Heir of Pendel (A Pandoran Novel, #4) (40 page)

"I've never heard anything about either of my great-grandparents," I said. "And it was only about a year ago when I found out I had a living grandfather, and now he's dead." That last word dropped harder than I'd meant for it to.

Myez looked back at me as if he could clearly see everything I hadn't said. "I understand your relationship with your grandfather wasn't a tender one."

I wrung my hands together and looked away. Lord Cethin's nightmares were too close to the surface. I didn't want to talk about them—not now, and definitely not with Myez Rader—Nevan—whoever he really was.

"I don't blame you, Daria," Myez continued softly. "The man you knew as your grandfather was a difficult one to love. I happened to know him before. Before life and responsibility left him battered and bruised, transforming him into the bitter and resentful tyrant you know—knew. And I knew his father, Cassian Regius. Knowing Cassian helps me understand why Darius became the man he became. Hardship and devastation changes a person. We can't always predict how, but many times the youthful spark that dreams and hopes and sees the best in all things is the first part that's sacrificed."

My eyes stung without warning, and I blinked to keep the tears at bay.

"Cassian was lord of Valdon," Myez continued, "politicking to become High Lord of Valdon. He ran a platform campaigning for unity, but many of us suspected the real reason he was so keen on unifying the territories was so he might set his son Darius on a new throne. And it was for that reason a young Darius arrived on my land, investigating the activity near the wall. If there was to be a hero, Lord Cassian Regius would make sure it was Darius. Anything to help gain notoriety and support for Valdon. Your grandfather came up north with his men, but a brutal blizzard hit, forcing them to set up camp where they were trapped for three days. A few of them fell severely ill, and young Darius left his company to find help." Well, that didn't sound like my grandfather at all. Myez noticed my surprise. "Darius was a good man back then—a compassionate man—and not long after he left his men, he and his horse stumbled over a large embankment of snow and right into a half-frozen stream, near where I lived.

"It was my daughter, Quinn, who found him, and then my son, Shay, and I set out to carry him back. The minute I laid eyes upon him, I suspected who he was. He was dressed far too well to be from our parts, and the style wasn't like anything I'd seen in Alioth. It didn't take me long to piece together why he was here. I was nervous about bringing him back to our home. If Cassian found out, I knew it would draw his attention because I…I had a talent with amalgamate magic. Do you know what that is?"

I remembered a brief conversation between Alex and the traitor priest, Ven Orelious, back at the Temple of the Draconi in the heart of Mosaque. "You had the ability to create spells made of both light and dark magic," I said quietly.

He nodded. "Yes, and I could infuse the magic into my metal—just like I did with Nightshade. The use and study of amalgamate spells is looked upon unfavorably since it deals with dark magic, but even so, most people don't possess the ability to wield both simultaneously. How I came to be an expert is, perhaps, a story for another time, but I knew that if Cassian realized what I could do, he would use me, and I didn't trust him. Still, I couldn't bring myself to leave Darius. He was suffering from hypothermia and I knew he would die if we didn't help him, and his horse was lame in both front legs. So, we took him back.

"My wife, Mara, nursed Darius back to health with Quinn's help, and I used amalgamate magic to forge horseshoes for the horse's lame legs. That was my first mistake. And when it was time for Darius to go, he was reluctant. Something had developed between my daughter and him. That worried me as well, but Darius left, nonetheless, and I thought there was no longer any need for concern. He would go back to his life and forget her. And that was my second mistake.

"He and Quinn wrote letters. She never told me, of course. I caught her in the act and I warned her to stop—Darius was intended for one of the Pontefracts—but she didn't listen. And then one day Cassian Regius arrived at my door. He'd seen my abilities through the horseshoes and asked me to forge a shortcut to Gesh."

"The one in Thieves?" I asked.

"The very one. Cassian believed the leader of Gesh was planning a siege against Valdon, and he wanted to sneak into Mosaque first."

"But you were a blacksmith. That seems like it'd be very different than…portal-smithing, or whatever you call it."

"Yes, but the magical properties and manipulations are similar. When I use amalgamate magic, I'm working with boundaries. Warping them, shaping them, getting them to congeal. I penetrate both the substantial and insubstantial. That's why Nightshade can penetrate the human and spirit worlds simultaneously. The same principle is applied to portals. Cassian wanted me to find a way to join two boundaries—in that case, two particular locations. Two substantials linked by the insubstantial. I told him I'd never done it before, nor had I heard of anyone who had, but I told him I would try."

