Seeing her seemed only to aggravate his wounds. There was no look of love in his eyes now. His nostrils flared, his lips curled with contempt. She sensed his Fountain magic was nearly spent.
“My lord, what is wrong?” Drew asked, rising also from his chair.
Trynne approached Gahalatine, reaching out to touch him, but he glared at her, as if warning her not to draw too near. Flakes of ash covered his cloak and his hair. His hands were red and blistered.
Gahalatine’s emotions were so roiling he could hardly speak.
“My city is burning,” he said hoarsely. “The palace is destroyed. My sister . . . is dead.” He tried to speak, but a shudder of emotion stayed his words for a moment. Finally, the words came out in a rush. “Rucrius came. He said the Fountain would punish us for surrendering to you. And then lightning struck. Everything is burning.
Burning to ashes.”
CHAPTER TWO
Forbidden Court
Gahalatine’s words, his apparent grief, stunned everyone into silence. Though ambitious, he was a man of honor, not prone to exaggeration or misrepresentation. Trynne and Morwenna had visited the Forbidden Court together to rescue Lady Evie—before Morwenna’s treachery had come to light. Trynne had marveled at the wealth on such ostentatious display. From a stone barge crossing the great lake at the center of the city, she had seen the golden rooftops glittering in the sunlight. Now her mind imagined roaring flames licking at those rooftops, destroying everything in their path.
All that beauty and opulence gone. She reached out her hand to touch her husband’s arm, but he stiffened and backed away from her, his look one of repugnance.
“This is indeed tragic news,” Trynne said with concern, cringing at his rebuff. She wanted to comfort him, to try to soothe his grief.
She had lost her own brother in a tragedy. She understood the kind of pain he was feeling.
His cold stare sent a shaft of fear into her heart. “Can you even pretend you did not know?” he said in an accusing tone. He looked next at Drew, pinning him with a glare. “Was this not your ruse all along, my lord? Your trickery and deceit? Well, I have sworn myself, and even though it would seem my oaths were made under false pretenses, I am still bound by them.”
Trynne’s fear gave way to terrified panic. “What are you saying?
We had nothing to do with this.”
“Indeed not,” Gahalatine countered angrily. “I bear the blame and I accept it, for I trusted you. As I trusted your king.” He glared at Drew. “The Fountain has punished me for my blindness. For abandoning the charge it had tasked me to complete. It was my decision, and I made it willingly. That is why I am so wretched. I was tricked and deceived. By you”—he looked pointedly at Trynne—“and by the sovereign you would do anything to protect. Your loyalty bound you, no doubt. Just as my honor now binds me.”
Trynne felt her cheeks flush with indignation and dread. Her stomach roiled with confusion. “I have done nothing to deceive you, my lord husband! How can you be so changed? You wrong me to accuse me like this.”
Gahalatine’s cheek muscles twitched as he silently shook with emotion. Trynne reached out to him again with her magic, trying to divine if he were an imposter. No illusion had ever worked on her before. Her senses might be fooled, but not her heart. No, this was Gahalatine—injured, furious, and betrayed.
“Did you not tell me that you killed the Wizr Rucrius?” he challenged.
“I did it with my own sword,” Trynne answered firmly.
“I saw him myself!” Gahalatine snapped. “Very much alive and boasting that the two of you have been in league all this while. That he gave you the Fault Staff to enable you to destroy his fleet at Ploemeur. He says that you have it still.” He held up his hands.
“What am I to think, Tryneowy? All along, I suspected he was trying to induce me to marry the Argentine girl, but he fooled me into falling in love with you.” His lack of love, the violence in his eyes and voice shook her to her core. She was speechless, dumbfounded, horrified.
“He arranged for you to be fed information about my kingdom’s financial straits. I’ve been such a fool. Such a trusting fool. And now the Fountain is punishing me for my arrogance. For my pride. I wed myself to someone far below my station in the hopes of overthrowing the very chains that are now locked about me in every possible way.
I rushed into it, heedless of the cliff.”
He turned his brooding gaze to the king and the council seated around the Ring Table. He looked at them each in turn, his gaze full of disgust and loathing. “I only came here to concede my defeat, Your Majesty.” He nearly spat out the words. “My city is still burning. I cannot tell you how many have burned to death in their homes. The devastation is unspeakable.” He quivered again, trembling. “I forfeit my seat at this table. Now I must attend to my suffering people. It was my decision that brought this calamity on them. Farewell.”