Chapter 71
Chapter
Seventy-One
EVIE
M y funeral procession was truly a sight to behold.
Zandyr led a long, grim line of Blood Brotherhood members who marched with their heads bowed, a lone dark rider, face set in a grimace.
“Ever thought of becoming an actor?” I asked.
“Trying to make me laugh would defeat the purpose of this tragic day,” he replied, the muscles in his face not moving once, even as laughter echoed from his side of the bond.
“Just testing The Dragon’s renowned control.” Which was partially true. I didn’t want to distract, just soothe the weird mix of emotions swirling inside him. Terror pulsed at the mere idea of my death, even though that closed golden sarcophagus Zorin pulled behind him was empty.
For now, at least.
“How about we test it when we’re alone?” he asked.
Fire rushed through my veins. “It’s not nice to distract me on the day of my funeral.”
“Says the woman who’s trying to toy with a grieving widower.”
“Is it working?”
“Yes, damn you.”
I smiled behind my hood, not daring to step past the trees lining the hill that overlooked the entrance to the Capital, Adara equally camouflaged next to me.
Kaya’s carriage rolled behind the sarcophagus, a huge barrel strapped to its boot; my stomach churned at the mere thought of its contents.
Goose and Leesa walked after it, playing their heartbroken acts well, too. We’d agreed they should ride alongside the procession; it would have aroused suspicion if my own steward and lady-in-waiting hadn’t accompanied me on my last journey.
They weren’t thrilled about leaving my side, but they had their own mission to accomplish today, as soon as they entered the city.
Adara’s public absence was easier to explain–with no ward left to guard, the former general had gone back to her mercenary ways, leaving our bloody Clan behind once more.
I’d been marching alongside them, disguised, since we’d bid a tearful farewell to Owyn and Anya back in Frostfall Reach. The little girl had cried and refused to let go of Adara’s neck until the mighty general promised to visit her once everything had settled in the Capital.
Before we’d left Frostfall Reach, so many ravens had been sent out with the news of my demise, the sky had darkened as they’d taken flight, heading for the city and each garrison where Zandyr’s warriors were stationed.
A code had been hidden within the message, which Zandyr said only his most loyal fighters could decipher, to call them to the Capital without arousing suspicion.
I had expected the horde of warriors–but not the civilians from the villages joining us in the funeral march.
I spied Eryn’s crimson hair in the crowd as she raised her head. A sorrowful ballad ripped from her lungs, spreading fast through the line and weaving through me.
Unease settled deep in my belly. I hated lying to them.
But it was done. All I could hope for now was forgiveness–and for them to truly believe in miracles and old tales.
“Remember your threat back in the Arena?” Zandyr asked.
A hint of shame constricted my chest. “I said a lot of things back then, most of them bad.”
“That you’ll make my people love you more than me,” he said without the slightest hint of anger or jealousy. Gods, he actually sounded proud. “Well done.”
“Ready?” Adara asked from the shadows.
I took a deep, centering breath. “As ready as I’ll ever be to attend my own funeral.”
Adara rolled her eyes as we vanished into the jungle, steady feet gliding over the uneven ground. “You and The Dragon love your dramatics.”
“She says it with love.” Zandyr chuckled.
“I know.” I gulped. “Zandyr?”
“I’ll never get tired of you saying my name. What is it, menace?”
“I’m nervous.”
One wrong move and the entire plan would fall to pieces.
We counted on Zandyr’s intimidating presence to draw attention away from the sarcophagus. We hoped, rather than thought, that nobody would dare to open it until it was time to burn my body, and we had to get ready for that exact moment–and once again hope the diversion would work.
I loosed a harsh breath. Gods help us.
“Everything will be alright. If anything happens, you tell me immediately. I’m right here with you,” he said, easing my apprehension.
He was right.
I wasn’t facing the advisors’ machinations alone anymore. Zandyr was within shouting distance and would be by my side in a flash.
That thought spurred me on as Adara and I faced the unforgiving rise of the hills surrounding the Capital.
