Page 14 of Her Blind Deception (The Dark Reflection #2)

Chapter Fourteen

I came to with a jolt, my eyes springing open as my body tensed, ready to fight for all I was worth. I was surprised to find I didn’t seem to be bound in any way as I leapt to my feet, standing with my fists curled and teeth bared. With a blink of surprise, I realised I was an in a room I recognised. An office.

‘Your origins are showing.’ The voice made my skin crawl. ‘I wouldn’t expect to see a queen bare her fists like that.’

I didn’t lower them, preparing to react. ‘I wouldn’t expect to be snatched from the street as a queen, but here we are.’

‘It hasn’t been safe to speak with you in the palace. This is the only way I could orchestrate a conversation.’ The owner of the voice stepped into view, walking into my line of sight to occupy the armchair before me.

‘I didn’t realise sending letters was so out of fashion that you had to resort to kidnapping, Grand Weaver.’ Slowly, I lowered my fists. He nodded at the chair I’d just leapt out of, as though this was just a normal conversation and I wasn’t seething with fury.

‘Please sit,’ he said. ‘Can I offer you something to drink?’

‘What did you do to me?’ I wasn’t going to sit yet. Not until I knew he wasn’t going to attack me.

‘It’s something we’ve been experimenting with. A form of magic weave that can incapacitate the wearer,’ he replied. ‘Not the most convenient of applications given that the only way we can seem to make it work is as a sort of collar, which can be difficult to use in a hurry. But it’s remarkably effective at keeping someone unconscious until the device is removed.’

Finally, I lowered myself into the chair, trying to gather my composure. If I kept standing there ready for a fight, I would look like an idiot and he would know how much he’d rattled me. But I was furious with him. Furious that he thought he had the right to handle me that way, the right to commandeer my time, the right to act without my permission. I was his fucking queen . It seemed to be a fact that too many of these men were happy to overlook.

While I was tempted to remind him of that fact, I also needed to know what he wanted. Draven might not consider Dovegni a threat, but I knew better.

I took a few moments of silence, focusing on the room, on my breathing, on looking at things other than Dovegni, at his smug smile and steepled fingers.

‘In apology for the unconventional beginning to this conversation, I’d like to present you with a gift.’

With a flick of his wrist, he ushered forth another druthi I hadn’t even realised was in the room. The young man knelt before me and proffered a box of polished ebony. His eyes remained turned to my feet as he opened the box, revealing a necklace reclining on black velvet. Threads of gold entangled with half a dozen heavy, blood-red rubies that seemed to emit a slight glow of their own. They held me momentarily mesmerised. It was a magnificent piece of jewellery and I itched to touch it.

Dovegni rose from his seat to lift the necklace and hold it strung between his hands. ‘May I?’

‘That depends. Is it going to do what that collar did?’

‘No. It’s completely harmless. You have my word.’

Well, his word was worth nothing to me. But I clenched my teeth and nodded slowly. I sat rigidly as he stepped behind me to clasp the necklace around my neck. His touch made my skin crawl. I didn’t breathe again until he’d returned to his own seat.

He tilted his head this way and that as he assessed the effect. ‘It’s very becoming on you.’

‘Seems a bit extravagant for an apology gift.’

‘It is,’ he said simply. ‘In fact, it is beyond extravagant. Those stones aren’t rubies. They’re a newly developed form of blood diamond.’

My fingers flinched away from it. ‘Right.’

‘They can hold small amounts of enchantment. We’re still improving their capacity to do anything worth the resources expended in creating them, but they are something of a novelty in the meantime. Those stones, remarkably, will gift you a momentary glimpse of another time or place. You just need to focus on what you want to see and touch one of the stones.’

I wanted the thing off of my neck. He had strung me with the crystallised drops of someone else’s blood. ‘Delightful,' I said. I thought of the winged creature in the dungeon, wondered if she was still there. They tend to last several months before they expire , he’d said .

‘I thought you might enjoy it.’

