sorcery and science 04.5 - masquerade (12 page)

“Odd,” mumbled Ariella.

“What is?”

“My parents being here at this hour. What are they up to?”

“Maybe nothing. My father gets visits from the rulers of the kingdoms all the time.”

“Even at night?” she asked.

“That’s less common,” he admitted. “But it does sometimes happen. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“You’re probably right.” She shook her head, as though to purge her suspicions from it. “So, what has Jade been doing?”

He sighed. “Nothing. She’s got to be one of the most boring people I’ve ever…”

“Stalked?” she asked with a lift of her brows.

“Met,” he said. “It’s not stalking. I just have this suspicion I can’t shake. Maybe it’s all completely ridiculous, but I have to know. Hasn’t there ever been anything…” Davin stopped, looking around. “Where is she?”

“Jade?”

“She was just there in the water garden. And now she’s gone. Where did she go?”

They circled the palace, scanning the grounds around it.

“There,” Ariella said, pointing.

A feminine silhouette was right at the edge of the forest and moving fast. In a few seconds, she’d be inside. There was no way they’d make it to her before she lost them in the trees.

“She’s probably heading for the portal to southern Pegasus,” Davin said. “What’s the quickest way there?”

“Follow me.”

Ariella sprinted for the tree line, Davin following closely behind her. She wove through the trees with smooth grace, as though she’d run this route many times before. Maybe she had. She and Isis were always doing things like that.

As they reached the distortion of air that marked the portal, Jade disappeared through it. They followed. Only a streak of black hair between the trees on the other side told them where to go. They couldn’t see her—or even hear her—but Ariella ran on as though she knew where Jade was heading. Davin hoped she was right.

He heard the roar of a rushing waterfall, growing louder with each stride he took. He saw streaks of white between the gaps in the trees. They were almost at the waterfall when Ariella came to an abrupt stop in front of him. Davin was too close. As he slowed, he darted to the side to avoid bowling her over.

Ariella pointed at the waterfall, not saying a word. Davin peered through the leaves. Jade’s dark silhouette stood in front of the bright white curtain of falling water. Someone walked toward her. He was clearly a man, but between the hood over his head and the dwindling evening light, Davin couldn’t see anything but two silhouettes in front of a white backdrop of water. They linked hands, and the man pulled Jade forward into a passionate kiss.

“I knew she’d fallen in with rogues,” he muttered under his breath.

As though she’d heard, Jade turned his way and blew him a kiss so exaggerated it was clearly fake. She was taunting him. But why?

The truth hit him like a wall of granite. She’d never been in love with him. She’d just made him think so to throw him off base, as though she thought he wouldn’t want to talk about it. All so she could sneak about with some rogue in the woods. And she’d claimed she cared about Elitia. More lies.

As Jade and her rogue lover walked hand-in-hand toward the wall of water, Davin ran forward, but they’d disappeared. He stopped a few steps from the falls, looking across the wide sheet of water. He was so close that the air was thick with moisture. The drops that bombarded his clothes soaked through. His skin was coated in a cool slippery layer, and his hair had grown heavy under the wet weight. Still, even after standing there for minutes, taking the waterfall’s abuse, he saw nothing. No portal.

“Where is it?” he called back to Ariella.

“Davin, come back here,” she said. “You won’t find anything over there.”

He did as she asked, believing she must have a better idea. But instead of wowing him with her insight, she turned back down the path they’d blazed through the forest.

“She got away,” he said, coming up beside Ariella.

“We can’t follow. That portal is protected. It’s closed to all but those who have been granted passage.”

“How do you know this?”

“Isis and I have explored this area.” She resettled the hairs that had come loose during the run. “We watched the people who use that portal. We even tried to find it. But until one of them leads us in, we won’t be able to use it.”

That’s how those sorts of portals worked. They led to secret pockets cut off from the outside world. These pockets were typically used as hiding spots by bands of rogue Elitions. Eclipse was supposed to be the largest of them all, but no one in Elitia knew how to get there. It was too bad because that’s where the assassin Jason Chanz and his allies were hiding.

