Chapter 603: Your behavior is predictable
Kael stayed seated for exactly twenty-three seconds.
Amelia counted.
She did not say it out loud, but Kael noticed by the way she looked at him when he moved his leg for the third time.
"Do not start," he said.
"I did not say anything."
"Your silence counted."
"Your behavior is predictable."
Sylphie still had her head resting on his shoulder, but her hand remained on the marked arm. The green light was still there, low, almost invisible, holding the mark in place. Elizabeth sat on the opposite bench, with two guards a little farther away. She tried to look calm, but she glanced toward the corridor every few seconds.
Irelia noticed.
"They are fine."
Elizabeth looked at her.
"You do not know that."
"No. But saying otherwise would not help."
The princess let out a short laugh, without humor.
"You are direct."
"Today is a bad day for pretty lies."
Kael looked at Irelia.
"That was a good line."
Amelia raised the quill.
"I will record it."
"It was not meant to be recorded."
"It was recordable."
Sylphie lightly squeezed his arm.
"You are trying to distract everyone."
"I am trying to distract myself. You are all in the way."
Elizabeth observed the red mark on his arm.
"Does it hurt?"
Kael looked at her.
"It itches more than it hurts."
"Is that better?"
"Not much. It makes me want to tear off my skin."
Sylphie turned her face toward him.
"Kael."
"She asked. I answered."
Elizabeth paled a little.
"Sorry."
Kael sighed.
"No. I said it in an idiotic way."
"Do you do that often?" Elizabeth asked.
Sylphie answered before he could:
"Yes."
Irelia nodded.
"Frequently."
Amelia completed:
"In emotionally uncomfortable situations."
Kael looked at the three of them.
"I like it when you do not form a team."
"Teams form naturally in the face of repeated patterns," Amelia said.
"That sounded offensive."
"It was technical."
Elizabeth laughed again. This time, it was a little more natural.
Kael looked at her and pointed with his free hand.
"See? Better."
"Are you really using your own discomfort to calm me down?"
"Does it work?"
"A little."
"Then yes."
Sylphie lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him for a few seconds. There was no scolding in her face, only that concern he pretended not to notice.
"You do not need to do that all the time."
"Do what?"
"Pretend everything is under control so everyone can breathe."
Kael opened his mouth, closed it, then looked toward the corridor.
"Someone has to."
Irelia answered quietly:
"Not only you."
He did not answer.
From the distant corridor came a dry sound. It sounded like stone striking stone. Then a short vibration passed through the walls.
Kael stood.
Sylphie tried to pull him back, but he was already on his feet.
"Kael."
"That was not good."
Amelia closed the notebook.
"I agree."
Elizabeth stood too.
One of the guards took a step.
"Princess."
"I will stay behind."
Kael looked at her.
"That would be best."
"I am not useless."
"I did not say that. But that thing wants you. So staying behind is useful."
Elizabeth did not seem satisfied, but she accepted it.
Another vibration came from the wall.
This time, along with Elion’s voice:
"Do not let it touch the floor!"
Kael looked at Sylphie.
"I am going."
Sylphie took a deep breath.
"I know."
She did not try to stop him again. She only tightened her hand around his arm and reinforced the green layer.
"Do not force the technique."
"I will not."
"You just lied."
"A little."
Irelia drew her dagger.
"Let us go."
They moved down the corridor, not running, but walking fast. Kael stayed in front. Sylphie at his side. Irelia and Amelia right behind, with Elizabeth between them and the guards closing the rear.
When they arrived near the room where Cassian was isolated, they found two guards down, alive, but unconscious. Violet stood at the entrance, sword in hand, blocking the passage. Inside, the room was covered in purple containment lines, green leaves scattered across the floor, and shadows pinned to the walls like stains.
Cassian was leaning against a table, pale with rage and fear.
The woman from the delegation was in the center of the room.
Or her body was.
The shadow behind her had opened like an enormous cloak, much larger than her body should have projected. The woman’s face was tense, eyes wide, tears running down. She did not seem to control her own movements. Her arms were raised, fingers rigid, as if invisible threads were pulling each joint.
Eleonor stood before her, hands raised.
Elion was crouched to one side, drawing a circle on the floor with quick precision.