Swallowing down the revulsion, I looked around the room, trying to remember if it had changed since the last time I’d been in it. It looked much the same, lined with books, a neat desk, all very orderly and dull. Nothing to suggest the Grand Weaver was in the middle of the sort of crisis that might explain why he thought it a good idea to kidnap me.

‘That’s new,’ I said, nodding at a contraption perched on a table by the window. A large black cube, but fitted with some kind of crank, like it was an enormous jack-in-the-box, and there were two curved prongs poking out of the centre of it. Out of the corner of his eye, I saw Dovegni’s smile widen.

‘We’ll get to that shortly,’ he said. ‘But first, I want to take you back to a conversation we had in the palace sanctum on Aetherdi. If you recall, I pulled you aside--‘

‘Accosted me,’ I interjected. ‘Seems that overstepping your bounds is becoming something of a habit. I’m surprised you’d be so careless with your respect. I rather thought you enjoyed being Grand Weaver.’

A little of that smile slipped off his mouth. ‘Perhaps we should focus on the content of the conversation instead of the method I used to initiate it, Your Majesty.’

I noted the use of the title. Your Majesty. Not Your Royal Highness. A concession designed to mollify me? Perhaps. But one that worked, pandering to my vanity enough to cool my anger a little. ‘I don’t recall much of it, to be quite frank. You made some accusations so wild that I immediately dismissed them from my memory.’

I flinched as he slammed his fist against the arm of his chair.

‘Don’t toy with me,’ he snarled. ‘I know what you have done. I know our new king can use a profane sort of magic, the sort that only a creature from the split in the Yawn could use, and I know you’ve conspired to put him on that throne. The question is whether you’re a willing participant or not.’

I stared at him coldly for several long moments.

‘Well?’ he snapped. ‘Do you have anything to say to that?’

‘Quite a lot,’ I replied. ‘But I’d like to hear the rest of your accusations first. If I’m going to charge you with treason, I’d better have the whole spiel.’

He took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. Then he settled back in his chair, seeming to relax as he returned to tapping his fingers against each other. ‘Forgive me, I shouldn’t have lost my temper,’ he said. ‘These past few weeks have been stressful.’ He pressed his lips together as he surveyed me, seeming to consider something. ‘The Guild is leaking secrets,’ he continued slowly. ‘A number of our strong houses have been attacked recently. I hope you realise what that might mean, how dangerous it could be for those who don’t live in the protection of a palace.’

Strange that anyone would risk attacking the Guild. Stranger still that he would share that information with me. ‘Why would someone attack you? What would they hope to gain?’

‘The secrets of weaving magic,’ he said simply. ‘There are good reasons those secrets are so fiercely protected, Your Majesty. Good reasons for the numbers we burn at the palace gates every month.’ He stood and moved to the table by the window, to that strangely sinister box. He ran his long fingers over it almost lovingly. ‘ What the Guild releases to the public for consumption is only really a fraction of what magic can do. We are at the precipice of a wave of innovation. We find new ways to weave it every day, and every time we do it’s a reinforcement of the necessity for keeping it strictly regulated and in the hands of those who have been vetted, trained and trusted with its use. Imagine the damage a device like the collar used to bring you here could wreak if it was in the possession of the wrong people.’

I was preoccupied imagining the damage he could do with it, but it seemed like the wrong moment to point that out. This little speech had the ring of something practised, probably in the mirror, imagining me as the captivated audience.

‘You asked me about this device,’ he continued, picking up the box and returning to his chair to balance it across his knees. ‘This device changed the course of history.’

‘Dovegni,’ I finally snapped, ‘do we need to play twenty questions, or are you going to tell me what it does?’

‘You remember your last visit here, when I showed you the dungeon?’

Strange, luminous eyes staring up at me against the twitching of wings. Help me. ‘Vividly,’ I said through clenched teeth.

‘Then you’ll understand that the fall spawn don’t need to weave and work to use magic. It’s a substance in their blood, something they can wield to devastating effect. When our ancestors first established colonies here, this land was overrun with countless varieties of them, all brandishing their own kinds of magic and posing endless variations of risk to our fledgling society. I don’t think I can stress enough the danger of unfettered fall spawn to humanity. ’

‘Well that’s a variation on our history that I’ve never heard before,’ I said. ‘Have you told the Grand Paptich that they weren’t created by the fall of Aether?’

