The Palace of Impossible Dreams (41 page)

“I have absolutely nothing to say to you, Cayal.”

“Then you can listen to me,” he said. “Now let it go.”

“You have absolutely nothing to say that I want to hear.”

“I think I have something you'd very much like to hear.”

“Cayal, please,” he heard Arkady urge softly behind him. “Don't make this worse.”

Cayal took a step toward Hawkes. The channel churned beneath the dock. Hawkes wasn't letting anything go.

“Just out of curiosity, what's your father's name?”

The question caught the Glaeban off-guard. Hawkes hesitated before answering. “Why?”

“Do you even
know
your father's name?”

“He doesn't,” Arryl answered for him. “But we think he might have been an immortal. Declan is apparently Maralyce's great-grandson. We were trying to figure out how this might have happened. We've been speculating that if his father was an immortal too that would explain how
he
became immortal.”

Cayal's suspicion that Lukys was somehow involved in this solidified into a certainty. “
I imagine his business in Glaeba had something to do with gems
,” Oritha had told Cayal months ago when he returned to fetch Lukys after he'd spoken with Brynden. “
And he probably wanted to visit his son.
”

“
Ryda Tarek has a son in Glaeba?”
he recalled asking. He'd thought the story about a son in Glaeba was just a tale Lukys had spun to keep Oritha from asking too many awkward questions about his past.

Tides, it all makes so much sense in hindsight
 . . .

“So you think his father was an immortal, do you?” he said to Arryl. Cayal turned back to Hawkes, who was visibly trembling with the force of the power he was trying to contain. “In that case, I most definitely have something you want to hear, old son.” He took a step closer, deciding a show of fearlessness here might be the only thing Hawkes responded to. “Now let it go before Senestra goes the way of Magreth.”

Hawkes glared at him and asked through gritted teeth, “What could you possibly have to tell me that I'd be interested in, Cayal?”

“Let's start,” Cayal suggested, “with who your father is.”

Lunch with the Lady Alysa was served in her rooms, a warm fire crackling merrily in the fireplace, giving the room a very convivial atmosphere which was at complete odds with the discussion Stellan knew would soon be going on between the diners. Warlock, the Crasii ex-convict sent here to spy for the Cabal, served the meal as if nothing was amiss.

“Your steward seems familiar,” Stellan said, as Warlock cleared the empty plates from their second course. Until now, the discussion over lunch had been quite inane. If the Immortal Maiden was trying to pump him for information about what he was really doing here in Caelum, she was either very subtle or hadn't got around to it yet.

Elyssa smiled and nodded in agreement. “You probably saw him in Herino. He was a gift from King Mathu and Queen Kylia.”

“Then he's probably spying for them,” Stellan said, folding his napkin as he leaned back in his seat.

“No,” Elyssa said confidently. “He's not.”

“How can you be certain?”

“I inspire undying loyalty in all my Crasii,” she said. “None of them would ever betray me.”

Stellan looked sceptical. Or at least he hoped he did. He wasn't supposed to know, after all, that this woman was an immortal and that her confidence in Warlock's loyalty came from the magical compulsion on all Crasii to obey their immortal masters.

“Jaxyn Aranville will have found a way, my lady. You can be certain of it.”

She smiled. “You speak with such bitterness when you mention his name. Is that something my brother should be wary of?”

“I'm not here to push my own personal agenda, my lady. Glaeba is under threat and I believe that only an external force can deal with the problem.”

“You want Caelum to go to war for you, in other words?”

“I want you to take action against the people who kidnapped your princess and kept her prisoner for their own nefarious purposes. That those same people are, I believe, responsible for killing my king and plan to take the throne of Glaeba from its rightful heirs just means we have a common enemy.”

“And your enemy's enemy is your friend?”

“Precisely.”

“I've had . . . previous dealings with Lord Jaxyn,” Elyssa said carefully. “In fact I know him quite well. Are you sure you want to confront him head on? He doesn't play nice at all.”

“Something I've learned through bitter experience.”