Yggdrasil was standing on top of a chair, because the height helped a little, though apparently she refused to admit it. Her small hands were open, maintaining a green-gold barrier around the room.
Umbra was kneeling near the woman’s shadow, holding something tightly. Her face showed real irritation.
"She is trapped too deeply," Umbra said.
Kael entered.
Eleonor looked at him without turning her face.
"I told you to stay seated."
"And I did. For a while."
"We will discuss that later."
"I like postponing scoldings."
Cassian pointed at Kael, trembling.
"This is an attack! This is a violation of hospitality!"
Liza, who stood beside Eleonor, turned only her eyes to him.
"If you say one more word, I will turn hospitality into imprisonment."
Cassian closed his mouth.
Kael looked at the woman.
"Does she know?"
Eleonor answered:
"Now she does. Before, she did not."
The woman tried to speak. Her voice came out broken.
"Please... I did not... I did not want..."
Liza took a step.
"Name."
The woman cried.
"Serena. Serena Dalmor. House Dalmor."
Amelia entered the room and stayed near the door.
"Minor house linked to the Veyr through an old marriage."
Cassian went red.
"That proves nothing."
Irelia looked at him.
"You really choose bad moments to speak."
Kael approached Serena.
Her shadow reacted to the mark on his arm. The red line beneath his skin itched hard, almost burning. Sylphie noticed and held his wrist.
"Careful."
"I am being careful."
"It does not look like it."
"It is my way."
The shadow behind Serena turned toward him. It had no eyes, but Kael felt the focus.
The voice came through her body, mixed with the woman’s own voice.
"Marked."
Kael made a face.
"I prefer Kael."
"Door."
"No."
"Path."
"Also no."
Elion glanced quickly at him.
"Can you make it answer?"
"I am insulting an ancestral shadow. I do not know if that counts."
"It counts if it reacts."
Yggdrasil grumbled from the chair:
"Of course this is going to become a method."
Eleonor looked at Kael.
"Keep talking, but do not let it touch you."
Kael took a deep breath.
"Finally, a task at my level."
Sylphie looked at him.
"Kael."
"I know. Too unfunny."
He stopped a few steps from Serena.
"You wanted Elizabeth. Why?"
The shadow smiled using half of the woman’s mouth. The rest of Serena’s face trembled with panic.
"Heiress."
Liza went rigid.
Kael continued:
"Liza is not enough?"
"Wounded crown. Old blood. Hard will."
Liza narrowed her eyes.
"Was that a compliment?"
Kael answered without looking:
"From something horrible. Do not accept it."
The shadow continued:
"Heiress opens future. Queen opens old door."
Amelia spoke quietly:
"It wants a new mouth."
Eleonor nodded.
"And Liza would be a passage to old records. Elizabeth, to continuity."
Elizabeth, behind Irelia, stayed still.
Kael did not look at her. If he did, perhaps the shadow would notice more.
"Who sent you?"
The shadow went silent.
Umbra pulled harder. Serena screamed.
Kael raised his hand.
"Less."
Umbra growled low.
"If I pull less, it escapes."
Sylphie went to Umbra and touched the edge of the shadow again.
"I will hold the skin of the memory. You pull the thread."
Umbra looked at her.
"You are starting to talk like me."
"That worries me too."
Together, the two worked better than either of them wanted to admit. Sylphie’s green light kept the shadow from tearing Serena’s mind. Umbra pulled the dark thread without caring about the resistance. Eleonor held the structure with purple magic, Elion adjusted the circle, and Yggdrasil complained while keeping everyone alive.
"I said involving vampires and blood with roots was going to be a terrible idea," Yggdrasil murmured.
Kael looked at her.
"No one has involved roots yet."
"Metaphorically, they already have."
"Does that count?"
"It counts when I am irritated."
The shadow trembled.
A word escaped through Serena’s mouth.
"Underground."
Kael became serious.
"Which underground?"
The shadow tried to close her mouth.
Eleonor tightened her fingers.
"Speak."
Serena cried, fighting against her own mouth.
"Under... the old chapel..."
Liza turned to Violet.
"Is there an old chapel in the palace?"
Violet answered immediately:
"There was. It was demolished during Alistair’s reign."
Amelia looked at her.
"Demolished or incorporated?"
Violet did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Kael looked at Cassian.
"Did you know?"
