The Healing Wars: Book III: Darkfall (25 page)

I shivered, cold from head to toe. Home. I was home.

“Nya?” Danello stared at me, worried. “What’s wrong?”

Were the stained-glass butterflies still hanging from the ceiling? Did they still catch the morning light and send rainbows across the bed?

“Sniffles,” I said softly.

“What?”

“Tali’s cat. Her name was Sniffles. She’d chase the light all over the room, trying to catch the sparkles from the mobiles. She’d knock over everything, and Tali would laugh so hard she’d fall off her bed.”

Danello put a hand on my shoulder. “That’s where you used to live?
Here?
”

I nodded. “There were flowers under the front window. A whole garden full of lake violets. Mama’s favorites. Soldiers trampled them.”

Heavy banging on the front door. Tali and I huddled together at the foot of the stairs with our housemaid, Lenna. Her husband, Wen, answered the door. We were the only ones left.

Soldiers. Always soldiers.

“On the order of Duke Verraad of Baseer, you’re to vacate the premises immediately.”

Wen stood tall. “This is my master’s villa, and you’ll not step foot inside. I hold no allegiance to your Duke.”

A soldier moved—one swift sword thrust. Wen doubled over with a grunt and a gasp. The soldier yanked the sword out and Wen dropped to the floor.

Lenna screamed and ran forward, dropping to her knees beside him. Another solider grabbed her by the hair and dragged her outside. She kept screaming; then metal
shring
ed and she was silent.

“Lenna!” I ran after her. A soldier caught me and threw me back inside. “Anyone else in the villa?” he asked.

“Get out!” I screamed at him.

“Anyone else in the villa?”

Tali darted forward and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Nya, I’m scared.”

“Where are your parents?”

“Dead. Your friends killed them, and I hope one of Papa’s friends kills
you
.”

The soldier called to the others, and they grabbed us like sacks of coffee, carrying us outside. Lenna was lying in the violets, her blond hair covering the purple blossoms soft as spiderwebs. Her eyes stared at nothing.

The soldiers threw us into the street and slammed the gate shut behind us.

The anger, the fear—it felt as real as it had then. “After the soldiers threw us out, Tali and I cried and banged on the gate, begging to come back inside, but they ignored us. I stopped before she did. It was getting dark, it wasn’t safe out after dark. I went to a neighbor’s villa, but their gate was locked. Everyone’s gate was.”

“That’s awful. I’m so sorry, Nya.”

“We slept in the gardens, under some bushes. I didn’t know where else to go. I was only ten. How could they do that to us?”

Danello hugged me and I clung to him, barely able to breathe.

“We’ll get your home back, I promise,” he said.

Would we? Even if we beat the Duke, the Baseeri had claimed these isles, these villas. Maybe Neuss’s opinion wasn’t the same as all of theirs, but my guts said more than a few felt that this was
their
home now.

Jeatar turned around and walked back to where I’d stopped. “Is everything okay?”

No, but I wasn’t about to let Vyand know that.

“Rock in my sandal,” I said, shaking my foot. I don’t think Jeatar believed me, but he glanced at Danello and nodded.

“Vyand says Balju’s in this one.”

“Okay.”

The gate opened smoothly. A stone walkway led to the front door. No flowers, no benches, no decorations of any kind. Bushes and grass were trimmed in neat lines. A soldier’s yard. I guess she did take us to the right place. I forced my feet to keep moving.

The yard was open and lush, the trees well spaced, planted for the best view—from inside and outside the villa—but not the most convenient spots for cover. A low row of gardenia bushes ran along the side of the building, but there were far too many windows overlooking that part of the property for anyone to hide in them effectively. Anyone inside could see us walking up.

“Where are the guards?” I asked.

“Along the perimeter. No need to post them on the interior of the isles.”

Vyand knocked on the door, and a man in a red uniform answered. Maybe they didn’t have guards outside, but he was guarding the inside.

“Did you forget something?” He eyed the rest of us with less caution than I’d have expected.

“No, but I need to see Commander Balju if he’s available.”

“I’ll see if he has a minute.” He let us in and told us to wait in the foyer. Danello gaped at the tapestries hanging on the wall. Baseeri design, which surprised me. I hadn’t thought anything here belonged to them.

