Thorns (14 page)

“Lia,” a voice whispered at my elbow.

I jerked back from the porch and turned. Ann. “Thank goodness.”

She touched my hand. “You needed to see me?”

“I…I…” My thoughts were in a tangle. I struggled to remember what I’d come to ask her. All I could see were the Farther officer’s boots and the cruel spikes of the coach looking as though they’d slice anyone foolish enough to get close in half. “What’s going on? There are more soldiers, wagons—and that person in the black cloak…”

“He just arrived,” Ann said. “He’s a nobleman from Astralux; I remember him from my visits. He came here to issue his demands to my father and have us grovel at his boots.” She brushed at a curl hanging in her eyes, and I didn’t miss the way her fingers trembled. “And I suppose he got his wish with the groveling. My father is about to break from the pressure.” Her eyes darted to mine and then away, and her mouth tightened as she realized he would get no sympathy from me.

I looked at the ground. I was not particularly empathetic to her traitor of a father, but I was sorry she was suffering. “Do you know anything else? Who is he? What will he do?”

“He’s called Korr,” she said. “I don’t know what he’s planning—the man plans his moves like he’s playing an elaborate strategy game. There’ll be another Assembly tomorrow. He ordered my father to gather the village at the quota yard so he can address us. He’s probably going to tell us lies about how his people sent him to help us, or some other disgusting nonsense.”

Did Adam know about this? I needed to put out a signal for him tonight so I could pass on this information. “Do you think he’s here to replace Raine?”

“I don’t know. But they don’t seem to be friends. You could have frozen milk with the look they gave each other.”

I bit my lip, musing.

“Lia,” Ann said, and her voice shook. “What are you going to do? You have a look in your eyes—”

“What’s the Farther’s name again?” I interrupted. I wouldn’t let her worry about me. I couldn’t. I buried her questions in my brusqueness.

“He’s called Korr.”

“Korr,” I repeated. Even his name sounded sharp and dangerous. I shivered. I had a terrible, sinking feeling about all this.

“Don’t go poking around because you’re curious,” she warned. “Just leave it alone. I want you to be safe.”

“Safe?” I almost laughed, but the sound stuck in my throat and turned into a cough. “There is no safe. There never was, and there certainly isn’t now.”

She bit her lip and didn’t argue with me, because there was no arguing with it. It was the truth.

~

The lantern gleamed like a fallen star against the backdrop of trees, and I watched it from my bedroom window. Ivy slept, her breathing soft and rhythmic as the sound of a running stream in thaw. Through the frosted glass of the windowpane, the woods were just a swatch of blackness against a pale night sky.

I was waiting for Adam. I’d buried the note about Korr in the snow just as he’d told me to do, but I wanted to be awake in case he knocked on the door and wanted further details.

But he didn’t come, although I waited half the night with my eyes straining to see movement around the light.

I dozed at the window, and when I woke it was morning and all my muscles were stiff. For a brief moment, my mind grasped for the reason anxiety gnawed at my stomach like a rat, and then it came rushing back—Korr, on top of everything else going on. The special Assembly he’d ordered. The things they were building.

I went to the wardrobe and threw the doors open. I selected a fresh dress and bathed quickly from the basin by the bed, shivering in the cold as the water touched my skin.

I had to get into town. I had to know what was going on.

Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

I slipped to the barn to feed the animals, and before I went in I retrieved the lantern. My heart leaped into my throat when I realized the snow had been disturbed. I dug into the heap of white—my note was gone. I raised my hand from the ice. A stone wrapped in oil cloth sat in the center of my palm, and when I unwrapped it there was a scrap of paper. A note for me. I turned it over in my hand.

I heard about the new arrival. His reputation precedes him. Do whatever you can to find out what he wants.

-A

Another note. I turned a circle in the yard, looking for tracks, but saw nothing. How had Adam retrieved it without my seeing? I’d watched half the night.

His reputation precedes him. What did that mean? Had Adam heard of this man before?

There was no time to ponder it further. I pocketed the note and went to feed the animals. I had to get to the village soon.

