Oubliette (Cloud Prophet Trilogy) (13 page)

I remembered a passage in one of his books. It was in a later book. A series of rantings that made no sense about gateways and death. I’d thought he was worried about his own death, but now, maybe he was worried about the deaths that would be caused by his portal conundrum.

Chapter Seventeen

Mark flicked his fingers, opening a portal to my chamber in front of us. We held hands and slipped through, away from the dark, cold cave to my warm bedroom.

“Which book is it?” Mark asked as he stepped through the portal behind me.

“It’s on the bookshelf, over there.” I pointed beyond the portal. He flicked his fingers, and closed it. I didn’t dare reach out for the string I’d pulled before heading into the portal. I had to trust it would still be there.

“I don’t care what book you’re looking for or that you left the palace again.” I jumped and spun around. Krissin stood in my doorway. “I don’t even care that your boyfriend is gifted,” she said, sweeping into the room, her voluminous skirts flowing behind her.

“He’s not,” I said, protecting Mark. Until he was ready to reveal himself to everyone, I wouldn’t let on that I knew anything.

“I don’t care,” Krissin said. “There’s more important things going on here than whatever you two were sneaking off to do. Or why you lost your wig. I don’t even want to know.” Krissin rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out. I could only image what she must be thinking.

Mark was focused on Krissin. I hoped he was looking for walls in her mind, to finally prove that she couldn’t be trusted. He broke away, looked at me and nodded his head. Krissin was clean. She wouldn’t have been my first choice of trusted confidants.

“We have a problem here,” Krissin said. “Someone leaked information about your men being camped nearby.” She nodded at Mark. “I don’t know who it was, but I’m sure it wasn’t either of you. My father told me to trust you and share this information with you as soon as you arrived, but I didn’t. I should have and now everything is ruined.”

“Ruined?” I asked. I was tiring of Krissin’s melodramas.

“The plan to save our people. It’s been compromised. Father thought it already was which is why he stayed behind when he sent you through the portal.

“You knew he wasn’t coming with me?” I couldn’t believe her! She’d blamed me in front of everyone. I felt terrible, as if I’d doomed Nemison to some terrible fate and all along it was part of her plan. I’d never met anyone so cruel.

“I knew you were in the closet. I was waiting for you to come out, but you never did so I finally opened the door. I had no idea what was going on in there,” Krissin said. “You got lucky that those guards came after you. It gave him a good excuse to stay behind.”

Before I could answer her, the air shimmered and Nemison appeared in my room. I could barely see him, but there was no mistaking who it was. I resisted the urge to race to him when I saw Krissin gently place a hand in the air. For a moment she seemed tender, though it was hard for me to reconcile an emotion like that with Krissin.

Nemison reached out, as if to take his daughter’s hand. Two people, so commanding and irascible, showing each other such deep affection. I felt terrible for ever having questioned either of them.

Nemison looked up and pulled his hand back while Krissin stood next to the vision. The brave girl was now behaving like a young, doting child.

“Reychel,” Nemison said, “nice to see you looking so well. Mark,” he said with a nod of his head.

“I can’t stay long,” Nemison said. He looked in the distance, as if he was reassuring himself no one was around. “I’m in prison right now, but I don’t want to raise suspicions.”

“Why don’t you just port back here to us? We need you,” Krissin whined.

“Oh, they think one of their gifted slaves has my gift shielded. He’s not nearly as powerful as I am, but it’s enough to keep me here. It took me this long to save up enough of my gift to project this vision. I’m just sorry I didn’t reach out sooner. I assumed you kids had everything under control, but Krissin told me differently tonight.”

“Daddy appeared to me and asked how preparations were going here. When I told him that people knew the Sons were hiding out at the base of the mountain, he was so angry. Particularly when I told him I hadn’t confided in you yet.”

“My daughter is too headstrong sometimes, but she means well,” Nemison said.

I wondered if he knew she admitted killing the last leader within moments of meeting me. She was more than headstrong, she was downright enamored with herself.

“I don’t have much time,” Nemison said. “My guard is asleep and I don’t want him to wake up and hear me talking to you. I need the two of you to work closely with Krissin to discover who is sabotaging our plan and why. I was afraid you wouldn’t trust her if she tried telling you herself.”

