CHAPTER 53
Keenan
The ground passed swiftly under his feet as he ran back toward the castle. His head pounded, but it was better now that he was finally on his way to turn over the tinderbox. He felt stronger as well, not as if he was going to collapse like he had when the princess appeared at Oliver’s door.
Her frightened voice echoed through his mind. Keenan stumbled, crashing into the nearest building again. He hadn’t even been angry this time. But he’d come so close to hurting her. So close to—
His mind locked down again. He’d done what he had to. Oliver might not have relented had Keenan held the dagger to his own throat, and he was running out of time to meet the queen’s bargain. The heavens only knew what would happen to him if he failed, given how he felt now.
The wall surrounding the castle rose in his vision before he even registered that he’d begun moving again. Since he was bringing the queen what she wanted, he could enter through the gates. Mori’s warning was irrelevant now.
The stubborn part of him directed his steps toward a shadowed section of the wall. The stone had been polished smooth, but he took a running leap at it, trusting the tiny nubs to appear when he needed them, just as they had the last time. Oliver had been right about that aspect of his hidden magic.
After landing lightly on the other side, he jogged toward one of the servants’ doors. Queen Arisa would still be at the ball. Should he find someone to draw her out, or should he simply walk up to her? Except for his leather armor, he was still dressed for it.
Although his clothes might be a bit dirty after falling to a knee so many times in the last hour. Also, fleeing the kingdom afterward sounded good.
Better send someone to fetch her.
Keenan started down the hall, then clutched his head as he sank to the floor. He couldn’t give the tinderbox to the queen. He’d promised Mamoru to keep everyone safe.
“Keenan?” A surprised female voice, then hurried steps and a gentle hand on his shoulder. “What are you doing back here? And Princess Sakura—did she not find you?”
“Kasumi,” he rasped, lifting his head with effort. The maid’s worried eyes searched his face. “She’s—with Oliver. I can’t—” He scrunched his eyes together as the other voice, the one that demanded he fulfill the bargain, tried to intrude again. “Help—”
Her hands ran over his shoulders. “Is it the tinderbox?” she said quietly. “The bargain you made requires you to give it to the queen, but you don’t want to.”
He shook his head. “She can’t—I can’t—let her—”
Her voice dropped further. “Did you know it was my magic that sealed it for her?”
“Your—magic?”
Kasumi nodded. “Because I was involved, we can leave her out if it. I can alter the bargain as long as the two of us agree on the change.”
Keenan knew nothing about magical bargains, but he grasped at the hope she offered. “What kind of change?”
“I can protect it for you.” Her eyes were wide, her voice earnest. “If you give it to me, put it under my control, I will keep it from Queen Arisa.”
The offer tugged at his mind, tempting him. All he had to do was accept, and the pain would go away.
But he’d promised Mamoru that he’d take care of it.
“What happens if you fail?” he grunted. “I made a promise to safeguard it from the queen. Even the princess. I can’t protect it if you have it.”
She raised an eyebrow. “If you do not alter the bargain, the magic will force you to give it to her. Isn’t this an improvement?”
He made his expression as foreboding as he could while kneeling. It was a fair question, but that didn’t change his concerns.
“Fine,” Kasumi huffed. “If she or any member of her family so much as touches it, the control will revert to you. Does that satisfy you?”
If he had control, they couldn’t use it, right?
“All right,” he panted, reaching a shaky hand into his cloak pocket. “I agree.” He held out the tinderbox, silently apologizing for not being strong enough to protect the magical creatures himself.
But maybe recognizing his weakness was the strength he needed now.
The hair on his scalp rose as she plucked the tinderbox from his hand with a smile. “Done. Thank you so very much, Keenan.”
He still felt worn, like he’d been running for hours or had crammed the basic shaping of a dozen swords into a single day, but the ache in his head receded. And with the loss of the ache came clarity.
“How did you come to be part of the bargain?”
