Hotbloods 5: Traitors

The Impaler took us into the vast entrance hall, where my eyes instantly raised up to the imposing chandelier that twinkled overhead. Tapestries billowed as a gust of air surged through the open doors, bringing life to the images that had been woven across the silken fabrics. I was so engrossed by the foyer that I almost didn’t notice the elevator until I wandered straight into it. The guard pressed a button, and the elevator rose, building speed at an alarming rate.

The force of it crushed my chest as the elevator switched direction, zipping along sideways instead of upward, making it impossible to draw breath. I felt like I was being sucked back against the wall, my body unable to cope with the pressure. Navan gripped my hand, and I held on for dear life, praying for the discomfort to end before my lungs exploded.

A few unbearable minutes later, the elevator screeched to a halt, sending me flying forward. Had I not been holding Navan’s hand, I would’ve careened straight into the Impaler’s casually placed pike.

“Sorry about that,” he muttered. My face was less than a foot away from the sharp point.

“Don’t they teach you basic pike skills in Impaler training?” I gasped, my heart pounding.

He flashed a warning look at me. “I’ll let that one go, but say another word and you’ll get to see just what this pike can do.”

Navan huddled me to him as the elevator doors slid open, and a blast of bitter wind crept in. I recognized the open courtyard beyond, with the single skeletal tree in the center, its bark jet black, streaked through with veins of icy white, its clawed branches reaching skyward. It didn’t look as eerily beautiful as it had the last time I’d seen it. Now, it just looked vicious and stark, especially against the brooding sky that grumbled overhead.

Following the Impaler, we reached the covered walkway of gleaming gray marble, which led up to the cathedral-like structure of Gianne’s secret sanctuary. The huge stone doors greeted us at the end of the sheltered cloisters. A spray of color glanced down from the stained-glass windows, showering the walkway with vivid light.

Here, there were two more guards, dressed identically to our pike-wielder, their faces barely recognizable as coldblood with the amount of red-and-black greasepaint they wore. Both held guns instead of pikes, but they looked just as fierce.

“What have you brought?” one of them asked.

The Impaler stamped his pike-pole on the ground. “Navan Idrax and his pet, to see the queen. She’s expecting them.”

The guard nodded. “You caught her on a good day,” he said, as he pushed open the door and ushered us in.

Gianne’s expansive botanical garden lay beyond, the heady aromas mingling in the air, drifting toward us on a sea of exotic perfume. I flinched as a fine mist of water floated down to refresh the plants below, the spray jetting out from ports in the stone walls.

The tree with the lurid blue fruit still stood at the far end of the main walkway, though Gianne wasn’t attending to it today. Instead, she appeared to be fastening the tails of rodents around the slender, ivory-colored branches of another tree that bore only black blooms. She carried a knife with her and slit the creatures’ throats as she plucked the next victim out of a sack she had slung over her shoulder. Blood dripped down in bulbous drops, feeding the flowers on the branches below. As we neared, I saw that the center of each black-petalled flower was a deep crimson.

I shuddered, finding the whole thing nauseating. In fact, she was so consumed by her creepy work that she hadn’t noticed us approach.

Navan cleared his throat. “Your Majesty?”

She looked up, startled. Then a wide smile spread across her face. She threw down her bag of rodents and hurried toward us.

“Navan! And… Navan’s creature! How marvelous of you to join me!” she cried, clasping her hands together. She made it sound like he was Dr. Frankenstein and I was the monster, though we all knew who the real monster was here. Somehow, her friendliness was more troubling than hostility would have been.

“Riley passed on your message, Your Majesty,” Navan said, emphasizing my name.

“How delightful. I wasn’t sure if your creature would be intelligent enough to retain such an instruction, but I see it is more than capable,” she replied. “I must say, it’s good to see you looking so well, Navan. If you were not already betrothed to Sarasota, I would go after you myself!” A disturbing giggle bubbled out of her throat.

“Seraphina, Your Majesty.”

She chuckled. “I’m just glad there will be a handsome groom to go with a beautiful bride. It gives the people something to aspire to, you know? I love a wedding. I must confess, the thought of marriage has never really appealed to me, but if there was someone like you waiting at the Binding Font, I might be persuaded!” She brushed her hand across Navan’s bicep, and his expression morphed into one of panic. I would have laughed, had it not been so inappropriate. Judging from her blasé demeanor, it was almost like she didn’t know there was a war going on and didn’t care that her people were dying with every day that passed.

Moreover, I was still terrified that all of this was an elaborate ruse. Navan had defected, and Gianne had transformed into a madwoman. What if all of this was just her way of getting Navan in front of her so she could exact her revenge? I’d already seen what she did to innocent people she suspected of treason, but Navan was actually guilty of the crime.

Right now, I had a feeling that the only thing keeping him alive was his connection to Jareth. The two of them didn’t have the best father-son relationship in the universe, but Jareth wouldn’t allow his son to die, not while he still held some cards to his chest.

“I must say, it’s good to have you back in the South,” Gianne said. “I hope that, once I have offered you my pardon, you will not disappoint me again! I trust you have learned your lesson?”

Navan nodded. “Of course, Your Majesty. I should never have left in the first place. If I could do it all again, I would stay here, where I belong.”

“And you are excited by the prospect of your wedding and getting back to business?” she asked, a strange look in her silver eyes.

“I am, Your Majesty. I’m looking forward to seeing what progress has been made with the elixir and helping out wherever possible.” I had to hand it to Navan: he was an exceptional liar.

She grinned weirdly. “But you won’t make the same mistakes as your father, will you? You wouldn’t dare hide secrets from me in my own alchemy lab, would you?” An obvious threat bristled through her words, sending a shiver of fear up my spine.

“Of course not, Your Majesty. I value what you’re doing for me in letting me return, and I won’t make you regret that decision,” Navan assured her. “Although our jobs were once the same, my father and I are not as alike as people think.”

“No, no, you are far more pleasant than he is. You wouldn’t be so deceitful, would you?” she pressed. “I arrested him for treason, you know, though I have to keep it a secret for now. He is wilier than even I anticipated, that father of yours. Did you know that? Did you know how sly he was?” Her tone was borderline manic.

“What has he done, Your Majesty?” Navan asked, playing coy.

A dark look passed across Gianne’s face. “Didn’t you see your house on fire?”

“I did, Your Majesty, but I presumed it was caused by your soldiers,” he replied innocently, barely missing a beat. “I was already aware that you’d arrested my father for treason, as my pet told me, but I thought the blaze was your way of destroying any material assets he might have. I presumed you’d want to diminish his wealth, in case he tried to pay for his freedom.”

“No, it was not me who set your home on fire,” she spat. “It was that father of yours. He’d rigged everything to blow. We found traces of the explosives in the debris, though they destroyed every shred of information we might have used. He must have triggered something on his way out of the house. He has already confessed to the act, but he won’t tell me how he did it. I should have known better than to let my soldiers walk him out. I should have gone with them, to make sure he couldn’t get up to anything before he was taken away.”