Chapter Sixty-Nine
Breathe
Malin chews his lip. “How much longer do we wait?”
“What for?” Varic asks.
“For Lars to return before we go and look for him.”
My first instinct is to offer to help decrease Malin’s distress, or at least try to give him words of comfort, but he loathes that kind of attention, so instead I sit uselessly on the bed.
Varic’s eyes cast over all of us. “Let’s vote.”
“First, we need to lay out our options,” Cirrin says.
“Option one, we go look for Lars,” Fray begins. “Option two, we remain in this room waiting for him like we initially planned. Option three, I take Tasch to the location we discussed, then you three figure out what we do next.”
“The problem with option one is we become even more separated,” I say.
“How so?” Malin asks.
“Who do we send to look for him? Do you mean to take me? Or would I remain with a dwindling Guard when I may have been the target of the attack in the first place?”
Malin closes his eyes and sighs.
“The problem with option three is that Fray holding me as he flies is already a lot to ask in short distances, and the Annovian Dragon dens are not close.” Silence follows my explanation, so I continue.
“Then, there’s the issue of how we would communicate once Fray and I left. How would we know where to meet next or when? Would the plan be for the rest of you to meet us there? I fail to understand how having fewer Guards with option one or three benefits me. There are too many unknowns.”
A click pulls our attention to the door as it opens and closes faster than my eyes can register.
Lars leans over, chest heaving from exertion.
Malin’s expression is a rapidly changing thing—from shocked to nauseated, then back to his typical stoicism—and I shake my head at the rate he can suffocate emotional expression while the rest of us aim our stares expectantly at Lars.
“The blast didn’t claim any lives,” he says, then pauses to catch his breath.
“A handful of guests were injured. Everyone who does not reside or work at the castle has been escorted from the grounds. Those closest to the blast have been questioned as to what they may have witnessed, though there is no way of knowing when the bomb was planted.”
“It could be an inside job,” Varic says.
“Which would be difficult to prove with the amount of attendees. It’s also possible the same group targeting you at the Imperial Palace could have followed us, since we have been here long enough for word to spread, and I wouldn’t put it past the Emperor to travel all the way here to test whoever is behind the attacks.
I don’t believe he has ever suspected Annovia was behind any of it, especially after he encouraged you to get close to the Prince. ”
“What exactly did you see and hear?” Fray asks.
“The blast site has mostly been cleared. I overheard Annovian guards discussing the lack of casualties, injuries, and how the Queen ordered them to evacuate all non-castle residents.”
“No sign of the Emperor?” I ask.
“No. Nor any Imperial Guards.”
“What do you suggest?” Varic asks.
Lars sighs. “I don’t know that we have good options.”
“I’ll go and speak with the Queen,” Varic says.
My eyes widen as I rise up from the bed to face him, holding out my hand, then halting halfway between us.
“Why you, and why the Queen?” Cirrin asks, and I meet his deep brown eyes as the corner of his mouth pulls up in a faint smile.
“We need information the Queen is the most likely to have, and I am the most capable of protecting myself should there be another blast or any other form of attack. And I trust the rest of you to keep her safe.” Varic’s eyes sear a line from the rest of my Guards to mine.
“How do you know where the Queen will be?” Fray asks.
“Did you notice the doors to her wing are fortified?” Varic asks, and Cirrin and Fray shrug simultaneously.
“Her bedchamber doubles as a safe room.” A collective sound of realization rolls through the air while Varic turns to Fray with a pointed expression.
“If I am not back in the next hour, you are to fly Tasch to the destination we discussed.”
“An hour?” I ask in horror, yet his eyes are full of resolve before they drop to check the pocket watch he’s just pulled from its compartment in the waistband of his leathers.
“I don’t have speed like Lars, and I cannot turn myself invisible to sneak through the castle undetected,” Varic says.
“Who are you afraid will catch you? The Annovian guards answer to the Queen.”
“Tasch.” My heart cracks along with his voice. “Any one of them could be in on it.” His words meet their mark, and my stomach plummets while my heart stalls with tendrils of fear and dread spreading through me.
“You are not allowed to get caught by the enemy.” I take a step toward him, conveying my command through my hardened expression. “You are to return to me. Unharmed.”
His mouth quirks in the corner, though his eyes maintain the same cold focus.
“Why hasn’t the Emperor come looking for me?” I ask.
“That’s been bothering me, especially after not seeing any sign of him when I went snooping,” Lars says.
“He’s up to something.” Varic takes hold of my hand and squeezes all four pulses. “And I am hoping the Queen can provide some clarity.”
He turns for the door and my vision blurs.
“I’ll be back,” he promises.
Tears well, obscuring his form before he disappears out the corridor.