Chapter 32
Tomas looked exhausted, but he nodded, knowing this was coming.
‘Everything seemed to go according to plan. They let us in after Cillian explained we were there to take Queen Yaris to the king. We didn’t know that she had died earlier that day.
’ Tomas sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
‘There were half-a-dozen soldiers in the main room – more than we would have liked, but they ignored us. The door to the dungeon corridor was already open, which should have warned us now that I look back.’ Tomas looked at Rhett, who put his hand on Tomas’ knee with great effort.
‘Cillian went in first and headed to the cell that you’d said was the queen’s,’ Tomas said to Torgrin, who had come to stand beside me.
Finn was close by listening too. ‘When we were all in that passage, they arrived behind us. It was a dogfight, and they had us trapped.’
‘What happened to Cillian?’ The pounding of my heart reverberated through my chest as I imagined the three of them fighting for their lives trapped in that narrow passage.
‘Rhett was badly hurt, and I took a blade to the shoulder. Cillian yelled for us to get back to the door while he fought off most of the soldiers alone with his hammer and fists. We wouldn’t have made it out if Cillian hadn’t done what he did.’ Tomas looked at me sorrowfully.
‘What?’ I whispered.
Torgrin’s warm hand found mine, and he squeezed it gently.
‘He was right behind us in the passageway.’ Tomas shook his head and looked down at the ground between his feet as if he could see the scene playing out there. ‘He said, “Get Caris out of the city – they know.” Then he closed the door and locked himself in with the soldiers.’
‘No!’ I cried.
‘I tried, Caris. I banged on that door, but there was nothing I could do!’ His eyes begged me for forgiveness. ‘Rhett and I came here to warn you all, but it was too late. Goodwin was waiting for us.’
‘Cillian has to be alive. They’ll want to question him. He’s still down there. I need to go in and get him out.’ I was thinking out loud, trying to reassure myself that this was all true and that Cillian’s life did not end in that passageway.
‘No, Caris.’ Torgrin let go of my hand as he got to his feet. ‘You will leave the city tonight with everyone else.’
I stood, meeting Torgrin eye to eye. I would not have him tower over me for this. ‘We’re not leaving him there!’
‘I’m not leaving Cillian behind,’ Torgrin said through gritted teeth. ‘I will free him.’
‘No. I can’t lose you too.’ Dread, heavy and dark, coursed through me.
Going unnoticed by the others, the shadows lurking in the corners of the room came to life and slithered along the ground.
I clenched my hands to my sides, but my ability to control them eluded me.
The shadows continued to expand and weave between the objects in the room. They shuddered and shifted. Torgrin’s eyes never left mine while the other’s attention became drawn to the empty chairs rising and falling back onto the floor.
Crashes echoed through the room as unlit lamps plummeted off tables, their glass shattering on impact. The room’s air filled with the scent of dust and old paper as books soared out of bookshelves; their pages fluttering in the chaos.
Tomas threw himself over Rhett’s chair, protecting him from an airborne vase.
‘Shit!’ Finn jumped back from the fireplace as the gold-framed portrait of the royal sisters flew off and smashed into the opposite wall. ‘What kind of earthquake does that?’
I looked at Finn and saw him baulk.
‘Um, there’s something wrong with your eyes,’ he squeaked out.
‘There’s nothing wrong with her eyes,’ growled Torgrin.
‘Ah, yep, you’re right! I’m sure it’s just a trick of the light or, um … dark?’ Finn ducked to avoid being hit by a flying book.
‘Listen to me, Caris.’ Torgrin took my trembling hands once more and pulled me in close to him.
His face was near enough that his breath cooled my overheated cheeks.
I felt my breathing slow and my heartbeat returning to normal as if Torgrin’s touch was the tonic the Darkness required.
The air stilled around us as he held me tight.
‘It won’t be long before someone notices that Goodwin is missing. They won’t be focusing on someone trying to break into the dungeon. They will set a trap for those trying to leave Capita. Rhett and Tomas won’t make it out unless you are there to help them.’
‘They can wait! You and I will free Cillian, and when we have him, we can all leave together.’
‘No, we are on borrowed time. They will put things together – the longer we wait, the higher the chances we will be caught.’
‘I can’t let you go alone!’ I gripped his hands tightly to my chest.
‘Yes, you can because I promised Cillian that if something like this happened, I would not let you risk your life for his.’
