Bewitched & Betrayed (17 page)

“You have quite the reputation among several of our agents for succeeding where they have failed,” Balmorlan noted. “Goblin prisons are notoriously difficult to break into, some would even say impossible, but you have done it on more than one occasion and made it look almost easy.”

“I’m a Benares, remember? Jail breaking is in our blood.”

“I don’t believe your success was due to skill either as a criminal or a seeker. I believe, as do others, that you had goblin allies inside those prisons. You believe that Markus Sevelien retained your services because of your criminal tendencies, but no doubt he knew precisely what was going on. He didn’t care how or who”—Balmorlan paused in contempt—“or
what
got our people back; he was only interested in the results. That it was accomplished through a traitor made no difference to him.”

It was like a slap in the face, a knife to the heart of my worst fear—Markus had only been using me. I kept my breathing smooth and steady, my face expressionless. Even if what Balmorlan said was true, I wasn’t about to give him any satisfaction.

“And tonight you brazenly meet in the street with Imala Kalis, shaking hands like old friends,” Balmorlan continued. “Working for the goblin secret service, Mistress Benares? Or will you simply work for any government with a treasury to pay you?”

“I find your theory . . . interesting.” I found the thought of knocking out his teeth even more interesting. “Guardians
and
goblins were attacked by Nightshades soon after what was merely a civil—and
first
—handshake between myself and Imala Kalis. Chief Rinker and his men didn’t arrive until after the Nightshades had fled.” I turned to Sedge. “Is that an accurate statement, Chief?”

“It is,” Sedge replied. “We took no living Nightshades into custody; the only ones left were dead.”

I locked eyes with Balmorlan. “It sounds like you were there watching. Did you take a walk down to the entertainment district this evening for a little spying? Or did a Nightshade tell you when he came to collect his pay? Anyone you know been dipping into the elven treasury to pay assassins to attack Conclave Guardians?”

“You
dare
accuse me—”

“I said ‘anyone.’ If you take offense, maybe it’s because you’re carrying around a load of guilt to go with it.”

“Chief Rinker, I demand that this woman be arrested.”

“On what charges?”

“Vicious public slander against an elven government official.”

“Inquisitor Balmorlan,” Sedge drawled, “I know every law on the books and that’s not one of them.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “I believe in government circles, an attempt to sully an opponent’s reputation is called politics.”

“We’re not here for petty arguments,” Carnades snapped at Balmorlan. He turned those arctic eyes on me. “You and Nathrach are working together to get more souls to feed the Saghred, building its power until it and you are strong enough to destroy us all. Your lover drives the coach, and conveniently drops the general at your feet. You think this gives you an alibi, but I will prove that the two of you killed General Aratus together, feeding his soul to the Saghred and attempting to blame a ghost for your crimes.”

Carnades must have been one of the idiot mages Mychael told me didn’t believe in ghosts or specters. I wasn’t surprised. “So you don’t believe in ghosts?”

“They are but feeble vapors that are of no harm to anyone, except the uneducated and superstitious.”

“When you’re face-to-face with Sarad Nukpana, you be sure to call him a ‘feeble vapor.’ I’m sure he’ll get a kick out of it, right before he sucks your life out through your face.”

“Are you threatening me?”

I actually laughed. It felt surprisingly good. “No, Carnades. Once again, I’m warning you. Perhaps if you didn’t have all that education clogging your head, you’d realize that Sarad Nukpana is regenerating himself, and to do a good job of it, he needs powerful victims, the more magical mojo, the better.”

“That which no longer exists cannot be regenerated. Such stories are merely fairy tales to frighten children.”

“They’d be smart to be frightened. I guess there’s a difference between smart and educated,” I noted. “I understand you met Sarad Nukpana while you were at the goblin court, so I’m sure you know how he feels about elves. He thinks the only good elf is either enslaved or dead. I think he plans to do both to you, one right after the other. He hates you, doesn’t he?”

The elven mage’s lips narrowed to a thin, angry line. “I’m sure he hated me when he was alive, but since that’s no longer the case, his feelings are irrelevant.”

“Did you see General Aratus’s body, Carnades?” Mychael had released the body to the elven embassy this morning.

I saw a flicker of revulsion in the elf’s eyes—and fear.

