64. Bastian
Bastian
“I killed you.” I didn’t mean to speak, but the thought came out as though saying it would remind the universe that fifteen years ago I had beheaded her. I swayed as a cold weight dragged on my stomach and the world spun out of control.
“Clearly, you didn’t do a very good job of it.” She bared her teeth and shrugged.
Wide-set black eyes like her mother’s, with paler golden skin. She’d tied her midnight curls into a high ponytail—a style I’d never seen her wear in Tenebris. Other than that one detail, she was just as I remembered.
That was the same head I’d taken. How? A changeling? Something else? Maybe this wasn’t even her. My mind tripped over itself, sluggish from the iron.
“Are you going to stop staring and introduce your little friend—bring her up to date?”
I swallowed and worked my tongue around my mouth, that sick feeling still coating my throat, thanks to the iron. “Katherine, this is Princess Sura.”
Slowly, her eyes widened and she dragged in a breath. She understood.
“Such a pleasure to meet any friend of Bastian’s.” Circling out from behind the table, Sura’s smile was too bright, too cruel.
I knew the kind of “pleasure” she meant. Chest squeezing, I tried to stop her reaching Kat, but a guard grabbed my shoulder.
Kat looked from the princess to me, head cocking. “How are you alive?”
“ At last someone’s asking the important questions.” Sura clicked her tongue at me. “Really, Bastian, I always thought you were so bright.”
“Remove these manacles and I’ll show you how bright I still am.”
“Hmm, no, I don’t think I will. We need to keep those pesky shadows in check, don’t we?
Not to mention, someone’s poison.” Eyebrow arched, she surveyed Kat.
“An interesting little trick. One you won’t be repeating.
The instant either of you try to escape, I’ve ordered my archers to concentrate their fire on the human.
They’ll aim to kill, but with that many arrows, I don’t suppose it’ll matter.
They’ll make a pincushion out of you. And humans are so delicate, even ones with poison in their blood. ” Another bright smile. “Understood?”
With a glower, Kat inclined her chin.
I gritted my teeth, seething. “Why not just kill me?”
Her eyes narrowed on me, a long look of calculation. “Maybe I want you alive.”
They’d herded us. A good archer could’ve picked us off before I realised they were there. She’d had her healers save Kat’s life when it would’ve been significantly easier for them to let her go.
My lip curled. “And you want to use her to control me.”
“Ah, there’s some of that cunning I expected from the man they call the Serpent of Tenebris .” She spread her hands as if it was written on a banner before her.
“You heard about that, then.” I had only been called Serpent after her coup.
“Of course. Just because I’ve been absent, doesn’t mean I haven’t been listening . But, I forget my manners—I was answering dear Katherine’s question.” She perched on the table and waved the guards to one side.
With us both shackled in iron, she was safe.
For now.
One leg crossed over the other, she watched me closely. “A changeling worked for me. Caira. I loved her, and the damn fool loved me enough to die for me.”
Somehow that made it worse. In my childish act of swaggering victory, I hadn’t just thrown a head at my queen’s feet. I’d thrown the wrong head . That heaviness in my stomach expanded until I could barely breathe.
“And this is why you attacked the city?” Kat frowned. “How does killing civilians give you revenge against him?”
“What?” Sura glanced at the guards who waited off to one side.
“You didn’t know?”
Oh, she knew. She was just a good actress. Good enough to fool even Kat. I sneered, using anger at what she’d done to squash down my shock. “We found your people redirecting the Horrors to the city, so you can save yourself the performance.”
“Not my people.” She jerked her chin towards the doors, and two guards hurried out. With a deep breath, she gathered herself. “Look, this isn’t what I intended when I heard we’d captured you.”
“Believe me, this isn’t how I saw my day going, either. How about you let us go, so we can all carry on with our days.”
“So you can report back to my mother and bring her full wrath down upon us? I think not.” She huffed and scowled. “But it is a difficult position you put me in. I’m not ready to unite the thrones yet and—”
“Unite?” Kat raised her eyebrows. “Bring Dawn and Dusk together?”
Sura sighed. “I forgot how impatient humans can be. Bring together… in a manner. When I take the throne, it won’t be divided.”
