The Song of Eloh Saga (35 page)

I glanced at Mark, my eyes wide. We weren’t just sneaking back into the palace. We were beginning on a path that would hopefully uncover what Zelor knew about me.

We pushed through the trees, until we reached the outskirts of the woods. I saw the dark path just ahead.

“I’ll see if it’s safe.” Mark dropped my arm, but not before he gave my elbow a small squeeze. We were in this together. That much was certain.

He crept to the edge and looked both ways out of the branches. We were quiet, so quiet I could hear the birds rustling in the trees. There wasn’t another sound to be heard. Mark waved to us to join him on the edge of the forest. He left his arm out and I wound mine around his again. Alia fell in behind us.

In one swift motion, we emerged from the woods and walked as if we’d been out enjoying a leisurely stroll at night. Along the edge of the woods, the palace spires come into sight again. It took my breath away

I wished I could just enjoy it instead of feeling like I was walking into another trap. Someone was trying to hide something from me and I was sure Alia was working for them.

We entered the palace and were swept into a flurry of activity. I gripped Mark’s arm, fearful that all of this fuss was because of my absence. But a quick eavesdropping into a slave’s conversation clued me in to something else.

“The Sons are camped behind the mountain. Everyone’s heard it so it must be true. Are they going to attack? Oh Eloh, what will become of us?” One slave wailed to another. Even though the Sons fought for the freedom of Serenians, their murderous reputations preceded them. Everyone feared them.

If only they knew the Sons were here to help them gain their freedom, not to hurt them. It was the nobles who should be worried. They were the people who would be targeted, who might die in the battle.

We hurried up the palace stairs, no one taking heed of us. As we entered the meeting chambers, Jada whispered in the corner with Reese. They turned and the looks on their faces caused shame to rise up from my chest. They were afraid, worried, for me.

Jada rushed over, her arms opened wide. “Reychel, where have you been? We were so worried.” She cast a sharp look at Alia. “And you? What were you doing? You’ve been missing from your chores today. Others had to pick up your slack. It’s irresponsible and reckless.”

I broke in. “Please don’t blame her Jada. I…I wanted to meet Mark out in the town. I asked Alia to come and serve as my chaperone. I had no idea we would be missed today. Everyone has been so busy planning the war. I’ve spent too much time cooped up in my room reading the Zelor’s texts. I needed to get out.”

Jada’s concerned expression warmed, but she allowed herself one last accusatory glance at Alia. Reese put a hand on her shoulder.

“Calm down, Jada. Reychel’s right. We’ve done little more than hold her hostage here, expecting her to solve a problem no one has been able to solve for generations. She deserved some time out.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone before you left?” Jada asked. She pointed at Mark. “And why didn’t you come to the palace and properly request an audience with Reychel?”

“I asked her to meet me last night,” Mark said. “It’s like Reese said, she needed a break. One day to have fun. We still have two days until the takeover, though it seems everyone knows something is up now. How did they find out about us?”

I slowly released the breath I had been holding, for fear Jada’s anger would put me in a tighter spot. But Mark changed the subject so deftly I didn’t have to worry.

“We don’t know,” Jada said. “One of the slaves must have seen something out an upper window. Maybe one of your men wasn’t staying where he should have and ventured into the city. Obviously it’s easy to slip away.” She cocked an eyebrow at Mark.

“No one came with me and no one followed me,” Mark said. “Don’t lay this at my feet. And I certainly didn’t say anything while Reychel and I were in town today. We walked, and talked about what we’ve been doing the last couple of weeks, that was it. We didn’t discuss your war. We have better things to talk about than that.”

“You came here to help us,” Jada said. “Don’t say it’s just my war. It’s yours too. The Sons have as much at stake here as I do.”

“True, but what do we do now?” Mark asked. “If people suspect the Sons are out there, someone is bound to ride beyond the mountains and check the story. My men will hold anyone who discovers them, but if enough people become curious we’ll have a problem on our hands.”

“Our timeline has just been moved up,” Jada said. “Two days and then we must begin that battle. It’s time to win this war and take down the Malborn for good. Go to bed, Reychel. And Mark, we’ll find you a room. If anyone follows you, we’ll lose our advantage. Get some rest, you two. The next couple days are going to be a nightmare.”

