2. Ryker
Ryker
“You know what I hate?” Calyx thumped his maimed leg toward the closest chair, slumping into it like a grumbly old man he was decades away from becoming.
Even with his wound from the wedding massacre slowing him down, he was broader than us all, despite the rumpled tunic he wore shielding most of his hard-trained muscles.
“People dropping by unannounced. Didn’t even have time to shave properly. ”
My fingers twitched as I struggled with the urge to rush to his side and help as he bent his knee with a groan. Calyx forgave weakness in others, but not himself.
“I asked them to come,” I said with the solemnity this moment required.
My skin crawled at the thought of revealing the secret I’d kept from my Brothers and Sisters since the wedding massacre, but the last two days had proven we were on the brink of chaos.
Acting swiftly was our only choice, whether I wanted it or not.
“It’s my house!” Calyx huffed, the protective amulet around his neck swaying as he readjusted his position with a wince.
“And you’re such a gracious host,” Elysia purred from beside his workbench, pushing his pots around between the cogs, nails, and every other scrap of metal he kept tucked between the ferns and flowers.
Calyx must have experimented on some of these plants, because those begonias had a bluish tint I’d never seen in nature.
Calyx narrowed his eyes. “What are you doing to my plants?”
“Just…rearranging them,” she said quickly.
Brightly.
Suspiciously.
“You brought your damn cat with you again, didn’t you?”
Her shoulders sagged. “This stuff is dangerous.”
“Not if you stay away from it,” he said.
“I can’t leave Lord Purrlock alone with my family and you know he likes to sniff and munch on green stuff.”
“Then just keep him away from my plants.”
“He wanders!”
“How about we discuss the Clan, not the cat,” Soryn said from his palaver portal, face serious in the silver smoke rising from the yellow pages of the beaten-up dictionary. He’d been the only member of our inner circle unable to come on such short notice, deep in his mission with the Clan Council.
From the strain in his shoulders and the tendons clenching in his neck, the mission was not going well.
“Honestly, this is the most lively discussion I’ve had in a while,” Calyx said.
Incredible how a few words could make the members of the Blood Brotherhood Elite, some of the most feared warriors in Malhaven, avert their gazes.
Calyx was right.
We’d all been too preoccupied with our own existences and issues to visit him more than once or twice after the threat of his death had passed.
This was only the third time I’d come to his crowded house, and it had been for my own benefit.
“I dropped by every few weeks,” Elysia protested meekly, busying herself with the plants again.
“And I came to give you that rune.” Soryn nodded at Calyx’s amulet. “Is it working?”
“Not dead yet, so I’m guessing yes.” Calyx scowled at his leg, the veins darkened by the poison still spidering up his shin. “Can’t really tell, I’ve been trapped here for months, going from the workshop to the bed and back again while you’ve all been risking your lives out there.”
“You will be shaking Malhaven to its core soon, Brother,” I said.
“Yeah, yeah.” He sighed. “For now, I’m just enjoying being the center of attention.”
“My apologies, we should have visited more often. We truly are a wretched bunch, aren’t we?” Zandyr said from the balcony. The Dragon had his back to us, overlooking Calyx’s garden, now peppered with the holes and scorch marks we’d left behind while testing his new inventions.
Calyx grimaced. “What crawled up your royal behind?”
“My wedding is coming up,” was all Zandyr needed to say to suck the air out of the room.
The rest of us exchanged wary glances. This wedding wouldn’t be as brutal as the one on Sanctua Sirena, but it would come close.
“It will be a disaster,” I said when the silence stretched too long, and everyone except Zandyr kept looking at me to break it. “An unavoidable one, however.”
Zandyr turned with all the might of the Dragon, steel gaze unwavering on me. “Thank you, that makes me feel so much better.”
“It’s the truth.” I could already imagine The Huntress’ fury when she would find out exactly what awaited her cousin at the end of the aisle.
But that was an ache I could not protect her from.
The oath had been made long before we’d ever met.
