Promising Hope (12 page)

“Yes,” William said. He extended his arm for her, and
Grace took it without glancing at her father.

General Daniel didn’t seem to notice. Did he know
about the love potion?

Grace and William led the way down the corridor, and
the others fell into step behind them. The general walked next to
Sierra. He towered above her by nearly half a foot, and he wore his
armor as though he was ready for battle. Maybe he knew something
would happen.

Prince William stopped at a pair of open doors.
Inside, King Thomas and Queen Kate sat with Tisha and Kilar. Tisha
and Kilar stood for them, but the king and queen didn’t. The king
had a large belly, a full beard, and sharp eyes that watched them
as they filed into the room. The queen was an older, feminine
version of William, with the same blue eyes, blonde hair, and long,
straight nose. She usually kept to herself, so Sierra was surprised
she was here.

The two parties exchanged stiff greetings, and
everyone bowed to the king and queen before sitting around the
table. Sierra and the elders took one side, the Protectors, nobles,
and royals the other, King Thomas at the head. Sierra ended up in
the middle of the four elders, and she leaned forward, folding her
hands together on the table.

King Thomas cleared his throat. “It’s my opinion that
this has gone too far. We lost many valuable lives in Mumbar
Jungle. I’m tired of this violence.”

The queen nodded. “As am I. I don’t understand why we
can’t just be done with it.”

“Your Majesties,” Tisha said, “I don’t need to remind
anyone here what happens when Avialies do whatever they
want—kidnapping nobles, killing royal guards, stealing royal
property. Now your criminals are weighing down our system, and
we’ll have to give them trials and everything.”

“Hopefully not, if this meeting accomplishes what we
hope it will,” Sierra said. “Vin and Amina Avialie are innocent,
and we’re asking you to let them go.”

Tisha sneered at her. “Well, since you’re asking so
politely, of course we will.”

“Grace, did you tell them Vin and Amina didn’t kidnap
you?” Sierra asked.

“Yes, I’ve told them,” Grace replied. “The only thing
the two of them are guilty of are trying to help us break the
curse. Which isn’t illegal. Or wasn’t. And if it was, then I don’t
know why you haven’t arrested me.”

Sierra fought back a smile; the love potion hadn’t
completely changed her.

“We probably would have had you—” Kilar muttered, but
Tisha cut him off.

“Lady Grace, Vin and Amina are being kept for the
best interests of everyone involved.” He shot a vicious look at
Kilar, who grumbled something under his breath and crossed his
arms. General Daniel glared at Kilar, as well. Sierra studied their
faces. Perhaps the three of them knew about the love potion.

“They’re not dangerous,” Grace said. She glanced at
William, then dropped her voice. “And neither is Dar.”

William rolled his eyes. “So you say.”

She paused. “Please, Your Highness, if you could
point out one thing he did—”

“He helped them escape Rahuda.” William motioned to
Sierra. “I’ve already told you that.”

Grace pursed her lips and fell silent.

“Can we agree on Vin and Amina’s release or not?”
Sierra asked. “They’re harmless to you.”

“What do we get in return?” Tisha asked, leaning
forward.

“You ask that question as though you’re losing
something by letting Vin and Amina go—”

“We are. We’re losing two valuable workers at the
palace.” He glanced at Kilar. “Vin’s practically in charge of the
carpentry of the castle now. Who would have thought? An Avialie
good for something.”

The queen let out a noise of exasperation. “You’re
like a child in the toy room.”

“Tisha, she’s right,” the king said in a booming
voice, “We don’t need comments like that. We need to agree on
something.” He motioned to the Avialies. “Present your desires, we
will present ours, and then we will come to a compromise.”

Tisha’s lip curled in disgust. Sierra held back a
satisfied smile as she glanced at Jeshro.

“We want Vin, Amina, and Dar released,” Jeshro said.
“We want the Haltar Avialies to be able to come home without fear
of being arrested—”

“So, you essentially want to be cleared of all your
crimes,” Tisha said.

Jeshro continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “We want
justice for the deaths on our side—the Avialies Jacob, Gina, and
Alethia, and Chad the Boren. We also want a guarantee that Gregorio
won’t curse our family again.”

Tisha and Kilar glanced at each other.

“So, you figured it out,” Kilar said, smirking. “It
only took you ten years.”

