Rebel's Honor(62)

"Father," she whispered as if he could hear her, "you were right. It is so easy to get lost in the gray."





Chapter 38





Lukan made no protest as his uncle pulled him along. His mind in a  whirl, he barely noticed where Felix was taking him until they reached  the heavy steel door guarding the lair. Lukan lifted his thumb to the  scanner, but Felix brushed his hand away.

"That will do you no good." Knees creaking, his uncle crouched down  until he was eye level with the tiny red glow emanating from the reader.

Lukan frowned, wondering what he was doing, just as the door slid open.

"New security measures. I still have to adjust the height of the scanner," Felix grunted. "This way, Highness."

Felix grabbed Lukan's arm and marched him down the concourse that  dissected the lair. The echo of their boots on the concrete floor  bounced off the stark white walls. Their shadows, cast by harsh neon  lights, passed door after door that hid Felix's secrets.

Finally, his uncle stopped at a portcullis. A relic from ancient times,  it looked out of place in this utilitarian passageway. But like all the  doors inside the lair, the grate guarding the palace dungeons had been  coated in titanium, making it virtually indestructible. Once  incarcerated behind that portcullis, there would be no escape.

Lukan's breath caught. His uncle wouldn't dare imprison him, would he? He stopped several steps from the opening.

"What are we doing here?"

"There is someone inside awaiting our pleasure."

"Who?"

"Patience, my crown prince, and all will be revealed." His uncle creaked  down again and eyed the scanner. Silently, the portcullis rose. By the  time it disappeared into the brickwork, Felix had straightened his back.  He waved Lukan into the narrow, dim passageway on the other side of the  arch.

Nose scrunched at the putrid smell, Lukan folded his arms across his  chest. "I think I have been more than patient, Uncle. I now expect an  explanation before I go anywhere with you."

His uncle had the temerity to sigh. "The person whom I wish you to meet holds the key to solving both of our problems."

"Your problems?" Lukan said incredulously. "What could possibly be troubling you?"

Another sigh. "My dear nephew, it should comfort you to know that you do  not hold the entire world's burdens on your shoulders. Others have  troubles, too, you know."

Lukan leaned against the wall. Only one thing-or person-could worry Felix. "Axel. You don't like his role in this any-"

"Any more than you do." Felix scowled. "I will not see my son used in  this way. Together, you and I have the power to change Mad Mott's  mind-and the course of history."

Lukan snorted. Yet another person offering him a chance to change the world.

Somehow, Lukan doubted his uncle's offer would be any more appealing  than Dmitri's suggestion to tell the high-born their gemstones were ice  crystals programmed with tracking devices. But with a contract on his  head, he was clean out of options. He reluctantly waved at the open maw  leading to the dungeons. "After you."

A line of grasping hands, protruding through narrow bars guarding each  cell, greeted him as he stepped into the passageway. Temporary  accommodation, these cubicles-so small, not even a child could stand  upright-were used to house hapless palace dwellers caught between death  or deportation to the prison camps. Most of them were here because  Felix's cameras had caught them disparaging the crown.

The minute Lukan shifted into view, the prisoner closest to the  portcullis broke into a plaintive wail. "Your Highness, Crown Prince  Lukan, have mercy. Spare me."

The cry was taken up by other prisoners, building into a wave as he  strode the length of the passageway between the lines of cells. Arms  tightly to his side, Lukan stopped at the end of the passage. Silently,  he cursed his father, Axel, his uncle, even Lynx, for forcing him into a  clandestine meeting in this horrible place. Working to blot out the  wails, he turned to Felix. "This had better be quick."                       
       
           



       

"I assure you, it will be both quick and effective-for both of us."  Felix opened yet another titanium door. "Our prize is in here."

A spotlight illuminated a man hunched in a tiny cell. His arms covered  his face in a futile attempt to protect his eyes from the harsh glare.

Lukan's stomach knotted, and bile filled his throat. "And who is this unfortunate creature?"

