The Golden Apple (18 page)

Kayla drew herself up. “I am surprised you don’t recognize me, sir, as you were introduced to me just a few days ago by my father. And while you fawned over my hand, no doubt you were thinking of your scheme to steal the golden apple.”

Jasper stepped back, mouth open.

There was a beat of silence. It seemed to go on and on.

“Who is she?” Nuen turned to Jasper, his lips tight with strain.

“Princess Kayla of Gaynor. It was her apple I sent Rane to win for me.” Jasper reached out to steady himself against the cave wall.

Beside her, Soren moved, tensed, at the mention of Rane.

Nuen frowned. “What are you doing here?”

Nothing occurred to Kayla but the truth. What else was there? She said nothing.

“How are you not injured? I saw that bolt hit you. And how did you get in here undetected?” Nuen paused between each word, like an old man too tired to speak.

“The bolt missed, and I simply kept very quiet.” She held her hands out, palms up.

“You have to be lying.” Nuen lifted his staff.

“Wait!” Jasper grabbed his arm. “I have to think about this. This isn’t some villager, Nuen, this is a political nightmare in the making.”

“It doesn’t need to be.” Kayla opened her arms wider. “Rane De’Villier is above, with the golden apple. Bring his brother up, out into the open, and you can both get what you want.”

Jasper’s eyes darted to Nuen, then back to her. “Where is De’Villier?”

Kayla’s lips twisted in contempt. “Where you won’t find him. If you want the apple, Jasper, take Soren up where Rane can see him. What do you have to lose?”

“Why are you involved in this?” Jasper’s eyes were narrow.

“You involved me in this.” Kayla crossed her arms over her chest. Let some of the anger inside her show. “You know what winning the apple made Rane.”

“What did it make him?” The question came from Soren, his gaze so focused on her, she blinked.

“It made him my betrothed.” She dropped her arms to her sides and turned to face him. “It made me his.”

It was Soren’s turn to blink. His eyes widened.

Kayla spun back to the entrance, unable to meet his gaze.

“Unchain him.” She held out her hand, as if she expected Jasper to place the key in it.

“No. She’s not telling the truth. She must have used some magic to heal herself and make herself invisible. I saw that bolt hit her.” Nuen took a step closer, and she watched a trickle of sweat slide down the unscarred side of his face. “And why would Rane let her come in here and rescue his brother. Surely he would have done it himself?”

“She’s a princess, Nuen, not a witch. I’ve known of her, heard every piece of gossip about her, since I first started trading with Gaynor. She isn’t magical.” Jasper frowned, tapped his right fist into the open palm of his left hand. “But you have a point. Why would Rane leave the rescue to you?”

She lifted her shoulders. “Rane hasn’t left anything to me. He’s above, doing what he needs to do to make sure we can get out. Coming down here and releasing Soren is not the most dangerous part of his plan. It’s the easiest. But when he sees me and his brother, he’ll hand over the apple. He always planned to, after he rid himself of Eric the Bold’s enchantment.”

“Eric’s involved in this?” Nuen glanced at Jasper, even more shaken than before.

Jasper shrugged. “He was there at the tournament, and Rane went off with him and then disappeared right after, with the apple in his possession. It’s possible she’s telling the truth.”

“I am. And even if I’m not, what do you have to lose, in your own stronghold, surrounded by your men? With only me and Rane against you?” Kayla let her voice drip with derision.

Jasper stared at her, taking her measure, scoring up a grudge she knew he would never forget. “She’s right. We have nothing to lose.” He gave a nod to his silent lieutenant, and the man walked forward.

Kayla stood aside as he set a key in the lock that held the chains suspended from rings in the wall.

Soren gave a cry as he dropped, hard, to the cave floor. He lay, gasping and curled into a ball, hugging himself.

Kayla knelt beside him, and he flinched at her touch. She knew he was healed, even though it seemed the apple could not add back the weight he had lost, so this must be surprise, confusion, and some very good acting.

