Someone tried the door and, finding it locked, began kicking it. I looked for a way out. The window. We would have to make it work.
The door burst open too quickly. We’d barely gone a step. Jaymes ran in, immediately drawing his sword.
“Get away from her right now!”
I threw up my hands and stepped back.
“Where are you going?” he demanded of Charlotte.
She glanced at me, looking as if she was considering telling him she was in danger here.
Don’t do it,
I thought as fiercely as I could.
Jaymes blocked the doorway. “You may follow a different leader, but I serve King Quince, and he would’ve told me if he’d given you leave. You will wait here until I fetch him.”
“You’ve seen what I can do.” Even with three bags on her person, she stood tall and formidable. “You cannot stop me.”
“I can damn well try.” He tossed away his sword and crouched.
Charlotte roughly grabbed my chin, forcing me to look into her eyes. I became vaguely aware of Jaymes shouting for her not to touch me.
“Do not interfere, no matter what you see. No one will be killed.” She exuded power. Apprehension filled my entire body.
She let go of my face as Jaymes yelled for guards. Charlotte sprinted forward, pushing out her palm. Jaymes was no match, collapsing instantly with a terrifying scream of absolute agony. Two guards jumped in her way before she was out of the room. They fell and screamed just like Jaymes.
I stayed behind her but some distance back, watching as she ran from hallway to hallway until she made it to the great hall. Jaymes caught up before she got to the door and shouted for her to be stopped. A hundred people jumped from their seats. Those at the exit came inside to surround her.
Charlotte dropped her bags and slowly moved toward the door as her head spun to each direction. Two ran at her from one side. She grunted and aimed her hand. They fell. Two more charged from the other side. She saw them, reached out, and they fell. A woman from behind her was next to fall, all of them screaming in pain.
One drew his sword, then another. Soon half had weapons out. I was just about to shout for them not to kill her when I realized that the command coming from me, an untrustworthy outsider, would only exacerbate the situation. They’d assume we were colluding, giving them even more reason to attack her. Luckily Jaymes did it for me.
“Put your swords away!”
Charlotte rushed toward the door, reaching out and causing five in her way to collapse in agony. It looked like she was going to make it until someone jumped on her from behind. They all piled on. She disappeared beneath them.
“Get the king,” Jaymes told the guards nearby. As they ran off, he grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and pulled me with such force that it tore. Using his other hand to grab more of the fabric, he hurled me into a nearby room and shut the door behind us.
“What did you say to her!” he commanded.
No words came to mind but the truth, which I couldn’t tell him.
“I know you pulled her away from the great hall for something important. Soon after, she’s running out of the castle. I’m only going to ask one more time. What did you say to her!”
“I told her she was in danger here.”
“Why?”
“Because she is, sir.”
“Does this have to do with you leaving the castle today?”
What did he know about that? “Yes.”
“You’re going to tell me where you were and everything you did there.”
I said nothing.
“If you want to stay a part of this army and out of prison, you’ll do as I say.”
“Sir, I don’t think you want to know.”
He pushed his face into mine and screamed, “If I ask, then I want to know! King Quince has made you my responsibility, and two hells if I’m going to let you wander out of this castle without me knowing where you’re going or what you’re doing! Say you understand!”
“I understand, sir!” I screamed back. “I didn’t want to leave. I especially didn’t want to miss training, and I never will again.”
He kept his face uncomfortably close. “Tell me what you were doing. Shara said one thing, but I want to hear it from you.”
“Someone was going to be killed. I prevented it from happening.”
“Who?”
I quickly weighed my options. No, he couldn’t know. “I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you.”
I wouldn’t have guessed he could get louder, but he did. “Do you realize that it’s up to me whether you stay in this army!”
“I do now, but for the good of the kingdom I still cannot say.”
He looked as if he was about to hit me, his hot breath against my face.
Somehow, I knew not to lean away from him. “I’m sorry, sir,” I said. “There’s no reason for me to leave anymore, though. I’ll stay here and follow every order. I want to fight, sir. The whole reason I’m staying is so I
can
fight, which is what I had to do today—fight to save someone.”