“You were lovers, according to popular rumour.”

“Do you listen to rumours, my lady?”

“I do when they're as juicy as this one.”

Stellan shrugged; the stories circulating about his sexual preferences the least of his problems, these days. “As you say, my lady, Jaxyn doesn't play nice. He does what he must to get what he wants. I was foolish enough to be standing between him and his prize for a time.”

Elyssa smiled. “And now you want to stop him getting his hands on it at all?”

“The throne of Glaeba isn't something one can take a fancy to and decide to take, just because one can, my lady.” He looked at her earnestly, as he realised the lifetime he'd spent living a lie was probably the best training he could have had for the situation he now found himself in. “I mean . . . how would
you
feel if some stranger came along and decided to snatch the throne from Princess Nyah?”

Elyssa, to her credit, didn't even blink. “It would be a terrible thing.”

“Then you understand my position.”

“I do, your grace,” she agreed. “But if I understand you correctly, you've been advocating an immediate invasion of Glaeba. It may have escaped your notice, but the legal heir to the throne of Glaeba currently occupies it. Jaxyn hasn't made a move on the throne and doesn't appear to be planning one. Why invade now?”

Because the Tide isn't all the way up yet!
Stellan wanted to jump to his feet and yell at her.
Because there's still some chance we can win this war without destroying Caelum and Glaeba in the process. Because if you and your inhuman kind get involved in a land war, you might not be so keen to get involved in a magical one
 . . .

The reasons were endless, and not one of them could he mention aloud without betraying his new-found knowledge of the immortals.

“Because Mathu is still alive, my lady,” he said, picking the most plausible excuse. “If Caelum invades now, Glaeba must keep the incumbent king alive, because the moment Mathu dies, I am the legal successor, and your
invasion force owns the moral high ground. Far from being seen as invaders, if Mathu died you'd be seen as the saviours bringing the rightful king home. Jaxyn can't risk that happening.”

Elyssa frowned, her expression thoughtful. She was not, Stellan suspected, quite as stupid as everybody believed. But neither was she as clever as she imagined herself to be. “Let me see if I have this straight—you want us to go to war so Jaxyn can't dispose of Mathu and take the crown?”

“I think you know, my lady, that Queen Kylia would take a new husband as soon as the mourning period is done with. I certainly don't want Jaxyn Aranville on the throne of Glaeba when she takes a second husband. Do you?” Not that he needed her to answer the question.
I know you suspect that's what will happen, because you
know
Queen Kylia is Diala.

Jaxyn sitting across the border as king of a more powerful country, in cahoots with another immortal as morally bankrupt as the Minion Maker, is pretty much your worst nightmare.

The immortal studied him curiously. “Why do you care what happens to Mathu anyway? The little ingrate had you charged with murder and treason.”

“That doesn't alter the fact that he's the rightful King of Glaeba.”

Elyssa rolled her eyes. “The Tides preserve me from another noble man,” she muttered.

“I beg your pardon?” he said, pretending he hadn't quite caught her words.

“Nothing. Has my brother agreed to go to war?”

“He said he would take my proposal to Queen Jilna.”

“Do you think Jaxyn's heard that you're here in Cycrane?”

“I'm almost certain of it.”

That seemed to amuse her. “I'll bet he's furious.”

Stellan allowed himself a rare, genuine smile. “I'll bet he is too.”

“Of course, he'll know you're up to something. Do you think he's already preparing for war?”

“He'd be a fool if he wasn't,” Stellan said, “which brings me to an interesting point. You really believe Cecil is loyal to you, don't you?”

She didn't even glance in Warlock's direction. “Of course.”

“Would Jaxyn be suffering under the same misconception?”

Her brows knitted together in puzzlement. “What do you mean?”

“Well, if Jaxyn sent Cecil here to spy on
you
, and he is now so loyal to
you that you're confident he isn't, then aren't you ignoring a golden opportunity to feed Jaxyn false information?”

“You mean I should let Cecil report back to him? What would be the point? He'd know any information that came from me was likely to be false.”