Cassian was far too pale now.
"No."
"That sounded sincere," Irelia said.
"Because it is!" Cassian shouted. "I came to pressure the queen, not wake... this!"
Kael looked at him for a second.
"You understand that sentence does not make you innocent, only less competent?"
Cassian opened his mouth, but Liza looked at him.
He closed it.
Serena’s shadow suddenly tore.
Not because of Umbra.
From within.
Elion’s eyes widened.
"It is cutting its own bond."
Eleonor tightened the containment.
"Hold it."
Kael moved.
Sylphie tried to stop him, but he had already advanced. He did not use the new technique. He only took two quick steps and placed his marked hand near the shadow, without touching Serena.
The mark on his arm glowed.
The shadow hesitated.
Kael smiled without humor.
"You want me? Then look at me."
"Kael," Sylphie said.
"I am distracting it."
"You are terrible at doing that safely."
"But I am good at distracting."
The shadow turned fully toward him.
Umbra took advantage.
She pulled the main thread.
Serena fell to her knees, and the shadow came out of her back like wet cloth being pulled from a wound. The woman screamed, but Sylphie held her consciousness with green light.
Eleonor closed her hand, and the torn-out shadow was compressed into another purple sphere.
This time, Elion did not smile.
"This one is larger."
Kael looked at the sphere.
"How much larger?"
Elion lifted the object carefully.
"Large enough to know where the nearest mouth is."
Liza looked at Serena, fallen on the floor.
"Will she live?"
Sylphie knelt beside the woman.
"She will. But she will wake with confused memories."
"Take her to the medical wing," Liza said. "Watched, but treated as a victim until proven otherwise."
Violet nodded.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Cassian looked ready to speak again.
Kael looked at him.
"No."
"I did not say anything."
"Keep it that way."
Liza approached Cassian.
"You will not be arrested yet."
"Your Majesty..."
"But your house will be investigated. Your routes will be closed. Your messengers will be interrogated. And if I discover that you knew about any real part of this, I will not need to turn you into a martyr. I will turn you into an example."
Cassian swallowed dryly.
"Understood."
"Good."
Eleonor turned to Kael.
"And you."
Kael pointed at himself.
"I helped."
"You offered your marked arm as bait."
"And it worked."
Yggdrasil climbed down from the chair.
"I am starting to understand why everyone in this group looks tired."
Amelia answered:
"He is the main reason."
"Treason," Kael said.
Sylphie went to him and examined the arm. The mark had climbed a little above the elbow now.
She said nothing.
That was worse.
Kael looked at her.
"Say it."
"You know."
"I know many things."
"You need to stop."
He took a deep breath.
"After the chapel."
Sylphie closed her eyes.
"Of course."
Eleonor looked at Liza.
"Show the way to this demolished chapel."
Liza nodded.
"Violet."
"I am already checking the old maps."
Elion stored the sphere carefully.
"We have two mouths broken or captured and a third likely location. If we destroy this one too, perhaps the palace’s local network goes silent."
Kael raised his hand.
"Perhaps?"
Elion looked at him.
"It is an ancestral blood conspiracy hidden beneath a vampire palace. Did you want certainty?"
"I did, but I recognize that was optimism."
Elizabeth entered the room slowly.
Liza turned.
"I told you to stay in the corridor."
"And I did. In the doorway corridor."
Kael looked at Liza.
"Family is complicated."
Liza ignored him.
Elizabeth looked at Serena being taken away.
"Was she a victim?"
"Probably," Eleonor said.
The princess nodded, but her expression became harder.
"Then find the mouth."
Kael looked at her.
Elizabeth held his gaze.
"I will not go near it. But find it."
Liza stayed silent for an instant.
Then nodded.
"We will find it."
Kael looked at Sylphie, then at his own arm.
"Good. Then let us end one more horrible thing today."
Sylphie held his hand before he could take a step.
"You are going in the back."
"I do not like the back."
"Today you will like it."
"Is that an order?"
"It is."
Kael looked at Eleonor, seeking support out of pure wrong habit.
Eleonor smiled.
"Obey."
Kael took a deep breath.
"I really hate democratic meetings."
Irelia passed by him.
"Unanimity against you, remember?"
"I still hate it."
Even complaining, he stayed behind.
For now.