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Regardless of Draven’s possible betrayal, Arin would want to go to Justice with all we knew. He’d argue they’d listen. But all the courts were corrupt, suggesting Justice would be too. We had to leave Pain, meet with Draven, confront him, if necessary, and we’d regroup from there.
In the meantime, only one thing mattered: Arin. And getting him to safety.
The carriage rocked to a halt. Without waiting for the aide, I climbed down and caught the driver’s eye. Rain pummeled his leather cloak and wide-brimmed hat. “Wait here. We have one more journey to make tonight.”
“Aye, Your Highness.”
I swept into the tower. It was still late, or early, and while a few people loitered in the foyer, the building was quiet. I climbed the stairs, two risers at a time, up and up, to Razak’s floor. The doors groaned open. I slipped between them, breaking into a run, breathless and dizzy. “Arin? We—”
At a touch, the door swung open—unlocked. No. Broken.
I stumbled, slowing. The door to my room hung open too.
That one Ihadlocked. “Arin?”
I flew in, still hoping Arin would be on the bed, sleepy-eyed from pennywort, but the bed was empty, its sheets askew. The cuff’s chain had been cut, not unlocked. They’d come prepared.
Arin was gone.
They knew—they knew!
They’d taken him. They’d taken Arin, my sunshine and honey, my Prince of Flowers.
Pain had him, the council had him, someone had him!
I thrust my hands into my hair and reeled, falling against the dresser. My dresser. My room. My prison. My bed. My chain, my life.
Arin wasn’t here.
My insides coiled. Pain stole the air from my lungs, as vivid and sharp as the lash of a whip.
I clung to the dresser, rocking it.
In the mirror, Razak sneered.It’s all you deserve.He’d done this. Somehow, even from a whole other court, he’d reached out and crushed the one good thing in my life.
I grabbed the mirror and threw it. Glass rained in jagged shards across the floor. It wasn’t enough. I tore the drawers from the dresser and flung those too, the sheets from the bed, everything, and screamed. Arin’s soft floral scent slapped the madness aside.
I was losing my mind…
No, not yet… Not yet.
I was a prince. I was Razak.
Arin had been taken, but I’d find him.
He couldn’t have been gone for long.
They’d taken him, not killed him, or I’d have returned to a bloody body.
They needed Arin.
To get to me.
I flew toward the door. Arin would tell me to stop, to think, to plan. But I had a role to play. It wasn’t over. If I blustered in as Zayan, they’d hang us both. And that wasn’t ever going to happen.
I straightened myself, my clothes, and breathed.
I could do this.
