Dividing Eden, Page 4

  “I have need of this. Tell no one that I took it or you will find yourself on the front lines of the war without anyone willing to watch your back.”

  “The knife is yours, Princess. I will tell no one. But shouldn’t I go with you now and guard you?”

  She doubted the boy was capable of defeating one of the stable chipmunks let alone whatever he worried was lurking in the gloom. But she admired his commitment to his duty despite his fear—of the dark and of her. “You should join the rest of the guard and check the status of the wall. Stand for Garden City as you have sworn to do and I promise you will be rewarded.” The boy gaped at her as she turned and over her shoulder ordered, “Go.” Then, picking up her skirts, she raced through the shadows bathing the arched entrance of the castle.

  “Get inside,” someone yelled as Carys shoved through dozens who were racing toward the entrance of the castle.

  “Ow.” She stumbled as something struck her ankle. “I order you to get out of my way,” she yelled. At the sound of her voice everyone around her scattered—a distinct benefit of being a pariah—and she fought free of the crowd and headed for the stairs. A boy with a torch was in the hallway. Grabbing him by the shoulder, she led him to an alcove down the hall, took the torch, and said, “Stay here until the lights go back on. If anyone questions you, tell them you are acting on orders of Princess Carys.”

  Then she turned and ran through the halls that had never gone this dark in all of her years. Even when some of the lights fell in the city, the castle always continued to shine. Not today. Why?

  Andreus would be asking the same thing. He would be trying to fix the problem. If he could get to the battlements, he would. That’s where she’d find him. The stress and the exertion could trigger an attack he wouldn’t heed until it was too advanced to hide. If that happened, it wouldn’t matter if all the Xhelozi in the mountains were at the gates—they would be doomed before the Xhelozi struck the first blow.

  Carys ran. Down the hall to the stairwell she knew was used by the Masters of the Light and the guard. The stairs were steep and narrow and illuminated by flickering torches. Gathering her skirts with her knife hand, she held tight to her own torch and climbed.

  One flight of steps.

  Two.

  Three.

  Four.

  Until she reached the entrance to the battlements and stepped out into the darkness. To her right, men yelled. There was more shouting ahead of her. Torches glowed and flickered in the wind that began to gust harder as she hurried across the stone, looking for her twin. Where was he? Her hand holding the knife cocked back, preparing to throw at any sign of danger.

  Wind pulled at the hood of her cloak. It whipped her hair into her face as she turned and squinted at the base of the windmill closest to her. It continued to pulse against the sky. Mocking the dark. Mocking her.

  Then the night flickered and the light atop the highest tower began to glow. An enormous circle of white against the black of the sky shone brighter as the seconds passed.

  A cheer went up from the battlements as the lights on the white walls began to blink on, one by one. Carys dropped her torch and hurried to where she could see over the white walls. The city was no longer in darkness. It was safe. The castle was secure. But what about her brother?

  Carys slid the guard’s knife deep into the pocket of her cloak so no one would see it in the now-bright light. The wind whipped harder as she hurried toward a group of men in gray and shouted, “Where is Prince Andreus? Have you seen him?”

  The first group dropped to startled bows as they shook their heads. But an older man beyond them pointed toward several figures coming her way. Three of them were dressed in the gray robes of the Masters. The other was wearing a familiar striped cloak of yellow, white, and blue.

  Dreus.

  And he was smiling. He was fine.

  Carys closed her eyes, took a deep breath to steady herself, then started forward. The minute Andreus spotted her, he broke away from the Masters of Light and crossed the white stone.

  “Carys, are you okay?” His dark hair fluttered around his face. The wind began to slow, then stopped.

  “I’m fine. I was just worried about the lights. I came up here to find out what was going on.” Men hurried past with tools in hand, pulling their cloaks and robes tight against them. “Are you okay?” His face was red from the cold, but his breathing seemed normal. She didn’t see the symptoms that normally signaled he was having an attack. Still . . .

  “I am fine,” he assured her. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

  Which was a relief considering there were plenty of other things to worry about. “Do you know what caused the lights to fail?”

  Andreus took a step closer, then looked around before saying, “It appears that someone deliberately cut a line to the orb.”

  “How? And why?” Even those working hardest to thwart the King would never want to damage the wind power system before the cold months.

  “With an ax, would be my guess, and I have no idea. But whoever did it knew exactly where to sever the line in order to cut off wind power to the entire castle and Garden City. Carys . . . ” Her brother’s eyes narrowed. “They used the flaw in the system that I mentioned to Father months ago.”

  “The one that he ordered you not to disclose to anyone?”

  “That one.” Andreus looked back at the Masters, who were busy checking lines and gauges and a bunch of other things Carys didn’t completely understand.

  She did understand her father’s order. And how angry he would be if he believed Andreus had deliberately disobeyed.

  The weekly family meeting their father insisted on holding was never fun. Father had started the meetings when Micah was eight in order to make sure the Crown Prince was aware of the scope of a king’s duties and prepared for life on the throne. Their mother was the one who insisted Carys and Dreus be included when they turned eight. Father permitted their presence but rarely involved them in the discussion, which was why Andreus had eventually started bringing his books and design maps to help him to pass the time. Carys doubted her twin realized he’d spoken aloud when he said, “That’s a flaw.”

