CHAPTER I #8
“Keane,” I exhale, shaking my head in small exasperation.
The Prince looks back at me steadily, considering my question and my curiosity.
“I will show you,” he says, “once the castle has cleared and we can find some privacy. In Gaumond I train with my brother, late in the night when everyone is out drinking and unaware. Though our recent travel and the events leading back to Bardot have disrupted that. In Fumagalli, we found time in the woods. In Pyre, when you were in the library, we found ourselves in the early morning at one of the training rooms in the mountain. Desmond stealthed us to the few soldiers who were there. Same here, in Bardot. Whenever we find the free time, we dip out. I suspect it’s just like how you and Cal train, except I use my summoning… ”
“And the fire?” I ask in small awe, “when did you request that from Barnes?”
“The morning we set out from Agnor,” Keane replies as my eyes widen.
Ancients.
Not nearly a month and he’s already summoning another element, an element that belongs almost purely to a different Kingdom. Not only that, but he still has his location summoning.
Lord Daniel’s words come racing back to me. He warned me of Keane on that balcony, knew that someone with power like his only came around once in a few centuries.
“I would like to see,” I nod with a determined smile. I want to be let in on this small portion of his life, want to experience everything about him.
Keane watches me with a quiet gaze, looking at me in that same way he did in Fumagalli after I watched him kill a man. He asked if I feared him after that moment, and I can tell from his glance now that he’s considering the same thought.
I narrow my eyes in response, not backing down.
“Nothing you can do or say will keep me away, Keane. I want to see this part of you.”
The Prince nods in acceptance, his lips slightly smirking. “After the coronation, then.”
“Thank you,” I smile, taking a sip of whiskey and looking out to the night beyond.
“Tell me of your conversation with Isham, Alexis. He extended his invitation again?”
“He did,” I sigh, “but there is more. I don’t believe he can access Rivian’s text in the same way he was able to see the first half of Hirovale’s prophecy. He admitted that he needed me. That he wants me to succeed…”
“Hiro suspects the same,” Keane grimaces.
“Yes,” I turn towards him with a frown. “But he’s still deeply interested in reading the words. He wants to help me find them out of his own desire…”
Keane’s grip on his glass tightens, but he doesn’t reply.
“I asked him about Rivian as well…” I tell him quietly. “I asked about the sacrifices. He admitted to that too.”
“Ancients. He openly admitted or he just didn’t deny?”
“Admitted,” I scowl. “Though he claims the children sacrifices have stopped the moment Rivian woke. I pressed him again, thinking that he was lying after Hiro told us they were still using their ritual summoning to awaken her creature…”
Keane looks at me in seriousness, urging me forward.
“He was taken by surprise. I don’t think he suspected me of knowing.”
“So their young are still being killed,” he says calmly, voice full of cool anger.
“I don’t think so,” I tell him honestly. “He claims those sacrifices now come from the willing, from human priests that offer their lives for the ritual.”
“And you believe him?”
“I do,” I reply in sadness, “as well as something else…”
I look down at the whiskey in my hand, unsure how to approach this with Keane. I don’t know what information his brother Desmond has already collected or what their suspicions are on the assassination that took their father’s life.
“Tell me, Alexis.”
I shift in my seat and look over the sharp plains of his face, catching his brown eyes on mine.
“I do not believe the Leviathan’s were behind your father’s assassination,” I say quietly.
Keane’s knuckles turn white around the glass. “Why?”
“Because of the fourth term…”
I let the words hang between us, watching as he considers them.
“The Leviathans advocated for it,” I continue. “Isham personally held your father to it. Why would they want to see the term ended?”
Keane runs his hand through his hair on a heavy breath, lost in his own thought.
“Isham admitted this?”
“He alluded. Told me that Livyatan had an interest in upholding the term. That he had an interest in seeing the term upheld.”
“He is good with his words, Alexis,” he scowls.
“He is. Though the reasoning makes sense. I cannot deny it.”
“No,” Keane exhales roughly, “nor can I.”
“Did you ever tell Desmond of the fourth term?”
“Immediately after the Willow,” he nods, his face reverting into the cool Discerni features.
“Then that leaves the three of us and the rest of the leaders of the Four Kingdoms who know about it. Pyre certainly didn’t have a hand in your father’s death, and if we rule out Livyatan then that only leaves Disce and Aireal…”
Keane’s full body stiffens.
“Who gains to benefit the most in having a human practice magic?”
“A Kingdom full of humans,” he replies with a rough edge, “a Kingdom that wants to see them all reborn.”