Queen of the Night Guild, page 35
part #3 of Queen of Thieves Series
His eyes flashed. “Do you know what it’s like to watch the only person that cares for you die a slow, painful death, and there’s not a damned thing you can do about it?” Sorrow mixed with his anger. “She starved to death. She gave me the scraps of food she begged, stole, or whored herself out to buy. She endured it all, for me!”
Ilanna’s gut twisted. She could find no words.
“So yes, I hate them. I hate every Keeper-accursed one of those men and women too noble to know what it’s like to lie awake at night praying to deaf gods for a bite of food, a scrap of cloth to keep out the cold. To feel the agony of watching your mother slowly die because the man who calls himself a King is too much of a coward to acknowledge the consequences of his wantonness.”
Ilanna’s eyes widened. King?
“There is nothing I wouldn’t do to make them understand the pain I felt as I sat beside my mother and watched her slowly waste away. All the while, those bastards in the palace eat and drink to their hearts’ content.”
The King’s words flashed through her mind. “Sadly, my generation has produced no unwanted offspring.” He’d said that without any sign of deceit. He truly believed he had no royal bastards. Yet the Duke had given the King a strange expression—one filled with guilt, perhaps?
Realization hit her like a blow to the gut. The Duke’s desire to protect his brother superseded his sense of honor. Would Duke Phonnis hesitate to dispose of a royal bastard if he believed the child’s existence could be used as a weapon against the King? She doubted it.
If the King knew he had a bastard son, and that the bastard was a member of the Night Guild, he never would have permitted the Duke to eliminate the Night Guild. The Duke had had to keep Allon’s existence a secret from the King. It was the only way to eventually be rid of the Night Guild once and for all. For more than thirty years, he’d withheld the truth from his brother out of a desire to both protect the King and be rid of the stain on his family’s honor.
Yet in doing so, the Duke had nearly brought about the destruction of Praamis. Allon’s treachery had come within a hair’s breadth of giving the Bloody Hand control of the city.
“I understand wanting to make the nobles suffer, even the King. But that doesn’t justify all the death and bloodshed you’ve caused.”
“I know. I…” Allon dropped his eyes. “I didn’t want it. But I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice!”
“You don’t understand.” Allon lifted his gaze to meet hers. “I had to do it…to protect you.”
Ilanna flinched as if struck. “What?”
“The Bloody Hand came to me the day you returned from Voramis. They said they knew someone from the Night Guild had killed their men—a man and a woman.”
“And you just told them it was me?”
“I had to!” Desperation flashed across Allon’s face. “They threatened to expose me to Master Gold, give him proof that I was working with them. I couldn’t face the Sanction.” He shuddered.
“So you told them it was me. Knowing full well the torments they’d subject me to would be far worse.”
Allon’s face burned. “I…I tried to fix it. I knew the Duke had put a massive bounty on your head, so I alerted him that you were going to try for Lord Auslan’s vault.”
Which explains why they were waiting for us, she thought. He’d left one of the Arbitors alive so the alarm would be raised.
“The Duke would have captured you, imprisoned you, probably tried and executed you. But in that time, I would collect the reward and find a way to break you out. We could take the money and get away from Praamis.”
Fury burned in Ilanna’s chest. “And if you couldn’t find a way to get me free?”
Allon winced, his eyes falling to the floor. “An execution by the Crown would be kinder than the fate the Bloody Hand had in mind for you.” His expression grew pleading. “Besides, if anyone could cross the Field of Mercy alive, it would be you.”
“How long?” she growled. “How long have you been working for the Bloody Hand?”
Allon refused to meet her gaze.
“How long, Allon?” she shouted.
“Since before we met,” the Hound said in a quiet voice. “Master Hound found out the truth somehow and came to me. He offered me a chance for vengeance against my father”—the Keeper-damned King of Praamis, Ilanna thought—“He would become Master Gold and would make me the master of House Hound.” His eyes searched hers. “I wanted to make things better—not just for the Night Guild, but for the city of Praamis. No more bastards would suffer because of Kings and nobles too cowardly to take responsibility for their actions.”
