CHAPTER 21 CALLYN
CALLYN
I expect it to be difficult to sneak past the guards, but Queen Lia Mara is shockingly good at getting out of the palace without being seen.
Once we joined Alek and Nora in my chambers, we all dressed in riding clothes from my wardrobe.
Only Sinna is still in her nightdress. Now the queen is leading us through the darkness, and we slip through unlit hearths and servant passages and down hidden stairways until I completely lose track of which way we’re going, especially when our twists and turns seem counterintuitive.
Luckily, the queen seems to know every step, every tunnel, and every door.
“How do you remember all of this?” I murmur to her, a little breathless after we sidle along a narrow passage in complete darkness, Sinna between us, gripping our hands with her tiny fingers. Nora is right behind me, gripping my hand just as tightly.
Alek is behind her, the only one not part of our little chain, probably because Nora would break his fingers before she’d consider holding his hand.
“Admittedly,” the queen whispers, “I don’t remember all of it.”
“That’s reassuring, Your Majesty,” Alek says from the back of the line.
“Hush, you,” she says— but she doesn’t sound too upset about it.
“Mama taught me how to sneak,” Sinna says in a musical little whisper.
“I know,” I say. “I’m glad you didn’t know about these passages or I never would’ve found you.”
“Believe me,” says the queen with a sigh, “I already know I’m going to regret this.” She stops short. “Be silent through here. We’re near the main atrium, and sound carries.”
We ease along in complete silence. I try to inhale as shallowly as I can, as if distant guards might be able to hear even that.
But after another hundred feet, the queen lets out a relieved breath. “We’re safer here,” she says. “This is the last servant tunnel. It comes out along the wall by the dungeon, and we’ll have to watch for a guard patrol, but we should have a few minutes to escape.”
A guard patrol. I don’t even want to think about what a guard patrol might do to us if they found us sneaking around in the dark.
Then again, we’re with the queen— though she’s in plain clothing, her hair in a loose braid. We all seem a little rough and harried, even Alek. What would the guards believe?
And what if they’re working with the Truthbringers?
I still have so many questions for Alek, but I can’t ask him like this. He clearly thinks everyone in the palace is a potential threat.
“Are these the paths you and the king used?” Nora whispers from behind me, her soft voice full of intrigue. “For your trysts?”
“Nora!” I admonish.
But the queen laughs lightly under her breath.
“What’s a tryst?” says Sinna.
“A meeting,” I say promptly.
The queen laughs again. “I’m so glad you’re here, Callyn.”
My cheeks warm immediately, and I’m startled by the sudden burst of warmth in my chest. “Thank you, Your Majesty.” I hesitate. “I’m glad, too.”
“Where are we going to go?” Nora asks. “Are we just going to walk through the Crystal City?”
“I have a carriage waiting,” says Alek.
Of course he does.
Once we make it off the palace grounds, it’s easier to breathe.
No guards wait around every corner, ready to pounce on anything suspicious.
True to his word, Alek does have a carriage, the horses tethered not far off the road.
There’s no footman or driver, but I’m still a little shocked when he climbs up onto the driver’s seat on his own.
“Feel free to join me,” he says, and there’s a note in his voice that says he doesn’t expect me to do anything of the sort. The queen, Sinna, and Nora are already slipping into the carriage, but I take hold of the rail along the front of the carriage and yank myself up to sit beside him.
Alek glances at me in surprise, but he doesn’t say anything. He just snaps the whip, and the horses leap forward.
My heart still hasn’t settled, and I can’t tell what’s louder: my thundering pulse, or the steady pounding of the horses’ hooves on the cobblestones.
Eventually, the silence is too much for me to bear. I shiver despite the warmth in the air. I don’t want to be snippy, but I’m still too tense and my voice comes out sharper than I intend. “I’m shocked you didn’t have a full staff waiting.”
He glances over. “I try not to put my staff at risk, Callyn. They have no part in this.”
