Abducted Read online

  I personally thought he already had but since Sarden apparently decided to stay put, I stayed too.

  “For proof of our Ria’s sad and untimely demise, I offer you this—the single object recovered from her captors.”

  Yancy clapped his hands and a courier wearing scarlet hurried forward, carrying a jeweled case in one hand. He opened it and Yancy reached in to pick up what was inside. Then he held it up—showing the crowd, who oohed and ahed over it.

  It was a crown, much like the one that Hurxx wore on his head. Only in this one the circlet was silver instead of gold and the glowing jewel set in the center was a slightly different color—pinkish-purple instead of blue-green.

  “As you know, there is no other female of the blood to be Ria to our esteemed Rae,” Yancy continued. “And even if there was, our Rae would not wish to replace such a beloved Ria so soon. In fact…” He paused dramatically. “He does not wish to replace her at all.”

  There was a louder murmur coming from the crowd now and some of the Councilors were visibly upset.

  “What are you saying, Yancy?” one of them called. “How can Eloim retain its balance without both a Ria and Rae to rule it?”

  “Why, in the same way it has always retained its balance,” Yancy said smoothly. “Through the use of both the Star of Wisdom, and the Star of Compassion.”

  “What? But if there is no Ria, who is to wear the Star of Compassion?” another Councilor protested.

  For the first time, Hurxx spoke.

  “I shall,” he said, at last sitting up straighter on the throne. He had a high, nasally voice that grated on my nerves. “I shall wear both of the Stars at once and they shall guide me.”

  The murmurs of the crowd were so loud this time that the Councilor who had been objecting had to shout to make himself heard.

  “Impossible!” he exclaimed. “No one person can wear both Stars at once.”

  “Why don’t we let the Stars themselves decide that—shall we?” Hurxx purred. Leaning forward, he motioned to Yancy. “Yancy—the Star of Compassion.”

  Stepping forward, Yancy held out the silver circlet with its purple-pink stone and Hurxx took it carefully, holding it with his fingertips as though it was hot.

  Just as he was about to place the silver crown on his head, on top of the gold crown he already wore, Tellum murmured,

  “Now!”

  Sellah stepped forward, out of the shadowy alcove we’d been keeping to. The rest of us followed her and Sarden shouted,

  “Stop!”

  “What?” Hurxx paused, frowning. “Why, Sarden, my royal cousin, whatever are you doing here?”

  “Stopping you from taking over all of Eloim, cousin,” Sarden growled.

  “How? Do you plan to take the throne yourself, half-breed?” Hurxx sneered.

  “I didn’t say that, but there is someone here who has a claim to it.” Sarden motioned to Sellah, who once more threw her black veil back to reveal her face.

  “Hello, cousin,” she said in a low, carrying voice. “As you can see I am not dead at all but very much alive. And I do not approve of you wearing my crown as well as your own.”

  The murmuring from the crowd was absolutely deafening then—it was really more of a roar. Many of the common people were surging forward but the palace guards held them back, keeping us from being overwhelmed. There were shouts of,

  “Sellah! The lady, Sellah has returned!”

  “The Goddess of Mercy be praised!”

  “The Ria! I knew she wasn’t dead!”

  But mixed in with the shouts for Sellah, there was a surprising amount of commotion for Sarden.

  “Lord Sarden has brought our Ria back!”

  “Mayhap they will rule together—as is proper and right.”

  “Lord Sarden has returned—now all shall be set right.”

  I even heard some things about myself. People wondering who I was and if I was with Sarden. I blushed and made sure not to meet anyone’s eyes. Let them think what they wanted. But it was clear to me from what the crowd was murmuring, that Sarden wasn’t regarded as an interloper or an intruder, despite the fact that he looked more Vorn than Eloim.

  Despite the shouting at her back, Sellah kept her face towards the throne. She and Hurxx seemed to be having some kind of a staring contest but at last he spoke.

  “Well, cousin,” he remarked. “So you return. I am so glad you are well—we feared you dead.”

  “You feared no such thing,” Sellah said in a low, carrying voice. “For you are the one who plotted to have me kidnapped and sold into slavery in the first place!”

  “I?” Hurxx put one hand to his chest and made an offended face, though I noticed he kept a tight grip on the Star of Compassion with the other hand. “Surely you must be mistaken.”

  “There is no mistake,” Tellum said, stepping forward. “For I heard you and Yancy speaking of the plan—which is why I went to find the Ria myself. She was put up for auction to be sold to the highest bidder—that was your doing, Hurxx.”

  “Blasphemy!” Yancy gasped, retreating to stand beside the throne. “How dare you speak such lies in the presence of the Rae, Tellum?”

  “He only speaks the truth,” Sarden growled, stepping forward. “Put the Star of Compassion down, Hurxx—and while you’re at it, you can take off the Star of Wisdom too. You obviously don’t deserve to wear it.”

  “Is that what you think?” Hurxx sneered at him, his pouting upper lip curling up belligerently. “Well, I say we let the Stars decide who is the rightful ruler here—shall we?”

  And before Sarden could stop him, he placed the Star of Compassion on top of his head, just over the Star of Wisdom. For a moment, I thought he seemed to be having a hard time keeping the second crown in place—it was almost like he was fighting with it to wrestle it down onto his head. But then the slim circlet seemed to snap into place somehow and then it stayed where it was, the pinkish-purple stone winking and glowing just above the greenish-blue one.

  I felt a disturbance in the air as the second crown snapped into place—a strange ripple of something I can only describe as wrongness. It was an almost palpable feeling—like I was on the beach and had been slapped in the face by a cold, salty wave. The intensity of the feeling made me gasp and I looked around, wondering if anyone else had felt it. But everyone seemed to be watching Hurxx.

  He removed his hands from his head, holding them up to show that they were empty and both crowns were staying on his head without help from him.

  “Do you see?” he called, looking imperiously down his nose at Sarden.

  An audible gasp came from the crowd.

  “Is it not clear?” Yancy declared loudly. “Would the Stars of Wisdom and Compassion stay in place on my Lord Rae’s head if they were not meant to be there? If they did not deem him a worthy ruler?”

  “It must be true,” someone whispered. “Lord Hurxx must be the true and ordained ruler of Eloim.” Soon other people in the crowd were saying the same thing—although I could tell they weren’t happy about it.

  “There’s something wrong,” I whispered to Sarden. “Can’t you feel it?”

  He gave me a shrewd look, his eyes narrowed in concentration. “I don’t feel it myself but I can tell you do—I feel it through you.”

  “He’s keeping those crowns on his head in some way,” I said. “Confront him—tell him to take them off.”

  “Or let someone else try to take them off,” Grav muttered.

  “There is always the Challenge of the Stars,” Sellah murmured to Sarden.

  “The what?” I asked. It sounded like some kind of celebrity dance show but I was pretty sure challenging Hurxx to a dance-off wouldn’t prove anything.

  “It’s where you challenge the ruling Rae or Ria to allow someone to try to remove the Star they are wearing,” Sellah explained. “In the history of Eloim, there has never been a successful challenge because the Stars stay firmly on the head