The Crimson Vault Part 30

"Possibly," Leah allowed. "Grandmaster Lirial may know some tricks I do not. But if she hasn't discovered the exact location of the crystal, any block she creates will be temporary. It will be all but impossible to maintain as the moons shift."

"Keep me apprised," her father said.

Leah bowed her head a fraction and turned to leave.

"You've never tried to have me killed," King Zakareth said suddenly.

Leah froze with her back to the King, afraid to move. Her father never spoke idly. His every word had a purpose. Was this a trap? Had she walked into an ambush?

"Nor have you ever attempted to secure your succession by eliminating your compet.i.tion," he continued. "At first, I a.s.sumed that was because you lacked the stomach to do what was necessary. But I know longer believe that to be the case. So, why?"

Warily, she turned to face her father. Never, in her entire life, had her father asked her such an...intimate question. He had asked her to provide him with information, had questioned her about her decisions or her motivations, but he had never asked about her.

So she had no choice but to a.s.sume this was a trap.

"An attack on you would have destabilized the realm," she said carefully. "And an attack on my brothers or sisters would have jeopardized the succession, which could result in panic, or a lack of confidence in the royal family. As the Cynaran law code states, *no n.o.ble may take actions that advance personal gains at the risk of national stability, on pain of*'"

King Zakareth laughed. It was a short, bitter, bark of a laugh, but it startled his daughter so much that she stopped, her mouth practically gaping open. She couldn't recall ever having heard her father laugh. He didn't even laugh sarcastically, mockingly, or for emphasis; it just wasn't something he did.

"I don't want the law code's answer," he said. "I want yours."

It took Leah a moment to answer. "I wasn't sure the prize was worth the cost," she said at last.

Zakareth nodded, as though he understood. Maybe he did.

"I had intended your sister Cynara to take the throne, before her...accident...in Asphodel. She had your intelligence, but she had the spirit, as well. The drive to do whatever it took."

"She was ruthless," Leah said. "Cruel."

"Yes."

Zakareth stood for a moment, ruminating. "Once, I thought those things virtues. Even after Cynara became unsuitable for the throne, I had Talos in mind. He hates me, but that means little. The day my father died was the last moment of true joy I have known."

How should she respond to that?

"But Talos is twisted inside. Broken. He and Lysander have been planning against me for years now."

Leah tried to cover up her surprise, but she was afraid she only partially succeeded. Had he known the entire time?

The King saw her reaction and gave her what could, on another man's face, have almost been a smile.

"Like so many others, Talos underestimates me. Very little goes on that I do not see. You would think he would remember that, since I have a bright red glowing eye."

He paused, as though waiting for her to laugh. She wasn't even sure if she was breathing. Had he just tried to tell a joke?

This meeting with her father was becoming so surreal that part of her wondered if this was even the same man. Maybe she had died, and this was some bizarre afterlife reserved for Travelers who had trespa.s.sed against their parents.

As the silence became uncomfortable, she opened her mouth to change the subject, but he forestalled her.

"In any event, I am running out of options. Adessa is not wise, but she has a shrewd strategic mind and a keen grasp of politics. She's almost as charismatic as Talos, in some ways. With her around, I had still hoped to foster a sense of healthy compet.i.tion among you, but I was unable to tolerate this last of her little...pranks."

Highly public attempted a.s.sa.s.sinations were pranks, now. The standards of her family fell ever lower.

"Surely you have considered it," Zakareth said, running a hand across his short beard. "I now only have two options for my Successor: Talos, or you."

When Leah was a little girl, her mother had taken her to Lirial for the first time. They sat, together, on a smooth cliff made of crystal, and watched the moons spin and glide overhead. Her mother had spent that time filling Leah's head with visions of someday ruling Damasca as Queen, of all the things that Leah could someday do for the people, of all the privileges she could enjoy.

As a little girl, Leah's mind had burned with the possibilities. They had seemed fresh and enticing, like a piece of candy or a new toy. But what she had really enjoyed, even then, was not the far-off possibility of inheriting a kingdom. It was the time spent sitting next to her mother, watching the moons dance.

When her mother died, Indirial had been one of the few to offer her any form of sympathy. Even her father had barely mentioned her mother's death, only referring to it again when he sent Leah off to live with her mother's family.

