40. Kasten
Icrouched on the edge of the garden wall; the eves shaded me from the late afternoon sun.
The halfsoul had been eluding us since dawn. It had been the last one released in the night, and I was sure this was the one we would be able to successfully sedate. Its speed and stamina were unmatched.
Now that the streets were flooded with people—many so poorly dressed and malnourished they could pass for halfsouls themselves—things had gotten a lot harder.
Princess Annabelle had returned to the palace at dawn, and I had to admit I breathed easier without her here. The last thing I wanted was for her to get hurt while with me. No doubt the king or Lord Lyrason would be able to twist that into a death sentence for me. But, once I had a halfsoul sedated, she would be very useful to have on my side.
If we caught this one, we wouldn’t be able to wait for night to fall and a second to be released. Even sedated, they only survived so long. I would have to summon a member of the Maegistrium to the palace at the same time as I presented it to the king, then hope that Lord Lyrason didn’t have enough time to react. The plan was shaky; Lord Lyrason might get some warning, but it was still the most likely to work—especially with Annabelle as a witness.
Sir Tristan raised his hand to his detector, hidden by his hair, and made a twisting motion. “I’m sure it’s in that alley.”
I nodded, watching a young woman pass through the cluttered passageway without incident. Was it hiding from the sun? There were many shadows it could be lurking in. “Stay at this end, and block the alley’s entrance with those barrels to prevent another civilian from entering. Move them quietly, then get in position for a clear shot. I’ll reveal myself at the other end and draw it out. Shoot the sedative into its back when it runs at me.”
He nodded and withdrew his blowpipe. I clambered over the peaked roof and slid down the other side, landing on the slick cobblestones. The gutters were overflowing with a foul stench, and I was glad I wore my scarf over my lower face.
I checked the crossroads for approaching civilians, then started into the alley with heavy footfalls. I knocked over barrels and boxes and tore down the ragged awning, increasing the sunlight.
Still, it failed to appear, and as I knocked apart more of the clutter, my body became tense. I had to be close to its hiding place. It was going to be harder for Tristan to shoot if it wasn’t running at me but waiting to leap out from an ambush.
I held my sword ready as I pushed over a tower of rotting crates stained with fish blood.
Still nothing.
I turned around to make sure the way behind me was still clear. I didn’t want a civilian to come investigating the noise.
A weight pummeled into my back, and I staggered to keep my feet as spindly arms wrapped around my throat and nails dug into my skin. Reacting on pure instinct, I crouched and rolled my shoulders down, using the force of my assailant against it and sending it tumbling over my head. It fell on its back on the street before me, a halfsoul who had once been a tall, slender man. Its mouth was open in a silent, angry roar.
It started to scramble to its feet, but I grabbed a vial of sedative from my belt, used one hand to turn its head away and stabbed the needle into its shoulder. Sir Tristan skidded to a stop beside me and helped me restrain it, keeping our hands well beyond the reach of its mouth. Its movements weakened.
Finally, its head lulled to one side and small muscle tremors were the only movement. It still made a clear sound on the detector. Perfect. Sophie’s sedative was perfect.
I rolled my shoulders and removed the needle. “Let’s summon help to get this one to the palace without being spotted. We don’t want Lord Lyrason to work out what we’re up to for as long as possible.”
Tristan nodded and turned the dial on his detector. I could see the shadows under his eyes. He looked as tired as I felt, though I suspected it would still be many, many hours before we could stop to sleep. Not if we now went to the palace to finish Lord Lyrason once and for all.
A fast-paced alarm sounded on my detector, far more distant than Tristan’s. I frowned. I hadn’t been aware anyone else was still hunting halfsouls. The scouts had all been ordered to rest so they could work through the next night, and two men were at standby to aid us as needed.
The alarm continued in a consistent rhythm, far faster than our normal emergency signal. Whoever it was had to be frantically jabbing their detector.