“You want to rule alone. You’re not going to Sleep.”
The Circle of Ash.
Hadn’t the Lady said we’d find the answers to both problems together? That meant this palace had to be Ashara.
And this had to be our execution. We knew the location of her base. It was the only logical course.
If I could make her believe we were more useful alive, that might buy us some time. But that was our only hope.
“Now, how did you find out about that?” Sura canted her head at Kat. “This is another reason to wait—I need more spies in the palace.”
More . Meaning she already had at least one. I bowed my head to hide my reaction. She must not realise how much information she was letting slip. She had been away from court for fifteen years, surrounded only by those she trusted. She was out of practice.
“Regardless”—she shrugged—“the split system is broken.”
“Why not marry Prince Cyrus, then? Rule together.”
Sura wrinkled her nose. “It had crossed my mind—a long, long time ago. But you’ve met the Day Prince. You understand why that’s not my preferred plan. Besides, there should be only one monarch. One queen. One court. One nation, together.”
Exactly the instability I feared Dawn causing with the Circle.
“Only one queen, but three heads.” I nodded towards the banner hanging behind her table, the hydra’s eyes picked out in gold thread.
She sucked in her cheeks and looked away. “How well do you really know the queen you serve, Bastian?”
Deflecting.
I raised an eyebrow, refusing to take her bait. She wanted to sow a seed in my mind, make me wonder what she might be referring to. She really was out of practice if she thought that would work on me.
“Do you understand the lengths she’d go to in order to protect herself?”
“She protects Dusk .”
Brow set in a determined line, Kat leant forward. “Are you going to just hint that she’s done something terrible or actually tell us what it is?”
“There isn’t anything,” I gritted out. “She’s trying to change the subject.”
“You wouldn’t believe me. Even if I took arianmêl , you’d say I was evading the truth.” The princess gave a humourless laugh. “Ask your father if you really want to know.”
More bluffing.
She rolled her eyes at me. “Stars above, are you predictable. Loyal to the queen. ‘She elevated me to her second in command, and all I had to do was kill my father.’ It’s so boring.”
Trying to make me angry. Almost succeeding. Maybe she was warming up.
“Since you went to such trouble to save Kat’s life, I assume you’re not going to execute us right this second. What do you want? If you get on with it, I can stop boring you.”
“I haven’t decided what to do with you two. Execution isn’t off the table yet.” She smiled sweetly. “But for now, I’ll take a bargain. My guards will take you to your room and remove your manacles. In return you and Katherine will not in any way harm me or my people for the duration of your stay.”
She’d already threatened Kat’s life if we made an escape attempt. Perhaps she didn’t trust me not to take that risk. It had crossed my mind—there had to be a way we could get out and keep her safe from the archers.
Still, bound in iron, I would only grow weaker and weaker. At least this way, I stood a chance of recovering while in our room. She had to mean cell, but I supposed this way it would be a “fun surprise” for us when we arrived.
“No manacles, no one hurts Kat, and we get a nice suite with a bed and bath—something fitting of a diplomat from Dusk.”
“No one hurts her as long as you don’t attempt to escape or unless I decide on execution. That’s non-negotiable. You want a bath, you’ll have one room. There are no spare suites.” She shrugged. “But ‘nice’ I can do.”
“You have yourself a bargain.” I raised my eyebrows at Kat, since she would be bound to it, too.
“And no one hurts Bastian.”
Sura rolled her eyes. “If it wasn’t so sickening, it would be sweet. But yes, fine. Happy now?”
It wasn’t going to get any better than that, and I intended to escape before they had a chance to execute us.
We agreed, and the princess and I sealed our sides of the bargain. Kat flinched away when she went to touch her.
“Relax, the iron nullifies your magic. Can’t you feel how wrong that is, even for a gifted human?” Sura shook her hand and spoke the words of power. “It is so.”
Kat stared, and I could see how she squeezed back. Her little exhale hollowed out my chest. Aside from poisoning Ella, this was the first time she’d touched anyone other than me in months.
And today she’d almost died.
The horror of that followed me through the corridors as guards led us away.