Stellan made a show of thinking about it for a moment and then looked up with a smile, as if he'd been struck by a brilliant idea. “What if the information came from
me
?”

“How?”

“Suppose . . . I don't know . . . you didn't trust me . . . or perhaps there's a way to convince Jaxyn you don't trust your brother? I'm not suggesting that you don't, my lady, of course, but just let's pretend for a time . . . Suppose you placed Cecil in
my
service? And suppose you allowed him to report back to Glaeba? Jaxyn would believe you've done so for reasons totally unrelated to
him
, and you could then instruct Cecil to feed anything you wanted back to Jaxyn. Tides, you could give him false troop numbers, inaccurate placements, incorrect dates . . .” He stopped, a little embarrassed at how he was letting his enthusiasm run away with him, and leaned back in his seat. “I'm sorry, my lady . . . it's a silly plan. To set something up like that would take years, and it's unlikely Jaxyn would fall for it. Forgive me. My desire to see that man brought down gets the better of me at times.”

Elyssa smiled, but her expression was thoughtful. “It's all right, your grace. I can appreciate how much you must hunger to get even with someone who has betrayed you so heinously.”

“It wasn't me he betrayed, my lady; it was Glaeba.”

“Still, your plan has some merit. And I can see the benefit of having a spy in the meetings you have with my brother.” Elyssa laughed then, a forced, silly laugh that was as false as it was telling. “I mean, I can see how
Jaxyn
would think he might benefit from having a spy in the meetings you have with my brother.”

“Of course, my lady. I never assumed you meant anything else.”

Elyssa smiled brightly, apparently taking him at his word. “Then shall we have dessert? All this talk of war and spies has made me quite peckish.”

“By all means.”

Elyssa glanced up at the door where Warlock had stood throughout the entire discussion without moving a muscle.

Tides, that creature has more courage than I do
, thought Stellan.

“Cecil! You can serve dessert now.”

The canine bowed and moved to the table, the very picture of docile submission. It was only as he turned to offer Stellan the plate of delicate pastries his hostess had ordered for lunch that the Crasii allowed himself a faint nod of approval.

Stellan wished he shared the big canine's confidence. He might have planted the idea in Elyssa's head about using Warlock to feed false information to Jaxyn, but there were two parts to his deal with Warlock.

And Stellan didn't have the faintest idea how he was going to save Boots and Warlock's newborn pups from the Tide Lords and get them back to Glaeba.

Arkady had thought the first meeting between Cayal and Declan was tense, but other than the slightly lessened risk of a natural disaster, things did not noticeably improve once they'd retired inside.

Azquil and Tiji had wisely made themselves scarce, leaving Cayal, Arryl, Declan and Arkady to sort things out among themselves. It was midmorning by the time they took their seats around Ambria's incongruously normal kitchen table to discuss the fate of the world.

Not that Arkady didn't have her own share of worldly concerns. She was already regretting letting Cayal kiss her that way on the dock when he arrived so unexpectedly. She probably wouldn't have, had she and Declan not argued earlier. And she was having no luck at all convincing herself it was just shock and not a perverse desire to get even with Declan that had prompted her to respond so willingly. The trouble was, even if she'd done it to annoy Declan, in the process she'd sent a message to Cayal she hadn't meant to give him. She wasn't in love with Cayal. Her feelings for the Immortal Prince were far more complicated than that. She was fascinated by him, horrified by him, afraid of him, grateful to him and even attracted to him. None of those feelings, however, even taken as a whole, constituted love.

Of course, the problem was, having greeted him like a long-lost lover, Cayal was acting as if that's exactly what she was, which was doing nothing but irritate Declan. On the other hand, Declan had made it quite clear this morning that he wanted nothing to do with her, so the Tides take him and be damned.

I miss Stellan
, Arkady decided wistfully, as she took a seat at the table an equal distance from both men, for fear of giving either one of them ideas.
At least when I was married to him, I knew exactly where I stood.