“Why are you holding the princess with weapons drawn?” he snapped.
“Prince Phane, she killed Captain Erato. We thought …”
“Silence!” Phane said. “You are dismissed. You will wait for me in the courtyard. If I find that you have mistreated the princess in any way, you will pay dearly.”
Both men turned white, snapped to attention, saluting crisply, if not a bit forcefully, before scurrying from the room.
“Princess, I hope you will accept my sincere apology for the unacceptable behavior of my men.” He had gone from stern and angry to contrite and remorseful in an instant. “Please, tell me what happened.”
“I’m not really sure,” Lacy said, her voice shaking. “Captain Erato came into my room and drew his sword, leveling the point at me. I could see in his eyes that he meant to kill me.”
“It’s all right, you’re safe now,” Phane said. “Take your time.”
She nodded, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. The residual fear of the brief struggle was still with her, but more than that, she was planning to lie to Phane and lying always made her terribly self-conscious.
“He lunged at me, but he tripped on the edge of the carpet and fell forward into me, knocking me down against the bed. Before he could get up, I stabbed him in the back.” She looked up from the table. “Prince Phane, why would he try to kill me?”
“I don’t know, Princess, but perhaps I can discern something by examining the body.”
Lacy remained where she was, terrified that he’d seen through her lie, but relieved that he seemed to believe her.
“Quite a well-placed strike,” he said, almost to himself before he started murmuring a few words under his breath. “Interesting.” He pulled away Erato’s collar and nodded.
“Well, this is certainly disturbing,” he said, motioning for Lacy to come closer. “See here, these bite marks? Captain Erato wasn’t acting of his own accord. He was doing the bidding of another, a very dangerous enemy of mine called the Sin’Rath.” Phane stood abruptly, pausing to think for a moment. “At the end of the Reishi War, I banished a very powerful demon known as Sin’Rath, the Succubus Queen. What I didn’t know at the time was that she had spawned offspring. Apparently, her line survives to this day.
“I’ll be making some changes to your guards. I don’t know why the Sin’Rath have taken an interest in you, but your safety is paramount. This is important, Lacy-trust no man save me. The Sin’Rath can charm almost any man alive. A few, such as myself, are capable of defending against their black magic, but not many. Your staff and guards will be comprised of women from now on. If any man enters this estate, call for help immediately.”
Lacy nodded, wide-eyed.
“Did he say anything? Anything at all?”
“It all happened so fast. I don’t remember him saying anything.”
“Can you think of any reason why the Sin’Rath are interested in you? Any reason at all?”
Lacy’s mouth went dry. “No,” she said, looking up for only a moment.
Phane remained silent but Lacy could feel his stare boring into her. She glanced up again. In that glance, she knew she’d been caught.
“Princess Lacy, we live in difficult times. Allies are far too rare. Are we allies?”
She looked up again, nodding tightly. “Yes, Prince Phane. I’m so grateful for all you’ve done for me.”
“Then why are you hiding something important from me?”
Lacy just stared at him.
“I can’t help but notice that an alarming number of very powerful parties have taken an interest in you. I would know why. I give you shelter and protection. At the very least, you can provide me with insight into the enemies I am facing on your behalf.”
Lacy tried to swallow but her mouth was too dry. She was trapped. Any further attempt at deception would surely fail.
“I don’t know, Prince Phane,” Lacy said, after working up enough saliva to speak. “I don’t know why so many people are trying to kill me. I wish I did, but I don’t.”
He took a step forward, anger flashing in his eyes. “Don’t lie to me!”
She was stunned speechless.
Phane shook his head and turned away from her, raising his hands and speaking in some long-forgotten language. Several moments after he stopped speaking, he dropped his hands to his sides and sauntered over to her bed, reaching underneath and retrieving her backpack, holding it up for her to see before dumping it out on the bed.
It felt like slow motion, or a dream where she was trapped in place and couldn’t flee the approaching menace. She wanted to protest, to scream, to shout, to stop him, but she was powerless to do anything but watch.
The little black box came to rest atop a pile of her clothes and traveling gear.
Phane picked it up and set it in front of Lacy, taking a seat across from her at the table.
“Is this what you’re protecting?”
She nodded.
“Open it.”
She shook her head.
A frown crossed his brow, followed by a warm and genuine smile.
“Princess, I apologize for yelling at you and for invading your privacy, but you must understand that I have countless people depending on me to protect them. I can’t afford to allow such dangers as this,” he gestured at the box, “into my city without my awareness.”
Lacy didn’t say anything. Her face felt hot and her heart was racing.
“What’s in the box?”
“I don’t know,” Lacy said.
He nodded, appraising her intently.
“How did you come by this box?”
“My father sent me to find it and take it to Ithilian,” Lacy said, feeling both a flutter of relief that she could answer a question truthfully and a thrill of fear that she was revealing too much.
“I see,” Phane said, a hand covering his mouth, a frown furrowing his brow for a moment before he continued. “Did you retrieve this from your family crypt on Fellenden?”
“How could you know that?”
Phane sat back with a wistful look on his face.
“Lacy, within this box resides the third keystone to the Nether Gate.” He shook his head, his smile turning into laughter. “All this while, salvation for the entire world is right here, safe within my walls.”
Lacy just looked at the box, shaking her head with a mixture of dismay and revulsion.
“Oh, Princess, you should rejoice in this,” Phane said. “We now have the power to save your people, but we must hurry. Open the box and we’ll set sail within the week.”
Lacy looked up at Phane, continuing to shake her head.
“No. I will never open this box.”
His smile fell into a look of pure dismay. “But, Lacy, we could save everyone.”
“What’s in that box won’t save anyone; it will only doom them.”
“No … it can save us all. I wouldn’t expect you to understand the principles of magic, but one of the most important is to always maintain positive control over your magical manifestations. My father was very careful about that, hence the three keystones. I can promise you, we can control it, we can use it, we can close it, and then we can destroy it forever.”
She shook her head very deliberately.
“You can’t be serious, Princess. I saved you. I brought you here where you’re safe, I healed your hand. What more can I do to earn your trust?”
“It isn’t about that. You’ve been most gracious, but the whole idea of the Nether Gate is beyond insanity. I can’t be a part of bringing that kind of darkness into the world-I won’t.”
Phane closed his eyes sadly and slowly shook his hanging head.
“Then I fear a bad end for us all,” he whispered.
He left, looking dejected, like a scolded puppy, not meeting her eyes again, his entire demeanor a study in sadness.
Chapter 19
“Are you allied with the Sin’Rath?” Phane said, barging into Isabel’s library while Enu tried to teach her a spell she didn’t want to learn.
“What are you talking about?”
“Answer my question!” he shouted, extending his hand toward Isabel and lifting her three feet into the air with his magic, then slamming her against the wall hard enough to knock the wind out of her and rattle her teeth. He held her there against the wall, splayed out and helpless.