“She did this,” Wren said, fury straining her voice.
“Yeah,” I said. Royals were treacherous—just not always the ones you expected.
The sound of harmonized footsteps began to pound through the square. Imperial soldiers moved around the crowd, then speared through it. Residents backed away to the edges of the grounds as soldiers filled in the gaps.
Wren shoved me behind her when the soldiers reached us.
“Stop!” The single word, an order from the dais, from the prince, boomed like thunder across the crowd and silenced it immediately. The messenger, apparently unaccustomed to the Emperor Eternal’s orders being challenged, merely blinked.
“No citizen of this stronghold will be taken prisoner without my agreement,” Nik said. His voice was hard, his shoulders square, and the look he gave the messenger would have melted ice. This was a man wearing that cloak of power and using it to his benefit.
“Your Highness,” the messenger said, eyes meekly downcast. “You would surely not wish to counter your father’s order. The prisoner will not be harmed. She will only be questioned.”
There were a lot of ways to question someone, and a lot of ways to harm them.
I could see the soldiers’ eyes now, hard and determined. The beads of sweat beneath their leather armor. Fingers tightly clenched around the leather-wrapped handles of their bright swords.
“You appear to be under the mistaken impression that you have more authority than me in my own stronghold.”
“Your father—”
“Is not here. Who knows what perfidy might have transpiredbetween here and the City of Flowers? My uncle tried to kill me.” He shook his head. “My father is strong and honorable and does not imprison those who have helped his country or his son. Your order is contrary to his nature, so how can I trust it? I must see her safe, just as he would have me do.”
“A good speech,” Wren said, but grimly. Because she knew the truth just like I did. The prince couldn’t keep me safe from an emperor.
He might manage to get me back to the palace. He might be able to secrete me away in some dusty corner where no one could find me—and I would be a different kind of prisoner. The emperor would be furious that his order had been refused, and that his son had an Aetheric advantage over him. The emperor would send an army to bring me back, and they’d eventually find me. In the meantime, the prince would be married off, and Catalaya would probably try her own hand at taking me out. She looked like the poisoning type.
That would be no storybook ending for me.
On the other hand, if I went with the imperial soldiers, I’d be carted to the City of Flowers to be killed as a threat or made a prisoner to the emperor’s fear—or a tool for his cruelty.
We’d only just gotten our freedom; I didn’t want to hand it over again so quickly.
“I hate these fucking options,” I muttered, but took a little solace in the slightly sour look on Catalaya’s face. She hadn’t expected him to argue.
“I must insist, Your Highness,” the messenger said, and more troops appeared, hundreds filling the square to take a single girl into custody. “Come with us, child,” he continued. “There’s no reason for violence, for creating disharmony between father and son.”
I might have fought back with Aether and Anima, but that would infuriate the Emperor Eternal further. It would harm the stronghold, the prince, the Anima.
I was going to have to run. My heart, already beating fast, sped up in preparation for my getaway.
“You distract them,” I told her. “There’s money in my bag. Use it for rent.”
“Absolutely not,” Wren said, and drew her windblade. “I’ll save it for when you come back. Direction?”
I looked around. There was a ring of empty space between me and the soldiers, and then the bulk of the crowd who still looked on. I might be able to lose the soldiers in the crowd, but the number of bodies would slow me down. The better bet was surprise: over the dais, through the neighborhood, sneak through the eastern doors and into the foothills. And then we’d see.
“Manor,” I told her. It was in that general direction and was enough to explain the plan without giving it away.
She reached back, squeezed my hand, and touched my thumb to hers. “Survive the day.”
“You, too.”
She turned her body and raised her windblade, preparing to split the soldiers in front of us and give me a path. And a heady silence fell across the crowd, the air thick with anticipation. I rolled my neck, let myself have one more glance at the prince.
But before I could meet his eyes, the ground rumbled and light flashed like the sun had doubled. I raised my arm to cover my eyes as the ember began to warm, the heat began to spread gorgeously through my limbs. This was going to be either very bad…or very good.
A raven’s call split the silence, and a shadow fell over thesoldiers. A white raven, wings gleaming in the brilliant light, arced above the crowd, which began to whisper again.
