Claimed & Seduced (17 page)

“Wait!” Danion Tetsu, Ellard’s father and security head, shouted. “We require top security here in the castle. The soldiers must remain in case our enemy decides to strike against us here. The most important thing is to keep the king, the queen and the heir safe. Stay.”

Jarlath cursed under his breath. In other words, they wanted to save their own skins. He’d noticed several of the upper class, cups of kafe in hand. Most of the women on his perspective wife list stood with their parents.

Disgust swirled in his gut as he returned his attention to Ellard. “I’m not staying here and neither is Keira. You do what you want, but we’re going into the lower city.”

Keira studied him with approval—a balm to his mental unrest and confirmation he was making the right decision.

“Why?” Ellard demanded.

“I need to check on the people, find some way to stop this attack. We can’t do that without knowledge, and we won’t find it here.”

Ellard’s shoulders slumped for a sec before he nodded in acceptance. “Let me talk to Father, persuade him we need a force outside the castle.”

“Five mins,” Keira said. “I want to find a magic shop and purchase some protection spells.”

“You let her speak for you, Jarlath?” his mother scoffed. “I taught you better. Return to your suite and spend time perusing the list of prospective wives I gave you. Several are here.” She gestured at the nearest woman, a beauty with a leopard tattoo defined on her cheek and marking her as unmated. “You can speak with them, learn if you will suit. And change your clothes. The next time I see you present yourself in proper attire.”

“Prince Jarlath,” Ellard said. “Perhaps you will wait for me in your suite. I will report to you there momentarily.”

“All right,” Jarlath said while he struggled to stuff down his words of protest. He caught Keira’s arm and tugged her with him.

“She can stay with the servants in the other room,” his mother ordered. “There’s no need to give a woman of her reputation ideas above her station.”

“I heard she killed her husband and slept with the judge to get off the charges,” a haughty voice called out.

“It’s true,” another woman said. “I heard it from the prosecutor’s wife.”

“She’s stolen the Cloud inheritance,” a male voice added his opinion.

“Ran them off the farm at blaster point,” someone else said.

“That’s enough,” Jarlath thundered. “There will be no more dispersions against Keira’s character in my hearing.” Militant silence fell, and he urged Keira to the door. “We’ll grab a few things from my suite and wait for you at the front entrance,” he told Ellard. “I don’t want to spend more time here than necessary.”

The sec they stepped from the great hall, voices burst into a discordant chatter. Insults grew louder and more disturbing, and Jarlath knew Keira heard each word dagger thrust her way.

“Don’t let them get to you,” he murmured and rubbed her back. He wasn’t sure if the action was more for him or her, but the physical contact seemed to soothe them both.

“But it’s all true,” Keira said.

“You slept with a judge?”

“No! Not that. The other things. I fired a blaster at Marcus’s children.”

“Why?”

“Because I was angry. Marcus was sick for a long time. He wanted to see his children before he died but they refused his summons. They didn’t visit the farm until after his death when they thought they’d receive everything Marcus owned. They showed little concern while he was alive yet professed their love and outrage once he died. I understood they didn’t approve of me, but surely they could have put their ire aside for one visit? Marcus died thinking his family didn’t care about him and that angered me.”

“I know, sweetheart. You know the truth. Don’t let them get to you. Come to my rooms with me, and we’ll grab more weapons and supplies.”

In his suite, Jarlath packed a bag and used Lynx’s code to replicate another set of clothes. “Grab some snacks from the chillbox. We might have need of them if we can’t get back to the farm.”

Keira opened the chillbox. “What are we going to do for transport?”

“We’ll find another flymo or something faster in the castle garage or as a last resort we can take my cambeest from the stables.”

Ellard clattered into his rooms, interrupting their packing. “You’re really going out there?”

Jarlath closed his bag and straightened. “I can’t stay here and do nothing while someone threatens our city.”

“You might as well admit what we all sense,” Keira said in her usual straightforward manner. “That was a crow projected up in the sky. The House of Cawdor is declaring war.”

Chapter Nine

K
eira noticed neither of the men argued and her gut twisted. Jarlath hadn’t mentioned anything but now that the crow tattoo had formed on her cheek, he must wonder if she had a part in the attacks. Ellard certainly did, if his glowers were any indication.