That steals some of my ire. “Sorry. I’m just worried someone is going to come after us.”
“They will,” he says gravely. “Eventually.”
I let out a breath and gesture at the trotting horses. “Shouldn’t we be . . . I don’t know . . . galloping ?”
“Galloping with a carriage would draw more attention at this hour.” Despite the words, he chirps to the horses and gives the reins a twitch, and the animals immediately lengthen their stride. “It’s also pitch-dark, and I’d rather not slam into a tree while the queen is in my care.”
I shiver again. There are always too many things to worry about.
“Do you really think scravers might come after us?” I say.
“Yes.”
He says it without hesitation, and I glance over. “You’re full of reassurance tonight,” I say dryly.
When Alek says nothing, I frown, studying him. His expression is drawn and tired, but there’s a tension that I haven’t seen before. “Did anything else happen?” I say carefully. “With Xovaar?”
He shakes his head a little, and then he is the one who shudders. “All I wanted was to eradicate magic from Syhl Shallow. I wanted to protect the queen.” He hesitates. “I wanted to protect you.”
I swallow, not sure what to say.
He doesn’t give me a chance anyway. He glances over. “Now it seems I’ve brought danger right to our door.”
“You’re helping us escape,” I say.
He huffs a laugh. “That remains to be seen.”
“Are we returning to your House?” I say. “How do you plan to keep the queen hidden?”
He looks over in surprise. “My House? No. Of course not. That’s the first place Karyl would seek me out. If the queen were to vanish, the guards would begin by questioning all of the Royal Houses— and so would the Truthbringers.”
I turn that around in my head for a minute, and I hate that my immediate realization is cynical.
My eyes narrow, because I suddenly can’t stop thinking about the queen’s wariness when she appeared through the hearth with little Sinna.
All of a sudden, I’m worried that he’s tricked me again.
“This isn’t just a convenient way to get me and the queen out of the way so you and the Truthbringers can claim the throne, is it? ”
Alek glances over— but again, he says nothing. It’s too dark for me to read much of his expression, so I have no idea what kind of impact those words are having.
After a moment, he sighs. “Callyn, I spend hours alone with the queen on a regular basis. If I wanted to get her out of the way, I could’ve done it a lot more easily than this.” The horses have begun to slow, so he gives another twitch of the rein. His voice quiets. “The same goes for you.”
As usual, he’s right. Yet I still sit here every time, unsure if I can trust him.
“Fine,” I say. “Then where are we going?”
“I’m taking you across the border,” he says. “Into Emberfall.”
I almost choke on my breath. “Emberfall!” I hiss. “Does the queen know?”
“I have no idea,” he says. “But we need to flee, and if you all have magic, you’ll be better protected if you’re with the king.”
“But the queen sent for the king!” I say. “What if he’s already gone—”
“Her courier is dead.” Alek’s eyes are so dark. A note in his voice makes my heart give a clench. Even in the shadows, I can see the dusting of red that’s grown to coat his jaw. His eyes look a bit hollow, too.
“Dead,” I echo, my voice a bare whisper.
“Yes,” he murmurs. His gaze hasn’t left mine, and I see the worry there. “Ambushed, according to Karyl. The king isn’t coming. So I intend to take you to him.”
I stare at him. The king isn’t coming.
“You need to watch the road,” I finally say.
He snorts and looks back at the road, though there’s not much to see. The weight in his silence presses into both of us until it’s hard to breathe. He hates magic so much— and now he’s risking his life to protect me. To protect the queen.
And in a way, to protect the king.
A minute ago, I all but accused him of treason.
“Alek,” I say. “I—”
“We shouldn’t talk,” he says, his voice flat. “If there are scravers about, they’ll hear us.”
I clamp my mouth shut.
Less than ten seconds later, I open it again. “Alek. Truly. I’ m—”
“Hush,” he says, like I’m an errant child.
