These Divided Shores, page 32
“Yes,” Gunnar hummed. “But this time, teach me how it is in Argrid.”
Ben smiled, and taught him.
In no time at all, Vex was yanking on the levers to slow the Meander as New Deza came into view. Other boats dotted the lake around them—some family vessels, traders sailing into or out of New Deza. But most were either Argridian steamboats with the curved V cut through with crossed swords on flags rippling over pilothouses, or Mecht, flying the same flag.
Vex white-knuckled the helm as his eye cut over the approaching docks. “You wouldn’t happen to know which docks Argrid is patrolling more now, would you?”
Leaning on the map table after having stuffed the engine with coal, Jakes grunted. “No.”
“Some help you’ve been so far.”
Jakes stayed silent long enough that Vex looked back at him. His arms were planted on the table’s edge so his shoulders bunched to his ears, and after a moment, he huffed a sigh.
“What do you know about the boy?” Jakes asked, slipping into Argridian.
Vex steadied the boat around a passing vessel. “He’s a good kid,” he said, reverting to his native language too. “Smart. Loving. He’ll—”
“Not that,” Jakes snapped. “I meant—do you know how old he is?”
“Uh—six? I think.”
Jakes kicked the floor. Vex kept flipping his attention between Jakes and the approaching port, but in those glances, he watched an entire war pass over Jakes’s face.
“Why?” Vex asked.
“Who was his father?”
Vex shrugged. “No idea. Lu probably knows. I only met the kid a few months ago.”
He looked out the window and angled the Meander for a dock in the middle of the wharf. It was a gamble, but every move was.
When he turned back to Jakes, Vex jumped. Jakes was glaring at him. Hot as flames.
“You didn’t know Elazar sent Bianca here. You don’t know anything, do you? And you didn’t even try to convince Adeluna to continue attempting permanent magic. Why did I expect anything more from you? You’re Rodrigu’s son. Cowardice runs in your blood.”
Vex gaped. He’d never in his life heard anyone call Rodrigu a coward.
They came on the docks. Rage welled in Vex’s stomach. “Why would I have known who Elazar sent to Grace Loray? The hell would I have—”
“You knew my sister.”
Vex frowned, steering the Meander down the narrow dock lane. “What? I told you I haven’t known Teo that long.”
“Teo, maybe not. But you knew my sister. Bianca. And her daughter, Annalisa.”
There, that space ahead was free, and Vex didn’t see any defensors on the dock. What he did see, up the wharf, were decorations. People scurried about, hanging banners in indigo and gold, the colors of Grace Loray’s pillar of purity.
Vex tamped down his growl of disgust and twisted the helm to the left.
Wait—a memory scratched at Vex’s mind. Why did he know those names?
Jakes must have seen the confusion on Vex’s face. The map table groaned as he pushed off it, coming to stand next to Vex, near the helm. “You don’t remember them. Of course you don’t. I shouldn’t be surprised—your father cared little for my family, too.”
The Meander stopped in line with the other vessels on this dock. Vex needed to leap onto the wood and tie it off, but he was stuck at the helm, one slow tremor walking up his left leg.
Vex saw a knife, glinting in the torchlight of the Grace Neus’ holding cells.
Rodrigu had been in a cell across from him. His father had been so relentless, even there. Spewing sureties. “Things will get better, Pax, don’t you worry, we’ll get out of here—”
“He’s a child! Asentzio—the Pious God wouldn’t let you harm a child!”
“He isn’t a child,” Elazar’s voice said in Vex’s memory. “He’s a heretic. And I know there are others hiding in my court.”
Two monxes held him down as another came at him with the knife. Elazar wasn’t the one to do it. He instructed the monxe on what to cut, though—“Slower, press the blade harder. Yes, just like that. What did you say, brother? What name was that?”
Rodrigu had screamed four names below Grace Neus Cathedral. Over and over, his voice had broken apart while Elazar had the monxe gouge an X into Paxben’s eye.
Bartolomeu Montero. The comodoro from Elazar’s navy. He was arrested before monxes were even done bandaging Paxben. His pyre burned the same day Rodrigu’s did.
