Bound by Blood and Sand (16 page)

Jae could feel it when Elthis finally arrived. The energy around the estate was frantic, and when she used other-vision to look into the distance, she could see the group of people approaching. Gali brought her lunch, but was too nervous and jumpy to stay with her while she ate. Not that Jae blamed her. Elthis's arrival meant the beginning of the end for Aredann. When he left, Jae assumed, he'd take the Avowed with him—and leave the Closest to their fate.

Jae hoped the Closest had heard the rumors about her and her magic, and realized she would save them. But if she were in Gali's place, she wouldn't believe anything like that. It seemed impossible that even magic could stand up against the Highest. But Jae could and would.

To her surprise, Elthis left the estate almost as soon as he arrived, with only Shirrad, Desinn, and Elan accompanying him. She followed their path around the reservoir and back to Aredann slowly. Elan and Shirrad walked off together, finding other Avowed and sending them scurrying, while Desinn and Elthis made their way toward the largest hall.

People began to gather there quickly, Shirrad and Elan joining them after a few minutes. Jae decided she'd been stuck in this room long enough. If Elthis was going to make Aredann's abandonment official, she was going to hear it for herself. She made her way downstairs and gave Firran a wry look as she walked past him into the hall. He flinched and darted to another corner, farther from her. She didn't push her way through the crowd, though, just stood at the back and waited.

Elan stood at his father's side at the front of the room, facing the crowd. Jae knew the moment when he spotted her by the way his eyes widened, but she just stared him down. His expression smoothed quickly, morphing into the same polite, bored smile he'd worn throughout the first days of his visit.

“My friends, my beloved Avowed,” Elthis finally began. He was a large man, and Jae could see how much Elan resembled him. They were both handsome, with warm brown skin and loose dark curls, but Elthis's eyes were darker and more narrow, his chin not quite as square. And he was more
commanding.
He stood as if he owned the room, because he did. The room, and everyone in it. Except Jae.

“My advisor has written to me about Aredann again and again over the past weeks. He and my son have told me how much the drought has affected you all—how much you've suffered, how hard you've all worked. But I did not understand the enormity of it until I saw it with my own eyes.

“I've been told of your earthquake. I can see the evidence of it around me, from the patched walls to the chaos of the streets outside. And I know what it means.” His gaze swept across the crowd. Jae waited for it to stop on her, but it didn't—he didn't seem to notice her at all. “The more people in our world, the less water for each. So we have begun changing the way the Well flows—moving people away from outlying estates, and then sending the water itself to other reservoirs. We must do this with Aredann now. It has been a hard decision to reach, and changing the Well's flow takes a great deal of magic. The process has begun—and unfortunately, you experienced the results as an earthquake. But don't fear. We will
all
leave Aredann within a few days. With any luck, none of you will suffer such a fright again.”

He smiled at them, calm and paternal. People around her murmured in relief, but Jae stepped forward. Elthis had lied to them. It was a grain of sand compared to the desert of the Highest's lies, but Jae knew better now. And she could prove it.

“That is not true,” Jae said, already reaching for the magic around her.

Elthis's gaze swept down her frame. He glanced at Elan, and Elan gave him a slight, tiny nod. When he looked back at her, he smiled again.

“You must all forgive this girl. My son granted her permission to speak on behalf of her people—but now you hear for yourselves why we keep the Closest in silence. They are, as they always have been, mad—and traitorous.” He shook his head a little, as if he was bemused. “We'll discuss this in private.”

“There is nothing to discuss,” Jae said, but it was obvious from the smirks and stifled amusement of the Avowed around her that none of them believed her. Elthis's explanation for the earthquake was so much more comfortable. They would never believe anything else, not unless she made them.

Elthis began walking toward her—toward the door. Shirrad, Elan, and Desinn followed in his wake.

“You
know
it's a lie, Elan. You know it,” she said, but it was hard to speak loudly enough to be heard over the crowd, and he wouldn't meet her gaze. He just gestured her toward the door.

She had no choice but to follow, the moment lost. Not that it mattered. Maybe the Avowed believed Elthis—but of course they would. What they thought didn't matter.
Elthis
knew the truth, that magic made her as powerful and dangerous as he was. So fine, she'd discuss this in private. She would inform Lord Elthis that even his power had limits—and tell him what she was prepared to do if he forced her hand.

They made their way to Lady Shirrad's private study, a smaller room where one of the mosaics had been pried off the wall. The table had been pushed back into position after the quake, but the missing bricks in the wall hadn't been replaced, and the cracks in the ceiling hadn't been repaired. Elthis threw it all a disdainful look, but gestured Shirrad down onto one of the cushions.

“Desinn, have someone fetch us water,” he said calmly. Desinn nodded and hurried out. Elthis turned to Jae and added, “So this is the Closest who has caused so much trouble. What is her name?”

“Jae, Highest,” Lady Shirrad said quickly.

“Jae,” he repeated. “I have to admit, I'm fascinated by everything I've heard about you. A Closest who is
not
a Closest, who dares speak in front of me. Who, I'm told, has magic. I'd accuse my son of making it all up, but even Desinn seems to believe it.”

“Because it's true.” Jae stood up as tall as she could.