This relaxed him enough for him to lean back. “I just hope you’re half as honorable as you pretend to be. I don’t have time anymore to train you today, so you’re going to spend the rest of the night practicing in the courtyard. You’ll stay out there until it’s too dark to see. After breakfast tomorrow, you’re going to show me that you can lift yourself. Do you understand?”
I was relieved, for I already knew how to lift myself. Maybe I could find a way to eat instead. Missing lunch and supper was too much for me.
“I understand.”
“Don’t speak to anyone about leaving the castle. King Quince doesn’t know, and he doesn’t need to know. If he asks about your training, tell him you’ve had two sessions with me and you’ve never had a better mentor.”
I smiled.
“Is something funny?”
My mouth straightened. “No, sir.”
“If King Quince confronts you about leaving the castle, tell him you made an egregious error. What town did you go to?”
“Norret.”
“You went to Norret to visit a woman you were concerned you’d never see again.”
He wasn’t far from the truth. “Yes, sir.”
“The king will speak with you tonight. He knows to look for you in the courtyard. If you’re not there then you’d better be dead.”
My stomach growled and Jaymes narrowed his eyes. He held his gaze on me for a moment and then said, “You have two minutes to eat.”
I ran to the door.
“Neeko!” he yelled. I stopped. “If you leave again without my permission, that’s it for you.”
“Yes, sir.”
I hustled to the great hall but lost my appetite when I saw Charlotte barely conscious, a gash along her forehead and blood dripping down her face. Thirty men and women surrounded her as two carried her out of the massive room.
I forced myself to eat, guilt making the food hard to swallow.
“What did I say?” Jaymes screamed, startling me into falling out of my chair. “What did I say?”
“Hoo minuth,” I tried to answer through a full mouth. I jumped up and grabbed the bread off my plate as Jaymes stormed over to me. He smacked the plate from the table.
“And it has been two minutes! Get out there right now!”
I tried to shove the bread into my mouth, for he looked like he was going to knock it out of my hands. It didn’t quite fit. He kicked my rear as I tried to put it in my pocket and I lost my grip. I risked bending down to pick it up, but he only kicked me in the ass again. I stumbled forward, barely getting my hands up so I didn’t fall on my face.
“I said right now!”
I reached for the bread, now behind me, hearing laughter but not caring. His boot struck the bread before my hand got there. It skittered along the ground in the same direction I needed to go. I ran after it as Jaymes continued to scream, picked it up, then sprinted all the way to the northern courtyard.
Catching my breath as I chewed, I felt the cold air against my chest and realized how extensively my shirt had been ripped.
After two hours of training, I couldn’t stand the hanging fabric of my shirt any longer. Sweaty and steaming under the light of the moon, I removed it. A yellow, unnatural light came from behind me. I turned and made out four silhouettes before I was forced to block the light with my hand. My heart jumped. Was it Gram?
“Come here, Neeko.”
It was the king. I should’ve been relieved, but I only felt more nervous.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I bowed, shamefully aware that I was shirtless and sweating before his majesty.
“I am glad to see you training so vehemently,” the king noted.
Jaymes stood just behind Quince’s shoulder. The army commander, older than the young king by a good seven years, looked hard into my eyes. What did he want me to say? Oh, yes.
“I’ve never had a greater mentor than Jaymes Jorgan.”
“And how many mentors have you had helping you train with an illegal form of energy?”
“None,” I answered with haste.
“So that is not much of a compliment, is it?”
“I meant…compared to…” I was floundering like a fish on land. “I just meant I couldn’t ask for a better teacher.” Jaymes looked as if he would punish me for that later.
“Very well. You have licked his boots enough. I need an honest answer about Charlotte.”
My throat threatened to close. “Yes, sire.”
“Did you instruct her to leave?”
What had Charlotte already told him? If I lied and he already knew the truth, I could be imprisoned. But if I told the truth, he would need to know why Terren wanted her to leave. That was a path that would lead to all sorts of trouble. I decided on something between the truth and a lie.