“What are your demands?” Jeshro asked.

“We want Grace, too,” Sierra said.

Everyone looked at her in surprise; Jeshro looked
irritated. Sierra met Grace’s eyes. “Grace, you can’t honestly tell
me you want to be here.”

Grace glanced at William, then down at the table.
“Sierra, I… I don’t think you understand…” She rubbed her forehead
with her hands. “I don’t think I can help you anymore.”

“You’d stay with these people instead, who were
talking about killing Dar or taking your ability to have children
or giving you a
love potion
?” She leaned in during the last
one. She wanted to just say it and tell everyone what had happened,
but she wasn’t sure how William might react. Matilda said knowing
one was under a love potion made the effects worse, and Grace was
already holding her head like she had the headaches Matilda spoke
of.

“Sierra, I…” Grace glanced at William again and held
his eyes. She turned back to Sierra. “I need to stay here.”

Sierra clenched her hands into fists. She looked at
Tisha, who still had a smug smirk on his face. “Then we want a
guarantee you’re going to keep her safe.”

“Keep her safe from what?” the queen asked. She
motioned to Tisha, an amused smile on her face. “He has no need to
control her if she’s here at the castle, correct?”

“Your Majesty,” Tisha said, his smirk fading. “I have
never sought to control Lady Grace, but to protect her.”

The queen rolled her eyes at Sierra, who couldn’t
help smiling just a bit. “Yes, I’m sure that was it.”

Maybe the queen was more privy to the events of the
Protectors than Sierra originally thought.

“Nothing’s going to harm her,” William said. He took
Grace’s hand, and they looked at each other for a moment. Grace
used to look at Dar that way. It made Sierra sick.

“What are your demands?” Jeshro asked again.

Tisha shrugged. “Simple, really. We want Vin, Amina,
and Dar to make an example of, and we want all Avialies to stay out
of Haltar.”

Sierra gritted her teeth. “This country is our
home.”

He rolled his eyes. “Says the circus performer who
traveled all over Kleisade and Jolen for the past year.”

“There are nearly two hundred Avialies who live in
Haltar,” Lisbeth said. “You can’t expel them all simply because of
their blood.”

Tisha tilted his head. “You don’t think so?”

“We need a compromise,” King Thomas groaned.

Tisha let out a breath, barely concealing his
irritation. “Fine. We give you the prisoners, and you stay out of
Haltar.”

Jeshro shook his head. “No. We have lived in this
country for centuries. We’re not leaving.”

“But you’ve already done that, because you’re
frightened of what we might do.”

“For the past ten years, we’ve tried to work with
you,” Jeshro said. “We’ve done everything we could to appease you.
This is your last chance to work something out.”

“You already heard our demands,” Tisha said, his eyes
narrowed.

Jeshro stood and put his hands on the table, leaning
towards Tisha. “You think you’ve seen the worst of us, but you
haven’t. Your movement was born out of fear. Fear of magic. And
you’re right to be afraid. You may have had Jared, but he’s dead.
You may have Gregorio, but he’ll be dead soon, too. We have the
might of all the magical families, and we demand to come back home
without fear of being unjustly arrested, sought out,
persecuted—”

Tisha got to his feet, as well. “We know what you
demand, and you will not have it. You think of yourself as human
beings, equal with the rest of us, but you’re barbarians. Animals.
We will not give you what you want.”

King Thomas cleared his throat. “Tisha—”

“Your Majesty, these creatures do not belong in
Haltar any longer,” Tisha said. “I have done all I can to protect
our people, but the Avialies have continually reacted with violence
and aggression. It will not be safe for anyone if they live
here.”

King Thomas looked over the elders and Sierra. She
glanced from him to Tisha. For whatever reason, the king had bought
into Tisha’s lies and hate. Sierra looked at the queen, who was
drumming her fingers on the table like she was eager to be
elsewhere. Would she help? Could she?

Instead, Grace spoke. “What have they done?”

Everyone stared at her.

“Tell me,” Grace continued, “what have Avialies from
Haltar
done, besides fight you?”

Tisha sat down and smiled at her. “You’re so young,
Grace. So naive. I could list off dozens of deaths because of the
shape changers, but we don’t have time here.”

“Tell me of one,” Grace said.