“Even after everything you knew about the Bloody Hand?” Ilanna couldn’t believe it. “You’ve heard the same stories I have, Allon. You know what they’re capable of.”
“And that’s exactly why I had to do it, Ilanna.” His eyes sparkled with a ferocity she’d never seen. “The First of the Bloody Hand himself met with me. He sat and talked with me, shared his vision for a city controlled by the Night Guild and the Bloody Hand. By the people, not men who rule because of titles and slaves. There was something…otherworldly about him. An almost divine light burning in his eyes. I know it sounds silly, but he seemed somehow more than human.”
Ilanna gaped. The Hound’s face had taken on an almost fanatical expression.
“They offered a better future, for all of us. I had to take it.”
“At the cost of hundreds of lives.” Ilanna shook her head. “How can you believe that is anything close to better?”
Allon winced. “That’s not how it started out. They wanted to join the Night Guild peacefully, and together we would take control of the city.”
Nothing she’d seen about the Bloody Hand spoke of peace. They had preyed on Allon’s desires, manipulated him into doing their will.
“But Master Gold kept refusing, kept swaying the Guild against the Bloody Hand. He was the one who made the Bloody Hand act out of violence. Which is why they needed to get rid of him.”
Revulsion twisted in Ilanna’s gut. Of course it was him. Allon had planted the dagger—her dagger—in Master Gold’s chest. No doubt he had poisoned the wine as well. He had framed her for Master Gold’s murder, just as he had left falsified proof of her thefts.
She had no doubt it was him. The Royal Scribe had described forgery as an art. “Any forgery is possible for an artist of passable skill,” she’d said.
In Allon’s room, she’d seen the sketches of her. The same sketches that had to have been reproduced for the Bloody Hand to recognize her face. He was more than just a passable artist, no doubt about it. He had only to ask Master Hound for a sample of Master Gold’s handwriting, and he could practice until he had the forgery just right.
An icy hand of horror gripped her. “Were you always the one sending the notes? The ones that appeared to be written by Master Gold?”
Allon hung his head, but nodded.
“Why? Why me?”
“Because of Sabat. And because of Master Gold.”
Her brow wrinkled in confusion. She didn’t understand.
“Once you declared the Black Spire as your Undertaking,” Allon said, not meeting her eyes, “Master Gold began showing an interest in you. Master Hound had someone keep an eye on you. Especially after you did the impossible and succeeded. If Master Gold actually managed to convince you to join him, you would be a real threat. But after Sabat…”
“Master Hound saw a weakness he could exploit.” Acid rose to Ilanna’s throat. “And he used it—you used it—to get me to break into the mansions of those nobles under the Crown’s protection. Which led them to complain to the Crown and turn the King and Duke against the Night Guild.” The final pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place. “The Bloody Hand wanted the Duke to weaken the Guild, to thin the herd. With most of their opposition eliminated, they could take over.”
Allon swallowed. “You understand.”
“Of course I understand, Allon!” A fresh wave of anger washed over Ilanna. “I understand that you blackmailed me for five years. I understand that you lied to my face even as you used my body. I understand that you tried to get me arrested and executed by the Duke, and convicted of murder and larceny by the Night Guild. I understand you betrayed me and the rest of the men you called your comrades to both the Bloody Hand and the Duke. All of these things I understand. One day, perhaps even be able to forgive.”
Hope surged in Allon’s eyes.
Ilanna’s voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. “But I will never forgive the fact that you are responsible for the death of my child.”
Chapter 46
“Ch-Child?” Horror filled Allon’s eyes, and his face turned a sickly grey-green. “I thought…it was just a house!” he whispered. “With the Lord Auslan job, you had more than enough to build another. I never imagined…” He jerked to the side, retching.
Allon’s reaction surprised Ilanna. She’d come here expecting smug satisfaction, outrage at his plans being foiled, even arrogance. But guilt? That, she hadn’t anticipated.
