Stolen Songbird: Malediction Trilogy Book One (The Malediction Trilogy) (12 page)

“I am under a great deal of scrutiny right now,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “But I will consider what you have told me. And if there is a way I can help…”

The bell on the door jingled and we all jumped. Albert leaned inside. When he saw Esmeralda, his expression darkened. “What are you doing here?”

“Negotiating with Reagan,” Esmeralda said.

“Where is she, then?”

“I’m here.” The troll appeared from the back, limping slowly across the room.

“I need you to come outside, my lady,” he said. “You aren’t supposed to consort with humans.”

Reluctantly, I followed him out of the shop, Élise trailing at my heels. The city streets were as they had been before, filled with trolls going about their business, but I began to see them with a whole new set of eyes. Those dressed in grey were marked with the small differences I’d first seen in Zoé and Élise: lighter hair; flushed skin; and, most importantly, human eyes. Where only a half hour past I had felt invisible, now I caught furtive glances from the downcast faces of those cleaning the streets and from those carrying parcels behind the brightly clad ladies. A great and entirely unwanted burden descended on my shoulders. They were expecting me to help them.

“My lady?” Albert had stopped eating and was watching me with the first bit of interest he’d shown all day. I realized I was standing in the middle of the intersection, forcing traffic to go around me.

“One moment,” I whispered. Closing my eyes, I turned slowly like a compass searching for north. When I opened them, I was staring across the river valley. A tall figure dressed in black stood staring back across at me, hand resting on his sword hilt. There was nothing that greatly distinguished him from all the rest, but I knew instinctively it was Tristan.

“Élise?” My voice sounded hoarse.

“Yes, my lady?”

“Who… owns you?”

A long pause. “His Highness does.” Her fingers plucked at the black and white sash at her waist, and for the first time, I noticed the letters embroidered on it: TdM. She was monogrammed just like Tristan’s shirts. A possession.

“And Zoé too?” I asked.

“Yes. The Montigny family owns three hundred and twenty-one individuals, at present.”

“At present,” I repeated. A steady pounding grew in my ears, and my fingers twitched with the urge to lash out, at anything or anyone. “Does that figure include me?”

Élise’s hand flew to her chest. “No,” she stammered. “Of course not!”

“Spare me the lies!” I hissed, my grip tightening around the stem of my wineglass. Whirling around, I opened my mouth to scream my hatred across the valley. Tristan was gone. My head jerked back and forth spasmodically as I searched the opposite shore for his tall form, but he had blended into the crowd.

Laughter caught my attention, and I spun around to see crumbs falling from Albert and Guillaume’s frosting smeared lips as they chortled at me. “Where is he? Where is he?” they pantomimed me, spinning in circles.

No one on the street ignored us now. Every which way I looked, trolls were exchanging amused smirks with each other.

Élise reached for me. “You’re making a fool of yourself!”

Something inside me snapped.

I threw my wineglass against the paving stones. It smashed, and the magic sent bits of glass flying up into the air. Élise jumped back and collided hard with the two guards. Despite knowing there was no chance of escape, I bolted.

No one stopped me.

I wove through the alleyways and streets, making my way steadily down the hill towards the river. I concentrated on the sound of the water – the river had to flow out somewhere. I was a strong swimmer. If I could just make it to the water, there was a chance of escape.

I kicked off my shoes and ran barefoot down a back lane, swung right, and cursed as I came up against a stone wall. Wheeling around, I backtracked the way I’d come. A dark shadow stood at the entrance to the street, ball of troll-light hanging ominously behind him. His chuckle reached my ears, seeming to bounce off the walls, assaulting me from all directions. I ran back to the wall and jumped, my fingers just catching the edge. Legs tangling in my skirts, I heaved an ankle over the edge and slipped over the other side.

“Run, run, run, little girl.” Laughter chased my footsteps as I staggered forward.

“Do you really think you can get away?” The question came from above. I looked up and saw Guillaume sitting on the edge of a roof, leaning back on his hands with ankles crossed. A shudder ran through me. They were toying with me, like a pair of cats with a mouse.

But I was no mouse.