Kasumi took a step back, inspecting the tinderbox with an intentness he didn’t like.
“By hiding outside the door when she spoke with you. Finessing the compulsion so she directed the conversation the way I needed it to go was difficult, but it was well worth the effort. This will be just what I need.”
The compulsion?
It wasn’t the queen who wanted the tinderbox. It never had been.
“I should probably thank the princess too; this might not have worked if she hadn’t managed to fall in love with you after all.
” She tucked the tinderbox into a satchel at her waist. “And despite your initial reluctance, you acquiesced quite nicely with a little encouragement. Thank the heavens those mercenaries finally got it right and sent me someone I could use.”
Kasumi had been behind everything.
And he’d just given her what she wanted.
Keenan surged to his feet. He couldn’t let her keep it. Taking the satchel should be easy enough.
But she widened her eyes, then opened her mouth and screamed before running down the hall.
A pair of guards appeared around a corner.
Kasumi threw herself into the arms of one and pointed dramatically toward Keenan.
“He lured Princess Sakura out of the castle so he and his accomplice can smuggle her back to Daraigh and hold her for ransom. When I confronted him about it, he threatened to—to—” She hiccuped. “To—silence me.”
The other guard blew a whistle around his neck, and Keenan bolted. He could try repeating what she’d confessed to him, but a tinderbox in her satchel wouldn’t prove anything. And her story lined up a little too nicely with King Banri’s accusations. He didn’t like his chances if they caught him.
He hoped Sakura would corroborate his story. But there was no guarantee the king would believe her this time…or that Keenan would survive until she returned.
The echo of voices and pounding feet filled the corridors.
Veering toward a window, he thanked the heavens he was on the first floor and braced himself, then sent his booted heel into the frame right below the latch.
The window flew open, bits of glass and splintered wood spraying out into the night.
He swung his legs over the sill and darted across the yard. Guards poured into the space as word of his flight spread. But the wall wasn’t that far; if he could make it over, he could buy himself some time while the guards ran for the gate.
Now, if only he didn’t feel like keeling over. The lingering effects of his fight with the magic complicated things.
An arrow skipped off the cobblestones next to him, and a curse slipped out. It would be much harder to scale the wall if they were shooting at him. But he didn’t see a better option, so he kept running.
Twenty feet from the wall, a familiar figure skated in front of him. Keenan tried to dodge, but the guard skittered sideways to match him. “Move, Mori. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“What are you doing?” Mori asked. He hadn’t drawn his sword, but his presence was enough to make Keenan slow. “I warned you away. Why did you come back? Why did you attack Kasumi, and why is she claiming that you used my warning to hurt the princess?”
“They know you told me?” Keenan asked, his heart sinking.
“No. But if I’m complicit, maybe they should.”
Keenan glanced over his shoulder. The other guards were too close. Mori might be the one person who would believe him, but he didn’t have time to explain.
Drawing his weapons, he shifted into an attack position. “Move out of the way, Mori.”
“No!” Mori finally drew his own sword, but he kept it in a defensive stance. “I can’t let you go unless I know you’re innocent. Until then, you’ll have to go through me.”
Keenan had spent hours sparring with the young guard. While Mori’s skill was greater, Keenan had the greater strength. He could probably make it past if he wanted to.
But he’d have to hurt Mori to do it. And Keenan couldn’t do that to his friend.
Sheathing his weapons, he held his hands up and let the guards surround him.
He maintained eye contact with Mori as they stripped him of his sword belt and pulled his arms behind his back.
“I didn’t ask the princess to follow me.
I don’t even know how she did. But I promise, she was safe when I left her. ”
“I’m sorry, Keenan,” Mori whispered, letting his sword fall. “I wish it hadn’t come to this.”
“I know.” The guards jerked Keenan around, but he looked over his shoulder at his young friend. “A word of advice: don’t spend so much time with Kasumi. She’s not who you think she is.”
Then he submitted to the guards’ unspoken command and let them lead him away.