"Why in the world would you agree to something like that?" I asked. "You had to know what kind of power that would give him."

Myez pinched his lips together.

"He found out about my grandfather and Quinn…didn't he?" I asked.

"Yes, and he threatened to dispose of her if I didn't agree to help him. Still," he continued, "my progress wasn't coming along fast enough, and to make certain I felt the pressure of his demand, he sent Lord Cethin."

"As in…that demon back there?" I asked.

"Yes. At the time, Lord Cethin was a mage just like your wizard friend, Arioch Prime, but Lord Cethin was presumed to dapple in dark magic, though no one knew for certain. He was Cassian Regius's closest advisor, and the pair of them made for a rather intimidating duo. Which was also another reason the people didn't want Cassian Regius, or his heir, on a throne. Even then, no one trusted Lord Cethin. When Lord Cethin came to my home, I was very afraid. He asked to see my progress, so I let him into my home—he wasn't the sort of man one refused—but the next morning I woke to find my family had disappeared. I knew it was Lord Cethin's doing—some spell of his—and when I asked him about it, he simply told me that if I wanted to see them again, I would carry out Cassian's wish immediately.

"For months I worked day and night, traveling back and forth through a hidden entrance in the wall to the Icelands for material I'd need—material I could only find there. I wasn't afraid of the creatures that dwelt up there. Not then. I feared only for my family, and miraculously, the creatures left me alone. While I was constructing the new shortcut, I forged Nightshade in secret. It was a kind of insurance for me in case I couldn't make the portal. Since I'd forged Nightshade with the powers of both light and dark magic, Nightshade would be able to kill Lord Cethin—or so I'd believed—and if Lord Cethin were to die, the spell on my family would break.

"I made the shortcut. I didn't eat or sleep, and I still don't remember exactly how I managed it, but within a few weeks, the shortcut was completed. But when I asked Lord Cethin where my family was, he told me they'd been in my possession all along, and then he opened his palm, and in it was an old signet ring, bearing the dragon—the seal of Valdon. 'I cannot give you your wife and son,' he had said, 'for your wife was the steel you used to forge your blade, and your son was the coal you used in your smelter. That is for your treachery. Only Quinn remains, as this ring. You will write to Darius, describing the fate of your daughter, and seal the wax with this ring, putting an end to this disgrace." Myez ground his teeth together, and I realized I'd been holding my breath.

"I was so angry. I'm still not sure how I did it, but I managed to grab Nightshade and stab him through the heart," he said. "But then he was gone—vanished, into thin air with Nightshade—and the only thing left of his existence was his crimson cloak."

I tilted my head. "The same cloak you wore in Thieves?"

A nod. "I wouldn't forget what he'd done, and wearing it was a constant reminder. And then I had the markings tattooed on my body soon after. You…noticed it earlier?"

"Yes…I wondered what it meant."

He touched his shoulder gently. "It is the names of my family, in the old language. I had it done so I would never forget what I'd lost. But I never found the ring, and Nightshade disappeared too. It was about ten years before I realized I wasn't aging. At first I thought it was the cloak, but then I tried not wearing it for a few years and nothing changed. The most I could figure was that when I used Nightshade against Lord Cethin, the magic backfired, somehow. It was then I moved underground and changed my name to Myez Rader, and I have never stopped searching for Quinn."

"That's what Eris offered you, isn't it," I said. "Quinn's ring."

Myez nodded slowly. "Apparently, Lord Cethin took the ring with him to the shadow world. I thought he'd taken Nightshade as well, but then…you'd had it on you."

I suddenly remembered how surprised he'd been when he'd seen the blade back in Thieves. "I found it," I said. "In a stream when I first arrived."

"I suppose Gaia wanted you to have it, though why, I have no idea."

"But how did Lord Cethin return from…wherever you said he was?"

"The shadow world. It is one afterlife, and it is also where Mortis has been trapped ever since Gaia pulled this world away from Earth. Mortis must've found a use for him and, with your uncle's help, brought him back. You noticed he's more demon than man now."

I had noticed that. Who wouldn't? But my uncle had the power to bring someone like that back from the dead. And I'd thought his kytharii were frightening. It seemed like he'd just been stretching his fingers with the walking dead. "The ring…where is it now?" I asked.

