AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Olympus and I both lurched back to the window, but since it was closed, we couldn’t hear what Magnus said to Hadrian. We could only see that Magnus had lost all signs of easiness and mirth. More than that, Sai looked as though Magnus and Hadrian had drawn swords and were threatening each other. He stood between the two, his arms held out to each one.
I could just barely make out him saying, “No one is accusing anyone of anything. Both of you are here at my invitation as friends whose counsel I value greatly.”
“What do we do?” I whispered.
“I’m not sure we can do anything,” Olympus said, bristling with tension as he stood directly behind me.
I glanced sideways up at him. I loved Olympus, really, I did, but sometimes he disappointed me.
“Well, I’m going to do something,” I said, standing straighter and heading toward the door to the garden. “Follow my lead and pretend we haven’t seen or heard anything.”
“Lefric, this isn’t a good idea,” Olympus said, striding after me.
He was too late to stop me from opening the door and stumbling out into the garden with a laugh. I was highly aware of the confrontation at the other end of the garden, but I pretended I wasn’t as I grabbed Olympus’s shirt and pulled him toward me. I took a few more, stumbling steps that brought us into clear view of Magnus and the others, then pulled him in for a sloppy kiss.
The distraction that Olympus and I provided did exactly what I thought it would…and even more that I had no idea it would do. Whatever argument had taken place between Magnus and Hadrian was instantly forgotten, and everyone let their guard down to stare at the two of us. Sai dropped his arms and opened his mouth as though he would say something.
That’s what I expected would happen.
What I never would have dreamed of was Magnus swooping forward and grabbing Hadrian’s arm. In one, deft movement, he twisted it behind Hadrian’s back in such a way that Hadrian instantly dropped to his knees with a yelp.
“Check his pockets,” Magnus called out.
Peter and Neil rushed forward, and for a moment, it looked to me like they were trying to undress Hadrian.
It was my and Olympus’s turn to be utterly stunned as we stumbled into the center of the garden so that we could have a better view of what was happening. As soon as Neil pulled Hadrian’s jacket from his shoulders so Peter could check for hidden pockets against the man’s body, Magnus took hold of the jacket collar and yanked it in such a way that he could tie Hadrian’s hands behind him. As he did that, Neil searched the inner pockets of the jacket.
“Get off me! Stop this at once!” Hadrian shouted. “Sai!”
“Magnus, what are you doing?” Sai gaped at the way Magnus, Peter, and Neil had attacked Hadrian, but he seemed frozen to his spot, either unable or unwilling to do anything about it.
“Found it,” Peter said, staggering back. He pulled some kind of a necklace or chain from around Hadrian’s neck as he did. When he straightened and held it out, I could see something like a stamp or a seal dangling from the chain.
What surprised me was the way Hadrian’s body suddenly lost all tension. He sagged forward over his knees. It almost looked like he was submitting to Magnus.
“What is that?” Sai asked, eyes wide with shock over what had just happened.
Magnus let go of Hadrian’s jacket to step around the man. Neil continued to lean against Hadrian’s back to keep him bent over, but I didn’t think Hadrian had any intention of getting up now.
Magnus took the chain from Peter, turned the stamp up to look at the seal, then huffed a laugh. “Just as I suspected.” He took another step closer to Sai and showed hit to him, but as he did, he glanced to me and Olympus. “Come closer and look as well,” he said. “I believe I may need witnesses for what happens next.”
I swallowed hard and glanced to Olympus. As we crossed through the rest of the garden, I murmured, “Do you still think Magnus won’t murder a man in broad daylight after discovering he’s a spy.”
Olympus made a grim sound and reached for my hand.
By the time we reached the other end of the garden, Sai had the stamp and was staring at it with an unsettled frown. “It’s the falcon,” he said, glancing up at Magnus once more. “The symbol of the Gerzia family.”
“The symbol of my family,” Magnus confirmed with a nod. “Or, in this case, my brother’s symbol.”
Olympus and I stopped close to Sai, and I leaned over to look at the stamp in Sai’s hands just before he gave it back to Magnus.
“It could mean anything,” Sai said nervously. “Your brother is the king now. He might have just changed the royal insignia to reflect your family’s sigil.”
Magnus laughed grimly. “Do you truly believe that?”
Sai exhaled and glanced down at Hadrian. I felt sorry for him. For some reason, he trusted Hadrian. Sebald had mentioned something about the two of them serving together in the old king’s wars years before. But I also felt sorry for him because he had the look of a man who knew he’d made a mistake that could cause a great deal of harm.
“We don’t really know what’s going on,” Sai said at last in a quiet voice. “Hadrian, can you explain this?”
