A Dance of Lies Read online

  THE OUTLANDS PENTALOGY

  A Dance of Lies

  Rebecca Crunden

  Copyright ©2018 Rebecca Crunden

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be duplicated in any form without the written permission of the author, except in cases of brief quotations for reviews.

  ISBN-10: 1718876440

  ISBN-13: 978-1718876446

  Edited by Meredith Anderson

  Cover Design by Rachel Bowdler

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  AR130

  INTRODUCTION

  The Lovers and the Law

  The house was the grandest on the street. Made of imposing white stone, it caught the eye of all who passed it. Flowers spilled from windows and filled the autumn air with beautiful scents. The home of the richest family in the town, it would have been garish and ostentatious were it not for the calm furnishings and lack of ornate decorations that so many of the other homes boasted to impress their neighbours.

  Blaise Roman sneezed three times in a row before shooting the flowers a glare. He would like flowers if they were even remotely nice to his nose, but they weren’t, so he was firmly against their entire existence.

  He jogged up the steps and in seconds reached the door. Entering the code Nadia had sent him, he slipped inside. It smelled like her cooking and the candles she always burned, and a smile spread across his face. It smelled like home.

  Even if it wasn’t his.

  ‘Nadia?’ His voice echoed in the large entrance hall. ‘Boys?’

  A loud thundering of footsteps reached his ears and he looked up to see Ronan and Romulus racing down the staircase towards him. Though they had their mother’s dark hair and their father’s light eyes, their personalities matched only their mother’s. Hyper, happy boys, Blaise loved them as if they were his own.

  ‘Uncle Blaise! Uncle Blaise!’

  He hugged each of them in turn before drawing two wrapped packages out of his coat. ‘For you. Now, where’s your mother?’

  Romulus grabbed his hand and led him through the house as Ronan tore into his present with glee. Blaise always made a point of buying them things Stefan wouldn’t: books, tokens from other countries, art projects, souvenirs sourced via not-necessarily-legal means.

  The boys made a game of hiding the items from their father, much to Blaise’s enduring amusement. Romulus had hollowed out the posts in his bed; Ronan had a false back in his wardrobe.

  In the study, Nadia was painting a landscape. It was a beautiful recreation of the view from their inn bedroom in Redland. They went there often on stayaways.

  He wrapped his arms around her stomach and kissed her cheek. ‘Hallo, my love.’

  With a cry of delighted surprise, Nadia turned and kissed him, pulling the speakers out of her ears. ‘You’re back!’ She threw her arms around him and let him lift her off her feet.

  He spun her around, getting second-hand paint all over himself, but finding it impossible to care.

  ‘Is he home?’ he asked, already pulling her down the hall away from the boys, who were now happily occupied with their gifts, and towards the stairs.

  ‘No,’ she said with a giggle, chasing after him.

  ‘Thank God.’

  He kissed her again, thus ensuring that the journey to the bedroom was a remarkably graceless undertaking.

  In all their years together, the giddiness had never worn off. Not from the moment Blaise moved to Anais and saw Nadia across the schoolyard.

  He could remember, clear as day, how he’d been gaping at her, mouth open like a fish, when the tall, muscular boy with one arm around her friend and the other hand moving a cigarette to and from his lips, winked at him.

  Blaise had walked over, drawn towards the beautiful girl with short brown hair and almond eyes as much as by the boy. His red hair shone like copper in the sun and there was a dark bruise colouring the boy’s face, but his laugh was unhindered, his smile wide and genuine.

  ‘Are you new here, darling?’ the boy asked him.

  ‘My mother got transferred from Cinna,’ said Blaise. ‘I’m Blaise.’

  ‘Nate,’ said the boy. He kissed the girl in his arms before introducing her. ‘This is Matty.’

  ‘We had Law together this morning,’ said Matilda.

  Blaise smiled. ‘Right.’

  ‘And this is Nads,’ said Nate, nodding to the one Blaise couldn’t stop staring at.

