The Soulstoy Inheritance (21 page)

“Nareon poked at them all week, and finally they both just exploded and started fighting right in the middle of the courtyard. They broke his favourite fountain.”

“How do you break a fountain?”

“One of them had very strong bender talents—he tried to throw the fountain at the other.”

A laugh bubbled in my throat and then burst forth. I couldn’t help it; the notion was just so comical. Quick looked at me strangely.

“You know, that’s the first time I’ve heard you really laugh in… well, a long time. I think you’re finally getting a hang of these moods.”

“That’s why I’ve decided to go over the border now. I didn’t dare do it before, not with the state I was in.”

“Are you going to take Harbringer with you?”

“Yes, I expect I will.”

“And will you bring him back?”

I froze, ripping off my gloves and beginning to move back toward the castle.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been sending him away a lot, I’m not the only person who has noticed. Are you two having some kind of lovers’ spat?”

“We’re not lovers, Quick.”

“So something happened before it got that far?”

“Not necessarily. I’m just… being cautious, that’s all.”

He squinted at me, but I ignored the look and made my way to the courtroom, where I suspected I would find Ashen. Surely enough, he was sitting at the end of the table of court officials, his booted feet propped up before him and his arms folded behind his head, a look of perpetual amusement plastered to his handsome face. Whenever he came back from one of his trips, he always spent a day or two in the courtroom, apparently re-familiarising himself with the issues of our own kingdom. I wasn’t fooled. He liked to play games with people, it was as simple as that. He knew that the easiest people to play with were the ones who needed something.  

He sat up when he saw me and excused himself, sauntering to the other end of the courtroom. I found myself smiling at his display, though I hadn’t consciously meant to do it, and backed out of the room, knowing that he would follow me.

“Lady Queen!” he said. “It has been too long since I was awarded the pleasure of your bloodied face.”

I led him into his own office, and shut the door as Quick stationed himself outside.

“How was your trip?” I asked, moving to the small decorative mirror that graced his wall, half-hidden behind a vase of fresh flowers, which he had most certainly not picked himself.

“It didn’t go smoothly, but that is to be expected. The seas are a treacherous place in a time like this.” He peered over my shoulder, watching me trying to wipe the dried blood from my face before finally offering me a folded cloth.

I spat on the cloth and began wiping again. He winced.

“Any casualties this time?” I asked.

“No, not this time. But the Renegade base remains cleared out. I think you should extend an offering to them, invite them to attend the Winter Festival. It’s only four days from now, it’ll force their hand, and also give us a good idea of how far away Dom’s new base is, from how they respond.”

“Four days? I didn’t realise it was so soon.”

“You’ve been preoccupied,” he said, gingerly taking the cloth that I handed back to him. “And speaking of which, it’s good that you’ve severed your romantic involvement with Harbringer, because we have something that we want you to consider.”

I groaned, finding a seat and slumping into it.

“I’m just erring on the side of caution with Harbringer! Why does Leif tell you these things?”

Ashen grinned. “I’m his outlet, girl; he doesn’t get to talk all that much, in case you didn’t notice. It’s hard to have that kind of mind ability. Those throughout history have always had one person that they bond with, whose mind they like to spend more time in than they do their own.”

“Interesting. Hazen does that with Cale, but Harbringer doesn’t do it with anybody.”

“Don’t be so sure, it’s not exactly an optional condition. It develops as surely as the ability does. One could argue that the ability could not exist without it; our minds alone are not strong enough. A mind-ability that powerful needs another, a backup, an outlet. The more likely explanation is that he sent his mind-partner insane, that has been known to happen too.”

“How do you know you’re not insane, Ashen?”

“I’m quite sure I am, but thankfully for Leif, I was always insane.”

I shook my head, though a smile softened the gesture.

“I’ll send a messenger to the nearest Renegade camp then, how far away is that?”

“Half a day, at worst.”

“Good.” I began to walk my fingers across the wooden cabinet beneath the mirror. “If they’re here, on our own territory, we can better gauge where they stand. If they accept, how big of a contingency will their ruler—what’s his name again?” My fingers stopped walking.

