Wraith(53)

I gritted my teeth, squared my shoulders and joined them. Rymark immediately stepped into my path, barring my way. From his expression, Gabriel had told him what I really was. ‘Move,’ I said tiredly.

He glared. ‘Make me.’

I shrugged, my shadow stepping away from my body. With one dark hand, I reached out to push him away. Before I connected, Gabriel was already there. ‘It’s fine, Rymark.’

‘She…’

‘Hush.’ Gabriel addressed me. ‘You should probably leave. Ange and Becky are around here somewhere. I’m sure they’d like to see you again.’

I tilted up my chin and met his dark eyes. ‘He’s going to do it, isn’t he? He’s going to destroy the city.’

His gaze shifted away. ‘There’s no choice.’

‘Bullshit!’ I exploded. ‘There’s always a choice! Don’t tell me you agree with this.’

A muscle throbbed in his jaw. ‘I do whatever my government commands.’

Ignoring Rymark’s appalled gasp, I moved closer to Gabriel. He still smelled so damn good. I shook my head to dissipate his musky, masculine scent from my nostrils. ‘Doing whatever your government commands is how things got into this mess in the first place. If you’d stopped the siege as soon as it began and got rid of the Gneiss and the Filits, we wouldn’t now be scrambling to save the country.’

‘Not everything is as black and white as you’d like it to be, Saiya.’

My eyebrows shot up. ‘It seems pretty black and white as far as you’re concerned.’ I punched my own chest. ‘I’m a wraith therefore I’m bad. You’re a Dark Elf therefore you’re good. He’s the Prime Minister therefore he can’t put a foot wrong. We—’

There was a cough from behind. I wouldn’t have bothered to turn but for the fact that Gabriel paled slightly. ‘Prime Minister,’ he muttered. ‘Saiya was just leaving.’

‘I am not!’ I clenched my fists furiously. ‘James, you can’t do this. You can’t destroy all of Stirling.’

Tired brown eyes met mine. ‘It’s not something I want to do,’ he said. ‘And don’t blame young Gabriel for this – he has tried very hard to persuade me otherwise. Just like he tried to persuade me to prevent the Filits from ruling Stirling as they did.’ He looked briefly at Gabriel. ‘I should have listened to you.’ He sighed. ‘Now we have no choice. The goblins have access to the Stone. As soon as one of them is anointed King on it, they will absorb its power and magic. The whole of Scotland will be theirs for the taking. We abandoned Stirling to her fate and the rest of the world will abandon us to ours. Before more people suffer as the people of Stirling have suffered, we must destroy all the goblins, both Filit and Gneiss. And we have to destroy the Stone of Scone. We have to obliterate Stirling. This is what power is – it’s making the hard decisions that no one else can.’ For the briefest moment, James’s eyes filled with tears. He swallowed and turned away.

‘No.’ I wasn’t even aware I’d said the word aloud until everyone looked at me. ‘You can’t do this.’

‘There isn’t any choice.’ James started walking away. Gabriel reached out to stop me but even he couldn’t hold me back.

‘There’s a boy in Stirling!’ I yelled after him. ‘He’s just a kid, probably hasn’t reached double digits yet. Just this week he was prepared to stand up to a full-grown man who could have killed him for the sake of three tiny tomatoes. His little sister needed food.’ The Prime Minister stopped but he didn’t turn around. I swallowed and continued. ‘There’s a woman in Stirling called Isabella Markbury who had enough wealth and power to hide behind and save herself but she risked her life to get Gabriel out. Her friends risked their lives to help us too. Ange was tortured because of the Stone but she still made it here with her daughter. She didn’t do it to save herself, she did it because she thought you could save Stirling. That knowing about the Stone of Scone meant you’d finally do something. There was a man called Marrock.’ My voice caught on his name. ‘When he learnt what was really happening, he sacrificed himself.’ Anger vibrated in my voice. ‘You can bet your regal arse he didn’t do it so you could kill an entire city. There are thousands of kids and Marrocks and Anges and Isabellas. You can’t kill them all.’

Silence descended. My plea was falling on deaf ears; I could see it in the line of Prime Minister James’s spine. He was going to give the order and everyone in Stirling was going to die.

