Regius (24 page)

"Why does Xania want to
know how to get control over one? Or turn one dark?" I asked,
pulling my legs up so I could kneel on them, shifting my position
as often as I could so my muscles couldn't lock in
place.

"A custodis may spondeo
fidelatis ut a verus rector, vitualamen key ut solvo
lemures."
Robinia murmured. "A Keeper of
the Death can pledge his loyalty to any true leader of Zinc. By
making this pledge, the Keeper can then be controlled by whomever
he pledged his loyalty to. Xania would want the current Keeper of
the Dead to pledge his loyalty to him, a true leader of Zinc, so
Xania may enter the Valley of Death for the first and last time.
Upon entering, the leader sacrifices a small amount of his own
blood so his people may remain safe before he..." This wasn't going
to end well. My Seer stomach was warning me. "Before he orders the
Keeper to unleash the souls upon the earth."

"I'm guessing they're not
your regular attic ghosts?"

"No. They envy the living,
greedy for souls. They'd kill all those who don't share the blood
that was sacrificed."

I cleared my throat, trying
to remove that shiver. "But Xania isn't a true leader of Zinc. So
everything will be fine." I had to believe that. "The only true
leaders within Zinc are Galax, Flux and..." Who would be considered
a leader among the Altors?

"Pieris Saxton. He's the
oldest of all three current Elders. And although what you say is
true, there is a way for Xania to become rightful heir to the
throne." He paused. "You're not going to like this."

"I'm not liking anything at
the moment."

"Right." He snickered.
"When the king dies, the mark transfers to the heir. If the heir
dies, it would go to the Queen. But then what most don't know is
that if she dies, the next pure blood in that same family would
receive the mark."

"Xania would get it." I
gasped. "But how? The royal mark skipped him at birth and was
transferred to his younger brother instead."

"Not even Xen knew about
this until my parents revealed it to him shortly before his death.
It was in the symbols on the walls."

"Does Xania know?" I asked.
"He is baiting Galax to come here so he has a better chance at
killing him, doesn't he?" I breathed out shakily. "He does
know."

"Xen trusted Xania almost
blindly. The Steward was there, as was the Queen, when my parents
revealed that factor of the royal mark." Robinia sighed. "Galax is
but one obstacle."

"What do you
mean?"

"The Queen may not be
dead." My eyebrows shot up in surprise at that piece of info. "A
body was never found, so if Xania were to get his hands on his
nephew and get a chance at killing him, he will find out if Xelle
is dead. If she is, the royal mark will be transferred over to him
from Galax." I needed to change the subject. I couldn't sit here,
on the verge of my possible own death
and
think about Galax's as well. Or
at very least, I needed to steer the topic away from
Galax.

"Who is the current Keeper
of the Dead?"

"Datura Lovelace." There
was that name again. "An Altor soldier located in the Meadows of
Serenium, guarding the only known opening to the Valley there."
Robinia started typing fast then. "I'll do a search on him in the
Civilians database kept by the Councils. If he has ever had
altercations or anything of the like with them, than-" I heard a
'pling' noise.

"You got a hit?"

"To the Civilians he's
known as a juvenile delinquent that got away. They had a strong
case against him, but it was erased when he vanished, taken out of
custody by an unknown source. They never heard from Datura again."
He paused, most likely reading over the file he'd gotten. "It was
believed he started a fire, putting the lives of many orphaned
children at risk. While the boarding house in Copper Town burnt to
ashes, nobody got hurt besides himself. The fire investigators
believed he started it within the house and then got caught in his
own trap and was forced to break his way out through a window. The
glass cut so deeply into his back, he died but then miraculously
revived. When they questioned the boy, he didn't deny having
started the fire and so they locked him away, placing him with all
the other deranged children believed to be lost causes."

I gulped. I knew of that
place. Lupinus often jokingly threatened us with it when we were
being particularly annoying. It was a child prison on Iron Island.
If you ended up there, you could expect them to throw away the key
and never look back.

"His escape must have been
made possible by the Altors. They were the unknown source who freed
the Keeper."

"But," I started. "What I
don't understand in all of that is, how did his
back
get hurt? If I were to jump out
of a window to escape the flames I'd started, I wouldn't do it by
crashing through it backwards."

"Well, that is what made it
such a strong case against him. They managed to lock him away
because he confessed to having started the fire, but he never said
he started it to hurt anyone. The story I have before me, says that
if he started the fire, it was to distract an evil man from trying
to take his friend." I pursed my lips, willing to bet my life that
the Regius had something to do with it. "The friend's name was
never divulged. But the Keeper claimed he was giving his life to
protect them."

Something held my interest.
All the details reminded me of a particular story. "What happened
to the friend?"

"He was hit by a car as he
ran from the boarding house. Presumably he was admitted to Copper
Town's medical care and they were forced to induce a coma, which,
to this day, he isn't known to have come out of."

"I knew it." I whispered,
amazed. "Calycanthus Esquivel. Datura Lovelace was protecting my
best friend from whomever Sage sent their way to get
him."

"Hmm..." Robinia murmured
thoughtfully. "You are more linked than I believed you to
be."

"How so?"

"Xania took you so he could
get his hands on Galax, but he also wants Calycanthus because
Rhamnus recently reported that he is the key to force the Keeper to
pledge loyalty."

One thing was certain, I
definitely did not feel sleepy anymore.