“You didn’t name me your Commander because I soothe your ego. ”
Soryn rolled his eyes. “Modest as always.”
“Then tell us why we’re here,” Zandyr said. “The war, I assume.”
“The spies haven’t reported anything new. The Serpent army has not retreated from our borders and their monstrous snakes are still decimating the closest rivers and plains, gulping down everything with a pulse,” I said.
Huge beasts had beastly appetites. I shuddered at the memory of those massive jaws opening, their enormous fangs dripping with foul, venomous drool.
“You really think they’ll release the Butcher to lead them?” Elysia asked with a shudder.
“He’s already out of prison,” Soryn said. “No other reason to pardon him for his crimes.”
“He ripped his own people’s throat.” Calyx shook his head in disgust. “With his teeth. He should have been hanged a long time ago.”
Yet Kleonos, known as the Butcher, a name he’d apparently gloated about even as they’d dragged him into the depths of earth to be sealed behind bars, was alive and eager for more violence. According to our spies, he’s commissioned a new set of sharper, metal teeth.
War was coming and Kleonos was getting ready for it.
“Given our luck, he will become the next Serpent general,” I said.
“You didn’t invite us here to talk about that monster.” Zandyr’s eyes tensed with worry. “What is going on?”
Usually, I welcomed the heavy, expectant stares of people. As a leader, they were inevitable, so I had learned to relish each one. It was an intoxicating feeling to know you’d proven people could count on you.
This time, however, I hesitated.
The Blood Brotherhood was already in danger, and I was about to complicate matters even more.
It took Calyx nudging my ankles with his cane for me to open my mouth. “One of my daggers killed Alaric.”
No point in softening such a huge blow.
“This dagger, to be specific.” Calyx retrieved the blasted weapon from one of his secret drawers, which refused to open to anyone else’s touch. It glinted purple in the hazy sunrays, Solkar’s magic still coursing through it, but its blood pommel was empty.
No new kills, no blood to soothe it.
“Why are we finding out about this just now? The Protectorate leader was killed months ago,” Soryn bit out. “We could have used this information.”
“How, exactly?” I asked, my voice just on edge as his.
Soryn remained obstinately silent, but his judgemental air wafted through the portal.
“I wanted to make sure it was truly my blade and not a copy aimed to implicate our Clan.”
“Or just you.” Zandyr’s gaze darkened. “Did you kill him?”
“No,” was all I said. My Brothers and Sisters relied on my word. “I know where each one of my weapons landed that day, and none of them was aimed anywhere near Alaric.”
“Does The Huntress know?” Elysia asked.
I rolled my shoulders back. “I’m still standing, so no.”
I didn’t know how to even begin to think about how to explain that her father had died by my weapon, but not by my hand.
Allie’s trust was fragile and I feared I would shatter it. A part of me, and a large one at that, worried she wouldn’t believe me. That in her mind, despite the whispers, moans, and promises, I was still the enemy.
Only malevolent gods such as ours could tie my fate to hers in such a cruel way. We were obligated to marry for peace, but our destinies had been tied through this bloody crime for eternity.
A stinging shiver raced up my spine, settling at the base of my skull.
I had not caused this death, but I still felt responsible. If I would have protected my weapons better, if I had paid closer attention during the massacre, if I’d arrived in the center of the maze quicker.
All decisions which had haunted me since the wedding.
Yet what made my chest constrict and kept me awake at night was Allie’s beautiful face crumbling when I’d tell her the truth. She’d already endured so much, I didn’t want to be the catalyst for another pain.
Another betrayal.
Another mystery to unravel.
And if Allie wouldn’t believe me, then all would be lost.
“Someone could have picked up one of your weapons in the chaos and killed him. To incriminate us, of course,” Zandyr said.
I shook my head. “I left that island with the same number of daggers in my baldric as when we first reached its shores. Twelve.”
The weight of suspicion clung in the air, weighing our shoulders and coating our sighs.
Calyx whistled in surprise. “That complicates matters.”
