Lily of the Desert (Silver and Orchids Book 4) Read online

  Hours later, we sit around the fire. Not surprisingly, no one’s eager for bed tonight.

  Sebastian leans forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. “Surely you can think of some reason why someone would want to stop the expedition.”

  Gorin stares into the flames and shakes his head.

  Avery, who’s still furious, points at Gorin. “If you do not give us some explanation as to why Lucia was attacked, I will take my wife, and we will go back to Kalae.”

  Sebastian nods. “I’m sorry, Gorin, but I agree.”

  Gorin buries his head in his hands. “I don’t know why someone would be bent to stop us from finding the lily—I truly don’t.”

  “Gorin’s beloved, Falene, is the princess,” Esme blurts out, taking us all by surprise. She glances at Gorin, apologetic. “Her father, the man dying of the aging disease, is our king.”

  We sit quietly for several moments, processing the information.

  “You fell in love with a princess?” Yancey asks, incredulous. “Wishful thinking.”

  Esme shoots the alchemist a stern look. “She’s not a princess. She’s the princess—King Azel’s only child. And she loves Gorin as much as he loves her.” She lowers her voice and stares at the ground, resolute. “Even if it’s foolish.”

  Gorin holds up his hand.

  “Enough, Esme.” He rubs his neck. “My mother died when I was only ten years old. My father and Josef, my brother—Esme’s father, were in Kalae with their caravan at the time, and I had to live with my aunt until they returned for me. Aunt Alexandra worked as a companion for Falene, and she brought me along. The princess and I became friends.

  “Half a year later, Father returned, and I left with them. I didn’t see Falene for years, might have forgotten her if she were not our princess. But every time I went to the king’s city, I’d look for her.” His voice grows wistful. “I’d see her occasionally on the balconies.”

  He goes quiet, but we wait, knowing there must be more to the story. Finally, he clears his throat and continues, “Last year, Josef had a delivery for the king himself, and I begged him to let me take it. On the day, I wore my best clothes and bathed twice—I was a wreck. And I wrote her a letter.” He shakes his head, smiling at the memory. “She wasn’t there. I crumpled the note and tossed it in a bin on the way out. Crushed, I left. As I was weaving through the city streets, a girl cried out to me. I turned, and there she was, running past the vendors, hair streaming behind her, shining in the sun.”

  “Had she seen you? Did she remember you?” Yancey interrupts, slightly more invested in the story than I would have expected.

  Gorin shakes his head. “No, but she found my note.”

  “What did it say?” Adeline whispers.

  “That I’ve never forgotten her. That I watch for her whenever I’m in Kysen Okoro.” He swallows, and though it’s too dark to tell in the firelight, I’m positive he’s blushing. “That she’s beautiful.”

  “And she saw you toss it away as you left?” Adeline says.

  Gorin nods. “She said she was curious what could make a man look so dejected. We reconnected that afternoon, and I know it sounds mad, but I promise you I fell in love with her that day. A week later, I took a job in the palace. Ten months after that, the second-born prince from Guilead came to Elrija and asked for Falene’s hand. The king accepted.”

  “So how did we get from that point there, to searching the desert for a map leading to a lily while an unnamed someone tries to kill my wife?” Avery asks, but his tone is lighter than before.

  “A few weeks after King Azel made the agreement with the Guilead prince, His Majesty began showing signs of a bizarre aging illness. He’s not an old king, but his hair went white in a month. Then he began to ache, and his joints became stiff. Soon, there were wrinkles around his eyes, and even more on his hands. He already looked fifteen years older.

  “Falene came to me, desperate. She begged me to find the lily, said it was the only thing his physician believed could save him. I agreed—of course I did. I would do anything for her. But she took it a step further. She led me to her father, right into his throne room, and told him that if I did this, if I saved him, in exchange, he would let us marry.”

  “And he agreed?” Adeline asks.

  “Not at first. Three days went by, and then the illness grew worse. Azel began to have trouble rising, and walking became a chore. Finally, he accepted Falene’s bargain.” He holds out his hands in a placating gesture. “But I have no idea why someone would come after us—I swear it. I didn’t know I was putting you in danger.” He meets my eyes. “Lucia, I am so very sorry.”

