novelraw Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Four
Jon opened the door revealing Pell on the other side. Nadia sighed and set the papers back on the table.
“Our prince is comfortable?” Pell asked.
“Yes. We prepared a room in the Gate Keeper’s palace and stocked the kitchens with food. Geeta is with him.” Nadia turned toward the hidden door. “Would you like to meet him?”
Pell shook his head. “I’ve got business to attend to. Just leave the door unlocked and I’ll slip in to meet him when I return.
Nadia shook her head. “No one gets in or out without me.”
He frowned. “After everything, you’re choosing now not to trust us?”
“You’re not A’mi—” she started.
Pell jumped to his feet, his face twisted into a sneer. “So it’s those of us who are human you don’t trust. I was a fool to think you weren’t as sectarian as the rest of the A’mi elitists.”
His acidic tone, heavy with disrespect, combined with the stress caused by her nephew’s unexpected manifestation of power, pushed Nadia past reason. She found herself sinking into that cold place in her mind. She smiled. Pell’s glare became wary as he stepped back and placed a hand on the sword at his waist.
“If you really believe that, then you know nothing. We are childhood friends, true, but that does not mean I’ll tolerate your disrespect. I am Capitán in the King’s royal fleet and sister to our queen. You will remember your place, do I make myself clear?” she asked in a deadly, soft voice.
Pell, who’d stiffened at her words, clenched his jaw and nodded.
Nadia stood and opened the door. “Dismissed.”
Pell spun on his heel, and moved stiffly past her. Jon, accompanied by Sarna, stepped aside as the fuming lieutenant growled for them to move.
“Grown men should be above such juvenile tantrums,” Sarna muttered as he passed.
Pell kicked a barrel out of his path, and stomped away. Nadia stepped out of her private cave, and pulled the door firmly closed behind her. She glanced at Sarna, who took one look at her face and stepped back, gaze wary.
“One of these days that fool is going to push you too far. I’m not sure if I want to be here, or far away, when that time arrives,” Sarna muttered.
Jon cautiously fell into step beside Nadia as she moved through the main cave toward the hidden entrance to her private apartment in the Emerald Mermaid. “Sarna has a report from one of our people in the palace.”
Nodding her head, Nadia slipped behind a group of flat-topped stalagmites near the cavern’s wall. She pulled a key from the hidden compartment in her wrist sheath, and inserted into the keyhole of the steel banded wooden plank door, which she’d had installed into the stone. Once open, the door revealed the back of the stone wall into her private sitting room. She waved Jon and Sarna through, then closed, and locked, the door behind them. When the stone wall once again looked solid, she crossed to sit before the fireplace as Jon got the fire going.
She closed her eyes, and tried to block out the sounds of movement around her. She always found it harder to leave that unfeeling place behind, and reemerge into her more emotional self. Slowly, like Geeta’s hot wax hand treatments, Nadia peeled back the coldness until one by one, her emotions returned. Guilt swamped her. She hated that she’d been forced to treat Pell so harshly, but he pushed all of her buttons.
She opened her eyes. Jon and Sarna both visibly relaxed. Nadia waved for Sarna to give her report.
“Prince Reis has vanished. A woman claiming to be a relation of the Earl of Zakros’ is believed to be involved.” Sarna glanced up at Nadia’s hair. “She is said to have reddish hair.”
Nadia lifted a hand to her braid, a sardonic smile twisting her lips. “An unfortunate time to let Geeta experiment, no doubt.” She pulled her hand from her hair. “The Dieuroi must be overjoyed that someone has taken the boy off his hands.”
“Prince Stefan blamed his father and called him a superstitious old fool before storming out of the dining hall, the bastard prince’s abandoned tunic in his hand.”
Nadia inwardly winced, sorry to cause Prince Stefan any heartache. You could tell Gregor everything and ease the prince’s worry. She rubbed her chest over her heart, reminding herself of all the reasons, good reasons, she wasn’t telling Gregor or Stefan what was actually going on. Flimsy excuses. You still don’t completely trust him not to disappoint you in some way. She scowled and ignored the outspoken voice of her conscience.
“It’s a testament of Prince Stefan’s character that he cares so much for the wellbeing of his bastard half-brother,” she murmured.
Shouting came from beyond the door that separated her private sitting room from her office. Jon and Sarna stepped between her and the door, swords in hand, as it was torn open. The king’s soldiers, weapons drawn, filled the room. The soldiers parted revealing a grim faced Gregor.
Nadia stood, and sauntered toward him, the amused smile on her face belying her pounding heart and churning gut. “An armed guard, Gregor? Really?”
He grabbed her shoulders, and shoved his face into hers. “Tell me you didn’t do this, Nadia. If you say you didn’t, I’ll figure out a way to convince Stefan of your innocence.”
She widened her eyes. “Did what?”
Gregor gave her a long look, and she knew he didn’t buy her contrived innocence. His gaze flicked to her hair and hardened.
He dropped his hands and stepped back, his jaw clenched. “Lady Nadia de Quinones, you are charged with the abduction of Prince Reis, bastard to his divine eminence, Dieuroi Mavros of Thuno. You will be taken into royal custody until such time as his royal highness has heard all evidence and is ready to declare your sentence.”
She lifted a brow and crossed her arms. “What proof could you possibly have on which to base such allegations?”
Gregor’s pale eyes met hers, lit with a blaze of fury, startling her into taking a step back. “The fact that you’d ask for proof rather than deny any involvement tells me everything.” He turned his back to her. “Check her carefully for weapons. She’s been well-trained in combat, and is much more dangerous than she looks.”
She kept her gaze locked on Gregor’s rigid back as guards surrounded her. With each weapon the guards took from her and piled on the floor, her dread grew. Finally, they loosened her braid and added her slimmest dagger to the pile. Without her weapons, she felt naked. Her arms were pulled roughly behind her back and iron manacles placed snuggly around each wrist. Still Gregor didn’t look back.
“We’re ready, m’lord.”
He turned his head slightly. “Take her to the Questioner’s dungeon. Prince Stefan wants the location of his brother tonight,” he said, his voice flat.
“And these two?” The guard gestured to Jon and Sarna.
“Let them go,” he muttered. “She is the only one charged.”
She glanced at Sarna. “You and Pell share leadership.” She gave Jon an imploring look. “If anything happens to me, take Geeta back to Diomere.”
Jon nodded, understanding that she spoke also of their prince.
As she gave orders, Gregor kept his back firmly to her. When she was finished, he ducked out the door, glancing back for only an instant. But it was enough. In his eyes she saw hurt mixed with anger. Somehow he’d discovered one or more of her secrets. As the guards dragged her away, she knew she would soon find out which.