Queen of the Sylphs (22 page)

Ril blinked and fell silent.

“Justin, you know you’re not supposed to tell Ril what to do.”

“I just wanted to talk to you is all,” Justin explained. “I’m allowed to, aren’t I?”

Lizzy frowned. “I don’t know. You said some pretty awful things about me.”

Justin stared downward, willing her to feel how sincere he was, though he was bitterly aware that only Ril could. Leon appeared beside them, but he didn’t say anything, just watched for a moment before he pulled Ril back. The sylph shot a look at his master, and Leon started whispering to him.

“I’m sorry,” Justin told Lizzy. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I know what I said was inexcusable, but I was upset. I know that’s not good enough, but can you forgive me anyway?” He watched her hopefully.

She frowned, her lips pursed. “I don’t know.”

“You have to!” he said. “I said I was sorry! What’s wrong with you?”

Lizzy glared at him. “I don’t have to do anything. And there’s nothing wrong with me. You’re the one with the problem!”

Justin felt like she’d slapped him. Across the road he heard Ril’s chuckle, and he could feel the creature gloating.

“You . . .” He had to make Lizzy understand. “He’s no good for you, Lizzy! He’s just a thing!”

She turned her back on him. “Go away, Justin.” Then she moved toward her father and Ril, her head held high.

Justin’s heart broke. “It’s not fair!” he shouted. “You were supposed to be mine!”

“Oh, that’s
terrible
.”

Sala leaned against the table, her fingers laced together. Quietly, Claw poured tea into her cup and then Justin’s, though his hand trembled so badly he sloshed some over the side. Sala sighed and waved him away.

“Poor creature,” she remarked sadly. “Battlers are all a little crazy.” She returned her attention to the problem at hand. “I’m sorry it hasn’t worked out yet, Justin. But that’s no reason to stop.”

Justin grimaced and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t think it’s ever going to work out. He’s got her wrapped around his finger.”

“Don’t give up,” Sala urged, leaning over the table to lay a hand against his crossed arms. He lowered them, and she took one of his hands. “She’ll come around. She has to see how false his feelings for her really are. Eventually. Battlers can’t feel love. They just feel lust and think that’s all that’s important.”

Behind her, Claw shuddered.

Sala gave a laugh and shook her head. “Honestly, Justin, I’m amazed at your control. If it were me, I don’t think I’d be able to stop myself from ordering Ril to hurt himself. If he weren’t around, Lizzy would come to realize how special you are.”

Justin shrugged, though he’d like nothing better than to make Ril suffer the way he himself had in Meridal. Even now the memory tormented him. But: “I’d get caught if I tried.”

Sala laid a finger against her lip. “Oh, I guess so. I hadn’t thought of that. If I were in your situation, I’d just get so mad I’d probably do something really mean and then feel awful afterwards, even if it was the right thing to do.”

“Such as?”

She shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. Order him to drink energy other than his master’s? That would probably hurt terribly, and no one would think it was anything other than him being sick. Oh, wait, that wouldn’t work. He’d tell everyone.” She frowned. “I suppose you could tell him to forget he got the order. Can you even do that?” She shrugged again and sipped her tea. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. It’s good for him you’re such a nice person.”

Claw brought more tea at her command, and Justin was pleased that she didn’t seem to notice exactly what a good idea she’d given him.

Sala had noticed Justin’s expression, of course, though she didn’t react. She didn’t have nearly as much time to work with him as she would have liked, but she hadn’t expected to need a dupe so suddenly. It was fortunate that she’d discovered the tension between Justin Porter and the chancellor’s battler. Part of her just wanted to tell the bitter little coward what to do, but she had to be careful only to plant the idea. The last thing she could afford was to have anyone suspect her as the source.

Still, she’d given Justin a very effective way of dealing with his rival. Not that she cared if it got him Lizzy back. Just as long as he was caught doing it.

The entire Petrule family was gathered around the kitchen table, laughing and eating dinner. Ril sat in the living room, paging through a book. He loved the family, but he didn’t need to eat human food and was feeling out of sorts from not being able to take his own form anymore now that Luck was gone. Unsettled as he was, the sight of the younger girls eating made him nauseated. Especially peas.

