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  Air collected, swirling dust into a miniature whirlwind as it spun inside his palm. My breath caught again at seeing how beautiful the kings’ magic was.

  “Here.” Vashri gathered the whirlwind into one hand, the other reaching for me.

  “No, I—” I pulled away.

  “You cannot destroy my magic,” he told me, in a tone of such calm certainty that I believed him. I let him take my hand, cradling my fingers. His other hand, the one holding the whirlwind, came closer. “Watch,” he told me. His eyes sparkled, that sense of certainty glowing like an aura around him.

  The tiny whirlwind climbed the side of his hand, reaching his thumb. It buffeted against my hand, as though it wanted to come to me. My breath held.

  “Relax,” Vashri instructed.

  I let out my pent breath and my eyes flickered closed for a second. And I felt the cool sensation as the whirlwind reached my hand, dancing along the edge of my palm to my wrist. As it moved, the spinning air tugged at the tiny hairs on my arm. I couldn’t help it. I giggled as the tickling sensation spread over my skin, sending goosebumps from my hand to my elbow.

  I caught my breath and looked at Vashri.

  “There. I told you all would be well.” I nodded. “Try to destroy it,” he prompted me.

  “No!” I was so relieved his magic hadn’t dissipated as soon as it came into contact with me that I didn’t want to destroy this moment of believing that everything could work out.

  “Try it,” he encouraged.

  “I – I don’t know what to do.” My response to Leea had been instinctive.

  “Try to crush it.” Vashri’s tone remained steady.

  I took a deep breath. I’d stolen Essa’s magic when I’d tried to use it. I tried to turn the miniature whirlwind into something different. There was no effect. I closed my eyes and pictured the whirlwind falling to nothing. The tickling sensation came again, moving over my skin. My eyes flashed open in time to see the whirlwind shift back from my hand to Vashri’s.

  “See?” Vashri’s voice was as soft as a dove’s wing. “All is well.” He closed his palm and the whirlwind vanished.

  I blinked at Vashri’s calm face. “Why didn’t that happen when I was with Essa? I wasn’t trying to destroy her magic, but I still did.”

  “With all respect to your sister, she isn’t one of the kings.”

  I frowned. “You mean, I can destroy everyone’s magic except that of the kings? What about the Emperor?”

  He held up a hand. “The Emperor means us ill. I’m quite sure you’ll be able to use your skills against him.”

  “But you can’t be sure?”

  His brown eyes filled with calm reassurance. “Nothing in life is certain. But this is worth taking a chance on.”

  I blinked at Vashri. The warmth in his eyes made me want to curl up against him like a cat, but I couldn’t let his out-of-character statement pass. “You want to take a chance? You?”

  He smiled. “Yes, Kyann, me.”

  I folded my arms. “Who are you, and what magic have you used to take the appearance of the king of air?” I demanded.

  He laughed. A dimple appeared on his left cheek. I wanted to press the tip of my finger against it. “It’s really me, Kyann.”

  “But you worry about everything.”

  “I don’t worry about everything,” he argued. “When we first met, I was worried that you were walking into the den of the Emperor without any help. That’s reasonable.” His hand lifted again and he stroked a lock of hair behind my ear. “I was worried for you.”

  My mouth dried. Someone who cared for me, someone I could rely on. Someone I didn’t have to be strong for. “No need to worry. I’m tough.” I’d meant the words to be light-hearted, but my voice hitched on the last word.

  “You are so strong,” Vashri told me. “And yet…” The back of his hand stroked down my cheek. I shivered at the sensation. “And yet so delicate.”

  I wasn’t delicate. I’d spent so long forcing myself to be strong and self-reliant that I didn’t know how to be anything else. I wanted to lean on the kings, but every time a chance occurred I pulled back. After all this time I couldn’t rely on anyone else.

  But perhaps now was the time to try.

  My gaze dropped to Vashri’s lips. They were full and soft, the shade of a charberry just as it turned ripe. And if I only leaned my head forward, my lips would brush them.

  My heart pounded against my ribs. My fingers clenched. Was I trying to pluck up courage to act, or trying to hold myself back from acting?