“Was your home this nice?” Danello whispered.

“I don’t really remember,” I lied. I couldn’t see much of the villa from here, but what I could glimpse looked just like the outside—ready for war, not entertaining. No crystal, no blown glass, no artwork on the walls. Our villa had been filled with light and color and laughter.

The guard returned and waved us inside. Vyand walked ahead, smiling at a large man in a pose I’d seen a lot of lately. Standing at a table covered in maps, with other men gathered around him.

“Thank you for seeing me, Commander.”

“Always a pleasure.”

I glanced at Danello. Seriously?

“I’d like to introduce you to someone.” She stepped aside and Jeatar came forward.

“Saints’ mercy, you’re alive!” a man on Balju’s right cried. He ran both hands through his dark hair, then hurried to Jeatar, grabbing him in a hug. “We feared the worst when we lost track of you in Baseer.”

“Riendin, it’s good to see you too.”

Vyand raised an eyebrow. “I guess introductions aren’t necessary after all.”

Jeatar looked happy, but worried too.

Riendin let go of Jeatar and held him at arm’s length. “You’ve no idea how glad I am to see you, especially now.”

“Perhaps you should let us all in on why this is such a good thing?” Balju said. A solid man, handsome, yet hard and sharp, like broken marble.

“This is the man I was telling you about. He’s Bespaar’s son!”

Jeatar’s shoulders tensed. The rest of the men in the room gaped. Vyand got a strange look on her face. “My, my, my,” she mumbled.

Danello leaned close. “Who’s Bespaar?”

“The Duke’s brother.”

Danello coughed. “
The
Duke?”

“Yeah. Jeatar’s kinda the rightful heir to the throne.”

“Of
Baseer
?”

I nodded.

“Why didn’t you
tell
me?”

“And why didn’t you tell
me
you knew that?” Jeatar said, more interested in me than in the men all talking over each other behind him. “How did you find out?”

“I figured it out.”

He stared at me, shock and a bit of pride on his face.

Balju banged his fist against the table and the room fell silent. “Bespaar’s son, here.” He shook his head as if unable to believe it. “We’ve been looking for you a long time.”

“So has the Duke. I thought it best to disappear for a while until we were ready.”

“Riendin said the Underground wasn’t dead. That even if you were, there was still hope.”

“There’s not much left of the Underground, but Geveg’s resistance is strong. That’s why I’m here, to forge an alliance between both sides.”

Balju seemed confused. “You’re working with the Gevegians?”

“I am.”

“Why?”

I opened my mouth and Danello slapped a hand over it. “Shut up and be dangerous, remember?” he whispered into my ear. I nodded, swallowing my words.

“Because this is their home,” Jeatar said for me, “and they deserve to have it back.”

The men around Balju didn’t care for that. Frowns and suspicious glances passed among them.

“You’re saying we should just walk away and hand the city over to
them
?”

I didn’t like the way he said
them
.

“I think we should save it first, then decide how to fix the mess the Duke’s created afterward.”

Balju paused, rapping his knuckles softly against the table. “I supported your father,” he said. “Fought against Verraad when he tried to steal the throne and drank my vengeance to him after he did.
You
should be on that throne, not him.”

“So let’s change that.”

Balju pursed his lips. “Who’s the girl? Too old to be yours.”

“She’s an Analov.”

Balju’s eyes widened. “
Is
she?”

Every gaze in the room focused on me. I reached for Danello’s hand, squeezed it tight. He looked at me, puzzled. Was I allowed to speak now? Jeatar didn’t say anything, or look my way, so probably not.

“Regeer’s great-granddaughter.”

More whispers in the room and strange looks on the faces of the older people.

“Onderaan with you?”

They knew him too? I looked at Danello, who seemed just as surprised as I was. How did these people know my family? Who
were
they?

“He is. He fights for Geveg and so do I. So does she.” Jeatar stood tall and crossed his arms. “We’ve waited a long time for this opportunity. You join us, we can fix a lot of old wrongs. You don’t, I’ll take back Geveg with the Analovs and watch while the Duke lobs his fire rocks at you.”

