Adrienne (35 page)

Malik ignored her to speak to Nimat. “You said the second woman Sabri spoke to mentioned being kicked out of the palace by Adrienne?”

Nimat nodded.

“One of the concubines, perhaps, Majesty?” Hani suggested.

Malik nodded. “They are the only ones to have suffered any ill happening at Adrienne’s hands. It has to be one of them, but who? I had several.”

No one had an answer for him. Absently, Malik started to list off the names of his concubines. Before this moment, such a feat would be beyond him. He didn’t care what their names were, he only cared that they were good at their jobs. He forced himself to remember every one of the women in his harem and their demeanor while in his presence.

Hani interrupted his mumblings. “Did you say Juven, Majesty?”

Malik looked over to Hani. “You know her?” he asked with hope.

“I hope you do not mean the Juven I know, though.”

Khursid pointed out, “It is a unique name, Hani. The woman you are thinking of and the woman King Malik named might be the same.”

Hani looked down.

Malik yelled, “What? Speak already.”

Hani glanced at Indivar. He looked away from her. She turned her gaze to Malik and asked, “You remember my title, do you not, Majesty? The one that caused you to seek me out?”

“The assassin’s assassin,” Malik answered impatiently. “What of it?”

Hani sighed and explained, “In the history of the Assassin’s Guild, there have only been seventy-eight people granted such a title. Training to be an assassin is rigorous and deadly. Those who pass are excellent at the work. Then there are those who surpass excellence. Those who are hired to hunt the hunter. They are granted the title of Assassin’s Assassin. Two of them are alive today—myself and Juven.”

“No,” Malik gasped. He dropped to his knees.

Mushira hurried out, “It may not be the same woman.”

Malik held out an orb. In it, Juven stood wearing a floor-length orange loincloth and nothing else. Her light brown hair was swept up in her arms and she had a smile on her face that made her light brown eyes twinkle. The lights in the room made her honey-colored skin glow. She started to dance.

The scene depicted the past. A time when Malik needed distraction. A time before Adrienne.

Hani sighed. “That is her. I only met her once. We were not trained at the same time, she and I. But for two to be named Assassin’s Assassin within the same year, within the same generation, is unheard of. We met and were tested against one another to see if one deserved the title more than the other.”

“Who won?” Qamar asked.

“It was a draw.”

Malik’s head dropped into his hands.

Nimat reminded him, “Chancellor Sabri only told Juven—if that is the woman with whom he spoke—to retrieve Queen Adrienne and deliver her to Kontar, not to kill her.”

“Yes,” Mushira agreed quickly. “We are only guessing it is Juven. It may not be.”

Malik stood. He wiped his hand down his face then turned to his Primaries. Each man snapped to attention. He ordered, “Bring Sabri to my throne room. Make no indication that he is suspect.”

The Primaries nodded quickly and rushed out of the room.

Next, Malik turned to Khursid and Qamar. He held out the orb with Juven pictured in it and blanked it. He then shaped the orb into a portal. “This portal will put you in Hollace’s palace. See if you can get to Adrienne before Sabri’s hound.”

They ran through the portal after a quick bow. Hani made to follow. Malik stopped her and said, “I want you to track down Juven. And this time, I do not want it to end in a draw. Whether she is the woman who is after Adrienne or not, she still remains a threat.”

Hani nodded and pulled out an orb of her own. She didn’t shape a portal. Instead, she concentrated. With a tiny flash, she disappeared.

Malik opened another portal to his throne room. Feyr already waited for him.

Caradoc nearly jumped out of his skin when a woman separated from the shadows of the woods that surrounded his house. Tight black clothing swathed her entire body and a mask covered her face. All he could see were her brown eyes. He sensed no magicks on the woman but somehow she had kept her presence hidden from him. Every alarm bell in his mind screamed
assassin
. Assassins were notorious for their ability to get close to and kill anyone—even mages on constant guard.

He stammered out, “Who are you?”

“My name doesn’t concern you. Where is she?” the woman demanded.

Adele peeked out of the cottage at Caradoc. She had come to his cottage at his request. It was early in the morning, but she hadn’t minded. Sleep eluded her as memories of her near miss with Oringo continued to plague her. Going to Caradoc’s cottage to muddle through her memory loss was just the distraction she needed.

