Chapter 39 The Proverbial Rug
~ DONAVYN ~
“Read both messages. Look at the codes. Take your time. Think it through. Tell me what you see. I need to play the devil’s advocate here. I need to push you on your conclusions.”
I handed the new message to Voski. After discussing it from every angle with Kgosi, I needed to know if this man saw the same things I saw. If he read the codes the same way.
For the dozenth time since we'd discovered this subterfuge, I cursed myself for not keeping originals of some of those intelligence reports.
Voski, with dark circles under his eyes because he hadn't slept, sat at the table in our chambers, placed the new message in front of him, Bren’s copy of the previous message beside it, then spread the code pages around it.
I watched him read, his eyes darting back and forth from the messages to the codes... then he frowned and read it all again.
I saw the moment he caught that little swoop I'd missed the first time, and his expression darkened. I wanted to ask him immediately if he understood it, but I waited until he’d been back over both messages, then looked up at me, his expression grim.
“Tell me what you’re reading.”
“I’m reading an order to assassinate you, remove Bren from service, and a fucking Furyknight telling the king that he’s flying home with safe, healthy dragons, even though he was part of a squad that’s been decimated.”
“Do you see any indication that’s true?”
Voski’s eyes darted left and right as he searched his mind. I prayed. I knew he didn’t have information I hadn’t gained for him, but could he see something I didn’t? Was I blind to some deceptive ploy?
“We know the claims from Draeventhall about the squad that was there,” Voski said quietly. “We have independent reports of the dragons flaming men. And Ciar…”
I nodded, but didn’t want to fill in blanks for him. I needed to see how his mind put these pieces together. Because that was the point that left me on solid ground too. We knew Ciar’s reaction to the events wasn’t faked. We knew Davros and Ciar were both dead.
“The chances it was only Ciar and Davros?” I asked carefully.
“It seems not only unlikely, but impossible,” Voski said, still searching his mind.
“Perhaps… perhaps if it had been one of the others, one not as close to Ruin, I might have questioned. But Davros was his brother in more than their mission together. Those two trusted each other implicitly. If Ruin was keeping anyone alive, it was Davros.”
I nodded again, but my heart swung back on that pendulum of frustration.
Because I’d drawn the same conclusion—but it only affirmed that it was possible Ruin spoke the truth about the events in the squad that day before he’d fled.
What little Ciar had shared with Kgosi, along with Ruin’s story… It made sense. To a point.
“And yet…” Voski leaned over the messages again.
I sighed. “That little loop on the s—”
“As above, so below?”
“Yes. Do you know it? Does that ring any bells for you?”
“Only one, unrelated to Furyknights and… I want to say it couldn’t be, but we have to consider it, right?”
I frowned. “What have you heard?”
Voski’s lips thinned and he looked back down at the pages in front of him. “It’s personal. I hesitate to raise it in case—”
“It’s more than I know of it. Speak. We can assess it together.”
Voski sat back in his seat, eyes still locked on those messages. “My family were… dark people,” he said very reluctantly.
“You have no responsibility for the things done by others,” I assured him. “What kind of dark?”
His jaw flexed. “It’s unimportant to this conversation.
But their intentions were always for the gain of power.
And they held to a… a mantra. A similar sentiment.
” He kept meeting my eyes, then looking away.
Voski had always been one to keep his cards close to his chest, but this was the first time I saw him nervous with me.
He leaned forward again, elbows on his knees, and picked up the code page that included As above, so below, staring at it grimly.
“It’s not a reversal. It would be more accurate to describe the philosophy as a reflection. ”
I frowned. “Go on.”
Voski looked back down at the papers, his eyes scanning places on both messages.
“I’m guessing, of course. But… it seems significant that we’d already observed the king’s message could be read two ways.
And the addressee is most likely one of two people.
And the codes… even the codes are doubled.
” He lifted his head to meet my eyes. “What if the orders he’s received before apply to more than one scenario?
As above, so below can’t mean a reversal, they already have codes for that.
What if it means both? What if you aren’t the only target? ”
My breath rushed out of me. “You think Bren—”
“He gives the Shadowfang code for her death. If it’s not reversed…”
The words hit me like a punch to the solar plexus. I’d seen it, but hoped with the coding it was a reversal.
