Finlay leaned against the wall and looked up. “With luck? Most. But I saw Simon get arrested. He’ll certainly be executed in the morning. After he’s tortured for information.”
“And Ryzard?” I’d caught a glimpse of him tussling with a guard before the lights went out.
“He fell on his dagger. He knew they’d get words out of him if they tried to make him talk. Let’s hope Simon holds up to the interrogation. He’s a good man. He’ll walk to the gallows with pride.”
“Fuck.”
The farther into this I fell, the worse things became. Finlay wiped a bit of blood off his forehead and said, “Let’s pray the rest of them can find their way out of the catacombs. Before they starve.”
My stomach hollowed out, thinking about all those poor people that might be lost in the catacombs— especially the sorceresses, who wouldn’t be able to navigate in the dark.
Finlay and I both froze at the sound of high heels clicking on the stone. Our eyes filled with terror, until we saw Lady Magdalina bustle into the alcove we were hiding in. Her rageful gaze was set on Finlay.
“In my office, the both of you,” she ordered. “Now.”
Meekly, we followed her orders. Lady Magdalina escorted us personally up the winding staircase to her office. Once we were inside, she stormed toward us.
“Finlay Dunbar, Ispecificallyasked you and Professor Mara not to move until we had more information!” Lady Magdalina blustered.
She made no attempt to lower her voice. She must’ve put a ward on her office, to prevent us from being overheard.
“This looked like our chance!” Finlay protested.
“Yes, well, because of your impatience, three people are dead,” Magdalina shot at him. “And possibly more, if the king and queen have made more arrests.”
Finlay hung his head in shame. Magdalina crossed her arms and shot a glare at me. “Ethan, I didnotput my neck on the line for you during court for you to carelessly throw your life away. I didn’t sign you up for this.Lord Luciendidn’t die for this. That you’re being so frivolous with your life should shame you.”
Guilt infected my heart. Lord Lucienhaddied for me— and tonight, his sacrifice had almost been in vain. “I’m merely trying to do the right thing,” I said.
“You have your task, as what was given to you by the gods,” Magdalina shot at me. “Anything more than that is simply fooling around, and I thought you were done playing vigilante.”
Finlay’s face clouded over with confusion, but I knew exactly what Magdalina meant. How or why Magdalina knew about our task to find the Crystals of Harmony was irrelevant. Emma had told me Lord Lucien had hinted at knowing Emma was the Worldweaver. The two had certainly swapped information before his death, and Magdalina was the strongest, and the wisest, sorceress alive. That she knew about the stones and what Emma had to do was hardly shocking. I was all but sure she’d been waiting for someone like Emma to come around for decades to find the stones— and now she was worried that I was going to screw it up.
It was a fair concern.
“There’s hope for the revolution. It’s a just cause,” I insisted.
“Ask yourself why none of your friends are beside you, why Emma has not joined you, helping with thiscause,” Magdalina snapped. “And know it is because they realize they have one job in this war, and one jobonly. A task that should be your first priority, above all others.”
A knot formed in my throat. I didn’t want to join this revolution. I’d resisted against it, at first.
But as I was coming to realize about myself, when there was a chance to turn things around for the better in Malovia, the temptation was too much to deny. Though I’d wrestled and battled with my demons in the past, a part of me was still out of control.
“You’re talking like this is a hopeless endeavor!” Finlay bellowed. “Are you in this revolution? Are you with us?”
“Of course I am!” Lady Magdalina threw her arms skyward. “But I wish to do itthe right way, not in a senseless fashion that gets people killed! By the gods, use your head!”
Finlay’s cheeks burned. He hated being lectured, but knew Magdalina was right. There was a smart path to take when leading to revolution, and a dumb one. Tonight’s plan had clearly been the latter. “Tonight was a mistake. We won’t be so eager to move next time.”
“Tonight canneverhappen again. You can’t gamble with people’s lives,” Magdalina stated.
“We do if we want to win,” Finlay insisted.
Magdalina got a pinched look upon her face. “Be that as it may, the king and queen, as well as the Circle, now know there’s a revolutionary force in Malovia moving against them. We no longer have the benefit of working in secrecy. Whatever we do from this point forward will be harder than it ever was before.”
Magdalina plopped down at her desk and waved us off. “All we can hope for is that the revolution will be enough of a distraction that the king temporarily pauses his campaign against the witches. By the gods, you boys better hope so.”
Chapter Sixteen
