Promising Hope (36 page)

“I’m surprised you’ve managed to keep her for so
long,” Matilda said, raising her eyebrows. Sierra remembered how
powerful Matilda said she was.

“We had to give her a weakening potion from a Mahri,
but it’s wearing off,” Adrian said. “Jeshro, we… we’re divided on
what to do with her.”

Jeshro took a step closer to Wendy. “Well, I’m
surprised they didn’t charge you with kidnapping, as well.”

“They must not know we have her,” Evan said.

“Is that how you got into the castle?” Matilda
asked.

“Yes, let’s talk about yesterday,” Jeshro said.
“Matilda, Angela, can you please watch Miss Wendy to make sure she
doesn’t… disappear?” The two of them nodded. Jeshro motioned to
Galvin. “Please, put her back in her tent. Girls, wait outside, I’d
like you to hear about yesterday.” Galvin walked away with Wendy,
and Jeshro called Angela closer. Standing next to Jeshro, Sierra
heard him tell Angela to look into her mind and find out any useful
information.

They sat around the fire pit. Though it was only
midday, it was a chilly day, the blue sky misleading. Sierra sat
next to Evan, holding his hand. He and Adrian explained how they
carried out their plan yesterday, how they kidnapped Wendy, worked
with Dar, then impersonated Sashe before changing into inanimate
objects on Grace.

“We attacked as fire first,” Evan said. “He couldn’t
extinguish us, so he went after Dar.”

Sierra’s grip tightened on Evan’s hand, thinking back
to Han and how they tried to escape him, how his magic kept
throwing her into excruciating pain.

Evan paused, glancing at Dar and Adrian. “And then…
well, Grace stopped him.”

“How?” Jeshro asked.

Evan, Adrian, and Dar stared at one another, each
seemingly lost for words. “She lifted her hands,” Evan said, “and
he flew back into the couch. She did something to him.”

“I don’t understand,” Jeshro said, his head
tilted.

“We don’t, either,” Adrian said gruffly. “While he
was distracted, Evan and I stabbed him while we could. He turned on
us, tried to kill us, but Grace stopped him again. I don’t know
what she did, but he flew back again and hit his head on the wall…
and he was dead.”

Sierra realized her mouth was hanging open and she
shut it. “So, she had some kind of power?”

Adrian nodded.

“She did it again in the battle,” Dar said. “A man
was about to stab me, but she saw it and flung him back.”

“She didn’t save any of the other men,” Adrian said
quietly.

Dar glared at him. “You honestly expected her to
fight all of those guards—”

“Why isn’t she here?” Jeshro asked, raising his
voice.

Dar’s glare turned to Evan, who sighed.

“The guards were dragging her to the castle,” Evan
said, “and there were more coming out. We’d already lost four men,
Dar was unconscious, and three of us were wounded,” Evan said. He
added quietly, “She told us to go.”

“We should have tried harder,” Dar said. “She doesn’t
belong there.”

“She can be valuable a spy,” Adrian said, his jaw
set.

“You have no idea what she’s dealing with there,” Dar
said, his voice rising.

“Sashe will look after her,” Evan said. “Until we can
go back, at least.”

“Lady Sashe’s pregnant, so she’s vulnerable.” Dar
shook his head. “If I’d known that guard was behind me—”

“If we’d have gone back,” Adrian said, “we would have
lost even more men.”

“But Grace would be here!”

“All right,” Jeshro said. “We can’t change the past,
but we can go back for her.”

“When?” Dar asked.

“I don’t know, Dar, we have lots of issues to worry
about at this point.”

“She risked our lives for all of us! The curse is
gone because of her, and now Gregorio, too—”

“We killed Gregorio,” Adrian said with a scoff.

“You’d be dead if it weren’t for her!” Dar yelled.
“Gregorio could have killed you and healed himself, but she stopped
him. For all we know, that prince could be raping her
right
now
, but you don’t care because you got what you wanted, didn’t
you? You got the curse broken and you got Gregorio and you think
you’re a hero, but you’re a coward.” He stood up and stormed off.
Evan followed him.

Sierra considered going with him, but she watched Dar
stalk into the nearby trees and knew Evan could take care of it.
She turned back to the others, swallowing as Dar’s words echoed in
her head. Raping her? No, they couldn’t let that happen to Grace,
not after everything that she’d done for them.

