Chapter 7 #3
I’m sitting on the bed in the room I slept in, alone with my brother. He’s listening carefully as I explain to him how to access and open the hidden door where I put the box. Surprisingly, he hasn’t interrupted or dismissed me, and even more surprisingly, he’s taking me seriously.
I don’t recall the last time he heard anything I said, too busy practicing his freakishly powerful magic with his stepsister or licking our murderous stepfather’s boots. Too important to care for his magicless brother or even to bother about the memory of our father.
I survived, even if I don’t know how long anything will last, and can’t even try to guess what kind of future awaits me—if there’s any future.
But I don’t want my brother to face the Witch King unprepared, and I’m sure those notes must be important, if King Krisiul took so much care to preserve them and to make them accessible only to his successor.
“Is it clear?” I ask when I finish the explanation. “Remember that the door to that compartment is hidden, so you’ll have to softly push the wood paneling on the wall on the right of my bed, until it clicks.”
Marlak gives me a curt nod. “I can find it. How did you even find that box with our stepfather’s notes?”
“Deduction. I felt that there should be something in that locked compartment, and kept trying. And then the previous king’s journal mentioned the special notes.”
He raises an eyebrow, his tone curious. “Do you still have the journal?”
“It disappeared. To be fair, I didn’t hide it properly. I believe Zorwal found and seized it.”
Marlak pauses, his expression thoughtful. “So he would know about these notes and their location.”
“The notes, maybe. The location, no. Remember I hid them. Also, I never discussed any of this with him. Not that he’d tell me his findings.”
Marlak touches his earring as if trying to pull a thought. “But he would know that a powerful fire wielder could defeat the Witch King.”
“Not necessarily. Maybe Zorwal dismissed King Kriusiul’s findings as nonsense. Maybe, like me, he never thought the Witch King could return. And then…” A strange chill runs down my spine, wondering how much Zorwal conspired, and if he did. “You think he knew about it?”
Marlak’s eyes are distant, as if making a complex calculation. “Maybe. And that would explain why he did everything he could to see me dead, or at least far from the throne. If there’s any kind of connection between him and the Witch King…”
His eyes settle on me as I mull over the possibility, but then I consider something.
“He healed you when I asked, Marlak, when he could have easily let you die.”
“He healed me, earned your trust, earned a great deal of power, and guaranteed I was cast out, didn’t he?”
I pause, mulling over the harrowing thought that I was used as a pawn.
“He said it was a precaution. That you’d have me killed or imprisoned if you were to become king.
” I take a deep breath, even if it will never untangle the knots in my chest. “But maybe there was more to that. Some grander conspiracy, and I was caught in it. He’s… convincing.”
I was also alone, with no support, nobody to turn to. Zorwal was the only person who offered to help me. Poisoned help, maybe, but a man dying of thirst won’t check the water he’s given. But I don’t want to say any of that. Pity is the last thing I need.
Marlak rolls his eyes. “Sounds like you’ve spent some awful years pretending to be king.”
“They were not awful. And you survived.”
“I did, right? I suppose it makes up for everything.” He has that odd tone that inverts the meaning of his words.
“Would you rather be dead?” I snap.
He stares at me for a moment as if there was anything to consider in the question, then says, “I wish our family was alive. That’s what I wish.”
“And I wish I had magic. And that spring lasted all year. And that Tarlia was here with me. What does it change?”
He takes a long, ominous, deep breath. “Yeah, about Tarlia…”
“What?”
“She’s Astra’s sister, and I want to free her. I definitely do.”
“But not now.” My voice is mocking and full of bite. “I’m not deaf. I heard you the first time.”
He nods. “I know. And I know what desperation is like, but we’ll deal with the Witch King tomorrow, so—”
“Just say what you’re trying to say.” My anxious heart is about to kill me.
Marlak looks down. “It’s just… while we go to the castle. To make sure you don’t escape.”
“What?”