  And I believe him.

  Sebastian stands, thinking. “The way I see it, we have two possible scenarios at play. The first is that someone wants the king dead. Who’s in line for the throne?”

  Gorin shakes his head. “Falene has reached majority, and Elrija allows the crown to pass to a female heir.”

  “Does anyone else hold a grudge against Azel?” Sebastian asks.

  “Not that I know of. He’s a good king. People are fond of him—as fond as one can be of their ruler, anyway.”

  “Then that leaves this prince of Guilead.”

  Avery nods as if that’s what he had been thinking as well.

  “Daniel? He wouldn’t wish the king dead,” Gorin argues. “The prince is kind and reasonable—once Falene explained our relationship, he supported us, said if we could find a way to be together, he would step back.”

  Sebastian and Avery exchange incredulous looks, but they don’t press further.

  Yancey doesn’t choose the same tactic. “He was willing to hand over the opportunity to rule Elrija as a prince consort? I’m sure any man would give up that sort of power so that he could be thought of as ‘kind.’”

  Esme leans forward, locking her eyes with Yancey. “Cynical, aren’t you?”

  “I prefer rational.”

  I hold up a hand. “I’m afraid Yancey has a point, but let’s stop here for a moment. There is another option we haven’t discussed.”

  The group turns their attention to me.

  “What if this isn’t about the king or the princess or Gorin at all.” I pause and glance out at the darkened city. “What if someone doesn’t want us snooping around the fortress?”

  “Why?” Adeline asks, uneasy.

  The feeling I had when we first arrived in Struin Aria returns, settling around my shoulders like a clammy hand. “I have no idea.”

  “Well, if that’s the case, let’s get out of here quickly.” Yancey stands. “Gorin, what kind of fuel was in the room you scouted today?”

  Gorin sits back, surprised by the abrupt change of subject. “The liquid variety imported from the far west—the type the wealthy cities used to run through underground rooms before the art of light magic was understood.”

  “I don’t suppose there was any sparking powder?” Yancey asks, speaking of a powdery mined mineral most often used to start cooking fires when wood is slightly green or damp.

  Our guide thinks about it for a moment. “There might have been. Why?”

  A satisfied—and slightly terrifying—smile spreads across Yancey’s face.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Not a Good Sign

  It’s nine in the morning, not one of us got a lick of sleep, and Yancey is playing with explosives.

  “You’re sure this is safe?” I ask him as I watch him work his alchemy magic.

  He mixes powders and fuel, adds a little heat, and infuses it with magic until it smokes. “Not likely.”

  I suppose that’s the only answer I could receive when he’s making a combustible powder that he’s trying to blend just perfectly. Get the wrong concoction, and his plan won’t work. Too much and he’ll blow the entire fortress down.

  “When did you learn to do this?”

  “Journeymen alchemists learn in their second year.” He frowns at the powder, which has now changed to an alarming bright orange.r />
  I think about his answer for a moment. “But you’re still a novice.”

  “That’s right.”

  “So how did you learn?”

  He adds a few pinches of this and that. “I read ahead.”

  Help us all.

  Looking like a gleeful child, he glances up. “Have no fear—I know what I’m doing. This is the reason I got into alchemy in the first place.”

  Well, that makes sense. I always wondered what it was about the plant magic that intrigued Yancey. Now I understand—he wanted to blow things up.

  “Finished,” he proudly proclaims. Then he meets my eyes with a wicked look on his face. “Now we must test it. Where’s your dragon?”

  I narrow my eyes. “If you even think—”

  He clamps a meaty hand on my shoulder as he rises. “It was only a joke, adventuress.” He grins. “Lighten up.”

  I gape after him as he collects his orange powder and takes the road into the city. Fifteen minutes later, the ground shakes, and a massive cloud of fire engulfs one of the deserted cottages below. Gasping, I stumble back.

  The fool blew himself up.