Chapter Fourteen

I sat, staring at Krissin and she stared back at me. I hadn’t slept well, but I’d tried. Before I’d had a chance to finish my breakfast, Krissin stormed into my room and refused to leave until I’d explained where I’d been yesterday. I figured she’d drag it out of me anyway, so I told her everything.

“You don’t trust Alia anymore?” she asked. “I wouldn’t either. The girl is a snake.”

“Why did you assign her to me then?”

“I didn’t. Jada did. She thought Alia would do her job without disturbing you. She’s a quiet girl. I, for one, don’t trust quiet girls.”

I tried not to laugh. Somehow I thought Krissin didn’t trust anyone, quiet or not. If Krissin was working with Alia then I’d just shown my hand, but I believed, no matter how much I disliked Krissin, that if she wanted to spy on me she’d find a better way of doing it.

“Mark and Ace are coming by this morning,” I said. “Mark and I want to figure out if Alia is working with anyone. He thought Ace might be able to help us.”

“Really?” Krissin asked. Her eyebrows lifted, but the rest of her body remained as still as a statue. She had poise, but she’d given herself away. She wanted to see Ace and she couldn’t hide that from me. “When?”

“They’ll be here soon,” I said.

“You’re sure they’re both coming?” she asked. Her glare dissolved quickly into an anxious stare at the door.

“Mark said they would. He needed to meet Ace at the lockup, to make sure he got out without any problems. He said he’d bring Ace back with him.”

“I can’t believe he spent the night with a bunch of drunken men when he could have stayed here in comfort. It would have taken nothing for me to get him out.”

“But if you would have, maybe our enemy would have found out. No one can know what we’re doing. Besides, even if you would have sprung Ace, I’m sure he would have gone back to camp with his brothers in the Sons.”

“It’s more comfortable here.” Krissin’s bottom lip popped out.

I laughed, thinking of rough Ace trying to get comfortable in one of our huge feather beds. I couldn’t see it. He truly seemed like a bedroll and bag under his head kind of guy.

The door opened and a slave, one I’d never seen before, announced Mark and Ace. They stepped through the doorway and the slave closed it behind him as he left.

Ace rubbed the back of his neck with his left palm.

“Sore?” I asked.

“No thanks to you,” he said. “I hope you trust me now. I wouldn’t do that for most people.”

I laughed. “I do trust you, Ace. And thank you. Mark and I discovered something very interesting in the house, but right now we need to concentrate on finding out who is trying to destroy everything Krissin and Nemison have worked for.”

“I don’t know why anyone here would do this.” Krissin’s arrogant attitude from a few moments ago was gone, replaced by a simpering, whiny girl. Maybe she was doing it for Ace’s benefit. I had to believe Ace would find her more attractive if she didn’t play the role of an innocent princess. But what did I know about guys?

“Let’s get the facts first,” Mark said. “Who knew about the plan?”

Krissin tapped her fingertip to her cheek, eyes rolled up in her head pretending like she was thinking.

“Oh, for Eloh’s sake,” I said. “Krissin, Nemison, Jada, Reese and his wife Hanne. It has to be one of them. No one else knew about the plan, right?” Krissin nodded. “Then it has to be Jada or Reese or Hanne.”

“I’ve known all of them my whole life,” Krissin said. “I can’t imagine why any of them would want to hurt me or our people like this. We’re all working for the greater good. We just want everyone to be free and happy.”

Krissin’s fake optimism and childish naiveté were really starting to irritate me. It was almost worse than her true, pompous self.

“Is that why you killed the man you once thought was your father?” I asked her. I was tired of her pretending to be a damsel in distress.

Ace’s head perked up. “You killed the last ruler? How? Was it an accident?”

Krissin sent me an evil look. “Well, um, no, not really. I sort of poisoned him.”

“And told him who you were as he died,” I added.

“You killed him and had the time to rub it in?” Ace’s eyes grew wider. “Nice. I usually kill people so quickly I don’t have time to gloat over it. That’s amazing. I’ll have to try that sometime.”

“Really?” Krissin asked. She stretched out to her full height, short as she was, and her form took on the shape of the Krissin I knew. Strong, intimidating, unwilling to take prisoners. Though I think she was about to capture Ace.

“You’ll have to tell me about it sometime,” he said, staring at her.

“Of course,” she said. “We’ll have a quiet dinner. Tonight. I’ll have my private chef prepare anything you like.”