She spoke before Ellard could spit poisonous suppositions. “I have nothing to do with this. I hate Razvan.”

“What do you know of Razvan?” Ellard asked.

Fodo crap
. She sucked in a swift breath and prepared to lie through her teeth. “Not much. Just that he’s unpredictable.” Keira couldn’t look at Jarlath. Maybe she should tell them about Razvan appearing in the flames. She hesitated. No, it would only increase their distrust. She’d make damn sure she didn’t stand near a fire in the future. Razvan wouldn’t surprise her a second time.

“How?” Ellard persisted. “How do you know he’s unpredictable? Have you met him?”

“Before my marriage. I haven’t seen him since.”

“This is wasting time,” Jarlath said. “We should start restoring order. Find a way to stop this attack. Information is the key to beating our enemy.”

“I haven’t managed to contact the lower guard station,” Ellard said. “We have fifty men stationed down there, and they’ll be a big help in restoring order.” He trailed off, anxiety taking over. “Mareeka is there. I want…need to make sure she’s okay.”

“You didn’t tell me your girl is a soldier,” Jarlath said.

“I’ve told you now,” Ellard said. “Move. Don’t stand here gossiping.”

Ellard clomped down the stairs and Jarlath followed. Keira trailed the two males, and tried not to let her impressions of the beautiful surroundings overwhelm her. She’d never visited the House of Cawdor’s aerie fortress, but her mother had told her of the balls she’d attended and raved about the sky views. Their house—the one provided by Xavier Cronan was big and roomie, full of valuable carpets and paintings and other gifts, but this—the House of the Cat castle rated a dozen levels above her mother’s abode.

The paintings and sculptures came from foreign planets. She wasn’t sure how she knew this, but they exuded an exotic air. She paused in the middle of the staircase and gawked. Flying stars, was that a dragon’s egg? The mother must have died otherwise she’d have torn up the castle searching for her egg. Dragons never gave up when it came to protecting their young.

“How many soldiers are leaving the castle with us?” Jarlath asked.

Ellard’s mouth twisted. “Six.”

Keira hurried to catch up. “But there are dozens of soldiers in the main hall.”

“I’ll be coming with you.” Ellard’s gaze settled on her, his expression one of warning.

She understood he was worried about Jarlath’s safety, so she kept her fury to herself and struggled to keep her inner crow calm.
He means nothing. He doesn’t understand.

Caw-caw.
Her crow’s grumpy reply didn’t lend reassurance, and she clenched her hands to fists.

“I am coming with you,” Ellard repeated. “It’s my job to protect the prince.”

“Your father will discipline you for leaving the castle and for letting me loose.” Jarlath didn’t hold back with his assessment. He slipped his arm around her waist, the calming effect on her crow immediate. “My parents expect me to obey them and for you to make me follow orders. They will demand punishment or demotion, even if your father doesn’t. You don’t have to come with us. Stay. Tell them I crept out without your knowledge.”

Ellard threw up his hands, his agitation clear. “No, how can I stay when my father is making a mistake? What happens if they manage to bomb the castle? They’ll take out everybody.”

Jarlath scowled. “You speak the truth.”

“We might be stuck in the castle too, if I can’t get us back out,” Keira said. “I have no idea what I’m doing or how I’m doing it.”

“So you say,” Ellard said in a voice pitched for her hearing. “I’m coming with you. I want to check on Mareeka.”

“Fair enough,” Jarlath said, and some of the tension in Keira dispersed. Ellard wasn’t a bad man. He was merely attempting to do his job.

Six soldiers waited at the front entrance, and their presence started her thoughts on another trail.

“They’re going to know it’s something I’m doing,” she murmured. “That’s if I manage to pass through the barrier again.”

“Stand in the doorway, right where the barrier is,” Ellard ordered. “Maybe if you break the barrier they’ll be able to exit and not realize how they managed the feat.”

As they neared the doorway, Keira heard the low hum of the barrier. She kept walking, the magic friendly and welcoming. Once she stood in the doorway, the vibrations thrummed through her body. Her crow started to chatter, loud and excited, also feeling the greeting, and Ellard gave her another of those suspicious glances. The longer she stood breaking the barrier, the more the vibration ached and throbbed in her bones. Welcome turned to punishment as if the magic sensed her other half—the foreigner—and wanted to eject the interloper.