Riendin sucked in a breath. Balju leaned forward, eyes narrowed, but there was respect in there too. “The Analovs and the Bespaars, united again.”

Jeatar offered his hand. “Do we also have an alliance?”

Balju paused, then took Jeatar’s hand. “We do. Grab a seat—we were just about to discuss tactics.” He looked over at Danello and me. “Vyand, would you be so kind as to escort Miss Analov and her guard into the other room?”

“Certainly, Commander.”

“But—”

Jeatar shook his head. “Not this time, Nya. I’m sorry.”

Sorry? He was throwing me out and he was
sorry
? I had questions, so many questions.

Vyand ushered us out and closed the door behind her. The same guard waited in the foyer, talking with a girl in a housemaid’s uniform.

“How could he kick me out?”

“He had to,” she said. “Balju isn’t going to discuss battle strategy with a child in the room, no matter what family she belongs to.”

“I’m hardly a child. And I’m a
de
’Analov. They keep getting that wrong.”

Vyand flicked a hand at me. “Don’t be naïve. If your man there was in trouble, you’d take on the whole group and win, but that’s not the point. Balju doesn’t know you.”

“He sure seemed to know her name, though,” Danello said.

“He should. Her family founded Geveg.”

Danello paused. “You were serious about that the other night? When you said they helped build it, I thought you meant they were masons.”

Vyand laughed and Danello blushed. I wanted to strangle them both.

“There’s a park named after her, you know,” she said.

“My great-grandfather, not me.”

Danello sank onto a couch. “Wow. I knew you were an aristocrat before, but that … wow, the whole city?”

Vyand chuckled again. “I must ask. Where did you meet that man of yours? Bespaar’s son? You do associate with very interesting—and powerful—people.”

“We ran into each other at the League.”

“Must have been some meeting.” She stared at me, who-knew-what spinning in those blue eyes, like she wanted to ask more but didn’t want to appear ignorant of anything. “Well,” she finally said, “this has been delightful, but I must go.”

“Of course,” I said, frustrated and confused and not knowing who to yell at first. Or even if I should. “Because you can’t
possibly
stay and fight for something worth defending.”

“Do you truly think me so callous?”

I snorted. “I think if I offered you the two bean-sized sapphires I have in my pocket, I could hire you as my personal guard.”

She grinned and held out her hand, palm up. “Deal.”

“What?”

“I accept your offer. You have my full team at your disposal.”

She couldn’t be serious. This was a joke, an insult, a way to rob me of two gems. “I was being sarcastic.”

“I mean it. I guard you, I guard your man.”

“Will you please stop calling him that.”

“Fine.” She stepped closer and the playful maliciousness vanished. Her eyes were clear, strong, and Saints forgive me—
sincere
. “Bespaar’s heir has aligned himself with you.
That
is a man worth protecting, and the only way he’ll let me is if he thinks I’m guarding you.”

“Why in Saea’s name would
you
want to protect
him
?”

She stepped away and the glint in her eyes returned. “You’re not the only one who wants to see the Duke pay for his crimes.”

W
hat do you
mean
you hired Vyand to be your bodyguard?” Aylin stared at me as if I’d lost my mind, which maybe I had.

“I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Danello nodded. “Vyand dived at the chance. She’s got to be up to something.”

Something that involved Jeatar and the Duke—and I didn’t want Vyand even
thinking
about them in the same sentence.

“I’ve never seen anyone go from bounty to boss before. Are you sure it’s a good idea?”

I sighed. “It’s
Vyand
, so it can’t be. Maybe she won’t actually show up.” Vyand had some more “business” to deal with and had said she’d meet us later. She didn’t say where and I didn’t tell her where we’d be.

“Does Jeatar know?”

“I’ll tell him if she gets here.”

“He does plan on coming back, right?”

“He said he would.” Jeatar had come out of his meeting with Balju after a half hour and told his guards to take us back. Part of me wondered if he just wanted to get us out of the way before our frustration made us do something foolish. “He wanted to get everything in place with the Baseeri before speaking to our people.”

Someone knocked on the door.

“That’s Onderaan with an update on Tali,” I said, rising. He’d spent all day with her while we were out. Aylin said she’d kept staring at him like she couldn’t quite figure out where she knew him from.