“Then you saw that there was nothing left but a dried husk. Nukpana took everything.” I jerked my head toward Tam’s cell. “You think you’re safe. You think you’ve got your killer. You’re wrong.
Your
killer is still out there, and he’s starting an elf collection. If your name’s not next on his list, it’s near the top.”

“You describe a monster,” Carnades said. “And that monster is in the cell behind you. The two of you murdered our finest general in the most heinous way possible. I don’t know how you did it, but I will see you both in elven custody.” His voice went deathly quiet. “And soon I will have your secret accomplice there beside you. He mistakenly thinks his high station will save him. Inquisitor Balmorlan is having cells prepared in the elven embassy for you all; this arrangement is merely temporary.”

“That is the only way anyone on this island will be truly safe,” Balmorlan said. “And a very gifted young man will be free from your poisonous influence.”

Piaras. I stifled a growl.

“Yes, Mistress Benares,” Balmorlan all but purred. “I refer to Piaras Rivalin. The poor unfortunate whom you have deceived for so long. I attempted to rescue the boy only to have you steal him from the only people able to truly protect him.”

“
Guardian Cadet
Rivalin is perfectly safe where he is,” came Mychael’s clear and sharp voice from the door. “Under Guardian protection. And Tamnais Nathrach is merely accused. Until proven guilty, he is innocent, and is due every consideration and due process of the law.”

A litany of curses ran through my mind; I’m sure Mychael heard every last one of them. He was wearing a long, dark gray cloak that covered him from his neck to the heels of his boots.

Mychael slowly walked toward Balmorlan and Carnades. “Though it seems you have forgotten the law—or have chosen to ignore it.
Raine, get next to Tam’s cell.
Neither the law nor I will allow you to take Tamnais Nathrach from this building.
Do it, now!
”

Mychael was talking to Carnades, but thinking at me. I slowly backed away in the direction of Tam’s cell. Conveniently a few of the watchers had taken a step back, too. No one wanted to be in Mychael and Carnades’s immediate vicinity, because even the best spellslingers could miss a shot if things suddenly got nasty.

Carnades was like a snake poised to strike. “Chief Watcher, lower the wards on the goblin’s cell.” I could hear the undertone of anticipation in his voice. His mage cronies with him shifted uneasily.

“I can’t do that, sir,” Sedge told him. “Not without the direct order of the archmage. Tamnais Nathrach is considered too dangerous a prisoner to risk it.”

“That wasn’t a request, Rinker. That was an order.”

“My hands are tied by the law, Magus Silvanus. Surely you wouldn’t want me to break the law and risk the safety of our people?”

I let out the breath I’d been holding. Like I’d said, Sedge Rinker was good people.

“You yourself declared Tamnais Nathrach a most dangerous prisoner,” Mychael noted. “The chief watcher cannot legally do what you ask, nor can I—or you.”

Carnades had brought his own rope, and Mychael was letting him hang himself with it. I also realized what else Mychael had done.

Tam was behind the wards; I was next to the wards; Mychael was completely out of the wards’ range. Carnades expected our combined magic to ring like a clarion; instead the wards kept Tam’s magic inside the cell, distorted mine, and left Mychael standing alone and seemingly not linked to either one of us.

The simplest plans were the most brilliant.

Nachtmagus Vidor Kalta strode into headquarters, took one look at Tam, and laughed, a short bark. Tall, thin, and black-robed—Kalta looked like Death with a newfound sense of humor. Creepy.

“That is your cha’nescu culprit?” he asked Carnades.

“What?”

“A cha’nescu, my dear, deluded Carnades. The ritual that turned General Aratus into the dearly departed and dried General Aratus.”

The elf was livid. “You will show respect—”

Kalta dismissed him with a wave of one pale hand. “No disrespect intended or implied; I merely call him what he is. The general is departed; he was probably dear to
someone
; and he is most definitely dried.”

A watcher behind me muffled a snicker.

Carnades sneered. “And being a nachtmagus, your
expertise
in such matters told you that General Aratus was murdered by some sort of vampiric—”

Kalta actually made tsking sounds. “Carnades, even a child knows that there is no such thing as a vampire.” He paused, a tiny smile flicking at one corner of his mouth. “It is, as you said, a fairy tale.” The smile vanished. “But specters are real, or as we refer to them, disenfranchised souls. And a cha’nescu ritual is not only real, but a very real danger. Only a fool would dismiss it.”

