Crystal Moon (31 page)

The weight of his worries were hers as well.

“I will go with you to see Prince Timon.”

“No.” His response was as quick and firm as his hold.

She felt his panic at the thought of her condemned to die on

the spike. An answering shudder went through her. “As long as

I don’t attempt to marry the prince, I am safe from that fate.

But, perhaps between us we can find a way to rescue the

queen and princess from my father without the need of

marriage.”

“You are not going anywhere near the palace, the prince or

your father. You will stay safely here.”

“But....”

“I’ll not let you risk the life of my babe with your foolish

attempts to save your father from my wrath.”

His babe? Hurt, she pulled away from Kyne. Anger heated

her next words. “I have no intention of putting my babe in peril,

but I must go with you to speak with my father, to convince him

to give up his mad scheme. Perhaps I can appeal to some

remnant of his love for me.”

He climbed out of bed and began to dress. “You are beyond

foolish if you believe DiSanti has a care for you. He loves no

one and nothing beyond his quest for power.”

She felt his absence in her arms and, with his words, he

ripped himself away from her heart. Clutching the bed robe to

her chest, she knelt and faced him. “And what do you care for

beyond your pursuit of vengeance? Is there room in your heart

for love? For me? For our babe?”

He kept his back to her as he strapped on his sword and

headed toward the door. “DiSanti killed my heart years ago. Is

his daughter the Eternal One to resurrect it?”

Sianna sensed the lie, but knew Kyne truly believed himself

incapable of love. He thought he could possess her and their

babe, keep them safe, but prevent his own pain by never giving

them his heart. For to love meant the threat of loss, and he

couldn’t bear to lose anyone ever again. He thought DiSanti’s

death would free him of his burden of guilt and pain, but she

knew it would destroy his ka.

Before she could respond, the door closed behind him. The

click of a key in the lock roused her from her stupor. She bolted

from the bed and ran to the door. The knob rattled beneath her

hand, but the door refused to budge. With a cry of despair, she

sank to her knees and leaned her head against the wood.

***

Aside from Betha’s twice daily, silent visits, Sianna saw no

one for the next three days. On the fourth day when the chamber

door opened, she rushed forward.

“Please, Betha, talk to me,” she pleaded. “Where is Kyne?

Katya? Zoa? Graham? How fares Lisha? I must know what is

happening.”

Though pity sparked in Betha’s eyes, she shook her head,

placed a tray of food on the table and turned to leave.

“Please, I’m going mad with worry.”

Since her bonding with Kyne, their connection remained

constant, but she received only vague impressions rather than

clear feelings. Flickers of anger fought with hurt, betrayal with

forgiveness, love with hate. He replaced the solid wall between

them with a locked door and retreated from her presence.

Betha paused at the door and, without turning, whispered,

“Lisha recovers rapidly. Rul Cathor, Katya, Graham and most

of the fighting men are gone from the castle. I’m not privy to

their plans.”

In his effort to keep her safe, Kyne denied the bond between

them and went to confront her father. A shadow of future anguish

shivered through her. They would destroy each other.

“Now that people know your true identity,” Betha continued,

“the Rul locks you in here for your own protection. There are

those who harbor hatred in their hearts for any child of DiSanti

and would do you harm.”

Her own emotions in turmoil, in part because of her father’s

and Kyne’s actions, but mostly due to the influence of the new

life she carried, she found it difficult to focus on Betha’s. Unclear

and unfocused, her babe’s feelings swirled through her and left

her dizzy. Was the strength of her babe’s emotional connection

with her normal? With no one to ask, she made a conscious

effort to contain the babe’s disruptive influence.

“Do you hate me?”

Back still turned to Sianna, Betha’s shoulders sagged. “You

risked your life for my child, and for that I owe you. But you

share the blood of the man who stole my husband and other

sons from me.” She left the room without answering Sianna’s

question.

At least Laila was safe. No one yet knew her identity. But

what of Kyne?

In six days, if she did not wed Prince Timon, her father

would kill the queen and princess. Guilt ate at her. How could

she have run away? Her fingers fluttered over her belly. Were

hers and her child’s lives any more precious than those of Prince

Timon’s mother and sister?

Could she do something to prevent this tragedy? Persuade

her father to abandon his mad quest for power? Reach some

uncorrupted part of him? Perhaps Kyne was right and her father

was truly evil, but she had to try. But how?

She sagged into a chair by the fire and eyed the chamber’s

heavy door. Through the window, the waning light of the day

reflected blue off the Azul Mountains, casting the chamber in a

shadowy gloom. By now last meal would be finished, the great

hall quieting as people went about their final evening chores

before they retired. Soon fires would be banked and silence

would descend for the night.

In a dark corner of the room lay her herb bag. An idea

formed.

When Betha returned with her evening tray, Sianna was

ready to act.

“Are you feeling ill?” A flicker of concern edged Betha’s

question. She placed the tray on the table and stepped over to

the bed where Sianna lay.

As she leaned over, Sianna sat up, opened her hand and

blew the powdered herb she held there into the startled woman’s

face. Before fear could enter Betha’s eyes, they closed. Fast

asleep, she slumped across the bed.

Sianna scrambled up. With a bit of work she managed to

remove Betha’s shawl and outer tunic and tuck her beneath

the bed robe. Anyone glancing inside the chamber would mistake

Betha’s form for her own. By the time Betha awakened, Sianna

would be long gone.

After donning Betha’s tunic over her own, Sianna wrapped

the shawl over her head and shoulders. Similar in height to the

plumper woman, if she kept her head down she might slip by

undetected in the dim light.

She eased the door open and peered out. Warda rose as

she attempted to leave the chamber.