Unease uncoiled in my stomach. I glanced at Tristan. “Stay here with the halfsoul. I’ll see what the alarm is for. Hopefully, the others will be here to help you move it soon.”
I set off at a run and followed the signal uphill away from the river and toward the nicer parts of Adenburg. My unease only grew as I turned toward Halfield Manor.
The signal sharpened as Meena appeared running at full pelt down the white paving slabs of the road toward me. What was she doing here? Why wasn’t she with Sophie in Kasomere?
“General,” she panted, not waiting to catch her breath. “Lady Sophie…is missing. I think Sir Halfield has taken her. I…I can’t find her.”
Fear cold and sharp froze my limbs for a moment. The stomp of boots grew louder as three Kasomere guards caught up with Meena and staggered to a halt, each bowing to me. My mind wasn’t working clearly.
Focus, Kasten. Everything had to be about Sophie now.
I picked a guard at random. “Follow the signal on the detector to Sir Tristan and tell him to kill the halfsoul and join us. Then wake all the soldiers at Highfair. Go, now!”
He bowed and ran off, and I took in Meena’s stricken expression. Anger toward Sophie’s father started to rise. If any harm had come to Sophie…
“Take me to where you lost her.”
Meena bowed her head and started up the hill, talking as she jogged. “It was in Halfield Manor. Her sister’s room. I was guarding the door when I heard a noise. I went in but only her sister was present. We combed the room and found a hidden passage behind the bookcase. It was a servant passage leading to the kitchens. We searched the whole house but couldn’t find her. We think she must have been transported to another location.”
I pulled in deep breaths. I’d found her before. I would find her again. “We need the tracking device. It’s set to her, but it’s all the way back in Kasomere.” I frowned. “But Princess Annabelle has one.” I stopped. “Meena, go to the house in Highfair and try to find a hair or nail from Sophie. Anything that was once part of her body.”
She ran off to the left without question. I continued to Halfield Manor with the two remaining guards.
If we couldn’t get Annabelle’s device set to Sophie, we’d have to collect the device from Kasomere. This could take hours. I should have kept it in my possession at all times.
I had failed to keep Sophie safe.
Sophie
I wokewith my wrists tied to a simple chair in half-darkness. I blinked, my eyes grainy and my mouth dry. I didn’t remember falling asleep. I didn’t remember anything except leaning over Irabel.
My brain was moving sluggishly in contrast to my racing heart as my body screamed at me to wake up. It was cold.
Slowly, I registered voices. I concentrated on them until I could understand the words.
“Well, if you’re sure about this, I’ll wait outside. Just be careful.” I squinted into the shadows in one corner and saw the glint of spectacles. Was that Lord Lyrason?
“I’m always careful.” Father’s voice. As I strained, I saw his shorter figure beside the lord, leaning both hands on his cane. “He won’t find us here.”
“Well, she’s your daughter, so do as you wish. I’ll see you later.” The tall shadowy figure disappeared through the doorway, and fear trickled into my stomach as I realized I was alone with Father.
I needed strength, but with my hands tied to the chair, I couldn’t press the flower on my locket to access the reserve there.
Father’s cane tapped on stone as he approached. “Ah, Sophie, you’re awake. Forgive the theatrics.” He walked to the wall and flicked a switch, turning up the kryalcomy lamps to their normal glow, which made me blink in discomfort. “We were just letting you sleep off the sedative.”
His cane continued to tap as I struggled to get my eyes to focus, and he knelt before me, untying my hands from the armrests. “These were just so you didn’t fall and hurt yourself.” He gave me a placating smile that only made my fear grow.
I licked my lips, trying to wet my mouth enough to speak. My tongue felt too big and clumsy. “What are you doing?” The words came out weak and raspy. This wasn’t the impression I’d wanted to give. But how had I ever thought I’d be able to stand up to Father? When had I ever won a single battle against him?
I didn’t dare reach for my necklace. I didn’t want to give the secret away when it was the only thing that might help me. I would be patient. I massaged my wrists where the rope had dug in.