He lifts something that was on his lap. A chain. I’m not sure I follow it, until he reaches for my arm, then says, “It won’t be long.”
I recoil. “You’re going to chain your own brother?”
He glares at me. “You are asking me that?”
“Well, I am. I told you all I knew. What else do you want?”
“I fear you’ll do something stupid, that’s it.”
He’s insane. “Like what? You think I’m going to walk to the castle? I don’t even know where we are.”
Marlak sighs. “Look at the bright side. These are normal, copper shackles. Not dark metal cuffs that weigh you down and suck your magic.”
“I have no magic!”
“Well, I do. And having those cuffs was like being suffocated. You didn’t consider that, did you? And then, with my magic dulled, I almost died in the Shadow Lands. Did you consider that?”
I frown. “You weren’t supposed to escape at night.”
“Tell that to the giants.”
“That’s impossible, considering they ignore me. And I wasn’t going to keep you with those handcuffs forever. I was just afraid you’d escape, that’s all.”
“Right. I’m such a dangerous criminal that I need to be locked up in a remote prison.”
I don’t know if my brother’s dim or if he just pretends it to annoy me.
“It was remote so Zorwal wouldn’t find you.”
Marlak narrows his eyes. “How sweet of you.”
“What would you have me do? Bring you to the castle where people want you dead?”
“I know it sounds like an outrageous idea, but hear me out: don’t capture your own brother. Easy. Simple. No work.”
I sigh. “Again, I wasn’t going to leave you there forever. The way you speak, one would think you were tortured or something.”
“True. Just being shackled is no torture, right? It’s something totally normal. Stuff that brothers do to each other.”
“You’re still bitter.”
He raises an eyebrow. “You think?”
I extend a hand. “Fair. Just know that shackling your own brother to a bed is extremely inappropriate.”
Marlak huffs, then locks a shackle around my arm. I know I cuffed him, but this is unnecessary. Then again, I don’t want to whine forever. If this will make him feel better, so be it, I suppose.
A random thought then comes to my mind. “What did you do? To the dark metal cuffs? Are they still in the Desert Keep?”
He rolls his eyes again. “If those cuffs had been so important, you shouldn’t have let them go. Also, they have dark magic. Let me guess: Zorwal gave them to you.”
“No. They were in one of the royal coffers. One of the few objects that didn’t disappear when you left.”
Marlak frowns as if confused, then says, “I thought I had stolen the relics, Renel.”
He lets out a bitter chuckle, then shackles the chains to the bed. I feel uncomfortable with my hand pulled to the side, but don’t want to complain.
“It’s what people assumed,” I say. “We couldn’t let them know you were the legitimate king.”
“By we you mean you and Zorwal. He convinced you I’d imprison you or something, right?”
I shake my hand and rattle the chain attaching it to the bed. “Maybe he had a point?”
“Right. He gave you some amazing advice, Renel. Absolutely amazing.” He sighs. “I’ll go get those books, and let’s hope your beloved master doesn’t get in my way.”
“He’s not my beloved master. I… Wasn’t… We weren’t getting along recently.” For some reason, I can’t face Marlak, and I don’t want to confess all the torture, everything. “Kill him if you have the chance. Your fire should work.”
Marlak snaps a finger. “Right. It’s so easy for me to conjure fire. No trauma at all.”
“You fainted, Marlak. I know you were injured, so it’s not your fault. But you didn’t even deal with the aftermath. Those images still…” My throat closes. “Don’t you dare bring up trauma.”
He gets up. “I’m going.”
“Good luck.” I mean it.
Marlak gives me one last look then exits the room in silence, leaving me here, shackled to a bed like a criminal. I’m not sure what I’m going to do if I need to go to the bathroom. How humiliating.
The worst is that I wasn’t even going to do anything stupid, mostly because I don’t know what to do, and also because I trusted that Astra would want to rescue Tarlia.
But now… I’m not sure. I’m really not sure.