“I was supposed to find the cure after enough time passed. He’s ruined everything.”
I fell silent. Our ragged breaths filled the cold air as he shoved me into a carriage. My hands were tied together with ropes in front of me, my muscles weary from the water spell.
Lee knocked on the roof, and I jerked as we began to move.My lungs gasped for breath as soon as the bag was removed from my head.
The carriage was dark but for the small ceiling lantern in thecorner. Lee’s face was cloaked in shadows.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked.
Lee glared at me. “Away.”
“Where’s Prince Thomas?”
He had to be alive. He was the mage prince. He couldn’t—
“It’s a pity you didn’t catch the plague. It would’ve been a much better fate.”
A chill swept through me.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I said, voice wavering.
“It’s not that you did something wrong. It’s that you ruined something that was right.”
“Like what?”
“My plan. Again, Thomas and his little mistress get the glory.”
My heart pounded. “I’m not his mistress.”
He laughed. “Sure,” he said. “If that’s what he tells you.”
I leaned my head back, blinking rapidly at the faint torchlights that seeped through the blackened windows. “Is any of it true? What you’ve told me all this time?”
“What about what you’ve told me? I thought you hated the prince.”
“I’m no traitor to Amouridia.”
He laughed bitterly. “You’re not even a real Amouridian.”
I spat on him. A small spot struck his mage robes. His hand darted out, squeezing my jaw so tight my gums ached.
“I was born in this country. My Papa—” My voice broke off. My hands trembled within the ropes that bound them.
He fell silent for a beat and released me so harshly my chin jerked.
“I knew this would happen,” he muttered. “What a mess.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Something scraped against my throat each time I tried. Tears stung my eyesfrom the pain.
Lee’s gaze glimmered in satisfaction. “That spell wasn’t in your introductory textbook, was it?”
I wanted to scream, but my throat burned like fire. I leaned back and tried to force my breathing to steady.
My mind whirled. I couldn’t seem to sort truth from lie. Not when I couldn’t trust a single word Lee had said.
I only hoped with everything in me that Prince Thomas was still alive.
When the carriage came to a stop, the bag was once more thrust over my head. Lee shoved me out the carriage door. I stumbled. The horses huffed and pawed the ground with their hooves, and the sound of distant chatter travelled over the wind.
