Fate's Ransom(The First Argentines #4)

“If you didn’t seek to ruin us, what was your intention?” Ransom asked. He couldn’t trust Estian to be truthful, but he had to ask anyway.

“To destroy that hated king, Jon-Landon, yes. But not his children. I wanted to rule Kingfountain, not obliterate it. If either side wins the game, everything ends. But there is a way to stop the game. To pause it if you will.”

“How?” Ransom asked.

“Only someone who is Fountain-blessed can retrieve it . . . or put it there. Your kind can reach into the Deep Fathoms itself. When the Wizr board is returned to the waters, the game is . . . ‘paused,’ for lack of a better word. There is less of a press to fight, to conquer. A semblance of peace can be had, so long as there are potential heirs on both sides. So long as there is still an Argentine living when I claim the hollow crown, I could rule all the lands and do what my ancestors could not—bring Andrew’s kingdom back in all its glory. One king, one will, one dominion.”

“The same can be said in reverse,” Ransom surmised. “If Occitania is conquered, one king may rule both realms.”

“Yes,” said Estian. His eyes narrowed. “What is your intention?”

“First, tell me of the Dreadful Deadman,” Ransom said. “I know it is whispered that a scion of King Andrew’s line will be born. That he will restore his kingdom.”

Estian shrugged. “I thought it possible that Constance’s son might be the one. But he is dead.”

“Is this prophecy written in The Hidden Vulgate?” Ransom asked.

The king looked at him in confusion. “What is that?”

“The book Alix stole from Claire in Legault. A tome copied by the Black Wizr.”

The king shook his head. “I know nothing of that.”

“She stole it when she tried to abduct my sons,” Ransom said.

“I know nothing of it!” Estian said angrily, but his confusion seemed real.

“For your side, there is yourself, your son, and Alix herself. What of your sister?”

“Noemie is barren,” Estian said. “She cannot conceive. She was . . . poisoned.” Something flickered in his expression, and a very real horror entered his eyes. “Lord Ransom, Alix will try to claim the throne of Occitania herself while I am imprisoned. My son is in danger!”

“There is a way to summon her,” Ransom said. “I know you’ve done it before. If you move her piece, she will be forced to come.”

“Through the fountains,” Simon said with a nod.

“The fountains are manifestations of an older magic,” Estian said. “Their locations were carefully chosen to fall in areas of magical confluence. They’re called ‘ley lines.’ That is how I returned from the East Kingdoms so quickly. And yes, I can summon Alix.”

“Does she know you lost?” Ransom asked.

“I have no way to communicate with her except summoning her through the board.”

“Then we summon her now,” Ransom said, pointing to it. “In addition to your ransom payment, I want Alix in exchange for your freedom. We take your most valuable piece and agree to bury the board in the water and pause the game.”

Estian blinked quickly. “I’ll do it. My life for hers.”

“She can disappear without a fountain, though,” Ransom said. “How? When she attacked Claire at Connaught—”

“The ley lines run through Connaught,” Estian explained. “Pree too. And Kingfountain. But she needs to be in a fountain to leave.”

Ransom shook his head. “Claire saw her disappear.”

“She can vanish,” Estian said. “She has the ability to turn invisible. When she fled Connaught, she deceived your wife into thinking she was gone. But you, I know, can sense her presence, just as she can sense yours.”

Although Ransom didn’t trust Estian, his explanation fit. Because if Alix had the ability to appear and disappear at will, she would have used it much more frequently. “Summon her. It serves both of our purposes.”

“I will,” Estian said. “If you let me go.”

“Don’t,” Lady Deborah warned.

Ransom glanced at her, thoughtful.

“Lord Ransom, she could get back to Pree in an instant!” Estian implored. “If she believes I’m dead, she will kill my son and take the throne herself. None of you would prevail against her.”

“Summon her to Thorngate,” Ransom said. “That is what she would expect if you won the battle, correct?”

“Yes, but I don’t see how—”

“Then we’ll bring both of you to Kingfountain. See that Devon is crowned. If all goes well and the board reflects it, then I will submerge it and release you to leave by ship.”

“I see. But you will . . . destroy Alix? The only way to kill a Fountain-blessed is to send them over a waterfall.”





When we arrived in Glosstyr, we learned the news of Ransom’s victory at Thorngate castle from Dearley himself. Ransom sent him to Glosstyr to come fetch us to Kingfountain for the coronation of Prince Devon. He will be Devon Tercer, I believe, the third of that name. I’m so relieved. The awful pangs of worry and grief have come to an end. Estian the Black is captured, and he will be brought to Kingfountain as well. Lady Alix is the final threat on the board. Once she is removed from the game, we can all breathe easily. Willem and Dev asked if the princess would be at the palace. They want to introduce her to Sibyl. I asked Dearley to send a knight to the Heath to fetch Ransom’s mother. She is ailing, but she will want to be there to witness her son’s triumph. He will be the lord protector of the realm. At last, at long last, we may finally get a season of peace and solace.

Yet none of us are safe while that poisoner is free. I know she saved Ransom when he was a young knight. He will want to spare her life for that and because she is Emiloh’s daughter. But can so much guilt be purged with forgiveness?

—Claire de Murrow

Fortress of Glosstyr

(We ride by horseback. The roads are thick with mud.)





CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR


Poisoner’s Fate

All was in preparedness. Ransom had iron cuffs around his wrists, but they were not secured and could be shrugged off. His knights, including Dawson, wore the livery of the Occitanian king and stood in a semicircle around the fountain within the trampled gardens behind the keep at Thorngate castle. Within the trees perched Hans Dragan with no less than three loaded crossbows. The drawbridge of the keep was up, so there was no way for Alix to get to the queen and her children, who were sheltered with Lady Deborah and guarded by Cecily. There were no fountains within the keep.

The Wizr board was set on a small stool before the fountain, its lid propped open to reveal the set. Estian stood next to Ransom, waiting for the order to move the piece that would summon Alix.

Ransom wore a hauberk beneath his muddied tunic. Although he was posing as a defeated man, he still wore his sword, the scabbard positioned at his back. An Espion, garbed as a servant, held a knife at Estian’s back. They had hastily assembled the scene, knowing that every moment increased the odds that a survivor of the battle would return to Tatton Hall with news of the crushing defeat.

Ransom met Dawson’s eyes. Would they be able to capture the poisoner? Estian’s suggestion of how they might execute her, by plunging her alive over the falls, was tempting.

“What do we wait for?” Estian asked with a nervous edge in his voice.

Dawson nodded. If the knights could subdue her, they’d lock her in chains, which were at the ready in a nearby sack at Dawson’s feet. Hans Dragan would send a crossbow bolt through her heart if she tried to escape.

No one knew how she would react to the betrayal. She might try to kill Estian too, which was why Ransom would be at the king’s side.

He let out a calming breath.

“Bring her,” he announced and dropped to one knee, his whole body tensing and ready for action. His Fountain magic had been depleted during the battle, but he had an ample store remaining. He would fight, and he would prevail against her this time.