Page 82 of Veil of Vasara (Fate of the Five #1)
CHAPTER 82- ELIAS
T he sun stung as it forced its way through the curtains, offending my skin, my eyes, my skull.
That dreadful Season was finally fucking finished.
I hadn’t intended to consume as much alcohol at the end as I had at the start, but the conversation with Audra’s Prince had been enough to break my resolve on that promise.
I stumbled from my bed, fumbling for my clothes, eventually making my way into the hallway.
I went to his room, he wasn’t there.
The Council chambers, he wasn’t there.
The library, he wasn’t there.
The throne room.
Eliel was nowhere to be seen.
I went out to the training grounds, a daily occurrence now since I’d taken on my new role.
I stopped in my tracks, spinning around frantically, groaning as I did it too quickly, and a wave of dizziness washed over me. I kept to the shadows as I approached an attendant.
“Where are all the horses?” I asked him.
The boy gaped at me, as if he had seen a walking corpse. Although truthfully, that was probably exactly how I appeared.
“The horses?” I repeated.
“They went with the army, My Lord…”
“You’re telling me, that the army, which I am in charge of, left, without my knowing?”
“I…I thought you were with them, My Lord.”
“With whom?” I asked, growing more irritated, and confused.
“The…soldiers, My Lord.”
I waved my hand in the air, slapping it against my leg in exasperation.
“Where did they go?”
“I…I’m not sure, My Lord.”
“Was the King with them?”
“Yes, My Lord?” the boy said questioningly, as if it were the most obvious fact known to humankind.
Eliel had left with an army? I frowned so deeply that my vision blurred. What the fuck was going on?
“Is anyone still here?”
The boy frowned. “Anyone?”
“Fargreaves, Trenton, Raynard…?”
“Trenton is, My Lord…but he left the Palace earlier.”
“Where the fuck is everybody?” I murmured to myself. Realising the boy was still watching, I turned to him.
“Thank you, you can go.”
“But…I work here…My Lord…”
“There’s nothing much to work on here today. Here.” I pressed a lunar into his hand. “Go.”
The boy glared down at the coin and smiled very briefly.
“Yes, My Lord…”
“Wait!” I called after him.
The boy, still reeling from our serendipitous encounter, stiffened up unnaturally.
“Can you find someone for me?”
The boy nodded yes, slowly.
“I need to speak to a tracker. Her name is Shadae, bring her to…” I paused in thought. “Tell her to come to my chambers as soon as she’s able.”
“Yes, My Lord,” the boy repeated.
After he had left, I stormed back into the Palace immediately and headed for Eliel’s room.
I had forgotten he was married. It was one thing that he wasn’t in his room, but where was his new wife?
I banged on the door with my fist. “My Queen?” I spoke.
Nothing.
I grunted and walked away.
Eliel had left in the early hours of the morning with an army, without informing me.
What exactly was the point, or the purpose in my position, if he were just to do these things without my knowledge?
I was furious. I was beyond consoling or reassurance. Where would he have taken such a large force? What had he been planning all this time?
All the events that had occurred over these past few weeks, I should have pursued. I should have pursued all the threads of suspicion much more strongly.
But I had been preoccupied.
I made my way down to the underground levels of the Palace, each step sending a sharp pain through my head and my hip, but I ignored it. I rushed frantically until I reached the correct level, the correct door.
I took out the key, which was hanging around my neck, under my shirt, and opened it.
I fell to my knees, my head in my hands, half weeping in relief.
I was afraid he had found this. I was afraid he had taken these, to fight those against whom normal steel did nothing.
And he couldn’t use them.
He didn’t know what these blades could do.
Nobody did.
Not truly.
I glanced up.
Rows upon rows, stacked into the walls and shelves, crushed into corners.
The collection I had been gathering for years, sequestering behind these doors.
Noxstone looked even darker underground.