A chorus of ewws sounded from the kitchen, followed by Leon and Betha’s protests, and Ril shuddered. Food. He didn’t understand how humans could stand it sometimes.

Outside, the sun was setting. The family would go to bed soon, which would give him and Lizzy some time alone. The cottage at the end of the garden was all theirs now, but it was only a single room and the furniture wasn’t as comfortable as here. It was a private place, though—provided they could ever get Cara, Ralad, Nali, and Mia not to come barging in whenever they wanted. He’d never thought he’d have to resort to such things, but he was starting to think they needed a lock.

Smirking, he flipped a page. He adored those girls, even if Mia was determined that he turn into a pony for her. She just kept begging. It hurt too much, so he’d have to bring Claw over sometime. He’d probably be delighted to be a pony. Or a puppy. Or whatever other furry animal the girls thought he should be.

Outside, Ril sensed something and looked toward the front of the house. Reaching out with his senses, he found Justin. He snarled.

The family was still eating. Leon was yelling for everyone to shut their mouths and stop trying to disgust him, it wasn’t going to work, so Ril shuddered and rose, headed for the front door. He’d managed to put Justin’s little conversation with Lizzy out of his mind for the past three days, though he’d been hearing from Wat and Claw that the boy was going around saying how much he hated battlers.

He went out the front door and down the walk. Crossing his arms, he glared at the boy who stood at the gate. “Go away before I kill you.”

“You won’t hurt me,” Justin snapped defiantly, though Ril could feel his fear. “You’re under orders.”

Ril snorted. “Don’t push me.”

“Liar,” Justin said, his voice low. “You can’t do anything to me. You have to do exactly what I say.”

Ril’s eyes widened as he realized his mistake, but he hadn’t actually thought Justin had this in him. The boy had always been afraid of what others would do if he tried anything.

He turned to bolt back into the house or shout for Lizzy or Leon, but Justin pointed a finger at him and said, “Don’t move, don’t shout, don’t speak, don’t call for help, don’t project your emotions, don’t do anything.”

Ril froze, swearing inside. Leon was only a few dozen feet away, but he couldn’t call for him. He couldn’t even project his emotions and alert his master that way. He seethed quietly instead, watching Justin move closer.

The young man walked right up to him, features twisted with hate. “Don’t move,” he repeated. Then he punched the battler in the face as hard as he could.

Ril licked his lip and worked his jaw. Looking back, he saw Justin holding his fist, gasping in pain. He smirked.

“You bastard,” Justin whispered. “You goddamned bastard. I
hate
you. You’ve taken everything from me. Do you understand that?”

Under orders not to move or speak, Ril just stared, letting his expression say everything.

Justin obviously understood. He shoved his face right up in Ril’s. “I could order you to go away,” he whispered. “I could order you to pick a direction and just keep going until you run out of energy and die.
Nobody
would be able to find you.”

Ril went cold.

Justin grinned. “I could do it,” he sniggered, poking the battler in the chest. Then the grin faded. “I tried being nice. I tried being compassionate and understanding about everything Lizzy went through, but she only wants you. She actually thinks you’re some kind of person! Well, you’re not. You’re nothing but a slave, and it doesn’t matter what kind of so-called freedoms they give you. You’ll always be a slave.”

The young man shook his head. “What do you think is going to happen after Leon and Lizzy die? You’ll end up being property again, I promise it!” His expression of anger smoothed over. “Only, I guess you won’t last that long. I love Lizzy, more than you can imagine, and I won’t see her ruined by an animal. She’ll be free to love me again once you’re dead.
Free.
”

Ril felt a cold but impotent hatred as Justin straightened, clearing his throat and obviously thinking over a set of instructions he intended to relay. Ril watched him warily, still unable to project the fear or anger that would alert Leon and Lizzy and perhaps save him.

“You’ll forget this meeting,” Justin began. “You’ll obey my orders, but you won’t remember getting them so you can’t tell anyone.” He took a deep breath. “You won’t feed from your masters’ energy anymore. You’ll feed from any source
but
them. And you’ll think you’re supposed to. That’s my order.”

Ril stared at him. Justin was ordering him to poison himself?

Of course he was.

Justin smiled. “Don’t worry about Lizzy. I know she’ll be upset about your lingering death, but I’ll make sure to give her all the support she needs. It’ll be good for her, to learn someone real is there for her.”

