The Black King (Book 7) (23 page)

“Based on what? The past behavior of Black Rulers?”

She nodded. “We have been the most successful people in the history of the world.”

“Successful? The Isle was successful. It had been at peace for a thousand years before the Fey arrived. That’s just a different way of measuring success.”

“And not a good one for the Fey.” Her words echoed in the large room. Apparently they had both raised their voices.

They stared at each other in the silence. Then Gift said, “So that’s why you’re training the military. You’re going to invade Leut.”

Her features became still. It was as if the mercurial Arianna had learned how to wipe all emotion off of her face. He would never have believed that possible.

“You don’t have a large enough military to invade a new continent. And you’re not a war leader. You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“You do?” Arianna asked.

“Ari,” Gift said. “This isn’t for us. You’ve made incredible strides in peacetime. You’ve doubled food production throughout the Empire. You’ve expanded trade among the member nations. You’ve made us rich through our own means, not through conquering others.”

She nodded. “It was an oversight that needed to be corrected. Now that it has, it’s time to return our attention to the things that made the Fey the people they are.”

He stared at her. She looked the same. She was his sister except for those eyes. It was as if someone else looked out of them. But he didn’t know how someone else had gotten in. He didn’t know anyone strong enough to cross her Links and take her over. Besides, Coulter had had her close her Links years ago.

The thing he kept coming back to was the light that had flared from the Throne. It had gone searching, the Shaman had said. Maybe it had found fertile ground in Arianna. Maybe that was what his mother had meant by being infected by dark magick.

But if Arianna was infected, he had no idea how he could prove it—or what he could do.

“Ari,” he said, “the day we met, do you remember it?”

“Of course,” she said coldly. “I tried to kill you. I didn’t know about the Blood against Blood then.”

“Before that, though, what did I offer you?”

Her blue eyes twinkled. “Are you testing me, Gift?”

“Humor me.”

“You can tell I’m not a Doppelgänger. There are no gold flecks in my eyes.”

Gift waited. His heart was pounding.

“Of course, if I’m some rogue Shape-Shifter who has taken Arianna’s place, you can kill me and assume the Throne and no one will be the wiser. There won’t even be Blood against Blood.”

His palms had grown damp. He wasn’t sure what he would do if she didn’t answer him. Were there spells that made Shape-Shifters revert to their original forms? Skya would know.

Arianna inclined her head toward him. “If I were a Shape-Shifter, though, one with normal gifts, I would have had to practice this shape from birth. I would have chosen the shape of the Black Queen. Wouldn’t my own people have thought that odd?”

Gift said nothing.

“I suppose they could have wanted to overthrow the Black Family, but that would have taken a special Fey. Unless I’m really Islander, or half and half. Imagine if I were. What kind of creature would I be then? Or maybe I had the same Shape-shifting ability the real Black Queen does, able to take dozens of forms.”

Gift’s mouth was dry. He wasn’t sure he wanted her to be able to answer him, or not. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know that this sarcastic bitter woman was really his sister.

“A new Shape-Shifter would, naturally, have studied everything possible about me, but wouldn’t know all the details. And unlike a Doppelgänger, wouldn’t have absorbed my memories.”

She wasn’t dumb. She understood his test too well.

“On the day we met,” she said, “you wanted to take Sebastian away from the palace. You thought he was going to die. When I found you, you offered to take me with you. I had no idea who you were, so I refused. I tried to prevent you from kidnapping Sebastian and it wasn’t until later that I finally understood you were my real brother, and that killing you would have been a disaster of untoward proportions.”

A chill ran down Gift’s back.

“Interesting test. Most people know that I tried to kill you the day we met, but they don’t know the other reasons behind it. They don’t know that you had come to the palace with good intentions and that I was the one who was ill-informed.”

The chill stayed with him. He wasn’t sure how to move. The memories were Arianna’s, which meant he was not looking at an imposter Shape-Shifter. Could a person’s basic nature change so much in fifteen years?

Or had something changed it, warped it, some kind of magick made her something else? Was this what the Black Throne needed? Was this what it wanted? Was this what he would have become if he had accepted it?