  ‘Nadia,’ said the girl hastily. She sent Nate a dirty look. ‘Only Nate calls me that. And anyone else gets punched if they try.’

  Nate leaned over and kissed Nadia’s cheek. ‘It’s because I’m adorable.’

  Matilda rolled her eyes and swatted him affectionately. ‘Somehow I doubt that.’

  With a roguish grin, Nate turned his attention back to Blaise. There was something about his stare, like you truly mattered to him if he was bothered enough to pay attention to you. ‘Want to come to the park after school?’ he asked.

  ‘We need some new blood,’ Matilda added with a playful smirk. ‘You’ll do.’

  Their invitation left him somewhat nervous. ‘Will I?’

  ‘Oh definitely,’ said Nate. He raised both eyebrows suggestively. ‘I can tell already.’

  Blaise wanted to say yes, wanted instantly to join in their group, but he had promised his father he would help unpack first thing. Somewhat unhappily, he said, ‘Perhaps tomorrow.’

  ‘So lazy,’ Nate teased. ‘Fine, fine. We’ll be there until late if you change your mind. Hand.’

  Intrigued, Blaise held out his hand. Nate scribbled a registration onto his palm before wrapping his arm back around Matilda and steering her away, winking at Blaise once more as he went.

  ‘Come if you can, Laze. We need new blood. We’re quite sick of our own.’

  Nadia lingered a moment. ‘You should come,’ she said with a small smile. ‘We’re not popular, but we’re too pretty to care.’

  He’d still been grinning like a moron long after they vanished.

  Later that evening, Blaise sped through unpacking and skipped dinner, racing to the unfamiliar park. When he eventually found them, Nate shouted his name across the field and waved him over. It was not only Nate, Nadia, and Matilda this time, but a young boy of about ten with raven black hair and bright blue eyes. Beside him was a boy with curly blonde hair. They were holding hands and kept smiling at each other. Nate introduced them as Thom and Louis before holding out a beer.

  ‘Won’t we get in trouble?’ asked Blaise, glancing around.

  Nate laughed loudly. ‘You’re cute.’

  ‘The guards won’t say anything,’ said Matilda. ‘Don’t worry. We’re not going to get you into trouble.’

  ‘Oh, no, no,’ said Nate, shaking his head and tutting. ‘We’re definitely going to get you into trouble, Laze. But just not with a beer.’

  ‘With many,’ said Nadia, raising her bottle.

  Just like that, he was invited into their group as if he’d always been there.

  One night turned into many, and soon Blaise had a best friend and his first love. Most of the time it was easy enough to pretend that Nadia was just his. He rarely saw Sun, his Complement, and Stefan Tam, Nadia’s Complement, spent his days with the other sporty boys at school. Nate wasn’t popular, but he was solid enough to be left alone, and they had their own little corner of the school as their sanctuary.

  When Archibald Pisteros asked them to stay late after school one day and gave them directions to a secret rally held by the Citizens Committee, a group dedicated to fighting for those harmed by Crown an
d Council, Nate leapt at the chance, and Blaise agreed instantly – if only because he didn’t want to be left out. But the rally left them with racing hearts and impassioned conversations, and by the time they were fourteen, the boys were already harbouring hatred against Crown and Council.

  For Nate, the rebellion became an obsession – one he lived and breathed and bled for. But more than bringing the Kingdom to its knees, Blaise wanted to be with Nadia. Years in the Club changed nothing for their situation, however, and these brief visits were all they got.

  When they had worn out their bodies and were curled up on the bed, in no mood to move just yet, Blaise thought of the life he’d always wanted and felt wretchedly bitter about not having it. The half of him that didn’t feel like crying felt like slamming his head into the wall behind him.

  He looked down and kissed the top of her head. The blankets covered only a small portion of her, leaving her looking ravishing and tempting. The jagged letters of his name down her spine stood out like a brand.