Alexandre Nuñez. The priest who ran the Grace Ismael Cathedral. When Paxben had been stuffed into a cell on a ship bound for Grace Loray, defensors had told him that if he was quiet, he could hear Alexandre screaming from a pyre a few streets away.
Estevo Ochoa. The wealthy conde who owned a prolific mine in northern Argrid. Months after Vex left Argrid, he heard that Estevo and his family had been murdered in their sleep.
Raya Cuesta. The last name Rodrigu had screamed, the duquesa who had overseen charity to the poor.
Paxben had known all of them. Raya had brought him a birthday present, a gilded dagger with his initials carved on the handle because her son had gotten one just like it and loved it.
Raya and her husband were thrown beneath the Grace Neus Cathedral as Paxben and Rodrigu were led out to their pyres. Defensors returned Paxben to his cell afterward, of course; his death had been staged. And in the bowels of Grace Neus, while he waited for Elazar to decide what to do with him, he listened to Raya lie.
“We are loyal to the king. My husband and I were not part of any resistance! We serve the Pious God and the Eminence King. No—no, I have no other family. No one was involved!”
“Bianca Cuesta,” Vex said aloud now. He wanted to see Jakes’s reaction. He needed to see Jakes’s reaction. “That was the daughter of Duquesa Raya Cuesta. My father’s ally. And—”
He struggled. Raya had had a son, too, a little older than Vex, and Rodrigu had mentioned once that they might get along. “Paxben, you should meet him—he is new to Deza, and from what Raya tells me, Jakome is quite shy—”
“Jakome. Jakome Cuesta.” Vex’s hands fell off the helm, his soul flickering out as he stared at the planes of Jakes’s face. He felt naked now with his scar bare, and every look from Jakes felt like Elazar’s fingers pressing on the corner of his eye, marking him.
Jakes smiled. There was no emotion in it as the Meander bumped into the dock, rocking with the current. “At least you remember me. I’m flattered.”
Vex’s mind hummed—he had another memory, fuzzier, further, of Raya weeping in the foyer of Rodrigu’s mansion when she first joined his resistance. Something about her daughter and granddaughter dying. Paxben had watched from the stairway railing as Rodrigu ushered Raya into his study, promising her they would get justice for Bianca and little Anna—
They hadn’t died, though. They’d been on Grace Loray, as Bianca and Annalisa Casales. Menesia. Elazar had to have given them Menesia.
Vex staggered, legs aching. “Why?”
“I couldn’t parade myself around Deza with the name of convicted conspirators,” Jakes said, assuming his question had been more direct. “So I made my mother’s name my last name. You aren’t the only one who became someone else to escape his past—though, in my case, I didn’t change so much to escape as I did to embrace. Your father”—Jakes rounded on Vex, and he showed emotion now, emotion that had Vex slamming back into the wall—“your coward of a father gave them up. And I’d almost be able to appreciate the irony in him betraying the people who betrayed him if I hadn’t had to watch them burn.”
Vex had never found out how Elazar had discovered that Rodrigu was heading a coup against him. He’d always assumed defensors had uncovered a paper trail or rumors.
“Your mother,” Vex said, a breath, “betrayed—”
“Your father promised us a new Argrid,” Jakes stated. “But he refused to do what needed to be done to destroy Elazar, so yes, my mother took action. Elazar already distrusted his brother. She put one letter on Elazar’s desk, one correspondence between Rodrigu and the Grace Lorayan rebels, and that was all it took. My parents were going to lead the rebellion after him. My parents were going to change everything.”
“Your mother told Elazar—she’s the reason for—”
“Elazar killed my sister and niece—and I find out, years later, that it was so much worse than that. He used them.” Jakes slammed his fist into the wall beside Vex’s head, making him jump. “And—and Teo. You have no idea where he came from? Defensors told my family that when Bianca died, she was pregnant. That she suffered complications—but Elazar experimented on her. On Annalisa, too, and I know—I know he defiled them. He, or one of his soldiers. Someone forced that child on her. And Teo is—Teo can’t be—”
Jakes sobbed with such force that Vex almost felt sorry for him.
