The Soulstoy Inheritance (28 page)

“Once more, Bea. I need everyone to know that Ashen’s games are over. The next person who wants to kiss you will have to go through me,” he whispered against my ear.

I laughed and turned my head. His lips caught mine before I had the chance, and I was lost all over again. People were raising noise over our scene, but I was focused entirely on Hazen, and couldn’t feel the embarrassment until he set me down again. We were both breathing hard, and he was looking at me as though he wanted to drag me away, but of course, he only stood there. I glanced over his shoulder, and paused, because there was Grenlow.

He looked like someone had just punched him in the gut, and I knew better than to assume that it was jealousy. He caught me watching him, and Hazen stiffened, but didn’t turn.

“He looks like he’s about to bolt,” I whispered.

“Smile at him.”

I forced a smile, and Grenlow’s eyes narrowed. He took a shaky step backwards.

“I don’t usually smile at him,” I realised aloud, pulling out of Hazen’s arms.

As soon as we began to move toward him, Grenlow took another step backward, but he couldn’t run away now, so I deliberately made our advance seem casual. I gripped Hazen’s hand, and wiped the smile off my face, because that was only going to spook him.

“Grenlow,” I said when we reached him, “you look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

His eyes flicked to Hazen’s hand joined with mine. He swallowed.

“The two Kings wear your favour.” He didn’t say it as a question, but I answered him anyway.

“Yes.”

“And King Louis left—why not stay for the festival?”

“You were right,” Hazen answered for me. “He was curious. He wanted to make sure that the new ruler posed no threat to him and his kingdom.”

“That’s all?” Grenlow’s gaze shifted to Hazen now.

“That’s all,” Hazen confirmed.

“I’m going to Flintwood.” I spoke even as the notion furled delicately out from some point in my mind. Yet, with the words, my resolve seemed to form into a solid plan. “I’m going tonight, and you’re coming with me, Grenlow.”

He showed no reaction. “What about the festival?”

“They can do without me. Ashen will entertain them, I’m sure.”

“Very well.” He frowned. “What is the reason for this impromptu visit?”

There were, in fact, several reasons for the visit, but I picked my answer carefully.

“Flintwood and Red Ridge were the most effected by the Force users—would I be right to assume that the Flintwood citizens would not have been able to attend our festival tonight for that reason?”

“Yes, Lady Queen.”

“Then I will take a part of it to them.” I tightened my hold on Hazen’s hand, turning a flirtatious smile on him that felt a little ridiculous, but was necessary for Grenlow’s sake.

“Would you like to accompany me?” I asked him.

His expression gave away nothing, but something about his polite smile had me sure that he was laughing at me.

“How could I refuse?” He didn’t phrase it as a question, and quickly kissed the back of my hand. “I will tell the others.”

I watched him disappear, my heart seizing momentarily despite the fact that he was putting on as much of a show as me, and then I took a deep breath and glanced back to Grenlow.

“I don’t think getting involved with the human King is a good idea, Lady Queen,” he muttered.

“We’re young Grenlow.” I tried to make my voice sound flippant and cheerful. “Allow us our amusement.”

Quick returned with Ashen and the rest of my advisors in tow, and I squared my shoulders, preparing for a much harsher reprimand than what Grenlow had subtly delivered. Quick looked grim, while the rest of them—with the exception of Ayleth—were chillingly blank. Ayleth was seething, but that wasn’t a surprise to me. What
did
shock me was the look she flung Grenlow as she passed me to stand beside him. It would seem that Grenlow and Ayleth had both hoped against the union of the two kingdoms.

“Lady Queen.” It was Dain who spoke to me, twisting a gold ring around his middle finger. “You have offered the Renegades protection, it would seem.”

“I have.”

“What exactly do they need protection… from?” he pressed, his eyes narrowing.

If I had ever wondered what it would be like to face-off against a group of angry, powerful synfees without the protection of Nareon or Harbringer, I now knew.

You aren’t alone, Lady Queen
. It was Leif, and he had appeared right behind me.

I took another deep breath.

“How many of you know about the Valens?” I asked, deliberately flinging the gates wide open, while I whispered to Leif in my head.