I shrugged and looked at Krissin. Not my first choice of ally, but if she was our only ally then I’d take her.

“What do we need to do?” I asked.

“Find out who is doing this and stop them.”

“How?” I asked, my eye on Krissin. I didn’t know if she’d be willing to whip out a bottle of poison to stop them.

“If our enemy is gifted, then shield them and never leave them alone,” Nemison chuckled. “Krissin knows how to contact me if I’m needed. But don’t kill anyone.” Nemison looked pointedly at his daughter. Krissin sighed.

“I won’t kill anyone,” she promised.

“I don’t want your boyfriend killing anyone, either,” he said, looking at Krissin.

“How did you know about him?” She gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. I wanted to laugh, but didn’t. For the first time, she seemed natural, normal.

I exchanged a look with Mark, wondering what he knew. He smiled and shrugged. Maybe he knew a lot more than I thought.

“Ace won’t be killing anyone. At least not tonight,” Mark said. “He’s taking care of something else.”

Nemison’s eyebrow rose as he turned his head to look at me.

“Do I want to know what you’ve been up to?” he asked.

“I’ve been searching for the answers to my gift, like everyone has asked me to do,” I added.

“Find anything?” Nemison asked.

“Just a room inside a cave filled with seven portals — six leading to certain death, one to the answers I need.”

Nemison and Krissin both stared at us.

“How did you get in there?” he asked.

“We tricked the guards to leaving their post for a moment while Reychel, Alia and I snuck in. Ace was our annoying drunk they hauled off to lock up. We didn’t see the portal while we were in there, we only discovered it after coming back here.”

“You found it?” Nemison asked. “I have to assume you didn’t enter any of the portals.” He eyed us up and down, and found us healthy and alive.

“We didn’t,” I said. “But we need to. And I think I know where to find the answers.”

“Good job, Reychel,” Nemison said. “Johna had a lot of faith in you from the start. I know you won’t let any of us down. But I’d better stop before the guard hears me.”

Krissin reached out to her father once more. He blew her a kiss.

“Trust each other,” he said as his vision faded away.

I sighed, leaning into Mark. He put his arm around me.

“Stop it, you two,” Krissin commanded. “I don’t want to see it.”

“And if Ace was here?” Mark asked, a lazy smile spreading across his face.

Krissin stamped her foot and then a blush spread across her cheeks.

“Leave her alone,” I said, aware how I’d felt when people teased me about Mark. It was the first time I’d ever come to Krissin’s defense. But now we were allies, fighting together against the same enemy. If only we knew who that was.

Chapter Eighteen

I slipped under the covers, anxious to get some sleep. The day had been too long, full of too many bad surprises. I snuggled with my blanket, hoping to escape the world, and my responsibilities, for one night.

My door burst open and Ace ran in, followed by Mark and Krissin.

“Get up, now!” Ace barked at me. “Alia just entered that door you told us about. I can’t be certain she’s meeting someone, but this is the first time she’s gone in there since yesterday.”

I jumped out of bed and threw a robe over my bedclothes.

Krissin grabbed Ace’s outstretched hand and we raced into the hall. I couldn’t help but notice how different he looked in the linen and cotton clothes of a nobleman. His long hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the base of his head and braided. Hadn’t he been to bed yet?

“Nice hair, Ace,” Mark quipped as we walked down the hall, slowing our pace. None of us wanted to bring attention to ourselves, particularly since Krissin was with us. As the princess, she didn’t run anywhere, people ran to her.

Ace stopped abruptly and whipped his head to the side. His braid flew in the air and hit Mark in the face. He smiled, took Krissin’s arm again and continued down the hallway.

I tried not to laugh as Mark rubbed the spot on his cheek where Ace’s braid had slapped him. We continued down the hall until we found the door Alia had taken me through a couple days ago.

“It needs a key,” I said. “It was locked last time.”

Krissin rolled her eyes. “This is my palace. There isn’t a lock I can’t open.”

She waved her hand over the door. I heard the light click of a tumbler rolling as she unlocked the door with her gift. A scowl covered her face as she waved her hand again. Nothing happened.