‘What I’m telling you isn’t incompatible with what the Sanctum teaches. Merely an extension of it. Aether fell from the sky, split the world, a hoard of creatures crawled out of the Shadow Realm and then they spread throughout the land. By the time our ancestors reached the shores of Oceatold, they were everywhere, and there was no way forward other than to find a way to contain them. Which is where this device comes into the story.’ He cradled the crank in his fingers, before slowly beginning to turn it. It emitted a low whirring noise that grew louder as he spun the handle faster and faster. Between the curved prongs, a jagged bolt of light appeared, darting from one to the other with a quiet pop! Dovegni slowed the pace of his turning until the whirring sound stopped.

‘What is that?’ I demanded.

‘Electricity,’ he said enigmatically. ‘In some parts of the world, its use is becoming widespread. For you and I, it serves one specific function. It can sever the connection between fall spawn and the use of their magic. This is what allows us to bind them.’

I was silent, dumb, my mind whirling. I thought of the implications of that box.

I thought of Draven.

‘I believe you think you were caught up in a whirlwind romance that led to a hasty marriage.’ He offered me a patronising little smile. ‘But I’ve heard rumours that the relationship between you and your new husband is troubled.’ He spoke quietly, slowly, annunciating every word carefully as I stared at those strange metal prongs, at where the bolt of light had been. ‘I’ve come to believe you are just a blameless dupe in whatever scheme you’ve been caught up in.’

‘And you’d just love to save me, for a price,’ I said, condescension dripping from my voice.

‘I’d like to offer you a deal.’

‘What kind of deal?’

‘Help me contain him.’ He spoke with the confidence, the finality, of someone who is sure he won’t be turned down. ‘Help me bind him and I’ll secure you clemency for your part in whatever he has done.’

My mouth was dry, sandy. I felt I couldn’t give him an answer even if I wanted to. ‘Why do you need me?’ I finally managed to choke out.

The confidence slipped, now, exposing a frown. ‘Because I don’t know how deep this scheme runs. It’s no small thing to unseat a king, even with my suspicions. He might have other allies in positions of power. It would be easier to prosecute him if I have the support of a queen, especially if you can act as a witness to the fact that he has been wielding magic. He’s not the variety of fall spawn people are used to the idea of. He looks human, sounds human, and he has proven himself skilled in the art of currying support.’ There was some uncertainty in the way he said this last part, and as I studied him, I realised he was nowhere near as confident as he was pretending to be. He couldn’t just sweep in and start hurling accusations without some sort of proof first.

But he did have that terrible black box.

‘What exactly would you want me to do?’ I asked.

He let out a breath. ‘For now, I want you to go back to the palace and pretend everything is as it was until we’re ready.’

‘Will you kill him?’ I had to ask it. It shouldn’t have made a difference in what I decided to do, but it did.

‘Not initially.’ He caressed the box slowly, like it was a purring pet on his lap. ‘I’d prefer to keep him alive. There could be much to learn from studying so unusual a creature. The strain of magic, the mental manipulation I experienced in the council chambers, is nothing I’ve ever seen before.’ There was a gleam in his eyes I didn’t like, something like greed oozing through his expression. Oh, I was sure there was plenty he was hoping to learn from studying Draven. It was probably the only reason he hadn’t tried to outright assassinate him already. The thought of Draven locked up in Dovegni’s dungeon was… not something that sat well with me.

‘I appreciate your offer.’ And his arrogance in assuming I wouldn’t run straight to Draven with it. ‘You won’t act without notifying me first, will you? I can help you if you keep me informed.’

The smug smile was back on his face, stretching his mouth until it was almost a leer. ‘Of course. Now, I’ve arranged for your carriage to come and collect you. It is, after all, not safe to be out walking the streets at night.’

