AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Another surreptitious glance at the door. “Which is why we could use our friend in the tower to find out for certain, one way or another.”
A chill swept up my spine.
“Morales,” I snapped. “Dima is not an interrogation tool!”
We’d had this argument before, shortly after she was appointed to the Council. Her and me, in this very room, while Ren had listened quietly to both of our positions and then sided with me. As useful as a Hearken was to Quareh, he’d agreed, Dima was more than his magic. We’d granted the Blessed man sanctuary at the top of one of the palace’s towers for his own protection from the minds of the thousands of people living in Máros, not to use him to glean secrets from our enemies. Morales had bluntly informed us that we were being foolish by letting such abilities go to waste when we had the last of an extinct magic available to us.
As much as I’d marvelled at her willingness to call Ren a fool to his face – although I frequently did the same, I was always entreated to the painful cost of such candour later when we were alone – I’d been furious that the first thing she’d done upon learning of Dima’s existence was consider how he could be used. Ren had patiently reminded me that as an advisor, that was what he was employing her to do, and that he already had me as the counterbalancing bleeding heart to Morales’ ruthlessness.
“These are exceptional circumstances, Nathanael,” Councillor Morales hissed back at me now, surprising me with the rare use of my first name. She was on her feet; tall, angry, and bristling. “Our king ismissing.”
I swore, not at her but at a world I’d been beginning to trust over this past year tonotscrew us over at every opportunity. I’d thought that all of the shit Ren and I had been through would have satisfied whatever quota of bad luck we’d been lumped with: the torture and the violation and the sickness and the loss and…I’d stupidly believed that everything that had happened to us while we fought to be together would have beenit.
But it seemed fate, or Dios, or whatever fucker was actually sitting up there in that big empty sky, had at least one more cruel punishment to inflict on us.
Let Ren be alive and unhurt,I begged silently.Or I’ll tear it all down from beneath you.
“Fine,” I said, this time aloud. “For the king.”
*
Chapter Thirteen
Vidrio didn’t even bat an eye when Morales invited him along to visit Dima and see if our resident Hearken had perhaps overheard anyone plotting against the king. It was a weak excuse – by design, Dima came into contact with very few people, and only those who were necessary for his health and security – but I nodded like it made perfect sense and Vidrio seemed not to question the logic either. He did express some initial resistance to accompanying us, however, insisting he was needed elsewhere to assist with the search and we’d be fine handling the query alone, but Morales strong-armed him into reluctantly agreeing through an effortless combination of reason, emotional manipulation, and pulling rank…albeit,myrank, and I tried to look like I had indeed just issued the order she was describing.
Aitor watched over us all carefully from where he brought up the rear of our little group, and I was thankful to have him and his sword with us in case Councillor Vidrio really did turn out to be the traitor Morales suspected him to be.
I both hoped it was and wasn’t true. After chasing our own tails all day, it would be good to finally have a culprit to pin down and get answers from, but to face such betrayal from one of the people Ren depended on the most? The Council were meant to be an extension of the king himself, steadfastly loyal and trusted. Second only to his consort and heirs – not that he had any of the latter, as I was so frequently reminded.
We took the corridors briskly, not needing to lie to Vidrio further to explain our haste. We all appreciated the urgency: he just didn’t know that he would be the one subjected to Dima’s invasive magic in our search for our missing monarch.
“Your Highness,” two voices greeted simultaneously. We were met with a wall of muscle, drawn steel, and formal bows that were sufficiently deep to convey respect yet shallow enough to ensure their eyes never left us.
I nodded back at the pair of guards who were not authorised to allow anyone past them save for Ren, me, and the healer and chef permitted to tend to Dima’s needs. “Afternoon. I have business in the tower.”
Even these guards weren’t privy to exactly what it was they protected. The existence of a Hearken – a nearly extinct and incredibly powerful form of magic that gave its wielder the ability to read minds – was not a secret to be freely shared.
“All of you?” one asked.
“All of us,” I confirmed. “They’re here on my authority.”
With that, the guards gave another bow and stepped to the side to let us into the base of the tower before closing rank behind us once more.
Yet my suspicions about Vidrio began to recede as the four of us ascended the narrow circular staircase, the familiar burn settling itself across the back of my legs. I’d been sure to place myself behind the councillor where I could keep an eye on him, and it meant I could see how eagerly he was climbing, with none of the hesitation I’d have expected from a deceiver who knew he was about to be outed.
And with that doubt came the growing realisation that I couldn’t drop four people’s minds on Dima. Exceptional circumstancesor no, I refused to torment the man like that. I’d seen what it did to him to have too many people close to him, and it felt shitty enough using him to weed out a possible traitor like we were.
“Morales, please stay here with Aitor,” I said, pausing when we were about a third of the way up the tower’s staircase. “Vidrio and I will speak to…we will handle business alone. Expect us back shortly.”
I faltered, realising I’d almost slipped up by revealing Dima’s existence to Aitor, either by my words or leading him straight to the man. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust our guards, but Ren and I had agreed that the fewer people who knew about the Hearken, the better. His Council were among the few whom we had shared the secret with, considering Dima’s importance – and the security risk he posed, having been inside mine and Ren’s heads.
Councillor Morales’ eyes flashed disapprovingly from where she stood three steps below mine. “King consort, I’m coming with you.”
“No,” I said. “You’re not.”
“It would be wise, considering thecircumstances…” she said pointedly, and I appreciated that she wanted to be there to protect me, I really did, but it seemed decreasingly likely that Vidrio had betrayed Ren, and even if he had, what was he going to do? We’d be alone at the top of the tower with a man who could read his every thought, and no escape route open to him. The guards at the base of the tower wouldn’t let him pass back through their checkpoint without me. He’d be trapped, and the councillor was a priest-turned-politician, not a soldier. He hadn’t been the one to physically drag Ren off, no matter his possible involvement in the underlying plot to do so.
“I will wait here, Your Highness,” Aitor offered, and I nodded at him gratefully before looking to Morales.