  She had gone to get the tattoo without telling him when they were sixteen. But not even the tattoo distracted him from her binding ceremony to Stefan the following day. He thanked God every day that she bore her family’s mark upon her face. The Tam waves, representing their fortune made from creating the ships the Kingdom bought in bulk orders, were much more bearable than the gems of the Lin family. The gems of the Perry Mines Company.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Nadia rolled over and looked at him. ‘You’re sighing heavily.’

  ‘Thinking.’

  ‘Thinking about what?’

  Not wanting to discuss their own wretched situation, he said instead, ‘I saw Nate.’

  The news brought a smile to her face. ‘You did? Where? Is he all right?’

  ‘The Outlands.’

  Her jaw dropped and she sat up. ‘You went over the Wall?’

  With a quick glance at the door, and listening hard for any potential eavesdroppers, Blaise told her a condensed version of the story in a low voice. He left out the trial, for the most part. She’d only worry. Though, to be fair, Blaise was still worried. Wolfgang was furious and it was everything James and the others could do to keep him from going after Kitty.

  ‘He looks good,’ he finished a few minutes later. ‘Nate. He looks like he should. TC looks like shit, though.’

  ‘Marko and Diana will be glad to know they’re all right,’ she murmured, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. ‘Oh, that reminds me. I sent them funds two days ago.’

  ‘Stefan won’t notice?’

  ‘He’ll notice. I’ll tell him it was for something frivolous. He won’t look further into it than that.’

  Suddenly angry, Blaise sat up and began pulling his clothes back on. They had all encouraged Stefan’s incorrect understanding of what Nadia did with her time and money, but how someone could live with her for years and not know her was maddening to him.

  ‘What if we did it?’ he said abruptly, pausing his search for his shirt. ‘We could, you know? Go live in the Outlands with Nate and Thom and the rest of them.’

  Nadia pulled on a loose dress and thick jumper without saying anything. She looked so ravishing, Blaise wanted to remove her clothes all over again.

  But his heart was hammering with anxiety and longing, and he wanted her answer. ‘What do say you, my love?’

  ‘We’ve been over this,’ she said at last, running a hand through her hair. ‘Stefan’s not my favourite person, but I can’t take his children from him.’

  Blaise had to clench his jaw and breathe deeply before he could reply. ‘He can come.’

  The prospect was as appealing as eating his own leg hair, but at least in the Outlands they did not have to pretend.

  Stefan could do … something. Nadia would no longer have to bed him and Blaise would stop wanting to set him on fire. They would all benefit from the move.

  ‘He won’t,’ said Nadia sadly. She crossed her arms and shook her head. ‘You know he won’t. Our best chance is the rebellion. If Crown and Council are removed, we can stay in the Kingdom. A better Kingdom. We can be together.’

  He hadn’t expected a different answer. He had just hoped. And now he felt ill and sad and disappointed atop the futile rage and poisonous hope.

  The door downstairs slamming shut made it even worse.

  In a flash, he finished dressing and pulled Nadia close. He was still kissing her when Stefan walked in and cleared his throat.

  Blaise kept his arm around her as he turned to face Stefan. ‘Good evening,’ he said contemptuously.

  ‘Get out of my bedroom, Roman,’ said Stefan. He tossed a briefcase on the bed and pulled off his long coat. ‘I don’t need to see your dick first thing when I’m home.’

  Blaise snorted and took Nadia’s hand, leading her from the bedroom. She let go of his hand only when they were in the kitchen.

  As she checked on the meal, he poured himself a glass of whiskey with hands that were far from steady.

  Ronan and Romulus hurried in a few seconds later.

  ‘Uncle Blaise, are you staying for dinner?’ asked Ronan.

  Blaise glanced at Nadia once before nodding. ‘Set up the guest room for me, will you?’

  The boys scurried off delightedly.

  ‘I’m not sure that’s the best idea,’ said Nadia softly. ‘Perhaps you should stay at the inn.’

  Blaise tipped back his glass and glared at Stefan as he entered the kitchen. He swallowed hard. ‘I’ll stay,’ he said.

  ‘I don’t recall inviting you to stay, Roman.’