“Fine. Fifteen years ago, before the curse. A girl.
Four years old. A half-blood, Avialie and normal. She was killed by
her Avialie father because he thought she was an abomination.”

Jeshro made a strangled noise. “That man was nothing
like other Avialies! Only a few shape changers feel so strongly
about blood purity.” He pointed to his chest. “And he found justice
from us, the elders.”

“The group that stormed Renaul five years ago looking
for families of Protectors,” Tisha said. “They killed Lesado’s wife
looking for revenge.”

Jeshro shook his head. “No one approved of that.”

Sierra remembered when that happened, soon after
she’d married Evan. The Avialies were from Wharfedale, ones that
had been driven out five years earlier. It was one thing that made
Jeshro come to Evan, Seth, and Dar for smarter, more planned out
attacks on the Protectors.

Kilar motioned to General Daniel. “Our very own
general lost a brother from an Avialie years ago, before we were
smart enough to ban you from Wharfedale.”

Jeshro turned to the general, putting his hand on his
chest. “And we cannot apologize enough for that unfortunate event.
We agreed with his sentence.”

“What about the fourteen year old girl from Rahuda?”
Tisha folded his hands on the table. “The one who was killed just
after the curse was cast? Her father knew she couldn’t have
children. He said he was protecting her, but—”

“You liar,” Sierra spat. “You killed her because her
father wouldn’t join you!”

“Is that what they told you?” Tisha chuckled and
glared at Jeshro, who still stood. “You’ve spread a lot of lies,
old man.”

Sierra barely refrained from yelling at him. She
clenched her teeth until her jaw ached. She’d been there herself,
had hidden on the other side of the door while Tisha and Niculai
threatened Allison’s father.

Grace looked at Sierra, and for a moment, she seemed
like her old self. Indignant at his words, fiery, ready to fight
for the Avialies. Then she glanced at William, and she went back to
the person who was possessed by love for the prince.

Sierra let out a slow breath. She didn’t trust Kilar
and Tisha. No matter how in love Grace was, she was still a threat
to them. Would the prince truly keep her safe? He’d been fond of
her, yes, and Grace even said he offered her marriage in Kleisade,
but had she done too much to earn back his love? If only William
stood between Tisha and Grace, was he enough? Sierra glanced at
King Thomas. He had been easily swayed by Tisha.

Tisha cleared his throat. “So, you see, Lady Grace,
we are not pursuing an imaginary enemy. I could go on if you’d
like.”

“That won’t be necessary,” the king said. He waved
his hand. “Sit down, Jeshro.”

Jeshro did so, glaring at Tisha. “If this meeting
doesn’t end well, we’ll be forced to fight back.”

“We need to find a compromise,” Sierra said. She
wanted to avoid a war. She knew Evan would be at the front lines of
it. He would do anything to rid his family of the Protectors.

“We gave you one,” Tisha snapped. “Take the prisoners
and leave.”

“Sounds
very
balanced to me,” the queen
said.

Tisha glared at her. “With all due respect, Your
Majesty—”

“That sort of comment usually precludes a rude one,”
the queen said in an icy tone. “Are you sure you want to insult me,
Tisha?”

Tisha fell silent, breath hissing through his
teeth.

“Please, your Majesty,” Kilar said. “I believe we’re
getting distracted.”

“Yes, we are,” the king said. “Your Majesty, I value
your opinion, but Tisha and Kilar are my advisors.”

The queen rolled her eyes again, then started looking
at her fingernails.

Tisha slapped the table. “Jeshro, take the prisoners
and leave.”

“We’re not leaving,” Jeshro said. “Today, we’ll go
back to Jolen, but we’ll come back to Haltar and we won’t come
alone.”

“If you’re not going to bend, you leave us with no
choice,” Tisha said. “We have to protect our people from you and
your magic.”

“Your people have never needed protecting from us.”
Jeshro ran a hand through his gray hair. “Perhaps one or two of us,
yes, but not as a group. Not all of us.”

“It’s clear we’re not going to reach a compromise,”
Prince William said. “I suggest you leave and don’t come back
unless you’re serious about wanting to start a war.”

“Why would we want to start a war, your Highness?”
Jeshro asked. “We have no choice, either.” He looked at the other
elders and Sierra. “Do you have any last words before we
leave?”