“And you never thought that they’d try to burn the house with me in it?”
“I wouldn’t let them.” Allon wiped a dribble of vomit from his lips. “They wanted to deal with you personally, but I made them agree to turn you over to the Duke.”
Ilanna snorted. “Because Duke Phonnis and I are best pals. He’d have invited me over for tea and biscuits.”
“No, he’d have placed you on trial. But I know you, Ilanna. You never left proof of your presence—at least not where any guard or nobleman could see. Only a thief would know how you got in and out. Hells, half the time even I didn’t know.”
Ilanna’s eyes narrowed. She’d often suspected someone was watching her traverse the city. Though she’d shrugged it off as her Guild-bred paranoia, someone had watched her. Allon had used his forged notes to send her to the homes of the nobles under the Crown’s protection. Which means he had to have gone in after her and stolen something visible, then sent those items to Filch in her name. It explained how the fence had the stubs proving delivery of those items.
“It sounds insane,” Allon said, “but a trial was a far better fate than what the Bloody Hand had in store for you.”
“You said that already,” Ilanna replied in a cold, hard voice. “That doesn’t absolve you of the guilt for your actions.”
“I know!” A pleading light filled Allon’s eyes. “But I couldn’t let them hurt you. And after what you did to their men in Voramis, they were coming after you with everything they had. They focused all their hatred of Master Gold and his resistance on you. And by the time I realized what they were going to do, it was too late.”
“By the time you realized?” Ilanna’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re the one who hired Toll and Melinn to burn down Old Town Market. How could you not connect those dots?”
Allon’s gaze dropped. “They had already threatened your life. I made them see that burning down your house would send you a clear message. But I swear on the Watcher’s name I never would have done it had I known…” The sickly color returned to his face.
“You thought I needed protecting.” Ilanna’s jaw clenched. “If you were worried about my life, why not simply tell me? Keeper take it, Allon, you could have told me the truth!”
“And what would that have accomplished?” The Hound shook his head. “You would have kicked me off the crew, and the Bloody Hand would have found someone else to get at you. As long as I was on your crew, they let you alone, with my promise that I would get you out of the way.”
“A promise you tried to keep more than once, and that got Willem killed!”
“I would have let a dozen Willems die, Ilanna. With the Duke’s money, we could have—”
“There is no we, Allon!” Ilanna’s shout echoed off the rafters. “There was never a ‘we’.”
Pain contorted Allon’s face. “Don’t say that, Ilanna! You don’t mean it.” Desperation filled his voice. “I know it started out as just something fun, but I know it turned into more. We were so good together—you can’t deny that what we had was special. I…I love you, Ilanna!”
Ilanna bared her teeth in a vicious snarl. “I never felt anything for you. You were a tool that served a purpose. I put up with your groping hands and revolting grunting because of that. But you were never special.”
“You…used me?” Tears brimmed in Allon’s eyes. “But those things you said—”
“A lie!” Ilanna felt a grim satisfaction. Suffer, you bastard! You destroyed everything I loved. Now you will know how it feels. “You were useful for getting the deed to my house, and earning Master Hawk’s goodwill. He loved you, and you killed him!”
Allon reeled beneath the force of her words. “It should never have happened!” he shouted. “They promised he’d live.”
“You bargained with the devil, Allon,” Ilanna snarled. “The Bloody Hand never intended to keep their word. Not to you, not to—”
With a scream of rage, Allon leapt upon her. His left hand closed around her throat and he shoved her into a nearby stack of crates. The blade in his right hand hovered a finger’s breadth from her throat.
“Shut up!” A manic light filled his eyes. “Shut up! Shut up!”
Ilanna cried out at the agony in her chest. A twinge of pain ran down her spine, but she met Allon’s eyes without hesitation. “Do it, Allon!” she coughed. “Kill me. You already killed my son, my friends, Master Hawk, everyone. Put an end to it here and now. You’ll finally get what you want.”
“No!” A horrible moaning sob tore from Allon’s throat. “I never wanted this! I never wanted Master Hound dead, or my uncle, or anyone else. I just wanted my father to suffer for what he did to me.”
