11

For two days, a line of worried doctors traipsed into the prince’s bedchamber and traipsed back out again armed with conflicting diagnoses. King Telemaine held a vigil by his bedside, but not even Princess Inessa or Lady Mykaela was allowed entry.

I divided my time between waiting anxiously in the hallway and sitting in my room, desperately searching for something, anything, within Aenah’s Faceless book that could help the prince. “What good are you?” I finally sobbed, flinging it in a brief fit of rage. What was the use of Scrying and puppets when they couldn’t save the prince?

Kalen had taken the events worse than I had and was reduced to pacing Kance’s hallway, rejecting food and rest. “I can’t think about eating at a time like this, Tea.” He looked like he hadn’t slept since the prince collapsed.

“You’ll become as sick as His Highness without anything in your stomach.” I shoved bread into his hands. “Do they even know what’s happened to Prince Kance?”

Giving in to my bullying, Kalen accepted a piece. “Nothing yet.”

“Why not ask Althy to help? She’s the best healer among the asha.”

Kalen sighed. “Politics. Lady Altaecia is a Kion asha, and as friendly as they are, to ask for help from a neighboring kingdom is a sign of weakness.”

“But not at the cost of the prince’s life!” I insisted.

“I wouldn’t put my son’s life over the needs of the kingdom.” For all his bulk, King Telemaine could walk silently when he wished to. Kalen jerked to attention. “Lady Mykaela, however, has taken a look at him, even she was at a loss.”

“Can’t we do anything?” I pleaded.

He smiled kindly at me, though his eyes were heavy with fatigue. “It warms my heart to know that Kance has friends he can trust. But his illness is beyond our understanding. The doctors can find nothing wrong with him, save for his heartsglass turning an unusual gray. All he does is sleep.”

Dread seized my gut. “Gray? He won’t wake up?”

“So they say. The best doctors in the kingdom and they have no idea. Lady Tea?”

I was already backing away. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. I have to go.” I tore down the hallway, heart pounding. A sleeping sickness. Where had I heard that before?

Kalen caught up to me easily as I reached the gate. Fox, so attuned to my emotions, was already there astride Chief. My horse-familiar pawed at the ground, eager to be off.

“Where are you going, Tea?” Kalen yelled behind me.

“To see Khalad!” I vaulted onto Chief, who was intelligent enough to pick up on my thoughts. Soon, we were cantering into the city, leaving the Deathseeker staring after us.

Khalad was hunched over another one of his creations when we burst into the room. He started but deftly caught the delicate heartsglass before it fell. “Please knock next time, Lady Tea,” he said sternly. “This new heart has a very rare memory. It’s not every day you find one over a hundred years old—”

“Prince Kance is ill, Khalad,” I gasped out. “They say it’s a sleeping sickness!”

Khalad’s eyes widened, his expression suddenly stricken. “Kance is sick?”

“He has been for two days! His heartsglass turned gray right before my eyes! Wasn’t that a symptom of the sleeping sickness the old forger was investigating?”

He flushed. “But that’s impossible! The master was certain there would be no such cases in Odalia.”

“That’s not how illnesses work,” my brother objected.

Khalad rummaged through a pile of books in one corner of the room, returning with several parchments.

“Master conducted a thorough investigation,” he explained, unrolling one of the parchments. “There have been four known incidents so far. Baron Cyran of Istera: age twenty-three. He went to bed one night and couldn’t be woken the next morning.” He uncovered another. “The Earl of Mancer, from Arhen-Kosho: age thirty-eight. He was out hunting boar when he suddenly toppled off his horse. Here’s another: a royal princess from the house of Weixu, of Daanoris: age sixteen. She fell unconscious in the middle of a ball.”

Khalad swiftly unfurled the last parchment. “The Marquise of Thanh, one of the smaller city-states of Yadosha. The marquise was sixty-seven, though still in good health. He drifted off while giving a speech. None could be roused, their heartsglass a muted gray.”

“Different ages, all of noble blood. Physically healthy,” I said, scanning through the reports. “But they don’t seem to have anything else in common.”

“There is one attribute.” Khalad sounded grim. “Master said they were all descendants of the Five Great Heroes.”

“That’s…” I opened my mouth and closed it again, remembering. To you, seeking Blade that Soars’s path: take that which came from Five Great Heroes long past and distill into a heart of silver to shine anew.

“Mithra the Protector.” Fox ticked them off with his fingers. “Ashi the Swift. Anahita the Mighty. Rashnu the Just. And Sraosha the Obedient. But how can the Heartforger be so sure?”

“Because he can see their bloodlines in their heartsglass.” Khalad touched his. “So can I. It’s difficult but not impossible. Master had long suspected that someone was targeting their descendants, but he didn’t know why. The only Great Hero descendant left untouched by the sickness is Anahita the Mighty.” Khalad sighed. “My father, King Telemaine, isn’t a direct descendant however. Neither was Vanor or Lance, the Duke of Holsrath.”

“But Prince Kance is!” I burst out, remembering. “And so are you!”

Khalad blinked. “My master had reason to examine both Vanor’s and Telemaine’s heartsglass in the past. They—”

“Do not have your mother’s ancestry,” Fox broke in. “Remember when Tea accidentally resurrected King Randrall? Randrall claimed that the crown prince was not his son but the son of the commander of the Odalian army. Vanor’s and Telemaine’s lines did not spring from his, but your mother was also a descendant of Anahita.”

“I hadn’t thought about my mother’s line,” Khalad muttered, looking embarrassed. “But surely that would not have escaped my master’s notice.”