"With Eris. He wants me to use my amalgamate capabilities to fortify his strongholds and forge weaponry for his shadowguard. I told him I'd need supplies from the north, so he sent Lord Cethin and a few others as an escort."

"He sent Lord Cethin with you because he didn't trust you completely," I said.

His nod was sharp. "Eris never trusts anyone. It's why he's survived."

I took a moment to mull this over, feeling heavy as I realized how the odds kept stacking against me—against any chance we had at defeating my uncle. My uncle, who had resurrected the shadowguard. My uncle, who had raised the kytharii. My uncle, who had helped bring Lord Cethin back from the shadow world. And here I'd thought my uncle was a nightmare, but Lord Cethin… I never wanted to see that demon again for as long as I lived. All my thoughts converged at a single question, and I looked up at Myez. "You just forfeited your chance to save your daughter…in order to help
me
?"

Myez held my gaze, unfaltering. "Eris has no plans to give me that ring, Daria. He'll hold it over my head, manipulating me like a puppet for the rest of my life, and I would've done anything he'd asked, but then I met you…" He winced, but it wasn't because of his wound. "You are…so like her."

"Is that why you threw me and my friends in your dungeons?"

He shook his head. "You have to understand…it was your escape that made me see it—made me realize it, at some point during that…agonizing recovery." I knew he was referring to the burns on his face. "Quinn was just as resolute and resourceful as you are, and when I thought of you, sitting there in my office…I didn't see you anymore, but my daughter. I saw her sitting there across from me, looking straight at me and seeing all the things I'd done, and then I felt her shame and disappointment. I couldn't sleep, either, for fear of my nightmares, but it didn't seem to matter because those nightmares haunted me during the day. It grew unbearable, and I knew I had to do something. I had to make it right, and maybe…maybe it wasn't too late for me. Maybe I could still be the man I once was. Maybe there was a piece of the trustworthy and honorable Nevan Aldrik still buried inside this abominable usurper." He let out a slow exhale, and I kept quiet.

"When Eris came back soliciting my help," he continued, "I hoped…I hoped, perhaps, I could make a difference from the inside. I hoped I could play a part in this war—help turn the tides. I hoped this was my second chance. And then we stumbled across you." He looked over my face as if my features fascinated him. "She was your age, you know. When I lost her. And I knew then that Quinn was giving me the opportunity to redeem myself for decades of wrong, and I would do everything in my power to help you escape."

I stared at him for a long time. The grey salting his disheveled black hair, the weary crinkle at his eye and corner of his mouth. The ugly scar warping the left side of his face and neck. I don't know why, but I believed him. All of it. Maybe Alex was right. Maybe I was too quick to forgive. I rested my forearms atop bent knees. "I'm sorry…about the fire."

"Don't be. Spirits know I deserve a thousand times worse. But finally, with this scar, there is something honest about me."

I inclined my head to him, curious. "I thought you were a businessman who didn't believe in spirits."

"I thought so too."

25

DARIA

I
turned the brooch over in my hands and my stomach growled. Actually, to say it
growled
is a massive understatement. It sounded as if there were a small animal dying inside of it, and it was so loud I was surprised Myez hadn't woken.

After our talk, Myez had slumped onto the floor, not quite snoring, but not breathing silently, either, and he hadn't stirred since. I had the feeling it had been a very long time since he'd slept so soundly. A cleared conscience had that effect on a person.

Which was why I couldn't sleep—at all. Between the rain's constant pattering and Myez's deep breathing, my mind would not shut off. I kept thinking about all the things Myez Rader had said and all the things Lord Cethin had shown me, but most of all I kept thinking about Stefan. Stefan, my paranoid, legalistic brother who never did anything wrong. Stefan, who never had a hair out of place or a protocol out of mind. Stefan with his huge dimples and bright eyes. Stefan with his willingness to help me, to be a friend when the rest of this world had snubbed me. Stefan, who had loved me no matter what anyone had said, who had done everything he could for me, who hadn't used me as a pawn. Stefan, whom I'd verbally assaulted, but loved oh so fiercely, and now he was gone and the worst part of it was I didn't know if he knew how much I loved him. How much I
hurt
. It should have been me, not him. I was the one Eris wanted, not Stefan. I should have been the one in that room. I should have been the one Eris murdered. Maybe then Stefan would have been spared.