Chapter 19
CHAPTER 19
N eve pulled her hood up as they traveled further through the city and people began trickling onto the streets. To the fugitive sorceress, the vivid sunshine felt like an accusation. How easy it would be for royal guards to spot and apprehend her.
And escaping the city was only the first step. Then, they had to find a way to overcome Meliohr, one of the most powerful people in all the kingdoms.
Neve stayed close to Eleksi on the street. “How can we possibly defeat the queen? As powerful as Polinth and Levissina were, they were individuals and the danger ended with their deaths. Meliohr is a royal of Morktland, which makes her part of a many-headed serpent.”
“There will be a way. Perhaps several. Nothing and no one is invincible.”
“That’s the cold truth. The Nikolaou family was completely torn apart, despite their power and popularity.”
“ You are their family, too,” he said gently.
Neve cast her gaze around the cramped, colorful, haphazard streets where she grew up.
“I doubt they’d see it that way, if they even knew I existed. I’m illegitimate. Perhaps Davron would hate me as much as Meliohr does. After all, if I’m a threat to the queen’s position, I’m a threat to his, too.”
“You’re making assumptions about people you haven’t met. He might surprise you. Besides, no one can be worse than the Garstangs. I’m sure Davron is not.”
“My mother thinks the Garstangs may’ve been behind King Branimir’s mental decline, as well as Malakai’s slaying.”
Eleksi whistled. “You’re saying the Garstangs baited Levissina into attacking the Nikolaous? Treacherous.”
He took her on a detour down an alleyway. The scent of baked goods drifted tantalizingly through the air. The alleyway backed onto a bakery, and trays laden with pastries and buns lay unattended on counters through open windows.
Clattering and banging came from the kitchen, further inside.
“Grab one,” said Eleksi, dropping a few coins on the counter. “Before the baker returns and has a chance to see your face.”
Neve selected an apricot and cream pastry, munching it as they walked quickly through the back streets.
The pair exited Klatos by scaling a damaged section of the city wall that was mostly concealed by a long line of fir trees. Eleksi went first, climbing the stone with the ease of a spider, then reached down to pull Neve up.
At the top of the wall, she paused to look at the city.
The golden turrets of the palace glimmered in the distance, and a potent sense of premonition seeped into her. The fir branches rattled with a sudden gust of wind and the trees whispered to the sorceress. They promised she would set foot in the palace again, and soon.
At the horse breeder’s farm, Neve and Eleksi were forced to wait while the farmer and his workmen tended to the horses in a morning routine. Eleksi sat as still as a statue among the thick foliage of the forest surrounding the farm, while Neve fidgeted.
Finally, when the sun was high in the sky, the men herded the horses into a paddock before going in the house. Eleksi darted into the paddock and led two black horses by their reins while Neve kept lookout. The other horses watched the assassin’s progress with polite interest, and the two horses seemed unperturbed by their change in ownership.
The journey to Eleksi’s home took several hours, made longer by the necessity of taking rugged backroads to avoid royal patrols and being sighted by travelers.
“I feel inordinately better,” said Neve as the horses ambled side by side on the rugged track, deep in the verdant forest. “Now that we’re out of the city and on our way to your secret hideout.”
Eleksi snorted. “The journey is long. You might be quite stiff and sore by the time we get there.”
“Do you have a bath in your secret hideout?”
“Aye. I have a bath at home. Do you think I’m some sort of animal?”
“Then, a bath is what I’ll look forward to.”
“And I’ll look forward to ale, and my own bed. We should arrive by dusk. So, a bit of a wait for that bath, I’m afraid.”
“I don’t mind. Being in the forest reminds me of Starlight Gardens. The energies flow with easier harmony here than in the city.”
Sunshine filtered through the trees, creating a latticework of light on the ground, and birds called to each other in melodic tones. Now and then, a startled deer would dash from the track, galloping into the depths of the forest as if being pursued. The orange and red autumn leaves crunched beneath the horses’ hooves, releasing an earthy, rich scent.
“I wonder if Leonid recalls seeing me yesterday,” mused Neve as she pushed her hood off to better enjoy her lush, fragrant surroundings. “Do you think he’s capable of knowing he has a daughter? He seemed so unwell.”
“It’s hard to say, given his state.”
“Indeed.” Guilt gnawed at her insides. “The spell I cast might’ve damaged his mind further.”
“The spell you cast is the reason we are both alive. You did the right thing.”
“What if Meliohr decides to simply murder him and be done with it, now that I’ve escaped? She could take the throne immediately, instead of bothering to track me and Prince Davron down. She’d be the reigning monarch of Zermes, free to remarry a man of her family’s choosing.”
