Season of Glory (12 page)

We all shared a look, but clearly none of us had.

“He taught us some of the Sacred Words!” she cried. “You must believe it. The more
we learned, the more we wanted to know. Until finally,” she said, looking to the
others, “we knew we had to come to you. To live in the Community in order to know
more.”

Bellona and Vidar arrived then, along with Chaza'el. Chaza'el wearily rubbed his
eyes.

Vidar spread out his hands, offering his services.

Cornelius waved across the newcomers, silently asking for his spiritual appraisal.

“You say you were meeting with others of the Way?” Cornelius asked, scrutinizing
them thoughtfully, with chin in hand. “In Pacifica?”

“Oh, no,” said the young woman with the pendant. “We dared not there. But in Castle
Vega, there are more opportunities. More distractions for the Pacifican guards.”

“Distractions you took advantage of.”

“Many did,” she said with an earnest nod.

“I find nothing to fear in them,” Vidar put in, looking to Cornelius. He shrugged.
“Shadows, but from what we've witnessed, that comes with the territory these four
have been inhabiting.”

It was true. Any time spent near the Sheolites seemed to leave an echo of darkness.
It was like dipping your hand in dye; you could wash your hands, know they were clean,
but they'd still be partially stained for a while.

“Andriana?” the elder asked me, waving toward the newcomers.

I reached down to touch a woman's shoulder. “May I?”

She frowned in confusion, but nodded. I closed my eyes a moment, searching her, then
shook my head. “Fear, for certain. But wouldn't we all be edgy if we were in their
position? They might fear how we will receive them—or even fear that we will turn
them back.”

“Chaza'el?” Cornelius asked, turning to my slight brother behind him.

“I have not seen them among my visions as of yet,” he said.

Kapriel arrived then, alongside Lord Cyrus, as did Tressa and Killian. They were
lodging in another wing of the Citadel.
But it was at the prince that the four new
arrivals all stared. I gasped, feeling their collective, stark terror at once. They
fell to their faces, arms outstretched across the floor.

Automatically, I reached for my armband, wondering if I was feeling the chill of
warning within it. But it was only these people, I understood then, and what they
were feeling. They thought Kapriel was Keallach, his twin. They thought that, somehow,
all was lost. They were defectors, not only of the emperor's service, but his empire
itself. And yet the emperor haunted them.

“No, brothers and sisters, there is no need for that,” Kapriel said gently, going
to reach out to one and then the other. “I am not your emperor, Keallach. I am his
brother, Kapriel. And while I am a prince, here in this place I am but your brother.”
He looked to Cornelius and Vidar, confirming what he had gathered. That they'd been
vetted and were safe.

“Rise, new brothers and sisters of the Way,” Kapriel said. “You are welcome among
us, and I pray that you will find sanctuary and peace here. We ask that you contribute
in any way that the Maker has gifted you to do so.”

Gifted them to do so
. I knew, inherently, that they had gifts. Just what they were,
I had yet to discern.

CHAPTER
13

KEALLACH

M
y heart stopped as the missing servants' tracking devices suddenly ceased moving
at
the
mouth of the Valley. The devices had clearly been discovered. We'd been watching
for days, my Council jubilant that the trap they had set had been sprung. And they
were growing more celebratory still, the closer the servants got to the Valley. But
the ID chips had obviously been removed and destroyed.

“You'd better hope your second phase works,” I grumbled when we convened the next
day. But I had a hard time breathing normally as we waited for the technician to
focus in on an image among the swirling gray-and-white snow on the screen before
us. Gradually, the image began to take form. It was dark and grainy, but clear enough.

I sucked in my breath when I spotted Andriana, even for a moment, and grimaced when
I felt sick with longing. I knew the
other men had heard the childish sound emerge
from me too. This made me angrier still.

