Traitors

  The tree with the lurid blue fruit still stood at the far end of the main walkway, though Gianne wasn’t attending to it today. Instead, she appeared to be fastening the tails of rodents around the slender, ivory-colored branches of another tree that bore only black blooms. She carried a knife with her and slit the creatures’ throats as she plucked the next victim out of a sack she had slung over her shoulder. Blood dripped down in bulbous drops, feeding the flowers on the branches below. As we neared, I saw that the center of each black-petalled flower was a deep crimson.

  I shuddered, finding the whole thing nauseating. In fact, she was so consumed by her creepy work that she hadn’t noticed us approach.

  Navan cleared his throat. “Your Majesty?”

  She looked up, startled. Then a wide smile spread across her face. She threw down her bag of rodents and hurried toward us.

  “Navan! And… Navan’s creature! How marvelous of you to join me!” she cried, clasping her hands together. She made it sound like he was Dr. Frankenstein and I was the monster, though we all knew who the real monster was here. Somehow, her friendliness was more troubling than hostility would have been.

  “Riley passed on your message, Your Majesty,” Navan said, emphasizing my name.

  “How delightful. I wasn’t sure if your creature would be intelligent enough to retain such an instruction, but I see it is more than capable,” she replied. “I must say, it’s good to see you looking so well, Navan. If you were not already betrothed to Sarasota, I would go after you myself!” A disturbing giggle bubbled out of her throat.

  “Seraphina, Your Majesty.”

  She chuckled. “I’m just glad there will be a handsome groom to go with a beautiful bride. It gives the people something to aspire to, you know? I love a wedding. I must confess, the thought of marriage has never really appealed to me, but if there was someone like you waiting at the Binding Font, I might be persuaded!” She brushed her hand across Navan’s bicep, and his expression morphed into one of panic. I would have laughed, had it not been so inappropriate. Judging from her blasé demeanor, it was almost like she didn’t know there was a war going on and didn’t care that her people were dying with every day that passed.

  Moreover, I was still terrified that all of this was an elaborate ruse. Navan had defected, and Gianne had transformed into a madwoman. What if all of this was just her way of getting Navan in front of her so she could exact her revenge? I’d already seen what she did to innocent people she suspected of treason, but Navan was actually guilty of the crime.

  Right now, I had a feeling that the only thing keeping him alive was his connection to Jareth. The two of them didn’t have the best father-son relationship in the universe, but Jareth wouldn’t allow his son to die, not while he still held some cards to his chest.

  “I must say, it’s good to have you back in the South,” Gianne said. “I hope that, once I have offered you my pardon, you will not disappoint me again! I trust you have learned your lesson?”

  Navan nodded. “Of course, Your Majesty. I should never have left in the first place. If I could do it all again, I would stay here, where I belong.”

  “And you are excited by the prospect of your wedding and getting back to business?” she asked, a strange look in her silver eyes.

  “I am, Your Majesty. I’m looking forward to seeing what progress has been made with the elixir and helping out wherever possible.” I had to hand it to Navan: he was an exceptional liar.

  She grinned weirdly. “But you won’t make the same mistakes as your father, will you? You wouldn’t dare hide secrets from me in my own alchemy lab, would you?” An obvious threat bristled through her words, sending a shiver of fear up my spine.

  “Of course not, Your Majesty. I value what you’re doing for me in letting me return, and I won’t make you regret that decision,” Navan assured her. “Although our jobs were once the same, my father and I are not as alike as people think.”

  “No, no, you are far more pleasant than he is. You wouldn’t be so deceitful, would you?” she pressed. “I arrested him for treason, you know, though I have to keep it a secret for now. He is wilier than even I anticipated, that father of yours. Did you know that? Did you know how sly he was?” Her tone was borderline manic.

  “What has he done, Your Majesty?” Navan asked, playing coy.

  A dark look passed across Gianne’s face. “Didn’t you see your house on fire?”

