Of Darkness and Crowns (16 page)

“Yes, My Liege.” I acknowledge his bow, and he sets off.

Pushing his matted dreads from his eyes, Bax lifts his chin. “And if word comes back…”

“I’m getting my mother no matter what,” I say, ignoring Bale’s hiss in my mind. “We’re all getting what we want.”

Indeed, Prince. Your mother for Kal.

My eyes pinch closed.

I will indulge your human weakness. Just this once. Kill the Nactue leader, and I will help you free your mother.

It’s decided then. I know what I’m willing to sacrifice.

♦
18
♦

Kaliope

“O
PEN THE DOOR.”

Empress Iana stands outside my cell, instructing—to no surprise—her Nactue to allow her into the cell with me. She doesn’t fear any harm. Not from me. I’m still bound to protect her. Though the bond weakens more every hour the more solidified my resolve becomes, I could never hurt her. Or betray her. That’s of my own accord, though. Nothing to do with the bond.

I’m not like them.

She pushes the sleeves of her white robe past her forearms as she enters. Then she takes a seat on the cot. Strange, that an empress would seat herself below anyone. On a foul piece of furniture. It says a lot about her.

I lean against the bars opposite her. My gaze flicks between her and the Nactue—Whip and Kai. The others, I assume, are making preparations for the Otherworlders’ return. Whatever plan has been put into effect to lure Caben.

Although that shouldn’t prove too difficult. Bale wants the goddess relic. I wonder if Empress Iana trusts this strategy so implicitly that she’d put it within Bale’s reach just to bring Caben to me.

“I didn’t want you here,” the empress says, motioning to the holding room. “I wanted you to know that this is not to punish you. I’d never treat one of my most regarded Nactue, one of my sisters, in this manner.” She sighs. “But placing you in anything less
structured
… Well. A room simply cannot hold you. No number of guards can contain you.”

I smile. It feels flat on my face. But she returns the gesture with a full smile of her own. “Yes, because holding me against my will in beautiful accommodations would have made all the difference.”

Her smile falls. “Touché. But I fear you’ve been misled, my Nactue. You’ve fallen far from the path that was chosen for you. And Prince Caben, I believe, is the reason for this. Your feelings for the prince are clouding your judgment.”

To think, I once trusted this woman absolutely. Dreamed of the day when I could sacrifice everything just to protect her. To be near her. It wasn’t that long ago, mere months, that I’d have given my own life for her. That I nearly did.

I decide to reason with her logically. What’s been done to me can’t be legal. “On what grounds am I being held?”

Her gaze locks with mine. “Heresy.”

My stomach bottoms out, and I’m shocked that she didn’t even flinch while delivering this absurd accusation. I shake my head slowly. “That’s an utter falsification. Who made this inane allegation?”

With a steadying breath, she says, “Councilor Herna filed a statement, swearing her word as witness to your deviation into the worship of Bale.” Somehow, I shouldn’t be surprised. Herna never did earn back my full trust. “Others fear you’re one of Councilor Teagan’s conspirators.”

I glance at Teagan in the cell across from me. She’s wearing a wide, disturbing smile, like she’s thoroughly enjoying herself. She is completely mad.

“We’ve resurrected archaic laws to rule the people now, have we?” I say. Just months ago, I’d have been forcefully removed from my station with a mark against my reputation, like the way Carina was dealt with. Now, I could be sentenced to death. Bale is no longer a legend, her religion frowned upon. She’s a real, fear-inducing threat. Not only for the sheer danger she may destroy us, but our customs.

Scrubbing both hands down my face, I pause over my cheeks, releasing a clipped laugh. Lowering my hands to my side, I say, “This will never stand.” And it won’t. Not when it’s taken to Court, and my mother appeals, and so do my friends…if they choose to stand by me.

“Probably,” she replies simply. “But this matter will never be heard by the Court.”

She’s right. I won’t live long enough for that. The least she could do is have the courage to voice as much.

“And I’m sorry, Kaliope,” she continues. “I had hoped you would have accepted your cause back when we first spoke in the palace chapel. I truly believed you would. I told you then how I wished you would embrace your gift, remember?” She stands and steps forward, as if she’s going to reach out for me, but stops just inches shy. “But now is your chance to do just that. Can you not see this?”

I remember our conversation well. It’s one that shapes people. The empress I adored embraced me instead of rejecting me. I felt special then, and I’ve since relied on that acceptance, depended on her belief in me to further my own approval of myself. But just like so many other changes in my life, whether from my eyes being opened, experience gained, or the fact that I’m not done being molded into the woman I’m to be just yet—I am no longer that ashamed girl seeking approval.

“Empress, I have taken vows. Have sworn my very life to my true
cause
. However”—I uncross my arms to stand before her—“those promises were not made to the goddesses. I swore my life to you, and only on a slightly lesser scale, my family and friends. And that includes Prince Caben. I refuse to take any action in this war where my oath to protect those I love is broken. I will fight whoever attempts to end Caben’s life.” I take in a quick breath, feel the mercury rising. “I am a person, who breathes and feels…I may have been designed by the goddesses, but I am first
me
. I’m not a weapon forged for their glory. Damn the goddesses and their petty wars.”

The shock on her face happens subtly. Her widening amethyst eyes. The parting of her pink lips. I’ve seen the empress at her worst—near death—and yet she never lost her composure. It fills me with remorse that I’m the reason she falters now.