Vex stayed against the wall by the helm, his breathing shallow. His eye went to the table at the rear of the pilothouse. He’d left Nayeli’s Budwig Bean in the top drawer. What could she do to help him now, though?
“Elazar has a vial of permanent magic.” Jakes’s voice was low, the tone of resolve fraying. “If he has already taken it, we’ve lost. That is my goal, my family’s goal, to stop him.”
Vex wilted. “You’re—you’re gonna go after Elazar yourself? Now? What about Teo?”
Jakes’s jaw shifted. “If the boy has magic in him—no. He doesn’t. Lu’s magic has already proven itself. That is what will stop this war.”
Vex snarled, shoulders tensing. “Rationalize all you want. Teo’s the sweetest, most loving kid on this island. Maybe this whole damn world. And the fact that you’re trying to make yourself feel all right about putting Elazar’s downfall over his security? You’re the coward.”
“I’ve given everything for this war!” Jakes screamed a hand’s width back so Vex felt the full brunt of his pain and fury. “Elazar has ripped everyone I love out of my arms, and I will get that vial from him. I will stop him.”
Jakes reared back as if to punch the wall again, but his stance shifted, and Vex saw the strike coming for him. He braced himself on the helm and kicked Jakes in the chest.
Agony flared up Vex’s legs. Bones shifted and muscles frayed and he screamed as Jakes slammed into the opposite wall with a startled oof.
Vex dropped to the floor, his face contorted in pain.
Jakes gathered himself faster than Vex. “Find . . . find that boy,” he spat, the weight of not saying Teo’s name landing unsteady and weak. “Waste your time running useless missions. But I’m going to stop Elazar. I’m going to protect our country, you disgusting traitor.”
He shoved himself to his feet, raced across the deck, leaped off onto New Deza’s wharf.
Vex scrambled to the table and yanked open the drawer. The pouch with the Budwig Bean was still inside—he snatched it and planted the bean into his ear. “Nay? Nayeli?”
Silence. It would’ve been a miracle if she’d had the other bean in her ear at that moment.
Vex slackened, the current rocking the untethered Meander. Jakes would go after Elazar—and what? He wanted permanent magic more than anything rational.
Jakes Rayen. Jakome Casales. Ben’s former . . . whatever. Teo’s uncle. Raya’s son.
Whoever he was. Whichever side of this he was on. Not Elazar’s side, but not the raiders’ side, either. His own manic side.
Vex looked out the door, at the port. He couldn’t spot in which direction Jakes had run off, the crowds pressing back and forth under the fluttering decorations. He felt like eyes watched from every angle, ears listened from every empty rooftop.
Let defensors catch Jakes in New Deza—it was as much as he deserved.
But that was the reason Vex had brought Jakes along at all. He knew the defensors, the pattern of their patrols. He likely still had friends he could trust not to turn him in. Would he trade secrets to Elazar for feigned security? “Your nephew is in the port. He wants the boy.”
Vex had to move fast. Fast and carefully.
He grabbed a cloak from the pilothouse and tugged it on, covering his eye, before he swung off the Rapid Meander. Hopefully no defensor knew his boat enough to recognize it, but he latched it to the dock and left it with a reassuring pat.
His hands shook. Goddamn Jakes—goddamn Raya Cuesta—goddamn it all.
Teo. Focus on getting Teo back.
Vex trekked off into the city. He should’ve scanned rooftops for soldiers, but his mind refused to think of anything other than every memory he had of Jakes and Raya.
He didn’t have much. He’d been a kid. He hadn’t paid attention to most things.
Regret came in a wave. If he’d paid more attention. If he’d tried, at all, instead of—
Vex caught himself when his plea to Lu slammed into his mind.
“Can we stop apologizing to each other?”
Regret wouldn’t bring Rodrigu back. But Vex could stop Jakes. He could save Teo.
The New Deza castle shot into view on a plateau that overlooked Lake Regolith. If Elazar was in this city, if Tom had Teo with him, the castle was the likeliest—most fortified—place they’d be.
Hands in fists, Vex dredged up every bit of resolve he could find. He could get into the New Deza castle. He’d done it with Nayeli, Cansu, and Edda only a few weeks ago. He’d listen for any news, sneak down to the cells. Step by step.