‘You had no right to promise that!’
‘The others need you.’ His tone was final.
I looked at Rhett and Tomas. They wouldn’t make it out of the city alone, and I wasn’t sure Rhett would survive the night if he had to wait for us to rescue Cillian.
We all jumped in unison at the soft knock at the door.
Torgrin pulled his hands from mine and signalled to Finn, who drew his sword and moved to one side of the door.
Torgrin stationed himself on the opposite side, then motioned for me to open the door.
I nodded, wondering who the stars it was going to be.
If it were Merrick with more of the king’s guards, they surely wouldn’t knock before coming in.
I turned the golden knob and opened the door just enough for me to see who our unwanted visitor was.
It was the lady in white who had been sitting outside Queen Yaris’s cell door.
‘Um, yes?’ I said inelegantly.
‘Can I come in?’
She spoke firmly and in a heavy accent I’d heard before. Torgrin’s father from Ephemeros had the same intonation. I looked behind me at the dead soldiers everywhere, the headless corpse of the king’s son, all covered with destroyed books and broken glass.
‘Umm …’ The woman pushed the door wider and marched into the chaos. I looked at Torgrin helplessly, but he just shook his head.
What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t hurt an old lady.
She was still wearing the queen’s emblem on her mantle, and a white veil concealed her hair.
After taking in the room before her, she turned to face me. She seemed entirely unbothered by the gory scene.
‘As you must know, my dear friend Queen Yaris is dead, and she gave me one last request: I was to find you. She asked me to serve and help you as I have done for her all these years.’
‘Why?’ I asked in utter confusion. ‘Wouldn’t it make more sense that you serve her family? Like Bethel, her niece? Or Lord Warwick? He will be here any day now.’
‘No,’ she said firmly.
‘Look, we’re leaving the city. Bethel is in the room down the hall, and you can wait with her if you like.’ I sighed, looking around the room. Honesty seemed the best approach in our current situation.
‘See that body with no head?’ I gestured to Goodwin’s gruesome remains. ‘That is King Hared’s son, and I did that to him,’ I admitted to her with no regret.
‘Good. Yaris strongly disliked him,’ she said, looking me directly in the eye.
Is she crazy? Had Queen Yaris’s death sent her around the bend?
‘I’m not crazy.’
Did she just read my mind?
‘If that was what you were thinking,’ she added.
I didn’t know what to think or say to this odd, persistent woman. Torgrin came forward, seeing I was getting nowhere with her. We didn’t have time for this.
‘Look, I don’t think you understand,’ he said. ‘They will discover what we have done, and guards and knights will be waiting to stop us from leaving the city.’
‘Well, you must get to your horses first, correct?’ she asked. ‘I know a way to get you to the royal stables without being seen by the castle guards.’
Torgrin raised his eyebrows in surprise. That could be helpful.
‘Of course, I will only tell you the way if you take me with you.’
I liked this sly old lady.
‘Can you ride?’ Torgrin asked her as the corner of his mouth twitched with amusement.
She nodded with a smile, knowing she had prevailed.
There was no more arguing. I knew our choices were limited, and I must think with my head and not my heart. Torgrin was going to find Cillian. I was going to take everyone else and get out of the city. Torgrin and Cillian would meet us in Danu Woods, and together, we would return to Atlas in Murus.
Rhett wouldn’t be much help in a fight, but Tomas’s aim with a bow would. Now we had an old lady joining us – and then there was Finn. Could I trust him? He was a king’s guard and might have become a knight one day. Even if he proved his worth, we would need a miracle to live through this.
Everyone was ready. Finn and Tomas supported Rhett, and the woman in white waited patiently by the door. Torgrin went to check on Bethel’s restraints and to secure her gag so she couldn’t call for help once we were gone.
When he returned to where we waited for him, he walked directly to me and pulled me roughly against his solid body. Face to face, chest to chest, we stood. He wrapped one hand around my upper arm and slid his other hand under my braid to grasp the back of my neck.
I stared into the inky depths of his eyes, and everything else went out of focus. For a moment, it was as if he and I were all that existed.
He did not ask this time. Positioning my head how he wanted it, air whooshed from my lungs as he lowered his head.
His surprisingly soft but firm lips found mine, and I tensed as every nerve in my body sparked at once.
How could a first kiss feel this familiar?
How can the sensation of his body pressed against mine feel so right – like two broken pieces being put back together?