Page 86 of Knight's End
“Looks like we’ve been attacked!” screeched another.
Declan sighed. “Quinn, toss Blue your clothes. You stay with her.”
Boots and pants suddenly appeared on the floor. A shirt smacked Blue in the face. “Get dressed and come on, Blue. Let’s get out there and calm them down before a riot breaks out.”
Blue tossed on Quinn’s clothes quickly. Then Declan pulled my newest knight into the halls and held up his hands. “Everyone! Everyone! I need your attention!”
I gently closed the door and locked it.
I could hear Declan trying to explain the spell that froze them and the battle that had just happened over the panicked questions of dozens of people. I backed away from the door and the chaos. I crossed my fingers that Declan didn’t start drinking emotions just to shut the idiots up. Because there was a mob of dunderheads out there for him to manage. With Connor off healing the wounded, poor Declan and Blue would have to suffer through.
I sighed and leaned against the locked door for a moment, trying to gather my thoughts. I didn’t need courtiers finding me in only Connor’s shirt, a naked Quinn beside me. We were married, but still, I had enough whispers to deal with.
“Too bad I can’t hear or see you,” I said softly to Quinn. But the reality was, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything anyway.
I knew Declan’s patience would only last so long. He would need help. I couldn’t hide in here for long.
I scrubbed a hand over my face and walked carefully around the shattered figurines toward the secret passage at the far side of the room. I ran my hand along the seam and the secret door opened. Then I stepped into the dark, stone hallway. “Quinn, I hope you’re following.” I whispered, as I used my magic to light the path.
I didn’t hear a response, and I sighed as I pulled the door shut.
This nightmare was going to take a toll on the both of us. I could feel it.
But I didn’t have any more time for self-pity. Donaloo had said that someone had revealed our secrets to Raj. And I needed to help Declan. Then I needed to find out who the traitor was.
* * *
The next few days were chaos. We had dead to bury, soldiers wished into animals that had to be contained, enemies to spy upon, enemies to research, and that traitor still hovering in our midst.
It was never-ending chaos. And I nearly collapsed in tears when I'd gone up to the mage’s tower for a moment of peace. There, among the fairy vines that had taken over the place, I had found the entire bundle of nasty-smelling tablets. It looked like Donaloo had brewed another batch of the wakefulness potion for me and my knights. It sat there just waiting on his worktable on a plate. Next to the plate stood the little purple love potion that Cerena had carried on our journey. I hadn't even realized we still had it. I'd forgotten all about it. But I took a bit of leather string and tied the glass vial up into a makeshift necklace. Donaloo had clearly left it out for me. And if he thought it was important then, ultimately, I believed him.
Faith in his crazy sayings, in his belief in happy endings, were all that I had left of him.
I bowed my head and fought tears. “Quinn, are you there?” I stifled a sob with a laugh. “Because I was just thinking that Donaloo turned down this room, this job, because he didn’t want to get blown up. How ironic—”
The sobs pulled me under. And it was a few minutes until I surfaced. When I did, I rubbed my face free of tears, ate a tablet, and marched my ass downstairs. I wouldn’t do Donaloo any good hiding out in the mage’s tower. I went out to the courtyard and found Dini.
Since she’d grown so big, she’d chosen to stay outside. She had been helping a bit with the reconstruction, closing up sinkholes, somehow grabbing boulders from underneath the ground and yanking them upward so that our stone masons could use them to repair any holes in the walls.
When I approached, her oversized red petals turned my way. Her razor-sharp teeth glinted in the sunlight, and I had to repress shivers at the vision.
“I think I need to move somewhere else.” She shook her leaves.
I started. “Leave?” That was not what I was expecting to hear.
Her flower face turned toward the east. “I can taste the ocean breeze. She’s coming for you.” Dini shook her petals sadly. “I can withstand many things. But saltwater …”
I nodded. Yet another of my strongest magical defenders was leaving. And I couldn’t ask her to stay. “Of course. Please, if I can do anything to help you …”
I fought the shiver that crawled up my spine and whispered in my ear, “You can’t win without their power.” That shadow of doubt tried to pull my thoughts toward darkness.
I shoved it down. I would find a way. I had to.
Dini turned her flower face down to me. “I’ll need someone you trust to take me inland. I’m not leaving completely. I’ll do what I can to help Evaness. Perhaps you could plant me back at the hut where we met? It’s part of Evaness now, isn’t it?”
I nodded.
“At the very least I can help ensure those …” she lowered her tone to a whisper, “amulets don’t fall into the wrong hands.”
