"No, not even a little. I think we forget what the enemy actually is. The shadow doesn't always fight with armies, he is most dangerous when he is you. When you block the light for others."
"Most people cannot see past how dangerous I would be to them, if he was me."
"Only because they don't remember, they were him and we were once you."
Of course the crystal chose that moment to start calling my name again. I covered my ears but it wasn't a real sound you could hide from. The queen stepped through the barrier a moment after the sound started again. She stopped in front of me and knelt down so that we were eye level.
"You think you would listen to yourself more, Dessy. You are safe here." I had to fight back tears, it was not the queen's voice I heard. It was a voice I only ever heard in my dreams, my mother's voice. "You are still not going to answer. It is ok." The queen took a breath and her eyes flashed. Whatever the crystal had done to use her as a mouthpiece vanished.
The sounds stopped as the queen stood again. The silence was almost more scary than the constant sound of my own name had been. I jumped up to my feet, the storm was back in the queen's eyes and I did as I was trained to do. The prince shook his head at me before his mother looked back at him. His smile vanished and he hopped to attention as well. "Maybe the academy was a good place for you after all, Theon. Your father wanted me dead, since he couldn't have that he is now trying to get the counsel to depose me as unfit."
I couldn't stop myself, "Isn't he only king because you married him? I don't understand why he tried to kill you, wouldn't that make Theon king?"
The queen's eyes were still flashing when she looked at me but I couldn't stop the questions. Her eyes softened a little not much as she thought about the question. "I forgot already that you didn't grow up here. Yes, his marriage to me made him king but the council had already picked him when I didn't form a bond by 13. Just like they have picked the woman they want my son to marry. He has made quite a few enemies by not taking their offer. I don't think he will unmake them by revealing that he is bonded. Some might even consider him a traitor for bonding a non elf, like he has some control over it. I should be able to exert some control over the council now that you showed me I can hear the crystal. Don't expect this to be easy and don't expect not to be dragged into it. Now we need to shock the council, but not too much. I need you two to go back the way we came and around the right way to the council chamber. I will use the shield spell to track your progress. I can hear it now without being almost dead. Theon, you will burst in on the council, they are discussing deposing me they should not be doing so without your input. Des since you aren't an elf you will do no such thing. You will quietly enter the room behind Theon and stand as his guard in the chamber. Knowing his father he will be at the head of the table seated in what should have always been my spot at the table, in front of the crystal room. So you will stand behind my son who will take the seat at his father's right hand. Then the fun will really start."
The prince and I ran back up the sloping hallway. The queen's chamber was empty when we emerged. Which is what I expected, the entry room was also empty which I thought was a little weird, you would think one person even if it was a maid would have stayed in case the queen came out. I stopped when the residents hall was empty too. The prince hadn't expected me to stop and he took a few more steps before he noticed. I turned and opened his door.
"We do need to hurry." I walked over to the door on the right and opened it.
I don't know why I knew his weapons were behind there but I did. "You cannot be armed, but a guard can. I have a feeling these people will need a reminder that if they insult you they aren't just insulting the man they might not want to be their king." I stepped past the bow, I wasn't a master with it and it wouldn't have let me pick it up. I don't know why I knew one of the others would let me carry it. The weapons were charged to only let a master hold them but I wasn't sure how the spell worked. I didn't like magic, but I was beginning to think I should have paid a bit more attention to the little bit of instruction I did have with it. I wished the prince had mastered the spear but that was an Islee weapon like the bow was an elven weapon. I quickly pulled two reaping blades from their holders. I expected the blades to just flash back into their holders but they didn't. They hummed a bit, not like when I held my own weapons, but it didn't seem to be fighting my right to hold them. I tucked them into the belt at the top of my pants. It wasn't designed to hold weapons, it wasn't a uniform, it was just what I wore in the city.
I turned and headed back out into the hallway. The weapons didn't vanish just because my hands were off of them. They were still very much under my control, just like when I holster my own weapons. The prince gave a surprised shrug and then headed out the door as well. He slowed to a walking pace after we left the royal apartments; it wouldn't be right to be seen running in the palace after all. The place was huge and there were people all over, going about their daily lives. The prince had grown up here and he knew exactly where he was going. I would have had to keep checking with the shield if he wasn't leading.
The prince marched right past a desk that was clearly meant to take the request of petitioners when the council was meeting. There were guards all around, and not all of them openly wore a key. Three moved to intercept the prince before he could get to the large double doors on the meeting chamber. One drew his weapon when the prince didn't stop.
I reached back to touch the crystal hilt of the blade I had stuck in my belt. The shield reacted to the threat a lot faster than I could. There was a flash and the guard was gone from the room. I was very sure he found himself out with the trash. The whole palace was under the protection of the shield after all and it didn't take kindly to threats against the family. The other two hesitated and that was enough for the prince to push open the double doors.
They flew open with a crash like an army had kicked them in. The shield protected the royal family, it did not protect others from the family. Theatrics were very much allowed. I stayed behind the prince. Walking like a bodyguard should, and every other person in the room dismissed my presents as such. No one else had a guard at their back, it made me wonder what I was missing. I was more than happy to let them dismiss me as unimportant for now. The prince walked around the table, all eyes followed him. No one stood. Maybe the elves didn't show respect that way but I doubted it.