“I didn’t dismiss the danger; I locked it up. Tamnais Nathrach fed General Aratus’s soul to the Saghred through the body of this traitor to her people. Now she dares to further her desecration by claiming that Sarad Nukpana threatened the mages of this island by speaking through the general’s dead body.”

“It’s not a claim; it’s the truth,” I told him, though I knew I was wasting my breath.

“And I suppose you are the only one to have heard the words? Now, if there was someone else who had heard him . . .” The question was for me, but Carnades was staring in challenge at Mychael.

With our bond, if I had heard something, so did Mychael. If Carnades couldn’t get the wards lowered on Tam’s cell, an admission from Mychael would work just as well.

Mychael’s smile was slow and actually amused. “I heard every word.”

“If Sarad Nukpana indeed communicated with this traitor through the general, then how did you hear the words?” Carnades murmured. “The only way Nukpana would have been able to speak to her is through her bond with the Saghred.” He paused as if the thought was just now occurring to him. “Unless you share a similar bond with her.” The air around him almost vibrated with anticipatory triumph.

Vidor Kalta laughed. “Carnades, stop being an ass and listen to yourself. First vampires, now a
magical bond conspiracy
. I heard Sarad Nukpana’s threats as well, and I share no bond with Miss Benares, Paladin Eiliesor, or a rock. Before I met Miss Benares in the examination room containing the general’s remains, I’d never met, seen, or spoken with her before. Yet I can quote word for word what Sarad Nukpana said. Would you like for me to tell you? I assure you it was quite memorable.”

Carnades stood utterly still. “That is impossible.”

Any sign of flippancy vanished. “I’m a nachtmagus, I deal with the impossible every day, and I assure you they aren’t fairy tales.”

“You heard nothing.”

Kalta stepped past Mychael and crossed the squad room at a stately pace until he was close enough to make Carnades uncomfortable. “The voice I heard through General Aratus was most definitely not that of Tamnais Nathrach. I have met Sarad Nukpana at some of the court functions that you yourself attended. You know his voice, as do I. The voice Paladin Eiliesor, Miss Benares, and I heard was Sarad Nukpana. Without question.” Kalta gave his last two words special emphasis, daring Carnades to challenge him.

“I question.” The elf mage’s voice was flat and ugly.

“Do you question my skill?” Kalta grinned with a slow baring of teeth, and his voice dropped to a precise whisper. “Or are you calling me a liar?”

The glitter in Kalta’s black eyes said that he would love for Carnades to openly say that he didn’t believe either one. I kind of wanted to see what would happen if he did.

In his own twisted way, Carnades considered himself a champion of all that was right and moral. I didn’t know what Kalta considered himself or stood for—but he was lying. He hadn’t heard a word Sarad Nukpana said. Though considering that Tam and Mychael’s lives were at stake, he could have claimed the world was flat for all I cared. Vidor Kalta was lying to Carnades’s face in a room full of Mid’s watchers and appeared to be enjoying himself immensely. I was all in favor of personal happiness. Kalta’s sharp black eyes bored into Carnades’s ice blue ones. He ignored Balmorlan completely. It had the potential to get ugly, but it wouldn’t, at least not here, not now. Mages like Carnades preferred a figurative knife in the back rather than a literal punch to the gut. If Carnades answered “yes” to Kalta’s accusation, I had no doubt that Kalta would politely ask him to step outside. I actually wanted Carnades to say that word. That was a fight I wanted to see and, better yet, enjoy the results of.

Carnades drew himself up and did his best to look down on Kalta even though they were the same height. “I have never personally heard you speak anything but the truth.”

That wasn’t good enough for Kalta. “What I have said to others in the past is not the issue here. What I just said to you is. Am I lying to you now before all these witnesses?”

The silence hung thick and heavy in the air. Everyone was holding his breath for the next volley.

“I cannot prove otherwise.” Carnades paused and if looks could kill, Kalta would have been one of his disenfranchised souls. “No, you are not lying.”