Page 20 of The Heart Trials

“No more talking. Not out here.”

I rope the bucket he gave me more securely onto my arm and keep my head down.

“Highborn don’t keep their eyes down, even the servants,” he whispers after a servant stops to show her respect. I force myself to look up at her. We reach double doors, and I realize he has taken me to his bedroom. I widen the distance between us. But he pushes the door open, stepping aside to allow me in first. A nutty smell hits me.

I hesitate, tipping forward on my toes to peek first. There is a small bed in the corner and very few furnishings. The single window, however, has a breathtaking view of the sea. It makes my heart ache thinking of home. Serafina is probably so worried. I need to get word to them that I’m okay.

“Go on.” Caelus watches both directions in the corridor.

I step inside, padding lightly, terrified this could be another prison. Or that trusting him could be a prison of another kind. When I spin to face Caelus to demand to know when he’ll be back, the door shuts in my face. Then, it locks.

I set the bucket down, trying to slow my thudding pulse. I’m dressed like a servant. Mercyenforcers are hunting for me. I should be in a cell; I should be shoved off a cliff. I touch the scratchy bedsheet on Caelus’s bed, searching for meaning with my bare fingers. I’ve slept on softer linen. When I imagined life in the Citadel, this isn’t what I pictured.

The sky outside has dimmed, only a faint glow of daylight left. And Caelus still hasn’t returned. Curiosity bites at me, wondering what he was plotting with Lucent. I search every corner of the room, pull open each of the few pieces of furniture, look under every surface, including flipping the mattress. I even shake out the single blanket folded on a chair. There isn’t one personal effect in this room. There aren’t any clothes or shoes. No regalia.

This can’t be where he actually lives.

There is a mirror on the wall. It’s slightly crooked. Suspiciously crooked. I push the mirror slightly, carefully. It shifts. I push again, harder. It drags along the wall, sliding aside, making too much noise. There is something behind it.

But the lock on the door clicks, and I restraighten the mirror quickly as Caelus strides in, glancing behind him warily.

“Why do you live like this?” I ask.

But Caelus crosses the room without looking at me, his posture sagging. He is deflated, a shell of what he was like earlier. He must have seen Lucent’s body.

“It is unfortunate what happened to your cousin,” I say.

“I don’t need sympathy.” He notices the crooked mirror and straightens it, chin sliding over his shoulder. “I didn’t mean to be short. I…I just meant, we don’t need to talk about that. He’s gone.” He can grieve. He doesn’t want to. But he is right. The only thing he needs from me are Heartfillers. And the only thing I need from him is a way out of this place. Still, I burn with a need to understand. He is risking a lot.

“What are you after?” I ask.

“We don’t have much time. My father knows about the Mercyenforcer you hurt.”

“Why are you helping me?” I lower my voice. “Why are you betraying your father?”

“He is the ruler of Ethyria,” he says, adjusting the ring on his finger. “Only someone careless would think of betraying the Benevolent.”

“Or someone who thinks the benefit outweighs the risk.”

“Axira, what I am doing is none of your concern.”

“So you are doing something?” I ask, and he drifts across the room to the mirror instead of answering right away. Then, he says, “Look, I think I can get you out of here if you can deliver a barrel of Heartfillers to me in three days.”

“What happens in three days?” I ask, then I realize. “The tournament.”

“We had a plan.” He looks beyond me.

“To disrupt the tournament?”

“To prevent it from happening at all.”

“Why do you care about the tournament?” I find the entire thing disgusting. It’s downright embarrassing that people beg to prove they’re worthy of citizenship just so they can experience true love at the feet of the man who could feed our entire district and heal all our sick with the snap of his fingers. But that’s just me. How does taking the tournament away hurt anyone other than the lowborn who could have won?

“Now that it’s happening whether we like it or not, I just need a way to get…” His eyes narrow. “You are persistent. My cousin was right. No more about the tournament. I also need to know how the Heartfillers affect Skyborn.”

Skyborn…

Using Heartfillers…