‘There’s Saiya.’ Gabriel spoke quietly but his words were clear. I stiffened and turned, staring at him. ‘She’s a wraith. Her kind are anathema to us.’

‘Not without good reason,’ Rymark muttered.

Gabriel’s voice rose. ‘Revealing her identity meant she was likely to die. She knew that but she still did it because Stirling needs her. She did everything she could to retrieve the Stone of Scone. She never faltered, she never gave up, no matter how she was treated, no matter what I said to her. She risked everything. Stirling deserves a chance – and so does she.’

I almost stopped breathing.

‘What would you have me do?’ James’ voice was barely audible. He turned and looked at Gabriel and me. ‘What would you have me do?’

I swallowed. ‘I am a wraith. I can get back into Stirling. I can get to the Stone.’ I glanced at Gabriel. ‘I was told once that wraiths had the ability to remove an object’s shadow. If I can do that to the Stone of Scone, I’ll render it useless. The goblins can do whatever they like with it, they can crown whoever they want but if the Stone has no shadow, it has no power.’

James shook his head. ‘It’s too risky. The Gneiss and the Filits have the clues to find the Stone and the chances are they’ll get to it before you do. I’ve heard enough over the last hour to realise just how much cruelty they’re capable of. If one of them is anointed the supposed true King of Scotland, all will be lost.’

Enough was enough. I stepped up to James and glared at him. I ignored the horrified gasp from the onlookers that a despicable wraith such as myself was getting so close and threw every last shred of desperation I had at him. ‘You used the law as an excuse not to get involved with the siege of Stirling. If it weren’t for the Stone of Scone, you wouldn’t be getting involved now. Three years. Three years of siege and starvation and living according to the whims of a bunch of goblins who’ll string you up on the gallows as soon as give you a few crumbs to eat.’

The gasps were more audible this time. Prime Minister James clenched his jaw and I wondered whether I was about to be flung into the nearest dungeon for daring to argue with such an august personage.

‘We couldn’t get involved,’ he said stiffly. ‘The law is very clear: unless the goblins seek to encroach on the rest of Scotland, Stirling belongs to them. That’s the way it’s always been. We’ve entered into negotiations on several occasions but until now our hands have been tied.’

‘While people were dying, you were playing politics.’

James’s face reddened. I stood my ground, ready for whatever he was about to throw at me. Gabriel moved up beside me and took my hand, squeezing it tightly. Pain wrenched deep within my heart; he didn’t hate me after all. I wondered if he realised what his simple action meant to me. I hesitated for only a moment before squeezing his hand back.

Prime Minister James clenched his fists and muttered something inaudible under his breath then, surprisingly, his features relaxed. ‘You are right. We could have handled it better. I could have handled it better. I didn’t realise how bad things were in Stirling. I was trying to avert war with the goblins, whether Gneiss or Filit, and as a result all I achieved was more suffering.’ He glanced at Gabriel before returning his attention to me. ‘How confident are you that you can get to the Stone to remove its shadow without being noticed?’

I tilted up my chin. ‘I have every confidence. I’m a wraith, I can slide in anywhere and not be spotted.’

‘With all the wraith activity, the goblins are bound to have alarms that will be triggered by your presence.’

‘No alarm is foolproof,’ I said calmly.

James looked at me for a long moment. ‘If you fail, you will be tortured. The goblins will see to that. Lord Ghrashbreg will see to that. You will die and you will die brutally.’

That was the understatement of the year. ‘I won’t fail,’ I told him.

He sucked in a breath and raised his eyes, staring at a spot somewhere beyond my shoulder. ‘Six hours,’ he said finally. ‘You’ve got six hours to get in and out. After that, I will have no choice but to give the order to level Stirling to the ground.’ He nodded at someone. They bowed then drew out a heavy-looking object and held it out to me. ‘It’s a satellite phone. If you manage to take away the Stone’s power, use it to call me and I’ll stop the attack.’

I took it before realising that James must have already arranged for the phone. He had wanted me to persuade him. I wasn’t sure whether to be pleased by that or terrified.