Kicking in the backdoor of a house, I felt my way through the dark until I found the front entrance, which I flung open but didn’t exit. Instead, I concealed myself behind a curtain near the opening. Boots thudded against the paving stones near the door.

“You see which way she went?”

“Through the house,” came the muffled reply. “She didn’t come out.”

I held my breath as steps came closer, into the house, and past the curtain where I was hidden.

“Must be hiding. Check upstairs.”

I waited a few moments more and then slunk out from behind the curtain. A gleam of light came from the other room. Stepping softly, I crept towards the front door. Through the doorway, I had seen the bridge stretching over the river only a few yards away. I could make it if I was quick.

Feet slapping against the cold ground, I darted across the street, ran up the curved arch of the bridge and clambered up on the railing. Water surged beneath me, icy spray rising up from where the river smashed against the buttresses. I took a deep breath. I could do this.

“Cécile, no!”

As I leapt into the air, I saw Élise standing on a footpath near the river’s edge. Then I was falling, and the realization that I had made a grave error filled me with terror as the water approached. A scream tore from my throat, but cut off abruptly as something lashed around my waist and hurled me upwards. I landed on my back in the center of the bridge to the sound of a splash from below.

Using the bridge railing for support, I hauled myself upwards in time to see a grey-clad figure being swept downstream.

“There she is!” My guards had apparently realized I was no longer in the house.

“Help her!” I screamed, pointing at the water. “Élise fell in the river!”

Guillaume’s face twisted with indecision, but in a heartbeat, he was running towards the water.

Albert started up the bridge. Snatching up my skirts, I ran down the other side and into the crowded marketplace.

Trolls and half-bloods grudgingly made way as I pushed through, not certain where I was going, but knowing I couldn’t stop. Then a familiar voice caught my attention.

“Be another week or two, I expect. Thaw was late this year.”

I started walking faster, my eyes searching until I found what I was looking for. A blond head amongst a crowd of black-haired trolls. Next to him was a mule I’d seen countless times before. But the shock of seeing him in Trollus was overwhelmed by the hope that he might somehow be my salvation. Snatching my skirts up, I broke into a run. “Christophe!” I shouted. “Chris!”

The blond-haired boy turned and his eyes widened in shock at seeing me. “Cécile?” I flung my arms around his neck. He smelled like horses and hay and sunshine – like everything I knew.

“God in heaven!” he gasped. “What are you doing here? Everyone is looking for you – we found your horse in our fields and signs of a struggle in the woods.”

“Luc took me,” I choked out, burying my face in his neck and inhaling the smell of home. “He sold me to them. You need to help me. You need to tell my brother. You need to take me home.” I was babbling, I knew, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. “Help me, Chris. Please!”

He grew still, his arms tight around my waist. Raising my face, I saw that all around us trolls were watching with angry faces. Albert pushed his way through the crowd, his face twisted with a dark scowl. Everyone backed away, giving him room.

“Get away from her, human,” he snarled.

Chris set me down between him and the wagon. “I don’t think so.”

“It wasn’t a request, stupid boy.” Albert stalked towards us, his smooth movement at odds with his bulk.

There was a commotion in the crowd and a soaking wet Élise stepped through. She darted around Albert and hurried over to me.

“You must stop this madness, Cécile,” she gasped out, wet strands of hair clinging to her face. “You are going to get people killed!”

“Stay away from her, you nasty creature!” Chris swatted at Élise. She ducked under his hand easily, but the damage was done.

Albert roared an inhuman word and Chris was launched up in the air, then slammed against the ground.

Shrieking, I grabbed hold of him, trying to stop the invisible force, but I was powerless against it. Both of us were shaken in the air like rag dolls in the mouth of a maniacal hellhound.

“Don’t hurt her!” Élise shouted.

Abruptly, I was torn away from Chris and landed in a heap next to the wagon.

Chris remained locked in Albert’s magic, which now had him pressed hard against the paving stones.

“Let me go!” he bellowed, squirming ineffectually against his invisible bonds.

“Kill him!” someone in the crowd shouted. “He broke the laws!”

“Kill the human,” another chimed in. “Slit his throat!”

