The Soulstoy Inheritance (17 page)

“Joseph Harbringer has already testified that he was with you in the room with the King and the crowned Prince, and just as you have stated, he holds that the King was alive and unharmed when you exited the room. However, with the compulsion capacity of the synfee race, we have had to bring in an external examiner to sift through your mind to garner the truth of these instances. If you refuse, you will be jailed immediately, pending an ongoing investigation. Do you consent, Miss Harrow?”

“Yes.”

“Bring out the examiner!”

There was a movement to the side of the dais, behind where Hazen and Miriam stood. A man that I did not recognise stepped forth, he was Leif’s height and breadth, but the ebony skin and scarred face were unfamiliar. My heart rate picked up, and I could no longer control my breathing the way I knew I should have been. My palms began to sweat, and he stopped directly before me.

“I’m going to touch your head now,” he said, his voice grating over my skin like wonderful, wonderful sandpaper.

I almost collapsed, and then had to suck in another deep breath, forcing my eyes to the ground as Leif reached out and slid his hands around my skull. The effect was similar to when Harbringer had examined my mind. The specific instant was recalled, and played through my consciousness as though I were watching a scene unfold before me. I wanted to cry when I saw my father again, but I pushed my emotions aside, concentrating instead on my breathing, and the fact that Leif was here.

There was one person in the Synfee Empire that I could trust, at least.

When he was finished, he still held my head for a few more seconds, and I flicked my eyes up to his.

You are my Queen now; I have no right to ask you to keep my secret
.

Your secret is safe with me, Leif.

His hands fell away and he turned to face the dais. “She has been truthful. She performed no compulsion, and did no harm. She used her power to save the Prince’s life, and then Joseph Harbringer arrived, and they left.”

The silence became deafening, and I wondered if Leif still had his needle, to hear how loudly it would fall if he dropped it. Gradually, every face on the dais turned to the side, and I noticed that the attention in the room had switched rapidly from me to Hazen. In the space of seconds, I had gone from enemy-of-the-crown to Hazen’s saviour. Appearing completely unruffled, Hazen stepped forward.

“I gave my statement immediately after the attack, and while I may have been out-of-sorts—” he paused, his handsome face cringing with a look of distaste—“ I do believe that it coincides with what has been declared just now, am I correct, Councilor?”

My interrogator cleared his throat again, looking uncomfortable now. “Yes, Your Majesty, the statement you gave claimed that the synfee saved your life and then left immediately afterwards. Though your sluggishness pointed toward apparent compulsion at the time.”

“I nearly died.” Hazen’s voice was flat, his dark consideration falling upon the Councilor with disdain. “Perhaps that was why I was so sluggish.” He turned without waiting for a reply and strode to me, taking the place of Leif—who I only now noticed had disappeared—and taking one of my hands.

He knelt down and kissed the back of my hand, and then stood again, much to the apparent suspense of the gathered people. I knew that this would not be a scene easily forgotten; the dark-haired boy-king bowing over the hand of a Tainted one. 

“Thank you, Beatrice Harrow, for saving my life. My kingdom owes you a great debt.”

I couldn’t quite speak, and though it felt inadequate to stand there and say nothing in return, I was almost glad that I had no way of forming words. What could I possibly say to one of my dearest friends, who had done so much for me, and yet somehow seemed so completely out of my reach, now? There had been a time when we could not exist without the other, for fear of the pain, anger or disgust of my own trauma ripping us into pieces. He had existed inside my mind and I within the careful shield of his. His features were the only part of him to remain unchanged throughout all that we had been through together. The arcane darkness of his consideration that I remembered from beneath the cherry tree at the Academy was repeated throughout each of my memories of him, capturing me in a stare that I could have fallen into at any point, if I had wanted to lose myself to the world forever. His square jaw still clenched with ever-veiled control, his lips straight with secrets; half a hairs-breadth from a smile and just as close to a frown. He was the same. And yet, he was so very different. I simply stared at him, feeling the pressure of his lips on the back of my hand, even though they weren’t there anymore.

