Forest Kingdom Trilogy 2 - Blood and Honor

evenly balanced, but if you and your forces were to join the fighting, there's no telling what might happen. You would almost certainly be killed, along with all your people, but the damage would have been done. Stay out of it, Viktor. For all our sakes.'
    Jordan studied her thoughtfully. Gabrielle's face was flushed, and her eyes were burning with an almost disturbing intensity. Without knowing how or why, Jordan knew she was holding something back.
    Important as this obviously was to her, there was still something she wasn't telling him, something that burned beneath her calm and reasonable words with the red sullen glow of obsession.
    'For all our sakes,' he said finally. 'Tell me, Gabby - would it really matter to you at all if I was killed?'
    Gabrielle's mouth twitched in what might have been a smile. 'Perhaps. Just a little. You used to be a fairly likable sort until that bitch Elizabeth got her claws into you. And you did keep quiet when William and I first got engaged. If Dad had found out we were cousins by Blood, however remote, he would have banned our marriage. I couldn't have stood that. William is everything to me, and always has been.
    Somehow, you found out about our Blood, but you never said a word. We owe you one for that. But in the end, I have to be more concerned about the Kingdom. A civil war is destructive enough at the best of times, but with the Unreal poised to break loose at the first opportunity, a civil war now would be madness. I need to know your answer, Viktor. Never mind what you told William - tell me the truth.'
    'It's yours,' said Jordan. 'And it's the same answer I gave your husband. I'll stay neutral if I can, but I doubt very much if Lewis and Dominic will let me. I'll have to fight sooner or later, to protect my life if not my claim to the throne.'
    'You could always leave.'
    'Dominic already suggested that. In fact, he said he'd kill me if I didn't.'
    'Are you going to leave?'
    'No.'
    'So you learnt stubbornness as well, in your exile.' Gabrielle got to her feet. 'I hope you'll reconsider your position, Viktor, but knowing you, I doubt it. I'll talk to you again tomorrow. Good night.'
    Jordan got quickly to his feet and escorted her to the door. She nodded a brief goodbye, and then left.
    Jordan shut the door firmly behind her. He then leaned wearily against it and wondered if he had enough strength left to barricade it. He didn't think he could stand another visitor. He shook his head and started yet again towards his bedroom door. He'd almost made it when the globe of water appeared around his head, and suddenly he was drowning.
    He clawed frantically at the globe, and his hands splashed freely through the water without affecting it.
    He staggered back and forth, mouth clamped shut to avoid breathing water, and the globe moved with him so that his head was always completely surrounded by water. It wasn't a very large globe, only just big enough to enclose his head completely, but that was enough to kill him. Already his lungs were aching for air, and his head was growing muzzy. Soon his mouth would open despite him, and once he started trying to breathe water, he was lost. He looked desperately around him, the world rendered vague and distorted by the water before his eyes. His gaze fell on the rack of clay pipes Viktor had offered his guests, and an idea came to him. He lurched over to the rack, still somehow miraculously intact despite all the damage around it, and grabbed one of the long slender pipes. He broke off the bowl, leaving a long hollow tube in his hand. He slipped one end in his mouth, and the pipe was just long enough that the other end stuck out of the water. He sucked in air through the tube, and the ache in his lungs slowly lessened. His head cleared, and some of his panic began to die away. If nothing else, he'd bought himself some thinking time.
    He didn't have long to come up with an answer. This was water magic, and that meant Dominic. He must be watching somehow, despite the wards, and as soon as he realised why his water spell wasn't working, all he had to do was increase the size of the globe of water, and the Great Jordan would have given his last performance. He had to get rid of the globe. But how? He didn't have any magic. He forced himself to think calmly and logically. This was an attack by elemental magic. Certain elements cancelled each other out, like fire and water . . . Fire. That was the answer.
    He palmed one of his flare pellets and