I was escorted out of Misarnee Keep and down to the waiting carriage, where Cotus helped me into the warm, dry interior with a shifty expression, before he swung up onto the bench at the front and flicked the horses into a trot, steering us into the rain and back through the city. I began gnawing on a thumbnail as I stared out the window and considered all that I had learned in the meeting with Dovegni.

I had a way out of my marriage. Dovegni could literally bind my husband and he would be rendered powerless, no longer the danger that he had been until now. I could be pardoned for my part in his schemes.

Perhaps I could even bring Gwinellyn back from the Yawn.

But what would happen to me then? Even if I wasn’t punished for my role, I surely wouldn’t be queen anymore. No one would trust me anywhere near a position of power. I’d be alive, perhaps, but that would be all.

Would that be enough?’

I thought back to the question Draven had posed to me over a chess board, the first time I’d ever really considered that it was a question that could be asked. Is being queen everything you expected it would be? Is it worth it?

I would have thought it a question with an easy answer.

At least Dovegni hadn’t pressed me for any kind of concrete contribution to his plans. And he said he would let me know when he was preparing to act. So long as I made a decision before then, I could spend some time thinking through the implications of whatever I chose to do. Provided Dovegni could be trusted to do as he’d said and keep me informed. What were my options? I could tell Draven about the meeting, warn him, and we could find a way to handle the Guild together. Or, I could be an accomplice in taking him down. How much time would I really have to make up my mind ?

Unbidden, the way he’d smiled over that absurd pot of spiced milk came to mind, the dimpling of his cheek. I pushed the memory away. I was supposed to be trying to find a way to get rid of him before he discovered that Gwinellyn was actually alive, not mooning over him like a smitten little girl. He was ruthless enough to sentence Lord Boccius to being eaten alive, and then to stay and watch it. The only thing that stood between me and that ruthlessness was a flimsy lie. A lie that would shatter if he caught so much as a whisper of that rumour the snatchers were passing between them about a girl in the Yawn. He was not someone I should get attached to.

I focused instead on what I'd learned from Lester. That Draven was the head of some large-scale operation. That he had made me party to something I didn’t choose or understand. That he had kept that fact from me . That was what was important to keep at the forefront of my mind. The rest of it was hormones and bad decisions.

We passed through the gate, drove up the winding road to the palace, and pulled up in the rain. I didn’t wait for Cotus to disembark, stepping out into the weather, immediately regretting that I’d lost my cloak during the scuffle in the street. The wind breathed cold into my sodden dress and I clutched my arms around myself, shivers rattling at my body as a chill seeped beneath my skin.

I turned back to the carriage as Cotus shouted something at me, not quite catching his words, squinting at him in the downpour. And then there was heavy fabric draping around my shoulders, blocking out the wind. A coat, still warm. And Draven was striding past me, his gaze fixed on the carriage, dressed in only a vest and shirt sleeves that were already beginning to grow translucent with the rain.

I stuck my arms into the coat and wrapped it tighter, breathing in the smell of him and trying not to take so much pleasure in it. I didn’t have to try for long, because a moment later Draven reached Cotus, grabbed him by his shirt front and slammed him against the carriage.

‘Where did you take her?’ he snarled.

‘I didn’t take her, I brought her back,’ Cotus chocked out, trying to pry open the grip on his shirt. I was running, warm coat forgotten.

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ I demanded as Cotus managed to free himself and shoved Draven back, sending him stumbling a step before he squared him up again. ‘He’s my driver, you idiot. It’s his job to take me places!’

‘You left that tavern hours ago.’ Draven didn’t look at me, still glaring at Cotus. ‘And he came back without you.’

‘How did you know where I was?’

‘How do you think?’

Lester. Of course. ‘Draven, look at me.’ Rain had plastered his hair to his forehead, was running off him in rivers, and when he finally took his gaze off Cotus to look at me his eyes were as dark as the stormy sky above. ‘I sent him away because I wanted to walk. But I got lost on the way back. That’s all,’ I lied.