“I believe there are enough people loyal to the Nikolaou family that she won’t take that drastic step as long as she can avoid it. The Garstangs are obviously patient and methodical in executing their plan.”
“But that could change, if she felt threatened enough. If she feels that she is losing.”
“Aye. And she will lose.” He smiled at Neve, his black hair shining as he ran his hand through it. “For now, enjoy the harmony of the forest.”
“How long have you lived in your secret hideout?”
He rolled his eyes, still smiling. “Eight years. Before that, I lived with my grandmother in Klatos.”
Neve hesitated, unsure if she should persist with the topic. “What happened to your mother?”
His smile fell, to be replaced by a brooding stare. “I never knew her. She died giving birth to me.” Eleksi flexed his fingers on the reins, his spider ring catching the light. “My father blamed me.”
Her chest hollowed. “Oh. That’s awful.”
“My grandmother ended up taking me in, after he broke one too many of my bones, and I’m ashamed to say that I was an incredible burden on her. I got into trouble a lot. Arrested a lot. All of her coin went to paying off prison guards on my behalf, to free me after my latest escapade. A few times I tried going back with my father. But he was worse every time. Eventually, I got into some real trouble. I was seventeen when I was arrested in Klatos and sent to the dungeons. At the trial, I pled guilty. I was sentenced to hang.”
Neve’s eyebrows flew into her hairline and her eyes widened. The Crown only sentenced people to hang for crimes like treason, or?—
“Murder,” said Eleksi. “I pled guilty to murder.”
Her heart rate increased. Of course, she knew he’d killed people. It was his job. But she never considered the possibility that he’d been a killer before he became an assassin.
He continued. “My life was over. Being executed felt like the inevitable conclusion to my existence. I remember thinking that my father would’ve been thrilled by the outcome of my trial. Perhaps I played right into his hands. I don’t know.” He cleared his throat. “Then a man came to visit me in my cell, days before my execution date. He wore black clothing and a silver spider ring on his thumb. He offered me training. If I survived the training, I would have a job. My crime would be pardoned and my identity erased. I said yes, of course. It was that, or die. But it felt right, too. Like the fog had cleared. I’d found what I was supposed to be doing. And I could finally repay my grandmother with gold.”
Neve listened in fascination. “The Spider Kings are agents of the Crown?”
“No. Gods, no. But the palace allows us to recruit from their violent offenders. I suppose they figure it’s better to be on good terms with the Spiders, and have an idea of our operations.”
She frowned, trying to make sense of his words. “Your father. Did he . . . frame you?”
Now it was Eleksi’s turn to look surprised.
“No, Neve. I killed him.”
“Ohh.”
He watched her carefully, his intense silver eyes seeming to look right into her soul. “I don’t regret what I did.”
She shook her head. “You don’t owe me an explanation.”
“You’re going to be a guest in my home. Alone, with me. I wanted you to have the facts before we arrive.”
“I appreciate that.”
“You can leave if you want to.”
“I know.” She paused. “I want to come with you.”
“I’m glad, little witch.”
Neve thought of her own childhood. She’d always assumed there was nothing worse than not having a father. She’d been wrong.
“Is . . . that why you feel so bad about assassinating the wrong man?” she asked.
A muscle in his jaw ticked. “Aye. I took the life of a good father. I deprived that boy of what I never had. It made me feel like?—”
The words died in his throat.
“Like what?” she prompted gently.
“Like I’m cursed. Like I’m Death itself. Like my father was right.”
A wave of bitter sadness crashed into Neve. She gasped at the shock, and his attention snapped to her.
“What is it?”
“Gods.” She put her hand over her heart, adjusting to the sudden influx of Eleksi’s emotional energy. “When I feel close to someone, I can feel what they feel, if their emotion is particularly strong.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t realize that. Can all mages do the same?”
“Most can, yes. I’m not especially sensitive.” She trembled, the ghost of his sadness lying over her like snow on the ground in winter. “Not usually, anyway. In truth, it seldom happens to me. At Starlight Gardens, sometimes I’d get a taste of my friends’ emotions. But I’d always pull back.”
“Why?”
“I suppose because it leaves me feeling too exposed. Naked, almost. Does that make sense?”
He smiled faintly. “It makes perfect sense to me. Isolation can feel safe.”
Eleksi’s home was hidden so well that Neve couldn’t discern any doors or windows, even when he said they’d arrived.
“Wait here under this oak tree,” he said, dismounting and tying the reins to a branch. “Don’t move until I come back for you. Otherwise, you and the horses will be impaled.”
Neve wholeheartedly believed him. She stayed very still awaiting his return, her hands tightly on her reins.
All the while, she wondered what it meant that she quite relished feeling connected and exposed to Eleksi.
She thought she knew. And the answer filled her hollowed chest with butterflies.