My feet thudded on the dirt ground as I paced. I ran my eyes over the rest of the hut. My eyes snagged on the desk in the corner of the room. I stalked to where a stack of paper and an ink pen sat on the table alongside a deserted bottle of the sparkling wine the Lotrennians were partial to.
A strange sort of pressure shoved against my chest before coiling its way to my neck. I ran a hand over the thick scar that seemed to tingle and stretch. The constant reminder I shouldn’tbe alive. I’d cheated death when Dark King Daimos used the Ramadiel bone of power to heal me after Cyril had slit my throat. It hadn’t bothered me in some time. Talon, the dagger that split it open, sat strapped to my ankle as it always did. I wasn’t sure why I’d kept it.
I rifled through the papers, scanning anything for clues. Chore charts, ration requests, training exercises… I paused as my hand slipped over a note from one of our healers.Vander’s wrist. His arm had been shattered at the Battle of Odessa, and his right wrist was still giving him trouble. So much so, he’d yet been able to wield a longsword with his dominant arm.
I had what I needed.
My heart leaped into my chest as the door swung open, casting a warm, bright afternoon light onto my back.
“Time’s up,” Kresida growled.
I rolled my shoulders as I turned, leaning over all that remained of the dead elf. I pressed two fingers to my lips and sent up a silent prayer to Ganmira and Renova, to light her way in the darkness of eternal night. The silk fell over her bones in a soft sigh.
Nerissa pacedlike a caged beast at the steps leading to the Gilded Fortress, rage glittering in her bright green eyes as I swung off Tiberius’s back and strode up the landing to speak with the queen.
I waited tofeelsomething from her, a bond of some sort due to the connection of our powers, but none presented itself. And I didn’t dare ask her about it. Either we had no link, making my connection with Bayne something wholly unknown, or her emotional wall was so thick nothing could pierce it.
Soleia, the power of the sun that she shared with Bayne, remained locked up just as tight. She’d decided on the journey here that she would hide her power as long as possible. Her power was a beacon, and we knew Queen Antares had been after it. Had plotted and married their widowed uncle in hopes the ancestral power would be passed to her heir, Carina.
It hadn’t. And Bayne had a target on his back as much as I did. I glanced at her, waiting for her to combust from the pent-up emotion and power, but she simply schooled her face into a blank mask of control as she fell in line with me.
“Explain,” she demanded through pursed lips.
“There was no time,” I huffed as we jogged up the golden steps. “If Vander is executed, there will be chaos. I needed to buy us more time.”
“At what cost?” she snapped.
My mouth clamped shut. She would find out soon enough.
Queen Antares lounged on the fur-covered chaise near the open balcony. Carina, looking small and mousy, peeked up from behind her book in the corner, her matching eyes shuddering as she shrank beneath her cousin’s gaze.
“Niece,” Queen Antares purred as she cocked her head to the side, examining Nerissa.
“Your Grace,” Nerissa responded with perfect, feigned submission as she dipped into a low bow that I sensed had her soul screaming in rage.
Nerissa was still as I reported my findings to the queen, who devoured the information with a keen fascination. I noted Carina’s attention as I detailed the wounds and the inconclusiveness of the body. A nod from the queen when I finally finished.
“Curious. You’re suggesting there’s enough damage on the left side of her body that the soldier couldn’t have committed her murder,” she said at last.
I nodded once, my breath held.
“She’s correct,” a soft voice sounded from the corner of the room.
The queen’s eyes snapped to her daughter, light eyebrows raising in question.
Carina cleared her throat, emerald eyes darting to her cousin for a moment before landing on me. “The menders mentioned something similar before they returned to prepare her for the Beyond. The damage to the left side of her body was extreme. And if the soldier can’t even wield a longsword yet,” she explained, turning a timid look to her mother, “it’s unlikely he could have done this.”
Queen Antares surveyed her daughter for a moment, and I’d never seen a starker contrast. The queen, bold and powerful, looked down her nose at her small, mousy daughter, even while she lounged on the chaise.
“Well, if a Sultiran Death Scholar apprentice and my owndaughteragree the soldier couldn’t have done this, then I suppose it’s enough to release him from Pyracantha.”
A soft sigh of relief escaped me, and I let my shoulders sag.
“But an investigation will follow, Bonder. I will share your findings with the Chamber of Mystics. I’d be endlessly grateful for any additional help you can provide.” The queen flashed a sharp smile before flicking her eyes to Nerissa.
We turned to leave the queen’s hall when she drawled, “I’ll send word when it’s time to begin your training. And don’t forget, should words be stolen, tied life shall be broken.”
As we strode down the glittering steps, Nerissa let out a string of curses so colorful I had to look twice at her. The fury that replaced the calm, collected mask straightened my spine as emotion poured from her.
“Stupid. Sofuckingstupid. You idiotichuman,” she spat.
My molars pressed against each other. It would be fine. I’d cleared Vander’s name, for now. Eight days with the queen to prevent my dear friend’s death… To prevent an uprisinginthe Rising…
Nerissa looks like she’s about to implode, Ti snickered as we approached.
Shush.
“We didn’t have time,” I snapped back before Nerissa stormed off.