At the sound of his voice, the man looked up, squinting into the light. "Your Highness? Is it possible?"

Lukan sucked in a breath. It was Morass. He was about to step forward to  speak to him when Felix gripped his arm, whispering, "Thanks to my  light, he cannot see us. It would be better for our discussion if it  stayed that way."

Lukan licked his lips, then nodded. At Lukan's silence, all hope died on Morass's face. His head dropped back into his hands.

A thousand ants seemed to crawl over Lukan's skin. Desperate to be away from here, he turned to Felix. "Talk."

Felix stepped around a wall, out of Morass's hearing. "That cretin betrayed us both."

"Not so fast." Lukan threw up his hands. "He was loyal to me. If it  hadn't been for him, I wouldn't have known about Axel and Lynx."

"Yes," his uncle spat, "and neither would your father. It's all due to  Morass's eager tattling that you find yourself with an axe dangling over  your head."

The imagery made Lukan shiver. "You can thank your ice crystals for  that. You are the one who programmed loyalty to the crown." He turned to  look into the room housing Morass's cell. "Now let him go."

Lukan didn't expect his uncle to obey, so it surprised him when Felix  pushed a button on the wall and the grate to Morass's cell slid open. As  pleased as Lukan was with the deference, it unsettled him. What was his  uncle after? Every sense alert, he watched Morass crawl out.

Uniform filthy and smelling of death-presumably from the last victim who  had occupied the cell-Morass hunched on his knees. He raised his arms  to cover his eyes from the light. "My lord," he stammered. "I-I felt a  compulsion . . ." A thick tongue flicked across dry lips. "One I could  not deny. That is why I spoke to the emperor and the crown prince."

Lukan looked at his uncle in triumph. "See? I was right. Your ice  crystals did this." He had the satisfaction of hearing his uncle grunt.  "Now turn off the light," he commanded, taking full advantage of Felix's  discomposure.

Without moving from the shadows, his uncle obeyed. Lukan stepped forward to face Morass.

The soldier staggered to his feet, seemed to remember himself, and bowed  low, sinking again to his knees. "Your Highness, I am your loyal  guardsman. I will do anything you ask."

Lukan grimaced, unnerved by the quiet fervor in Morass's voice. Even  faced with torture and death, the jasper controlled the man's emotions,  turning him into little more than a machine with no regard for his own  life. Lukan had never seen an ice crystal operate this effectively. His  mind reeled with possibilities. "Stay here, on your knees, until I  return."

"Of course, Your Highness. As you command, Your Highness." He even sounded detached.

Lukan stepped out of the room, eager to see if Morass would continue to obey. "Turn the lights back on," he commanded his uncle.

The light flashed on. Morass cried out in pain as it blasted his face, but apart from raising his hands, the man barely moved.

Lukan faced his uncle. "You have somewhere to sit in this foul place, no doubt? And I require an informa."

"Of course, Crown Prince. This way." Two steps down, his uncle slid open  a door into a guardroom, now deserted. He gestured to a wooden chair.  "Not the most lavish accommodation, but it will do." Felix pulled a  button-shaped informa tangled with a bloody handkerchief out of his  pocket.

Lukan winced, refusing to touch it. "Program it to the camera watching Morass. I want to see how far his obedience stretches."

"He will obey until given another command," his uncle said, opening a  visual of Morass kneeling in the light. Sweat poured down his face,  arms, and torso, but he hadn't moved an inch.

Not wanting to view this torture he had commanded, Lukan faced his uncle. "So this is something new you have concocted?"

"Indeed." His uncle waved his hand. "But then, I am always looking to  enhance my systems. It is how I serve the crown-by ensuring we always  have new technology to meet any situation, no matter how bizarre."

Lukan snorted. Being on his father's hit list was certainly bizarre.  Still, something here didn't make sense. He pointed to the image of  Morass. "Then why did he betray you? I am sure it was not in your-or  Axel's-interest for Morass to tell my father about Lynx's perfidy."