Tell me who lies.

Ayleth, Dain, Rohan, Cereen and Grenlow’s expressions turned nonplussed, and each of them shook their heads mutely.

Isolde was the last to respond.

“I know of them.”

I turned to her. “Tell me what you know.”

“I was one of them.”

That
answer I had not been expecting. I could not have hidden my shock from her if I had tried. She laughed at the expression on my face.

“We discovered this island when I was a little girl, before I came into my inheritance ability. The seas stretching between Valendell and Hiemsland—which is the frozen continent on the other side of the world—have always been infested with pirates, so mostly we avoided going too far out to sea. But eventually, the inevitable happened, and one brave Valen vessel decided to take a shortcut on their journey to the far northern shore of Cassenfall. They called this island the Noveland. Unfortunately, they weren’t the only ones to discover it. There are five countries surrounding this continent, if you include the Gilded Isle, and to avoid an all-out territory war, the Noveland was declared a no-mans-land.”

I grabbed Leif’s arm, feeling the ground swim beneath my feet.

“Where are we exactly, in relation to these other continents?” I asked her.

“Almost directly in the middle. Valendell is closer, but not significantly so.”

I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to force the oxygen back into my lungs, unable to look away from Isolde’s steady gaze. She didn’t look guilty, only mildly curious.

“Did you know that they have been planning an attack?” I asked her.

Her eyes went wide, and she fell back, seeming about as floored as I felt.

“No.” She sounded faint. “After all these years…”

Dain caught her arm, steadying her; the dread in his expression wormed its way into my mind. Was it possible that none of them knew?

Two of them did
. Leif answered my thought.
Grenlow and Ayleth
.

I turned my eyes to Grenlow, unable to help the stab of pain that accompanied that accusation.

Can you get anything else out of him
? I asked Leif.

No, Lady Queen. His mind is too well protected. You shocked him enough that he let his guard down, but he won’t do it again
.

Grenlow had betrayed me, which meant that I couldn’t trust Rohan or Cereen either, as he must have put them on the Council for a reason.

“I’ve decided to take a small party to Flintwood,” I announced, while they were still mollified—pretend or otherwise—by the news I had delivered them.

“Grenlow, Ayleth, Cereen, Rohan and Leif, you’ll come with me, the rest of you will stay.”

No secret glances were exchanged this time.

“The journey is not safe at night,” Grenlow said.

“You’ll protect me.” I smiled at him, not an awkward, reassuring smile. A smile that said I was going to get my way, and there was nothing he could do about it.

He gave a short bow. “Yes, Lady Queen. I will make the preparations and we will meet you at the bridge.” He spun on his heel, and the other three followed behind him. Isolde was the only other person who watched them leave, and her expression was creased with some emotion that I couldn’t read.

When Hazen returned with Quick, I quickly filled him in, and then we all dispersed within the castle to change. Ashen followed me to my rooms, and then paced in the sitting room while I swapped my dress for a pair of leggings and a long-sleeved black shirt. I pulled on my boots, grabbed my knife harness and moved back into the sitting room, holding it out to Ashen.

“Help me with this, will you?”

He nodded, his brow still creased in thought, his eyes troubled as he deftly secured the harness.

“I’m not sure about this,” he muttered as I turned back around.

“It’ll be fine.” I patted him on the arm, and made to walk out, but he grabbed me.

“I think I should go, too.”

“I need someone here, what if Nareon and Teddy get back tonight?”

He growled. “We all know what you’re doing, and we all know that
you
don’t need to do it. Why not just send the others?”

“If I stay here and they go, I’ll be without my protection. It would make things easier for them, not for me.”

He released me, made a disgusted sound, and waved his hand.

“Fine, go. But if you’re not back by tomorrow night, I’m sending an army of Leif’s men to drag you back.”

I smiled, unable to help myself, and moved back to him, kissing his cheek.

His angry look softened a little, and we moved back out into the hallway, where Hazen waited. There was a leftover smudge of white glitter on his jaw, and Ashen noticed it immediately.