He seemed to swallow a little of his anger down, his throat moving, before he gently lifted my chin, tilting my face up and examining me closely. There was something there, a wariness. Like he didn’t believe me.

But he didn’t question the lie. ‘Are you hurt?’ was all he said .

‘No,’ I said, an inconvenient thorn of guilt prickling at me. ‘I’m fine.’

He studied me a moment longer, then dropped his hand from my face. ‘Good.’

‘You’re a fucking mad man.’ Cotus hurled the insult from a safe distance, having retreated out of arm’s reach.

Draven turned his attention back on him. ‘I don’t trust you, snatcher,’ he spat. ‘Try me and find out just how mad I am.’

‘That’s enough,’ I snapped. ‘You’re angry with me, not him.’

‘Why would I be angry with you, Rhiandra?’ His tone dared me to respond. His gaze flickered down and for a moment I thought I saw something more in his expression than what he wanted me to see. Something beyond the arrogance, the bitter words. My hand darted to my throat, suddenly remembering the string of heavy blood stones sitting against my skin, as though it wasn’t too late to hide them. I thought for a moment that he might take hold of them and yank them from my neck. But he didn’t. His gaze returned to my face, and the cold mask of his indifference was back in place.

‘You went looking for answers. I hope you found them.’

With that, he was storming back through the rain without his coat, and within a few moments he was swallowed up by the darkness. My throat felt tight as I watched him go.

‘Rhiandra, you’re in trouble,’ Cotus said from behind me, like he was announcing some great insight. ‘He’s dangerous.’

I turned on him. ‘Do you think I’m so stupid that I don’t know that?’ I demanded. ‘I know what he is. And don’t you dare try to tell me I was fooled into marrying him, because I knew it then, too.’

I was briefly tempted to tell Cotus the whole story, about the deal and the glamour and the apples, just so someone would finally see me as something other than a victim or an idiot. The impression served me, yes, but did everyone have to swallow it so readily?

Well, one person seemed to see me as something more than that. I unclasped the necklace from my neck and stuffed it into my skirts, then I plunged into the dark to follow him. Water poured through the collar of the coat and streamed down my back as I stumbled around until it became clear that I had no idea where he’d gone. A chill wriggled beneath my skin to settle beside my bones and I began to ask myself why I was chasing him anyway. Did I want to admit to him what Dovegni had offered me? Did I want to confront him about what I’d learned from Lester? Did I want to berate him for his anger? Did I want to goad him into more of it?

Maybe all of that. And maybe for some other reason that I couldn’t name, something that made me ache inside. As was the case whenever he was concerned, there were no clear-cut answers.

I didn’t find him. So there was no way of knowing either way.

I returned to my rooms trembling with cold and with a heaviness in my chest that made my steps drag and my shoulders slump. Leela tsked me for being out in the rain as she stripped me of my sodden clothes while another of my attendants drew a bath. I sunk down into a chair, wrapped in a thick blanket as she turned out my dripping skirts.

‘Cotus should have taken better care,’ she muttered. ‘You should…’

I turned to look at her when her words trailed off to find her holding up the necklace, blood stones still faintly glowing, almost pulsing. The sight made me shudder. I waited for her to ask about it, but she didn’t, simply laying it out on my dresser with my other jewellery, before going to the door to hand off the bundle of wet clothes to one of the other attendants.

I stared at the necklace.

You just need to focus on what you want to see and touch one of the stones.

I quickly smothered a brief thought of seeing where Draven had gone. That was hardly worth the blood that would have been spilled to make them. And not something I should want to know in any case. Perhaps I could see where Senafae had gone, but this, too, seemed indulgent. I could use Dovegni’s own stones to spy on him, or on any number of others, but to what end? Unless there was something I expected to see, I might wind up glimpsing something useless and wasting the magic.

There was really only one thing I should use them for. I could check and see if Gwinellyn was still alive, if she was okay. I could see if she needed help. I repeated these thoughts to myself as I sat and stared at the necklace across the room. I made no move to rise.

Draven had once accused me of being a coward. Maybe he was right.