“Dom, and the size of his party will be another thing to note. The more people he brings, the more hostile he will be expecting us to be.”

“So we should hope for a small group?” I allowed my hand to drop to my side.

“The exact opposite. If they are planning an attack, they will want to lull us into a false sense of our own position. They will bring a small party.”

“I see. Well, I’m crossing the border tomorrow, I’m going to suggest Hazen bring his own party. Nareon’s reports on the prison break-in attempts have been consistent with those of Leif’s spies, so I think it’s time to act on it.”

“Which brings us back to what I wanted to ask you.”

I stood up, pretending I hadn’t heard him.

“I’m going to go clean up, and send someone to fetch Harbringer back from Ravenport, so that he can come back over the border with me tomorrow.” I reached the door, and even managed to get it open before Ashen was there again, striding alongside me and Quick, who was grinning as though he knew exactly what was happening.

“Lady Queen, Beatrice, Bea, we really
must
talk about this at some point,” Ashen said, using all the aplomb of his most theatric voice, and twisting his face into an agonized expression.

I rolled my eyes and picked up the pace a little bit, which didn’t bother his longer legs in the slightest.

“Really, girl, you can’t ignore the issue forever.”

“It’s not an
issue
, Ashen, it’s me choosing to ignore each new suitor you shove under my nose!”

“Yes, but I think you’ll rather enjoy this choice.”

“What makes you say that?”

He suddenly stopped walking, so quickly that I stopped as well, and held my hands out, waiting for a response.

“You know what, maybe it would be better if you weren’t told, from now on. That way you wouldn’t push the idea away before you even have a chance to explore it.”

“Ashen!” I yelled as he spun on his heel and began moving back toward the courtroom. “That is
not
a good idea!”

He waved a hand behind him, and a few scattered people about the hallway glanced between us. I grumbled, elbowing Quick for laughing, and continued on my way back to the barracks, where Grenlow would surely have a few messengers for me to send off.

“Who have they got lined up this time?” I asked Quick.

“Oh, Bea, they’d never tell the Queen’s own spies.”

“Like hell they wouldn’t. I know they’ve been trying to get an idea of my preferences from you three, not that they’d have any luck.”

“They had
some
luck. I told Ashen that you liked men with speech impediments, and Sweet told him that you leaned toward the female persuasion.”

“That’s terrible.”

“Yes, but wonderful all at the same time.”

“
You’re
terrible.”

He chuckled and we broke into a run as we passed through the castle gates. He was used to my sudden bursts of energy by now, and I suspected that they were all just grateful that my Force no longer caused injury wherever I went. It may make me extremely volatile to spontaneous eruptions of emotion or physicality, but that was relatively painless in the wider scope of its potential to harm.

The next day, Harbringer returned as we were preparing to leave. Just seeing him, despite how bedraggled he appeared, had my heart leaping in my chest. His eyes found me in the courtyard and he strode over to me.

“You got hit in the face again. Grenlow really shouldn’t be letting them do that.” He reached out as if to touch my face, but then seemed to change his mind, drawing his hand back.

“Any news for me?”

“We’ve managed to figure out what poison they’re using, and where they’re leaking it, but so far whoever is doing it has proved annoyingly elusive.”

“Nothing can ever be easy, can it?”

“It would seem that way.”

We saddled up without any further delay, and rode toward the crossing, where Ashen waited for us, to my surprise.

“Are you coming?” I asked.

“I’m the ambassador. Of course I’m coming.” He seemed affronted by the question, but I knew him better than that, and the blank look on his face was trouble personified.

“I’ve got my eye on you,” I warned, poking a finger at him.

“I’m flattered, Lady Queen. I hope you enjoy the view—should I ride up ahead?”

I took off in answer, not waiting for either one of them to catch up, and didn’t speak until we got to the kingdom. We couldn’t pass through the game trail, as there was nobody to leave the horses with, and so we skirted the Northern Tiered City and entered through the Market District gates instead. People stared at us, though they weren’t hostile as they once were, merely wary, and perhaps a little awed.