“I did instruct her to leave because Terren told me to.”
“Terren Polken, from Ovira?”
“Yes.”
“He told you,
you
, to tell Charlotte to leave.” Quince was incredulous. “Why would he do that?”
“He wouldn’t say, but he seemed very trustworthy.”
“Terren always seems trustworthy. Where and when did you speak with him?”
“He rode into the castle soon after breakfast. I spoke with him in the outer courtyard.”
Quince seemed skeptical as he glared. “Did you approach him?”
“He approached me.” The cold night air chilled my damp back. I fought off a shiver.
“I have begun to hear whispers about you.”
“Whispers, sire?”
“Rumors, hearsay, gossip, some clearly insidious, others…I cannot tell.” It was then I realized he’d been looking at me differently. Yesterday I was a new pet. Today I’d soiled the carpet. “It is being said that you are a liar, and now I am wondering if this is true.”
How could I prove otherwise when I was in the middle of a lie?
“Silence is tantamount to an admission of guilt.”
Words shot out of my mouth. “There are things I’m holding back, but please allow me to explain.”
“Go on.”
“I’m involved in issues that are impossible to describe without sounding like a madman. These issues have no relation to your army or this war, but they will lead to murder if I do nothing. I want nothing more than to fight without worry, but these issues have forced me to be reserved for now. I know about the rumors. I am not a liar. I am not a thief. I am not a scoundrel in any shape or form. I know those kinds of men. I know the damage they do. I’d rather die than be one.”
“Have you considered leaving?”
“Never. I want to fight and win this war.”
“Would you mind proving this?”
“I’ll do anything.”
Quince turned to Jaymes. “I think you are wrong. He is ready.”
“Yes, sire.”
Quince approached me, a fierce look in his eyes. “It saddens me that you cannot trust me with your troubles, but I will not force you to divulge them so long as you fight and obey orders. I feel it is imperative to warn you, though, that you will be marching into battle soon. Whatever affairs are left, I suggest you take care of them imminently, but do not leave the castle without Jaymes knowing one day in advance and coming with you. If you disobey any of his orders or do anything to cause him to distrust you, then you should hope that Terren will still take you to Ovira because the only life left for you here will be in a prison cell.”
“I understand, sire. Thank you.”
“Tomorrow morning you will be tested. I suggest you prepare yourself to do anything you are asked.”
“I will.”
“Lastly, I have become aware that you spent the last night in Shara Solo H’s room. I hope you enjoyed yourself because you are to lie in your own bed from now on. Intimate fraternizing is not allowed on castle grounds. The army serves to protect the kingdom, not to play with each other behind closed doors.”
I felt like a child, too ashamed to even look at the king. “I understand.”
“It has become difficult to trust you. Do yourself a favor and do not test me on this rule. I expect you to tell her whatever she needs to hear for her to understand it applies to her as well.”
“Yes, sire.”
“Rest well tonight. Tomorrow will be a difficult day.”
I bowed. They turned their backs on me to leave before I’d risen.
I passed by Shara’s room on the way to mine, the rip in my shirt letting cold air down my chest with each step. With painful difficulty, I knocked on her door and prepared to explain what the king had said.
I hoped Swenn hadn’t done anything to her in my absence. I’d heard him plotting to scare us.
Shara is strong,
I reminded myself.
She wasn’t answering. Could she be asleep already?
I tried the door to find it locked. “Shara, it’s Neeko.” I knocked again.
No answer.
I didn’t want to wake her if she was asleep. I’d speak with her in the morning.
As I neared my room, I realized I hadn’t seen Henry since I’d returned to the castle. Perhaps he was speaking with Swenn, telling him everything I did to thwart his plan. Swenn must be devising a new one. Or he already had one ready.
I heard someone in my room—more than one person. A woman shrieked. A crash followed, possibly an explosion. A man yelped. I wrenched my door open to witness someone wearing a mask stabbing Shara, two rapid strikes to the side of her stomach. She uttered a cry, grabbing at him but falling backward.