Gods Of Blood And Fire (Book 1) (13 page)

Agnes stomped her foot. “Like it or not you are to be the next ruler of Bandara. I suggest you start acting like it or the nobles of this Kingdom will tear you apart.”

“I’m fifteen and a woman, no one is going to listen to me anyway.” Agnes shook her head. Your father loves you, child and he believes in you, despite the way you are. I hope you won’t disappoint him. I will go down and tell the Lords you will meet with them shortly.”

“Tell them whatever you want, I’m not leaving this room.” Agnes stomped out of the room and Raygan locked the door behind her. The Princess went to her window the sky was beginning to darken. There was a storm coming.

She heard a very soft knock on her door again. “Bella, I told you I didn’t need anything.”

A voice from the hallway answered very softly. “It’s not Bella.”

Cain! What would she say to him? He must be furious. “Open the door Raygan. I want to talk.” He didn’t sound upset, maybe he was here to tell her it had all been a big mistake. She turned the key and opened the door. Cain stepped into her room and softly closed the door. He had a vacant look on his face. He walked over and stood right in front of her. Raygan had never noticed how much taller he was than her. “Please, don’t be mad at me, Cain; I will go to Father and...” Raygan never finished the sentence.

The back of Cain’s hand stuck her across the mouth, knocking the small crown she wore off her head and sending her straight to the floor. Raygan had never even been so much as spanked in her life. Now blood dripped from her busted lips on to the beautiful carpet that cover the floor of her room.

“I think you have talked to Father enough, you treacherous little bitch.” He moved toward her like a monster in the old stories. “How long did it take you to get him to do this to me? I never said anything when he spent all his time with you.” Cain clenched his fists as he spoke. “I never complained when he put you before me time and time again. Not one word passed my lips when he laid everything you ever asked for at your feet.” He walked slowly around the Princess. “My whole life I stood in your shadow, Sister, and watched as he gave all his love and attention to you and never did I once complain. I took the leftovers of Father’s love because I knew that he had entrusted me with Bandara. The one thing I had with our father, the one thing we had together. In the end you found a way to destroy that too, didn’t you?” His accusation’s hurt her as much as the back of his hand.

Raygan tried to rise, getting as far as her hands and knees before Cain kicked her in the stomach, flipping the tiny young woman completely over on to her back. She could not get her breath, and it was agony to even try. She could hear him rage on. “What was it, dear sister? Did you whisper in his ear the whole time I was in Tyro with your sweet lies and our mother’s looks, did you tell him it was your heart’s desire to be the Queen?”

She was just getting her breath when Cain stomped down on her abdomen, this time she heard a bone snap. He loomed over top of her looking down with contempt. “How did you do it, little sister? Did you take our mother’s place in his bedroom? Did you become Father’s whore?” Cain jumped on top of his sister and straddling her small body and began to scream in her face, spittle flying from his mouth. “Answer me, you worthless little bitch. I want to know how you did it!” He began to pound her face with his fists. Her head bounced off the floor with each blow. The last thing she remembered was his hands sliding around her throat.

“Cain, what the hell are you doing?” Talorn said as he and his father came through the door of Raygan’s room.

“Talorn, would you be so kind as to stop the Prince from killing his sister, please,” William asked casually. Talorn was already halfway across the room. He grabbed Cain by the arms and pulled him off the bloody girl. “You will never sit the phoenix throne, you treacherous whore,” the Prince screamed.

Cain struggled to break, free still kicking at the helpless girl lying on the floor. The Prince couldn’t free himself, Talorn’s strength was too great. The big knight began to slowly pull him back. William walked over to the struggling Prince. “Highness, I think you need some air. Talorn, if you please.” William pointed to the door and Talorn dragged Cain from the room. As he wrestled the struggling Prince out the door, Bishop Lyfair and Finn Selmac came in.

“I think the Princess is in need of your administrations my good surgeon,” William said. Selmac knelt down over Raygan and started assessing the damage her brother had inflicted on her.