But I meant every word. I won’t sacrifice any person for beings—divine or not—that consider us so…disposable.

Clearing my throat, I shrug off the uncomfortable silence. Then look to the two members of the Nactue. I don’t want to trade blows with them. I hope that it doesn’t come to that. I’ll never raise my sword against them with intent to kill—I’ll die first—but I won’t allow them to blindly obey orders and take a life for a cause we don’t fully understand.

Half of them joined because they believed in
our
cause. In ending the war with the Otherworld, in ending the threat of Bale, so that no other would lose the people they love. Serving Empress Iana, someone they believed would lead them to that victory, was a part of that cause.

I don’t know how they feel about the orders they’ve been given now. Only that as two of them stand here—one from Cavan and the other sprung from the Reckoning—if they plan to stand with the empress, then they stand against me.

More than anything, I wish Lilly were here. I need to look into her eyes and understand what she’s feeling, thinking. Because maybe it’s me. Maybe they all trust the empress, believe this is the only clear choice, and I’m the one who’s wrong. I just don’t know anymore.

“Kaliope,” Empress Iana says my name so low, I almost don’t hear. But I look at her. “No one appreciates your struggle more than me and your sisters, I assure you. But this is what must happen to end this war. To assure that Bale does not take form in our world. It was pre-ordained long before either of us existed. I can only pray that, by the end, you will understand we’ve all been given little choice.”

I can’t stop the laugh that tumbles out. “The excuse that all is the will of the goddesses. It doesn’t pardon your choices, Empress. You do
have
a choice.
I
have a choice. And I choose not to become Bale’s vessel, and not to let Caben die.”

“Prince Caben is nearly here,” she says.

I shake my head. “How do you know that?”

“We’ve made sure to offer something that he, despite the influence of the dark goddess, cannot refuse.” At the confused look on my face, she clarifies, “His mother.”

“What?” Icy tingles prick my cheeks as the blood drains from my face.

She walks toward the cell door, allowing her sleeves to fall to her wrists. “You once asked me if I was certain that Caben still resided within himself. If there was a part of him able to fight against Bale’s hold. And I hesitated. My answer was that I wasn’t sure.”

I remember. When I first came to her after we escaped the Otherworld. I needed to know for sure that Caben was still…Caben. That he could be saved. That I could save him. And that hesitation she gave me, that moment of pause, told me enough. It was just a second, but it ignited the hope within me that has pushed me forward ever since.

“Despite Bale’s nonstop attempts to take the goddess relic and the shard, Prince Caben himself had other reasons for leading the raid on his own palace. His mother. He came here for her.”

This is true. The Caben I knew, who spoke of his mother with the love of a boy, would want his sickly mother far away from any danger. He’s untrusting of everyone, and would only believe his mother is safe with him. It renews my faith that he’s still in there. He’s still fighting.

Keep fighting, Caben
.

“And you used his mother to bait him to his own death?” An ill feeling lump settles in my stomach. I shake my head. “How…?”

“How could I do this? How could I sink so low?” She lifts her head higher. “The how is unimportant. I hope you never have to make the difficult choices I’ve had to make, Kaliope. Like the prince himself has had to make. Just understand that the end result is what matters here.”

Anger flares beneath my skin, the mercury heating with my dread. After what his father did, taking his mother away from him and putting her in a mental ward, the last thing that needs to happen here is his own Council—
his people
—betraying him by hurting his mother.

“What have you done?”

The cell door slams shut, and I flinch.

“Kaliope, I’ve always had faith in you, as well have your sisters. You must prepare yourself now. Pray. Ask for guidance and for strength.” Empress Iana grasps the bar, her soft eyes pleading. “Soon, you’ll meet Bale. The true essence of her, and you need to be prepared. Use this time wisely.” She bows her head.

Taking two long strides, I’m at the cell door and touching her hand, imploring, “You’re not even going to let me say my goodbyes?” I squeeze her fingers. Not hard, just enough for her to feel my anguish. “To my mother, or to my friends? The Nactue?”

She removes her hand from mine without looking at me. Then slowly, she raises her eyes to mine. I see the sorrow in them, but it’s little consolation for what she’s doing to me. What she’s done. “You have so little faith in our goddesses, and in yourself, that you don’t believe you’ll triumph?”

I back away from the door and look to Whip and Kai. They’ve stayed respectfully silent this whole time. They’re faces reflect the fear coursing through me. I’m not sure if it’s fear that I won’t survive, or fear that I will.

“I forgive you,” I tell them both. “Let the others know…I forgive them. But only for what has been done to me, not Caben.”

Kai swallows. I watch her throat bob, and I know she wants to say something badly.

Empress Iana turns to her. “Give her the message.”

Kai approaches the cell hesitantly and pulls her shoulders back. “From all the Nactue, we believe in you, Kal.”

Her words are simple enough, predictable enough, yet there’s something in her expression. Some
other
message I’m supposed to receive. I only nod, unable to voice words around the lump forming in my throat.

“Farrah be with you, Protector Kaliope.” This is said in unison by all the women in the room. All save Teagan.

I never thought those words would bring me so much dread. Or despair.

♦
19
♦

Caben

S
OMETHING IS BOUND TO
go wrong.