The Soulstoy Inheritance (26 page)

“Any news from Teddy?” I asked him, drawing his eyes back up to my face.

“No, Lady Queen, Bea—he hasn’t returned yet.”

We moved down to the fighting arena, which was located in the training yard, and I tried not to be suspicious of the distinct skip in Quick’s step.

“You know what the prize is,” I finally accused, as we began to climb the steps of the arena to where Hazen, Cale, Dom, Owl, Louis and his two cousins already waited.

He didn’t answer, but I was distracted, as each of the men had just jumped out of their seats. Owl was the only one still sitting, and she blinked at me, as though she had only just noticed me since coming into my kingdom.

“No need to get up,” I said, a little alarmed.

Ashen came up the steps on the other side of our small podium and paused, his mouth dropping open.

“Bea, you couldn’t have made this any more perfect if you had tried, darling.”

I shook my head, frowning as I found a seat between Hazen and Cale, unsure as to where they stood with each other today, and figuring it would be best to separate them.

“I swear, Ashen, if you try to marry me off today I will pretend you’re Ayleth and beat you into the ground. Mercilessly.”

“So gracious, Lady Queen,” he said with a grin, before turning to the arena before him. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! For those of you who aren’t yet aware, we will be fighting today for a kiss from our fair Queen!”

The crowd roared, Rose sniggered, and I fell back into my seat, trying not to look too ungracious after Ashen’s announcement. He called up the first round of contestants, and then slipped off the podium.

“That’s not so bad,” I tried to convince myself. “I should have guessed it, really.”

“Poor little synfee,” Cale muttered, though it sounded as if he were having about as much fun as Ashen.

The competition passed in a blur, and I only paid attention to the fights that caused the most noise. Ashen himself seemed to be a crowd favourite. He fought with his twin swords, and generally managed to win first blood within minutes. I thought that one of Grenlow’s men had him at one point, but he managed to still come out on top. I watched the trail of limping, bloodied soldiers leaving the arena to get patched up and frowned, wondering what Ashen’s game was. It was clear that he was the superior fighter, and I was still puzzling over what outcome he was driving toward when he was crowned the victor.

He turned in the middle of the arena, raised one of his swords, and the people cried out for him—even those that he had beaten—and then he began climbing the podium. I rose, and once again, everyone rose with me.

“Now,” he called out, so that the people below could hear him. “Is there any monarch here who desires to take my place?”

Dom laughed, and it finally clicked.

“Ahh… Ashen, this really was your most elaborate setup yet.” I groaned.

His eyes glimmered and he quirked an eyebrow at Hazen, who remained silent.

“No?” he said, and then moved for me.

Hazen swore, stepping abruptly in front of him, moments before Ashen would have reached me. His hand threaded into my hair and he drew me forward, his lips claiming mine. I had never heard so much noise before. It stung my ears and thundered in my chest, and yet I felt as if I were hearing it from miles away. Hazen whispered something against my lips, and then he was kissing me again. My hands were on his chest, and my whole world was tipping away, falling right out from beneath me. When it finally ended, the noise from people all around us came buffering back, and his hands dropped away from me. I turned, unable to meet his eyes, and found Miriam, Rose and Cale standing there, stock-still with astonishment. It might have been comical, without the feeling of standing out on a raft in the middle of the ocean, lightning cracking down around me, threatening to set me alight and burn me to ashes at any moment.

Hazen was already stepping off the podium, and I leveled Ashen with a narrow-eyed glare.

“He needed a push, that’s all.” Ashen held up his hands in defense.

“You think you’re so clever?” I walked up to him and almost shoved him, but then something better occurred to me. “Let’s see how you fare against me, Soulstoy.”

I stalked down from the podium, grabbed a sword from the weapons cart beside the arena, kicked off my shoes and stalked right out into the middle of the sand. Ashen jumped down from the podium and drew his two swords. I tossed mine down immediately, because I wouldn’t be needing it.