  “Hie there!”

  We jumped apart as a voice called out. I scrambled to my feet, willing myself not to blush. Solitary – or throwing myself at the nearest king. There had to be something in-between.

  “Help!” Yards away from us on the path was a young man who looked as though he might have been walking non-stop for a week, he was so filthy and ragged. He faltered, hands braced on his knees, heaving in a breath as though it hurt. “Help me, please.”

  Then he looked up and shock rooted me to the spot. I recognised him. “Geedan?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  I recognised the scared young man who’d stood in front of the Emperor in his throne room, nervously swearing loyalty before the Emperor had stolen his magic. “You are Geedan, aren’t you?”

  He looked up, his expression confirming my identification. After a week in the Emperor’s cells, the boy was thinner than he’d been, but now I’d seen them both, the similarity with his sister was obvious. What wasn’t so clear was how he’d got here.

  Beside me, Vashri drew protectively close. “How did you escape?” he demanded.

  Once you went into the citadel, you didn’t come out. My escape with Essa was extraordinary enough; for this boy to have got out without magic or help…

  “Escape?” He blinked, wide-eyed.

  And I shivered in distrust. “From the citadel,” I pressed. “I know you were in the palace. You were the Emperor’s prisoner.”

  His shoulders slumped. “My father…” He swallowed, his eyes closing as though the memory hurt him. “My father gave me his magic so I could escape.”

  The world swooped around me. Another father enslaved by the Emperor for the sake of his children.

  Geedan was still talking. “I disguised myself as a guard and managed to get out. I was lucky.” His wide, blue eyes filled with tears. “I came home as soon as I could. I feared the Emperor would punish my sister... Is Leea safe?”

  “Yes.” I glanced at Vashri as he replied. “She’s perfectly well.” He spoke to Geedan, but I took solace at the news, too. Essa’s healing must have helped the girl. “We’ll take you to her.”

  Relief flattened out the creases in his forehead. “You know Leea?”

  “We are staying with her.” Vashri gave no further information, ignoring Geedan’s expression. “Come, I’ll help you.”

  The young man looked on the brink of collapse. Vashri arranged Geedan’s arm over his shoulders to help him along. “Thank you.”

  I looked past him into the trees. “You’re alone?”

  He turned with surprise. “Entirely. I barely escaped. I’d have freed Father if I could, but it was impossible.” His lip began to tremble.

  “Are you sure no one followed you? The Emperor is hardly likely to allow a prisoner to escape without pursuit.”

  “No one is following me,” he said. “I’m sure of it.”

  “Come along,” Vashri said briskly. “We’ll get you to your sister.” He met my eyes over Geedan’s bowed head. I nodded in understanding. Vashri wanted us all inside the walls of the castle. If the Emperor had sent guards in pursuit of his prisoner, we didn’t want to be caught out in the open.

  I fell into step behind the stumbling pair, my attention on the trees Geedan had come from. I scanned carefully but I could see nothing out of place. The absence of something visibly wrong didn’t slow my heart’s racing pace. Geedan was a rich, privileged lordling. What did he know ab
out being tracked?

  Vashri didn’t say a word as we returned along the beaten path, but I could sense his concerns. I shared them. Aside from the likelihood of the Emperor sending someone after his vanished prisoner, I couldn’t shake the thought that Geedan’s arrival was oddly coincidental. Had he really escaped by chance?

  ~

  “Geedan! Is it truly you?” Leea might have said more, but she burst into tears when her brother stepped through the entrance of the castle, running out of the main chamber and grabbing him in a hug. Her sleep seemed to have left her entirely recovered from the damage I’d caused. Essa was halfway up the stairs. She greeted me with a nod and a smile, hurrying to join me.

  “Leea has made a full recovery,” I observed quietly.

  “Good as new,” Essa confirmed, putting an arm around my waist. I hugged her, expressing my thanks silently.

  Leea was weeping in her brother’s arms, which seemed the wrong way around for comfort to me. Geedan could hardly hold himself upright, let alone support the weight of his sister.

