No! Siobhan screamed. I will not be contained!
Sophia felt Siobhan throw her power against the cage holding her. She felt the impact, but it didn’t give way. She poured power into it, and it held.
Then Emeline yanked, pulling the witch from Kate’s body. Sophia felt Siobhan trying to cling to her sister’s body, but the cage around her gave her nothing to cling onto. Emeline pulled her clear, and for a moment, Sophia could feel the witch’s spirit being held there.
For an instant, she felt a crack in that cage, and Siobhan’s spirit surged forward, toward Sophia. No, not toward her. Toward her child. Instinctively, Sophia threw up defenses, throwing Siobhan back.
You can’t deny me. I will not be killed!
Sophia held her ground, not letting the witch’s spirit through, holding it there as Emeline wrapped it in power again. She felt the moment when Emeline took that net of power and threw it, casting what was left of Siobhan away with no home to go to. Sophia could already feel the witch’s essence starting to dissolve as she tumbled away into nothingness.
Sophia opened her eyes in time to see her sister collapse, tumbling bonelessly to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Lucas was slumped, trying to stop bleeding from a dozen or more wounds. At least two guards lay dead, slaughtered in Siobhan’s attack. Cora knelt over Sophia, trying to support her as whatever drug Siobhan had used worked its way through her system. All the while, Sophia stared at her sister’s prone form.
They’d managed to destroy the witch, but what had it cost them?
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Sebastian sat in the dark, thinking of Sophia. At least, trying to think of Sophia, because she seemed like the one good thing in his life. In a place like this, clinging to thoughts of her seemed like the only way to avoid going mad. The truth, though, was that it was impossible not to think about Angelica, about Rupert, and about everything that might be happening out in the world while he was trapped beneath Rupert’s townhouse.
He still couldn’t believe that Angelica planned to marry his brother. It shouldn’t have surprised him; he knew how ambitious Angelica was, he’d just thought… what? That she would be happy about him abandoning her? That she wouldn’t seek the power that marriage to Rupert might offer? It was a foolish thought, and Sebastian pushed his attention back to Sophia. He would find a way to see her again.
He just couldn’t think how he would do it.
Despair started to creep in at the edges of his mind then, pressing in the way the dark seemed to. He could endure anything so long as there was the prospect of seeing Sophia again. If there wasn’t, then Sebastian wasn’t sure that he could go on. The thought of never seeing his child, of never getting to tell Sophia how much he loved her… those things seemed to make his cell smaller, the world around him shrink almost to nothing. Sebastian shut his eyes in the dark and just sat there, with no way to do anything better.
In the dark, he heard the sound of the barrels by his cell being shifted back, and he opened his eyes in the expectation of whatever fresh torment Rupert or Angelica had for him. Rupert had threatened torture, while what Angelica had threatened… that might be worse in its own way. Sebastian steeled himself to fight; to at least make things difficult for them.
There was no light, though, just the click of a key turning in a lock, the person doing it obscured by the dark, making almost no noise beyond that.
“Hello?” Sebastian said. “Who’s there?”
He expected Rupert to laugh then and reveal the joke, or worse, for guards to come in to grab him. Instead, the only reply was silence, and Sebastian sat there listening, hearing the pad of feet moving away from him.
“What is this?” he wondered aloud.
The obvious answer was that it was another trick, like the time they’d let him think he was escaping. Maybe they were testing if he had learned his lesson. Maybe this was a torment in itself, with the indecision that came from not knowing if there would be guards waiting just around the corner.
Maybe it would be worse than that. Maybe Rupert had found out that Angelica had visited him. Sebastian could only imagine what his brother would do then, given how quick he’d been to kill the maid who’d helped him. In spite of himself, Sebastian’s fists tightened. Even though Angelica had abandoned him there, he didn’t want his brother to hurt her.
“Focus,” he told himself. He had to make up his mind what to do here. Should he stay still in the dark, refusing to play whatever game this was? Or would that be throwing away his one chance to get out of there?
Sebastian saw a faint flicker of light ahead now. He had to choose. He thought of Sophia, and the prospect of seeing her again. Put like that, there was no choice. He had to do this, even though he suspected that it wasn’t real.
As quietly as he could, moving on the balls of his feet, Sebastian crept from his cell.
A candle had been set a little ways away, along with a rough-looking knife, a small pouch that clinked with coins when Sebastian lifted it, and a cloak that was rough wool, but would probably do a good job of disguising him. He took all of them, trying to work out what they meant. The knife was either a good sign or a very bad one. He didn’t think Rupert would give him a weapon like that, but if he had, it meant that he was trying to play a much deadlier game than before.
Sebastian edged forward through the cellars, expecting to find guards waiting for him at any moment.
He found the first of them in the cellar, seated on a rough chair. He started at the sight of the guard, freezing in place, sure that the man must see the candlelight. When the figure didn’t move, Sebastian frowned. He kept a grip on the dagger, though, every instinct telling him that this was just the precursor to some kind of attack.
It was only when he got close that he saw the man’s throat had been cut.