“Shh. Let’s go.” She looked up at Jasper’s man. “Help me move him?”

Even though Soren was gaunt with hunger he was still a big man—so like Rane that an unexpected, embarrassing tear slid down her cheek to see him so damaged, even if his weakness was feigned. A few minutes ago, it hadn’t been.

Her tear splashed onto the dirty skin of his shoulder where his sleeve had been torn away from his shirt.

He turned his head, and she was ensnared by blue eyes, blazing with questions.

She slipped a hand under his arm, making sure she was on the side she’d placed the golden apple. Jasper’s lieutenant took his other arm.

As they lifted him to his feet, he took his own weight, hunched over like an old man, and again, Kayla had the sense he was stronger than he appeared. He leaned on her heavily, but there was a readiness to him, a tension in his frame, that made his weight easier to bear than if he’d been truly weak.

As her foot crossed the threshold from the cave to the passage, wild magic curled around her, like tendrils of fern, touching her with soft fronds, reaching out from the forest in silk-thin strands. It was invisible, or so fine, it could not be seen, but she shot a nervous look at her hands. There was the faintest purple sparkle at the tips, and she hid them in the folds of Soren’s ripped shirt sleeves.

She needed more control over the magic, but she didn’t know if Ylana would ever help her, now.

The way back up the spiraling tunnel seemed longer than the way down. She was gasping under Soren’s weight by the time they stepped through the burnt ground floor of the tower and out into the night.

Jasper’s man stepped away from Soren, hand going to his sword as if he expected Rane to leap out at them, and Soren pretended to stagger hard against her.

He shot her a look, and she gave a little shake of her head. She needed him to pretend weakness a little longer. She needed time to work out how to get them out.

She eased him to the ground, felt him tense. Ready to jump up.

She turned her gaze over the stockade fence to the forest beyond. She could feel wild magic, tight-woven balls of power, just within the trees. They’d been banished to the forest by the sorcerers who’d created them—caged there—but the spell-wall that hemmed them in was porous.

It was all around her. Although, perhaps not enough of it for what she would need to do.

She imagined tendrils of it drifting, fine as a spider’s thread, through whatever gaps they could, gathering in her hands.

Someone lunged at her from behind, grabbing her right wrist and spinning her round. She cried out, tried to jerk her arm back.

It was Nuen, and from the corner of her eye, she saw Soren draw his feet under him, ready to spring.

Nuen yanked her forward, pushing up her sleeve. She curled her sparking fingers into a tight fist.

He held a torch, and as he lowered it to look, the heat of the flames was almost unbearable.

“Well?” Jasper asked him. “Satisfied?”

“She’s no witch.” Nuen peered closer. “But there is something there. I’ve never seen that pattern before.”

Kayla jerked her arm out of his grasp, took a deep step back. She jammed her hands into her pockets.

The time had come to escape. And she didn’t care if she had to burn the whole stronghold to the ground to do it.

Chapter Twenty-five

“W
here is Rane?” Jasper made a movement with his hand, and Kayla heard the sound of crossbows being cocked. She looked over her shoulder, saw a line of men on the guard’s walk, bows pointed straight at her.

“It isn’t Rane you have to worry about.” As she spoke, she thought herself invisible, felt the surge of power within her, and dived across to Soren, her hand clamping his arm, making him invisible, too.

But as he faded, something struck them both, a flash of blue, and Kayla saw she was visible again, her spell stripped away.

Nuen gripped his staff, white-knuckled, his face contorted with effort.

“Stop her.” Jasper’s call to his crossbowmen was tinged with panic.

As the first arrows flew, Kayla turned, lifted her hands. Purple light flared. She felt a tug as wild magic poured through her, felt the exhilaration as the arrows fell useless, clattering on the cobbles.

There was a moment of silence. She turned back to Nuen, excitement, power, thrumming in her chest.

Nuen stared at her, mouth open.