He rolled his eyes, tossed his own swords aside, and a ripple of fire suddenly shot across the ground toward me. I jumped to the side, but it caught the end of my dress. I tried to summon just enough water to put it out, but managed to drench the entire train. Ashen chuckled delightedly.

“Flora is going to be angry at you,” I warned, sending a blast of wind at him.

He waved his hand, countering the attack with a more powerful gust, which knocked a few people over beyond the barrier of the arena. I smiled, and the ground beneath us began to vibrate until several roots broke through the surface and wound about his legs. He looked down, frowned, and we both seemed to realise at the same time that there was nothing he could do to counter this. I ordered the roots to tighten their hold, and then another shot up, capturing and binding his wrists behind his back.

I stalked forward and snatched the bent leather hat from his head, tossing it onto the ground before him.

“Anyone who tosses a coin into his hat gets a kiss!” I declared.

“Cruel.” He laughed, as I walked off. “You are beyond cruel, Lady Queen!”

I ran the rest of the way back to the castle, and searched every spot I could think of before I finally found Hazen in my crossbow garden. He was shooting the targets this time.

“What did you say?” I asked him.

He spun around, his eyes cloudy, and then he seemed to re-focus.

“What did you say, when you kissed me?” I repeated.

“I said that we’re doomed.”

“It was just a kiss, Hazen, not a proposal.”

He smiled faintly, and his eyes became unfocussed again. I wondered whose mind he was slipping into.

“Whatever you felt—” he stepped away—“ I felt it too Bea. We both know it wasn’t just a kiss.” He spun and disappeared into the castle. 

The sun was beginning to retreat behind the castle walls when Louis found me. I was standing in the same spot that Hazen had left me in, and I had run out of crossbow bolts an hour ago.

“Beatrice.” He startled me into finally dropping the crossbow, and I turned with an arched brow, because he certainly didn’t sound anywhere near as formal as he had on the vary rare occasions that he had spoken to me so far.

“King Louis, what can I do for you?”

“I’m leaving tonight, but I needed to talk to you before I left.”

“Tonight?” I gave him a narrow look, noting the way his eyes constantly flicked to the castle behind him. “You’re not staying for the Winter Festival?”

He shook his head, and exactly what he was trying to say to me finally permeated the distracted state of mind that Hazen had left me in. I snapped to attention, and called to Leif in my mind, hoping that he was near.

“Come with me, we’ll find somewhere private to talk.”

He appeared relieved, and I strode toward the castle, intermittently calling to Leif as I moved back to the fountain room. When we reached it, I waited while Louis shifted uneasily, and finally Leif appeared, a disheveled looking Ashen in tow. I nodded to them both, and then without saying anything more, I turned and began to climb the stairs.

I led them into Nareon’s chambers, to the glass room that overlooked the kingdom, because I knew that it was the only place we were likely to remain undisturbed, our words unheard.

“Should I bring Hazen in here?” I asked Louis, once we arrived.

“Do you trust him?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then it may be wise.”

I looked to Leif, and he nodded. A few minutes later, his scratchy voice filled the quiet of the room.

“King Hazen is on his way.”

While we were waiting, Ashen set to straightening himself up, and I tried not to smirk at him, until he moved to a small side table and began to pour himself a drink from the crystal decanter, and then I couldn’t look at him at all. Sometimes his movements reminded me so much of Nareon that it hurt. When Hazen entered the room, his dark eyes bypassed me and went straight to Louis. They greeted each other, and I sat down on the chaise, barely even noticing when Ashen pushed a glass into my hand.

“Alright. You have the stage, Louis.”

He cleared his throat, nervously—I thought—and then moved to the glass wall, turning away from us as he spoke.

“My kingdom is small in comparison to this, and smaller still in comparison to the human kingdom. The vampires have never assimilated well with other cultures. We were the true Tainted Creatures, once upon a time.”

I looked at the others, wondering if this was as new to them as it was to me. Probably not.

“The Tainted Creatures were the undead; people who were too powerful to remove from the world entirely. Vampires are Tainted due to the disease that should be killing them, as instead, it returns them to this world from the brink of death. We are the least dangerous of the Tainted, as we have not yet died entirely. The other Tainted… they can only come from death. They might seem like they have been brought back to their former living selves, but they have not. Do you know what I am talking about?” He turned, his red-rimmed eyes fixing on me over his shoulder.