“You shook Aredann to its foundation,” he continued. “Nearly knocked the whole place down. And Lord Rannith, you killed him in cold blood.”

“No,” she said. “There was nothing cold about it. I killed him to protect myself.”

“But you
admit
that you killed him.”

“Yes,” she said. There was no point in lying, and she wasn't ashamed, or sorry, or afraid.

Desinn came back into the room, Tal trailing behind him, carrying mugs and a water jug. He placed them on the table and poured, but before he could leave, Desinn grabbed him by the sleeve.

“If you are free from the Curse,” Elthis said, his tone almost entertained, “then you are nothing but a pesky Twill and should be dealt with as one. You murdered one of Lady Shirrad's Avowed, and have confessed to it. That's a crime, and it's punishable by death. Why shouldn't I simply see you hanged?”

“Father, she—” Elan started, but Jae interrupted him.

“Because if you so much as touch me, I will do to you the same as I did to Rannith.” She met his gaze with a stony glare, certain that he, alone among the Avowed, understood how insulting it had been to ask her a question.

“Do not threaten me, Closest,” he said. “You may think you have power, but you have no idea what I can do. You have no right to even speak to me.”

“
You
have no right,” Jae spat back, allowing the truth to spill freely from her lips. “You can lie to the Avowed, but
I
know the truth. Abandoning Aredann won't change anything, because you
can't
change anything. You say it takes great magic to change the Well's flow—but you
can't.
”

“Jae—” Elan started, but she ignored him.

“You don't control the Well, and you never did,” she said. “It always belonged to me—to my ancestors. They crafted it, they controlled it, and
I
will use it to save Aredann.”

“Enough,” Elthis said. “Be silent, and I will be merciful.”

“Once Aredann is safe, I will break the Curse,” she continued, staring him down. “And I will show everyone the truth—that Aredann was the traitor, not Taesann, and that the Highest started the War.”

“No one will ever believe that,” Elthis said, but his bored expression had crumbled. He was glaring at her now, hatred etched in every line of his body.

“But
you
believe it,” she said. “You know it—know that the Highest were the usurpers, the rebels, the thieves and liars. You
know
—”

“Enough!”
Elthis finally gave in to his fury, and in that moment she was certain she was right. Elan might not have known the truth about his caste, but Elthis did. He took a breath, but it was too late for him to pretend.

She smiled into the silence.

Elthis turned away from her entirely—and toward Tal. His voice was calm again when he finally spoke. “You, Closest—Tal. You are her brother, aren't you?”

“Yes, Highest,” Tal said immediately, standing statue-still, Desinn's hand still on his arm.

“Come here.”

Tal trotted over to him obediently, but his expression was wide-eyed with terror, and he winced away when Elthis produced a knife from his belt. The Curse wouldn't let Tal go far, and he only fell a step back before stilling again, unable to move.

“What are you doing?” Jae demanded, gaze fixing on the knife. It had a long, sharp blade that glinted in the light as he turned it in his hand, until he was holding it by the blade, offering it to Tal.

“Proving a point. Tal, take this.”

Hand trembling, Tal reached out to take the knife from him, and his fingers closed around the hilt.

“Your hair.” Elthis nodded toward him. “Cut it off.”

Jae swallowed, her throat dry and her stomach dropping. Tal's hands both shook as he pulled the twist of hair at the back of his neck taut and sawed into it with the knife. Tal's hair was thick, and while the knife was sharp, it wasn't made for this, especially not with the awkward angle he had to cut at. He sliced his hand on one stroke and gasped in pain, face screwed up in agony, but he couldn't stop cutting until it was done and he held the knife in one hand and the severed clump of hair in the other.

Elthis gestured toward the corner. “You can wait over there now.”

Tal moved jerkily, the Curse carrying him while he still clutched the knife. He retreated to the corner and stood so still and scared that he didn't even try to stop the bleeding. Trembling, Jae turned to face Elthis.

“It's very simple,
Closest,
” he said, neutral expression dropping again. His voice was dark and loud, powerful and terrifying, like the one thunderstorm Jae could remember from her youth. “You may control magic, but I control your brother. You will do as I tell you, you will never speak a word of your mad story again, or the next order I give him will be to slit his own throat.”

Lady Shirrad gasped, hand going to her mouth. Elan stared, eyes wide and mouth open, his hand pressed to his shoulder. Even Desinn looked down at the floor. But Elthis's gaze never wavered.

“Do you understand?” Elthis asked.

“Father—” Elan started, but Elthis silenced him with a wave of his hand.

“Do you understand?” he repeated.

Jae looked over at Tal, whose eyes were wide, bright saucers in the dark. He was still trembling, still bleeding. Still holding the knife.

She could see it now, as if it was happening already. Tal was a genius at twisting orders, at interpreting them to meet his own ends in ways the Curse could never punish him for. But there would be no arguing with Elthis, no way around it. He would give a direct order, and Tal's body would carry it out, no matter how much his mind screamed and rebelled. Without so much as a whimper, he'd draw the blade along his neck—

“Yes,” Jae whispered, staring at Tal. The righteous anger she'd felt burned out, a flame extinguished suddenly, replaced by the cold stones of terror she'd always known. “I understand.”