SanClare Black (The Prince of Sorrows) (19 page)

“
He and I became fast friends. I thought, ‘I can marry him. He’s fun. We’ll have a good time together.’ And he was so smart, so ambitious. He only had one problem, but it ruined everything.”

“
His father loved his brother more,” Jarlyth whispered. Everyone knew this story.

“
Yes. So much more that he wanted the second-born to inherit the throne. Set everything in motion to make it happen. Even tried to convince everyone that Valorian was the first-born twin. That’s why Galen had agreed to the marriage contract between us. He thought Savoni might be bought off from fighting it if he had another kingdom to rule.”

Tristella sighed and poured herself a fresh cup of
coffee. “Such a disaster! We’re all still reeling from it centuries afterward.”

Vail had declared
—so long ago no one was certain of the date—that inheritance of position should always be from first born to first born. Male or female, bastard or true-born, foolish or wise—it mattered not. Anyone who dared trifle with this holy rule reaped the consequences. In the case of the SanClares, the consequences were felt by kingdoms and not just families or individuals.

After a thoughtful pause, Tristella continued.
“Everyone went along with it, though—that’s where the disaster really began. Valorian was charming, handsome, strong. Everything a warrior-king should be. And Savoni was...different. He could be impatient with stupidity or foolishness. He lacked his brother’s diplomatic flair. He wanted people to be better and didn’t like it when they wouldn’t even try.”

“
Did you love him?” Flannery asked. Jarlyth almost stared at her, unused to such stunning bluntness from the usually almost-silent, solemn girl.

The queen seemed
unsurprised by the question. “In a way, I did. I was very young. He is a beautiful man and, at the time, very kind, very gentle. He didn’t want me to do anything I’d been bullied into.”

“
Why do you think he did it?” Jarlyth dared this time. But he’d always wondered, and here was his chance to find out.

Her hand trembled a bit as she set down the cup again, an out-of-place tremor of age from the youthful queen.

“
I sometimes think it was my fault. I was outraged on his behalf. I would rail at Galen behind closed doors. Shout how unjustly he was treating Savoni. Press him to petition Vail for a sign to be delivered to his father.

“
He’d laugh it off. Tease me out of my black fury. But our formal engagement was set to last some many moons, and as time passed...he changed. He grew quiet. His patience thinned even more. His smile faded.”

Hers had faded, too.
Jarlyth was sorry they’d made her recall such a sad time.
I don’t know why we even need to know. Cruel, idle curiosity.
He felt ashamed, but if she continued, he knew he wouldn’t stop her.

He
’d heard the story told and retold from historical records. There were books and books based on just the incidents surrounding the fall of the One Kingdom.
But she was there.

“We were all at evening meal. It was off-Season and relaxed, and I remember we’d been laughing over some silly joke one of the younger ones had made.

“
Savoni hadn’t been there, and I’d noticed, but he’d been missing things more and more often, so it didn’t occur to me to worry.”

She paused again, her memories almost visible in the room
with them. “I still don’t know how he found her. They were already very rare—you never see them now—and she was young.”

“
Who?” Flannery asked. Jarlyth knew and swallowed back his sick feeling at what was coming.

“
A Danae, dear,” she said. “One of the ancient folk—the magical people. The first waerloks got their power by stealing it from the Danae. Now they steal from their half-blood descendants, the wizards, and from the occasional Sensitive.”

“
Aren’t there any Danae left?” Flannery sounded hopeful.

Tristella moved her shoulders in a gentle shrug.
“There may be. I’ve never seen one since. I think they went away from us after all the bloodshed. And who can blame them? We were not kind.

“
I didn’t know it, but Savoni had been trying to convince his father not to disinherit him for moons. Before I even arrived. He was respectful and argued in private. He went to Valorian for help, trying to make his brother see how disastrous this would be for everyone. But Valorian, for all his bravery, was full of his father’s spoiled love and proud and greedy and selfish and thoroughly SanClare in all the worst ways.”

Flannery barked a laugh and shot Jarlyth a guilty glance.

“You know what I mean, don’t you?” Tristella asked, startled from her memories into realizing what she’d said and to whom.

Jarlyth smiled.
“No one knows better. Pride and obstinance are hallmarks of the breed. Even Nylan.”

Tristella
echoed his smile, but hers seemed to hold a memory too dear to share, and it faded again. “He finally realized they meant to do it, no matter what. I think what he really finally realized was that neither of them loved him. It broke the Savoni I knew and changed him forever.

“
He dragged that poor little thing into the dining hall and gutted her in front of everyone. So fast. It was so fast. You could almost see the power explode from the gash, and he took it all and turned and struck down his father with a look.”

“
Valorian was across the hall with his sword drawn before the rest of us could even think, but he couldn’t get near Savoni. I realized then that this wasn’t the first time he’d killed. He’d been a waerlok...for a long time already.”

She took a deep breath and blew it out, shaking her hair back.
“The rest you know. He’d gathered many allies, and many of them waerloks, and the war tore that beautiful kingdom and its beautiful peace to shreds.”

Jarlyth felt exhausted just hearing the tale, but Flannery was busy putting the new pieces together with what she knew.
“How could you let her, Senna? How could you let Veda—”

“
Let?” the queen interrupted with a hard laugh. “Let. Child, do you not remember my daughter?”

Flannery blushed and
muttered a dignified apology, but the queen waved a hand at her, dismissing it all.