But the servant girl moved too quickly, turning toward an old man again as he spoke,
and her amulet necklace—with the tiny camera embedded inside—slipped partially beneath
her tunic. Now all we could see was Ronan and, behind him, the one they called Raniero.

I tensed.
Ronan
. If it hadn't been for him, Dri would still be here. With me.

“See if you can get the second camera operational,” Sethos said, leaning closer.

“There is no sound?” I barked.

“No,” said a second man in gray, in front of the terminals, who was fiddling with
several dials and keys on his board. “Not yet. For some reason, it is not transmitting.
Or perhaps we are simply too distant.”

“Well then, get closer to them,” I commanded. “To Castle Vega. Or set up a station
near the mouth of the Valley, if necessary. This information will give us everything
we need to know about that Citadel and the people within the Valley, her defenses.”
And bring Andriana back to me.

“What if they take off their necklaces?” Fenris said, breaking me out of my reverie.

“They're worth a small fortune,” Daivat said. “If they sell them or give them away,
someone else of prominence—and access—might pick them up, wear them, and be of use
too.”

Fenris nodded. “But you're right, Highness. Hearing what they have to say now is
key.”

“Then make sure we soon establish the audio connection,” I said tightly. It was the
least he could do for me after everything he had messed up. “There are more people
entering that Valley every day.”

“Why not ignore them?” Daivat asked from the corner, where he leaned casually against
a table.

“Because they are people of the Way,” Maximillian said wearily, leaning the back
of his head against his chair. He was still looking peaked, but day by day, he was
gaining strength. “And the Way is fueled by their growth and passion. If we do not
eradicate every one within those cursed mountain walls—”

“Save two,” I interrupted. “Andriana and Kapriel are to be returned to me.”

“Save Andriana and Kapriel,” Max amended with an apologetic nod, “the rest must
be destroyed. Because every one of them shall stand against us. They are a cancer
that must be cut out of the Trading Union before they infiltrate every corner of
it.”

“They would never truly be such a threat,” scoffed Fenris. “Even if we kill most
of those in the Citadel, we will bring this resistance to its knees.”

“You might be surprised at their . . . voracity,” Maximillian said. “Isn't their
presence indicative of how even one can infect many?”

“Walk with me,” I said to him, after it was clear that the servants were being led
down a cavernous hallway and into a dorm-like room with a hundred beds. “You there,”
I said to two others in gray. “Make certain you begin mapping every inch of the Citadel.”

“Yes, Highness,” said one.

Sethos was near them now, overseeing scouting parties to gain all the information
he could about what lay outside the fortress.

Maximillian rose from his chair and shook off a servant's helpful arm, straightening
his tunic before following me out the door. I took it slowly, but not too slowly.
I was still angry with him, despite his injuries. He had pushed Andriana too far,
too fast. If he hadn't, I thought, she would still be here with me, even if Ronan
had begged her to go. There had been something between us that
could not be denied.
In time, I would not have had to compel her to kiss me, touch me. She would have
done so of her own accord.

“I'm with you on this, Max. I want every single one of them driven from the Citadel,”
I said to him as we paused by a window overlooking the Great Expanse. “I want this
rebellion put down, once and for all.”

“It shall be done,” he said.

I glanced at him and felt a momentary pang of guilt when I noticed the beads of sweat
on his brow, evidence of the effort this exchange demanded of him. But anger and
agitation overtook me. “It will take more than killing everyone within the Valley
to stop this. For every person that girl encounters, I want a picture and a name
attached. Family members, community of origin, all of it. We must not root out just
these followers, but every family member and friend they have.”

“Yes, Majesty.”

We stood there, looking out over the green grounds that led to the woods into which
they had escaped, eluding my guards and even the Sheolite trackers. Cyrus . . . Only
thoughts of his betrayal made my pulse pound through my temples faster than Maximillian's
foolish choices. “I want Cyrus to be brought here too,” I grit out. “To die slowly.”

“Yes, Majesty,” Maximillian said with particular vehemence.