“Could it be that he said nothing to spare you the worry?” I asked.

“It’s possible. He was terribly secretive about his conclusions until I pestered him.” Khalad leaped to his feet and began stuffing papers and other equipment into a large sack. “But I have to be sure. I need to take a look at my brother’s heartsglass!”

“Can you cure him?”

Khalad shook his head, despairing. “Master talked about having tested one, but he gave few specifics.”

“Do you know where he is?”

“He’d gone to Daanoris to take another look at the sleeping princess. He found her death the most suspicious of the lot.”

“Why?”

“Daanorians don’t wear heartsglass. They’ve always been suspicious of magic, although their current emperor is quite keen on asha and has been infatuated with Inessa for years. Someone would have needed to draw Heartsrune for the Daanorian to fall sick in the same way the others had.”

“For now, let’s return to the castle to ensure Khalad’s safety as well,” Fox decided.

“Me?”

“Might I remind his Lordship,” Fox told him quietly, laying stress on the last word, “that though you have officially abdicated from the royal succession, you are still Kance’s brother, so you can still be reinstated. Should anything happen to the prince, I doubt that your father will allow you to remain the Heartforger’s apprentice for much longer.”

• • •

I was shocked to see the throne room full of soldiers as we entered. It felt like the whole Odalian army was waiting for us.

“Tea!” Kalen’s voice rang out. He was being restrained by some of the soldiers. “Get out of here!”

I took a step back but found my path barred by swords. Two men stepped forward to place their hands on my shoulders. Two more took hold of my wrists.

“What’s going on?” Fox asked, stunned. “Albie? Parviz? Why are you doing this?” I felt his anger, felt him struggling behind me. His eyes flicked to his commander. “General Lode?”

The older man shook his head. His heartsglass showed me his reluctance, his implacability. Good soldiers obeyed orders.

The Duke of Holsrath stepped forward. He was smiling, and his heartsglass glittered a bright, malicious red.

“We haven’t been properly introduced have we, Lady Tea?” He bowed to me. “King Telemaine has elected to remain by his son’s side. He left me in charge of the palace while Kance recuperates.”

“I don’t believe you!” It was inconceivable to think that the king would willingly turn over the reins of his kingdom to a brother he had imprisoned for conspiring to take it from him. “I demand to see him!”

“You are not in a position to demand anything, milady. Telemaine made the announcement in full view of the soldiers. Kalen himself witnessed it. Didn’t you, Kalen?”

The boy gritted his teeth. “Go to hell.”

The duke regarded his son carefully and then casually punched him.

I lunged forward, white-hot rage searing my vision. I felt Fox leap after me. Hands pulled us back, and I heard more swords being drawn from scabbards as the tip of one rested against my throat.

“You may hate me, Kalen,” the duke said coldly, “but I am still your father. I will not tolerate such disrespect.”

My fingers twitched, Compulsion already half-formed.

“Would you really do that, Lady Tea?” There was a slickness to the duke’s voice that repulsed me, like grease that clung to skin. “Would you compel all these soldiers, your brother’s own comrades? Will you force these soldiers to commit treason against their will, a crime punishable by death? How very little you must think of life, milady. After all, you have always dealt in death.”

Trembling and angry, I let the rune slip away.

“Tea Pahlavi, I hereby arrest you in the king’s name for the attempted murder of His Highness, Prince Kance. Fox Pahlavi, I arrest you in the king’s name for being complicit to the same crime.”

“Are you mad?” Kalen shouted. “They did no such thing!”

The duke lifted his hand, and I saw the pendant I had given Prince Kance dangling from his fingers.

“It is easy to conceal a malevolent spell inside this trinket, and there were witnesses who saw my nephew take sick shortly after receiving your gift. Lady Tea, you are to be confined until your trial. Do not worry. I am not so cruel as to keep you in the dungeons. Your prison will be a warded room at the farthest wing of the palace. Armed guards and Deathseekers will prevent further incidents.

“And as for the Heartforger’s apprentice.” The duke turned to Khalad, who was still pale. “While there are no charges to bring against the former prince, you are to be detained indefinitely for questioning. Your previous royal status will not exempt you, Khalad. You are a practitioner of the Dark arts and must therefore come under scrutiny. Assist us in our investigations and it will be easier on you. You may be my nephew, but that will not save you—I do the same to my own son.”

Behind my back, I sketched Compulsion again, this time directed toward the Duke of Holsrath’s mind. But what I encountered was a thick wall of resistance as strong as steel.

The duke laughed. His heartsglass glittered, and I noticed a lapel pin on his shirt, shining bright gold as the zivar repelled my attempt. “A good try, Lady Tea. But I have not come unarmed. Perhaps I should mention that Lady Mykaela has also been detained and charged.”

I leaped toward him again, heedless of the blade at my neck, my hands curled into claws that were prepared to do what my magic could not, but I was dragged back.

“She’s resting well, given the circumstances. However, her comfort, I think, shall be dependent on your actions. If you are innocent of the charges, as you claim, then you will be released as soon as that is established. Conversely, if you admit your guilt, we can overlook other…unpleasantness necessary for interrogation. What is your answer, milady?”

“I did nothing to Prince Kance,” I snarled.

“As you wish.” The duke turned to the soldiers. “Kindly escort our dear asha to her quarters. Look at any of my men the wrong way, Lady Tea, and it will be Lady Mykaela who suffers the consequences. It’s getting late, and there are many other pressing duties to attend to before the morrow, including your cross-examination.”