“At least something went right,” he muttered, before pushing past us and disappearing down the hallway.

Hazen’s dark eyes followed him until he was out of sight, and then they flashed back to me.

“Ashen might be a Soulstoy, but his mind is nothing like Nareon’s,” he finally admitted.

We went to the stables and saddled our mounts in silence. I didn’t need to explain to him or Leif what my plan was, and I assumed that Hazen had already told Quick, whose expression was grim. We left the stables and moved toward the bridge, where I could see the silhouettes of the others waiting for us in the darkness.

“Four of us,” I whispered, “four of them.”

“You underestimate us.” Quick sounded wounded. “And don’t forget Sweet and the Power Thief.”

“They will never let us get that far,” Leif’s scratchy voice warned. “Be on guard from the moment the lights of Castle Nest disappear behind us.”

Chapter Twenty

Fields of Betrayal

Leif was right. As soon as Castle Nest faded into the distance, Grenlow and Ayleth pulled their horses around. Rohan joined them after a quick look at Grenlow, and Cereen hesitated off to the side, before turning to face us also.

Grenlow drew a crossbow and pointed it unwaveringly at my head.

“Off the horse.”

I swallowed and cast a look at Hazen. He nodded, and we jumped down. The horses immediately backed away from us, and then fled from the field.

Which one of them had a mind ability with animals? Or for that matter, which one of them had a mind ability at all?

Leif and Quick had also dismounted, neither of them showing any worry or shock.  By the looks on their faces, Grenlow might have simply suggested we all take a friendly stroll about the hills. I wondered if I were skilled enough to knock a bolt off course while it was flying toward my head. Probably not.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this,” Grenlow admitted, still mounted atop his horse. “Elias wanted you for himself, Lady Queen. The Winter Festival was the perfect time for him to finish his experiments in Fenrel’s prisons and move on to the final stage of our plan, but you have already done irreparable damage. I will have to kill you before he arrives.”

“Elias?” I asked. The name sounded vaguely familiar.

“Elias Soulstoy,” Grenlow spat, disgusted that I hadn’t even remembered.

We weren’t off to a good start.

I felt a rush of cold descend upon my head, seeping down the back of my neck and settling in a hard, cold stone of realisation at the very base of my throat. Was Nareon a part of this? Was he diverting everyone’s attention to the prison as I stood here, a crossbow bolt poised to pierce my forehead?

Correctly interpreting my expression, Grenlow rolled his eyes. “Nareon didn’t orchestrate this, silly girl. He was supposed to be dead by now, but you interfered in our plans. Once again.”

I wanted to correct him, because I hadn’t
wanted
to kill Nareon and bind his soul to mine, but the look in his eye caused the words to die on my tongue. This wasn’t the Grenlow I knew. This man was manic.

“You don’t have to kill me,” I whispered.

“You forced my hand. You knew this would happen.”

I nodded, tried to swallow, and then raised my hands shakily in a gesture of subservience. We had to proceed carefully, or else we would all end up dead.

“You don’t
have
to kill me,” I repeated. “I took you out here with only three men. Does that tell you anything?”

He seemed to waver, and I could tell that he
had
been wondering at my motives. He might have been thinking me a stupid little girl for the entirety of my forced reign, but he had already guessed that I was aware of his duplicity. He knew I wasn’t so asinine as to walk myself into a trap just to confirm my suspicions. I could only hope that his faith in my intelligence didn’t stretch much further than that.

“I want to speak to Elias,” I pressed. “He wouldn’t want you to kill me anyway, so take me to him.”

He’s wavering,
Hazen encouraged quietly.

“You’ll not sway our leader as you did Nareon, girl. Elias is of a different caliber to his brothers.”

This prompted a very obvious reaction from me, and Grenlow smiled—almost sympathetically—at my shudder. Nareon’s
caliber
bordered on fearsome narcissism at the best of times. It was difficult to imagine a man capable of the kind of brutality that even Nareon might reject. 

“Please,” I begged, as tears that weren’t entirely fake began to run down my cheeks.

Grenlow tilted his head, appearing to me like a curious bird examining some strange thing that it couldn’t quite understand.