“Yes,” I managed, thinking of Nareon.

“It has always been that way,” he continued. “Because we cannot live in harmony, the dead and the living. Those who have touched the other side cannot ever hope to rejoin their loved ones, because the living burn too brightly. It saps us of our energy, and turns our souls ugly. It blackens us, makes us want to hurt, and kill. That is why we are the Tainted Creatures. We are tainted by death, and being surrounded by pure ones only sickens us further.”

I stared at the back of his head, as he was again facing the window, and felt the uneasiness rise within me.

“Nareon,” I said—not a question, but a statement.

“Yes,” Louis answered. “You have lost him, I am sorry.”

“But he has been getting stronger.”

“It is not what it seems. Some things need to get worse before they can get better, just as some things might seem to be improving, before you realise how drastically they have deteriorated.”

“What should I do?”

“You’re not afraid to ask that, young Queen. That is a good thing. You seek the answers needed instead of blindly charging forward. It will serve you well in the coming years. As for Nareon, if he has been gaining strength, it is likely that he has passed the point of retrieval.”

“What the hell does that mean?” I fought to contain my anger, my frustration, and keep my voice as evenly toned as Louis’, though I knew it wasn’t working.

“It means that he will move on soon, and you shouldn’t call him back. He will not return as you knew him. He will return as something darker, something twisted. He will return a true Tainted Creature.”

I put a hand to my mouth, trying to shrug off the need to scream and sob all at the same time, and Louis cocked his head at me, waiting until I was once again under control.

“Did you come all this way to warn me about Nareon?” I asked, my voice once again strong, though tears still stung at my eyes.

“No. I came to offer you the information you have undoubtedly been seeking.” He spun from the window, and walked to Hazen, stopping directly before him, measuring him up. “Fenrel knew our situation just as Nareon did, they have known that the threat existed for a long time, but until recent years, it was a sleeping threat.”

He veered from Hazen, and walked to me, the way he moved causing no small amount of discomfort to rise within me. It was filled with a jerky kind of ease that simply set me on edge. It was too unnatural.

“The threat has awoken, Beatrice Harrow. Our land is an insignificant island, relying on a sea that is no longer vast enough to protect it. We are surrounded by harsher and larger empires, empires so far further advanced than us, we seem only regressed barbarians. This great kingdom,” he flung his arm to the window, which had begun to turn black with night, “this is just a farm to them. A farm with the resources and the undeveloped land that they require to become even bigger, even greater.”

I rose from the chaise, my hands clammy and sweating.

“My mother lived in the human kingdom. She learned to assimilate into another race of people that despised her. That’s why Nareon came to find me. He needed someone capable of merging the two kingdoms together to gain control of in case he died. That is what it has come to, isn’t it?”

My wide-eyed distress travelled from Ashen to Leif and then to Louis, who was the only one to give a response. He nodded. Across the room, Hazen stumbled to a chair, his head falling into his hands.

“Where are they coming from?” I demanded. “When are they coming?”

“The Valens have been using the kingdom on the northwestern coast of our land as a base over the last two years, since it takes them so long to transport troops and supplies over the sea. They will soon have enough people to march an attack.”

“Valens?” Ashen interrupted.

“Valendell is the name of their continent; they call themselves Valens.”

“This means that yours will be the first to go,” I thought out loud, watching Louis.

His expression grew grim. “It would have been, but we have relocated. The Renegades have also scattered. They are not substantial enough of a people to stand up against an organised army, but if Dom is here, I’d vouch that he’s sniffing out where you stand. If the Valens had captured Ratchett’s kingdom, the entire land would have heard about it in a matter of weeks.

“The more likely explanation is that Ratchett’s people were assimilated. They swore fealty to the Valens sailing across the ocean, hoping to save themselves. Dom is probably trying to determine whether you have done the same thing. It is the reason I came, after all.”