Anger (8 page)

"Alethea Warder. You are charged by this council with the deaths of two hunters assigned to locate you by Dragon Lord Mostyn of the Village of Talleth. He has also requested that you be charged with the destruction of the wardstone that guarded the village."

"While there is no question the village was destroyed, we need to hear from you the circumstances of these events. Councilor Thoran, if you would proceed?"

"Thank you, Councilor Virik. In an effort at expediency, we have asked a member of the Mind Healers Guild here to administer Questioning. Will you accept that testimony?"

"We will."

"Then, Questioner Phailin, would you proceed?" A thin woman emerged from the crowd, a Questioner's smoke-blue robes billowing around her.

"Thank you, Councilor Thoran." She removed a pendant from the pocket of her robe and approached Alethea.

"Please kneel, Alethea. It will keep you from being injured should you collapse if the Questions become to difficult." She obeyed, and the Questioner draped the cord of the pendant around her neck, settling it to rest over her heart. 75

Wardstone: Anger [Seven Sins and Virtue Series]

by Grace Viola

"Answer all questions put to you honestly, and this will be painless." Phailin smiled at the grip Rhys still had on Alethea's hand and said nothing about it.

She closed her eyes and drew herself straight.

"I will now begin." Shimmering energy pulsed outward from her body, centering on the pendant Alethea was wearing. Alethea felt a lightness, a distance occurring in her mind. She was firmly inside her body, but detached and relaxed.

"Alethea, the Questioning has begun." Phailin's voice had a soothing, hypnotic tone, "What is the first memory that you have?"

"The farm, collecting eggs."

"What farm?"

"Minya and Alec's farm."

"Who were these people?"

"They raised me until I was fifteen."

"Then what happened to you?"

"Orala came for me. She took me from them."

"Why did she take you?"

"To train me."

"To do what?"

"To break the Wards at Talleth." Orala jumped to her feet. "Stop it!" she screamed. "She lies! The dragon's spawn lies! She wanted to destroy the village that took her mother's life! She lies!" The guards restrained her, and Questioner Phailin looked surprised. She turned once again to address the council. 76

Wardstone: Anger [Seven Sins and Virtue Series]

by Grace Viola

"As you are aware, if Alethea were to lie under questioning it would be evident."

Virik spoke in response to the murmurs of the council.

"Yes, we understand. Continue."

"After the training, what did you do?"

"I went to Talleth."

"What did you intend when you went into Talleth the first time?"

"To warn the villagers to evacuate the town."

"Why?"

"So they could save their lives and some of their property."

"Why did you return early?"

"To destroy the village."

"Why did you move your plan up a week?"

"To destroy the village and everyone in it." Celestyn and Kesler gasped in dismay, but the Questioning continued.

"What caused the sudden change of heart?"

"Orala. She met me in the forest." Orala jumped to her feet in fury and had to be restrained once again.

"Lies, she lies! The dragon's bastard was the only one responsible for the razing of Talleth." The Questioner continued unfazed. "What did she do?"

"She used her stone to remind me of my duty." Phailin blinked. "What stone?"

"The stone she says my mother gave her. It holds all the rage of her expulsion from Talleth."

"How does it work?"

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"She strikes you with it, and every petty insult is made worse. Every slight becomes mortal insult. It fills your mind with all the rage and frustration you have ever felt."

"Has she used it before?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"She had me ward a brothel, then use my energy to light it on fire. One man died."

"Why did she do this?"

"She said I needed the practice for Talleth."

"Why was she set on using you for the destruction of Talleth?"

"I don't know!" Alethea wailed and unable to answer the Question, fainted.

* * * *

She woke in the room they were quartered in; no one else was there except Rhys, wiping her face with a damp cloth. She felt tears seeping from beneath her lids. She grasped his wrist and stopped his ministrations.

"What happened?"

"Do you want something to drink? Something to eat?" He jumped up and fetched a tray from a nearby table.

"Something to drink, please." Her throat was sore, as if she had been shouting. The Questioning was a blur—she only remembered the soothing tones of the Questioner. She sat up and sipped at the watered wine he held to her lips then waved him away.

"What happened?" she repeated. 78

Wardstone: Anger [Seven Sins and Virtue Series]

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"The Questioning is over. You won't have to go through that again. But we have to get back to the main chamber as soon as you feel up to it."

"Why?"

His jaw set. "We need to be there when they Question Orala."

* * * *

The Questioner approached the woman kneeling on the floor; this time, the witness was restrained by two guards. As Phailin approached, she began to scream and struggle, swearing that her guild would not stand for this. Phailin quietly readied her pendant. "Yes, they will, for they have already ejected you for your crime. No Mind Healer should have done what you did, and it sickens them. The dagger containing the malevolent magic you created will remain in the custody of the Warders, as they have the means to protect it."

"I will not submit to this! It is an affront to my Clan to drag me here."

She protested to no avail. The Questioner merely gestured for the two guards to hold her still then dropped the pendant over her head.

"Remember, if you lie, you will feel pain. If you do not give us the whole truth, you will feel pain. And if you deliberately withhold the truth, you will feel pain. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Her voice was a vicious hiss.

"Why did you take Alethea?"

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"Altira gave her to me—ahhhh!" Her back arched in agony. Across the room, Alethea shivered.

"Why did you take Alethea?"

"To exact my revenge on Talleth."

"Why take the baby?"

"She could take down the wards, and make the village vulnerable."

"Why did you use her?"

A spasm of pain crossed her face; then she groaned.

"To avoid putting myself at risk and to punish her."

"Her? Alethea?"

"Yes."

"Why punish her?"

"She stole the last vestiges of Altira's soul. She deserved to die."

"So, you sent her to live with farmers until she was old enough?"

"Yes!"