  But their father had heard.

  “Are you interrupting your king?”

  “No, Father—Your Majesty. I’m sorry. I was just surprised by something I saw on the wind power design map.”

  Carys held her breath as her father turned his attention to Andreus.

  “A flaw, you said?”

  Dreus’s eyes lit up at his father’s interest. Rarely did the King ask about her twin’s work with the wind.

  With excitement, Andreus put the design map in front of their father and explained the flaw he had found. A place in the line that, if cut, could cause all other lines in the city to fail.

  “Once I mention it to the Masters, I’m sure we can fix—”

  “You won’t mention it to them.”

  “But—”

  “You won’t speak of this to anyone ever again,” his father ordered.

  “But, Your Majesty . . . ” Her brother took a deep breath. “The safety of the kingdom depends on the lights on the wall.”

  “And on the belief that the measures we have put into place have no flaws. Three-quarters of the guard are fighting or have died in the war with Adderton. The Lords of the Seven Districts have sent new recruits, but they are not trained, and the Xhelozi are breeding faster than before. The only thing preventing panic is the trust that the lights will keep the darkness away. Any whisper of flaws will crush that trust and any hold we have on the city will disappear.”

  “But if we fix it—”

  “Then there will be rumors of other flaws, problems not yet discovered, incompetence! The remaining Bastians no doubt have people here at court ready to spread distrust like wildfire. With our guard depleted, they are just waiting for the right circumstances to try once again to retake the throne. And it will not be my son who gives them their chance! Unless he
has decided to take his rightful place in the guards’ command? In that case, I will call the Masters of Light and discuss this matter with them right now.”

  Carys remembered how her brother struggled before shaking his head and saying, “I promise I will not speak of this again, my king.”

  “Andreus,” she said, looking at the way he now refused to meet her eyes. “You didn’t tell anyone about the flaw you found. Did you?” When he didn’t answer, she grabbed his arm and dug in her fingers. “Andreus. Look at me. Did you tell someone when the King ordered you not to?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Andreus!” Carys looked around and spotted not only apprentices and Masters of Light but also members of the court and guard walking the battlements. People who had been doused in darkness were now looking to satisfy their curiosity about what had happened.

  The sound of the windmills masked a lot, but now that the wind had died down, there was far less to conceal a conversation being had out in the open. “Come with me.”

  Making it look as though she was trying to get out of the way of the workers, Carys pulled Andreus closer to the base of the nearest tower so they stood directly beneath a massive windmill. The noise of gears and pulsing blades was loudest there, and they could still be seen. Hiding secrets in plain sight was one of the first skills Carys had learned growing up at court.

  With her back to the wall and her eyes watching for those who would listen, she asked, “Tell me. How do you not exactly tell someone something?”

  “I have done nothing.” Andreus pulled his arm out of her grasp. “This is not my fault.”

  Which meant that he believed it was. She knew her brother. She could see the lie in his eyes.

  “Dreus. There are a lot of things that aren’t our fault, but we still have to deal with them.” If he hadn’t learned that by now, they were in bigger trouble than she suspected. “Since you didn’t exactly tell someone about the flaw, what exactly did you say?”

  He took a deep breath and gazed down upon the city below. “I—I asked questions. I knew they would lead to the Masters finding the flaw on their own. Technically, I didn’t disobey His Majesty’s command.”

  “Since when does Father care about technicalities?”

  “Look, there was a serious problem. I wanted to help fix it. Isn’t that what the royal family is charged to do? Aren’t we supposed to see to the safety and well-being of the people we rule?” Andreus didn’t wait for her to answer. “I thought if the Masters of Light could make the discovery on their own and bring the matter to the Council of Elders, it would look like any other action they requested permission to approve. And if they are doing a bunch of other minor improvements to prepare for winter, no one would have reason to whisper about design flaws. It’s why I pushed them to run a test of the new wire I had created today.”

  “Today.” She tried to remember the details of her brother’s latest design. Something about a new wire that was somehow better at transporting wind power. “I thought the Masters were going to wait until the King returned from the battlefields before testing your design.”

  “They were, but when Father sent a messenger saying he and Micah were delayed, Master Triden decided we should do a trial run. That way, we would be ready to make the changes to the system as soon as Father and the Council agreed.”

  The Council.

  Out of the corner of her eye Carys spotted the distinctive blue cloak with a deep purple V on the other end of the battlements. The V stood for virtue, and strength was the virtue represented by the District of Bisog. She didn’t have to see the iron claw or the pointed white beard to know it was Chief Elder Cestrum there, questioning one of the Masters.

  The Council. What could they be about in all of this?

  Andreus put a hand on her arm. He smiled and said, “Look, if this was the court we were talking about, maybe I would wonder about it. But this is Master Triden and the Order of Light. They don’t care about intrigue and deception. Their only concern is for the approaching cold months and making sure the lights don’t fail us when we need them most.”