“Don’t try to stop me,” she warned the hound. “I cannot

wait here while Kyne needs my help.”

At the mention of Kyne’s name, Warda whined and shoved

his muzzle beneath her hand. Though far from a simple-minded

beast, his emotions as complex as any person’s, Warda’s

concern for his master was clear and sharp.

She knelt, took Warda’s head between her palms, and looked

into his eyes. “You’re worried about him too, aren’t you? Shall

we go find him?”

Warda didn’t object as she stood and moved down the hall.

He followed at her heels. Together they slipped down the stairs.

At one end of the hall, a fire burned low in the hearth, leaving

most of the large chamber in shadows. The main entryway

loomed ahead. She paused. By herself she could never lift the

heavy beam that secured the latch, nor budge the massive

aronwood door.

“Sianna.” Damaged by her father’s sword stroke, Laila’s

voice rasped from behind her.

Hand to her chest, Sianna spun around. Warda pressed

closer, but otherwise didn’t react. “Laila! Where do you think

you’re going? You shouldn’t yet be out of bed. You’ll tear loose

your stitches.”

Laila gripped Sianna’s arm and pulled her to the edge of

the hall, out of sight of any casual observer. “The same place

as you, I would imagine. To confront our father.” She spat the

words.

Even in the dark, Sianna could see the lines of pain on

Laila’s face, her pallor. “You’re in no condition to confront

anyone. Let me help you back to bed. No one here yet knows

your true identity, so you’re safe. Rest. If not for your own

sake, then for the sake of the babe you carry.”

Laila’s hand covered her belly in a protective gesture, then

her fingers curled into a tight fist. “Aubin’s babe cries to me for

vengeance. Until DiSanti lies dead by my hand, I’ll not rest.”

Sianna couldn’t control her gasp. “You would kill your own

father?”

“Father?” Laila croaked. “I have no father. Planting a seed

in a woman’s belly does not make a man a father.” Her fingers

traced the wound running across her throat and down her chest.

“I owe him for this. And murdering my unborn babe’s father.”

“No,” Sianna whispered. For too long she’d harbored a

hope that Kyne and the others were wrong about her father.

Now she could no longer deny the truth. Remembering the

vicious wound inflicted on Laila, Sianna’s stomach lurched.

“Yes,” Laila insisted. “We have no father, merely a sire

who bred us to further his own ends. You, he seeks to sell into

marriage to cement his base of power. Me, he sought to train

as his successor. And I allowed him to. I never questioned his

actions, his methods, or wondered about the people he hurt in

his quest for dominance. Until Aubin, I was deaf, dumb and

blind to DiSanti’s evil.”

She rested her hand on the hilt of her sword. “Now he will

pay for his crimes with his blood. When he and I meet again,

one of us will die. Are you with me?”

“I cannot contemplate the taking of a life, even a life

committed to evil. It goes against all my training, everything I

know...all I am. I go to see to the safety of Rul Cathor and the

others.”

“Very well, you can play nursemaid to men more than

capable of defending their own interests. I’ll take care of our

father.”

“Killing our father will not bring Aubin back to you.”

“But it will allow him to rest knowing his death has been

avenged. Let us be off before someone wakes and attempts to

stop us. What of the hound?”

“Warda comes too.”

Laila headed toward the kitchens and the smaller door which

led to the stables. Sianna stopped her.

“If I can find a way to save our father’s ka, I will do so.”

Back to Sianna, Laila stiffened. “You may try, but do not

get between him and my sword.”

Eighteen

“Where is my daughter?” DiSanti’s voice carried across

the open land between his encampment and the palace wall.

“Produce her by morn, or face the consequences.”

From his hiding place in the woods, Kyne saw Prince Timon

standing on the palace battlement. Though the distance was

too great for Kyne to make out the boy king’s expression, Kyne

knew the lad’s feelings.

Helpless fear.

“Do your mother and sister mean nothing to you?” DiSanti

dragged Queen Theone from his tent and paraded her in front

of the palace wall.

The woman had been beaten. Her hair hung in dirty, tangled

strands around her bruised face, but she held her head high,

stood straight, and walked with as much dignity as her weakened

state allowed.

She looked up at her son. “Stand firm, my son. Do not

ransom my life with that of others.” Her voice rang clear and

strong in the hush her appearance caused.

DiSanti jerked the queen to her knees and slapped her. “Be

quiet, she-hound!”

Uneasy silence from DiSanti’s troops echoed the growl of

anger emanating from the men lining the palace battlements.

Kyne resisted the urge to send an arrow through DiSanti’s

black heart, knowing others loyal to the man would strike the

queen down. And of Princess Thomasa there was no sign.

Earlier, Katya, disguised as a boy, had infiltrated DiSanti’s

camp, but during her three days there she had found no indication

of where he held the young princess.

Katya came up next to Kyne. “Our forces are gathered

and ready to attack on your command. The rebel leaders brought

every able-bodied man to fight. They grow eager to do battle.”

“Are they so impatient to die?”

“No, to be free. Every day more of DiSanti’s men defect

and join us.”

“Then perhaps in a few more tendays we would stand a

chance in open battle. But we are yet outnumbered two to one,

and time is short.”

“But we have the advantage of surprise. With the palace

controlled by Prince Timon’s guard, DiSanti’s forces will be

caught between. He has no idea he is surrounded. His rage

over his daughter’s abduction has made him careless. When

he left the palace unguarded by his troops he forsook reason.

His madness overwhelms his logic.”

Kyne nodded. “We attack tonight.”

“What of the queen and princess?” Katya voiced the

question that plagued Kyne and had but one answer.

“May the Eternal One protect them. DiSanti must be