Chapter 21 Briar #3
The question struck like a dagger. Memories of our last moment together and the finality of the snapped tether of our bond lurked beneath my skin like a wound unstitched. I forced myself to stand straighter. “No.” My voice was steady. “He’s alive. And we are going to get him back.”
Yes,” Elara said. “There are numerous guards and traps set around the main entrance to the hall. They’ve restored the servant access points and the bride and groom’s doors on either side of the dais.
Those are made of lighter wood than the older doors, and they have basic locks with simple tumblers.
Finbar’s man left us with lockpicks. But he warned that Colm is anticipating an attack on the Ceremonial Hall. ”
“Ryker and I can pick locks,” Ember said, nudging Ryker with her elbow. “He showed me how, and I’ve been practicing.”
“So can I.” Thalen lifted a hand.
“You didn’t tell Finbar which route we’re taking, right?
” My stomach twisted, bile souring in the back of my throat.
Though I’d been able to test the individuals present at Finbar’s outpost for loyalty, it hadn’t been even half of his forces.
Someone was feeding Finbar information, and it would be all too easy for them to be a traitor.
I was glad Vad had insisted that only someone I had vetted be allowed to bring us supplies.
“No.” Elara’s mouth tightened, and she crossed her arms. “It didn’t seem wise. Vad didn’t tell him everything either. It’s not that I distrust Finbar personally, but this is war. And war breeds betrayal.”
It did. I set my hands on my hips, grounding myself.
“We have a tough job ahead of us, but we’re going to give it our all.
We also need to release the prisoners and get them to safety.
If Colm’s forces are focused around the Ceremonial Hall and dealing with Captain Finbar's men, then maybe the other exits will be more accessible, and we can get people out. "
Silus rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s possible, but it’s risky.”
“That’s the point,” Quen muttered under her breath. “Everything worth doing is.”
“While we enter the prison, someone can scout ahead to see if the exits are open or easy to break through,” Elara suggested. “The rest of us will focus on rescuing the prisoners. It’ll take a while to get them out.”
Thalen held up a small ring of keys. “Vad gave me these.” He tossed them to Elara. “They’ll open the cells and might shave off some time, but there are still a lot of prisoners to move.”
My skull throbbed, and the ache in my chest pulsed harder than before. I wanted to say We’ll get them all, but I couldn’t lie that much even to myself. We’d do everything we could, but my main focus was saving the man I loved with everything in me.
We broke down the rest of the plan.
If the palace exits were sealed or swarmed, the most vulnerable prisoners—the children, the elderly, and the wounded—would be brought here to the vesting chamber.
It was large enough to shelter them while the rest held the line.
The adults would be stationed just outside in the cavern, close enough to the vesting chamber to have some defenses, even if it wasn’t much, far enough to avoid being trapped with the gas in the prisons.
Elara, Silus, and Ryker would lead the prison rescue team, with Silus scouting once they were closer.
Finbar’s information gave them some good details on what to expect.
Ryker would keep mental contact with Ember to time everything perfectly.
Quen, Vyraetos, Many-Greats, Siray, and Elias would accompany them and explain to the kings and queens what had happened and gain their support.
When we reclaimed the Ceremonial Hall, we’d need witnesses for proof of Colm’s and his allies’ treachery.
The rest of us would breach the Ceremonial Hall directly.
Thalen, Veralt, and Rhielle would approach from the bride’s side.
Kaylen, much to her annoyance, would be tied up and staged in a smaller waiting room off that corridor.
Myantha would stay there to guard her, while the others continued toward the dais and would bring Kaylen in if we got that desperate for help.
Ember and I would take the groom’s side.
Finbar’s men would attack after Colm finished his speech but before he could crown himself king, so long as it didn't look like he was going to execute Vad first. While that attack was happening, both my group and Thalen’s would rush the dais, free Vad, and then get him to safety and treatment.
It was a strategic plan, but no plan ever went perfectly. And Colm had proved time and again that he didn’t fight fair.
Still, it was our best shot.
I rose, forcing strength into my spine. “All right. Let’s move.”
My group and Thalen’s traveled together until we reached the split in the tunnels. The air grew colder as we advanced, the scent of blood and iron thickening with every step.