It had been expertly done, apparently without any signs of a fight. The man didn’t even have a look of surprise, as he might have if there had been even a moment to realize what was happening. It had just been one quick cut, before he could react. Sebastian looked down at the dagger in his hand, guessing now at the point of giving it to him. Any weapon was better than none, though, and it was far too late to do anything but keep going.
The next guard was at the top of the stairs leading from the cellar, just as dead as the first. His throat had been cut too, although there was something strange about the way he looked, with a purplish look to his features that suggested something more than a blade at play.
The door at the top of the stairs should have been locked, but it was just as open as the one below had been. Sebastian went out into the house. This had been the point before where guards had grabbed him, but there were none there.
He couldn’t work out what game someone was playing here. It felt like a trap, yet there had been a dozen points now where someone could have sprung it if their intention had been to kill him. More to the point, why would anyone bother? If Rupert wanted him dead, he didn’t need an excuse. Angelica could have sent down poisoned food. Anyone could have come with a pistol or a knife in the dark, and Sebastian couldn’t have stopped them.
This was something else, but what? Who knew he was there, and what did they have to gain from letting him go like this? The fact that Angelica had found out he was there said that the secret wasn’t a perfect one, and Sebastian had heard some of the people coming and going in the house. Perhaps one of them had decided to help him, or perhaps another of the servants had decided to tell someone, without risking going down to him.
Sebastian made his way through the kitchens. Those were empty. There weren’t even servants to be found there, and he paused long enough to grab apples, cheese, and bread from a work surface. He felt half-starved after his ordeal in the dark.
He paused for a moment or two, trying to work out his next move. He could go through the house, looking for Rupert, or for Angelica, but what would he do then? The dagger offered one answer to that, and briefly, Sebastian held it up, considering it.
He shook his head. “I can’t do it.”
He couldn’t go up there and confront his brother. He couldn’t risk that kind of fight, and not just because Sebastian wasn’t sure he would win. Even after everything Rupert had done, Sebastian couldn’t imagine killing him, even in the heat of a fight. He didn’t want to get out of his cell just to fight his brother. He wanted to be able to see Sophia again.
“Then I’ll find a way to see her,” Sebastian decided. Whatever this was, whatever reason someone had for letting him go, what he wanted from this hadn’t changed. He still wanted the same thing that he’d wanted when he ran out of his wedding: he wanted Sophia.
Sebastian moved through the house, looking for a way out. Still, there were no servants, and somehow he suspected that was no accident. Either they were as dead as the guards, or someone had found a way to draw them away from the kitchens. Sebastian hoped it was the latter. He suspected that it was, because whoever had done this had left the guards where they’d killed them. Those had been a message, and perhaps the fact that they hadn’t hurt the servants was a kind of message too.
He managed to find a side door. Just as with the other doors, it wasn’t locked. That brought a strange feeling with it. Someone had predicted what he would do, and what path he would take. Someone had guessed his every move so far.
A part of Sebastian wanted to turn and find another exit in response to that, but there wasn’t enough time. He didn’t know when more guards might show up, or if whoever had set all this up might have anticipated even that move. It was better to get out of there.
Sebastian slipped out of the house, surprised to find that it was getting dark. It had been impossible to know what time it was, down in the cellar where there was no day or night. He didn’t even really know how long he’d been in there.
He took a moment or two to just breathe the air of Ashton. Ordinarily, the stench of it would have been overwhelming, but after the cell, the night air felt clean and pure. Sebastian looked around, trying to get a sense of where he was.
He saw a figure in a doorway and his hand tightened on his knife, only relaxing when he saw it was just a slightly dirty-faced youth.
“You don’t need to worry about me,” Sebastian said. “Tell me, whereabouts in Ashton am I? Which way is it to the docks, to the palace?”
“The palace is that way,” the youth said, pointing. He turned. “The docks are over there.” Sebastian saw him frown. “Wait, aren’t you…”
Sebastian pulled on the cloak, slipping the cowl up over his head. “I’m no one who matters,” he said.
The youth shook his head. “You’re Prince Sebastian.”
Sebastian took a step back. “Trust me, you want to forget that I was here. There’s some kind of game being played here, and you really don’t want to get caught up in it.”
A part of Sebastian wished that he’d never been caught up in it. All he’d ever wanted had been a simple life. He hadn’t wanted to be caught between the pressures of what his family expected and the woman he loved. He hadn’t wanted to be named his mother’s heir. He certainly hadn’t asked to be at the heart of the game Rupert was playing by locking him up.
Sebastian moved away down the street, coming to a spot where the road forked. The youth had been right; he could see the palace in the distance now. It would be simple to head back that way and try to tell his mother exactly what Rupert had done, and what part Angelica had played in all of it.
If he did that, though, he would be stuck there, because his mother would be careful not to let him leave again.
“I’m not going back,” Sebastian said, shaking his head. He couldn’t go back. He couldn’t be what his mother, his family, wanted him to be. He could only try to be one thing: the kind of man who could actually be there for Sophia.