“Don’t tell me to—”
A screech splits the night, the sound making me cringe involuntarily. One of the horses spooks into the other, making the carriage sway and totter wildly until Alek grabs hold of the reins, getting the animals under control. Sharp, panicked screams sound from the carriage.
Another scraver shriek pierces the sky.
Alek swears under his breath. “Under the seat,” he hisses at me. “I have crossbows stashed.”
I’m barely listening to him, my eyes searching the sky overhead. I only see the moon between the trees— until a dark shape soars in front of it.
“Callyn!” Alek snaps. He gives me a good shake, and I realize I’ve grabbed hold of his arm. “The crossbows!”
“Right,” I say. “Right.” I duck and reach under the seat, scrabbling for anything that might feel like a weapon.
“Got them!” I cry victoriously. I straighten, simultaneously holding one out to him and trying to get my hand on the trigger of another.
Before I can do anything at all, wings block out the moon, a body slams into me, and I go tumbling out of the carriage.
I cry out in surprise. The collision is so sharp that the crossbows go flying, and I completely lose track of which way they go.
The fall somehow seems eternal, because I haven’t hit the ground yet.
Am I going to die? Is this like drowning, where the actual death seems to take forever, because your entire life flashes before your eyes?
But no, nothing is flashing before my eyes.
I’m just falling in slow motion.
The pale scraver practically glows in the moonlight now that she’s so close to me. I realize her claws have dug into my waist and my shoulder, and her wings have snapped wide behind her, slowing my descent.
Igaa? I think. And then we hit the ground.
We don’t crash, but that doesn’t mean the landing is soft, especially since Igaa lands right on my chest. I have no armor, and her claws have definitely broken the skin in a few places. Her knees press right into my rib cage, and I know I’m going to have deep bruises tomorrow.
Then her claws find my throat, digging in immediately. My breath catches.
“Please,” I gasp.
She leans down so close that her black eyes glitter above mine, and I wonder if this will be the last thing I ever see.
“You were to fetch Tycho,” she says.
I wheeze a breath. “Something came up.”
“Cally- cal!” Nora calls— and I’m shocked that there’s no panic in her voice, just determination. “Callyn!” She swears, using a word I’ve only heard from the soldiers. “Alek! Find those crossbows.”
“Please,” I gasp to Igaa. Between the claws at my neck and the weight on my chest, it’s becoming hard to breathe. “We’ re— we’re running—”
“I heard you,” she growls right into my face. “I know where you’re going.”
“Please,” I say again. “Running— from— Xovaar—”
The name has the effect I hoped. She snaps back, looking up at the sky. A cold breeze whips around us both, and I don’t know if it’s her magic or if another scraver has arrived.
“Let my sister go,” Nora calls. She sounds so fierce, and it’s a surprise every time. “Let her go or I’ll shoot you.”
“No,” Alek calls. “I will.”
The scraver shrieks again, and I cringe, clenching my eyes shut at the sound.
But it’s the queen who speaks through the tension, her voice clear and full of authority. “No,” she says. “Lay down the crossbows. Both of you. This scraver saved your life, Nora.”
I’m still gasping under the weight of the scraver, so I have no idea how Nora receives this news. But Igaa is no longer shrieking, and Alek and Nora aren’t issuing threats, so I’m hopeful that something is changing.
“Please,” I whisper again.
Igaa leans down close again. “You were to find Tycho,” she says. “Nakiis needs him.”
“We’re going to Emberfall,” I rasp. “We will find him.”
But it sounds like a lie, even to myself.
“No,” she growls. “You are running. You are leaving him to die.”
I inhale sharply— because she’s right. We are running. And I have no way to convince her otherwise.
“Are you talking about Nakiis?” says the queen. She sounds closer, but I can’t see past the scraver to know for sure.
“Yes,” Igaa hisses.
“We are running,” the queen confirms. “But if Nakiis needs our help, we can bring him along.”