  “I did, Your Majesty, but I presumed it was caused by your soldiers,” he replied innocently, barely missing a beat. “I was already aware that you’d arrested my father for treason, as my pet told me, but I thought the blaze was your way of destroying any material assets he might have. I presumed you’d want to diminish his wealth, in case he tried to pay for his freedom.”

  “No, it was not me who set your home on fire,” she spat. “It was that father of yours. He’d rigged everything to blow. We found traces of the explosives in the debris, though they destroyed every shred of information we might have used. He must have triggered something on his way out of the house. He has already confessed to the act, but he won’t tell me how he did it. I should have known better than to let my soldiers walk him out. I should have gone with them, to make sure he couldn’t get up to anything before he was taken away.”

  Navan grimaced. “I know he had a few secret switches and buttons set up all over the place, Your Majesty, but I always presumed they were there in case of a house invasion, or a robbery.”

  “I knew it!” she roared, kicking the head off a plump black rose. “I knew my men should have checked the house more thoroughly! I’ll punish them, too, the way I’m going to punish Jareth for what he’s done.”

  “If I might ask, Your Majesty, what do you plan to do with Jareth?” I asked, finding my voice.

  She looked outraged that I’d dared to speak. “Ah, yes, you were there at the house, weren’t you?” she mused, her features softening. “You were the one who crept out from under the bed and exposed Jareth’s abominable lie, correct?”

  I nodded nervously. “That was me, Your Majesty.” I wondered just how addled her mind was, if she couldn’t remember seeing a human like me running around the place. I didn’t exactly blend in.

  “If it hadn’t been for your bold move, I would have killed that frail old woman in the bed, and I’d never have known the extent of Jareth’s dishonesty,” she said brightly. “He wasn’t going to tell me what he was up to, you know? If you hadn’t emerged when you did, he would have let me smother that poor wife of his. Well, we showed him, didn’t we, creature?”

  “I suppose we did, Your Majesty.” I chanced a look up at Navan, who was staring straight ahead, a look of sadness glittering in his eyes. I hadn’t told him the finer details of what had happened in that room. He already hated his father enough—I hadn’t seen the point in adding Lorela’s near-death experience at the hands of Gianne to his list of reasons to despise Jareth. I’d already told him the story of his mother’s attempted suicide.

  “Anyway, the sly old devil destroyed all of his secrets, didn’t he?” Gianne continued, her tone bitter. “How did you and those three dimwits get out, anyway?” Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

  “There was an explosion in the basement first, Your Majesty,” I explained. “As soon as we heard the first tremor, we got out of there. We managed to escape unscathed, though we had to watch it burn down.”

  She nodded sympathetically. “Yes, I suppose he would only have cared if that stern son of his got caught in the blast. He definitely wouldn’t have been fazed by the deaths of a mentally stunted strangeling, a former coldblood aberration, and… whatever you are,” she mused. “Although, it’s a tragedy, really, considering the amount of intel that man had at his disposal. Anyway, thanks to his deceitful little trick, I have to keep him around.”

  “So you’re going to keep his arrest a secret, Your Majesty?” Navan interjected.

  “I have to, sadly, though I’d love nothing more than to swipe the
head clean off his neck, in front of everyone, and stick it on a pike to adorn my palace walls.”

  “And you’re really going to pardon Navan, Your Majesty?” I chimed in.

  She smiled. “You really are obsessed with this pardon, aren’t you, little creature? Well, as I said before, I am a woman of my word. I said I would pardon him, and I will,” she declared. “And I offer you my blessing for your upcoming marriage, Navan.”

  “Thank you, Your Majesty,” he replied solemnly.

  “Indeed, your wedding will mark a one-day ceasefire, which my sister has already agreed to, vowing on the rules of war,” she continued. “I remember when my parents called a time-out during one of our childhood games of electroball. I was winning, so Brisha asked for a break. I knew there was nothing the matter with her, but she said she had an ache in her side, or something equally ludicrous. Naturally, my parents believed her, because they always believed every word she said, lapping it up like the saps that they were. Goody Two-shoes, bookworm Brisha could never do any wrong in their eyes, while ditzy little Gianne was always messing up and disappointing them.” Her eyes glazed over for a moment, carrying a faraway look. Navan and I shared a glance.