"Why did you reclaim her?"

"To train her."

"To kill?"

"Yes. They needed to die, and Alethea with them!"

"Why did she need to die? She was an innocent in all of this."

"She took Altira from me. She has to die!" Shaking with fury, she launched herself at Alethea.

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Alethea responded the only way she could—she warded herself and burst into flames. Orala screamed in fury, unable to injure her enemy.

With the control Rhys had helped her find, she didn't kill Orala outright, but she did drain enough energy from her to render her unconscious.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she remembered the years with Orala. The harsh, spare years of minimal sustenance designed to make her more self-sufficient. The pain, degradation and endless insults administered to fuel the rage and hatred in her. All for nothing. All that pain and hatred, with nothing to show for it.

"It's all right, Alethea."

She felt arms come around her through the haze of blue flame. Rhys hugged her tight as she stared at the woman at her feet. She slowly relaxed against him; the flames diminished as his scent calmed her. She felt the twitch of his erection against her back, and was amazed simple contact with her caused his arousal. But what the hell, his scent did the same for her.

Her emotions switched with lightning speed. She went from grief to anger to lust in a heartbeat. Her head whirled, but she tried to focus on the council hall. All the dragons in the room were smirking at the contact between them. All except one.

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Mostyn had finally caught on that this was actually his daughter, and his gaze circled the room, looking for support for his case.

"Councilor! I claim a Father's Right for Alethea. I will mate her to a dragon of my choosing." He smiled as he made his announcement, a smile that died as Virik turned to glare at him.

"Mostyn, you have no right to her. You refused to acknowledge her when her mother was pregnant. You never sought her out as she grew. Her grandparents came to this council and asked for a decision on her viability as a mate. We gave it. She is a ward of the council, and we have made our decision.

"Now, Mostyn, as to your treatment of her mother, we have no sentence for that. But you did defraud a Warder, promising a home in lieu of payment. For that you must pay her heir. Thirty thousand silver marks—half of all revenue in Talleth's coffers acquired since the Wardstone was placed. A council guard will help you to collect it."

"What? That isn't fair!"

"Of course, it's fair. Altira's wards enabled you to live a life of leisure. Your village prospered without the fear of being wiped out every migration season. You owed her. And now, you owe her heir." The chairwoman turned to Alethea. "There is still the matter of the dead hunters to be addressed. We find that you were not in your right mind, but under the influence of a mad Mind Healer. You did not act with forethought, but you did, nevertheless, kill two men in selfdefense." She waited. 82

Wardstone: Anger [Seven Sins and Virtue Series]

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"If I may, Councilor?" Alethea spoke hesitantly. "Did these men have families? Children?"

Everyone turned to Mostyn, and he responded reluctantly.

"No. Neither of them had a wife, or children—that they knew about."

"Then let the money that Mostyn is to give me be equally dispersed among the surviving villagers, to help them start new lives elsewhere."

She leaned heavily against Rhys but felt oddly lightened by her decision. It was right. She had taken their homes; they needed new ones.

"Very well, and very generous of you. Now, there is one final matter to take care of, if you will all follow me?" Curious, the entire crowd in the assembly hall filed out into an open courtyard. Above them, a dragon was waiting for a signal.

Orala had been dragged out with the rest of them and was beginning to stir. A touch from Phailin, and she suddenly stood straight, her guards on either side. A whispered "No" came from her as she looked up with the rest of them. There was the Wardstone of Talleth, a twelve-foot pillar of amethyst gripped in the claws of a dragon. Virik took a deep breath and announced, "The Wardstone of Talleth is the largest wardstone ever created. It kept a three-mile radius free of wildlife and bandits. It caused a woman to lose her life, and another to lose her mind. It ends here." At a signal from her, the dragon above dropped the stone.

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A wail of anguish broke from Orala. She tried to lunge forward, perhaps to throw herself beneath the stone, but her guards caught her.

Celestyn sobbed into her husband's shoulder. The last piece of her daughter shattered into a thousand shards as they watched.

Orala's mind broke. She sobbed uncontrollably and began to tear at her flesh and hair. The Questioner walked calmly up to her and, with the touch of her hand, knocked her out. They would take her to the guildhall and keep her from further harming herself.

"Rhys, give it to them."

Alethea understood why Celestyn was weeping. Rhys nodded and took the tiny pouch out of his belt as he crossed to the elf and his wife.

"Kesler, I believe that Celestyn needs this." He held the pouch out, and, looking bewildered, the elf took it and opened it. As he shook it out, his eyes widened in wonder as a chunk of amethyst fell into his hand, pulsing gently with warder power.

"Cely, look."

She took her swollen face away from his shoulder and gasped. There, in his hand, was the last remaining piece of Altira Warder's soul—he could feel the power radiating from it, and it was the generous soul of his daughter he sensed. Celestyn held out a shaking hand and traced it with unsteady fingers. Tears flowed unheeded down her face as she looked from her husband to Rhys.

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Wardstone: Anger [Seven Sins and Virtue Series]

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"How did you get this?" It was a mother's whisper of pain and relief.

"Alethea took it after she drained the stone. She took a piece and put her mother's soul in it. To keep it safe." Rhys looked back at his wife; she looked lost. He gestured for her to come to him.

"How? How did you know? We have wardstones from every member of our family for the last three hundred years. Altira was the only one who left before giving the family her stone. She said she would do it the next time she visited, but she never came back."

Celestyn was smiling through her tears.

"It wanted to come with me, so I took it. I don't know why. I was prepared to drain every ounce of power I had and die with the village. I don't know why I took it." Alethea took the hand her grandmother held out to her, and was embraced by both of her mother's parents. They started to cry, and she started to cry. She felt their tight embrace loosen, and she turned as the Questioner cleared her throat from behind them.