Excerpt: The King (The Secret of Sentarra series)

Darshon's heart pounded as he crept toward the tent that his father as staying in. Mind numb, he did not know what he was going to do when he got there. He only knew that he must do something. His one thought was that Kael must not fight Galephy. He must not. He could not.
Listening at the flap and hearing no one, Darshon stepped inside. There was a table in the tent with food left from breakfast. Even thought a prisoner, their father had not starved as they had. His heart burned.
He clutched the small bag of herbs. He could not use them all. He could not go without himself. But if he could slip enough into his father's drink to make the man panic, Kael might be given an advantage. Then again, if Galephy panicked, he might be as hard to fight.
His eyes landed on a small pewter vial. He was not sure how his father had been allowed to keep it. Did they not know that it opened to hold liquid? Did they not realize that liquid was poison? And not only poison but a potent, odorless, tasteless poison. Was it still good?
His heart stilled. "Was his father planning on using it on his brother?
Before he could find an answer, he dumped the vial into a goblet of wine, nearby.
"Darshon."
His father's voice made his heart thump, then still.
Galephy stepped into the tent, letting the flap close behind him. "I did not expect you to come over to my side. I rather thought you would be cheering your brother standing in your mother's shadow."
Darshon's mind raced. "I want you to call it off."
"Oh, I would. If only the people would listen." Galephy gave a mock sigh. "But they are so stubborn, you know. It is a pity."
"Kael has already fought. It is not fair to ask him to fight two people when you have only fought one."
Galephy shook his head and poured more wine into the goblet. "Kael has a fair chance to win this one. He has a sword and the knowledge to use it."
Darshon tried not to watch too closely as his father raised the glass to his lips, but he lowered it again to speak.
"Whether or not he will take advantage of the fact, is quite up to him."
The Darshon watched the man's adam's apple bob as he drank several gulps of the wine. Galephy blinked, lowered the goblet to look into it, and then reached over to pick up the vial, weighting it in his hands.
"What? You doubt your brother's ability to kill me as well?" His father's voice grew husky and harsh.
` Darshon spun around, nearly knocking into the table as Galephy let the flap close behind him.
"Or were you saving it to toast your brother with and take over after he won?"
"I do not want the kingdom." Darshon answered.
A smile played around his father's face. "Smart boy. Being a prince is much more fun than being a king."
Galephy picked up the goblet to watch the liquid sparkle in the cup and shook his head. "No one has ever managed this sort of trick on me before." He glanced up. "You do know what happens to people who are poisoned, do you not?"
"They die." Darshon answered, wondering why his father had not stopped breathing yet.
"Yes." Galephy laughed. "They do. But not completely. Their bodies stop." He took another sip of the mixture. "After the liquid has eaten through their stomach and burned through their bodies like a smoldering fire. But it does not kill their spirits. And their spirits wait until the poison has burned a hole through their bodies. It comes up out of their throat and then – it is free."
Darshon tried not to wiggle as his father drank three more gulps of the wine. "It is free and nobody can touch it. It cannot be killed. And it can spend the rest of it's life" he used his fingers to indicate, "going through walls, slamming doors in the middle of the night, spying on people without being seen –" The blue eyes turned coldly onto him. "Haunting the one who put the poison in its cup."
He finished off the liquid and slammed the goblet down. "I tell you this, or course, so you will know. When you feel watched and no one is there…. When your window opens at night…. When your fire burns down low…. When you fall in love and the girl shies away from you….when your children become mysteriously ill… when you tell them there is nothing for them to be afraid of in the dark…. When they insist something really is there. You had better listen."
His father stepped toward him. "I will never leave you alone. I will strangle your wife in her sleep. I will push your children over railings and threw your babies out of windows. And every once in a while I will come gusting through like wind and spook your horse or blow out a candle just so you will know that I am there."
He dropped the vial at their feet. "Hope your brother is worth it. And no one finds out it was not him who killed me. They cry foul-play and take his throne. And then where would you be?"
And the man floated out of the tent, turning back one last time. "I will come for you, Darshon. Make no doubt about that."