Thalen pulled me aside just before we parted ways. “At the hallway past the statues, turn right after the broken alcove. Groom’s entrance is the second arch. Repeat it.”
And I did twice, knowing that we couldn’t afford to get lost.
He nodded. “Good. See you at the dais.” He turned and disappeared into the shadows with Rhielle, Veralt, and Myantha close behind. Myantha cast one last look over her shoulder before following.
Ember and I continued down the right passage. The corridor narrowed, and the air smelled of rust and rot. Bile rose in my throat.
Ember’s nostrils flared. “It reeks,” she whispered grimly.
“What do you smell?” I asked.
“Aside from a lot of corpses, it smells like smoky wolves.” Ember looked behind us. Her breath hissed through her teeth.
“Shadow wolves. They’re all over the place.” I cradled a lamp in my right hand. Despite its heat, it couldn’t warm me. “They’re like our wolves but bigger, with very strong jaws, and their fur looks like it’s made of smoke.”
We moved quickly, making the necessary turns into narrow passages lined with blood-soaked rugs and torn paintings. Not long ago, Vad and I had been racing through here with our friends, desperate to escape. My heart clenched.
Soon. You’ll be with him again soon.
But the closer we got to the Ceremonial Hall, the more my skin prickled.
We reached the final hallway leading to the groom’s preparation room.
The outer door had been ripped off, its hinges twisted and mangled.
Scraps of artwork and broken frames had been shoved to the sides.
Inside, the room was just as we’d left it, except the barricade had been pushed over and the furniture smashed and splintered, like someone had torn through it in a rage.
Colm’s voice filtered through the door, muffled but unmistakable.
Ember dropped to her knees and pulled her lockpicks from her boot. I pressed my ear to the door, tensing as I listened, one eye fixed on the doorway behind us.
Colm’s voice sent prickles of dread down my spine. “The kings and queens of our realm have proven themselves unfaithful and incapable of leading. Why have multiple rulers when their interests so often conflict with one another? Multiple crowns only bring division.”
Dread coiled in my stomach. The darkness beyond the lamp’s soft halo felt suffocating.
Ember slid the pick and lever in, the golden lamplight making her copper hair glow like fire. She bit the tip of her tongue as she focused. The pick and lever clinked ever so faintly. “There,” she whispered.
I seized the handle and opened the door.
The Ceremonial Hall had been cleared of debris, and in its place, a far more horrifying display had taken shape.
Knee-high blackwood shelves now lined the back wall near the twin thrones. Upon them sat dozens of severed heads of men and women, their faces frozen in agony, dried blood crusting the wood and marble. I spotted Ceana’s pale face front and center, her vacant eyes wide open.
But not Vad’s. I released a choked breath, even as Ember gasped softly beside me.
Where is he?
Surely Colm wouldn’t waste the opportunity to make a spectacle of him.
Eight wingless helmeted guards stood behind Colm, each clad in full plate and holding spears, their attention locked forward.
Colm wore long black and silver robes and had his silver hair bound back, as usual.
Calla Lily stood beside him in a feathered blush-pink gown, her hands folded demurely in her lap.
Between them, in the center of the dais, stood a fluted pedestal bearing two crowns. Not the ones Elara had hidden in the onyx cellar, but new ones formed by twisted silver vines adorned with dark gems.
“You can take this as one such example,” Colm declared, his voice rising. “Prince Vad sought to manipulate the trials for personal gain. He chose a bride not appointed by Fate. He murdered his own father to seize his power. How fitting that we have now come here full circle.”
His hand swept toward the base of the dais, toward a block of black stone positioned just below the stairs. My gaze followed…and I froze.
Vad.
He was shackled to the stone, his body forced into a kneeling position atop the cold slab. Iron cuffs bound his wrists and ankles, and his wings sagged behind him, one of them twisted at a wrong angle. Blood streaked his waxy skin, and his pale face was bruised, one eye swollen nearly shut.
A dagger was buried deep in his chest.
Blood was pooling underneath him in a dark, slowly spreading lake. His bared chest was covered in freshly bleeding lashes, and the hilt of the dagger jutted from the center, glistening obsidian beneath the ceremonial light.
His head hung forward, unmoving.
I couldn’t breathe.