“I like to think the impending war is a higher calling, my lord.” Though spoken softly, her answer left no doubt of where her loyalties lay. “But I didn’t mean me. Have you met Esmeralda Kendal?”
Bagita looked at Jade and then back to Rell. He searched her face. “But you were killed.”
“Not killed, just turned Bane,” she said in a flat tone.
“Preposterous,” Lady Grimes said, inching up behind Fromme.
Brita moved to stand on the other side of Rell and took her hand. “Perhaps you should show him.”
Confused, Rell looked at Brita. “Show him?”
“Like Magnus showed you,” was the woman’s explanation.
Could she project her experiences to somebody else? She’d never tried, but Magnus had told her it was a Tell trait. The need to show Lord Bagita everything she’d gone through swamped Rell. She reached and gripped his wrist. He tried to jerk away from her, but she held tight and closed her eyes, concentrating on the night her father had been killed.
Images flowed through her mind. She felt Brita’s Tell within her, guiding her in projecting the visions to Fromme. Sounds of fighting rang inside her head. The urge to break her hold nearly overwhelmed her, but Brita kept her grounded. Fire blazed before her eyes, their home going up in flames and her father’s body lying lifeless on the ground. Then they were there. The Bane swarmed the area. She ran, but was plucked off the ground by a demon. Faster the images came. The Shadow World—the winged demon sucking out her soul. Her screams and then darkness.
Rell opened her eyes and stared at the man before her. His face had gone white, frozen in an expression of horror. Brita released her hold and stepped away. Slowly Rell lowered her hand. “I do not lie.”
His head shook with denial, his body trembling from the scenes that had been her life. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like that.” He continued to shake his head. “He was only to get the documents.”
“What documents?” Luc stepped forward. When Fromme only stared at him with wide eyes, he said again, “What documents?”
“No, this is another trick.” The man began backing up. “It cannot be true.”
Turning, Bagita fled out the door, muttering his denial of what he had seen. Lady Grimes edged toward the door and with a flourish, spun and followed Lord Bagita down the corridor. Rell leveled her gaze on Byrnes. “Would you like to see?”
He scowled at her, sniffed, lifted his nose in the air, and followed his friends out the door. Meran closed the door behind them and turned. “That was effective.”
Siban wrapped his arm around Rell’s waist. His touch instantly calmed the torrent of emotions that had surfaced when she’d relived the night she’d been turned Bane. “What did he mean, ‘He was only to get the documents’?”
“I think we finally know who had a hand in the night Luc lost them gambling,” Ravyn said.
“Had a hand in it?” Rell turned and looked at Luc. “It was all staged?”
He swallowed several times, his lips pinched into a tight line. “Yes. Ravyn picked up on it right after I discovered you’d been turned Bane.” His mouth relaxed. “It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have been so careless, Esmeralda. None of what happened to you would have occurred if I’d been more responsible.”
Jade laid her chin against his arm but said nothing.
The guilt he still carried was evident from his expression. Yes, she’d been through the worst, but it had all happened for a reason. Jade’s words came back to Rell and she said them aloud, “If everything that has occurred happened to bring us to this point now, then I would relive it all again.”
“You can’t mean that,” Luc said. “You’ve lived a nightmare.”
“And out of that nightmare I found Siban.” She slipped her arm around his waist. “And you found Jade, and Gregory has found his brother.” An understanding of the events in her life crystalized before Rell. “Because of what I went through, we might be able to heal Icarus, open the Mystic Arch again, and vanquish Vile and the Summoners.” She pressed a fist against her heart. “Our lives have been intertwined from before we were born. The Bringers, this group, are like the threads of a rope, twisted, one life crossing over the other.” Her gaze skated over each one of them. “I, for one, will die trying to make right what should have been amended a thousand years ago.” She looked back at Luc. “If you need my forgiveness, then know you have it.”
For once he seemed speechless, but from the look on his face it appeared she had lifted a burden he’d long carried. He walked to her and stopped. She looked up at him and saw that his eyes glistened with unspoken emotion. With slow movements, as if savoring the moment of freedom, he drew Rell toward him and hugged her. He pressed his mouth to a spot just above her ear. “Thank you.”
She smiled against his chest and returned his embrace, squeezing him tightly. After a second they released each other and she stepped back, cocking her head to the side. “I’m really glad we didn’t kill you.”
He nodded. “Me, too.”
“Well.” Lady Tobin clapped her hands together once and shook her head. “Let me see if I have this correct.” She pointed to Rell, her hands still pressed together. “You are Bowen’s daughter, but were turned into a Bane, but somehow these wonderful Bringers healed you.”
“Yes.” Rell repressed a smile at the woman’s exasperated expression.
“Your brother is still a Bane,” she said to Gregory. “But there’s great hope of healing him as well.”
“Correct,” the Bringer said.
“Vile is actually Ander. The Summoners still exist and are getting stronger. My grandson is still somewhere in the Shadow World.” She paused. “And I don’t even think I want to know what that business with Fromme was all about.”
Luc turned to her. “It’s probably best.”
“Well then.” She let out an abrupt sigh. “What do you need from us?”
All eyes turned to Gregory. “Gather the Bringers who wish to serve. Send them to Jacob Le Daun’s manor. For now we will post out of there. His home will be easy to patrol and has already been warded. If most residents of Illuma Grand are willing to be brought to full power, then we will move our command back here. Inform the Council of what has transpired.” He exhaled. “Prepare for a war.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Never had there been a more glorious sight than Le Daun Manor. A subtle vibration hummed along Siban’s skin when they passed through the warded boundaries. The sensation sent the tension he didn’t know he’d been holding from his body. They were home and safe.
A shriek from the front door erupted. “They’re back.” Delphina stuck her head back inside the manor. “Lord Le Daun, they’re home.”
In a matter of seconds, Delphina, her children, Jacob, Odette, Okee, and a woman Siban didn’t recognize spilled onto the front landing.
Gregory stopped the line of horses in front of the steps and dismounted. The rest of the party followed suit.
“You are a sight for sore eyes.” Jacob descended the steps and clutched Gregory’s arm. “We were beginning to fear the worst.” He shuffled down the line, touching each one of the Bringers and stopping when he got to Luc to pull him into a crushing hug. “I’m so glad my fears were unfounded.”
“It’s good to be home, Father.” Luc returned the hug and didn’t pull away until Jacob released him. “But the situation has become much more perilous.”
“Now is not the time to share the unsettling details, my son.” Jacob’s gaze slid over his shoulder to the unfamiliar woman on the steps.”
“What is she doing here?” Jade asked.
Siban looked at Rell for explanation.
“She is the Splinter we found coming out of the Council Chamber.” Rell’s hand strayed to the hilt of her sword. “You’ll forgive us, Fatima, if we’re a little leery of your motives for being here right now. Listening to the Demon King’s lies and fighting his private army puts one in a less than trusting mood.”