We stood there a moment longer before he dared, “What is it, Majesty, that you intend
for Andriana?”

I could not voice what I hoped might be possible. I knew it was foolish; I didn't
need his pity. “I don't know. I only know that I do not yet wish her to die.”

He paused. “And your brother?”

“Again, I am uncertain. I only know that if he and Andriana die, any hope for a unified
empire will go with them. No one is
more powerful than a dead martyr within the people's
minds. Bring them to me. And we will see what comes next.”

He turned to go, awaiting my dismissal.

“Bring them to me, Max,” I repeated. “Or I will be forced to go after them myself.”

CHAPTER
14

RONAN

I
stood beside Killian and Tressa as servants came to collect the newcomers and usher
them
to
their quarters for the remainder of the night. As the last one passed, Tressa reached
over and stayed her hand. “Sister, tell me. What happened to your shoulders? Are
you in need of healing?”

“No,” said the girl, shaking her head. “It was merely our Pacifican ID chip. The
Aravanders . . . they do not like the chips. They fear they might be tracking devices,
so they cut them out from beneath our skin.”

Tressa grimaced. “That must've been painful.”

“They were actually quite careful, making the smallest of cuts.” She looked over
her shoulder. “The blood must have spread as we walked the remainder of the way to
the Citadel.” She gave Tressa a reassuring smile. “It looks worse than it is.”

“Well, as you get washed up, if you decide you need some stitches, feel free to ask
for them tonight.”

The girl gave Tressa a shy smile. “No healing prayer for such things? You are the
healer among the Remnants, are you not?”

“I am,” Tressa said. “But I suppose the Maker assumes we can handle such small matters
without divine intervention.”

The girl turned away reluctantly, following the servants. The women were heading
to the female bathing quarters, and the men toward the male bathing quarters. “C'mon,”
Killian said to me under his breath. “Let's go take a sauna ourselves and see if
we can find out more about our friends to the west.”

I nodded, and when Dri looked my way, I gestured that I was going with Killian and
I'd meet her at the room. She nodded too, and I could see the question in her eyes.
Were we okay? Could we just move on from whatever had transpired with Niero? I turned
away, not ready to respond, even silently. I wasn't sure where I stood with Niero,
nor why he agitated me so much. There was still something that niggled at my memory
about him, something I should remember. Earlier, I had thought I'd seen something
more than brotherly love in what he shared with Dri. But it was clear to me that
wasn't the reason for my agitation. It was something else.

“Hey, heading to the sauna?” Vidar called as we gathered with the Pacifican men and
dismissed the servants, telling them we'd show the way ourselves.

“Yes,” I said, glad when he joined us. Sometimes his humor could elicit information
from newcomers like no other form of questioning could.

We went down to the Citadel's cavernous, steamy sauna chamber and then hovered above
the neighboring pools, which were constantly flowing with fresh water from mountain
streams that fell through a channel in the granite walls, supplying the whole fortress
with what we needed. In it came, and out it went, flushing out the latrines, which
kept the whole structure surprisingly clean,
even with hundreds of inhabitants. I'd
have to remember to check it out with Killian—the tunnels that brought in the water
and took it out. I knew that the Community elders had likely thought of any vulnerability
in the fortress, but I'd rest easier knowing myself how those barriers were constructed.

“This way,” I said to the newcomers. We learned their names were Deshaun and Gregor,
and they'd originally been from Georgii Post before finding work at Castle Vega.
After training, they'd been taken to Palace Pacifica, but they always were a part
of the staff that accompanied any of the Council who returned to Castle Vega because
they were well versed in how the butler, Mr. Olin, liked to run the household there.

“Oh, I remember that guy,” Vidar said. “He was a beast! You couldn't miss a bit of
dirt with your cloth or he'd come after you.”

“I'd heard you'd found work within the walls of Castle Vega,” Deshaun said mischievously.
“It was all the servants could talk about for weeks.”