16. Lira
16
LIRA
M y body spun toward them, and I reared my arm back for a punch, but a familiar face appeared in front of me.
Eiric.
She wore the standard guard’s armor, though I’d never seen her wear it before. From what I understood, she had to complete training before she qualified as a full guard. I pulled my punch, not wanting to cause more problems between us.
Her eyes darkened, and she hissed, “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Lira?” Then she pointedly looked at my left hand.
Dammit. That hadn’t been paranoia. Eiric had been watching me. She always sensed when I was up to something.
Did you get caught? Tavish asked, his trepidation swirling through our bond.
By Eiric, I replied, hoping there was a way to salvage this.
“You have one second, or—” she started.
“Can we go to my room?” I cut her off and whispered, “I’ll tell you everything.” Anything to get us out of the hallway so no one could see us like this. I glanced over my shoulder at the guard, who didn’t seem to notice us. He was entirely focused on watching the area outside.
She pursed her lips, a sign that she was uncertain what she should do.
“Please, give me a chance to explain.” I placed my free hand on her shoulder.
Closing her eyes, she exhaled and released her grip on my arm. “Fine, but once we get there, you have five minutes.”
Blighted abyss. I didn’t even have that long to convince her. I needed to get to Tavish and Finnian before the guard realized I’d swiped the key from him. If I didn’t play along, she’d force me to hand it over, so I nodded. I’m going to need to tell her everything.
Is that wise? Tavish questioned, his concern constricting our bond in my chest.
Pivoting on my heels, I took off, rushing back to my bedroom. If I don’t risk it, our plan is over. She’ll make me hand the key back. I’d already wasted too much time, and I still had to allocate more to talk to her. My heart galloped as I darted back into my room.
Eiric stayed right on my wings.
Good. I needed to make up some of the time.
When I entered my room, I stopped at the door, and Eiric flew inside. I immediately shut and locked it to make sure we’d have a warning if someone tried to come inside.
She landed a few feet from my bed, folding her wings into her back. “Go on.”
For once, I didn’t need her prodding to encourage me to talk. “There’s a reason I was acting irrationally last night.” I swallowed, hoping my gut was correct about how to start this. “What I’m about to tell you is something Father and Mother made me swear to never share with anyone when I was a child. You questioning me had the old part of me surging forward, and it caught me off guard. Still, I never should have spoken to you that way because you’re my best friend and sister. I’m still trying to reconcile who I was as a child and who I was on Earth with who I’m becoming now.”
“You weren’t the only one in the wrong.” Eiric’s expression smoothed, and she squeezed my hand gently. “I should’ve been more understanding.”
Even though my guilt over how I’d treated her still weighed on me, some of the tension in my chest lightened. She and I would be all right after all.
I moved closer to her, lowering my voice. “I need you to swear you won’t tell anyone… not even our parents. If you can’t promise, then I can’t share everything with you.”
“And I thought you were trouble on Earth. You’ve never asked me to keep a secret before. And here you are, asking for the second time.”
My mouth dried. I didn’t like keeping things from Mom and Dad either, but unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice. Not here in Ardanos, where everything was stacking against Tavish and me. “It’s technically about the same thing.” I forced a smile.
She rolled her eyes, but I watched her mash her lips together as if to hide a smile. “Fine. What’s going on?”
“There’s a secret, hidden passage that only royals know about.” I pointed to the bathroom. “The hidden door is in there. That’s why I suddenly appeared in the bathroom.”
Her forehead creased. “What? Why would the exit be secret from the guards? And where does it take you?”
Good questions. The same ones I’d had as a little girl. “Father said it’s best if the guards don’t learn of it, so if we’re attacked inside the castle, the enemies can’t learn how we escaped. We could hide in the passage and wait for them to give up searching for us or leave completely.”
Eiric scowled as if she didn’t like that answer.
I didn’t blame her. If we were attacked like that, there was no blazing way I wouldn’t bring as many guards as possible with me if it was clear we were going to lose against our attackers. “It leads to two exits—the gardens out back and the corner of the castle that opens to the cliff, so we can drop out and fly low and not be detected in the middle of the night.”
“But why would you need to sneak out now?” She tilted her head, trying to put all the information together. “You’re the princess, and we aren’t under attack. You can go anywhere in Gleann Solas.”
“Not the holding cell.” I paused, allowing her to connect the dots.
Her jaw dropped. “You’ve been visiting him ? You could’ve gotten caught!”