~

I left the house in the late morning and took the path through the Frost. The gray chill of the woods enveloped me and made me shiver just like always, but as I scanned the tree line for Watchers, my mind was skipping ahead to the prospect of Korr. Dread lay thick across my shoulders like a cloak of lead, and it weighed my steps as I reached the place where the Cage began.

The village swarmed with Farther soldiers. I looked everywhere for Ann, but all I could see was the gray of Farther uniforms and the blue cloaks of woodsmen and farmers. Villagers milled restlessly in front of the Assembly Hall, and I joined them, still watching for any sign of Ann’s bright red cloak or Adam’s ragged blue one. A dull sense of panic gnawed at my stomach, although I couldn’t say why I felt so frightened. Korr was just another Farther. We had hundreds of them milling about now. What was the addition of one more to the mix?

The crunch of wheels against street sludge signaled the approach of the carriage, and everyone drew back as the black Aeralian coach I’d seen yesterday drew up before the Hall. The door snapped open, and those gleaming boots descended, followed by the man himself.

My throat closed up, smothering my gasp as I saw Korr’s face.

It was Gabe
.

MY THOUGHTS SHATTERED. I was momentarily incapable of movement.

Gabe?

No. It couldn’t be. It was impossible. I gulped in a breath as shock numbed my blood and chilled my skin. He’d gone through the gate. He’d left us forever, it couldn’t be—

The Farther stepped from the shadow of the coach into the sunlight, and I exhaled sharply as I realized the truth.

Not Gabe
.

But someone so like Gabe that I’d been fooled. His face, his eyes, his movements… he was almost identical to the Farther fugitive who I’d hidden in my barn months ago.

There were some differences, age being the most obvious. Korr, although still a young man, looked several years older than Gabe. His eyes and hair were darker, and his nose was perfectly straight, unlike Gabe’s crooked, broken one. Sophistication, control, and an air of cruelty clung to him like a second cloak.

Otherwise, however, they could be twins.

What did it mean? My mind refused to put the pieces together to understand it even as the truth lurked like a shadow at the very edges of my consciousness. Every thought in my mind had frozen. The information I’d absorbed had crystallized and splintered into something hard and painful.

Korr stepped forward, flanked by two Farther soldiers. His eyes swept the crowd as if he was searching for something, and his gaze lingered on each face as if he was memorizing our features. The villagers stood as motionless as trees while he moved through the crowd, inspecting us all. I wanted to shrink away into nothingness, but I didn’t dare move. Fleeing or turning away would attract the most attention. And even if I’d had the courage, or the reason, I didn’t think my feet would have unglued themselves from the ground. I was in too much shock.

When his gaze reached me, every muscle in my body grew tight, and the silence rang in my ears as loud as a scream. Korr’s gaze lingered on me for an impossible span of time—was it five seconds or five minutes? Sweat broke out across my palms and upper lip and dripped between my shoulder blades. My skin tingled as the perspiration met the freezing air. I was a prisoner of those eyes.

Finally, he broke eye contact and moved on. I sucked in air and tried not to tremble visibly. My legs felt like jelly, and my stomach was sick from clenching so hard.

A cruel apparition of my former love had just stared me in the eyes with an expression that promised terrible things. A violent shudder shook me, and I clamped my lips together to keep from making any noise. I hadn’t been prepared for this nightmare.

A hand brushed my wrist, and I slowly turned my head.

Adam.

His dark eyes cut into me, reading the turmoil on my face, and he moved closer as if trying to get a better look at Korr. But his long fingers slipped into mine and squeezed once, as if he was giving me the strength to keep standing. My stomach tightened, warmth spilled through me, and I found I could breathe again as we stood with our fingers touching through our gloves and our eyes watching Korr move toward the front of the Assembly Hall. And no one saw us—every eye in the crowd was fixed on Korr.

Wait. What was I doing, holding Adam’s hand?

I pulled my fingers away ever so gently. Adam’s expression didn’t change, but the space between his eyebrows wrinkled slightly. Was he angry? I looked, but he was watching Korr, and I could see the dawning realization that crossed his face as he made the connection that the nobleman could almost be Gabe’s twin.

