Lies in Blood (13 page)

“
Arthur,” Blade said casually, turning once to watch him leave. “I think we scared him off.”

“
Probably for the best anyway.” I leaned on the tabletop. “Not sure I want everyone knowing what we’re up to.”

“
I thought you trusted Arthur.”

“
I do. But I’m starting to see why people around here place more distance on friends than they do enemies.”

“
Oh?” He leaned on the table beside me, crossing his ankles. “And why is that?”

“
Because friends betray you in your best interests, Blade. And there is nothing more dangerous than a person who is trying to protect you from the truth for your own good.”

The corners of his lips turned down with thought, his head bowing once in a nod of approval. “You sure you need
me
to teach you anything?”

I laughed. “You sure you need to ask that question?”

He stood from his lean and wandered over to the whiteboard—stuffed neatly into a crevice behind a desk—and lifted it onto its stand. “Right, before we learn anything about the law or the ins and outs of queenly duties, let’s start with where you’re going wrong and why you may have the respect of your people but not of your peers.”

I looked into my lap for a second, digesting that. “Straight to the nitty-gritty, huh?”

“
I see no need to waste time on small talk, My Queen.”

“
Okay.” I nodded. “Let’s get started then.”

“
Sit.” He pointed to the chair.

I sat down.

“
Now, first of all—” He paced the floor, his hands closed around a whiteboard marker behind his back, that English accent of his more prominent in Teacher Mode, “—most unlikeable thing you do: tantrums.”

“
Tantrums?”

“
Yes.” He grinned, making an overly dramatic point of stomping his foot.

“
Oh. That.”

“
Yes,
that
. A queen does not need to stomp her foot to get her own way. You’re on the right track, Ara—” He stuffed the marker in his back pocket, “—standing up for what you believe, making decisions and seeing that people follow them. It’s what you need to do. But you don’t need to stomp your foot to do it.”

“
I never even realised I was.”

“
I know.” He squatted in front of me and delicately took my hand until I looked at him. “And, this isn’t a pick-on-Ara session, either. I just want to point out a few things that need to change if you’re to earn the respect you actually deserve.”

“
Okay.” I drew my hand back. “So, no foot-stomping.”

“
Right. And every time I see you do it, I’m going to throw something at you, or maybe pinch you,” he said, probably imagining it.

“
Okay. I give you official permission to pinch me if I do.”

“
Excellent. Now—” He joined his hands and stood up again. “One of the other annoying things you do—”

I sat forward, listening eagerly.

“
I’ve watched you with Arthur, with Mike, even with David, and one thing I can say that’s consistent about you, girl, is you tend to believe whatever whoever you’re talking to at the time says.”

“
What’d you mean?”

“
There’s a lot of mystery and history surrounding our past and possibly shaping our future as a nation, and you seem to believe too easily what you’re told you need to do—or even to believe.”

“
Like what?”

“
Take this prophecy for example. What do you actually believe about it?”

“
I…” I considered all Arthur’s points, the things Jason taught me in the library the day he translated the scrolls, and all the things Morgaine had told me in the beginning—things I took as fact, that now turned out to be so far from the truth they weren’t even worth remembering. “I’m leaning more toward it being a contract, not a prophecy.”

“
And what about the power of your foretold child?”

“
The power to free the Damned?”

He nodded once.

“
I . . . I think
I
can free them.” I waved my fingertips in the air.

“
And what about Drake coming for your child. What do you believe about that?”

“
I believe there’s a reason he wants her dead. Maybe she turns out to be the devil. I don’t know, but we can’t just rule him as the bad guy because he seeks to kill her. I think we should have a heavily guarded sit-down meet, and talk about it all.”

Blade smiled. “And why hasn’t this been done?”

“
Because no one else agrees with me.”

“
And . . .
who
has all the power in this monarchy?”

I sat straighter. “The queen.”

“
Precisely. So, I reiterate—” He knelt before me, his elbow on his knee. “Why hasn’t it been done?”

“
You’re right.” I stood up, forcing him to shift backward quickly. “I need a plan. I need to think about what to ask Drake, and I need to organise to meet with him.”

“
But your people,” he gasped dramatically, like a shocked old woman, rising to his feet, “they won’t like it.”

“
Well, it’s my decision. I may be young, but I’m not stupid.”

“
I think they’ll fight you on this.”

“
Then I’ll damn well overrule them,” I said, stomping my foot. “Ouch!” I swiped Blade's hand off my arm, cupping my sore skin. “You pinched me!”

“
You stomped your foot. Try again.”

I walked cautiously away from him and stood across the room, looking out the window. “A meeting with Drake, in person, to talk—sift through the lies and webs in this whole prophecy—is what’s best for my people. War leads to death. And secrecy—” I turned around to look at Blade. “It begets secrecy. I need to flush this out.”

