, it doesn’t.” He turned his attention to Caradoc. “She is under your charge, Caradoc. She will stay with you. You will find a way to reverse the spell, and then you will give me my answers.”

Tacita placed herself in front of Adele. “A spell this powerful cannot be ignored. The person casting it is strong and they cast it on Mistress Adele, which means she is important to them. If they find that we have treated her badly, it could be equally bad for us.”

Hollace responded with a snort. “I wouldn’t call sending her to live with Caradoc ‘treating her badly’, wife.”

“If she is the daughter of a powerful mage, do you think her father would see living with Caradoc as ideal?” she asked with her eyes lowered. “Remember, my lord husband, not all kingdoms are like Kakra and Ulan. Other kingdoms allow their daughters to inherit positions of power. If she—” she motioned to Adele, “—is from one such kingdom, casting her out would make her guardians our enemies.”

Hollace’s gaze rested on Adele. His fist clenched at his side. “Your council is sound, wife. She can stay. Messengers will be sent to make inquiries as to her true identity. Satisfied?”

“Thank you. Until such time as that happens, Adele is no threat to anyone,” she said quietly.

“Now that you have gained her entry to my palace, wife, what shall she do? I will not have a listless mage wandering about my palace unchecked.”

She clapped her hands together in delight. “Chandra,” she answered.

“What of our daughter, wife?”

“Chandra has need of a companion. Adele could fill that role while Caradoc figures out the mystery.” Tacita smiled at Adele. “You will like Chandra, Mistress Adele. She has recently had a child and is in dire need of company close to her own age, since her husband is away. I shall retrieve her now.”

Adele stared after Queen Tacita as she ran from the room. Her gaze turned to Hollace, who glared at her. She held his gaze until he looked away.

Tacita returned quickly with Chandra in tow. Chandra did not take after her mother. She didn’t seem to take after either parent. She was shorter, with blonde hair and green eyes. Where Tacita was tall, toned and willowy, Chandra was of average height and curvaceous. Her ample breasts were probably the envy of her mother, as Chandra filled out the halter top more than her mother ever could.

Chandra took one look at Adele and turned to her mother. She spoke in an angered voice, but the language differed from what everyone had used a moment ago.

Hollace raised an eyebrow at his daughter’s words. He opened his mouth to reply but Adele said, “Amnesia is not catching, Lady Chandra.”

Everyone in the room looked at her in surprise. Hollace spoke first. “How do you know Kontarian?”

“I…I don’t know. I simply understood the words and responded in like fashion.”

Hollace asked in Inikon, “And how many languages do you know?”

Without hesitation, Adele answered in kind. “I’m not sure, Your Majesty.”

Hollace tried Nashan next. “Your accent seems flawless no matter what language you speak. That is a useful talent. One could never tell where you are from.”

“I accept the compliment, Your Majesty, but I don’t know why I remember these languages and yet cannot remember my own name.”

Hollace switched back to Kakran and asked Caradoc, “Is this part of the spell?”

“I cannot be sure, Your Majesty. There are different types of erasure spells. This one might have only erased her identity and memories of herself while it left everything else intact,” Caradoc explained. “Until I start trying to crack the spell—”

Hollace cut him off with a gesture. “Fine,” he barked. He turned to Chandra and said, “She is your new companion. You have complained incessantly of wanting one. And, though your status as princess has diminished to a mere lady, I have listened. She is your only option,
Lady
Chandra.”

Chandra showed her distaste at being called lady. She whispered, “Thank you, Your Majesty. I accept Mistress Adele as my new companion.” She bowed and departed the room. Tacita followed after her.

Hollace glanced briefly at Adele before he left, as well.

Adele looked at Caradoc and he stared back at her. He sighed and shook his head. She mimicked his sentiment.

* * *

Mushira waited for Malik’s return in the throne room. The Elite personal guards, already on one knee with their heads bowed, waited with her. They had waited like statues, not moving a muscle, for the last five hours.

Nimat opted not to be present. She was too scared. Hani stood by Mushira with her head bowed, ready to face her punishment for failing as Adrienne’s guard.

Malik was scheduled to return any minute. Mushira dreaded what she had nominated herself to do. Her hands were sore from wringing them together all through the night and most of the day. While contacting Malik and informing him of Adrienne’s kidnapping would have been easier, she didn’t have the courage. She had hesitated so the Elite guards could search for Adrienne and bring her back before Malik found out. All their searching was in vain, as there were no leads.

She looked at the throne dais. Feyr sprawled in his usual spot between the thrones with Mischief beside him. The cub pushed at his father and whined, but Feyr wouldn’t move. Seeing this, Mischief cuddled close to him.

Feyr didn’t wish to sadden his son, but he couldn’t summon up the strength to move. He focused all his energy on breathing, the mage metal lodged in his body causing him tremendous pain. The chancellors had tried to remove it but with no luck, since it negated all the spells they tried. One and all decided that Malik would have better luck. If not, the metal would have to be cut from his body, which might kill him.

Mushira thought back on the recounting of the incident. The barrier that kept the Elite guards from Adrienne collapsed without warning and they arrived at the portal in time to see it close. No amount of tracing spells could determine the destination of the portal, or the originator.

None of this would be news Malik wanted to hear. News Mushira had to impart…now.

A portal opened behind Malik’s throne. Mushira had planned to face her king on her feet. She found her legs wouldn’t support her, and she dropped to her knees, folding in on herself.

Malik passed through the portal. He only had to look at the people before him to know something was wrong.

He asked in a quiet voice, “Where is Adrienne, Mushira? Why are you here and not her?”

Mushira couldn’t answer. Fear held her silent. Tears tracked down her cheeks and she shook her head in answer to Malik’s words. It was all she could do.

“Mushira?”

She glanced up and gave Malik full view of her tear-stained features. Before she could say anything, Malik shouted, “No. Where is she? Where is Adrienne?”

“Gone, Majesty,” Hani answered. She remained on her feet. “She was stolen out of the gardens yesterday.”

Malik rushed down the dais to stand in front of Mushira and Hani. “What do you mean she was stolen from the garden? How?”

Mushira took a shaky breath. On her third attempt, she answered, “A confusion spell, My King. A confusion spell hit her before a portal opened beneath her.”

“Where were you?” Malik spat.

Indivar answered, “We were unable—”

“Not you,” Malik roared. He turned his full attention to Hani. He stepped into her and grabbed her by the throat. “Where were you?”

Hani answered in a raspy whisper, “Preparing Queen Adrienne’s clothing for lunch, Majesty.”

Malik released her, then backhanded her across the face. The force of his blow sent her flying. She uttered not a sound. “I did not hire you to be her lady’s maid, you little bitch. I hired you to be her third. It does not matter if the entire Ulanian army followed her every step, you should be there, as well.” He advanced on Hani.

Mushira rushed out, “Feyr tried to hold her… He tried to hold Queen Adrienne, but the attacker used mage metal on him.”

This stopped Malik, and he looked up at Feyr, noticing the tired expression on his cat’s face. He lifted his hand and made a sweeping motion. The mage metal ripped from Feyr’s body and caused the great cat to scream in pain. Mischief ran from his father’s side and hid under Adrienne’s throne.

The mage metal floated to Malik’s hand. He stared down at it. Someone attacked Adrienne in the palace. Who?