Who are you
? I thought.

Miriam finally managed to tear my eyes from Hazen’s, and she was much more forthcoming than her son, pulling me into a hug and sniffing as if she might cry.

“I’m so glad this is all over,” she whispered as she held me, “you have done so much, and endured so much. I promise you, Bea, I will protect you from now on. This will never happen again.”

I hugged her tightly in return, knowing that there would be nothing that she could do, but understanding, too, that she needed to make the promise. I stood there in a daze as the Councilor announced me acquitted of all crimes and ordered the court to be dispensed. The people thinned out around me slowly, and I just continued to stand there, blinking at the dais.

“That’s it?” I found myself asking.

“That’s it,” Hazen said. “Rose and Cale are waiting for you, shall I take you to them?”

“Please.” He began to walk off, and I followed on numb legs, still feeling as if Cedric would run back into the room at any moment and change his mind.

All that just to be immediately acquitted
?

We climbed the castle stairs as I had on so many occasions before, and finally came to a stop outside Rose’s chamber. Cale was asleep again, this time on a bench-seat beneath a window, and it reminded me that Hazen hadn’t slept either.

“Bea!” Rose flung herself at me and Cale woke with a start.

I laughed and clutched at the girl, until she squeezed a little too tight and I let out a small moan of pain despite myself. She jerked back, holding me at arm’s length and looking me over.

“What is it? What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing, just a few bruises, and a cut or two.”

“How did it happen?” Cale asked, standing and yawning. “And why is there a bandage on your shoulder? I didn’t notice it before now. I might have been a little distracted by the dress.”

I made a face. “I fought a wolf, and then I fought a giant hawk. Oh, there were a few reptilian creatures too, but I’m not sure what they were called.”

“Quite a Throne Test,” Hazen remarked, apparently witnessing the events in my mind as I spoke about them.

Cale’s brow furrowed. “They made you fight animals in the Throne Test?”

“Yes, and a few other things. But I got to ride the hawk for a little bit, until it threw me into the river. I enjoyed that.”

Rose scrunched up her nose. “You’re a little weird sometimes, Bea.”

I laughed. “Well the wolf wasn’t part of the throne test. I was trying to hunt, to make some stupid stand on cannibalism.”

“A stand against cannibalism can never be a stupid stand,” Cale remarked wisely.

Rose rolled her eyes. “Trust you to make a joke out of cannibalism.”

“When was the last time you slept?” I asked Hazen, turning away from the other two.

He frowned. “I can’t remember; I’ll sleep after the service.”

“When is it?”

“This afternoon, we are burying him by the cabin he occupied before moving to the Market District. I understand that’s where your mother is buried?”

“How did you know that?”

“It popped into his head, at some point.”

I nodded, though my own head was now spinning, just a little bit.

“He would have liked that idea.”

“I haven’t publically announced it, I hope that’s okay. I thought with all of the recent attention, it would only draw a crowd wanting to get a glimpse of you or Harbringer.”

“No, I’m glad.”

Chapter Twelve

Respite in the Ground

The ceremony was small, as Hazen had promised. Miriam, Rose, Cale, Hazen, Harbringer and Gretal all stood around me, while the minister sprinkled holy water over the grave and spoke of a better life, which all of us were afforded the luxury of believing in, if only for an hour. Many of the Black Guardsmen that I had grown up around were in attendance, along with Philippe, who was the next to speak after the minister.

Hazen stood on one side and Cale on the other. Cale held my hand, and let me cry onto his shoulder, while I got the distinct impression that Hazen was merely putting himself between Harbringer and me. After the service was finished, I waved them all ahead of me, and knelt by the freshly filled grave.

“I don’t believe in any of the gods,” I whispered to the dirt, “and maybe that’s what makes this so hard. You were a wonderful, loving, dear man. I can’t bear to think that there is nothing left for you.”

A long time passed, where I simply knelt there, enjoying the brief respite of peace. Nobody was trying to kill me right now, but it was too late. The raging storm that my life had been kicked into had calmed too late for me to hold my father and tell him how much I loved him.

