Breakwater (15 page)

he dining hall was empty and a stab of alarm shot through me. Where was Bella? After her walk with Ash, she should have been here, with Requiem. Before I could leave, the same slave who’d come to our room stepped into view. “They went for a walk along the sea wall, lady. The ambassador asked to be shown about and drink in the fresh air.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Requiem went with her?”

“No, he is in his personal rooms. He always goes there after midday break.”

I made a snap decision. “Take me to him.”

Bowing slightly, the human led me out of the dining area and through the circular palace. We climbed down several sets of stairs and crossed a bridge that stretched between two spires before reaching an open courtyard. Ahead of us was a single spire set back from the open-air coliseum. The slave led me into the spire and we climbed a set of stairs that led to a closed set of doors. We had to be a hundred feet above the ocean.

“That is his abode,” the human said softly, glancing behind us.

The slave’s eyes went wide as he looked past me. The chill crawling up my spine like damp fingertips tickling along my skin had nothing to do with the actual temperature of the day. I turned, already knowing who would be behind me.

“Larkspur, how convenient you are here considering I have been looking for you.” Requiem smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Interesting that your ambassador would have two Enders at her side when she is so powerful in her own abilities. What have you been up to this morning, Ender Larkspur?”

I didn’t take my eyes from his, not for a second. For the first time in weeks, I heard Granite’s voice in my head as if he were standing there with me.
He’ll telegraph his every move through his eyes.

“I’ve been exploring your palace; it is quite expansive. One could get lost easily.”

“Ah. Exploring, is that what you’d call it, now?” He raised his left hand, the swirls of blue wrapping around each finger as obvious to me as if he stated what he was going to do. A small cloud formed over our heads and rain pattered around us. The human slave flinched and backed away, but Requiem stopped him with a crook of one finger.

I didn’t flinch, not even when a miniature bolt of lightning danced across his hand. A second flex of his hands, and white spools of electricity danced up his arm and the clouds blew away. Blew away . . . that wasn’t possible, unless . . .

“You’re a half breed.” The words escaped me before I thought better of it. And I really should have thought better of it.

Requiem’s eyes widened. “What did you say?”

The slave went to his knees, but I didn’t move. I held my ground, bracing myself for a fight. “You’re a half breed, aren’t you? Why haven’t your people slapped you into chains? It’s what they do, isn’t it?”

He moved around me, closer to the slave. “Tell me something, Larkspur, do you realize the power rumors have?”

Before I could say, or do, anything, his hand shot out and he grabbed the slave by the hair. With a vicious twist, he snapped the human’s neck. The crack reverberated through the room and down my own spine. “I would suggest while you are here, you keep your thoughts to yourself.”

A flick of Requiem’s hand sent the human’s limp body flying. Limbs twisted as the slave fell, slamming into the wall. His head rolled back at an impossible angle, and I couldn’t look away. His death was my fault, because I’d spoken without thinking. Tears pricked at my eyes. The slave had shown me kindness despite having every reason to hate me along with the other elementals.

Requiem’s black eyes focused on me, snapping me out of my spiraling grief and guilt. “We have a problem. I have given my word I wouldn’t kill you. Yet you know things you should not. Whatever are we to do?”

Heart beating so hard I thought it might climb from my throat, I shook my head. In for a blade of grass, in for the whole damn field. “Somehow I don’t see you as a man of your word. Someone who would kill their own father and poison their sister in order to take a throne that would never belong to him doesn’t strike me as trustworthy.”

He flicked his hand, white lines racing around his fingers and up his arms. The wind caught me and shoved me through the doors of his personal quarters. The distinct sound of locks slamming into place rang in my ears. I was on the floor next to a monstrous bed, big enough for ten people to sleep in. I stood, but didn’t take my eyes from him. Not for a second.

He strolled around the room, hands on his hips as he walked. “Bold. Very bold, indeed. Not something I see anymore.” His black eyes flicked to me and a smile curved his lips. “Not that it means you’re safe. I wouldn’t want to give you the wrong idea.” Requiem stopped in front of a huge drawing on the wall. “Do you know what this is, Larkspur?”

Forcing my breathing to even out, I walked closer to get a better look. Names and dates were scattered over the paper, the history of several families by the looks of it.

“Genealogy of your family.”

“Not my family. All four families. We all stemmed from the same place.” His fingers caressed a name on the far right. The Mother Goddess and next to it, her consort. No name, but his place was there beside her.

I couldn’t help but look closer, seeing the places the families blended back together and tore apart. The desire to grab the paper from the wall and study it hit me hard. Somewhere in it was my history, my mother’s history. No, that wasn’t correct. “You have no one representing Spirit.”

He turned to look me over. “Beautiful, fiery, and intelligent. You are correct. There is no history on those who dealt in Spirit. A great disappointment to me that all records of their bloodlines were erased. Though I have heard there is a child of mixed parentage in the house of Basileus. That one of his daughters carries Spirit and Earth.”

I stepped back, sure he could hear my heart pounding. I had to dissuade him of the idea. “I do believe you are wrong. None of his children are half breeds. Cassava would never have allowed it.”

With a shrug, he turned to me. “She is already here, isn’t she? The legends say Spirit enhances the other elements. Makes elementals so strong, they have the force of many. The power of the tsunami was raw, and in it I knew she was here. That is why I tried to kill you. I do not want her to have a protector.”

He thought Belladonna was the child of Spirit and Earth. “Then why didn’t you just kill me?”

The black silk tightened as I shifted my stance, the muscles in my leg outlined by the material. Requiem’s eyes slid up my legs, hunger burning in the black depths. “Because I like what I see when I look at you.”

He slid up next to me, and then was behind me before I could stop him. His chest brushing against my back, hands skimming down my bare arms to the tops of my thighs. “Perhaps I can be convinced not to kill you.”

