Chapter Ten

“Kyann! Have you seen this?” Essa’s excited voice dragged me out of sleep. I groaned. The light was so bright it hurt my eyes. My nocturnal excursions had tired me out. The last thing I needed was an abrupt awakening because Essa had seen a cute animal outside the castle, or something similar.

“What?” I mumbled, thinking of Fon with more sympathy than I had at midnight.

“Kyann, look,” Essa repeated.

I pushed back the covers and joined her at the window.

My breath caught.

“Isn’t it amazing?” my sister demanded, craning out of the window to see more of the scene.

“It’s magic,” I agreed, my heart overflowing with love and admiration for the kings.

I hadn’t known exactly what Fon, Axxon and Vashri had been about while Rey and I had been dredging the moat. But their actions were clear now. The fields that fell away from the castle to the distant forest had transformed overnight.

The barley had burnished to gold and looked ready to harvest. The sparse greenery in the further fields was about three times as lush as it had been when we’d ridden through them a day earlier. Far from starving, the people who lived on the Baloa lands would harvest enough to fill their bellies all autumn and still have plenty to store for the winter ahead.

“Maybe this will change Leea’s mind about supporting the kings,” Essa said.

“Perhaps.” I supposed, if she had a change of heart and handed over the – now fake – Tears of Giera, we could leave, and she’d be none the wiser. That felt like a disappointing outcome. I wanted to know what her intentions were and understand her reluctance to help in the first place.

I turned my back to the window and pulled on my clothes. I wanted to see Leea’s reaction to the bounty the kings had brought her family and lands.

When Essa and I walked into the dining room, Leea was already there, addressing the kings. I thought she was probably thanking them, but perhaps I just hoped so. I would assume she was displaying her manners until I had evidence otherwise. Her attitude had certainly changed since her grudging welcome the day before, which was exactly as it should be.

Then she glanced at me and Essa and the happiness leached from her expression, leaving discontent behind. Her eyes narrowed with irritation. I was swamped again by the feeling that I ought to know her. That sense of recognition nagged at me. If not her, then perhaps I’d met her father or mother. I shook myself. That was equally unlikely when I’d spent the last eight years tucked away in the middle of nowhere in Myledene. She must just have one of those faces that reminded you of everyone.

My lips twitched. I’d keep that opinion to myself. Unless Leea particularly annoyed me.

“The Baloa family owes you a debt of gratitude,” she told the kings formally as Essa and I drew close enough to overhear her. She dropped an elegant curtsy. “Now, please; let’s eat.”

We had barely finished our meal when a man was escorted into the room. He was wearing plain clothes of the sort I was used to from Myledene.

“Ah, thank you for coming, Joresh.” Leea rose and went to greet her newcomer. He bowed formally. Leea turned back to the table. “Joresh is my bailiff,” she told us. “He wished to bring personal thanks to the kings for all you have done in ensuring our lands can feed our people.”

Axxon stood up, speaker for the kings. “It is our honour to help the people of Charnrosa. With your help, we will return this Empire to glory.”

Joresh bowed and began to speak, nerves making him trip over his words. I supposed it wasn’t every day you were in a room with four kings. Especially legendary ones.

Movement caught my eye and I turned to see Leea slip from the room. Had Joresh been summoned as a distraction? While the kings listened to the bailiff, I slipped out of the door behind our host.

I expected her to make for the cellars where she believed the Tears of Giera was still safe in its hidey-hole, but her destination lay up the stairs, not down. I followed as closely as I dared. She turned back repeatedly, forcing me to duck into doorways and alcoves, waiting then rushing so she wouldn’t notice me following.

As I paused beneath the staircase that led to her chamber, a shadow slid past and Vashri appeared beside me. “I thought two might be better than one,” he said.

“Shh!” I glanced up as Leea’s skirts swirled at the top of the staircase. She would hear us, and all my sneaking would be for nothing.

Vashri shook his head, his teeth white as he smiled. “I am the king of air. I have us shrouded with shadows and silence,” he promised. “She cannot see or hear us.” He looped his arm through mine and tugged me towards the steps, following our quarry.

I pulled him to a stop. He hadn’t been with us when we’d discovered the gem – and revealed my strange ability. “I destroy enchantments. You aren’t shrouding me with anything.”

“I’m confident I am.” Leea was out of sight now, so I let the king of air urge me on as we hurried up the steps and found her hurrying along the corridor. Leea turned and glanced behind her. I froze. Vashri squeezed my elbow reassuringly. She noticed nothing, turning back and continuing.

My breath sighed out in relief. Vashri’s magic had truly worked.

“Quickly.” Vashri and I hurried in pursuit. We were just in time to see Leea slip through a small doorway I hadn’t even noticed before.

Vashri tugged at my hand and we dodged inside before it closed. Leea stood between us and the window on the far side, her focus intent on the table set against the wall. She had no idea she wasn’t alone. My lips twitched. The kings’ powers were truly amazing.

Light flowed through the window, illuminating the young woman as she stroked the surface of the table. Her smile swelled with satisfaction. I craned further, not daring to leave my spot by the door and beside Vashri, but not understanding what she was doing.

The surface of the table was a mirror, while a plain wooden chair was set beside it. A fireplace filled the right-hand wall, with a bird in a cage beside it. Other than that, the room was empty. Leea scooped the skirts of her gown so she could sit down, pulling the chair up and craning over the table to peer into the mirror she’d just polished.

What was she about?

She leaned close to the table, craning over the mirror, her fingertips spanning its edges. Magic flitted across her wrists, over her fingers and then skittered over the surface of the mirror. “Father? Are you there?”

I caught my breath. A communication spell, to talk to someone miles away. The elders in Myledene had used them occasionally to communicate with other villages, or with the ruling families. I hadn’t seen it used for years. Magic was too precious to be used to talk when a day on horseback would serve the same purpose. Leea couldn’t go riding after her father, though. Not without abandoning the castle. Now, we might discover this business of her father’s, and how Leea was caught up in it.

Except that nothing happened. The mirror didn’t fog and clear, and no voice replied to her appeal.

Either Leea’s magic wasn’t strong enough, or her father wasn’t able to respond.

“Father!” She called again, leaning close as though that might make a difference. Desperation coloured her tone. I wondered if her father had been missing a long time, or if she was simply worried because the kings had arrived and were demanding she hand over a gem that the family were concealing from everyone.

After a few more minutes Leea gave a grunt of annoyance and sat back. She rose, pushing her chair impatiently away so it scraped over the floor. She walked to the birdcage in the corner by the fireplace, whistling under her breath. It was the work of a moment to unfasten the door, and she reached in. The bird, a brown drabfinch, seemed quite a pet – it jumped onto her finger when she extended her hand in front of it.

Still whistling, Leea extracted her hand and the bird from the cage. Her other hand stroked the animal’s breast feathers. “You must find my father,” she told it. The finch tilted its head, eyes bright as it watched its mistress. Blue magic wreathed her hands. The bird was being enchanted to do her bidding, to understand commands it never normally would. She walked towards the window, her free hand reaching for the latch. “You must tell him to come home. I need him, and never mind what the Emperor wants with him. He must come back to me.”

The Emperor? I squeezed Vashri’s hand. Our eyes met and we exchanged a nod. Time to challenge our hostess.

Then the door flew open and the other kings burst inside.