“Did he know?” Ilanna spoke in a quiet voice, struggling to ignore her pain. “Did Master Hawk know who you were?”
Allon shook his head. “No.” Tears streamed down his face. “He thought my mother, his sister, was still at the palace until after she died. I…I couldn’t tell him the truth.” Shame burned in his eyes.
Allon had kept the secret for more than thirty years, and it had twisted him into this angry, bitter, pathetic husk of a man. He had brought sorrow and misery not just to the Night Guild, but to the city of Praamis.
“I’m sorry!” Allon sobbed. “So sorry.” A wild light filled his eyes. “You have to help me, Ilanna.”
She winced as his jerking motions pressed the dagger harder against her neck.
His expression grew manic. “Yes, you can help me! You defeated the Duke, you saved the Night Guild. They’ll listen to you. You can make them understand what I did.”
“What you did?” Ilanna swallowed the acid rising to her throat. Her skin crawled at his touch. “What you did was kill the only people in this world that truly cared about me.”
“But I care about you.” Allon pressed himself against her, his face dangerously close to hers. “You have to know that. You have to see—”
The pain overwhelmed Ilanna. She reacted as Errik had taught her: her elbow coming across to strike the side of Allon’s neck, her fist driving into his solar plexus. She hit him with every shred of strength she had left. Allon staggered backward, caught himself, and lunged for her again. He suddenly flew to the side, as if jerked by an invisible hand, and collapsed with a groan. Ilanna let out her breath and pressed a hand to her neck. A trickle of blood leaked from the wound left by Allon’s dagger.
Straightening her clothes, she walked over to the prone Hound and crouched beside him. Her eyes went to the crimson-stained steel tip of the crossbow bolt protruding from his side. The flaccidity in his legs told her the bolt had severed his spine.
A grim satisfaction spread through Ilanna. Allon had been the cause of so much pain. He’d tried to have her captured and executed by the Duke, framed for murder and larceny, and turned over to the Bloody Hand. She had no doubt he’d been the one to identify her crew to the Voramians—how else would Rhynd have known who to haul away? Besides, Rhynd had left before the Duke’s raid. She had told only Errik and Allon of her intentions.
She’d suspected then, but the final piece of the puzzle had fallen into place when she realized that Allon was the artist behind the image of her. He’d confirmed it the night he’d cut her free: his neck and wrists hadn’t borne the bruises and abrasion left by the chains worn by the others.
It didn’t matter that his actions had saved her life. The balance had been tipped too far against him.
His eyes were wide. “Help…me!” he gasped.
The pleading in Allon’s eyes had no effect on her. He’d played her from the beginning—even before he knew her. His relationship with her had given him access to her room to leave the notes. He’d camouflaged his true purpose in House Hawk by pretending to befriend Denber. Perhaps he’d even played a role in her friend’s capture.
He’d forged the notes, deceived her about his stance on the Bloody Hand’s offer, and sent the Bloody Hand to burn down her house with her son and Ria in it. He deserved every moment of suffering.
“I am.” Her voice could have frozen molten steel. “The Guild would have subjected you to the Sanction. This is mercy, and a fate far better than the one you would have offered me.”
“You…can’t…do this!” Allon’s breathing had grown labored. “The Guild…will never…convict me. No…evidence.”
“I know. Which is why this is how it has to be.” The Guild had done nothing to punish Sabat; she couldn’t let Allon get away with what he’d done. His actions had led to too much death and suffering for him to evade punishment because of a lack of evidence. She wouldn’t risk it, even if it meant dealing with him herself. Gods knew she had blood enough on her hands. His death wouldn’t add to her burden.
His hand fumbled for his dagger, but Ilanna pried it from his weakening fingers. Biting down on the flare of pain in her chest, she drove the blade into his ribs. Steel sliced through flesh and muscle with horrendous ease. Allon’s struggles stilled and he fought for each breath. Panic, horror, and fear mingled in his expression.
