CHAPTER XIV #12
“To be fair, I only found out about it a year ago,” he leans back in his chair again, “and had been working out how to bring it up to father.”
I nearly laugh.
Of course he said that so casually. A year to a Discerni felt like a simple month in their lifespans. But that was a full year of silence for the humans of Etter, a full year of downturned eyes without life or hope.
“Does anything of the same consume any of the other cities?” Keane asks heatedly.
Troy shakes his head. “Not to my knowledge.”
“Your knowledge of your own court seems finicky, at best,” the King replies.
“You deny having no knowledge of the group that calls themselves the Argents, yet openly embrace two of its members. You hide the truth behind the treatment of humans here and claim time as an excuse. I’m genuinely surprised you’ve lasted so long as Leading Lord. Perhaps we should find another.”
“Keane,” Renate’s voice is cold as she turns to her son.
“I am not my father, mother,” Keane shakes his head behind me, “the ways of Woodlands will become a thing of the past. If Troy can’t get behind that then I need to replace him with someone who will.”
“Whoever you choose will be killed within the first fortnight,” Troy glares at Keane from across the table. “You know nothing of our court.”
“Then perhaps I’ll pronounce myself Leading Lord,” the King replies with a cool smile, “send you off to Warrior and see how you fare for a fortnight.”
“Boys,” Renate’s voice is sharp, cutting into the conversation. “That’s enough.”
The Queen’s sigh is heavy as she turns to Keane.
“We know that change is coming, Keane. Everyone in Disce knows. But how you approach that change will reflect on the leadership of your reign. Idly making threats to depose your brother as Leading Lord does not help your cause.”
“They are not threats.”
“Then you are a fool, for you do not know how much he has helped this Kingdom already.”
My eyes turn to Elena, analyzing the quiet sister that has remained silent. The Princess nods just briefly with her mother’s comment, features holding no emotion.
“Do you not think that your father and I were aware of what has been taking place?” Renate continues, eyes holding both Keane and Desmond’s.
“That I was not aware? We have been moving quietly to bring our own change as well. The two new Lords that were installed in Dankworth and Fensby are not in sentiment with the Woodlands way. And you know I tell the truth because you’ve already brought the Lord of Fensby to your cause.
We’ve also been helping with the relocation of humans to Bardot and the Palisades, and none of that could have been done without Troy’s assistance. ”
The Prince shifts quietly in his chair as his mother continues.
“You have not been to Woodlands in some time, my sons. You do not see the politics that consume this court. Any hint of a Discerni even looking at a human is punished. Any conversations or glances their way are dealt with silently, with the person quite literally disappearing into the shadows of the night. I envision what you experienced in Etter is only a small glimpse of what happens in La Cour and Airea. The custom of treating humans as second class still rules heavy in the east. It is the unspoken law. And Troy has been sent to the middle of that. He’s been living in the thick of it.
He knows the repercussions that can take him at any turn yet he still helps the humans there, whether to get them out or by other means. ”
“A noble heart, indeed,” Desmond replies, not buying any of it.
I’m not sure I do, either.
“Would you believe him if he told you?” Renate gives her son another cold look. “Would either of you?”
The answer, of course, is no. The tension between the three men is palpable.
Keane sighs and pushes himself off my chair, folding his arms across his chest.
“Tell me of the humans,” he speaks directly to Troy, “of their living arrangements in the capitol.”
Troy’s face remains stoic in their icy blue.
“Cheap labor. Cheap homes. They live on the outskirts of the city, far away from Discerni view. Not much has changed since you visited in our youth when it comes to living conditions. The truth you saw in Etter is the standard of living in La Cour and Airea, some areas even worse. The Discerni keep it that way with a firm hand. Lord Krause is at the center of it.”
“And if we march on both cities with the full army of Disce how will we be viewed?” Keane asks steadily.
Renate’s eyes go wide, staring at Keane in disbelief.
But Troy’s eyes… Troy’s eyes have a hint of understanding behind them, nodding to his brother quietly. “The Discerni will fortify themselves in their castles and use the humans as shields.”
Blessed Ancients.
Desmond turns to his brother with a hard look, the two of them communicating silently behind me.
“Both cities will only fall from within,” Troy continues, “and even then, they will not go down without a fight.”
I look at Troy over my ale, analyzing the Woodlands features that I’ve come to deplore so much. Has he been gathering information for this father this whole time? Was he strategically placed in Woodlands at his request, to assess the court and learn of its ways?