“We’re fated mates. When he was hurt, I had to go see him. Then he was upset about the dragon prince being here, and I couldn’t hide out in my room, knowing he needed comfort.” I’d thought telling her everything would make me feel better, but it didn’t. Instead, a lump formed in my throat, and the walls closed in on me. She had the power to inform both sets of my parents if she thought it was in my best interest. And I could tell she didn’t like my answers.
“Are you planning to help Tavish and Finnian escape tonight?” she asked and gestured at my left hand, which held the key.
I could say yes and leave out the part about me going with them, but she needed to realize where my loyalties lay. “Not just them.”
“ What ?” she whisper-shouted and shook her head. “No way.”
“I can’t be away from Tavish.” My heart stung at the thought. “And his people think he’s dead, just like we did before he came here to find me. He needs to get back. His cousin could still be hiding, and the dragon prince will be back soon, determined to take me with him to his lands. Not only that, but Father and Mother are talking about what to do with Tavish. They don’t want him to return to his people, so there’s no telling what sordid plan they’ll come up with. I can’t let him be tortured!” Even though I tried to keep my tone calm, I couldn’t help how my voice rose in tandem with my desperation.
Eiric exhaled loudly and twirled a piece of her hair around one finger as she strolled to the silathair tree. She wanted to analyze the situation, but we didn’t have time for that.
“The guard will notice the key is gone, and I need to remove their chains before that happens.” I lifted my hand with my palm facing up and opened my fingers. The moonlight streamed in, glinting off the golden metal, emphasizing my point. With a heavy heart, I spread my wings, readying to head to the bathroom. I’d wasted too much time, and I had to move; otherwise, this would have all been for naught. “Are you going to stop me?” I needed to know where her loyalties would fall, so I had an idea of what the three of us were up against.
Her wings fluttered, and she rolled her shoulders. Exhaling, she murmured, “No. I won’t.”
My wings suddenly felt lighter. Confiding in her had been the best thing I could’ve done, and I was thankful that this moment proved it. “Thank God.” I darted into the bathroom, squatted next to the edge of the sink, and pricked my finger on the spike. I’m on my way. Eiric said she won’t inform anyone about what we’re doing.
The door opened, and I stood, grabbing the lantern I’d left for this moment and stepping inside. I turned around to shut the door, only for Eiric to step into the passage with me.
I froze. “What are you doing?”
“Coming with you.” She rocked back on her heels and glared at me. “I thought that was pretty obvious.”
Out of every possible scenario, I hadn’t expected that. “You should stay here where it’s safe and not get involved. I don’t want anything coming between you and your parents.”
“Girl, if Mom and Dad find out I knew about your crazy-ass plan and I didn’t go with you, they’d chain my wings up and never let me out of their sight again.”
I snorted then clamped my mouth shut. She was right. Even though I suspected that both sets of parents would be upset with me, I trusted that Mom and Dad would see reason once everything was settled. They always insisted that the only thing they wanted was for Eiric and me to be happy. Being with Tavish was that for me. “Are you sure? Because if you feel pressured—”
She lifted a hand. “You’re my sister, and I don’t think you should be forced to marry some sexy dragon prince if you don’t want to. If Tavish makes you happy, then I want to be there to protect you and help find a way for you to get out of the arrangement with ashbreath.”
My brows shot up, and I blinked. “You think Prince Pyralis is sexy ?”
“That’s what you want to talk about?” Her face flushed a faint yellow.
Right. We needed to move, and I didn’t have time to argue with her about staying behind. In truth, selfishly, I wanted her to go with us.
I stepped past her and leaned down to hit the lever on this side of the wall to close the door.
“Okay, step where I do and be quiet. There are some areas where the walls are thinner, and someone could overhear us.” I moved past her, holding up the light so we could see the floor in front of us.
“Got it,” she replied, and the two of us were off.
I’m on my way, I connected with Tavish. Has the guard realized I have the key yet?
No, but he could at any moment, so try to be as fast as possible while remaining safe. He paused for a moment, and his surprise floated into me. Eiric didn’t stop you?
I had to tell her everything, but she understands that I want to be with you and the risks that we face. I didn’t know how to broach the topic of her coming with us, so I figured being straightforward was the best way to go. And she’s coming with us.
The emotions coming from Tavish weren’t easy to read.
Even though Eiric hadn’t been in the secret passage before, she didn’t slow me down. We had to be halfway to the prison cells when Tavish finally responded.
Are you sure she can be trusted? Do you think she’ll tell the guard when you get here?