Caradoc said he had seen something after her attack and wished to study it more. Once she arrived, he did nothing to study her; he only looked out his window. After a while, he left the cottage altogether.

When she heard voices, Adele decided to come out and see who had come.

She asked, “Is someone here, Master Caradoc?” She looked at the black-clad woman with interest.

The woman smiled. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Queen Adrienne.” She gave a mock bow and sneered, “Your Majesty.”

Adele frowned in total confusion. She tried to make sense of the woman’s words. This only brought on a headache. The headache grew steadily worse and she dropped to her knees with the pain of it.

The woman “tsked” as she drew closer. She asked, “Does your head hurt, dear? Maybe this will help.” The woman snapped a mage metal collar around Adele’s neck. Once the collar was secured, the woman removed an orb from her clothing and said to it, “Release.”

The headache disappeared. Adrienne’s memories came crashing back into place. She also retained the memories of everything that happened to her over the past twelve days. What confused her was how the spell that surrounded her had vanished.

The woman explained, “Your memories are back because I have cancelled the confusion spell placed on you. The party interested in you supplied me with the orb that contained the spell. I also bound your powers under mage metal.” The woman grabbed Adrienne’s arm and hauled her to her feet. “Move,” she barked.

As the women passed Caradoc, the assassin tossed a small sack to him. He threw up his hands and made a shield. The sack hit the ground with the jingle of coins knocking together. He realized it was his payment.

He looked at the sack on the ground then back at the departing women. Once they were out of sight, he bent down to open the bag. Five thousand in gold coins minted in Kontar stared back at him. Was that the worth of his soul? When he reported to Malik, he would find out.

Caradoc made ready to journey to Ulan.

Malik closed the portal behind him. He took his time to get settled on his throne then smiled at the men who waited for him. The Primaries had retrieved Sabri, and Travers had seen fit to tag along. Both chancellors being present would mean Sabri wouldn’t be on his guard. That would make what Malik planned to do that much easier.

Travers spoke upon Malik’s entrance, “You called for us, Majesty?”

Malik laid a lazy hand on Feyr’s head. No one noticed the mage metal orb Feyr carried in his mouth. The same mage metal orb Sabri had used to incapacitate Feyr the day Adrienne was kidnapped. Malik palmed it while he stroked Feyr’s head.

“One of my operatives in Kakra has located Adrienne. I need a pass of peace from Hollace to retrieve her without bloodshed or hassle,” Malik said nonchalantly.

“That is wonderful, Majesty. Is there any news of how she came to be there?” Travers gushed.

Malik flicked his wrist. The mage metal orb disappeared and reappeared behind Sabri’s head. Malik smiled at Travers. He said, “No, there is not. But perhaps you can shed some light on that particular subject, Sabri.”

Sabri sputtered, “Whatever does Your Majesty mean? I am just as in the dark about all of this as everyone else.”

“Funny you should mention dark, Sabri. It was in darkness that Adrienne’s maid heard you conversing with a personage from Kontar about the retrieval of my wife. Care to tell me the identity of said personage?” Malik again flicked his wrist. The mage metal hit Sabri seconds before the man pulled an orb out of his robes.

Sabri screamed as the mage metal entered his body. The orb he had hidden in his robes dropped to the floor and rolled away. His eyes blazed as he looked up at Malik. He spat, “You’ll never make me talk. You can do nothing to me with this mage metal embedded in my body. If you take it out, you’ll have to fight me on equal footing. I don’t fear you, Malik. I endured worse pain in preparation for infiltrating your kingdom as one of your chancellors than you could ever summon up.”

Malik descended the stairs. He pointed out with a shrug of indifference, “Ah, but you do not know all of my secrets, Sabri. If you did, you would look upon me with fear, because what I am about to do to you will far surpass any tortures your training might have introduced you to.”

A black orb appeared in Malik’s hand. He held it out to Sabri. “This orb has never been marketed. It is one of Ulan’s greatest secrets, and Ulan has many. A majority of those secrets originated with me.” His hand caressed the orb lovingly. He smiled as Sabri winced in pain but still stared at him in defiance.

“If that is all that little black ball can do, you have failed before you have started, Malik,” Sabri sneered.

