Chapter 2
DACRE
I gritted my teeth as I listened to my father berate me.
As if it was my fault that my sister had been captured.
As if I wasn’t already dying inside trying to figure out exactly how we were going to get her out.
This was nothing new.
Members of the rebellion were caught almost daily by the palace guards.
Some rebels, they killed on the spot for their treachery while others were forced to pray to the god of fortune for death to claim them. A prisoner of the king was a prisoner of torture, and the rebellion had many secrets worth spilling.
And my sister was far too young and far too pretty for them to kill off so quickly.
Those guards would have far worse plans for her than discovering her secrets .
But I would bleed and fight until my last breath to get her out.
We were squatting near the edge of the woods, waiting for the last touch of the sun to fall behind the coast.
The tithe was just two days away, and I had to free her before then.
I let my gaze roam through the tree line, searching our surroundings, as my father driveled on.
I didn’t have the energy to expend on him.
He may have been the leader of the rebellion, but he was also responsible for getting my mother killed.
He was responsible for getting a vast number of the rebellion killed when he planned a raid that we weren’t prepared for.
A raid that changed our lives.
A raid that caused me to lose the respect I had for him.
“Did you hear what I said?” His deep voice grumbled, and I finally met his gaze.
“What?”
“You’re not even fucking listening to me, Dacre.” The skin on his forehead creased, forming two deep lines as his brows furrowed in frustration. His green eyes narrowed and flickered with a flash of annoyance.
His hair was a deep, dark black, like the endless expanse of a night sky. It fell in soft waves that framed his face and contrasted with his sharp, angular jaw that still carried a scar from the raid.
If it weren’t for my mother’s dark eyes, I would have been a spitting image of him.
“We know where they keep the prisoners.” I ran my hand through my hair as I stared up at the palace and the market bridge we tried to avoid at all costs. “Kai and I are going in alone. If we’re unable to find her within a half hour, we retreat.”
Over my dead fucking body.
“Half an hour,” he reiterated the time frame. “If you can’t find her before then you get out. You’re too important.”
I scoffed at my father’s words, but he wasn’t paying me any attention.
“We should be sending Mal in with Kai.”
“I’m going in, with or without your approval,” I stated firmly, meeting my father’s gaze with determination. “She’s my sister, and I won’t leave her at their mercy.”
He relaxed his jaw, his head tilting a fraction as he regarded me. He should have been demanding that it was him that went in after his daughter. “You have thirty minutes.”
It didn’t matter what he said. My mind was already made up. I had no intention of retreating if I couldn’t find her within half an hour. No matter the consequences.
Without waiting for further orders from my father, I turned to face the darkening shadows of the capital city.
Kai and I had studied every inch of the palace, every guard’s routine, and every possible entry point.
We had been studying them for years. But now, as we prepared to enter the palace grounds again for the first time since the raid, the veins in my neck hammered as my chest heaved with each beat of my racing heart .
“Are you ready?” Kai asked, his voice barely audible in the silence.
“As I’ll ever be.” My palms were slick with sweat and my voice wavered as I forced out a response.
We moved through the shadows, our footsteps barely making a sound against the moss-covered ground as we left my father and the others behind. We didn’t head straight for the bridge. Instead, we moved to the right, toward the sound of the few street merchants that still milled about the streets.
“This is where the fun begins,” Kai whispered, his voice tinged with dread.
I nodded, the same trepidation filling me as I looked around. We moved in sync, like two coils of the same snake, one step at a time, navigating through the maze of people and goods.
The market was still alive with the sounds of bargaining and laughter. Ahead of us, the palace towered above the city, its grandeur and power a stark contrast to the plight of the king’s subjects.
Kai nodded to the right, and I followed him down a narrow alleyway that led between two tall buildings. I looked over my shoulder, seeing the familiar house that was so covered with ivy it was almost unrecognizable, before looking back ahead.
I couldn’t think about that house. Not right now.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I clenched my fists, trying to squelch my nerves.
Kai led us through another alleyway, deeper into the city’s houses and farther away from the crowds. The smell of the ocean was unmistakable here, and I could almost taste the salt on my tongue.