Korr ascended the steps of the Assembly Hall. When he reached the top, he turned on his heel and gazed over the crowd, a smile playing over his mouth in a way that looked exactly like a crueler, more sadistic Gabe. His black cloak fluttered in a gust of wind, and his long dark hair blew into his eyes and around his mouth. He lifted one gloved hand and flicked the strands away, and shivers ran over my skin like a thousand tiny spiders. The move was so casual and yet so deliberate. It spoke volumes about the man.

A movement to the left caught my eye, and I spotted Officer Raine and his men shoving through the crowd at the far corner of the Assembly Hall. Raine’s mouth was set in a scowl, and his hand rested on the pistol at his waist as he strode forward, his shoulders jerked with every stride he took. I wondered if he’d even been informed about this gathering. Had Korr and the Mayor made arrangements behind his back?

The company of Farther soldiers following Raine reached the steps and halted. Raine crossed his arms and regarded Korr as if issuing a silent challenge.

Suddenly, danger hung over the scene like the too-bright feel of the air after a flash of lightning.

But Korr only smiled.

“People of the Frost,” he said, speaking loudly enough that his voice filled the square. “I can see by your faces that you are apprehensive about me. And I don’t blame you.” He spoke conversationally, as if we were all confidants chatting together over a meal.

The people around me shifted, and a few murmured dissent. I exchanged glances with Adam.

What game was the nobleman playing?

Korr raised one gloved hand as if to quiet the mutters. “Oh, I know the marks against me. I am an Aeralian. I am one of the oppressors. I am of noble, Farther blood.” He ticked off his points on one hand, still smiling. “But let me assure you—I am here to help.” He glanced at Raine and grinned wider, as if he knew a delicious secret nobody else did. “Our people have not exactly been endearing ourselves to you, have they? Take Officer Raine. I know the man well, and I’ll wager he’s not lauded around your fireplaces at night.”

A quiet storm of whispers filled the air. Raine appeared to be holding himself still by sheer willpower. The soldiers behind him exchanged glances. I frowned. There was some sort of history between them. I could sense it. Korr was baiting him…but why?

“You might secretly think in your hearts that he’s harsh. Well, he’s a soldier,” Korr drawled, shooting Officer Raine a smile that pretended to be indulgent. His eyes were razor-sharp and full of malice. “He’s not prone to coddling. Believe me, he has his own reputation back home. Have you ever heard how he acquired his limp?”

Officer Raine’s lips whitened with rage.

We were all in the palm of his hand now. No one moved or spoke. The mention of such a story promised incredible things. Enemy or not, Korr had intrigued us.

Korr tipped his head to one side, as if considering the value of recounting it. The moment stretched out, every second tingling with tension.

“Ah,” he said finally. “Some other time, although I assure you, the story is quite a heroic one.”

Raine’s face was turning a mottled purple.

“But enough about such unpleasant topics,” Korr said. “Let’s talk about me.” He paused, surveying us, smiling again. “I’ve been sent to act as consul on behalf of the Aeralian government. That means I’ve been sent to represent you, good people. I’m sure you’re well aware of our situation in Aeralis. Our nation is at war. We need all the friends we can find. And if soldiers can’t quite romance the people of the Frost and keep the monsters away at night, well…” He dimpled. “Our mighty Emperor decided to give a nobleman a try.”

Murmurs began to hiss around me again, louder this time, but I couldn’t catch anyone’s whispered words. My own mind was spinning. Nobleman. From Gabe’s family. Sent by the Emperor? It was just all too convenient. What was he
really
doing here?

“We’ll have to get to know one another better, I think,” Korr continued. “And as your consul, I will make myself available to anyone who wishes to speak with me. I want to know all your concerns, your observations, your needs. And I will be keeping a close eye on every one of you.”

It was not so much a promise as a threat. Was he here to spy?

“I think we’re going to get along well,” Korr finished. He shot a look at Officer Raine, whose hands had knotted into fists. “Did you want to say a few words, Officer?”

Raine didn’t take the bait. He swallowed his fury and declined stiffly, and then the Mayor shuffled up the steps and took Korr’s place as meekly as a child.

“Quota will be increased by half,” he announced, “to accommodate the workers building the consulate.”