  “Shh. I’m safe now,” he told her.

  The other three kings appeared to witness the reunion. They moved to my side, the four of them standing behind me.

  “A stray?” Fon queried, last to arrive.

  I glanced at his face, hoping to communicate my concerns as I told him the simple fact, “This is Leea’s brother. He managed to escape from the citadel.”

  He fisted his hands on his hips. “Did he now?” He looked at the embracing couple, raising his voice. “Lady Leea? Would you please command the drawbridge raised?”

  Leea pulled away from her brother, although her arms remained around his waist as though she were glued to his side. The smile on her face faded when she saw the expression on Fon’s. “The drawbridge?” She glanced at Geedan. “Of course.” She scanned the entrance. “Derryl! Please tell the guard captain to raise the drawbridge. I want extra vigilance in the patrols today.”

  She turned back to her brother, raising a hand to stroke his cheek. “What happened?” She looked down at him. And anger replaced her relief. “How dare the Emperor treat you so?”

  Geedan swallowed, the bob of his throat visible. “He didn’t even listen to Father’s arguments,” he said, his voice hard. “He just wanted our magic.” He shook his head. “We should never have gone.”

  “What of father?”

  “He is still in the Emperor’s prison.”

  “We have to get him back.”

  Geedan gathered his sister close. “He wanted me to be safe, to return to you. He told me not to go back for him.”

  “And you accept that?” Leea was scathing.

  “You don’t understand the power of the Emperor,” he told her. “I dare not return unless I’m completely sure of victory.”

  “The kings will help us.” Leea leaned her face against his shoulder. Her change of attitude was complete.

  “What kings?”

  “Our guests are the four kings spoken of in legend, Geedan,” Leea told him.

  He looked from one man to the next, disbelief furrowing his brow. “Leea, the four kings… They don’t exist.”

  “Actually, we do,” Fon said.

  “They awoke,” Leea said.

  “We’re here to protect Charnrosa,” Axxon stated.

  “We’re really the kings,” Rey said.

  “And we will bring an end to the Emperor,” Vashri promised.

  Geedan shook his head. Perhaps it was just exhaustion dragging at his expression, but it didn’t seem to me as if he was convinced.

  Leea tugged on his arm. “Let’s get you a bath, and something to eat.” Her nose wrinkled. “And some decent clothes.” She started upstairs, calling for the servants.

  ~

  “Do we leave now?” Essa asked. “You have the gem.” She glanced at the sky. Geedan’s sudden arrival had dragged everyone out of their beds. “It’ll be dawn soon enough.”

  Axxon shook his head. “This is too strange a development to leave unexamined.”

  “I want to speak to the young lordling,” Fon stated, his words equal promise and threat. “He might have something useful to tell us about the Emperor.” The kings shared a glance. “Our plan should be as strong as we can make it before we leave. It won’t take long.”

  Except that Leea turned out to be ferocious in the care of her brother. She wouldn’t let anyone near Geedan while she considered him to be recovering. He had a medicinal bath, a sleep and a meal, and was drinking a fortifying tisane when she finally allowed the kings to speak to him, most of the day later as the sun slid down in the sky.

  “How did you escape from the cells?” Axxon leaned over the table, deliberately intimidating Geedan.

  The young lord swallowed. He was nervous, but that might just be because Axxon was showing his fiercest, broadest self. “My father and I worked together. We didn’t have much magic, but we’d recovered enough to have some. Together we overpowered one of the guards. I took the man’s clothes and walked out.”

  “The Emperor’s guards have work to do. They can’t just ‘walk out’. Try again.” Axxon glared and Geedan shrank back. Then he seemed to remember who he was, and that this was his home. He straightened.

  “If you want to stop the Emperor, why are you still here?” he demanded. “You have the Tears of Giera. We can be of no further help to you.”

  “Your information may be useful,” Vashri said calmly.

  “And we can still help the Baloa family,” Rey added.

  “You saw the fields,” Leea murmured on her brother’s other side.