For that, he had to find a ship.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Sophia stood in the morning light, looking out over Ishjemme’s harbor from a spot on top of the castle walls. The warships filled the space she could see now, ready for the invasion. Beside her, Sienne curled close, obviously unwilling to move from her side after missing the fight with Siobhan. In a way, Sophia was glad the forest cat had missed it, because she didn’t want to think about what might have happened to Kate if Sienne had been there.
She turned at the sound of footsteps and saw her uncle approaching over the battlements. Lars Skyddar smiled as he approached, nodding out toward the waiting ships.
“We’ll need to go down to join them soon,” he said. “Unless you’ve changed your mind about staying behind?”
“You think that I should, don’t you?” Sophia said.
“There are those who would say you had every excuse,” her uncle said. “That your pregnancy will make war harder, that you’ve nearly been killed recently, that your sister lies unconscious, and no one could blame you for being by her side.”
“But you don’t feel that way?” Sophia asked.
Her uncle shrugged. “I can just guess how you feel in a moment like this. You feel responsible for all the men who are going to Ashton. You could no more stand back and wait for their return than I could. It’s part of what makes you a good leader.”
“How is Kate?” Sophia asked. “Is there any news?”
Her uncle shook his head. “She still lies asleep, but my best physikers tell me that is all it is. She has been through an ordeal.”
“She’ll be angry to miss the war,” Sophia said with a smile.
Her uncle nodded at that, looking out over the city to where the boats waited. “I think we have enough people for that, though,” he said. “Sophia, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
That sounded serious, but then, her uncle was a serious man.
“What is it, Uncle?” she asked.
“Do you know how long we Skyddars followed your family, Sophia?” he asked. “We were dukes under them even in the days before people started to push back the magic from the lands. We used to hold our dukedom from them, renewed with each generation, even though we came to think of it as our right.”
He took something out from the pocket of his greatcoat. It was a ring, set with the seal of Ishjemme. He held it out in his palm.
“I have spent the years since my wife died worrying about my children,” he said. “Hans is too warlike, Endi too ready to see plots everywhere. Ulf and Freya are too wild, Oli too bookish. Jan thinks he is some hero out of legend, and Rika is too sweet to rule.”
“I think my cousins are wonderful,” Sophia said.
“Don’t get me wrong,” her uncle said, “I love my children dearly. I simply worry about what will happen when I am gone. Will they tear the family and the dukedom apart fighting over who gets what? Will one of them rule when they are not ready? You have shown that you are ready, Sophia.”
“What are you saying?” Sophia asked.
“I am saying that you are like a daughter to me,” Lars said. “Christina and Alfred would be proud of you if they were here. Soon, you will have a kingdom of your own, but until then, you will speak with my voice, and should anything happen to me, you will hold my seal. It will be yours to do with as you wish; to give to one of my children, or to hold, as it was in the old days.”
“That’s…” Sophia tried to think of the words. “It’s too much. My cousins—”
“I know you won’t deprive them of what is theirs,” her uncle said. “You’ll do better. You’ll give them a whole country in which they can seek new fortunes. And, if one of them should become the right person to be duke or duchess here, that will be your choice.”
“You’re hoping that I’ll decide for you,” Sophia guessed.
Her uncle nodded. “Forgive a father for not wanting to choose between his children. And, in the meantime, it means that my dukedom will be in safe hands. Will you do it? We have already accepted you as our queen, but will you be my heir as well?”
Sophia could see how much it meant to him. It meant safety and certaint
y for Ishjemme. It gave her the same, because for all that they’d acknowledged her queen of the Dowager’s kingdom, there wouldn’t be any power with that until they succeeded in conquering it.
Sophia reached out and, very carefully, picked up the seal.
“I’ll try to be worthy of it,” she said.
Her uncle nodded. “I have no doubt that you will be. Now, I’m going to go down to join the ships. Don’t be long. You have a kingdom to retake.”
***
Sophia felt her brother’s arrival before she saw him coming up onto the battlements. To her surprise, Sienne ran to Lucas, then hurried back, wrapping around her legs again.
We’ll need to go soon, he sent across to her.
Soon, Sophia agreed, then switched to speaking aloud. “How are your wounds?”
“They’ll heal,” Lucas assured her. “Nothing seems to be slowing me down. What about you? Any aftereffects from the poison?”
Sophia shook her head. “My main worry is what all this might have done to my daughter.”
“She’ll be fine and strong, like her mother,” Lucas said.
“Like her aunt, maybe,” Sophia said.
Lucas stood in silence for a moment or two. “Is that why you’re delaying before going? Are you hoping that Kate is going to wake up and join us?”
It was perceptive, although Sophia suspected that their connection probably helped with that part of things. She leaned on the parapets.
“Yes,” she said. “I think I am. I know it’s stupid. I shouldn’t be wishing that my sister would wake up so that I can drag her off to war. It’s just… we’ve spent enough time apart. I want her there.”
“I can understand that,” Lucas said. “From the moment I learned of you and Kate, it was like there was a hole in me that I hadn’t known existed. I had to find you.”