  “Anyway, I was forced to interrupt my momentum, and she knew I’d never get it back again. That’s why there are no breaks in electroball, but she just had to win,” Gianne muttered. “She did it on purpose, knowing it would give her the chance to regroup. Of course, after the break, she was the victor. She snuck in and took the ball when I wasn’t looking. I wasn’t even sure we were playing again! Well, now I’m stealing a page from her rulebook. If she thinks she can win this war by being the underhanded sneak, she has another thing coming. Let’s see how she likes a break in her momentum.”

  “Underhanded sneak, Your Majesty?” I asked, curious.

  A flicker of rage glittered in her eyes. “That sour-faced daughter of a frostfang fed my spies false information,” she explained, spittle flying in anger. “I don’t know how she fooled them, but she pretended her alchemists had cracked the code, conjuring up a viable batch of immortality elixir. She put crates of the stuff onboard a cargo ship heading out of Vysanthe, knowing I’d follow. I stole the goods and brought them back, only to watch my people suffer in agony as they drank the trick vials. But it will all come to an end soon enough… Oh, yes, it will come to an end when she least expects it!”

  I realized Lauren’s plan had come to fruition. Brisha had tricked her sister, and now Gianne wanted revenge. Part of me wanted to give them both a good shake, to force some sense into them, but I knew it would make no difference. They’d entered a cycle of vengeance, and there were only two ways of stopping it—if someone called a truce, or one of them died. I doubted either of them would settle for option one.

  “We’ve taken up enough of your time, Your Majesty. We should let you get back to your…” Navan paused, looking at the rodents dangling from the branches. “Whatever it was you were doing when we interrupted.”

  “What delightful things do you have planned?” she asked cheerfully, her former anger dissipating in the blink of a maniacal eye. “Are you off to visit your beautiful fiancée?”

  “Actually, Your Majesty, I was hoping to visit my mother.”

  I nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty, do you happen to know where Doctor Ulani took her?” I hoped that, wherever Lorela was, Mort was with her. If he could help with the Titans, then I could finally have something to look forward to.

  Gianne looked thoughtful for a moment. “I believe he took her to the Vitalis Facility on the edge of the city. You might find her there. If not, I can’t help you. That woman is of no concern to me. No offense, Navan.”

  “None taken, Your Majesty,” he replied through gritted teeth.

  With that, we said our farewells and backed out of the botanical garden. She watched us intently as we left, leaving me deeply unsettled. My discomfort didn’t ease up as we made our way back to the elevator and out of the palace entirely.

  My mind was racing as I contemplated all the horrible things Gianne might conjure up to win the war against her sister. I’d read about the terrible things that humans had done to one another during times of war, and I’d seen parts of it for myself, staring dumbfounded at airstrikes on the news, and the scattered bodies of the innocent dead. Our weapons were small and feeble in comparison to the Vysanthean arsenal. What kind of devastation would Gianne wreak across the surface of this planet, just to gain the upper hand? What lengths would she go to, to be the only queen left?

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “What’s on your mind?” Navan asked, as we stepped back out into the bitter afternoon.

  “Nothing,” I lied, smiling at him. “I’m just glad that’s over and done with.”

  “It’ll be you and me again in no time,” he promised, pulling me into an embrace. There was only so much we could do here without attracting unwanted attention, but I was only too happy to steal a kiss or two. Right now, I really needed it.

  We’d just gotten into a sky-cab when Navan’s comm device sounded. He picked up the call, and a hologram rippled through the air. Seraphina stared back at us, an anxious expression written across her face.

  “Is everything okay?” Navan asked.

  She nodded. “I thought I’d call you to tell you that I’ve spoken with my parents. They’ve booked the wedding for four days from now. It’s set to happen at sunset, at the Decorum Chapel.”

  “Okay,” was all Navan said.