  Geedan cleared his throat. “Apologies. I’m grateful for what you’ve done.” He settled back in his seat. “If you think the detail will help, then here it is. After the Emperor took our magic we spent two days in the cells. By then we’d recovered enough magic to subdue both guards, but my father…” He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing with emotion. “The exertion was too much. He was too weak to escape with me. I dressed as one of the guards and left the man sleeping in our cell so it would look as though we were both still there. The other guard I propped on his seat, as though he had fallen asleep. It was night, that seemed reasonable. There were only two of them. I sneaked out of the palace.”

  “And didn’t meet anyone on your way?” Axxon’s tone was scathing.

  “Yes! Maybe I was just lucky but praise the goddess if so.”

  “How did you get across the lake?”

  Geedan looked at me as though I were mad. “I swam.”

  “And nothing tried to stop you?”

  “No.”

  The back of my neck prickled. The creature I’d met in the depths of the lake couldn’t still have been sleeping off its meal of stones. Geedan was either the luckiest young man alive, or he was lying.

  “Truly, I don’t have anything else to tell you,” he said.

  Axxon stared hard at him for a minute, then nodded. “Thank you for telling us what you could. You are right. We have what we came for. We’ll leave at first light tomorrow.”

  ~

  “I don’t trust him,” Axxon confided once we’d retired to Fon’s room. “That story was too convenient.”

  “What do we do?” I ventured. “Did we learn anything to help us against the Emperor?”

  “No.” Fon’s tone was a combination of gloomy and annoyed. “The boy was no use at all.”

  “We’ll take turns watching his door. He won’t be able to try anything without us knowing.” Vashri’s eyes settled on me. “You sleep, Kyann. We’ll take care of him.”

  “I’ll take a turn. I’m one of you.” I scanned from one to the other. “Aren’t I?”

  Rey grinned. “No argument from me.”

  “Right. Wake me when I should take a turn.”

  Fon stepped forward. “I’ll take first watch. I’ll wake you after, Kyann.”

  “Don’t forget,” I warned him.

  Fon shrank back, throwing up his arms as though he were afraid of m
e. “I wouldn’t dare to forget.” He dropped his pretence and winked. “Sooner my watch is over, sooner I can get some sleep.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Dawn’s light was turning the sky golden when it woke me with a touch on my eyelids. I rolled over, stretching. Essa was sound asleep, pillow clutched to her chest as though she feared theft in the night.

  Fon!

  I sat bolt upright. The king of fire had promised to wake me, so I could take a shift watching Leea and Geedan. Instead, he’d left me to sleep. I wasn’t a feeble child. If I was the guardian, I should be included in the kings’ work!

  I scrambled out of bed, remembering partway to be quiet so I wouldn’t wake Essa. I froze, checking on her, but she’d barely even shifted. I pushed the covers aside and stood carefully on the wooden floor while I pulled on my leggings and tunic.

  The floorboards creaked beneath my feet, and the door latch echoed loud in the silence. I winced, but again Essa didn’t rouse. I’d leave her to sleep as long as possible.

  Outside my door, the corridor was dim. I saw Fon’s shape against the wall opposite Leea’s door, sitting cross-legged with his arms folded. My lips twitched. Fon had clearly decided to show how strong he was by guarding Leea’s door for the entire night. I felt better at knowing he was treating me the same way he’d treated his fellow kings.

  “Fon!” I lowered my voice and hissed as I drew close to him. “My turn.”

  He didn’t respond, or even turn, and my heart dropped. He’d fallen asleep.

  “Fon.” I put my hand on his shoulder.

  Still, he didn’t wake or reply. My heart lurched. “Fon!” I shook him … and he slid slowly to one side until he rested on the floor, snoring gently. I knew Fon liked to sleep, but this wasn’t natural. I glanced at Leea’s door. Had she cast a spell on Fon? Or had Geedan?

  Heart pounding, I ran farther along the corridor to the kings’ rooms. Axxon was closest. I rapped on his door. Nothing. Another knock. My palm pressed against the wood, I tried to listen through the door, but the solid oak gave nothing away. I swallowed. I didn’t want to burst in on him, but if the fears taking shape in my mind were correct, he wouldn’t notice.