“
They met by chance, or so Veda thought. I’ve never been sure. He’d wanted me to go with him. Of course, I couldn’t—not after what he’d done. Not after what he’d become. But I think he may have held on to the idea of the SanClare and the Voyavel coming together. He was fascinated by power, a side-effect of his blood addiction, and we Voyavels are special. Even more so than the SanClares.

“
He’d learned to be charming in the years since, and he charmed her. She was not young—about seventy when they met—but young enough for a beautiful, youthful, carefree girl who did as she pleased most of the time. She’d never been in love. We try to wait for that and not force our children to live out long, purposeless lives before they gain their thrones.”

The queen had lost many consorts over the years, but she
’d never taken another—at least not publicly—after the death of Vedalanna’s father.
This is also Nylan’s destiny.

“
They were careful, and he had more than enough magic to hide his identity when they were seen. They were together for over fifteen years. I made dozens of excuses for her absences, lied and lied and lied to protect Voya. To protect her. But most of the time, she was in Edoran with him.”

She took both of them in with a penetrating look.
“You know who Nylan’s real father is, don’t you?”

Flannery nodded and looked down at her hands.
Jarlyth blew out his breath. “Emperor Savoni.”

“
Good. Otherwise, this entire story might have seemed like the ramblings of an old woman to no good purpose, but I assure you, there is a purpose.”

She focused on Jarlyth then, and he felt caught in her bright
golden gaze. “You’ve come here for my help.”

“
Yes.”

“
I would have sent you any if I had it to give, child,” she whispered. “I am sorry. I can only advise you.”

“
I just need more people to help search—” he began, desperate not to be shunted off again and shocked that Tristella seemed to be doing just that.

“
That isn’t going to make any difference. You’ll never find him by searching the world a length at a time.”

“
But—”

She shook her head, silencing him.
“If anyone is going to have answers, it will be Savoni. If he doesn’t have answers, he is in the best position to help you find them.”

Jarlyth shot up from his chair and backed away from the woman, aghast.
“Go to the Blood Emperor? Are you insane?”

“
Jary—” she began.

“
No! He’s a waerlok! You know better than anyone that he’s a murderer. And a tyrant. He sends waves and waves of raiders to tear my country apart. That village where I met Vail? His men had destroyed it. He’s responsible for what happened to me!”

“
And my daughter loved him very much.” Tristella said this quietly, but the regret filled her voice, overflowing into the room so strongly, even Jarlyth’s weak Sensitivity could feel it.

Flannery looked from the queen to Jarlyth and back again.
“How could she love him? Did he enchant her?”

The regret grew, and Jarlyth felt tears stinging his eyes at the strength of it.
He focused and centered and rubbed at his nose. And hoped the queen would answer.

She did, at last.
“It is a mistake to think that people who do evil must be hateful. Often, they are quite the opposite: beautiful, charming, lovely. He had changed too much for me, and I could never overlook what he’d become, but he is still an amazing man. Like nothing Veda had ever before encountered. I thought I’d lost her forever.

“
And then, very abruptly, she left him. She came home. Almost at once, she left again for Serathon. She’d already made the arrangements. She promised me she’d redeem herself in my eyes and form a great alliance of the two houses at last. SanClare and Voyavel together.”

“
She was already pregnant.” Jarlyth put the pieces together as the queen wanted him to. “But...a year?”

Tristella smiled.
“It is one of our little secrets, dear boy. We Voyavels take more than a year to bring our heirs into the world. All that extra life takes a bit longer to build into a child, I suppose.”

“
She wanted him to be SanClare.” Flannery’s expression had grown more closed and unreadable than ever.

“
She wanted him to be
seen
to be a SanClare but without the dangers attendant on being
the
SanClare,” Tristella said.

The SanClare.
Jarlyth had known, but he hadn’t truly thought about what it meant.

“
First Born of the First Born,” he breathed.

“
True heir to the throne of the One Kingdom,” Tristella said. “Which makes Nylan—”

“
A threat to Teodor’s throne,” Flannery finished.

Jarlyth turned sharply and stared at the young woman.
“You think he was behind Nylan’s abduction?”

“
He has motive, and he certainly would have known how to get around the priory’s protections.”

Tristella looked doubtful.
“I don’t know...but it’s somewhere there. At that Court. I hope you’ve been careful.”

“
We have,” Jarlyth promised, but he felt stupid. He’d been so focused on finding Nylan, he realized he’d all but overlooked this more dangerous question.
Who did have Nylan taken? And why?

Tristella saw it in his
eyes and gave him a very sad smile. “I wish I knew the answer to that, but if I did, I would have destroyed them myself already. No. This mystery is still all tangled. I can only help point you toward a better chance of solving it, child. I wish to Vail I could do more.”

“
But Savoni?” Jarlyth felt wrung out and sick and exhausted.
And scared.

“
Veda was already pregnant when she learned that he didn’t want an heir. He wants to go on ruling as long as his power allows. Even a long-lived heir is a threat, especially when one has enemies who might prefer a younger, less established, more-easily-led ruler over, as you say, a tyrant.”

Jarlyth crossed the room and dropped back into his chair.
He stared off at nothing, the carpet blurring before his eyes.
This was a mistake. She’s insane.
“Why would he help me if that’s true?”

“
Because I believe he really loved Veda. He made her promises, and
he
never broke any of them. He allowed her to leave him and marry another and have their child because he knew it was what she wanted, and he wanted her to be happy.”