Incarceron Part 77

"Why didn't he try to stop us?"

Reaching into his jacket, he touched the crystal sharpness of the Key.

"Who b.l.o.o.d.y cares!" his oathbrother said. And then he turned and punched Finn hard in the stomach.

Attia screamed. Finn collapsed, all breath gone, the pain an amazement inside him, an airless blackness that loomed over his sight.

From the wheel Gildas yelled something, his words s.n.a.t.c.hed away.

Slowly, the agony ebbed. When Finn could gasp in air he looked up and saw Keiro with both arms spread on the rail, looking down at him with a grin.

"What...?"

Keiro held out a hand and pulled him up, staggering, face-to-face.

"That'll teach you not to draw a sword on me again," he said.

27.

Sapphique strapped the wings to his arms and flew, over oceans and plains, over gla.s.s cities and mountains of gold.

Animals fled; people pointed up.

He flew so far, he saw the sky above him and the sky said, "Turn back, my son, for you have climbed too high"

Sapphique laughed, as he rarely did.

"Not this time. This time I beat on you until you open."

But Incarceron was angered, and struck him down.

-Legends of Sapphique ***

"She's said that Jared has to leave."

She turned and glared at her father, wanting to ask if it was his doing.

"I told you. It was bound to happen."

The Warden walked past her and sat on the chaise near the window of his room, gazing out at the pleasure gardens, where parties of courtiers walked in the evening cool.

"I think you will have to comply, my dear. It's a small price to pay to gain a kingdom."

She was ready to burst out in temper, but he turned and looked at her, that cold measuring look she so dreaded.

"Besides, we have something more important to discuss. Come and sit down."

She didn't want to. But she crossed to the chair by the gilt table and sat. He glanced at his watch, then clicked the lid shut and kept it in his hand.

He said quietly, "You have something that belongs to me."

She felt her skin p.r.i.c.kle with danger. For a moment she thought she couldn't speak at all, but then her voice came, surprisingly calm.

"Do I? What could that be?"

He smiled.

"You are truly remarkable, Claudia. Even though I've created you, you always surprise me. But I've warned you before about pushing me too far."

He put the watch in his pocket and leaned forward. "You have my Key."

She drew in a breath of dismay. He leaned back, crossing one leg over another, the leather of his boots gleaming.

"Yes. You don't deny it, and that's wise. It was ingenious to place an image of the Key in the drawer, quite ingenious. I suppose I have Jared to thank for that. When I checked my study that day the alarms went off, I rolled the drawer open and glanced inside; I didn't think to pick up the Key. And the ladybugs-what a creative touch What a fool you must both have thought me."

She shook her head, but he stood abruptly and paced to the windows.

"Did you talk about me with Jared, Claudia? Did you laugh together because you had stolen it from me? I'm sure you must have enjoyed that."

"I took it because I had to." She clutched her hands together. "You kept it from me. You never told me."

He stopped and looked at her. He had smoothed his hair back now, and his gaze was as calm and considering as ever. "About what?"

She stood up slowly, and faced him. "About Giles," she said.

She had expected astonishment, a moment's startled silence. But he was not at all surprised. She knew, with sudden certainty, that he had been waiting for that name, that by saying it she had fallen into some trap.

He said, "Giles is dead."

"No he isn't."

The jewels around her neck tickled; with a sudden fury, she tugged them off and flung them on the floor, then folded her arms and all the pent-up words burst out of her.

"His death was faked. You and the Queen faked it. Giles is in Incarceron, locked away. You took his memory so he doesn't even know who he is. How could you do that?"

She kicked a footstool aside; it fell and rolled.

"I can understand why she did it, why she wanted her useless son to be King, but you! I was already engaged to Giles. Your precious plan would have worked out anyway. Why did you do that to us?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Us?"

"Don't I count? Didn't the fact that I would end up with Caspar mean anything to you? Did you ever think about me?"

She was trembling. All the anger of her life was coming out, frustration for all the times he had driven away and left her for months, had smiled down at her and not touched her. He rubbed his stubbly beard with thumb and forefinger.

"I did think of you." His voice was quiet. "It was obvious you liked Giles. But he was a stubborn boy, too kind, too honorable. Caspar is a fool and will make a poor King. You will be able to rule him far more effectively."

"That's not the reason you did it."

He looked away. She saw his fingers tapping on the fireplace. He picked up a dainty china figurine and examined it, then put it down.