“That’s strange,” she said. “The lock is shielded by someone gifted. I almost recognized it…”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Recognized what?”
“Their signature,” Krissin said. “Each person’s gift leaves behind a slight residue. I can recognize Nemison’s handwork anywhere, for instance. But this one seems strange and familiar at the same time. I thought I knew everyone here…”

“Stop thinking about your gift,” Ace said. He rammed into the door with his shoulder and the lock broke. “Let’s get in there and find out who it is. We have eyes, you know. You don’t need your gift for everything.”

I expected Krissin to fight back, the way she does with everyone, but she didn’t. She nodded and followed Ace through the door. Mark held it open and I walked behind Krissin.

She opened her hand, palm up, and a small glowing light appeared, illuminating the dark hallway.

“What can’t you do?” I asked Krissin. I hadn’t learned to do much of anything with my gift.

“That’s nothing, Reychel. If you’d take time to do something other than look for answers in musty old journals…”
“Shh!” Ace held his arm up in the air, stopping us from walking any farther.

My ears strained, but I couldn’t hear anything. I looked at Ace with my eyebrow raised. He pointed ahead, held up two fingers, and then put his fingers to his lips. I nodded, trusting his judgment.

Krissin whispered in Ace’s ear, then nodded. She motioned for Mark and I to come closer to her and Ace. We huddled up against each other. Krissin extinguished the light she’d made with her gift and held out her palm in the middle of our little circle.

She wiggled her fingers, then held her hand steady. She leaned in closer and we all followed until our heads were touching. I gasped as I realized she was amplifying whatever secret conversation was taking place ahead of us.

“I had to. We couldn’t get in the cottage without me using my gift.”

“That’s no excuse. You should have come up with another way. You were told not to reveal yourself for any reason.”

Alia and Reese. My heart broke. He’d been so kind and trustworthy. I hadn’t suspected he would be a part of this.

“I was told to get Reychel in the cottage and I did. She didn’t suspect anything. She thinks I’m Serenian. There’s no way she can know what, or who, I am.”

Krissin looked up at me, her face twisted in frustration. Of course. She’d been working with Reese for years. She’d trusted him since she was a young girl.

“You are supposed to follow my orders,” he insisted.

“I don’t follow your orders. She told me what to do and I did it. If you have a problem with it, go home and whine to your wife.”

I looked at Krissin and saw a small tear creep out of her eye. Since her own mother had died, she’d always looked to Hanne for advice. She was losing everyone who’d meant anything to her in a few stolen moments. I reached over and put my hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off.

“I don’t want you serving Reychel anymore,” Reese continued. “We’ve only got a couple more days before everything blows to hell. Nothing can be spoiled before that moment, especially at the hands of an irresponsible slave.”

“I am not a slave, not yours, not anyone’s,” Alia hissed. “Don’t forget who you serve and why. The Malborn will rise above these little Serenian misfits. We will see to that. And I will stop serving Reychel. Not because you tell me, but because it is the best course of action.”

“You’re an insolent child. You never should have been told what you were,” Reese said.

Mark looked at me, a question in his eyes. I shrugged my shoulders. I had no idea what they were talking about either.

“We’re done here,” Reese said. “Keep out of trouble. Can you do that for two days? If you can’t, both of our heads will roll.”

Krissin clamped her hand together, shutting off the conversation we’d been eavesdropping in. Ace waved us back the way we’d come. We needed to get out of the abandoned hall before either Alia or Reese found us, but we stumbled through the darkness. It was too risky for Krissin to light up the orb again with her gift.

Mark opened the heavy door and motioned the three of us to follow him. No one was in the main hallway. Our secret was safe and we’d discovered more about Alia’s secret. We didn’t have anything solid, but now we knew Reese and Hanne were involved. It would be easier to track down more information now that we knew where to look for it.

The four of us walked, casually as if we had a reason to be out walking around the palace, back to my chambers. Once the door shut, I let down my guard. I sank into the chair by the window and shook my head.

“What is she?” I asked. “Reese made it sound like Alia was different than everyone else. Like she’s something special. We know she has the gift, but we also know her eyes don’t sparkle like ours do.”