  Avery and Sebastian waste no time. They run down the road after Yancey, expecting the worst. Five minutes later, the trio returns, laughing like they haven’t a care in the world.

  “It worked!” Yancey yells. His face is black, and his hair is singed. I’m not sure he has any eyebrows left.

  Esme steps next to me, looking irked. “Men are strange. What is their fascination with fire?”

  “I have no idea.”

  She storms over to Yancey, smacking him in the chest. “Are you mad? You could have killed yourself!”

  I glance at Adeline, and she tries to hide a smile. We’ve noticed something these last few weeks. Yancey and Esme fight…a lot. Perhaps a little too much.

  Carefree and as sooty as a chimney sweep, Yancey slings his arm over Esme’s shoulders. She looks taken aback, probably unused to being around someone taller than she is. “But I didn’t kill myself. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a mosaic to decimate.”

  I step up next to Avery. “Who thinks giving Yancey this sort of power was a bad idea?”

  Avery laughs. “I don’t think any of us gave it to him. He rather took it and ran.”

  We follow the others into the fortress, though I think we’re all a little reluctant to do so. Yancey fusses with his powder for several long minutes, and then he packs wet clay around it and adds a long bit of string he dipped in melted wax.

  “What’s that for?” Gorin asks.

  “It’s a fuse,” Yancey says. “I’ll light it and run.”

  I give Avery a pointed look.

  Moments later, Yancey shoos us outside, instructing us to go to the edge of the courtyard, at least. We stand about, waiting. Several minutes go by, and then a few more. We’re all growing anxious when suddenly, Yancey runs from the door, darting faster than I thought a man of his stature could travel.

  He’s almost to us when a loud boom sounds from the fortress, and a cloud of dust and smoke comes billowing out the entry. When the smoke clears, shards of broken mosaic, clay, and who-knows-what-else lie scattered on the ground.

  Yancey claps his hands together, his eyes bright and slightly unhinged. “Who’s ready to find the map?”

  The dust is still heavy when we step in. I cough and wave my hand in front of my face, trying to clear it. As Sebastian suspected, just past the great gaping hole in the wall, lies a room we have yet to explore. Avery’s the first to venture inside.

  Soon, all seven of us are in the room. Adeline casts a light, and it hovers over us, illuminating the tiny space. The alcove is square in shape, not very large, and there are a few upholstered benches and a small table. A hundred years of dust layers the furniture, and there’s a damp smell to the air.

  “Who would block off a sitting room?” Sebastian muses as he looks about the room.

  Gorin walks to an old bookshelf and starts poking around. Adeline checks a drawer in the table.

  I sniff the air, and Avery nods in agreement. “Mildew.”

  “Where’s the water coming from?” I ask.

  The room itself appears to be dry.

  “Look for a hidden door.” Avery kicks a rug aside and then grins in a self-satisfied sort of way. “Or a secret hatch.”

  “I’ve had enough of those,” I say, referring to the plethora of underground tunnels we found in Teirn this winter.

  “Come on, darling,” the captain coaxes playfully. “Don’t you want to know where it leads?”

  The wooden door sticks at first, but he finally pries it open.

  Adeline cranes her neck to see into the dark pit. There are no stairs leading down, only an ancient ladder. “I don’t particularly need to know,” she says.

  “I’ll go first,” Gorin volunteers. Once he’s down, he yells up, “It’s not too deep.”

  Sebastian goes next, followed by Adeline and her light.

  Avery gestures for me to go. “After you. Unless you’d like me to go first?”

  Fortunately, dark, dank rooms don’t bother me. I climb down and take in the dim surroundings. Once Avery’s joined us, we wait for Yancey and Esme to stop arguing about who’s going to go next and get down here.

  We’re in a wide tunnel, and though it’s not damp yet, the area feels musty. Adeline’s light reflects off the stone walls, revealing the webs of creatures I have no desire to run into.

  “Ready?” Gorin asks once we’re all down.

  Adeline peers at the ceiling. “What do you think is down here?”