She had given up any dreams of the throne then. Not only did it seem like an unlikely possibility*she was, after all, fourth in line for the throne, and her father could technically have picked anyone he liked to succeed him*but the cruel necessity of politics seemed overwhelming.

Leah had committed herself to doing everything she could to help the Kingdom as a Traveler and as an Heiress. After all, she would never attain a higher rank.

"You can name your own Successor freely," Leah all but whispered. "It need not be one of your own children."

"Do not bandy technicalities with me," the King snapped. "No one exercises that right. The bloodline of Ragnarus must continue, and it must remain in power. Besides, who else has been trained for rule?"

"Adessa is still in full command of her faculties. She would make an able Queen."

King Zakareth strode up to her, towering over her even more than usual in his imposing crown. "You pretend to be a fool, but I know who you are. What are you afraid of?"

Leah looked him in his one human eye, looking for some trace of fatherly compa.s.sion, but she saw only blue ice. She met his red eye instead.

"You," she said honestly. "Us. This family. We use our power for the greater good, I know that, but I also know what that power does to me. I start to calculate and manipulate, treating people like pieces on a game board. I know what it does to you."

Because she was feeling reckless, she met him with complete honesty. At this point, what did she have to lose? "You are pitiless and cold. You provide for your citizens because that is your function, and you do not hesitate to make decisions that should, by rights, rob you of your sleep for years. It is like living in a country ruled by a clockwork machine."

There. She felt like she had cast herself off a cliff without checking to see if there was water beneath her.

But she couldn't say she regretted it.

Zakareth stared at her so long that she started to sweat. He would not execute her; as a Ragnarus Traveler, her blood was too valuable. He may need her to breed more Travelers someday, so he would lock her up in a foreign Territory, to be called upon when he found a suitable consort. The same fate he had in mind for Adessa.

The thought made her inexplicably angry. How long had she lived with that threat hanging over her head? Why should she tolerate it now?

The anger gave her the boldness to continue, though she reined her tone back a notch. There was no sense in pushing too far, after all.

"Let us go further in our discussion. Take the Valinhall Incarnation, for example. Look at what power has done to him. He has given into his ambition, and it has consumed him. Warped him. All the Incarnations, in fact, are nothing if not a Traveler's power gone rampant. Who would I be if*"

"I have made my decision," Zakareth said abruptly.

That caught Leah off guard. "What?"

Abruptly, she panicked. Had she landed in the water, or on solid rock?

"Not that there was much of a decision to make, really." He moved back to the marble shelves and pulled out the mace again, running his fingers along some of the engraving. "Talos sees only his own desires, not the needs of the nation. You are the only one."

He hefted the mace in one hand, testing its weight. "For years, I have evaluated your skills, your training, and your suitability. I have done so with all your brothers and sisters. But never have I tried to know you."

He met her eyes, and his expression was subtly different than usual. She couldn't quite place how.

"Will you forgive me?" he asked.

Leah almost lost her balance. Finally, she managed to compose herself enough to respond.

"I will," she said. The words still came out slightly breathless.

"Leah, daughter of Kelia, Heiress of Damasca, I hereby appoint you Successor to King Zakareth the Sixth. By all the power and authority I have inherited from my fathers, and in the presence of the Crimson Vault, I swear the rights and responsibilities of the Damascan throne to you upon my death or abdication. Do you accept this great weight that has been placed upon you?"

"I don't...I don't know..." Leah said. She rarely found herself at a loss for words, but she had not been expecting this when she Traveled to Ragnarus today.

"The correct response is, 'I accept.'" He sounded almost gentle.

"I accept this burden," Leah said, recovering herself. "I accept, and swear to fulfill the office to the best of my abilities."

The ruby on Zakareth's crown flared, and Leah felt her body constrict, as though her skin was suddenly two sizes too tight. Then it lifted, and she breathed easy again.

Ragnarus had, indeed, witnessed her oath.

King Zakareth let out a deep breath and nodded, pulling the crown from his head and setting it on the shelf. Undoubtedly, he did not intend the gesture to mean anything; the crown was hot and heavy, and he had likely only worn it in the first place because he intended to name her Successor, and now he was glad to be rid of its weight.

But it seemed far too symbolic for Leah's tastes.

"Um, thank you, father," she said. This whole experience seemed unreal, as though she would step back through her Gate and realize the whole thing had been some sort of hallucination.