“Do you know which group uses this portal?” he asked Ariella.

“The Night Rose Order. Isis and I saw the tattoos.”

Davin tried not to be disappointed that it wasn’t Eclipse. It’s not like knowing where an Eclipse portal was located got him any closer to getting inside. As Ariella had said, he couldn’t get in until one of the secret holders led him inside. A secret holder like Jason Chanz.
Yeah, not damn likely.

They took the portal back to Laelia, then from there, the one to Rosewater. Davin walked with her as far as the front step of the house.

“Good night, Ariella,” he said, kissing her on the cheek.

He left her there, turning as she raised her hand to her cheek. It was getting late, but Father would still be in the Assembly Chamber. Davin hurried toward Laelia. There was work to do.

~ 8 ~

525AX April 24, Laelia

DAVIN’S FATHER, THE illustrious high king of Elitia, sometimes made a point of proving what a phenomenal pain in the ass he could be. This was one of those times. When Davin told him about his aide running off with a rogue lover of the Night Rose Order, he said nothing. Nothing. He just sat there, his hands folded neatly atop the table as though he didn’t have a care in the world. As though it didn’t even matter. Elitions were going rogue everywhere. How could that not bother him? Especially when the latest defector was Davin’s aide. He might not have been the high king, but for the crown prince to be betrayed by his own aide was a blow to Elitia as a whole. If things continued like this, the rogues would soon be in control of Elitia, the alliance would fall, and the Selpes might even decide to invade. Davin wouldn’t put it past Lord Adrian to try something like that. And Father knew that too.

“What’s the matter with you?” Davin demanded, staring down his father.

Father’s eyes narrowed, betraying more emotion than when he’d heard of Jade’s defection. “I beg your pardon?”

“We need to do something. This cannot continue. The rogues are taking over.”

“You’re exaggerating the situation, Davin. Elitia will not fall just because a few of our people run off into the woods.”

“More than a few of—”

“I have a plan,” Father cut him off. “You just need to trust me.”

“Tell me your plan first. Then maybe I’ll trust you not to lead our people to oblivion.”

“That’s not how it works. I’m the high king of Elitia. I don’t need your approval. I’m looking out for what’s best for Elitia. That I can assure you.”

Davin crossed his arms. “Why won’t you tell me your plan?”

“Because I’m not completely sure you won’t share it.”

It always came back to this. “You don’t trust me.”

“I don’t trust your judgment,” Father said, grasping for technicalities. “Your best friend is a major in the Selpe military, leader of the Diamond Edges. He works directly for Lord Adrian, the man who would see us all as his slaves. And he will try to make that happen if he ever gets the chance. So what do you think will happen when the day comes that Aaron Pall has to decide whether to follow the man he owes his career, or to side with the Elition prince with whom he sometimes sits down to have a drink?”

“Father—”

“Can you really blame me for not sharing all my plans with you?”

It was as though they’d had this exact same conversation before. Wait, no. Not this
exact
conversation, just a few hundred other ones a lot like it. Davin played along anyway. His arguments would fall on deaf ears this time, just like all the times before, but there was nothing else he could do. He had no real power. Not yet. And so he just kept at it, even knowing that arguing with Father was about as productive as banging his head against a boulder: he pounded and bled, and the boulder didn’t budge the slightest bit.

“Just because Aaron is my friend, that doesn’t mean I tell him everything. I can keep things separate.”

“Can you?” Father asked. “Can you really? Because I seem to remember a group of Diamond Edges showing up on my doorstep after a certain son of mine led them here through the Orion portal. The portals are Elitia’s secret, not a convenient shortcut for Selpe soldiers. That incident was only nine weeks ago. So tell me, Davin, how exactly have you managed to regain control of your senses in just two short months?”

“That’s not what happened. Aaron had an urgent message for you from Emperor Selpe and I thought—”

“No, Davin. You didn’t think. You acted. And until you can prove to me that you can tell the difference, no, I won’t be sharing my plans with you.”