  “Vermin, spiders, snakes—”

  “That’s enough, Avery,” Sebastian snaps when Adeline looks like she’s going to crawl right up that ladder and take our light with her.

  Avery flashes me a mock-innocent look.

  “Where are we at exactly?” Esme asks.

  “Under the fortress,” Yancey answers, just to rile her.

  “The map didn’t show this area,” Sebastian says before they start bickering again. “We’ll just have to look around.”

  “Is it safe?” Adeline takes a not-so-subtle step closer to Sebastian.

  “Most likely,” Sebastian assures her.

  We make our way down the tunnel, looking for offshoots. As we walk, insects scurry away from Adeline’s light. Fortunately, the tiny crawling creatures are the worst thing we’ve found.

  “It looks like there’s a door ahead—” Gorin leaps back just in time. A huge ax falls from a crevice in the wall, swinging pendulum-style in front of us. Its blade glints in the mage light, and it goes back and forth, eventually losing momentum.

  “Good thing you moved in time,” Avery says lightly despite the deadly trap in front of us. “Otherwise, you would be half the man you were when we started.”

  Esme snorts, but Gorin shudders.

  “Too soon?” Avery whispers to me, his eyes bright.

  “Maybe a little.”

  Cautiously, Sebastian angles around the blade, keeping watch for pressure plates on the floor. “Someone went to a lot of work to keep people out of here. There’s a plaque on the door, something ancient.”

  “What does it say?” I call to him.

  He shakes his head. “I have no idea. It’s in Rilcreal.”

  “I can read it.” The captain steps over the blade as if it were nothing more than a log in the road.

  Sebastian rolls his eyes and steps aside. “Be my guest.”

  Avery pulls his reading spectacles from his pocket, and I do my best not to swoon. I love him in those glasses.

  “Danger,” he reads. “Beware of…”

  The captain squints and rubs his sleeve over the plaque, trying to work away the dust. Half the wood crumbles.

  He looks at Sebastian and shrugs. “It’s rotted.”

  “Beware of what?” Adeline squeaks.

  “How long ago do you think they sealed the alcove?” Gorin asks.

  I glance around and then inspect
the blade. “I think they closed it off long before they left the city. What do you say, Sebastian? Two hundred, three hundred years ago?”

  Sebastian nods. “That sounds about right.”

  “Let’s say they did lock something nasty inside,” Gorin continues. “What could have survived two hundred years? Trolls only live to be a hundred or so, goblins fifty. What’s the worst thing that could possibly be behind that door?”

  Avery nods sagely. “A very ripe troll corpse.”

  Adeline’s light flickers.

  “You know you’re going to open it,” Yancey says. “Hurry it up so we can get out of here.”

  “What’s wrong, Yancey?” Esme teases. “Scared of the dark?”

  I step away from them and join Sebastian and Avery. “What do you say?”

  Avery shrugs, but Sebastian looks resigned. “You know it’s locked.”

  “Well, my friend, I just happen to be prepared for exactly this sort of occasion.” Avery pulls out a familiar pouch.

  “You have a lock pick kit,” Sebastian deadpans.

  “You never know when it will come in handy.”

  “Obviously.”

  Avery pulls out a few picks and jimmies the lock. Just when he almost has it, he glances over his shoulder. “We’re sure we want to do this, correct?”

  Sebastian and I exchange a long look, and then I ready an arrow. The others arm themselves as well. “Open the door.”

  The lock clicks, and Avery pushes the door open. It swings effortlessly, nearly silent. I wait, barely breathing, unsure what to expect.

  There is nothing but the unnerving sound of leaking water. After several moments, Sebastian nods for Adeline to join us in the front.

  Cautiously, looking like a terrified bunny, she shuffles forward. Her light flickers and dims, and then it goes bright again. She must be trembling.

  “Stay close to me,” Sebastian says. “Lucia, behind Adeline.”

  Avery takes his place at my side, and we creep into the room. It’s a long rectangle, with stairs leading down to a sunken area in the middle. I have no idea how far they go because a pool of water has collected at the center. In a perfect rhythm, the water falls.