  ‘I don’t recall asking.’

  Stefan turned his steely gaze to Nadia. Somehow, he’d never stopped seeming like a schoolyard bully. ‘He can stay, but we have our appointment at the end of the week.’

  Nadia nodded and opened a bottle of wine, pouring herself a large glass. She said nothing, knocking back her drink instead.

  Blaise raised an eyebrow, even as his heart sank. ‘Appointment?’ he prompted, already knowing the answer.

  ‘With the bodymen,’ she muttered.

  Stefan smirked. ‘To see if she’s pregnant yet with our third. You’re welcome to watch, Roman. But she’s in my bed tonight.’

  Blaise dearly wanted to smash his face in.

  ‘Still want to stay?’

  It was a challenge. If Blaise interfered, Stefan could conn the guards who would remove him for violating the Law of Reproduction; if he didn’t, he was likely going to have to hear it. Stefan would ensure that much.

  ‘I’ll be at the inn,’ he said, stomach clenching.

  He donned his coat and walked over to Nadia. He kissed her hard, his whole body screaming at him not to leave, before he stepped away, tears in his eyes, and slipped out the front door.

  He had stayed once before.

  Never again.

  AR129

  PART ONE

  Schism

  The hart was obscured by the tall grasses, its small ears one of the only visible parts of it. From Kitty’s other side, Riddle glanced at her and nodded. He, Cara, Zoe and Nate had all caught something for their dinner, but Riddle had insisted they remain until Kitty had a successful hunt. Having everyone waiting on her served only to make her more nervous, and she kept hesitating.

  Kitty adjusted her grip on her bow and pulled it taut, rising slightly on her knees as she aimed. Before she could fire, an arrow that wasn’t her own pierced the hart, killing it instantly.

  Riddle’s hand shot out and caught her bow. He shook his head and put a finger to his lips. The others all stayed still; no one seemed to breathe.

  Out of the trees, the Outcasts appeared.

  A very unsettling offshoot of the Radiant clans, the Outcasts were comprised of the murderers, thieves, betrayers and rapists the clans had cast out over the years, and that didn’t include the children they raised to revel and ravage. Their appearances were deliberately and successfully alarming. Half were stained with blood from their captures and kills, and all b
ore jagged and dirtied weapons.

  Kitty had never seen someone use a tusk as a weapon and she had no inclination to discover the means with which it had come to be covered in chunks of red, congealed blood and skin. She tried not to gag as her body shook with fear. But she didn’t dare look away.

  After several moments of deliberation, the leader of the group called the others to follow and he turned down a slope, heading in the opposite direction to the camp.

  When the Outcasts finally disappeared, Kitty let out the breath she had been holding and dropped her head, her entire body drained.

  ‘We should go,’ said Riddle softly. ‘Get back to camp.’

  Everyone concurred.

  ‘You all right, darling?’ Nate was already on his feet. He held out his hand and pulled her upright.

  ‘Fine,’ she grunted.

  He kissed her before glancing at Zoe and Cara, expression darkening. ‘They’re getting closer. We’re not being careful enough.’

  He spoke in a mixture of Cuttish and Radian without realising it, the languages swapping every few words. After a year of learning each other’s languages and changing halfway through a sentence upon realising who they were speaking to, the group had adopted a strange speech pattern that would make little sense to outsiders. Much to Kitty’s amusement, Nate had referred to the mixture as ‘Rubbish’ one day. It stuck.

  ‘It could be time to move again,’ said Zoe. ‘That’s the third close call this summer.’

  ‘I should have tracked down the ones who escaped,’ said Nate darkly. ‘Not killing them is putting the entire community at risk.’

  ‘The last time Riddle went after Quen, he left dead children behind as a warning,’ said Cara, glancing back at him. ‘Going after Thom’s attackers was one thing. They’re hunting us to get him back. Quen doesn’t like to lose his captives – or lose to Riddle. But if we were hunting them, it would be infinitely worse.’

  ‘How?’ asked Kitty, not sure she wanted to know.