I didn’t understand it at first, until Harbringer spoke softly in my mind, perhaps sensing my confusion.

You’re the Synfee Queen, Bea, and you went from traitor-to-the-crown to the girl who saved Hazen’s life overnight. Ashen and I would draw attention under any normal circumstance, but all three of us is quite a disruption to their daily routine.

I didn’t answer him, testing the turmoil of my mind that usually kept him from my thoughts. It was surprisingly calm. I would have to work at guarding myself manually. People began to walk beside our horses, and I took it that word of our arrival had travelled to the castle, as there was a small gathering of people there waiting for us as well.

Chapter Fifteen

Harbringer of Pain

I saw Rose first, and slipped from my horse, running the rest of the way to launch myself into her arms. She met me halfway and then
oofed
in surprised, so that I immediately released her. She ran her eyes over me critically.

“Where is all that strength coming from?” She seemed amazed, and I looked down at myself, noting the plain tights and shirt combination. I looked just the same as I always had.

“I’ve been training with the men every day. The Synfees are a little more… durable than the human guardsmen. I suppose they toughened me up a little bit.”

She wasn’t afforded time to answer, as someone grabbed me then, sweeping me off the ground and twirling me about so that my legs cut through the air and my hair whipped across my face to blind me. That someone smelled like Cale.

“Little Synfee! About time!” He set me back on my feet and I grinned at him, having to lean on Rose’s shoulder to regain my balance. “It’s been
months
, and you’re updates are painful. The last messenger you sent was escorted to the castle by a hoard of crossbows. Synfee gold isn’t exactly the height of fashion around here just yet.”

I tried to hide my grimace. “I’ve been undergoing a bit of a transition.” I glanced to my side as Ashen approached. “This is Ashen, my ambassador. Ashen, this is—“

“I know, of course,” Ashen interrupted. “I’ve seen the Sekron boy before, and Rose looks just like her mother.”

The woman in question walked into the courtyard then, and broke into a smile, hurrying over to grasp my hands, and then my face, smoothing back my hair.

“Bea! You left it so long! How are you sweetheart? You look good, though… there’s a bit of a bruise on your face. It doesn’t detract, I suppose nothing could. Hazen will be pleased to see you!”

I laughed, a little overwhelmed by how quickly her sentences changed direction, and then caught sight of Hazen himself, walking out of the doors to the castle. I wanted to break away from Miriam and hug him, as I had the others, but this was King Hazen again. And King Hazen didn’t spin people around the courtyard as Cale did.

He smiled when he saw me, and I felt his eyes take stock of every inch of my appearance, probably storing away the location of my newest bruises to bring up later.

“Bea…” He pulled me into a brief hug, and then stepped immediately back, his face creasing in frustration. “Your mind… it’s different somehow; a little harder to grasp. What’s going on?”

“She refused to feed,” Ashen supplied. “And has been terrorizing the kingdom with her horrific mood swings and bouts of Force ever since.”

I made a face at him. “It wasn’t
that
bad.”

“She broke a stewards leg, because he was walking too slow.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Yes, but when you slammed Ayleth into the bannister and insisted it was accidental, we all knew you were lying.”

I coloured, because he had me there. Hazen was staring at Ashen with one dark brow slightly arched.

“Nareon’s brother.” He wasn’t asking, he was simply observing.

“King Hazen,” Ashen dropped into a mostly mocking bow, in true Soulstoy fashion. “It is indeed a pleasure. I can understand Rose, but you have neither a speech impediment nor a limp, and Cale seemed equally unaffected by the markings that would specifically warm our Lady Queen to your presence.”

Cale and Rose looked on with confusion, while Hazen burst into surprising laughter, and Harbringer spoke from behind me.

“Well you managed to keep that quiet, Ashen.”

“The Queen has been quite uncooperative, Joseph. I find it hard to believe that you would have warmed her to our cause.”

Hazen’s laughter died off immediately, and when he turned his dark eyes on Harbringer, the rage in them was clear to all.