But didn’t Renate already know of its ways? As Esme told us. Wasn’t she also placed in Zander’s sights to soothe those worries, to let everything continue in Woodlands as is? What if Troy is doing the same?
“Tell me,” Keane turns back to his brother, “does our grandfather still reside at the capitol?”
“He does,” Troy looks at him curiously. “I just spoke to him before my travel…”
Desmond grimaces as I take a heavy sip of ale, watching Troy’s eyes go wide.
“Surely not,” his voice is laced in small disbelief as he looks between the King and the Master Informer, “surely you must have heard wrong. He lives a quiet life, far away from court in his home on the hill. He only frequents when I’m there.”
Renate goes still beside me.
“Gauthier was named as the head of the group that calls themselves the Argents,” Desmond states quietly, “by two separate people.”
I swear I see a small shiver run down the Queen’s back.
“The other members include the now passed Lady Esme, a man who is known as the Sleeper, and a fourth man by the name of Callous.”
“I’m aware of Callous,” Troy’s scowl is deep, “he is the silent muscle behind Lord Krause, the man who makes those disappear.”
“I’ll need everything you have on him,” the Master Informer requests of his brother. “Tonight.”
Troy nods quietly, eyes dropping to the glass of toddy in his hands.
“We’re also aware of the Sleeper,” Queen Renate whispers from her chair, “or at least I can suspect.”
The Woodlands Prince turns to her with a questioning look. “Joshua?”
“Has to be,” she nods with a sad smile.
Renate is slow to turn her cool blue eyes on mine, that sad smile still holding true. I shift in my seat as Keane’s hands find their way back to my shoulders.
Am I supposed to know this Joshua?
“I’m so sorry Alexis,” the Queen shakes her head, “my husband and I never sanctioned his use on you. I only became aware and suspicious of him after our time together in your Wait, when you spoke of not remembering anything from your youth in Etter…”
My eyes flick towards Troy, knowing that his own summoning had a lot to do with that.
“Not Troy,” she shakes her head again. “Joshua. He was in Castle Bardot on the same day you were brought in. He offered his services but we were quick to decline, hoping that Troy’s summoning and your own will to move past what happened would push through…”
“But after your years with me I came to suspect. Because no matter how well my son’s magic resided in you, he did not and still does not have the ability to completely erase memories.”
“But this man does,” Keane’s voice is so severe that I reach a hand to his, hoping to calm him.
Renate gives a sad nod. “We use him only when the trauma of those brought to us tarnishes everything about them. Mainly those from La Cour and Airea who have experienced suffering that I cannot even begin to explain. You were close, Alexis, believe me when I say that we gave it deep consideration to allow him to summon away your memories…”
Renate turns solemnly to her sons. “If anyone in Woodlands goes by the name of the Sleeper, it is him.”
“Where is he now?” Desmond asks as my mind begins racing in a thousand different directions.
My eyes are quick to dart to Elena, catching her gaze in memory of our past conversation, the one in which she assured me that Troy was not behind my lost memories.
I think of Jessie in the kitchens, of his own unremembered past and the nonchalant attitude he had towards it, nearly mimicking my own.
“Airea,” Troy replies with his eyes on me.
“He was used on Jessie,” I look back at the brother, “the boy in the kitchens at Castle Bardot.”
“Yes,” Troy nods quietly.
“Why?” I nearly cry out.
The Prince grimaces, seeing my anguish as his eyes go soft. “We have all called on him in the past, as my mother said, to aid those who truly did not look like they would be able to continue on their own. Jessie was one of those…”
Ancients, I don’t even want to think about what happened to the boy.
“But Joshua has his own reasons for traveling to Bardot periodically,” Troy continues, “sinister at times, as I’ve come to believe that he actually enjoys taking those memories.
He mostly travels to Knowledge to stop the spread of what is going on in our eastern cities.
Woodlands wants no word of the true nature of its court getting out. ”
My hand tightens around Keane’s, hating how well that secrecy has worked. It wasn’t even a month ago when I was completely oblivious to the true nature of this court, surprised when Keane even spoke of it.
“There’s something else,” Troy moves his glance off my hand to look at Desmond. “If he is indeed the person you seek then you need to know that Joshua has two sisters…”
He shifts in his chair. “One that rides with you daily.”
No.