Bishop Lyfair looked down at Raygan’s bloody face. “What in the name of Almighty God happened?”

“It seems the Prince thought that his sister’s treachery should not go unpunished. Cain has more backbone than I gave him credit for.” William smirked.

“You call that backbone? He has savagely beaten his sister, a mere fifteen-year-old girl, and you think that shows some kind of courage?”

“Indeed I do, Father, the Princess betrayed her brother. He may have not chosen the best way to punish her, but there is no doubt of her guilt.” Lord Blackthorn looked at the guards standing in the doorway.

“Would you be so good as to close the door? I don’t think we need any more people to see this than already have. Come Finn, let’s get her onto the bed. ” Lyfair walked to the door nodded to the guards and closed it.

As the other two men put the Princess on her bed, Lyfair looked around the room. The Bishop had never been inside the young girl’s chambers before. The lavish furnishings were worth a fortune. The gold that had been spent on Raygan’s room was almost sinful. The Princess was spoiled and willful, but Lyfair didn’t believe she deserved the abuse her brother had inflicted on her. He knew the empty-headed Princess had not contrived to steal the throne from Cain. Anyone that believed that the comely little dunce could accomplish that was foolish.

“How bad is it, Finn?” the Bishop asked. “She will live, but I fear her looks will never be the same. Her head is split open in the back I believe her nose and jaw are both broken, and it might be a couple of days before she can see. Both eyes are swollen completely shut. I think the worse is a couple of broken ribs. She is young, she will heal quickly, provided he didn’t break something inside her head.”

“See to her then, Finn.” The Bishop let out a huge sigh. By the looks of her, he thought the damage would be worse, though the conceited girl would have a fit when she found out her looks had been ruined.

“Selmac can take care of the Princess. Come Father, we have business to attend to,” William said.

Lyfair looked at Blackthorn confused. “What business?” the Bishop asked.

“We should go to check on the King.”

***

Talorn pushed Cain into his room. Cain whirled around, face red with rage and tears in his eyes. “Keep your hands off me, knight.” He dumped over the writing desk that sat in the corner of his room then ripped a painting of his mother off the wall and smashed it against his wardrobe. Talorn grabbed the Prince in a bear hug and tried to keep the young man from wrecking the entire room.

“Cain, it’s over, stop this madness, do you realize you almost killed your sister?” Talorn said a little harsher than he intended.

The Prince stopped struggling and looked at his hands. His eyes grew wide when he noticed the blood that stained them. Talorn eased his grip on Cain as the Prince walked slowly across the room staring at his bloody hands. “She betrayed me, Talorn, she played me false the whole time, always acting like she wanted nothing to do with the crown while the whole time she was undermining me with Father so she could get her hands on Bandara.” He went to his dresser and poured some water from a pitcher into a large washbasin. He began to furiously scrub at his hands trying to wash the blood away. “She has been plotting this since I left for Asqutania; she has stolen the crown right out of my hands.” The Prince snatched a towel off the dresser and dried his hands feverishly.

Talorn looked at Cain and scoffed. “Do you really believe that? Raygan? When did she hatch this diabolical scheme while she was trying on dresses or picking flowers in the garden? Think, Cain. It’s like my father said, the King’s illness has finally driven him mad. You know no one in their right mind would believe he would name Raygan heir. In your wildest dreams, can you imagine her as the Queen of Bandara? You have nothing to worry about, the throne still belongs to you.”

Cain ran his damp hands through his hair, slicking it back down to his head but his eyes were still wild. “How can you say that? The whole court was there! They heard him, even if I am crowned now there will always be questions, suspicions. The commoners will say I usurped the crown from Raygan; you know how they love the little sow. There will always be a shadow over my reign.”

Talorn walked over to Cain’s writing desk and set it back up. He noticed a bottle of wine that had fallen to the floor without breaking. Talorn picked it up and pulled the cork. He picked up two cups and filled one handing it to the Prince. “Here drink this.” Cain drank it straight down. He sat down on the bed looking exhausted.