  “Did you manage to see Queen Gianne?”

  I replied for him. “Yeah, we just went to see her. She’s given her blessing for the wedding, so no problems there. I’m sure she’ll be expecting an invite,” I joked, but it fell flat. After all, with her keeping an eye on the Idrax family, she probably would be attending.

  “Okay, well… I guess I’ll see you both in four days’ time,” Seraphina murmured, sounding a little hurt by Navan’s dismissal.

  “See you then,” I said politely, and Navan swiped his finger across the small screen, ending the call.

  He didn’t say a word as he cuddled me to him, kissing my hair softly, wrapping his arms around me and squeezing me tight. I didn’t have the heart to be mad at him for treating Seraphina so coldly. I knew none of this could be easy for him, and I wasn’t about to give him a hard time for behaving the way anyone would, in his situation. Instead, I snuggled into him, listening to the beat of his heart as we made our way to the hospital.

  * * *

  The Vitalis Facility was a quaint little hospital on the outskirts of Regium, built of dark red stone, with a concave, dark slate roof that reminded me of Japanese architecture. There were sculptured gardens around the building, with several ponds and a couple of benches for patients. It looked really nice for a hospital, and I could tell that Navan was pleased that his mother had ended up here.

  After stopping at the reception, we were shown to a large room on the top floor. Lorela was sitting in a huge bed and was propped up by a mountain of pillows, her face turned toward the open window, staring listlessly at the world beyond.

  “Mother?” Navan said, approaching.

  She turned. “My baby… you came back,” she whispered, holding out her skeletal arms.

  He closed the gap between them and sat on the edge of the bed, enfolding her in his arms as she gripped him with all the strength she had left. In his embrace, she looked even more frail, his broad shoulders dwarfing her. I held back, wanting to give them their moment.

  “Why did you come back?” she said suddenly, pushing him away.

  He frowned, releasing her gently. “What do you mean?”

  “Did you do it to taunt me?”

  “Mother, I—”

  “Where did I go wrong as a mother?” she asked, her voice getting stronger as tears glittered in her rheumy eyes. “What did I do to you, to make you betray our family the way you did—and drag Bashrik down with you? Was I that awful?”

  Navan stared at her, dumbfounded. I g
uessed he’d thought there would be fanfare and a warm welcome when he came home. In all honesty, I’d expected the same thing. Their exchange was making me feel suddenly awkward.

  He stood again, moving over to the window. “It was nothing like that, Mother. You know it wasn’t.”

  “Your actions drove me to try and end my life,” Lorela spat.

  He scowled at her. “You just did that for attention, Mother! You probably just wanted your husband to notice you, instead of disappearing off to his lab!”

  “I wish I’d destroyed you in the womb, you nasty son of a frostfang!”

  “Well, I guess that makes you the frostfang then, doesn’t it?”

  “I had such hopes for you, Navan. I know you’re not supposed to have favorites, but a mother always does. You were mine, until you broke my heart into pieces!” she screamed at him. “You never gave a damn about anyone but yourself. You were always running off, not caring that I was worried sick. You’re a spiteful wraith, and I curse the day I gave birth to you! If I had the chance again, I’d smother you in your sleep!”

  “Oh, yeah? Well, I wish Queen Gianne had finished the job with you!” he fired back.

  I stared at them in disbelief, horrified by the way they spoke to each other; I hadn’t known a mother and son could be so cruel to each other. It was a million miles away from the joy that had spread across Lorela’s face when she’d welcomed him back during my first visit to Vysanthe. She’d been so happy and proud then, but now… she was a completely different woman.

  Then again, everyone had been different back then. There had been parties at the palace instead of a war and surprise executions.

  “All you do is disappoint me, Navan. I look at what you could have been, and I feel hollow inside,” she growled, picking up a cup and hurling it at him.

  He caught it in midair. “You got what you wanted in the end, the way you always do! I’m marrying Seraphina, just like you commanded. You happy now? Can you rest easy, knowing you successfully managed to ruin everyone’s life?”