The sound of waves crashing against the rocks echoed in the distance, and I allowed myself to take a moment to catch my breath.
We emerged from the alleyway, and the bustling crowds gave way to the quieter streets of the old city. The palace was still a ways away, its shadowed form a beacon in the gathering dusk.
“This way.” Kai motioned forward, and I followed behind him.
We moved swiftly, our footsteps echoing against the damp cobblestones.
We crossed the empty streets, avoiding the rare pedestrian or stray cat that roamed looking for food.
The palace loomed closer, its dark silhouette standing like a fortress against the backdrop of the stars that were starting to twinkle to life.
As we approached the palace walls, two guards were pacing back and forth before the front gates, their eyes constantly scanning the area. Kai and I exchanged a silent look, then we split up, each of us taking a different route to get past the wall undetected.
I crept along the wall, farther away from the gates, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I hesitated for a moment, looking around warily.
But there was nothing there.
I moved farther down the wall until I reached the spot that Kai and I had discussed, and I began to climb, using my fighting leathers to grip the uneven stones when I couldn’t find footing.
As I silently dropped down to the other side, onto the palace grounds, I heard a rustling coming from my left.
I froze, trying not to make a sound, my heart pounding in my chest as unease washed over me.
There was a sudden movement, and I pulled my dagger from its sheath along my chest. I was just about to launch it when I finally spotted Kai, his face a mask of worry. “We have a problem.”
I looked back over my shoulder, at the direction of the gates, and I could hear it then, the quiet chaos of the guards knowing something was wrong.
We used to believe that the palace was impenetrable but getting in had never been the issue. It was getting back out.
But there was no turning back.
There was no threat in this world that would make me leave my sister behind.
“Rebels!” one of the guards shouted, and mine and Kai’s gazes slammed into one another.
“We need to find her.” My voice was barely above a whisper. “Quickly.”
Kai narrowed his eyes as he searched the gates. “My magic?”
“Use it.” I nodded toward the guards. “They already know we’re here.”
Kai’s eyes flickered to the palace then back to me. “We need to be quick,” he said as he closed his eyes, and I felt a tremor in the air.
He dug his fingers into the loose soil beneath him, his grip tightening for a moment before loosening again. As he slackened his fingers, tendrils of thick black smoke seeped out of his fingertips and slithered along the dirt before vanishing into the ground .
The earth quivered, and the sound of the guards’ panicked voices grew louder.
“We need to move.” My heart pounded as Kai’s eyes shot open. They were almost solid black, somehow even darker than they were normally.
“Around the back of the palace. The dungeon.”
We both stood, moving as swiftly as we could as we tried to remain in the shadows. When we reached the back of the palace, there were two guards standing watch, both of them with their swords drawn and their gazes vigilantly darting around looking for danger.
Smoke shot from Kai’s fingers, slamming into one of their chests, while my dagger lodged into the other.
Sweat dripped down my temples, and I quickly wiped it away as a heaviness pressed down on my chest. The weight of taking a life was not lost on me; yet, I couldn’t dwell on it now.
I would kill every one of them for her.
Guilt and remorse could gnaw away at me later.
Kai and I moved over their bodies, one of them still shaking as the last bit of life drained from his body with the blood that now seeped into the pristine palace grounds.
My hand gripped the handle of the door they laid before, and the loud chime of the clock tower rang overhead. I didn’t dare look behind me, but I heard Kai grumble under his breath.
“Looks like we missed your father’s deadline.”
I scoffed and would’ve smiled if my sister wasn’t waiting for us inside the palace. Kai respected my father’s orders almost less than I did .
“In and out,” I reminded us both of what we already knew. “We get Wren, and we leave.”
There were horrors in the palace. Marmoris Kingdom was vast, and it was soiled by a king who had more bloodlust than care for the people he was meant to serve.
But we were only here to save my sister.
Kai signaled for me to take the lead, and I pulled another dagger from my vest before we stepped inside.
The temperature seemed to drop as the door closed behind us, and the only light through the narrow corridors came from the sparse lanterns that hung from the wall.