Talorn poured himself a cup of wine and stood before the Prince. “There will be no questions, everyone knows your father intended the throne to be yours, so calm yourself. What you should be thinking about is what you have done to Raygan. What happened, why did you do it?”

“I went to talk to her and find out why she had stolen my birthright. When I saw her, I lost my temper. I would have killed her if you hadn’t stopped me.”

Talorn looked at the Prince with disappointment. “It would have been for nothing. Raygan has no mind for politics or intrigue. I don’t believe for a second she tried to steal the throne from you.”

Talorn sat down beside Cain. “How are you going to explain what you did to her?”

Cain gritted his teeth. “I don’t have to explain anything to her, she is just a girl; she may be special to my father and the peasants of this Kingdom, but she is nothing but a spoiled little bitch to me. She will never forgive me anyway, so there is no point in trying to make her understand.”

“Give her time and stay away from her. I know you don’t care about her forgiveness, but I do. It will be better for us if you can make amends.”

Cain looked confused. “For us? You should have no grievance with me.”

Talorn stood up and walked toward the door. “Have you forgotten she is to be my wife?”

“Of course not, but…”

Talorn turned a flash of anger in his eye. “Cain, you are my friend and soon you’ll be my King, but I want you to know if anything like this happens again I will avenge her, make no mistake about that.” With that the most dangerous knight in Bandara walked out, leaving the Prince sitting alone.

Cain got up and closed his door. He didn’t really care what his sister thought or Talorn for that matter, he would kill anyone who stood between him and the throne. He needed Talorn, he also needed the Blackthorn fortune, so he would have to go easy, but he didn’t like to be threatened.

The Prince walked over and looked into the large oval mirror that hung on his wall. He thought of his sister on the floor of her room, her face beaten until she was unrecognizable and his hands wrapped around her throat and he gave a half grin to himself in the mirror.

***

Quietly, Bishop Lyfair followed Lord William into the King’s quarters. Blackthorn had not told him anything. He had no idea why the Lord wished to speak to the King. Lyfair knew as well as everyone else the King’s change in heirs would not be honored. Raygan would never be allowed to have any power in Bandara, let alone be its Queen.

They entered the royal chambers to find His Majesty was sitting on a silk divan. Two of the Royal Guard dressed in the red and gold of Bandara stood at each end of the divan. One of Selmac’s apprentices was attending the King. “I want to see my children now,” the aged King demanded. “I have to explain to them what I intended and why I made the decision. Did you hear me? Damn you, do as I say bring them to me now.”

It had been a long time since Bishop Lyfair had heard that much fire in the King’s voice, it cracked the air like a whip. The King noticed them as he closed the door. “Marin, William, tell these fools to bring Cain and Raygan, I must speak with them. They won’t listen to me.”

The surgeon attending the King stood up. “The King is very distressed, I thought it best he have no visitors.” The young healer said, “Of course, sound thinking. Too much excitement in one day can be bad for the heart. Physician…?”

“Bryce Averton, my lord.”

“Bryce, why don’t you and the guards step out, perhaps you should go find Lord Selmac and see if there is anything particular the King may need. Father Lyfair and I would like to talk to His Majesty alone.” Lord Blackthorn was smiling as he spoke. Lyfair did not like it. When he smiled like that the Lord didn’t look quite sane.

“As you like, my lord.” Averton nodded to the Bishop as he and the two guards walked out of the room. Lyfair noticed that Averton looked relived to be leaving. He wished he could leave with the young healer; he didn’t want to be here either, but he had chosen this path and he would see it through, God willing. He told himself it was for the Church after all, besides he was sure they could calm the old King down. He and William would have the old man back in his sick bed in no time and the plan could proceed.

Lord Blackthorn slid down on the divan beside the King. The Bishop remained standing, hands folded together as if ready to pray.