I sighed heavily, looking
my surroundings over dully. "So he wants to become the rightful
King to the Blue Bloods and then because that isn't enough, he
wants to use the Keeper to eradicate all those that aren't Regius
with the dead's souls." I chuckled weakly. "
Altor souls.
How ironic."

"How do you deal with all
of this? How are you handling it all so well?" Robinia asked.
Sighing, I switched my position again, moving so I could lie down
onto my belly, letting my feet dangle off one side and my arms and
head over the other.

"Well," I started. "You
asked what love was like. I don't know how to explain it to you.
But I can tell you for certain that a hug from a best friend," I
smiled down into the dark pit below. "Can take away the fear
inside. A kiss from a lover," I closed my eyes. "Can sooth the
pains you are feeling from a distance if you hold onto the memory."
I lifted my head, eying the camera. "The promise of a mother who
will love you always, physically present or not, can give you
strength."

"Thank you."

I smiled, nodding my head
as I knew that last one had been important for him to hear. "The
protection a father gives when you need it, it gives you power." I
added, knowing that one would be important as well. Flipping over
onto my back, I held onto the two cables behind me with my hands,
placing my feet onto the two cables before me, my bottom hanging in
the air as I wanted to settle my head onto the cold stone that was
my sanctuary, for now. "I deal because those people who manage to
make me feel better wouldn't want me to give up." I looked at the
camera upside down, giving him a simple shrug. "I'd say I owe it to
them and I suppose I do, but it's not even a matter of owing
someone. It's wanting to give that back to them, show them you
appreciate their efforts and their love."

"You're doing pretty good,
Solenum."

"Tell me something, oh wise
one." He chuckled, obviously pleased. "How long can a person manage
to sit like this? I can move around a bit so my muscles don't numb
out constantly, that should give me some more time." I knew his
answer would tell me how long I'd be sitting on this damned piece
of rock.

"Well, there's been a
record of eleven days straight," He started. "But I'd say four as
total max in your situation. You've got only one bottle of water
and two pieces of dry toast. It's not like you can replenish
yourself with much energy with either of them. Also, because you
are confined to a small space, well, it's like driving when drowsy.
Dangerous, obviously, but if you take a walk outside, it will clear
your mind, make you feel more awake." I closed my eyes again,
waiting for Robinia to tell me the symptoms. Because I just knew he
would.

"You're reflexes will start
slowing down after one night without sleep, and more so with every
sleepless night added. Your concentration will begin to lag,
motivation will decrease as well. Perception will become harder and
there's possibility of slight hallucinations towards the third
day." He sighed. "Which will become more prominent as the sleep
deprivation continues." I nodded my head along with what he said
and explained, feeling fucking drowsy already.

I couldn't help but smile
though. "I remember trying to stay up as long as possible with Cali
when we were younger. It was a game of sorts. We wanted to be like
the grownups. They always had strict curfews we had to follow and
of course we wanted to defy that. So we tried, several times. I
think the longest we managed was two nights in a row." I snorted.
"But we were laying in bed and our lives weren't depending on us to
stay awake." I missed Cali so much. "You should get some sleep. You
can, so take advantage."

I heard him huff. "I will
not. I'm the player, remember? You are the character inside the
screen. I need to make sure to press the button at the exact right
moment." I sighed somewhat contently at the obvious grin in his
tone.

"Thank you." I said,
sincerely grateful for his presence.

"You're
welcome."

I sighed. "So, we nearly
went through one night. I guess we need to keep going for another
three?"

"Sic."

* * * *

The Keeper and the Prince
simultaneously jumped out of their beds, rushing towards the bars
that created the separation between their cells. Galax had pulled a
small, sharp knife out of one of his many pockets and had believed
he'd have the upper hand for a small second until he saw that
Datura himself had managed to smuggle in a weapon of his
own.

Galax had thought he may be
faster than the Keeper, but when Datura's blade ghosted closely to
his throat at the exact moment his pressed against that of Datura,
they both realized they were as quick as the other.

Standing there, each in
their own cells and glaring angrily at one another, they kept their
knives where they were.

“You have no idea how much
I hate you.” The Prince muttered.

“Believe me, my fondness
for you doesn’t run deep either, majesty.”

"Call me that again,
Keeper, and I will slit your throat."

"Slit my throat and you'll
never get out of here."

"Slit mine and you'll run
into the same issue."

Datura rolled his eyes.
"They need to let us out of here soon or else we
will
end up killing one
another." The Keeper removed his blade, lifting his hand in a form
of surrender, calmly waiting for Galax to retreat as
well.

He did, albeit reluctantly.
"Aram should know better. He should have put you on the other end
of the cells."

"I can agree with you
there." Datura said, stepping back and away when the Prince did
too. "But he's not an idiot. I believe he's testing our control."
His red gaze lifted up and to the corner, eying the camera closely
monitoring them. "We've prolonged our stay within these bars by
helping Cali run."

"So be it. I'd rather die
of cabin fever or be killed at your hands due to loss of control,
than see Solenum without help." Galax sat down on his bed, sighing
as he rested his back against the wall.

"We need to be careful."
The Keeper worried. "If we gave Cali the message, it is so he could
find her and bring her back. Together they may have a chance at
surviving this and we must to try and have faith."

The Prince nodded, feeling
the worry Datura felt now as well. "My apologies for
snapping."

"My apologies for letting
you get to me." The Keeper bowed his head. "The cousins have proven
to be our pillars so far. Let’s try and remember that, even though
they are not near."

"Easier said than
done."
Proof of that just minutes
ago
.