“Dar’s right, we can’t leave her,” Sierra said.

“We all want to help Lady Grace,” Galvin said. “But
there’s only seven of us now and they’re going to be increasing
protection around the castle after Gregorio.”

Adrian huffed. “And what about this royal edict? It
smells like a trap to me.”

“A royal edict has to be upheld,” Jeshro said. “So if
someone carried crimes out against us—”

“A royal edict is subject to interpretation,” Adrian
said. “And any Protector can think up a reason to kill an Avialie
aside from their magic.”

Jeshro spread his hands out in front of him. “It’s
not perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction. The Avialies
in Jolen can come home if they wish.”

“Do you think this will affect the alliances we
made?” Sierra asked.

“Alliances?” Galvin repeated.

“We’ve made alliances with the Cosas of Belisha,”
Jeshro replied. “Lisbeth has been convincing small factions of
Borens in Kleisade to help us, as well.” He paused. “I’m not sure,
Sierra. This edict isn’t much, but it is something, especially
after the king supported the Protectors for ten years.”

Sierra wondered if Sashe or Grace helped with the
edict in any way. Were they openly advocating for the Avialies or
were they worried about repercussions from Tisha and Kilar?

“Why would he react this way?” Adrian asked. “We kill
Gregorio, and he says we can come home? It doesn’t seem right.”

“I’ll request an audience with him,” Jeshro said.

“That’s worked so well before,” Adrian muttered.

Jeshro glared at him. “I told you how we were going
to proceed, Adrian. We must try diplomacy to avoid more death. Your
group has served its purpose. I’ll need a few men to accompany me
to the palace.”

“Hold on,” Adrian said, raising his voice. “You can’t
just take them. We’re a good team, and there’s still work we need
to do.”

“Like what, for example?” Jeshro asked.

“We’d like to target Kilar next,” Evan’s voice came
from behind Sierra. He joined them, sitting down.

Jeshro rubbed a hand over his face. “Do you truly
think killing Kilar will help us?”

“He’s threatening to kill more Avialies if I don’t
get him the ancient texts,” Evan said. “If he wants them badly
enough, he’s not going to wait around for me. My family isn’t the
only one he’ll threaten.”

“Why does he want the ancient texts?” Sierra
asked.

“Something about wanting magic for himself,” Evan
said, shaking his head.

Sierra suddenly remembered the legend of Yann and
Kalila. The story on that scroll had been in the back of her mind
every since she’d read it. Could Kilar believe that the ancient
texts could give him magic?

Jeshro frowned and turned to Evan. “He threatened
you? Tell me exactly what he said.”

“He said he’d kill Dar in two weeks if I didn’t
return with the ancient texts,” Evan said, his voice tight. “He
obviously can’t do that now, so Sashe was next on his list.”

Sierra gasped. “What? He threatened to
kill
her? But she’s pregnant with the king’s son!”

Evan shrugged, stabbing at the dirt in front of him
with a stick. “He said he’d kill my mother, then Dar’s parents, and
Sierra last.”

Sierra shuddered. That bastard. Some of the men
around them cursed; Adrian spat on the ground. She wanted to do
worse.

“Did he say why he wanted the ancient texts?” Jeshro
asked.

“No, he said it didn’t matter. He said Grace would
know if they were originals or not.” Evan finally glanced at
Sierra, his face hard. “What legend are you talking about?”

“The story supposedly took place centuries ago, maybe
even millennia,” Jeshro said. “My grandfather used to tell it to
me. Essentially, the story is about nonmagics who came to wield
magic. It’s vague, but in it, Yann and Kalila explored the ancient
texts and came to have the powers of all six magical families.”

“Wait, I’ve heard this one,” Adrian said. “You’ve
told it to us before.”

“Yes, but it’s just a legend,” Jeshro replied.
“Nothing else in the ancient texts mentions any way a nonmagic
person can gain magic. We searched them. We know. It’s a story,
nothing more.”

“But Kilar doesn’t seem to think so,” Evan said. “He
wants our magic. He told us he did. I didn’t realize that and the
ancient texts were connected, but now—”

“It’s nothing but a story,” Jeshro said gruffly. “My
grandfather used to tell us that. He said he had to warn off people
searching for magic, but it’s not possible. It’s in the blood.”