The king leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers in front of his face. I looked around enough to know where all the things I classified as threats were. The room was large, it looked like it used to hold more people then it currently did. There were at least ten empty seats at the table. It was a long table with elves lined up down each side. The end that faced the door people entered through was narrow and didn't really seem to have a spot at the end. The place where the king sat was wide. It was very much a power statement. The demon in my head growled, it didn't like people posturing, it liked it even less when it wasn't deserved. The prince walked down the right side of the table like there wasn't anything wrong, like they weren't holding a meeting about deposing his mother without even trying to inform him. As if he hadn't used more force then needed to open the main door.
He stopped at the chair that was to the right of the head of the table. The elf in the chair opened his mouth but closed it at the frown the prince was giving him. "I believe that is my spot, cousin. This is as nice as I am going to ask you to move."
"Now Theon, it isn't Rasier's fault you came late." Like the king had tried to invite his son. I got the distinct feeling that the prince and the king had never really gotten along. "If you want a seat go take one at the end of the table with all the other late comers." The prince didn't take his eyes off of his cousin while his father talked. I had seen that look across the training arena many times, I was wondering who Rasier would be more afraid of, the blood descendant prince, or the offshoot king.
"Are you challenging me?" The shield doesn't stop answers to challenges.
Clearly Rasier knew this as he stood and quickly retreated. The king frowned behind his hands. "Very well, if that is settled?"
The prince spoke before the king could continue, "Did you poison or knowingly serve my mother food that was poisoned?"
"We were just talking about your mother, son. She -"
I noticed that the king avoided the question. From the frowns around the table, so did a lot of his supposed allies. "Did you poison or knowingly serve food to my mother that was poisoned?"
"The palace doesn't let people hurt the family."
I spoke before I thought about it "That is true, only to a point, it stops overt threats but it wouldn't be able to stop something like serving food with unhealthy ingredients. The poison used wouldn't have been known when the palace shield would have been established." The prince raised an eyebrow at me, "Oh, sorry am I not supposed to talk?"
The prince seemed to smile, "It has been so long since any of the direct lines have bonded, that I don't really think anyone knows what the rules for you are. The palace would have stopped you if you weren't allowed." I noticed the same voices that had voiced descent to whatever the king was planning whispering about me.
"You bonded that beast?" that got the rest of the group talking. The king didn't seem to understand, he seemed happy by the commotion.
"Father, statements like that prove you shouldn't be in this chamber, let alone in the voices spot."
"There is no-"A bang filled the room and all the elves looked up at once. The king spring from his chair which was too big to move easily, spinning around to face the now open even larger doors that were behind him. I got the distinct impression that he was even more pale than the first time I saw him.
I had not expected the tiger that came slinking out of the crystal room. It was showing its teeth, with ears laid back against its skull. Bright green eyes focused on the king as it started down the left side of the table. The elders started to recover from the shock of seeing the creature, they apparently knew what the white tiger was. By the time the tiger walked by the third seat they all were standing, everyone watching the tiger that seemed to only have eyes for the king. Except the prince, the prince ignored the tiger, he remained seated watching his father with the same predator eyes as the tiger. At least the other elves were distracted and seemed to miss the reaction of the prince.
The tiger started back up the right side of the table. The prince stood when the tiger stopped on my other side. He was not looking at the tiger still but at the open doors to the crystal chamber. "Good evening, mother." He made a small bow to the small woman who stood between the crazy large double doors that were behind the chair that should belong to the ruling monarch.
She looked so much better now. I doubted the healer would be happy with how much she was exerting herself right out of her death bed, but she didn't look like she had been bed ridden just a few hours ago. Her long golden silver hair fell to the back of her knees. She had to be at least a head shorter than anyone else in the room. She had on a white dress that seemed to have white trees growing up from her feet. White slippers peeked out from under the hem as she walked. Her eyes were no longer sunken into her face, she looked more like a porcelain doll. The only thing that gave away her age and the fact that she was used to holding the power of command, her bright green eyes. The same eyes on the prince and the tiger. This was a predator ready to hunt. I could see the elders forget that if they weren't careful they could step on her as those bright emeralds swept the room. Her frown marked her disapproval of what had been going on before she walked in. They should not be in this room without her, her mate was not her bond, he had no right to call a meeting in this room without her, even if she had been letting him get away with it until now.
Her eyes fell on the prince, who had greeted her, and she smiled. "Good evening, glad you can find the time to come, Theon. You got the council together in record time." I got the impression that the tiger smiled as it leaped at the king. Claws outstretched and bared to maul. The room gasped as the prince sat back down in his chair.
The tiger twisted and shrunk in the air, before its claws sunk into the king. It turned from the white tiger into a crystal pendant. It still had its claws outstretched as a loop in its neck connected itself to a small silver chain around the queen's neck. The tiger still had green eyes. It had about as much flat surface as the crystal dragon that hung as my key. The queen smiled at me, I got the feeling that she knew a lot more than she was telling me just yet.