The main gate was shut and soldiers paced on the top of the wall. The smaller side gate on the east of the yard was Vex’s best chance of getting in unnoticed. It was how he and Lu had escaped with Teo in the first place, but its road had no cover all the way up to the gate itself.
Vex started walking up the road. It was what Lu’d done to get out of the castle’s stable yard—she’d just strolled right up, like she belonged there.
He reached the gate. One door was closed; the other sat open enough to allow servants and other employees to slip through.
Vex held his breath and wiggled into the opening. The stable yard looked the same as last he’d been here. Three barns defined the area, while off to the right, the castle gardens could be seen, and to the left, the front gate. The castle itself towered beyond, and—
Vex’s eye snapped back to the castle yard. People crowded there, shoulder to shoulder, not making a sound, not moving. Barely even breathing.
The gate behind him banged shut on the system of gears that commanded it. Vex whipped his head up, seeing defensors in the guardhouse now, their scowls deep and taunting.
Vex turned, slowly, facing the group of people again. He recognized them. Those, Emerdian raiders—those, Tuncian—Grozdan—
One stepped out of the group, her short, jagged hair wafting around her face.
Cansu. She aimed a pistol at Vex. “In the name of the Pious God, surrender. Heretic.”
28
THE TONE OF the war had changed.
Refugees remained in the sanctuary by their own choice. No families were forced to stay. No raiders were required to prepare for the journey to New Deza. The prevailing attitude was one of tired acceptance, a resignation as thick as smoke.
The raiders would fight for the Grace Loray they wanted. If people disagreed with their leadership, let them leave to join Elazar, or run off to initiate their own plans. They would fight this war on a foundation of unity, and willingness was essential.
So Lu knew, as she watched Rosalia hand out small weapons to her raiders, that every Grozdan here wanted a new future. As Nate and Pierce’s raiders brought Lu baskets of plants to prepare for the coming fight, she knew each of them had changed, linked to the Grozdan raiders and the Tuncian raiders and even Kari and Ben, through the tightening bond of kinship. To feel the delicate beginnings of true peace was staggering.
All it had taken was another war with Argrid.
Kari’s messenger sent word to Elazar, telling him of Ben and Lu’s intended surrender. She chose the place and time: the docks in New Deza, facing an easy escape onto the lake; five days from the sanctuary attack, at dusk. Only three steamboats would approach the port, twenty raiders total. Kari doubted Elazar would truly stage Ben and Lu’s surrender on the docks—it was far more likely that defensors would escort them somewhere undisclosed. For that reason, Kari would reserve the bulk of their forces to deploy around New Deza—Rosalia would come in from the north, Nate from the south; Nayeli the west. Pierce’s men would be on steamboats in the middle of the lake, four raiders and himself all with Budwigs, waiting to swoop in if—when—things turned to a fight.
Lu kept herself busy those final days. She tied Aerated Blossom pods to strings that could loop around fighters’ wrists. She captured Drooping Fern smoke in reeds, sealed until the user blew hard on one end and released the knockout gas. Hemlight went into pouches with other explosives to create crude grenades; healing plants nestled inside vials to be tucked into boots; Powersage’s orange leaves became a paste to be used just before the battle, for added strength.
Most importantly: Bright Mint leaves went into snug jars, as many as she could find. Everyone approaching New Deza would need this counter plant, should Elazar’s final plan somehow involve widely spread Menesia.
Lu filled Fatemah’s hut with Grace Loray’s magic, transforming it in the simple, common ways she had learned over her years of study. Were Fatemah here, Lu thought she might be content to know what her former laboratory was now being used for. Not permanent magic—just magic, this island in its purest form. It felt like a fitting tribute to her.
Nayeli spoke to Vex with the Budwig once, when he was still hours out from New Deza. Otherwise, either she kept missing him or something horrible had happened. Lu counted and recounted how many vials of healing plants they had and used the monotony to sear her mind. He would be fine. He was smart. Likely he had to stay silent while searching for Teo—but he was fine.
Two days after they sent the message to Elazar, Ben came to see Lu. The messenger had returned. Elazar’s reply was simple. “Praise the Pious God. I look forward to our reunion.”