Chris’s oaths abruptly broke off, his face turning red. “I prefer smothering,” Albert said to the crowd with a smile. “Less mess.”

“It is the duty of the trade magister to pass sentence!” Élise’s voice was strong. “You overstep your authority.”

“Stay out of this, Élise,” Albert said. “I would not want to see you hurt.”

“What is going on here?” The crowd parted and Tristan sauntered over, pausing to pat the mule on the nose.

I flung myself at his feet. “Make them stop – they’re killing him.”

“I see that,” he said. “I assume he did something to deserve it. Guillaume?”

“Took a swipe at Miss Élise, and,” he added, raising his voice, “he disrespected me.”

“Is that so?” Tristan raised one eyebrow. “One can hardly imagine why.”

“He…” the guard started to respond, but Tristan interrupted.

“Yes, yes, Albert. I believe you. Now would you mind…” He brushed at his mouth.

“Oh!” Albert dragged a sleeve across his face, removing most of the pink frosting. “Sorry, my lord.”

“Much better,” Tristan said. “It is always important to look the part when you are about to do something nefarious. You were really ruining the effect.” He ignored my attempts to get his attention. My eyes searched the crowd for someone, anyone, who might help. But all the half-bloods had retreated. I saw Chris’s father, hands balled into fists and eyes wide with fear. He stood at the edge of the crowd, but he wasn’t watching his dying son. He was watching Tristan.

“Who wants to see the human boy killed for his insolence?” Tristan shouted.

“Kill him!” the crowd shouted.

I reached for the dagger at his waist, intent on burying it in his gut if that’s what it took. He caught my wrist, holding it still.

“Who wants to see his blood run through the streets?” he shouted over their cheering voices.

“Kill the human!” they screamed.

“Who wants to suffer through another famine?”

Silence.

“Just as I thought,” Tristan said, his voice carrying through the crowd. The hand holding my wrist twitched and I heard Chris gasp behind me, Albert’s magic vanquished.

I jerked out of Tristan’s grasp and scrambled on hands and knees to Chris’s side. “Are you all right?” I whispered.

“Yes.” His voice was raspy, but the redness was fading from his face. “He’s a devil, that one,” he whispered. “The worst of them – you should hear the things he says. The rumors of what he does to those who cross him.”

I frowned. “He just saved your life.”

Chris’s lip curled back, his teeth showing. “Listen.”

“These humans are our tools,” Tristan lectured to the crowd. “Until someone can teach the mule to grow crops and load his own wagon, we must rely on creatures with at least a modicum more intelligence to do the work.”

“I’ll get you out,” Chris said, hand rising to grip my shoulder. “Whatever it takes, I promise I’ll get you out of here.”

“You all know my feelings about humanity,” Tristan shouted. “But that does not mean I do not recognize their usefulness. If I cut my finger on a good blade, I don’t melt it down out of spite!”

“Listen to him prattle on,” Chris hissed. “Treating us like animals!”

“Shut your fool mouth!” His father had pushed his way to our sides. I flinched as he cuffed Chris across the head. “I swear your mother must have dallied with another man because I’ll never understand how I fathered a boy as daft as you.”

Jérôme caught my wrist, eyes running over the silver marks tracing my fingers. “Lord in heaven, I never believed I would see the day.” He gripped my hand tightly. “Listen to me, Cécile, and listen well. You’ve landed yourself in a pit of vipers, each one slyer and deadlier than the next. They are incapable of lying, but that does not mean they cannot deceive.” He pulled me closer and I could smell the sweat of hard labor on his skin. “Actions speak louder than words – remember that!”

“I don’t understand,” I whispered. They were leaving me here – I could see it in Jérôme’s eyes.

“You’re a smart girl, Cécile. You’ll figure it out.”

Fingers closed around my arm, heat burning through the sleeve of my dress. Tristan unceremoniously hauled me to my feet. “Jérôme, it would be best if you left as soon as possible. I trust your next visit will be less eventful. And you.” He glared at me. “You and I are going to have words about this.”

I sensed his agitation and prudence warned me against dragging my feet. With his hand latched on my arm, I followed him through the streets. The guards and the dripping Élise came too, but I did not fail to notice the distance they kept.