Father pulled a chair away from the simple plastered wall and set it in front of me. Slowly and deliberately, he sat and folded his hands over his crossed knees. “I’m afraid you made me resort to this, Sophie. I don’t know what you’ve been thinking these last few months. Did you forget all I’ve done for you to get you this station in life? And when I need a favor from you in return, you shut me out.”
I pressed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. I remembered the fertility tonics and the lies and the manipulation, and waited for the growing anger to conquer my fear. He had taken enough from me. I wouldn’t let him take more. I didn’t want to become small again.
I opened my eyes and met his gaze squarely. “You will let me go right now. I wish to return to my house.”
His face twisted in disgust. “Is that how you speak to your father? The one who sacrificed everything so you could live a life out of the gutter. How could you be so ungrateful?”
I didn’t flinch but dug my fingernails into the wood of the armrests. “I outrank you in every way. I am no longer a child that is under your authority. Let me leave at once.”
Quicker than I had ever seen him move, Father leaned forward and slapped me across my face. His voice was low and measured. “How dare you speak to me like that? If you do so again, it will be my cane not my hand that strikes you.”
I blinked through the sting in my cheek and waited for my heartbeat to slow. “What do you think Kasten will do when he finds you’ve taken me prisoner? He’ll be furious.”
Father scoffed. “He has no idea where you are. And neither do you. I’m not so foolish as to have stayed in Halfield Manor. Why do you think I used a sedative?”
Panic threatened to overtake me then, and I focused on my breathing to stop my hands from shaking.
“Meena…”
“Is also ignorant, chasing her tail in circles. All your useless guards are. Now, are you finally ready to listen to me?”
I nodded. Kasten would come for me. He would know how to find me. Until then, I had to be strong.
And even if he never came, I would withstand this and defend what we had. Whatever Father wanted, I wouldn’t say anything that harmed Kasten or Kasomere.
“I am willing to overlook your subversive behavior just this once due to your ignorance. But I will not again. Let me explain the situation.”
I stared at him in silence.
Father sighed as if I were a small child behaving in a ridiculous and tiring manner. I felt my body respond, wanting to cower and please him to defend myself, but I didn’t move a muscle.
Father rested one hand atop the other on the knob of his cane. “When Kasten sent me the offer of marriage, I was overjoyed. Finally, a legitimate tie to court and a tie to royalty, even if it was illegitimate. I was thrilled that you had managed to attract a match that would benefit our station so much.”
I refused to let myself be fooled by the flattery.
“So, I agreed and settled on the dowry, but then I had an unofficial summons from the king himself. Naturally, I couldn’t believe the speed things were moving at.” He paused to clear his throat and leaned over his cane, his pale eyes gleaming. “When I met with the king, he made me an interesting offer. Turns out your precious husband has been causing quite a lot of problems in court. And when the king made me a deal, I had no choice but to agree to it. He wanted me to find out about General Kasten’s illegal kryalcomy and why he was able to survive so many impossible odds on the battlefield. He explained that if such kryalcomy was made common knowledge, thousands of our troops would be saved, and we would be able to repel Kollenstar once and for all. The general keeping such things hidden is nothing short of treason. So that is what I need from you, dear daughter. Tell me, do you know about this kryalcomy?”
I shook my head too quickly, panicked.
He saw straight through it. “Ah, so you do. You were always a pathetic liar. Playing these games doesn’t suit you, Sophie. Just tell me the truth.”
I ground my teeth, trying to stay focused under the onslaught of his gaze, the heaviness of his presence in the room. He was slowly suffocating me. Nausea was building, but whether it was from the sedative or fear of my situation, I couldn’t tell.
“Tell me, Sophie. Tell me everything about his kryalcomy.”
I shook my head again, not daring to speak.
Father moved forward an inch. I flinched. “We don’t have any choice in this. The king himself has asked for it. Not telling me also amounts to treason. You will be hanged.”