“
Okay. So, now you believe that for yourself, what will you do?”

“
Tell them that’s the plan.”

“
Tell whom?”

“
My people, my council, my House. And they
will
go along with it, because anyone who opposes will be asked to step down.”

Blade appeared beside me, the dark shadows shaping his smile. “That’s my girl. And
when
they oppose you—which they will—what will be your immediate reaction?”

I pictured myself in front of the House, standing at the head of the boardroom table, calm, taking slow breaths, staying silent until they all finished arguing around me. “I’ll whisper,” I said, “to get their attention. I’ll tell them this is the plan. Tell them, including David, that I overrule them.”

“
Just
tell
them?” he prompted. “No yelling?”

“
I think quiet repetition should suffice.” The corners of my lips pulled outward, making me smile.

“
And…how do you know
this
is the right course of action? How do you know I’m not leading you into some trap, bending you to
my
will?”

“
Because I trust you.”

“
You trust Arthur. You trust Morgaine. You trust—”

“
Point taken. But…” I exhaled softly, touching my chest. “Blade, I’m following my own heart. Often, when people tell me something or ask me to do something, I do it because I’m trying to be the queen I’m supposed to be, even if it feels wrong. But I don’t care about that anymore. I care about doing what’s best for everyone—for my people and my family, myself last. What they think of me doesn’t really matter anymore. So, if I do what I always think is right, then I’m
choosing
who to trust, not just walking blindly, guided by every voice of reason I hear.”

He clapped his hands once, then again, and again, getting faster and faster until it was a full-blown applause. I took a soft bow.

“
See?” he said. “I don’t really need to teach you anything about being queen, Ara. I just need to shine some light on what you already know.” He touched my shoulder. “You’re a good person. You may take longer than everyone else to figure out how to rule your own roost, but I’d take a good soul as queen any day over a judicial prick.”

“
Thank you, Blade.” I hugged him, wondering if that comment was a stab at David. “I think I just…it helps having someone believe in me, you know?”

“
We all
want
to believe in you, Ara. Some of us are just afraid.”

“
Why?” I sat down on the chair.

“
It’s like falling in love.” He leaned his butt on the table beside me again, taking the marker out of his back pocket. “We need this—this queen, the safety, the protection, so bad that we’re scared, if we hope, it’ll all fall apart.”

Those words rung true deep within me. “I know how that feels almost better than anyone.”

“
I know. And that’s why I know that, even if this not-yet-conceived child does turn out to be the devil, and that’s why Drake wants her dead, you’d kill her in a heartbeat—” He held up a finger. “After checking your facts, first.”

I nodded, smiling. “Yes. Fact checking. My new instant reaction.”

“
Right. And calm breath, too. When you’re about to stomp your foot, just remember, you don’t have to. Being queen means you are one big foot-stomp. What you say goes, pretty little thing, so don’t feel as if you have to yell and scream about it.”

“
Okay.” I grinned. “Well, on the bright side, I guess this prepares me for parenting, too. Can’t have two foot-stomping teenagers under one roof.”

“
No.” He laughed. “We certainly can’t.”

***

Almost as if my stomach despised this as much as me, it groaned when I reached the field bordering the training hall. This week went by so fast, with so many things to take care of and so many discussions at dinner, I wasn't really sure I’d eaten anything human.

I touched the back of my wrist, running a finger over the raised vein there, thinking about Eric, wondering where he was, what he was doing.

“
Hey, gorgeous. What you doin’?” Mike said, catching up to me at a slight run.

“
Studying my veins.” I showed him my wrist. “Eric told me that when they look like this, I'm blood hungry.”

“
When was the last time you had blood?” He took my hand in his, flipping it over to look at my skin carefully.

“
This morning.”

He laughed and poked me in the ribs. “I'm gonna call you Miss Piggy.”

“
Shut up.” I backhanded him. “Where’s David? I’ll eat from him before we start training.”

“
He’s already in there.”

“
Okay. Cool.”

We both took a step forward, but though Mike moved, I stayed stuck on the spot, caught by my lace under the sole of my shoe.

“
How many times do I have to tell you to tie that up?” Mike groaned, glancing back.

“
Crud.” I lifted my foot and released the lace, ergo freeing my halted steps. “You go ahead. I’ll meet you in there,” I said. “From the sounds of that fight, I think David's opponent needs some medical attention.”

Mike grinned, listening. “He’s up against Falcon. This should be good.”

I smiled as he bounded away like a little boy heading to a mud puddle.

“
Sorry about that,” Jason said, springing up out of nowhere.

“
About what?”