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“How much did you drink?”
“Too much…” He slumped against me, trembling.Oh Lark.I’d thought him the enemy, but he’d been trying to save us all along. I scooped him onto my lap and swept his hair behind his ear, exposing his clammy cheek, already so cold. I couldn’t stay. I had to get the antidote, if there was one. “I have to leave you.”
“Stop-p R-Razak.” His teeth chattered around his words.
“Yes, Draven will get him, but I have to saveyou… like I…” My voice cracked. “Like I promised I would.”
His hand locked around mine.
“Lark, I have to go… I’m sorry… But I’ll come back. I’ll find it and come back…” I laid him down gently. His head lolled, and he blinked. His eyes shimmered with unshed tears.
“All the cards were the s-same,” he whispered.
“What cards?” Was he delirious? “I’m sorry.” I kissed him on the forehead as my heart tried to break into pieces. Leaving him felt so wrong. What if he died here, all alone? “I’m going to save you. Just… hold on—”
“The trick,” he mumbled. “The cards were all the same.”
The card trick he’d teased me with before my whole world had burned to ash?Thatcard trick. I’d forgotten all about it. I’d demanded to know how he’d tricked me, but he’d refused to reveal his secret, claiming it would ruin the magic. “They were all the King of Hearts?”
“Yes, you... wanted to know…h-how.”
“Yes, I did.” I skimmed my knuckles down his cheek, then leaned over him and peered into his soft eyes. Tears escaped them now, sliding into his hair. “You’re not dying here. I won’t allow it. I’ve made mistakes, I’ve been wrong, but you will not pay for them.”
His lashes fluttered. He fought to keep his eyes open, but the poison pulled him down. “Magic…” he whispered. His eyes closed. His chest shuddered, rising and falling. He lived, his heart still beat. But for how long?
I bolted through the temple door and sprinted across the bridge in the dark. He wasn’t dying here, like this, for the rest of us. Damn him. Lark would be the last man standing, he had to be, he was my anchor. I needed him. The alternative, a world without his true smile, his wicked laugh, and his beautiful music, was unthinkable. Of all of us, he deserved something good.
Run.
I had to find the guest chambers, and Razak’s room, but I didn’t know the palace, didn’t know where to start.
The celebrations continued in the feasting hall. Wine flowed, music played, people danced and laughed, and it was like a whole different world to the one I’d left. Draven wasn’t here, but his friends were. But I didn’t know them. What if they turned on Lark, turned on me for trying to help someone they’d think a traitor?
A figure in blue caught my eye, marching toward me. “Noemi.”
“Is everything all right?”
“The guest chambers, where you’re accommodated, can you take me?”
“Yes, certainly.”
“Quickly, it’s Lark… He’s been poisoned.” I told her all I could as we raced down the walkways, how Lark had lied to his brother, made it seem as though he was obeying his orders, only to reveal he’d been working against Razak the entire time. And how Razak had choked him on poisoned wine. The Prince of Pain now had his hands on a second stolen crown.
“We should tell the king.” Noemi slowed and shoved open a door into a long corridor with open arches, lit by torches.
“Not yet… War will use violence. They’ll kill Lark.” He needed to be protected. He’dalwaysneeded protection, and I’d pushed him away, used him. He’d been alone this whole time. Dallin, I was a fool.
“These are the rooms we’re staying in.” She showed me a corridor of doors. “But I don’t know which one is Razak’s.”
“We search them all.”
“That could take—”
“Do it, please. Look for Pain’s colors, purple and black.”
We flung open door after door, disturbing any guests inside. I didn’t care. I had to find Razak’s rooms, find his traveling case and the antidote. I had to save Lark.
“Hey, you there?” A guard rounded the end of the corridor and started toward me. “Prince Arin?”
