Chapter 27
Carrik
So far, everything is going to plan. Like she said, Lindsey was easily able to walk into the palace two days ago with her friends and not raise any alarms that I’m aware of.
I arranged to cross paths with Tarrik in the barracks’ galley and let him know I managed to convince my brother to meet me.
My patience was severely tested waiting to get final confirmation of the meeting with Ryvik, but eventually, it came.
The only thing I have to do now is show up and wait for my brother.
I have to trust Janik and Horek are in place and that Ryvik will be alone when he arrives.
I’m uncomfortable with the number of unknown variables, but I can’t do anything about it at this point except pray to our gods.
After making sure I have several blasters hidden—one at the base of my spine and the other in a holster around my ankle beneath my trou—I make my way out of my room in the barracks.
The sun has set and the moon has risen, although the clouds that roll across the sky alternate between covering and exposing it.
I casually stroll through the streets toward the far side of the city that houses the gated entrance leading out toward the rain forest. However, before I reach the gate, I dart down a narrow passageway between two buildings and walk behind one of them.
Buried within a large grouping of bushes is a small section of crumbling wall that isn’t visible unless a person knows exactly where it is.
A quick glance around ensures I’m not being overtly watched as I duck into the bushes and through the open space.
I stay within the shadows, blending in as easily as I always have until I reach the boundary of the rain forest.
It has been nearly an entire moon cycle since I was last inside the camp the rebels had called home for over two anums. I don’t suspect Mohneek or Orvak to be hiding close by. Not when Janik has had guards combing the area to ensure no one has remained behind or lingers here.
Despite the frequent lack of moonlight, the path I’ve traversed so many times is easy to follow until, finally, I reach the deserted rebel camp.
The resemblance to the small bustling village where we all used to live is gone.
It’s a barren segment of land with vacant buildings that already appear run-down.
The camp is desolate and bleak in its appearance.
Like a carved-out husk that lies rotting and empty.
Somewhere nearby are Janik and Horek. I don’t try to ascertain where.
My only focus is on Ryvik and keeping my brother alive.
Ticks go by while I stand in the center of camp beside the raised dais where Janik would speak to us all as we gathered, waiting for instructions or updates.
It is the same place where he would divvy out the minuscule amounts of kanet powder the rebels paid far too much for, considering they were being shorted by Alik.
At least that is what the rebels were all being led to believe, when, in fact, it had been Mohneek and Orvak who had been keeping the excess as a way to control their followers.
Not only had Alik not been charging his people for the kanet powder that keeps us alive, but he was giving the rebels more than what Janik paid for.
Keeping the hatred burning for Alik had been how Mohneek and her consort manipulated not only Janik, but the rest of the rebels.
If only I had discovered this earlier. Perhaps I could have saved lives.
A branch cracks, and I whip my head in the direction the sound came from. Several ticks later, Ryvik steps out of the shadows. I glance behind him, but no one else appears. Or is it merely a ploy? Does he have allies waiting nearby, somewhere in the darkness?
“You’re early,” he says.
“Perhaps you are just late.”
Ryvik chuckles. “Perhaps.”
“Unless he was merely playing with me in order to shut me up, Carrik should be here soon.”
The other Bohnari moves closer. “You must truly hate your brother if you’re willing to not only trick him into coming here, but wanting to be present.”
“Any love I had for Carrik has decayed. He’s the one who chose whatever life he has been leading over me.
The brother he shared a womb with. The brother who was the other half of him.
Together, we were complete, but he fractured us.
He and my father. I want to look my brother in the eyes and watch him suffer the consequences of the decisions and choices he made.
” The words taste like bile in my throat, but I release them anyway.
I have to if I want to protect Bannik the way I always have.
“Loyalty is not felt in the House of Deqan, it would appear,” Ryvik notes.
“I am loyal to myself and to those deserving of my loyalty.”
The sound of slow clapping reaches us and grows louder as someone comes closer.
The clouds drift, exposing the moon to shine down on the figure that approaches.
It takes less than a tick to recognize Bannik.
He is dressed in a pair of black trou and a loose-fitting shirt with dark boots.
It has been over ten anums since I have seen him in anything but his guard’s uniform.
“Bravo,” he says as his clapping dies down. “Finally admitting that you hold no loyalty to the brother with whom you shared a womb. I have known this for twenty anums, but to hear you confess it out loud brings me a certain amount of satisfaction.”
Gods, there is so much bitterness in Bannik’s words. This is not him playing a role. While I am not certain I would change anything I’ve done, I wish I could take away my brother’s pain and anger.
“Do not speak to me of loyalty. You are the one who created the rift between us. All because you were born eight ticks before me. Because you chose to blindly follow the path our father set you on. Not once did you bother trusting me with your secret, knowing I would have taken it to the grave with me.” That fact causes me the most pain, because the truth is, Bannik would have kept our family’s secret.
He never would have betrayed me by telling anyone who I truly was.