I shook my head again. I wouldn’t give in to him. I would not betray Kasten and all the people of Kasomere.
“So rebellious.” He sighed. “That wasn’t the whole deal. The king said if we get him this information, I’d become a landed duke. Besides, he’s planned for Kasten to not be with us much longer. He’s already lost. And so, it stands to reason that the lands of Kasomere would belong to our family through you.”
They will never be yours.
“He also said—now this is the important bit, so listen closely—that if we failed to uncover this kryalcomy, we would face reprimand. Frederick’s lands would be confiscated and a large fine would be levied. In short, we will be ruined. Don’t you see, Sophie? This information is our salvation or our doom. The king himself has demanded it. If we disobey him, our whole family, including your little sisters, will be out on the streets. Now do you understand why I’ve been trying so hard to contact you?”
I said nothing, the information circling my head, colliding with the sound of my thudding heart.
Father flicked his hand in the air. “At first, I tried to make things easy for you. You would be our ticket to Kasomere, but nothing would be required of you. Others could find the secrets. But then you allowed Miss Claris to be sent away, not once but twice. You rudely and naively sent George away the first time, even when your husband was absent. The second time, you stood by while his life was threatened.” He held up a finger. “I will not let that go unpunished, by the way.” He shook his head slowly. “And, worst of all, you allowed my men to be imprisoned and questioned by your husband when they found you on the street and tried to pass this information on to you. They had no choice but to end their lives rather than give away their loyalties.”
Those men who had followed me in the rain that night…they had been Father’s?
He looked down and shook his head before spreading his hands. “I tried, my dear daughter. I tried so hard to make this easy for you. All you had to do was sit there and look pretty, but instead, you have caused our entire family great distress.” He eased himself forward. “But it appears you have also managed to uncover some of the secrets yourself, so maybe you’re not as useless as I’d feared. Tell me so I can report them to the king. You have nothing to fear.”
I glared at him and shook my head.
Father stared at me in surprise. “You would refuse a direct command from the king?”
“I refuse to do anything that puts my husband’s life in danger.”
He scoffed. “Foolish, foolish girl. Why can’t you get this into your thick head. The man’s fate is already sealed. You have no future with him. Don’t be loyal to the losing side. Think how much favor you would gain through this. Your next marriage could be even greater.”
I shook my head again. “I will not betray Kasten.”
Father’s eyes narrowed and distaste twisted his lips. “Yet, you will betray your family? Do you think you would have been able to marry Kasten and gain wealth and status if not for the hundreds of sacrifices I’ve made for you and your siblings?”
I narrowed my eyes. “I will not betray Kasten.”
He leaned back, shaking his head, his lip raised in a snarl. “Then you will put your family out on the street. Do you think Claribel and Irabel will survive that? Irabel is already very sick.”
“You will find a way out if it, I’m sure.”
This time, I didn’t see the blow coming. One minute Father was still, the next stars flashed across my vision as his cane connected to the side of my head. Pain flooded my temple, and I tasted blood in my mouth.
I reached up and placed a hand to my chest, hoping it would look like a reaction to the shock. I pressed down on the necklace with my palm and felt the pendant give a brief pulse of heat. My dizziness and nausea lessened, though the pain remained. I didn’t dare press again. Not yet.
Father shook his head. “What happened to you? I brought you up better than this. You have become so entitled, so pathetic, so ungrateful. You don’t even care about your sisters anymore. Do you really feel so untouchable just because you married the general?”
He swung again, this time his cane connecting with my upper arm. I cried out and leapt to my feet before he could reach me again, putting the chair between us. The ground swayed beneath legs that were still too unsteady to truly hold me. I pressed my hand over my necklace again and felt my balance return.
Thank you, Kasten.
“I know what you did.” I spat out blood. “I know you poisoned me with those tonics to make me infertile. I know you killed Frederick.”