Eventually, I felt a hand on my shoulder, and looked up to find Harbringer standing behind me.

“It’s going to get dark soon, Harrow. Let’s go back.”

I nodded and let him help me to my feet, but then I hesitated.

“This won’t last,” I said, looking back to the grave. “Things are back to normal. Calm, even. But it won’t last.”

He sighed. “We might have finally won a battle in this war, but whoever is orchestrating all of this isn’t about to give up just because you were acquitted.”

“Especially if they only intended the trial to draw attention from whatever else they’re up to. The Black Guardsmen have been so occupied with me…”

“I’m going to ask Hazen to put me back on protection detail,” he said, without looking at me. “I don’t know how he could refuse, with all that’s going on.”

“I would feel better having you there again,” I admitted. “Things have been… interesting, since you left.”

“Oh?” He did look at me then, one of his eyebrows arching.

“Yes. I’d like to put you on my High Council. I suppose you should mention that to Hazen as well.”

“You’ve assembled a High Council already?”

“Yes. It turns out Nareon has a brother and a former lover, those are the two who draw most of my attention, apart from Grenlow. I trust the Spymaster—he helped me through the Throne Test. Without him, I would have probably failed.”

“Or died, from what I heard.”

“How in hell has anyone had time to talk to you about that?”

He grinned. “It’s a running joke, I suppose, how often you manage to accumulate injuries. Truly, I don’t know how you managed to survive without me there to stitch you up every night.”

“I was thinking the very same thing yesterday, but Gretal took care of me just fine, thank you very much.”

He laughed, and I struggled to smile in response.

It took the rest of the afternoon to get back to the Market District, and by the time we finally arrived, Cale was so tired he was almost falling over. I still needed to talk to Hazen, but didn’t want to keep him up any longer. He took the decision out of my hands, however, by taking a hold of my arm as we walked through the doors to the castle.

“Take Harbringer up to my rooms, I’ll meet you both there soon.”

I took Gretal with me as well, and we barely had to wait a few minutes before Hazen joined us.

“I think it’s a good idea,” he said to me, without preemption.

“I assume you’re referring to a conversation that we haven’t yet had, because you’ve already determined my answers based on my thoughts, and reached a logical conclusion all on your own.”

Gretal looked horrified, and I couldn’t help laughing at her expression. Hazen’s features didn’t visibly change, but some of his rigidness seemed to smooth away.

“You assume correctly.” He sounded amused. “The inner dialogue I’m referring to is the one where I silently agreed with your decision to put Harbringer on your council.”

“I need people around me that I can trust.”

“Yes, you do. Nobody is better equipped to keep you alive than Harbringer. And this way, he can continue to teach you, without you having to travel to the Academy from the border each day.”

There was a short silence following that statement, in which I had my suspicions that they were communicating silently.

“There is something else that I think we need to talk about,” I said, my voice sounding unsure, even to my own ears.

“Oh?” Hazen’s eyes found me again, and I opened my mind to them both as I verbalised the statement for the sake of my own sanity, not willing to carry on silent or one-sided conversations with them both at the same time.

“Nareon let slip something the last time I saw him. He said that he was working on a peace treaty with Fenrel. He said that it was important, that our kingdoms standing together would make a difference in the coming months.”

Hazen’s brow furrowed, and I fell silent, looking between them as they apparently sifted through my head. I tried not to let my discomfort show.

“Interesting,” Hazen finally muttered. “You are their Queen now, Bea. I’ll have no war with your kingdom, and I assume Nareon counted on as much.”

“Is it as easy as that, though?”

“No.” He looked as if he would laugh, and then his expression fell back into something resembling contemplation. “But your continued presence here will be a positive sign.”

“The Synfee Empire seems the more dangerous out of the two at the moment,” Harbringer remarked. “So you should probably keep all business on this side of the border.”

Hazen nodded his agreement, and then slid a look to the bed on the other side of his chamber. It was the first sign of weariness that he had shown so far.