  “But there are others who work with the Masters,” Carys argued. “Blacksmiths and weavers and dozens of apprentices, and not all of them are raised to the gray robes. Those people might want something.”

  Because everyone wanted something, and when someone coveted a thing enough, rarely did they question the price.

  “I think the dark dreams you’ve been having are making you look for danger. The lights are working now. Things will be fine, Carys.” Her brother tried to reassure her as Elder Ulrich and his red cape with black hearts sewn onto the shoulders—hearts to represent the charity of District Derio—appeared in the tower doorway to their right. His hairless scalp almost glowed against the dark and his one good eye turned toward Carys and Andreus. A moment later, Elder Jacobs, who despite his quiet, unassuming voice never quite seemed as humble as he wished people to believe, appeared beside him—his long, dark, braided hair whipping in the wind.

  She thought about the outage of the lights and Andreus’s test and what Larkin said about the lack of power below, and tried to see three steps ahead on the chessboard.

  Andreus thought she was looking for connections because of the dreams she couldn’t remember, dreams that had left her feeling so unsettled the past few months. Maybe he was right, but Carys doubted it. Someone was playing a game. The question was who, and which piece in this game were they taking aim at? Andreus? Their father? Or was it someone else?

  Taking his arm again, she asked quietly, “Was your test today successful?”

  Andreus grinned, transforming his handsome features into those of the boy she used to play hide-and-go-seek with. “It was. The Masters are going to watch the gauges, and if everything continues to go well, they’ll replace the wire in the lines starting next week. And while they do that, they can fix the design flaw that has now been discovered and clearly leaves us vulnerable.”

  Carys frowned. “Father is going to think you set him up. He’s going to believe you defied him, made him look weak, and are attempting to gain power for yourself.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Andreus said. Although she could see by the way her brother’s eyes narrowed that he realized it might not be. “You know I can’t afford to draw attention to myself.”

  “I do know that, Dreus,” she said as she spotted Chief Elder Cestrum watching them from across the way. “But others don’t. Did you tell anyone about the test? One of your ladies?”

  “My ladies, as you call them, aren’t interested in talk, sister. If they were I’d be doing it wrong and further . . . ” Andreus frowned.

  “What?”

  He turned and looked up at the orb, then took Carys by the arm and led her inside the tower. While the walls protected her from the cold, Carys couldn’t shake the chill running through her. Her brother checked the stairs and whispered, “All right. There is one person I told. Max’s family used to tell him that the Xhelozi came in the dark to take the children that were deformed or sickly. I told him the Xhelozi would never come for him. I thought he’d finally feel safe if he understood how it all worked.”

  Max. The little boy Andreus had rescued. “You told him about your new wire?”

  Andreus sighed. “And the test, after he asked when the castle would start using it. But he wouldn’t have said anything to anyone. I was just trying to reassure him by letting him know that the lights will always shine. The boy was scared. I know what it’s like to live with that kind of fear.”

  “I know you do, Dreus.” Too well. “But you have to be careful. Everyone has been talking about the boy.”

  “Because I saved him.”

  “Dreus, the boy doesn’t understand life in the castle or the games the court plays. He doesn’t know that one innocent word about you can cause us problems. You have to find out if he spoke to anyone. We have to know who is behind this. If Father thinks you’ve deliberately acted against him, you will be ordered
into service with the guard.”

  If that happened, it was only a matter of time before Andreus’s affliction made itself known, and unlike the other times, she would not be able to distract everyone before they realized what was happening.

  “I’ll talk with him. He’s a curious boy and is probably nosing around here somewhere.” Andreus turned to her and took her cold hand in his. “You should go down to the Hall of Virtues. Make sure everyone knows we aren’t under attack and the world is not going to end. I’ll meet you down there as soon as I have answers. Then we’ll figure out our next move.”

  “Next move, Prince Andreus?”

  Chief Elder Cestrum stood in the doorway. Carys felt her breath catch as the Elder carefully studied them both.

  Smoothly, her brother said, “In assuring everyone that the city is safe and that the almost immediate restoration of the lights demonstrates that we are more than prepared for the cold months ahead. The last thing the King would want is to find unrest when he returns.”

  “Which is why I’m going down to circulate among the members of the court now. They need to know that I have seen the Masters of Light at work, that the wind is blowing strong, and that all is as it should be,” Carys said. She smiled at the Chief Elder and added, “Would you care to join me, my lord? As you are the most respected member of the Council, your voice would go a long way to assuaging any residual fears.”

  Chief Elder Cestrum stepped forward and stroked the tip of his white beard with a gloved hand. “I would be happy to join you, Princess, since I’m sure your brother wants to check in with the Masters before he goes inside.” He turned toward Andreus and smiled. “I hear we have you to thank for the quick fix to tonight’s problem. The King might not respect those who favor brains over brawn, but the Council does. You have the thanks of the Elders, Prince Andreus.”

  He bowed to her brother, who took the opportunity to stride out of the door and back into the cold and wind. Elder Cestrum looked at Carys and held out his right arm. “Shall we, Your Highness?” Carys placed her hand on top of the iron claw and gathered her skirts with the other hand, then she started down the stone steps.