Davin wished there were something on the table, something he could throw. If he were stronger, he would have thrown the table. Yes, he knew it was childish. No, he didn’t care. That’s how his father made him feel. Like a child.

Gathering every bit of self-restraint he had in him, Davin buried the urge. “At least allow me to send someone to find a way to the Night Rose Order.”

“They’re hiding in a secret pocket.”

“Well, they have to come out sometime,” said Davin.

“And then what? You force them to show you the way inside?” Father asked. “We need to save our resources for bigger problems than the Night Rose Order. They’re harmless.”

“They’re rogues.”

“Who do nothing more than rip off gullible Selpes along the border. Let the Selpes buy their fake magical remedies. The more their citizens believe our magic is false, the better off we are.”

“So the Night Rose Order is helping us?” Davin tapped his fingers on the tabletop. “And how about all those other groups? Are the rogue assassins doing us a favor too?”

“Some of them, yes. Though I’m sure it’s not their intention. What you fail to realize, Davin, is that the vast majority of rogues just want to be left alone. Hunting them down serves no purpose—well, none besides Lord Adrian’s purpose to turn us all on one another.”

Davin might have had his share of disagreements with his father, but on the subject of Lord Adrian, they were united. The lord of Greenwood was a vicious man who hated Elitions almost as much as he loved power. Still, the only reason Father wasn’t sending anyone after Jason Chanz was that he still felt guilty about what happened to Jason’s parents. Nearly ten years ago.

“Fine. There’s no point in talking to you when you’re in a stubborn mood,” Davin said. As though his father had any other sort of mood. “But I do need to talk about Ariella Steele. So, it’s like this. You’re really going to want to hire her.”

~ 9 ~

525AX April 27, Rosewater

A FEW DAYS later, Davin had breakfast with Ariella in the Rosewater dining hall. They’d been sitting for over half an hour at the table, and she still hadn’t touched a bite of her food. She was too busy glowing—and talking about how she’d gotten the job as King River’s aide. Ariella wasn’t usually a chatterer, but nothing could shut her up now. Davin was glad she was happy.

“You deserve the job,” he said, forking a large piece of egg off her plate. Well, it was getting cold, and she wasn’t eating anything anyway.

“That’s just what my parents said. They told me…” She let the words linger in the air.

“What is it?”

Ariella sucked in a deep breath, her face paling. “This was their doing. Why didn’t I see it before?” She pounded her fist down hard on the table. “I got the job because of their interference.”

Davin didn’t do anything to correct her assumption. One look at the state of the tabletop was all it took to veer him off that path. If he admitted to talking to his father about her, she’d be upset. And he really didn’t want her upset with him.

“Regardless, Ariella, you
do
deserve the job.” He scooped another bite of her egg into his mouth. “My father wouldn’t choose someone to be his aide just because her parents wanted him to.”

She tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “You’re saying I would have gotten the job anyway.”

“Yes. You would have. And regardless, you’re in. Now you just have to prove yourself.”

“How long will that take?” she asked.

“I don’t know. It’s been over eighteen years for me, and I still haven’t gotten there yet.”

STORY FIVE

Masquerade of Magic

~ 1 ~

526AX March 21, Lear

A HORDE OF raging beasts stampeded through Leonidas’s living room, clawing and crawling to be the first to his bedroom. Leonidas lifted his fluffy pillow just enough off his head to peer at the watch on his wrist. Half past six. He groaned and rolled over. He’d only just fallen into bed three hours ago. The raging beasts could wait. He had no intention of getting up on this side of noon.

A second stampede shook his apartment—only by now Leonidas had been yanked enough into consciousness that he realized the racket was in fact coming from his front door. Someone was pounding on it hard enough to wake the dead. It shook with every strike of that hammering fist. Whoever it was had the strength of a battering ram. Or was using a battering ram. Leonidas flopped out of bed, snatched his gun off his nightstand, and tried his best to walk in a straight line toward the door. He was still wearing the suit from last night, so at least he didn’t have to scrounge up some clothes first.