My chest constricted. I hadn’t considered that. Does it really matter? Either way, she could warn the guards. What’s the benefit of her coming through the passage to get there? She swore she wouldn’t inform anyone about this passage. She’d be doing just that if she called for the guard once I got inside with you.
Technically, she wouldn’t be informing. No words would be coming out of her mouth.
No. I couldn’t believe Eiric would do something like that to me, but convincing her to let me go had been easier than I’d expected. My certainty about her coming with us suddenly didn’t feel so certain. But there wasn’t anything I could do about it now, so I had to trust my initial instinct. Well, I can’t change anything now. We’re almost there.
As long as you unchain me first, I can make it harder for them to catch us.
The fact that he was certain that Eiric would betray us had my head dizzying.
The castle was quieter than I ever remembered it being, and after the chaos earlier, it put me even more on edge. Still, the silence made sense because half the guards had left to watch over the borders, providing another challenge we’d have to face once we got outside the walls of Caisteal Solais.
We were closing in on the door to the holding cell, and my heart pounded in my ears. This was the moment that counted. Once I entered the holding cell and unchained Tavish, there was no turning back.
I raised a hand, informing Eiric to stop. When she paused, I went to the door, pricked my finger, and pressed the lever, opening it.
Raising the lantern, I stepped inside the dark cell, and my eyes homed in on Tavish.
My stomach dropped. Dried blood covered his wrists around the handcuffs, and the chains had cut into his onyx wings, coating them with even blacker blood.
Without meaning to, I hurried to him, not being as quiet as I should.
I’m fine, sprite. Tavish’s irises lightened from stormy gray to almost silver. Especially now that you’re here with me.
All I wanted to do was heal him and kiss him, but that would have to come later. Can you fly?
He nodded, but then his irises darkened again when he glanced over my shoulder at Eiric.
After setting the lantern down, I held out the key to unlock his chains. My hands shook, making sliding the key into the hole more challenging. Just as I was about to slip the end into the slot, the key fell from my fingers and hit the hard floor with a ping .
My lungs seized, and the world tilted.
“What’s going on in there?” the guard asked, confirming I’d been too loud.
I scooped up the key, gritting my teeth as I slid it into the lock and turned. The handcuffs came off, and as I moved to the lock at the base of Tavish’s wings, the moment I’d been dreading happened.
“My key. Where did it go?” the guard gasped.
As I unlocked the chains, Eiric hurried to the prison door. I watched in horror as she removed a guard key from her pocket and put it in the keyhole on this side of the door.
“They’re going to escape if we don’t work together and hurry,” Eiric said, opening the door and ripping my heart apart.
The chains from Tavish’s wings fell to the floor as he took the key and flew to Finnian.
Still, I couldn’t believe Tavish had been right. It was as if my chest had been ripped open. “How could you?”
“This is for your own good, Princess Lira,” she said and opened the door.
“How did you two get in here?” the guard asked, his mouth dropping open. Then his eyes landed on the open hidden door in the wall. “You brought me the tart to swipe the key from me.” His wide, horror-filled eyes glared at me.
I lifted my chin, refusing to feel guilty about it.
The damage was done. Now Tavish and Finnian had to get out of here.
“Foolish sunscorched.” Finnian chuckled as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Did you really believe the princess would randomly bring you a high fae treat just for the blast of it?”
Lira, run, Tavish linked. Finnian and I will be right behind you.
You don’t know the way out through the secret passage.
The guard removed his sword. “Nightfiends, get to the side of the wall, or I’ll gut you.”
When Eiric removed her own sword, the betrayal sat heavy on my shoulders. I couldn’t believe, after all we’d gone through together, that she’d do this.
Knowing they wouldn’t kill me, I hurried over, blocking Finnian and Tavish. “To hurt them, you’ll have to go through me first.”
Lira, no , Tavish linked, and I felt him move closer to me, the air between us thrumming with static as the warmth of our bond surged back to life.
“Princess Lira, move.” Eiric nodded to the side.
Instead, I stood tall. “No. They haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Get the princess out of the way, and I’ll get the Unseelie,” the guard commanded Eiric as Tavish placed his hands on my shoulders.
I allowed my healing magic to surge into him. The only way we were getting out of here was if he had his own magic. I remembered the way I’d felt when my chains had come off.
“You’ve always been difficult,” Eiric gritted out, and she moved next to the guard. “Sometimes, I wish you’d just listen.” She glanced at the guard. “You ready?”
“Let’s move,” he said, and then they moved forward, right at me, as Tavish yanked me behind him, ready to fight.