Father snorted, crossing his legs again. “Don’t pretend that you loved him. Did you really want to spend the rest of your life with that unpleasant man? I thought not. And it’s not like you had the strength to kill him yourself. I was doing you a favor. I didn’t imagine you wanted to bear his brats either. It was cleaner this way, and better for you as well as me.”
“And Kasten? Why wouldn’t you want me to bear a child with him?”
Father sighed. “As I said, the king informed me he was too much of an inconvenience to keep alive because of his blood. The same could have been said of his descendants. They would have had the same inconvenient claim to the throne. Would you want to have children only for them to be killed or banished? I thought not. I was sparing you the pain.”
I hated his logic. I hated how his arguments always sounded so reasonable as if I were the one in the wrong. I shook my head. “Don’t twist this. You wanted the lands, so you wanted me to have no heirs. You wanted me to be easy to marry off again and again without any baggage.”
Father leaned forward more animated. “And look where my plans are getting us. Look where they have got you. We are one tiny piece of information away from a dukedom. And your next husband could be the prince himself. Then you could bear children to your heart’s content—if you’re able to. And if not”—he shrugged—“we’ll still become one of the richest and most connected families in Fenland.” He settled back in his chair. “Just tell me about the kryalcomy, and I will sort out everything. You don’t even have to go back to Kasomere if you don’t want to, if you’re scared of the general. You’ll have the king’s protection and the king’s reward. Just tell me.”
I glared at him. “I will not tell you. My only loyalty is to Kasten. I renounce all ties and obligations to your family.”
Father tilted his head and looked me up and down with disapproving eyes. “I hoped it wouldn’t be this way. But you disappoint me. Everything I’m forced to do from now on is the result of your choice. Remember that.”
I tensed and gripped my skirts to stop my hands from shaking. If I could endure this, if I could keep Kasten’s kryalcomy a secret, not only would I be protecting my husband and our people, but the king would turn his frustration onto my father. He would be disgraced, his power and money gone. He would never be able to touch me again.
I finally had the power to defeat him. I just had to hold out.
Father stood slowly. “You will be kept in this room in darkness with no food or water until you tell me about the kryalcomy. Even if this takes days.” He strode toward me, quicker than my legs would move and grabbed my hair, yanking it back and downward so I knelt before him, my eyes watering at the smarting across my scalp. “You are such a disappointment to our family, Sophie.”
He punctuated the words with another blow to my face, the back of his hand this time, before throwing me to the cold flagstones. He took his cane and methodically shattered each lamp; the glass scattered across the floor as we were plunged into darkness, the only light coming from the thin rectangle of the half open door.
His voice came from the disembodied darkness. “You have an hour to think this through before I start going hard on you. If you relent, I might just forgive your initial resistance. If you continue to refuse, don’t think I won’t kill you and use your death to find out the information another way.”
His silhouette appeared in the small rectangle of light before the door slammed shut and even that light disappeared. I crouched on the floor, holding my face and my swelling lip. I could taste the blood in my mouth. I stood slowly, my legs still weak from the sedative, and immediately felt dizzy with nothing to focus on to orientate myself. Glass crunched beneath my feet as I staggered. The pain came in relentless waves.
I pressed on the necklace three times until my legs felt steady, but the pain didn’t relent and neither did the dizziness completely disappear.
As unbreakable as I was trying to be, tears welled up in my eyes and my throat was tight. My head pounded from the blows. And I didn’t feel strong at all.
But I wouldn’t give in. I would never betray Kasten or help the king who was trying to kill him.
I cleared a patch of the flagstone floor of glass, as best as I could in the utter darkness, and sat back down, bringing my knees to my face and rocking backward and forward. I didn’t let my mind stray to what Father might do next, I just thought of Kasten, his rare smile that was often only for me, his kindness, his bravery and ability to keep going despite overwhelming odds. The two times we had kissed, and the countless times we had touched. I borrowed his determination and hoped I would survive this so I could see him again.