Hotbloods 5: Traitors

He nodded, casting a curious glance at me. “It was sent two weeks ago… on the morning we escaped out of the house, during the executions.”

“It’s Aurelius!” I whispered. “He’s talking about the towers next to the gallows. They must have met there on the day we escaped. The billow of silk is his robe; the glint of silver is the scythe blades; the on high part is the tower.”

“What about the delicious part?”

I shuddered at the memory. “I overheard Aurelius saying that to Seraphina—he said she looked delicious.” He had sounded like a snake, wrapping himself around her. “I bet he couldn’t help himself. Jareth probably didn’t even know what that part meant, but Aurelius will have wanted to rub it in that he was marrying her instead of Jareth’s son.”

“What reason would those two have to meet?”

I shook my head, trying to come up with a logical explanation. Asking Ronad to repeat the messages aloud, I let the words drift in and out of my mind, focusing on the parts that made less sense. I could formulate an idea from the descriptive sequences, but the latter sections of every message were baffling. They all seemed to be about looking ahead, or change. Combined with the mention of twos and twins, it all came together.

“They want to overthrow the queen,” I murmured in disbelief.

“What?” Ronad gasped.

“They want to overthrow Gianne and put someone else in her place. In this case, either Jareth or Aurelius himself,” I explained, feeling a grip of dread seize my chest. “My money’s on Aurelius.”

Ronad shook his head. “Jareth might seem power-hungry, but he’s a logical guy. He’d never do something like that. He knows that his position at Gianne’s side is the one thing that keeps his family safe. He wouldn’t risk all that for a near-impossible coup.”

“You heard him say it—he thinks Gianne is losing her mind. He said that. Those words, more or less, came from his mouth!” I insisted. “I mean, he’s built an escape tunnel under the house, for God’s sake! What more evidence do you need?”

Ronad looked shocked. “But… Aurelius?”

“I know it sounds ridiculous, but who else would fit the bill? He knows politics, he has some popularity among Gianne’s court, he’s about to marry one of Southern Vysanthe’s most well-respected noblewomen, and he’s the queen’s closest advisor.”

“I didn’t think anything could shake Jareth’s loyalty,” Ronad murmured. “He must be pretty sure of succeeding. Otherwise, why the hell is he doing this?”

My mind drifted back to what Lorela had said the last time I’d seen her lucid, just before the sleeping tonic had put her into a dreamless slumber. She’d said that Jareth held the key that could change everything. What if Lorela knew of Jareth’s plan? What if Jareth knew more about the immortality elixir than he was letting on? What if he was holding on to that information because he no longer wished to give those pieces of information to a woman he deemed mentally unfit to rule? After all, if he knew the secret to the immortality elixir’s formula and offered that to an unstable queen, that meant having an insane tyrant on the throne of Southern Vysanthe forever.

I didn’t think Jareth had fully cracked the code, per se; otherwise, he wouldn’t have feared death. He would have used the elixir on himself and everyone he loved, but he hadn’t done that yet. Instead, he’d built tunnels, in case everything went awry and he needed to get his family out. It wasn’t quite what Mort had suggested, as Jareth wasn’t selling his formula to the highest bidder, but there was some truth in the shifter’s theory. Jareth was ensuring he had enough leverage to get his family out, with an offer any coldblood would find irresistible.

“He’s putting everyone at risk, doing this,” Ronad said through gritted teeth. “He’s putting everyone’s lives on the line for a creep like Aurelius. If he were standing in favor of someone we could all get behind, then things might be different, but how can he back someone like that?”

I took a deep breath. “I don’t know, Ronad, but I’m sure he has his reasons. I just hope he doesn’t get a whole load of people killed because of them.”

“As if a war wasn’t bad enough—let’s throw a coup into the mix!” Ronad grimaced. “Plus, if Aurelius does get into power, he’ll just want more of it. He’ll go after the North, too, just like Gianne. He won’t be satisfied until he has the whole cake, the slimy little worm.”

Ronad was right, but there was no point discussing it while we still had the silver box. I needed to get it back to the lab before Jareth noticed it was missing, especially now that we knew why he’d been hiding it. If he found out that we were on to him, he’d have no choice but to kill us.

I stood up. “I’m going to get this back to the lab. Don’t go anywhere! We’ve still got a lot to talk about.”

“Where would I go?” He laughed tightly.

Tucking the silver box into my waistband, I slipped out of the bedroom door and headed down the hallway, pausing at the top of the stairwell. I heard voices downstairs, prompting me to creep back along the landing and make for the attic instead.

In my previous explorations of the house, when Ronad and I had had nothing else to do all day but roam around, I’d come across a small doorway that opened onto a narrow set of steps. Heading up them, I’d discovered an attic room at the very top of the house, though it was in a similar state to the basement, full of junk and disused furniture, with everything covered in dustsheets. Back then, I’d thought nothing of it, but now I knew there was a secret doorway with a spiral staircase leading down to the main entrance of the alchemy lab.

Following the route I’d taken back then, I halted in front of the narrow doorway. Opening it as quietly as possible, I stepped into the dusty stairwell, closing the door behind me. Treading as carefully as possible, to avoid any unwanted floorboard squeaks, I ascended into the attic space. Dust drifted toward me in great, itchy clouds as my gaze turned toward the ground. Like in the basement, the floor was completely clean, even in a room this dusty. Clearly, it was to hide the footprints of anyone who had come this way.

I wandered toward the back of the attic, seeking out lines in the wall or furniture that looked out of place. Sure enough, I happened upon another towering wardrobe, identical to the one downstairs, tucked away in the corner. As soon as I opened the door, I saw the telltale lines of a panel in the back and quickly flipped the latch. The panel swung out widely to reveal a staircase spiraling down into darkness.

Wasting no time, I hurried down the stairs, moving as quietly as possible, though the stairs themselves had been covered in thick cream carpet. I supposed it was for that very reason. I’d just reached the bottom step when I noticed a thin crack of light showing at the bottom of what was, presumably, the alchemy lab’s hidden entrance. The lights were on, and someone was definitely home.

I paused there a moment longer, trying to listen to the sounds beyond the door, all the while worrying that Jareth would open it and find me crouching there. There was a shuffling sound and a few clinks of glass, followed by the telltale whisper of running water. Jareth was in there, but I had no idea whether he’d noticed that the comm device was missing. His movements sounded casual enough. I imagined he’d be clattering about the place, turning everything over, if he thought someone had stolen his hidden device.

Even so, I couldn’t exactly knock on the door and hand it back to him. It would have to wait until tomorrow, when Jareth went to work again.