“Yes.” I clenched my jaw. “This was planned long before we ever set foot on Sanctua Sirena.”
A sour stillness settled in the room.
As soon as those first arrows had fallen at the Lost Daughter’s wedding, it had become obvious we’d been set up. This revelation was only another confirmation the danger was greater than we had imagined.
My fist clenched as I fought to unleash the next words.
“Every single Brother and Sister who accompanied us on that day is now a suspect.” The words tasted bitter.
What was the Blood Brotherhood without loyalty?
“Come on, now, Ryker,” Calyx said, sounding more serious. “We had our best warriors on that ship. They’ve bled for our Clan too many times to even be suspected for treason.”
“They have, but Ryker’s right.” Soryn’s words cut through the palaver smoke. “The blade didn’t cross Marea Luminara by itself. Someone brought it there to kill.”
“To kill the Protectorate leader, no less,” Elysia said.
“And place the blame on us,” I said.
“Or you,” Soryn said.
“Or me.” I rolled my shoulders back. “The Northern Clans are eager to get rid of me.”
To get their greedy, salt-flecked and blood-soaked hands on the magic in my crater.
Zandyr began pacing in that slow, threatening way of his. “Could they have conspired with one of your warriors?”
“My warriors would give their life for Solkar’s Reach,” I said without hesitation.
“Would they do the same for you?”
The question landed like a knife thrown straight at my chest.
Mere days ago, I would have said yes. But my leather armor was still covered in ash and blood from the battle in the passage, and Nadya and Geryll had to be nursed back to health back at home.
A fresh wave of rage coursed through me. My power hissed through my veins, demanding vengeance.
“Maybe one or more of them weren’t as happy with your change of allegiance to the Blood Brotherhood as they let on,” Zandyr went on.
The idea, as wretched as it was, had tormented me as I’d raced to Calyx’s home.
Insurgence didn’t have to be loud to prove effective.
Between making sure my city ran as smoothly as ever, the skirmishes with the Serpents and the inevitable war looming over us, fending off the Northern Clans’ demands, and Allie storming into my life, my attention had been stretched thin.
Could I have missed a rebellion brewing in the depths of my own Clan?
What had Beren said?
The problem started when that Huntress of yours arrived.
Lies, meant to weaken minds. His words had done nothing to change my resolve, but they could have swayed others.
The Northern Clans hungered to harness more of my land’s powers. They couldn’t physically encroach on my territory, but dishonesty had a way of traveling and sprouting everywhere.
Worst of all, Solkar’s Reach entrance had been compromised. Those masked attackers couldn’t have entered without someone from the inside revealing the secret passage.
Perhaps that is why the crater’s magic was suffering.
It sensed a rift in my people.
If dissemination had been sowed, it was my fault I’d let it happen.
“Where do you keep your daggers?” Soryn asked.
“In the fortress’ armory, along with all of our most prized weapons,” I said. “And, yes, my warriors know that.”
Thinking one of them had betrayed me clawed at my most basic instincts. Like I was breaching their trust and spitting on their sacrifices.
“Then they are the first suspects,” Zandyr said.
Despite all the evidence, my entire being rebelled at the thought. I stepped back, their cold gazes suddenly feeling heavy. “My warriors are good people.”
“Brother, even the best people can be misled by a skilled mind.” Soryn sighed. “That is unavoidable.”
I shook my head.
I saw how they all looked at me, with needless sympathy because I still forced myself to believe there was good in this world.
That I wanted to protect my own, even those who might not have deserved it.
I didn’t care.
“We will investigate everyone who was on Sanctua Sirena that day,” I said. “Someone could have infiltrated your city and stolen the blade before luring us there.”
Whoever had done it held devious skills. To hatch such a plan to destabilize two of the largest Clans in Malhaven and succeed could have only come from a legendary mind.
Or more than one.
“But Solkar’s Reach is impenetrable,” Elysia said, disbelieving.
“Not anymore,” I said, each word a thunder. “Solkar’s Reach has been compromised–and I fear it won’t be the last time.”