Before Malik could say more, a knock sounded on the throne room doors. Flavian entered and went to one knee. He announced, “A mage from Kakra has come bearing news of the queen.”

“Enter, then,” Malik commanded impatiently. His attention turned to the mage who entered his throne room. “Who are you?”

“I am Caradoc, Your Majesty. I am palace mage to King Hollace.”

“You have news of my wife?”

Caradoc nodded. He threw the bag of money he had acquired only moments before in front of him. “An assassin retrieved her from my home to take her to Kontar, Your Majesty. I was paid handsomely for not interfering.”

Malik’s anger grew. “You obviously knew her identity, why did you not contact me?”

“I thought,” Caradoc started softly, “you would rather know the kidnapper’s identity so you could exact your own revenge and retrieve your wife personally.”

“Your logic is flawed, old mage. I want my wife in the safety of my palace,” Malik snapped.

“True, true. But she would have killed me and possibly retrieved your wife personally if I had contacted you
before
Nadid contacted me. Queen Adrienne would still be gone and you would have remained ignorant of whom to blame.”

Travers spoke in disbelief, “Nadid? The Queen of Kontar?”

“The very same,” Caradoc affirmed.

Malik—forgetting Sabri—walked over to Caradoc. He said in a low, lethal voice, “How do you know it was Nadid? You are hefting a serious charge against a woman who is third in ranking of the Mage Guild’s masters.”

“I know my accusation is steep, Your Majesty. That does not change the fact that I saw her ring. I studied in Kontar for a short time in my early years. I had an opportunity to meet Nadid. She was a little older than you are now and had not yet become queen. The woman who contacted me about Queen Adrienne stayed in the shadows, but she made the mistake of putting her hand in the light. It held the crest of Kontar. Only Nadid—and the other Kontarian rulers before her—wear such a ring.”

Malik turned back to Sabri. His gaze held death as he held out the black orb. This time he gripped the orb tightly. Sabri arched off the ground with a bloodcurdling scream. Malik enjoyed the sound for three breaths before he let off the pressure.

Sabri sagged to the ground. His eyes, once they had cleared, showed disbelief. “What…” was all he could manage before his throat closed and he coughed.

“The black orb is pain. It does not matter if you have mage metal embedded in your body or not. My magicks can overcome such an obstacle. The black orb has ripped away four years of your life. The longer the pain, the more life you lose. Eventually, it will kill you,” Malik informed Sabri.

He crouched down in front of Sabri. His smile was something only the devil himself would wear. He said in a low, husky voice, “You will tell me why Nadid wants my wife. You will tell me about all who have helped you up until this point. You will tell me many, many things, Sabri—” he paused and retrieved a white orb from the air, “—or I will keep giving you life simply so I can rip it away again.”

Sabri looked at him with fear. On the dais, Feyr mirrored his master’s smile.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Hollace stared at Khursid and Qamar with humor. His guards had captured them a few minutes ago. They were stupid enough to think they could move around his palace freely.

Once the guards roused Hollace from his sleep to confront Khursid and Qamar, the two immediately told him who they were and why they were there. Hollace couldn’t believe it. He’d had the Queen of Ulan, Malik’s queen, in his clutches all this time and didn’t even know it. And now she was gone. A maid in the kitchen reported seeing Adele leave the palace for Caradoc’s cottage. Hollace had sent his soldiers to arrest her, but they returned with news of her and Caradoc’s absence.

Hollace had nothing but questions for his captives. Questions they would answer upon threat of torture. He asked, “How did you come to be in my palace?”

Khursid and Qamar went to one knee with their heads bowed. Hollace looked at them with amusement. They showed homage to him. He started to gloat when his smile froze.

A portal opened two feet in front of the kneeling guards and Malik stepped through. The portal closed. Malik signaled to Khursid and Qamar and they rose to stand at attention behind him.

Hollace came off his throne in a rage. He roared, “How dare you, Malik. You shouldn’t be able to get into my palace.”

Malik looked around himself in amusement. “You mean that flimsy piece of nothing you call a barrier?” He laughed. “I broke through stronger when I was twelve. I let you think you were safe behind this barrier, but I could always come and go as I pleased.” A gasp drew his eyes to Tacita. He inclined his head at Hollace’s queen. She took a defensive step back.