“Well then,” she said jauntily, “let us hope they have all gone off for the event, or we shall make most unwelcome visitors.”
Merrick in his rather travel-stained green cloak, shared his Center with Sorcha, and she was able to breathe a little easier; there were many people still in the palace, but not so many that it appeared to be an ambush.
Pushing open the gates, they staggered in. Whatever had happened here was very similar to what had happened in the town. It looked as though some kind of wild party had taken place: pictures hung askew, amphoras of water lay broken on the floor, and there was the distinct odor of sweat in the air. It was entirely different from the palace that Sorcha had been in only a few hours before.
“We must find the Prince.” Abbot Yohari wheezed. “We must make sure he is alive.”
All traces of the joviality that the Chiomese Abbot had exhibited on their first meeting were gone. As they worked their way closer to the throne room, the damage got worse; now it was more like a riot than student pranks. In one doorway they passed there were several bodies.
“Looks like some guards tried to make a stand,” Merrick whispered, though the corpses were far past caring. About ten guards blocked a corridor along with bodies of petitioners, servants and bureaucrats. Like all battlegrounds, it smelled rank, but the Sensitive stopped to look with his Center. “No shades or spectyrs.”
“By the Bones, that would be all we need.” Though Sorcha knew that by day’s end there would be plenty to clean up in Chioma, she had other more pressing issues.
After they skirted the pile of corpses, they made it to the throne room. Rather unsurprisingly, it was barred. “He’s inside.” Before she could stop him, Merrick strode forward and banged on the huge doors. The brass rang like a bell, and Sorcha flinched. If there were any enemies around, it might just sound like a dinner bell.
Her partner was well educated and talented—yet the one thing he lacked was real-world experience.
“They better let us in now,” Sorcha muttered to the Abbot, and he rimaced across at her.
“Indeed.”
All it took was a whispered conversation through the viewing port, and the mechanism on the other side of the door sprang into life. The lock snapped free, the cogs whirred, and the doors swung open. Sorcha had not noted the lock on the doors before—probably because it was used very rarely. Not many throne rooms had locks, since it was the object of the room to let people in.
Once again the Prince of Chioma had proved to be rather forward thinking. Either that or justifiably paranoid.
The three Deacons found themselves ushered into the throne room. If they needed proof that a battle had indeed been fought, then it was here in the heart of the Prince’s kingdom. The room was full of civilians nursing wounds: women of the harem with wide eyes, clerks tending one another’s injuries, and old women from the kitchen sitting shaking in the seats once occupied by the cream of Chiomese society. A couple of guards manned the door, and a handful of civil servants clustered around Onika at the far end of the room.
Nothing about this group said they were capable of holding off a riot, so Sorcha was a little confused. Even the huge brass door and its workings could not have resisted a decent attack. Yet here they were, the survivors of a wave of madness.
Abbot Yohari, who must have been conserving his energy for this moment, pulled loose of Merrick and Sorcha and tottered his way toward the Prince. The little huddle around Onika gave way before him, some even remembering to bow. The Prince spun about as Yohari stood swaying before him.
“Abbot?” His voice was calm but with the underlying edge of stress. “Where are your Deacons? We are counting on them to stem this tide of violence!”
Yohari sketched a bow and almost toppled. The Prince caught his wrist and guided him over to the steps of the dais as if he was leading his grandfather. “Your Highness”—the Abbot shook his head—“they are all gone. All gone—to
A ripple of gasps and sobs ran through the little crowd. Soon the survivors were whispering and clutching one another. Sorcha didn’t need Merrick’s aid to see despair taking hold.
Even the Prince took a step back and sank down next to the Abbot.
This could quickly get out of hand. Sorcha had dealt with plenty of groups beset with geists; those who lost hope and the will to fight never lasted long. It might not be the right time, but it was the only time. She pushed her hair back out of her face and flicked a look at Merrick.
Yohari was too injured and too defeated to lead anything. They had to take charge, so Sorcha cleared her throat and spoke. “Your Highness, I think the time for pretense is over.”
Onika’s shoulders pressed back, the only discernible sign that he had even heard the Deacon. After a long moment, in which Sorcha decided which rune she might need if those around them pulled out knives, the Prince’s head suddenly flicked around like a viper’s and stared at her.
“Everyone, leave me to talk with the Deacons.” The tone was deep, powerful and suggested imminent pain if it was disobeyed. The courtiers and the guards recognized that too—scattering to the rear of the chamber.
“Your Highness,” Yohari began, “I do not think that these Vermillion Deacons can quite understand the uniqueness of our position—”
“Enough!” Onika held up one hand and cut the Abbot off. “I charged you with watching your Deacons just as I charged all your predecessors. You failed me, Abbot Yohari.”
Sorcha’s brow furrowed. Just how old was the Prince? Along the Bond, Merrick was unsurprised. The feeling that her younger partner knew something she did not was rather frustrating.
“As for you,” Onika began, and Sorcha’s hands clenched on each other, “I expected you to find the killer in our midst—and instead one of my daughters is murdered. Explain yourself.”
His tone now was so flat and dreadful that even though he did not have the resources he once had, Sorcha was sure Onika could still find a way to make her dead. She would have defended herself, tried to find the best words to say, but Merrick stepped between them.
“You should take my word on this, Onika—Sorcha did not kill your child.” That was the way of Sensitives— they saw so clearly that they could dance around the truth so much more easily. Sorcha knew she might not have killed Jaskia, but she had contributed to the situation that had led to it. Deacons often did.
The word of a member of the Order, least of all one so young, should not have had any sway with this imperious and mysterious monarch, yet he let out a breath that suggested beyond the shimmering veil he might actually be crying. “Merrick—you don’t know what else has happened.” Even without seeing his face, Sorcha observed the set of his shoulders, the weariness in every muscle—it was as if a great weight was pressing down on him.
“Onika?” Merrick took a step forward and actually grasped the Prince’s elbow. Such a breach of protocol could have resulted in a challenge to a duel or at least a reprimand, but the monarch did not move. Sorcha grew more confused by the minute, especially when the next words came out of the Prince’s mouth.
“It is your mother.” There was no mistaking the tone; there was grief in his voice. “They have taken her.”
Her partner’s face went white, and a surge of fear suddenly rose above the other emotions muddled in the Bond. Sorcha could no longer stand still and let these strange events unroll around her.
“Mother?” Her eyes widened. “By the Bones—who is he talking about, Merrick?”
When he turned around, his eyes were wide but his jaw set. He looked younger than his twenty and five years—almost like a frightened child stepping toward anger. His voice was flat as he told her, “You’ve already met her—she’s pregnant with his child.”
She recalled the woman, beautiful and heavy with pregnancy and curiously devoted to the Prince. Suddenly the similarity between her and Merrick smacked his partner between the eyes. She almost laughed—there were plenty of good reasons she had never been considered as a Sensitive.
Sorcha hadn’t heard much from Merrick about his family—but then neither had she told him anything about hers. Most of the Deacons were trained from childhood, many orphaned or sent into the Order by impoverished parents. It was so common that it was taken as the rule. But Sorcha knew from what she had heard in the harem that the royal concubines and wives were no commoners. They were proud of it.
So, if the woman she had seen was Merrick’s mother, then that meant by consequence that he was no common orphan picked up off the street.
“We have no secrets from each other,” Onika stated, “and she was so happy to fiou.”