More than ever before, Ril wanted to kill. He wanted to erupt, to maim, to destroy. He just stood there.

Justin stepped back into the shadows. Pointing at Ril, he said, “Obey my orders, battler. Take a deep swallow. I want to watch you do it.”

Immediately, Ril forgot what Justin had just told him. He even forgot that the young man was still there, standing in the bushes. He was hungry, and the world around him was full of energy, swirling in patterns he could feel tingling all over. He took a deep draught, pulling that energy into his own pattern.

His scream shattered the night air, his agony blasting out along the hive lines to his masters and every sylph in the Valley. Pain—horrible pain, crippling, poisonous agony like no sylph should ever feel—burst through him. His back arched, his mouth gaped in that ongoing scream, and shouts sounded inside the house. Roars sounded throughout the town, battlers rising as the other sylphs took cover.

Snapping forward, Ril dropped to his hands and knees and threw up, energy spilling out of him as a scattering of already dispersing sparks. He couldn’t understand what had happened or even where his pain was coming from.

A few feet away, Justin scrambled to his feet. He had tripped backward in surprise at the ruckus, but now he stared at Ril in shock and fear. The battler gaped at him, trying to snarl but only gagging. He threw up again.

Justin backed away, shaking. “Don’t you say anything about me being here,” he gasped. “I order you—”

A blast wave of power slammed into the ground where Justin was standing, vaporizing everything to a depth of three feet.

Ril was thrown backward. He slammed into the steps leading to the Petrule porch just as the door opened and Leon ran out, Lizzy right behind. Smeared with Justin’s blood, Ril clutched his gut and threw up a third time.

“Ril!” Leon gasped, shocked in a way Ril had rarely felt. Lizzy had her hands clasped over her mouth, looking horrified. Betha held her daughter from behind, staring in fear over Lizzy’s shoulder before turning back to the house and shouting that the other children shouldn’t come out.

Claw landed on the edge of the crater he’d created, stared down at it with a shudder before rushing over to kneel in front of Ril. Leon crouched beside him.

Ril managed to vomit sparkling energy up all over his master’s arms and lap. His ears were ringing so loudly he couldn’t be sure what anyone was saying. He saw Mace drop down and land in a crouch on the nearby walkway, and other angry battlers descended as well. Pulled into Leon’s arms, Ril convulsed, trying to hang on to the energy he’d consumed, afraid that if he lost any more, the rest of him would fall apart.

Mace stepped forward, his expression intense. Ril watched as the older battler knelt and abruptly slammed a hand into him. Ril gasped, and Mace siphoned out a spiderweb of energy, scattering it across the lawn with a snap of his arm.

His pain eased. Ril sagged against Leon, still not understanding what had happened.

“What?” Leon demanded, echoing Ril’s thoughts. “What’s going on?”

Claw shuddered. “That man. He was doing something to Ril.”

“What man?” Lizzy gasped. She stared at the crater. “Oh, gods!”

Justin,
Ril thought. It had been Justin. He’d seen him. Starving and miserable, he reached out for the energy in the air and the ground, drawing it into him, trying to find sustenance and relief.

“Stop!” Mace shouted.

“What?” Leon said.

Mace leaned toward Ril. “He tried to drink the wrong kind of energy. Not yours.”

“What? Why?” Leon stared at Ril. “Why aren’t you drinking my energy?”

Ril regarded him wearily. “Why would I?”

Everyone was silent.

The battlers and humans looked grim. Leon’s arms tightened around Ril as Lizzy knelt down, staring at him. “It was Justin, wasn’t it? He did something to you.”

Leon stroked his hair. “Ril, you need to drink my energy. Or Lizzy’s.”

“Are you insane? It’s poisonous.”

Leon sighed. “Someone get the queen.”

Chapter Sixteen

Her stomach greatly distended, the pregnant Solie waddled around the house and toward a small cottage at the end of the back garden. Small faces watched her from the window, and she smiled at the Petrule girls as she made her way through the darkness. Heyou guided her with an arm around her waist.

“They’re sure it was Justin Porter?” she asked.

“I think so. Who else could it have been? Not much left to identify him, though.”

Solie grimaced. She’d passed the crater in the front yard and was glad the night was now too dark to see any blood. “Has anyone told his father?”