The Heart Forger (The Bone Witch #2)(118)
“There’s no time for conversation, my love,” the king said. “Prepare what you need.”
I watched Aenah as she moved around the tomb, ignoring Vanor. The runes she traced in the air were unknown to me. She smiled as she caught my eye. “Did you really think I would show you every rune I know, Tea? A shame really. We could have worked well together.”
“You were imprisoned!” I had felt her distress at her warded cell, and it had been unfeigned.
“It was necessary to be imprisoned, to keep me uncomfortable and pliant to your coercion whenever you visited Odalia. Telemaine more than made up for it whenever you left the city.”
“Did you silence Vanor with one such spell?”
She laughed. “There are spells that can seal his mouth, even without compelling him. You should know, Tea. It was one of the runes I used on you while you were a novice.”
“How could you, Telemaine?” Polaire raged. “How could you be in league with that Faceless witch?”
“Why shouldn’t I, Polaire?” Gone was the hearty attitude, the pretense of concern and compassion. The king’s eyes glittered against the firelight, cold and calculating. “It was I who had Vanor killed, Polaire. I have been with Aenah for many years, long before you were an asha.”
“Vanor was your brother!” Polaire protested.
“Forget it, Polaire,” Kalen groused. “The king had no qualms about using my father as his scapegoat. But I now understand why he revolted against you.”
“Ah, yes. Lance had always been smarter than Vanor but not by much. I’m glad I kept him alive all these years. Vanor was weak willed and spineless, more concerned at playing house with a bone witch, while other kingdoms slowly outstripped Odalia in power and influence. You may not think it, Polaire, but I am as much a patriot as you think you are. Our kingdom suffered at the hands of Vanor. Our army was in disrepair, and what did he do? Pin all our hopes and riches on some poor little village because it had an inferior runeberry patch. Daanoris encroaches on Arhen-Kosho’s coastal territories, and he offers them a trade agreement! By the time he was done, Odalia would’ve been nothing more than a vassal kingdom, robbed of its status and power and at the mercy of Daanoris, Kion, or the Yadosha city-states. Vanor’s death was a blessing, Polaire. I merely sped up what nature was too slow to accomplish.”
Zoya wriggled slightly, attracting my eye before casting her gaze upward at the wards around us. Her fingers twitched.
“You’re not telling us everything,” I said. “Wresting the kingdom away from your brother was only one reason you killed King Vanor. You might not have shown me every rune you know, Aenah, but you should not have provided me with the blueprint to create heartsglass, even if you thought immortality would appeal to me. You didn’t only need a silver heartsglass. You needed the most powerful one you could find for the best potency. But Vanor learned of your schemes and disrupted your plans by hiding Mykaela’s heartsglass. You know where it is, but none of your runes can give you access.”
“You have always been very perceptive, Tea.”
“You might have sealed his tongue, but you cannot seal his intentions,” I declared.
“And that is why I keep your Heartforger alive. Did you know they are capable of taking heartsglass without permission?”
I snapped my head toward Khalad in amazement. He flinched.
“Yes, it is part of the Heartforger’s oath—to refuse those who are not willing. That is why so few people meet the qualifications for forging. This is their true trade secret, for fear others may take advantage of them. But seeing his friends tortured might give Khalad better motivation. Perhaps you would like to offer your own heartsglass in Mykaela’s stead?” Aenah clapped her hands in delight. “We shall make it a contest. The first to give up their silver heartsglass shall be put out of their misery quickly, and the others will be left to torment.”
“But Prince Kance!” I tried to lift myself off the ground, but it felt like a heavy rock sat on my chest. “Prince Kance is innocent! His own son!”
“Ah, Kance,” Aenah sighed. “We had no choice with Kance. He was one of only two from Anahita’s lineage to satisfy our requirements for shadowglass, and we could not spare the young Heartforger should old Narel die.”
“Did you really think I would put Kance in any danger?” Telemaine asked scornfully. “Aenah took his soul and kept it safely hidden, knowing that Usij might strike him next. She merely planted a suggestion of Daanoris about his heartsglass in the hopes you would rise to the bait.”
The Faceless woman giggled. “And Princess Yansheo has made a miraculous recovery. If Khalad works with us, then perhaps Kance too shall recover. Kance would be understandably grief stricken to discover that many of his friends have been put to death for treason while he was asleep…such as his uncle, the Duke of Holsrath.”
A sound of both rage and agony fractured from Kalen’s mouth.
“He was not in the best of health, and the added compulsion broke him. Fortunately, his role in this matter had already been completed.”
A sudden spurt of laughter broke the silence. To my shock, it came from Khalad, his body shaking where he lay. “I wondered why you’d ignored me all these years, Father, only to start inquiring about me in these last few months. You needed me to forge this heartsglass. Does that still make me the royal disappointment?”