Mark rolled his eyes and smiled. I smiled back. Finally the real Krissin was here and we could talk about what we needed to do.

“I think the best way to find out who our traitor is will be done by following Alia. We know she’s up to something and we need to find out who she’s working with. I think once we know that, it will be easy to find out what we’re dealing with,” Mark said.

“It’ll be impossible,” I said. “Once she gets down in those slave corridors, I don’t know how we’ll find her again. It would be so easy to slip away in the dark.”

“Slave corridors? Dark? What are you talking about?” Krissin asked.

“That’s how she snuck me out of the palace,” I said. “Through the slave passageways.”

Krissin planted her hands on her hips. “There are no slave corridors in this palace. Every slave walks through the same hallway we do. Do you think I’d send my own people through dark, dank hallways? Unlike your home in the north, my slaves are allowed to see the sun. It’s encouraged!”

“But, the hallways she took me through. The sleeping chambers with bedrolls on the floor…”

“Our slaves sleep in beds just like yours,” Krissin insisted. “Well, smaller or maybe two to a bed, but they don’t sleep on the floor. And many of them go home at night to be with their families. I don’t force anyone to stay here. It’s an honor to serve at my palace!”

“It was all a ruse,” I fumed, “to gain my trust. She knew I used to be a slave and she used that against me.” I stomped my foot and then kicked a nearby chair. “Why does everyone lie to me? Better yet, why do I always fall for it?”

Mark put his arm around my shoulders, but I shrugged it off. “I am so tired of being this victim that everyone uses for their own means.” I pulled the wig off my head, sat down on the chair I’d kicked and rubbed my scalp.

I felt like an idiot. My empathy, which I believe to be my greatest strength, was actually my worst enemy.

“Pull yourself together Reychel,” Krissin said. “She probably took you down the abandoned corridors. Obviously someone wanted Alia to gain your trust and she did. There’s nothing wrong with trusting in total strangers.”

I looked up as Krissin covered a tiny smirk. Ace snorted in the background.

“Ignore them,” Mark said, shooting both of them dirty glances. “You are who you are. Don’t let anyone take away what makes you special.”

“It doesn’t mean I have to be naïve,” I said. I clenched my fists. “Fine, it’s too late. I know the truth now. What are we going to do about this?”

“We’re going to do what you said. We’re going to follow her,” Mark said.

“We can’t,” I said. “She knows all of us and she’d be suspicious if we were hanging around her every move.”

Krissin stomped around the room, her silk dress trailing behind her. It was strange to see someone so beautiful acting like a child, but that was Krissin.

“I have a solution,” she said, her teeth glinting through a smirk. “Ace can pretend to be a visiting noble from the north. He’d have to remain here in the palace, of course. I couldn’t allow you to go back to that dirty camp you have in the mountains.”

“No, no of course not,” Ace agreed. “It would be a sacrifice for me to stay here, but I would do it, if my Prophet commanded.” He turned to me and bowed. I’m sure no one would have blamed me if I’d kicked him.

“I don’t really care what you do,” I said, trying to ignore his jibes.

“But I would need a servant to help me.” Ace turned to Mark. “Do you mind serving me?”

Mark laughed. “I feel like your servant most of the time when we’re on the road. Brushing your horse, getting your food, helping you tie your boots.”

“I have a bad back.” Ace reached and placed his hand on his lower back. “Hurts to bend over.”

Krissin and I laughed. For a moment I felt like we were normal teenagers, not a princess, a Prophet, and two outlaws.

“Once Ace is in the palace, how will he find out anything? It’s not like Alia will tell him what we want to hear,” I said.

“I’ll follow her. I’ll be the most annoying, needy nobleman she’s ever served,” Ace said.

“I can’t imagine you’ll have much trouble faking the annoying part,” I said. I was definitely warming up to his charms. If I liked rascals, I’d fall for Ace just like Krissin had.

Krissin shot me a nasty look and I quickly erased my smile. She swished to Ace’s side and slid her arm through his. “You’ll need new clothes. Noblemen don’t walk around in that.”

Ace looked down at his leather riding breeches and white shirt, laced up only to the middle of his chest. Krissin reached over and touched his chest with a fingernail. “This is a completely inappropriate way for a nobleman to dress. I’m sure I can scrounge up something for you.”