“There were so many memories you could have chosen,” she said. “That one was particularly apt. You wanted to remind me of the Blood against Blood, didn’t you? And you wanted to remind me that you have never meant me harm while I nearly brought the Blood on both of us. Marvelous. You do have a proper Fey mind. You simply choose to waste it.”

Gift’s breathing was shallow. He didn’t want this person to be Arianna. He wanted the sister he had known back.

“It’s too bad, really,” she said. “If you didn’t have such a soft-hearted philosophy, I could have used you. But you’re too dangerous, Gift. You have several advantages that make things too difficult for me. You’re the eldest, and for that reason alone some believe you should be Black King. You’ve touched the Throne and it wanted you, even though you claimed you rejected it. You’ve given up your Shamanic training, so you have no future, no plans for a life outside of these walls. And you’ve already found a mate to breed heirs.”

He stared at her. He wished he had listened to his mother now. Had she known this was going to be the result of his visit?

“Even if you don’t try to overthrow me, someone might in your name. And then what will we have? Blood against Blood?” She shrugged. “It’s not something I want to test.”

“I’m not going to overthrow you.”

“You believe that now,” she said. “But people change over time.”

“Like you did.”

“It’s possible.” She walked toward him, then reached out a hand and put a finger under his chin, lifting it slightly. She was inspecting him as if he were a horse. Her fingers were cold. “They say you’re the greatest Visionary the Fey have ever known. Is that true, Gift?”

“I don’t know.” When he spoke, her fingernail dug into his chin.

“How many Visions did you have when you touched the Throne? Three? Five?”

“Seven,” he said.

Her finger dropped away. Her eyes grew even colder. “Seven. That is impressive. Were any of them about me?”

“Some,” he said.

“Are you going to share them?”

Three of them were about her. In the third, she stared at the Black Throne longingly, the expression on her face alien to him then, but familiar now. This was the woman he had Seen in that Vision.

“No,” he said. “I’m not going to share them.”

Arianna frowned at him. “It’s a Visionary’s duty to share Visions.”

“And I already have. With all the Shaman in Protector’s Village.” Gift crossed his arms. “You can’t have this both ways, Ari. Either I’m your brother or I’m your enemy. You’ve spent the last hour telling me that we have no obligation to each other and now you want to claim one.”

“You’re trying to blackmail me into resuming a relationship that will harm our people?”

“I don’t see it that way.”

“As blackmail?”

“As harmful.”

She shook her head. Her lips had thinned. She seemed suddenly unsure of herself. “So the Shaman, after hearing your Vision, sent one of their kind with you, to take care of you when you became Black King.”

“Actually, she volunteered to come with me to serve the Black Family.”

“She would become my Shaman?”

“She’s her own person. Ask her.”

Arianna turned away. She walked to the window, the south window this time, and he couldn’t see the reflection of her face. She seemed almost disturbed by the idea of having a Shaman.

“You know,” she said after a moment, “I can’t have you stay on the Isle.”

“You’ve made that clear.”

“It’s customary to give lesser members of the Black Family a military commission.”

“If we’re at war.” Gift didn’t want a military commission, but he’d see what she offered.

“That’s right. Otherwise, you might get the leadership of a small country. You’re quite shrewd, Gift. Giving you a military commission or a position of leadership would be inviting trouble.”

“I don’t understand why you don’t trust me. I haven’t done anything to you.”

“Yet.” She clasped her hands behind her back and spread her legs slightly. That stance disturbed him as well. It was a military posture, one Arianna rarely used. Their mother had used it. Their grandfather as well. But Arianna had been more fluid. Rarely did she hold herself so still.

“I had hoped you would keep your monastic ways. I had hoped your studies would have kept you busy for the next thirty years. I did expect you to become a Shaman.”

“So did I,” Gift said. “But the war with Rugad disqualified me. I am not able to use Domestic magick.”

“That’s what worries me. If you had remained a Domestic, you would not have been a threat.”

