Jennifer Fallon - The Chaos Crystal

Books by Jennifer Fallon

D EMON C HILD T RILOGY

Medalon (1)

Treason Keep (2)

Harshini (3)

S ECOND S ONS T RILOGY

The Lion of Senet (1)

Eye of the Labyrinth (2)

Lord of the Shadows (3)

T HE H YTHRUN C HRONICLES

Wolfblade (1)

Warrior (2)

Warlord (3)

T HE T IDE L ORDS

The Immortal Prince (1)

The Gods of Amyrantha (2)

The Palace of Impossible Dreams (3)

The Chaos Crystal (4)

PROLOGUE

Seven years ago ...

The thick stone walls of Lebec Prison seeped misery as a rule, which made this day quite unusual. For the first time in months, Bary Morel had hope. He hurried after the guard escorting him to the Warden's office, filled with an emotion he thought he'd never feel again. Despite everything that had befallen him since they'd raided his house a few months ago and found him treating a runaway feline in his basement, finally, out of nowhere, there was a glimmer of hope.

The Duke of Lebec had come to visit him.

Morel had no idea why such an important man would take the time to visit a convicted felon. Admittedly, he'd once enjoyed a tenuous connection with the ducal family. He'd visited the palace a number of times when the current duke was a boy if the old duke's regular physician was out of the city. But he hadn't seen Stellan Desean for a number of years. Not since he'd been called to treat a young man at the palace a friend of the new duke's who'd almost died from food poisoning a few years back.

Bary couldn't think of any reason why Stellan Desean would visit him now. Only that he had and it must mean good news. Dukes didn't bother delivering bad news personally; they left that sort of thing to their underlings.

Maybe Arkady had managed to gain an audience with him. She promised she'd try on her last visit,

despite his attempts to discourage her from doing anything so brazen. In reality, Arkady had nothing else left she could do. They were out of money. They couldn't even afford the most basic representation to lodge an appeal through legal channels. And even if they could, there would be no chance of overturning the conviction not with the calibre of witness the court had been able to bring against him.

Bary stopped for a moment, gripping the wall as his lungs spasmed painfully. The guard heard him coughing and stopped, turning to look at him.

'You all right?'

'I'll be fine ... just give me a minute to catch ... my breath, would you?'

The man waited until Bary had recovered sufficiently to continue. When the doctor pushed off the wall, he resumed his walk toward the Warden's office, albeit at a less enthusiastic pace.

The Warden wasn't in his office when they arrived. He had already vacated it for the duke. Stellan Desean was standing by the window, staring out into the rain that trickled down the glass and pattered softly against the stonework. He was wearing a fur-trimmed cloak against the cold. He turned as Bary entered, indicating with a wave of his hand that the guard should wait outside.

'Dr Morel.'

'Your grace.'

Stellan smiled. 'Please, take a seat. You look like you could use it.'

Bary did as the duke suggested, gratefully taking the chair opposite the desk. He coughed again into his bloodstained kerchief and then focused his attention on his visitor, who frowned at the sound of his rattling chest.

'I see your daughter was not exaggerating the seriousness of your condition,' Stellan remarked, studying him closely.

'She was able to gain an audience with you then?' Bary said. 'I'm assuming that's why you're here?'

Stellan nodded and took a seat in the Warden's big worn leather chair. 'To call it an audience would be a kindness. If you must know, she pushed her way past all the people I have in place to prevent precisely that eventuality, burst in on me in high dudgeon and began berating me soundly for allowing you to spend a single minute longer than you had to, here in prison, all for the crime of being nothing more than a great humanitarian.'

Bary wished Stellan's neutral tone gave away some sort of hint about what he was feeling. Arkady's interference might have doomed him, rather than helped him.

'I'm sorry, your grace. She wouldn't have intended to offend you ...'

Stellan was smiling. He held up his hand to stop Bary's apology. 'It's all right, Dr Morel. I was happy to hear her petition on your behalf. Once I realised who she was, of course. I didn't recognise your daughter at first. She's grown into a stunning young woman. You must be very proud of her.'

Bary nodded, his eyes misting at the thought of what she'd done to protect him. Bursting in on the Duke of Lebec and demanding his release was the least of it. 'She is a very good daughter,' he agreed, wiping his eyes. 'You have no idea.'

'She demanded I pardon you.'

Bary smiled wanly. 'She's optimistic, too.'

'And very eloquent. She tells me she's studying to be a historian.'

Bary nodded. 'She wanted to be a physician but they wouldn't consider her application at the university because she's female.'

'I'm sure the powers that be have a good reason for their stance.'

Not one that will ever convince Arkady they're nothing more than misogynist fools. He shrugged, not

sure what his daughter's academic aspirations had to do with anything. 'Well, unless you know the reason and can defend it soundly, your grace, I suggest you don't bring up the subject with my daughter.'

Stellan smiled even wider. 'Yes, I learned that the hard way.'

'It was kind of you to spare the time to hear her out, your grace. And to take the time to visit me.'

Stellan's smile faded. 'I have to admit, Dr Morel, I'm not here just to pass the time of day, or look up an old family servant, if your infrequent trips to the palace even qualify you as that.'

Bary's heart skipped a beat. That didn't sound very encouraging. Tides, what did she say to the man? 'Then why have you come here, your grace?'

'Because I believe we can do each other a favour, Dr Morel,' the duke announced. 'We both have something the other wants.'

Bary couldn't help but smile at that remark. 'Well, you certainly have it in your power to grant me what I want, your grace,' he said. 'But I cannot, for the life of me, imagine what I can offer you.'

'I could give you a pardon,' Stellan agreed, leaning back in the Warden's chair. 'But not without causing considerable comment. You were caught red-handed, my friend, helping an escaped slave evade capture. Even worse, the main witness who testified against you is a very prominent member of Lebec university's faculty. I can't just dismiss Fillion Rybank's testimony out of hand because I happen to like you more than him.'

At the mention of Rybank's name, Bary could feel his ire rising. What that man had done to his daughter was beyond unconscionable and it made him sick just thinking about it. Arkady didn't know her father knew about what went on, of course. As far as she was concerned, he was still ignorant of the whole affair. It was with bitter irony that he recalled worrying about her a few years ago, when he came to the realisation

that his daughter probably wasn't as innocent as he would have liked. He'd thought she was sleeping with the Hawkes boy at the time. He was a decent enough lad, it turned out, for all that he was a bit of a rabble- rouser. They'd been inseparable, after all, for most of her formative years.

Bary wished now that his daughter had been sleeping with young Hawkes. That, at least, he could have dealt with like any father. But the truth the bitter knowledge that his daughter had given herself to a man like Fillion Rybank for years to buy his silence, believing she was saving her father from being arrested was almost more than he could bear to think about.