Belladonna’s words came back to me. To tease, to draw a man out, but not give him what he wanted. That was a dangerous game. I wasn’t sure I could do it, but I was going to try for the sake of my life and my sister’s. “And your wife? What would she think of your offer?”

His breath whispered across the back of my neck. “She does as she’s told. Like a well-behaved woman should.” Worm shit and green sticks, his wife was still alive?

The struggle inside my head raged for all of three seconds. I had to keep Belladonna safe. That was my number one job. No matter what that meant, no matter what it cost me. Sex was a tool not every Ender had at their disposal. I just had to use this power the right way.

Before I could make another move, he bit me on the side of my neck, his blunt teeth digging in hard.

I pushed away from him, acting as though his bite didn’t hurt like hell, as I turned and placed my fingers on his chest. “I don’t do as I’m told. And I am far from well-behaved.”

His eyes flashed as I backed away from him, letting my hips sway. His eyes roved down my body, and he stepped toward me, growling, “Come here.”

Raising my eyebrows, I laughed at him. “No, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Rage flickered across his face, followed hotly by a bolt of lust that left his pants obviously too tight. “I will kill you then.”

“Not yet, you won’t.” I was at the door, the knob was under my hand and I twisted it, forgetting he’d locked it. Damn it. He grinned at me and I smiled back as he approached, fear and anger slicing through me. I grabbed hold of the anger and used it to push past the fear keeping me from my power.

A rush of strength shot through me as I connected to the earth. I placed my palm over the stone door, feeling every connection to the rock, every particle of sand that created it and pulled it apart, broke it down. The door disintegrated under my fingers, sliding to my feet in a pile of gray sand I stepped over. “Be careful who you play with, Requiem. You might find a hook through your gills and your fins removed.”

His eyes were wide as he stared at me, to the pile of sand and then back to my face. “Impossible.”

I turned and walked away, my back prickling like crazy. I took the stairs carefully, the urge to spin and stare him down nearly overwhelming, but I forced myself to keep walking. To keep moving as if I didn’t have a care in the world and didn’t feel his eyes on me as I moved away.

The curve of the stairs finally hid me and I slumped behind it, leaning against the wall. Breathing hard, I fought to get my heart under control, as I replayed the scene with Requiem in my head.

I had done the best I could. I hoped I hadn’t been foolish. I all but ran down the rest of the stairs and into the bright sunlight. Once I was across the bridge and back into the main section of spires, I finally allowed myself to slow.

I rounded a corner and nearly ran over Ayu. She stumbled to a stop when she saw me. “Ender, thank the mother goddess. Your ambassador . . . you have to hurry.”

She grabbed me and I let her pull me along. “What happened?”

“I don’t know, she was walking through the palace, her other Ender at her side when she crumpled to the ground. I can’t seem to ease the pain in her belly and she cries out for you. I have never seen anything like this.”

I grabbed her arm and we ran the rest of the way to our assigned room. As we drew close, Bella’s voice echoed through the hall: a cry that made me believe she was truly dying. I bolted forward and through the door. Belladonna lay on the bed, curled in a fetal position as she rocked.

“Bella, what happened?”

Her eyes, pain glazed and shadowed with tears, lifted to mine. “Lark, please don’t leave me. I’m so afraid.”

I was at her side in an instant, sitting on the edge of the bed. She reached for me and grabbed my hand. Her grip was amazingly strong and the glimmer in her eye caught me off guard. Glancing over my shoulder, I looked at Ash as he paced the far side of the room. “What happened?”

“We were down by the docks, she stumbled and fell to her knees.” His face was drawn and again, I could see there wasn’t a complete truth there.

“Go to the kitchens. Get us some fruit, if you can.”

He stiffened. “I am not an errand boy, Lark.”

Glaring at him, I tightened my grip on Bella. “Who can we trust but each other?”

His gaze flickered over me, resting on the bite on my shoulder. “Who indeed?” He stalked from the room. Ayu hovered and I waved at her. “Give me a moment.”

She bowed and shut the door as she slipped out. Belladonna gave a long low moan, her eyes flicking to the closed door.

“What in the seven hells is going on Bella?”

“Ash took a note from a messenger. I saw it.” She paused and I wanted to shake her but managed to restrain myself.

“And? What did it say?”

She paused and I saw the indecision there. “Spit it out, Bella.”

“Drown the flowers.”

My heart cracked. I was sure she heard it, the pain so sharp and sudden. “Are you sure?”

Her eyes were serious. “Yes. We can’t trust him. Tell him that my yearly is here, that is the pain, and he’ll stay away from us. You know that.”

As a female earth elemental, we were only fertile for a short period of time, once a year. The time was often marked with severe pain preceding the period of fertility. Usually it happened in early summer so while this was a little late, it was still plausible.

I nodded, stood, and went to the door. Peering out, I gave Ayu a tight smile. “Can you get us some herbals for yearly stomach cramps?”

Ayu’s eyes crinkled at the edges. “It’s a little late, isn’t it?”

I shrugged. “Belladonna rarely does anything when she’s supposed to.”

A laugh escaped the healer. “Of course. You two are from the same family after all, you should know.” I wasn’t sure I liked the comparison, but there was no point in arguing it. And I wasn’t going to point out just how closely Belladonna and I were related.

Ash came back and I met him at the door, quickly explaining what was happening.

He folded his arms and stared at me, one of the few people I knew who could look me in the eye. “Really?

“How many women have you been around when they are in their yearly?” I put my hands on my hips, hiding the hurt digging into my heart.

He frowned and put a hand on my shoulder, dragging me down the hall away from the door. “You can’t trust her, Lark. Whatever game she is playing, she’s going to drag us both down with her.”