"This decision is long overdue. I had reached the point when I could delay no longer."

"I see."

"The Grandmasters will undoubtedly try to strike at Cana while they think my attentions are directed at their city," the King said casually.

"Undoubtedly," Leah responded. The thought hadn't occurred to her.

"Therefore, I will be remaining in the capital, along with a defensive force of my choosing. They will not reach the Hanging Tree while I defend it. However, in my absence, someone must command the attacking force."

Leah's breath caught. "Me?"

"Not directly. I'll leave the army's day-to-day operations to someone with more campaign experience. You will both represent the royal family andacoordinate. You are an accomplished Lirial Traveler, after all. Observation and communication are among your specialties."

"I appreciate the trust, father," Leah said. "But you are taking too much of a risk on yourself. Let me stay behind instead, and you command the attacking force."

He would certainly be more use on a battlefield than she, and he knew it. Why had he come up with this ridiculous plan?

"Return to your duties, Successor," Zakareth responded, not unkindly. "I will have my secretaries draw up the official succession papers as soon as I am able. Until then, I hesitate to imagine what Talos has been up to in our absence."

Leah nodded and withdrew, leaving the Crimson Vault and her father behind.

Well, she thought, just before she slipped through a Gate for home. Won't my aunt be surprised?

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:.

CAREFUL PLANS.

Alin stared at Talos, wishing he had some kind of power or summon that could detect whether a man was lying. The other Grandmasters did, though, and he had pa.s.sed all those tests: birds, snakes, and mysterious crystals all said he was telling the truth.

That did not mean, though, that he was trustworthy.

"The Damascan army gathers outside your city," Talos said. "The Overlords have been building up weapons against you for years, and even more in the past few weeks. There are weapons arrayed against you in every approach through every possible Territory."

"You speak as though we have no eyes," Grandmaster Endross said contemptuously. "We can see the army from here."

Talos continued as though there had been no interruption. "I suspect that you have considered striking at Cana, while the army and all our most powerful Travelers are occupied here."

The Grandmasters' faces went suddenly blank, which was enough to confirm to Alin that what Talos was saying had some truth to it. Talos must have seen the same thing, because he smirked.

"It's not a bad plan," he said, "except that it is a trifle obvious. We have all the pa.s.ses from here to Cana both warded and guarded."

"That is always true," Grandmaster Avernus said. She sat rigidly straight in her chair, and regarded him with the same flat gaze she used on everyone. "The difference now is only that many of your most powerful Travelers remain here, instead of guarding those approaches."

"And you're confident you can punch a hole through, right?" Talos said. "In some Territory, somewhere, there has to be a route to Cana that's easier than the others." He nodded to Alin. "Elysia, perhaps. We cannot possibly have any defenses there."

Alin took that as an invitation to speak up, but he addressed the Grandmasters instead of the prisoner. "Why are we listening to this man?" he said. "If he knows anything of strategic value, we should question him and have it out of him, instead of negotiating. Anything he learns here can be used against us."

"And what do you know of 'questioning' someone, child?" Grandmaster Avernus asked sharply. Her tone took Alin aback; no one had addressed him with such an obvious lack of respect since he had come to Enosh in the first place.

He was just starting to get angry when Grandmaster Helgard spoke up.

"I agree with Eliadel," Helgard rumbled. "There is nothing to gain here. Turn him over to Asphodel, and he will speak soon enough."

Talos shrugged, which almost dislodged one of the crawling red serpents on his shoulder. It hissed angrily in his ear. "No need," he said. "I don't know about Elysia, but I do know one Territory that won't be guarded, and that has a direct route into the royal palace of Cana."

He looked from eye to eye, making sure that everyone was listening. "Ragnarus."

Grandmasters Avernus and Helgard glanced at one another, considering.

Endross was not so polite. He pulled one sword from its sheath and drove it into the wooden table, right next to Talos' own half-bared sword. "I do not trust you. I say, if Zakareth values the blood of Ragnarus Travelers so highly, let us sell it back to him in buckets."

For once, Alin found himself in complete agreement with Grandmaster Endross.

Talos looked at the Grandmaster's sword in distaste, but with no fear. "I want the Incarnations freed as much as you do," Talos said. "Even more than some of you, I'm sure. This balance that my father created is unhealthy and unnatural. We survived without human sacrifice before, hundreds of years ago, and we can certainly do so again."