“Regardless, Kilar isn’t the type of man to say
something he doesn’t plan on doing,” Evan said. “Sashe isn’t safe
at the palace while Kilar is there. Neither is Grace. He was there
when we attacked Gregorio. He saw what Grace did.”

“So, he knows about her powers,” Sierra said quietly.
He would probably assume she’d have some kind of power, too. She
looked down at her hands, wondering if she really did. Was it just
waiting to be used, right under her skin, running through her
blood?

Why weren’t there charges out for Grace if Kilar knew
she’d helped kill Gregorio? Had he stayed silent about how she’d
helped, or maybe the king didn’t believe him? Sierra wished Grace
was here instead of trapped at the castle.

“Here’s what I propose,” Jeshro said. “We travel to
the manor in Belisha and give you men a chance to relax. There we
can contact the Avialies still in Jolen and we can all decide what
to do with Wendy and Kilar’s threat and Lady Grace. Lisbeth can
meet us there in a few days.”

Adrian and Evan exchanged looks. The other men looked
to them instead of responding.

Sierra bit her lip, leaning towards Evan. Last time
she was at the manor, she’d just had a miscarriage. When she found
out about Lisbeth’s lies about the prophecy, she’d screamed at both
her and Jeshro in anger and they had thrown her out.

“All right,” Adrian said with a nod.

Jeshro clapped his hands. “If we leave now, as could
make it just past dark.”

“I thought he didn’t want us in the house ever
again,” she muttered to Evan.

He grinned at her mischievously. “You might want to
remind him of that.”

“Oh, I’m only too sure he remembers,” she said as the
others stood and left to get ready. “What was it you said? That the
family deserved better than them?”

Evan’s smile faded a bit, his gaze on Jeshro. Sierra
watched him walk over to the tent where Wendy was.

“I don’t think that so much anymore.” Evan stood and
held out a hand for her.

“Me, neither. Still…” she trailed off. If they hadn’t
lied, things would be so different today. Seth would be here and
Sashe wouldn’t be in the palace. She and Evan would be… different.
They’d fought so much in Jolen, but she was just glad to be with
him again.

“Where’s Dar?” Sierra asked.

“Brooding in the woods,” Evan replied. “I’ll go grab
him in a bit.” They stopped in front of his tent, and he stood in
front of her, putting his hand on her shoulders. “Gregorio’s gone,
Sierra. He can’t hurt us anymore.”

She smiled. “Good.” She straightened down his shirt
to do something with her hands. “I’m glad. And I’m glad you didn’t
get hurt.”

He kissed her softly, and one of the men made a
catcall. Evan made a rude gesture over his shoulder and smiled at
Sierra. “I promised to come back do you, didn’t I?”

* * *

They reached the manor a few hours after the sun set.
A young man met them at the gate and ushered them in. A few more
were at the stables, ready to tend to their tired horses. Sierra
forgot how many servants Jeshro and Lisbeth had, mostly poor or
unfortunate children from other magical families. They had watched
over the manor while the elders were gone. Because Angela contacted
them, they had a fresh meal and rooms ready for them.

Inside, the front room was lit up and warm as a fire
roared in the fireplace. Sierra slowly let out a breath as she
looked around the high-ceilinged room. Evan gently called her name
from ahead, and she caught up to him.

Servants led the men straight to their rooms. Dar
muttered a goodnight to them, and Sierra gave him another hug
before he left.

A young man took Evan and Sierra through twisty,
windy corridors, past strange doors, the scent of earth all around
them. Back when was a child, she and Sashe had come here with Dar
and his parents and sometimes Evan and they’d explore until they
were lost. Once, she and Evan got lost by themselves, and they held
hands when they wandered into dark corridors, and they’d come out
in the gardens. She’d only been eight years old.

The young man stopped deep inside the manor and
opened a door to show them their room. It was small and cozy, and a
fire was roaring in the wooden stove. “We’ll bring dinner and your
bags soon,” he said. “There’s some warm water for you behind the
screen.”

“Thank you,” Evan said.

Sierra sat down on the edge of the bed, feeling the
soft blanket. “Wow.”

Evan unbuckled his sword belt and rested his sword in
the corner, then flopped down on the bed. “We never thought we’d be
back here, hm?”

She shook her head and crawled to lay next to him.
“Tell me… what was it like? Killing him?”

Evan looked up at the ceiling, his finger playing
idly with a string on his shirt. His jaw was tight. Was he
remembering it right now? He exhaled.