“What if it means, he’ll do what was written… and also what was coded?” Voski asked quietly. “Both messages, read both ways, and enacted on both subjects.”
I started to pace, clawing hands through my hair. If he was right—and I had a sinking feeling that he was—at this very moment, the man who intended to act on this was downstairs with my mate under his eyes, and working with another man who’d already put hands on her once.
Shit. Shit.
I was happy to meet Ruin in a dark corner and let the Creator give me permission to kill him in defense of myself—and her.
But Ruin spoke to the king as if these orders were already complete.
He’d always been a cocky bastard, but a shrewd measure of a fight.
His assurances to the king stretched beyond arrogant self-belief.
He already gave the codes for these events complete. So… How?
“How can he be so utterly certain of taking both of us, and returning safely?” I growled.
“Because he has a weapon he’s certain will win.”
I looked at Voski sharply. His expression was forbidding, but his gaze didn’t waver. “Sir, he’s used Shadowfang codes to confirm death and tell the king he’s returning with healthy, safe dragons. He can’t be referring to the Vosgaarde herd because they’d never move against Kgosi.
“Those assurances are followed by this code that can’t be a reversal—because they would have used the other symbol. We know he isn’t bringing his squad home safely. We know he and Carnage can’t hope to remove Kgosi alone… so what weapon does he possess that makes him so certain of both results?”
“The wild dragons. The ones listening to Carnage.” The bell of conviction, the truth I’d prayed he wouldn’t see, rang in my chest.
Voski nodded. “It seems impossible—I can’t see how they’ve taken control of these dragons. But Ruin must be certain they won’t let up until the job is done.”
I turned away from him, needing a moment to center myself and try to accommodate this awful picture.
I reached for my dragon, who’d listened to all of it and hadn’t argued. ‘Keg—’
‘I’ve told you before, Donavyn. A Primarch’s power is in his standing with the herd.
We dragons link as a group, our souls entwined.
My dragons will fly to the defense of their bonded riders, and to their Primarch.
Always. It is why a Primarch must challenge alone and prove himself both stronger and more intelligent than any potential rivals within the herd.
Because the herd will sacrifice itself, fight to the death to keep the Primarch safe in the event of attack.
Fight to keep its strongest and most capable mind and heart alive to carry on the flame. ’
But Kgosi had been removed from his herd.
“Ruin will send the ferals after Kgosi… to overwhelm him. They don’t listen to him. They aren’t submitted. They won’t be damaged by killing him,” I breathed.
“It’s worse than that,” Voski muttered. “They can kill either of you and remove or weaken the other. Look at what happened to Ciar when Davros—a lying, cheating bastard—was killed. Imagine how Kgosi would be weakened by your death. Ruin doesn’t even have to fight you, Donavyn.
He just has to corner you with a herd that isn’t listening to Kgosi.
And if he gets you two… guess who follows next? ”
“Bren and Akhane.”
“Or… no, it’s far more likely to be the other way around,” Voski said tightly.
“If I were a darker man… if I wanted to remove you from your power, I’d separate you and the Primarch from the herd, precisely like this—then I’d kill your mates first. Not only would they be easier to overcome, losing them would weaken you both.
Kgosi is the greatest risk, but you hold some as well.
You’re a powerful fighter, Donavyn. And a man others would willingly assist. No.
Ruin’s not taking any chances. He doesn’t have to.
He doesn’t even need to be present if those dragons are listening to Carnage, and they’ll do whatever they’re instructed.
They will separate you and Kgosi from each other, kill you, and then take him. ”
Shit. “Hanson’s plan to get Bren to take him to the dragons tomorrow.”
Voski’s eyes widened. “She’s going with him? Alone?”
“That’s what he’s insisted on. He’ll take her and Benji to them. Between them, he claims, they can take control of the herd, and then he’ll remove Ruin and…”
“It’s a ruse. It has to be.” Voski’s tone was hard and angry.
“Get her separated and over there, too far from the castle to reach quickly. Kgosi wouldn’t be able to reach Akhane in the link, but he’d sense her fear when she’s under attack and you’d both fly.
They kill the girls while you’re on your way, weakening you. Then set on you when you arrive.”
Shit.
Shit.
“It makes sense.”
I looked at the messages again. For a moment that familiar frustration flared—we still didn’t understand all that was being said here, I was sure of it.