He sighed. There was no convincing her otherwise, no matter what he said. He wished he had stayed beside her these last few years. He wished he knew what had caused the changes.

“So,” she said, “I want you to leave the Empire, Gift.”

His breath stopped in his throat. “You’re banishing me?”

“I think that’s my only choice.”

“And what will you do if I don’t agree?”

She turned, looking at him over her shoulder. “I don’t have to kill you to remove you as a threat. If you want to stay in the Empire, I’m sure I could find a nice cell for you. The dungeons below the palace are adequate, but I know there are better places in L’Nacin.”

He’d heard about L’Nacin prisons. They were renowned for their brutality.

“Mother was right,” Gift whispered. “Something’s got a hold of you. This is not you, Ari.”

“It is now,” she said. “And if you don’t think I mean what I say, then test me.”

He wasn’t going to. “The only place I can go, then, is Leut. Aren’t you afraid I’ll warn them that the Fey plan to invade?”

She shrugged. “They have probably been preparing for that for years. One more warning won’t hurt. They won’t be able to do anything.”

“You’ve studied their culture? You know how they make war?”

“I’m learning,” she said. “Maybe I should send you as my ambassador. Does that have a better ring to it? Stay there for a dozen years, Gift, and send reports to me.”

“No,” he said.

She smiled. The look didn’t reach her eyes. “How did I know you would say that?”

“Rethink this, Ari. I can stay out of your way—”

“No. Think of it as a compliment. Past Black rulers have manipulated their heirs to get them out of the way. You’re not easily manipulated. So I’m telling you, directly, that I want you and your little entourage gone. Or I will make certain that they die, and you’re miserable for the rest of your life.”

Gift was shaking. “My ship is damaged. Several of my crew died in your assassination attempts.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Don’t lie to me. I understand now. If you’ve become ruthless enough to threaten me with prison, then you are ruthless enough to manipulate Islanders into trying to kill me.”

Her smile grew a little wider.

“I need time to hire more crew. I want you to let some of my people return to their homes. They don’t deserve to be banished because they were serving the Black Family. I want time to find replacements for them.”

“You’ll take your woman.”

He would have to now. His lies had trapped Skya as much as they had trapped him. He didn’t regret having to take her with him, but he did regret the fact that he caused her loss of freedom. She would hate him for that.

“I’ll take her,” he said.

Arianna nodded. “You have two weeks. You’ll be watched at all times. If you take longer than that, I will take action. Is that clear, Gift?”

“Very,” he said.

“Good.” She waved a hand. “Now, get out of my sight. I never want to see you again.”

SIXTEEN

EVERY MUSCLE in his body hurt. His spine ached, and his butt had never been this sore. At least his teeth had stopped rattling. Matt clung to the horse’s sides with his thighs, the reins tight between his fingers. He had ridden before this, but never for any distance, and never without an instructor. Now he’d been on a horse for two days straight, taking only a few hours to sleep on hard ground before he continued.

The road wound along the Cardidas River. Coulter had told him it would take him directly to Jahn. Matt had asked how he would recognize the city, and Coulter had smiled.
It’s the only place of its type in all of Blue Isle,
he’d said.

Matt wished he could see it now. But all he saw was the narrow road, barely wide enough for the horse. There was a sheer drop on his right side, and if the horse should slip, they would plunge down to the Cardidas. On his left was a steep mountain wall.

He had never been away from home before. He hadn’t even had time to tell his mother he was leaving, not that she would care. After he and Coulter had left the Roca’s Cave, Matt had gotten on this horse and headed out.

Packed over the back were blankets, changes of clothing, food, and hidden in it all, the vials of the Roca’s Blood and the dolls. Matt hated them, but they were the point of his mission. He just had to time it right, and make sure he didn’t get caught.

He pulled his coat tighter around him, almost losing his balance in the process. The horse shook its head, as it often did when he made some kind of error. At least he wasn’t bouncing any more. He seemed to have found some kind of rhythm. Coulter had told him to let the horse have its head and it would take them down the road. That was proving to be true. All Matt had to do was feed, water, rest and groom the horse, and it seemed to do fine.