She raised her hands, felt the wild magic flying from the forest to her, thin and sharp as wire, until she had a ball of it hovering over each hand.

She glanced at the archers and ripped their bows from their hands, flung them up and over the wall into the forest. Smashed them into the ground.

She was shaking with reaction, with the force of wild magic power.

“Kill her.” Jasper took a step closer to Nuen.

A look passed between them, and Kayla knew Nuen didn’t have the power. He was drained.

Soren rose up beside her, and she took a step towards the gate, her eyes never leaving the brothers.

“Let’s go.” Her hands sparked again, and the gates blew open, the heavy wooden bar holding them together exploding into splinters.

Soren faced the gate, then stopped, frozen, beside her.

“What is it?” She risked a glance over her shoulder, and saw Sooty streak through the open entrance, hackles raised, her eyes gleaming gold in the torch-light.

As Kayla turned back, Nuen lifted his staff, but before she could cry out, before she could do anything, he struck. Not at her, at Soren.

The flash of blue knocked him off his feet, throwing him through the air to land hard on his back. Kayla ran to him, and Sooty leapt past her, snarling, at Jasper and Nuen.

“Had my hand on the apple.” Soren was already struggling to his feet. “But—”

“No time.” Kayla gripped Soren’s arm, saw Sooty had cornered the brothers against the tower wall. She called to the cat, and Sooty turned immediately, ran in a loping stride towards her.

“Wait. The golden apple…” Soren lunged at something on the ground, but Nuen was already drawing back his arm, staff in hand, and as Sooty slammed against her side, she wished them, in a fireworks of purple, to the safety of the forest.

* * *

They landed hard and fast in the abandoned clearing. Soren was in mid-lunge, and he hit the ground, rolled and came up, snarling.

Sooty snarled back, took a step towards him.

Soren stopped short, his whole posture still with shock. “Where are we?” He looked around. “What is that?” He pointed to Sooty, and she spat at him.

“I sent us into the forest, and this is Sooty.” Kayla rubbed Sooty’s head, humming to her. Her hands shook and she was breathless, her hums coming in short, sharp bursts. She felt as if an ogre had shaken her, and she was still vibrating from it.

“How did Nuen miss that you’re a witch?”

Kayla tried to lift her shoulders in a shrug and winced at their stiffness. “I’m not a witch he’s ever seen before. I don’t use earth magic.”

“You use that?” Soren’s voice was hard, now, and she saw he was pointing between the trees. A sphere of wild magic moved into view.

She nodded. “I use that.” She knelt beside Sooty, and scratched under her chin.

“You have to send me back to Jasper.” Soren watched the wild magic, his stance shifting as it moved, always keeping it in front of him.

“Why do you want me to do that?” Kayla sat back on her heels, her mouth open.

“Because I dropped the golden apple when Nuen hit me with that blast of blue.” Soren curled his hands into fists at his sides. “I tried to tell you—”

“Nuen was about to strike, his arm was already back. If I hadn’t taken us away, he’d have hit you.”

“Well, send me back now. I’ll get it.” He spun with the wild magic as it circled the clearing.

“If Nuen has found the golden apple, neither of us can go back there. I only managed to get us out because he was weak. I think we can be sure that is no longer the case.” She rose, clenching her own fists. “It is very, very unfortunate that Jasper has the golden apple now. Very unfortunate.”

“You think I don’t know that?” At last, Soren turned his back on the wild magic and faced her. “I’ll go back anyway. Steal it.”

Kayla took a deep breath, gritted her teeth. “You’d undo everything I’ve just done, getting you out?”

He shrugged. “What choice do I have?”

Kayla crossed her hands under her breasts and beside her, Sooty flicked her tail in anger. “Jasper is not our biggest problem. That honor goes to Eric the Bold, and Rane has gone off to face him alone.”

Soren stilled at the mention of his brother’s name. “Why would Rane go off to confront Eric the Bold?”