“Move,” she gasped, a sharp pain in her stomach buckling her knees.

Jarlath took a step and propelled a soldier with him. They smacked into the transparent barrier. It fizzed and sparked and Keira cried out at the sharp pain that shot through her body.

Ellard wrenched Jarlath and the soldier free.

“Grab, Keira,” Jarlath said. “Jerk her free.”

Ellard hesitated and gingerly grasped her arm. “Walk through,” she said through gritted teeth. “Hurry.”

When he hesitated, she yanked on his arm. He shot through the barrier and turned to face them.

“The soldiers,” she said to Jarlath.

Thankfully, Jarlath understood the urgency in her voice. “Quick. One at a time. Hold her hand and walk through the barrier like Ellard did.”

With each soldier who passed through the barrier, the spurts of pain became more agonizing. Her crow shrieked, the alarmed
caw-caw
almost deafening her. She slapped one hand over an ear and fought the urge to cover her other ear too.

“Keira, are you okay?” Jarlath cupped her cheek, and some of the discomfort receded. Jarlath anchored her and soothed her crow.

“Go faster. Can’t. Hold. On. Longer.”

The two remaining soldiers observed her with speculation, especially when Jarlath touched her with such tenderness.

“Only two more left, Keira. You can do this,” he said.

She helped a soldier pass through the barrier and reached out to grasp the hand of the last man. Her heart ventricles raced, and she groaned as he released her hand.

“Just me left, sweetheart,” Jarlath whispered. “Walk through the barrier with me.”

Her hand trembled as she reached for him, and it felt as if a heavy weight sat on her chest, constricting her breathing, costing her effort to carry out the order her brain issued. Her vision started to go dark, the color seeping from her world. She blinked to clear her sight but the black grew larger and larger until but a pinprick remained.

“Jarlath.” Even forming the words and getting them out proved difficult, and panic began to run in tandem with the excruciating pain.

Jarlath seized her hand, then the black crowded out the last of the color, and she felt herself crumpling, falling, falling, falling.

J
arlath caught Keira before she hit the ground.

“What’s wrong with her?” Ellard demanded. “Is she dead?”

“You’d like that. She didn’t have to help us.” Bitterness coated his tongue at his friend’s attitude when Keira had aided them of her free will. “Keira’s death would make everyone happy.”

“Jarlath, your recent behavior has been—”

“Leave us.” Jarlath checked for her pulse rate and found it, fast and choppy but still alive. Her face was pale with not a sign of her usual healthy green tinge.

“You didn’t let me finish,” Ellard said and squatted beside them to test her pulse rate himself. He grunted. “I might not approve of Keira Cloud, but I like the way she has shook you from your lethargy. You’re acting more like the Jarlath I remember from our childhood. I thought your spirit had been crushed beneath duty and responsibility.”

“I’m heir to the throne.”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have fun. Our parents think they know everything. They want the status quo. They think sticking to tradition is best. They’re wrong. We must modernize, embrace new technology, so we’re not left lagging behind our enemies. One day you’ll be the king, and you must forge your own path. The right one for our people.”

Jarlath stared at his friend. This was practically treason coming from his friend’s lips. “What if I don’t want to be king?”

“It’s your duty,” Ellard said with a careless shrug. “Keira seems to be coming around.”

Jarlath stared down at her pretty face. He’d noticed the golden flecks in her eyes, but now there was more gold than green. What was happening to her? Had they done this by needing her help to pass the barrier?

“What happened?” she croaked, more crow than humanoid.

“You passed out. You need to rest.”

“I’m all right,” she croaked again. “Tired.”

She didn’t look as if she’d manage to crawl on her knees let alone walk.

“Ellard, can we get transport from the royal garage?”

“No, I need to find the owner of the magic stall,” Keira said, her reply stronger this time.

“Why?” Ellard demanded.

“We’re under attack. Securing a protection spell makes sense. I need to protect my people.” Fear flashed across her face, fleeting yet recognizable, and it made Jarlath wonder about her insistence on seeking out the charms.