“You were always weaker than me. Father saw it, and so did I. That is why I never told you about the role I—and our father—played for the king and then for Alik. It would have taken nothing to break you,” my brother sneers, taking his role as Carrik seriously.
As though he truly believes this is how I feel about him.
“Enough,” Ryvik bursts out. “I didn’t come here to listen to you two argue about your brotherly grievances against each other. That’s not why you’re here.”
Bannik steps forward with clenched fists. “Then why am I here?” He looks the other male up and down. “And who are you exactly?”
“Your brother didn’t tell you?”
“My brother,” he snarls, “doesn’t tell me anything.”
“Then why did you agree to come?” I have to trust Bannik to continue playing his part.
“Because I want to know where Mohneek and Orvak are hiding.”
Ryvik laughs. “What makes you think I have that information?”
Bannik takes another step closer. The smile on his face makes me uneasy. “Because Orvak is your father.”
Shock ripples through me, and Ryvik’s laughter cuts off. I glance between my brother and him. Ryvik’s mouth falls open and snaps closed like he’s struggling to find something to say. The self-satisfaction radiates off my brother. Finally, the other Bohnari stutters out a sentence.
“How do you know that? No one knows.”
“There is a record of every single birth on Bohna, including yours,” Bannik says smugly.
Ryvik shakes his head. “We erased the records. Scrubbed them clean.”
This time, it’s my brother who laughs. “You may have gotten rid of the electronic records, but there’s one record your father forgot about.”
“The Archives,” I breathe out.
Bannik jabs his finger in my direction. “The Archives,” he echoes.
“I have spent countless anums reading through the thousands of annals stored there, absorbing all the various and interesting facts about Bohna. About its history. Its people. While my brother was off traveling to other planets, gathering intelligence for the prince, and leaving me behind, I lost myself in the stacks. It was early this morning when I remembered something I’d once read.
I returned to the Archives and found exactly what I was looking for, which is that Orvak of the House of Xiten had a single heir by the name of Ryvik. ”
My eyes close, and I let out a heavy sigh. Only then does Bannik realize what he’s said. Guilt is evident in the way he hangs his head. Ryvik’s gaze bounces between us until he, too, comes to the truth my brother inadvertently revealed just now. He focuses on me.
“You’re the real Carrik,” he says finally. “You set me up.”
“It’s what I do. I am a spy after all.”
“Do you plan on killing me, then?” Ryvik asks without a hint of fear. “Since I know your father’s secret.”
“I have no desire for your blood to be on my hands. Besides, I think someone is lying to you. My father is not the perpetrator of the crime you’re saying he has committed.” I shake my head. “I don’t know who gave you that alleged correspondence between Ivik and me, but I did not write that.”
“I know for a fact you did,” Ryvik insists.
“That isn’t possible since I am telling you, I did not write that.”
“You’re lying. My father is the one who told me what yours did. He has proof.” His gaze bounces frantically between Bannik and me.
“Proof can be manufactured,” my brother says.
“This wasn’t.”
I heave a sigh. We’re getting nowhere. “Where are Mohneek and Orvak? If you help us, I can convince the queen and the prince to make your punishment less severe than it would be when they find out you’ve been hiding them.”
“I’m not saying anything, because unlike you, I understand the meaning of the word loyal.
” Ryvik withdraws a blaster and points it at me.
“You know nothing of what it means to be a brother. Look how you have treated Bannik. It’s no wonder he hates you.
My father wouldn’t lie to me, unlike yours.
He is the one who violated Mohneek. The one who drove her to madness and to plot taking over the throne.
Since he can’t pay for his crimes, you’ll have to pay for them instead. ”
A bright light flashes and searing pain hits me in the chest, knocking me off my feet and flat onto my back.
I stare up at the sky and the way the moonlight fades in and out.
A loud thud comes from a short distance away, but for some reason, I can’t lift my head to seek out its source.
A male is yelling, but I can’t make out his words.
The night sky is dark again. Not even a single star is visible.
Gods, my chest hurts. Why can’t I breathe? I close eyes that are growing heavy. More voices join the first, all of them yelling, but they’re muffled as though they’re underwater. Thankfully, the pain is easing. In fact, numbness is taking its place.
“Carrik, you need to open your eyes,” a familiar—but unplaceable—voice commands. “Carrik.”
A stinging pain flares in my cheek, and I do as the voice demanded. Hovering over me with a panicked expression is Bannik. I raise my arm and palm his jaw. “My brother.”
“You need to stay awake, Carrik. Help is coming.”
“I am sorry for all the pain I caused you. I know you can never forgive me, nor do I blame you. Please know that I have always loved you.” My arm drops to my side, and I can’t keep my eyes open any longer.
“Tell my heart’s fire I wish for her to move on and find love and happiness.
That is all I have ever wanted for her—to be happy. ”
“Gods’ blood, Carrik, you will not die. Do you understand me? I already lost twenty anums with you,” Bannik snaps. “I won’t lose any more. Fight, brother. If not for me, then for Lindsey.”
“Goodbye, brother. I’m sorry.”