In the distance, the temples’ bells began to ring.
The convoy had officially entered the Capital.
Through our connection, I saw the civilians gathering on the main road. Some of them were crying, calling out to the prince and praying for my soul. A heavy cloud hung above the city. The civilians hadn’t yet recovered from the explosion in their beloved Capital or the fear of a fiery symbol burning their houses down. The walls had been painted with protective markings and the number of guardian statues had increased on every doorstep. The road to the missing bridge had been barricaded with barbed wire, marigold flowers sprinkled between the spikes, to stave off bad spirits.
The line moved slowly, impeded by the searches at the entrance gate. The guards stationed there searched bags and pulled hoods down.
I frowned. “Do you think they suspect I’m alive?”
“No, this is just a show of control,” he said. “The advisors are trying to prove they’re protecting the Capital and not trusting the convoy I’m leading.”
“Two birds, one stone.”
“I can’t wait to throw the stone back at them.”
The crowd closed in on the convoy, some of the civilians straining to touch the golden sarcophagus. I felt the ghost of their chants ringing through me.
It made me run faster up the hill.
“You Blood Brotherhood sure love to lord above the rest of us.” I pulled myself over a jagged rock with the help of the thick vines surrounding us.
“We can’t all have secret islands like the Protectorate,” Adara said, breaths coming out a bit shorter. The jungle and rough terrain truly were merciless. No army had a chance of invading the Capital this way, but two people desperate to overthrow the political hierarchy of the Clan could navigate through it on determination alone.
“Fat load of good that did us.” I wiped the sweat off my brows. I still felt the effects of the days spent fretting and fighting in Frostfall Reach. My power was slowly replenishing, but still sputtered. “The Blood Brotherhood found us.”
“The anonymous tip was good. Too good.”
“Which means it came from inside the Protectorate,” I said, still struggling with that truth.
Once we got rid of the advisors and their immediate danger, my cousins and I needed to have a good, hard look at what was left of our Clan.
I hadn’t forgotten someone had been in my parents’ abandoned library all those long sixteen years I’d been missing. Someone who could have known I was still alive and hadn’t said anything.
“You’ll get your revenge on them, too,” Zandyr said as he nodded gravely at the warriors waiting for him, a silent hint for them to be ready at a moment’s notice.
It was still bizarre to have him inside my mind and see inside his. I knew I could close the connection anytime, but the feel of him pulsing against my thoughts was comforting.
Through his eyes, I saw Goose and Leesa discreetly leave the procession and vanish in the crowd. None of the guards paid them any attention, too concerned with the chaos.
“This might work,” I said as the dark wall of Phoenix Peak finally loomed in front of us.
“This will work.”
I wanted to have that same unflinching certainty as him. But I couldn’t shake off the feeling that we were missing something.
“I know you are used to having the world fall apart around you and I once again regret my own part in strengthening that fear,” Zandyr said gently. “But whatever obstacle comes our way, we will overcome it together.”
“Together.”
With a last push, Adara and I mercifully reached the wall just as Zandyr rode Madrya inside Phoenix Peak. Zavoya and Eldryan were already waiting for him, twin griefstriken looks on their beautiful faces.
Resentment burned through me–I didn’t know if it was Zandyr’s or mine.
I dampened the bond slightly and focused my attention on the wall. We’d deal with the king and queen later.
There was another reason Adara and I couldn’t join the procession–we had our own part to play in the final blow we’d planned for the advisors.
It might have been my imagination, but the wall now vibrated louder with its ancient magic than before we left.
I spread my palms onto the stone, searching for the hidden crevice.
I found nothing there.
Adara shook her head. “This can’t be good.”
No, it most definitely was not.
“Zandyr?”
“Yes, menace?”
“Remember how you said to tell you the second anything was wrong?”
Alarm pulsed from his side of the bond. “What happened?”
“The hole in the wall isn’t there anymore,” I said, my own panic rising. “Someone patched it up. I’m stranded outside Phoenix Peak.”