Chapter 25
The library is nearly empty, as usual, and I’m the only recruit here. My heart flutters and rumbles as I shuffle a useless book that tells me nothing. Still, I’ve been coming here consistently, as it’s the excuse I’ve been giving Alayel not to see him during rain time.
He’ll expect me tonight, but I’ll be gone by then. No more kisses, no more laughter, no more us. A chasm of pain pulls me to its depths.
But what’s the alternative? To leave sweet, loving, innocent Ava and Vos here, to be devoured by a nefarious dragon? I have to save them. How can I ever kiss Alayel? How can I enjoy our moments together when a ball of guilt corrodes my insides?
I have to undo my mistakes, and this is the price I’ll pay. A hefty price, but still.
My skin prickles with anxiety, as sadness churns in my heart. I cried the day my brother and Laristella left, wishing I could say goodbye to them, and yet I didn’t even come close to the port. I might never see them again. The thought is a vice around my throat.
I might never see Alayel either. My heart feels heavy, an open gash running through it, bleeding and bleeding and bleeding. I’m the one who’s slashed my chest, unable to find a way to save two innocent lives without betraying the man I love.
I can’t falter. Raintime should be soon, so I place the book back on its shelf, then slip out of the library, trying unsuccessfully to quiet the anxious thrum running through my body. Each step down toward the dungeons is heavier than the last.
Am I really doing this? The thought is wild and strange.
I’m about to betray my kingdom, betray my betrothed, betray even my father. And yet when I picture the little dragons free again, rejoining their family, a spark of hope and love ignites such a wondrous, soothing feeling in my chest that leaves me no doubt whether I’m doing the right thing.
And if I focus on that feeling, on saving Ava and Vos, my fear and anxiety fade, replaced by determination. I cling to this feeling to pull me out of the depths of my fear and regret.
Thunder rumbles outside as I reach the hatchlings’ room. It’s time.
Ava chirps when she sees me, and scrambles up to my shoulder the moment I reach for her. Across the room, Vos is perched on the edge of the water basin, his tail coiled tight. I scoop him up and draw him into my lap.
Despite my determination and my trust in Laristella’s plan, my whole body’s trembling.
“You’re going to have to be super quiet,” I whisper, tucking each dragon into a satchel.
Ava chirps. Of course she does.
“Silent,” I insist, hoping somehow I can get them to understand what I mean.
I’ll pretend to cough if they make any noise near guards, but if it’s too much, we’ll be doomed.
Foros help me.
The satchels smell like orange peels and cloves, which should mask their scent from Auranius. I tested the scent using cloths—and it never failed. That said, this time, I’m carrying more than just cloths.
A thunderclap splits the sky, and I take a deep breath, telling myself I’m walking out of the room the same way as every day, when I’ve been coming and going at different hours, always carrying the satchels.
I leave the room and hallway with a calm, confident stride, then take the side door that leads outside, where drops of rain dot the cobbled path. My destination is Fourth Street, house thirty-five—close to the port, and I’m glad Laristella didn’t rent a room that would require me to make a detour.
The address is easy enough to find: a plain door tucked between merchant storefronts. The key Laristella gave me works, and I step in. Inside, I find a short brown wig and a gray cloak, and put them on.
Rain is pouring and the streets are empty when I step outside, my heart racing, hoping to get to the Rosalinda and out of this city in time. I take two steps toward the port, when a figure steps out of the shadow and approaches me.
A young woman, wearing a rain cloak.
I turn the other way, but then I hear, “Mayara?”
I turn again and see Nelly, closing the distance between us in quick steps. “You think you’re smart, don’t you?”
Her voice has a mocking edge that doesn’t belong to the Nelly I know.
My stomach twists as confusion mars my thoughts.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“Catching a little mouse,” she hisses. “You thought you were better than me, didn’t you?”
“Most definitely not.” My hand goes to the satchels’ straps at my shoulder.
Nelly, here, makes no sense. She’s my friend—or was.
Maybe I can try to appeal to that side of her.
Softening my voice, I plead, “Let me go, please. I just want to escape.” Her face doesn’t change; it remains a mask of scorn.
I hate what I’m about to do, but I have no choice.
I pull a dagger. “Don’t try to stop me.”
She flinches, then sneers. “Oooh. Aggressive now?”
From the shadow of a wall, another cloaked figure emerges. A young man. It can’t be.
Alayel moves to her side and presses his lips to hers in the kind of quick, casual kiss he has given me many times. Nothing makes sense. It’s a horrific illusion, must be.
He pulls her close and says, “Well done.”
My chest chills, the sting of betrayal cutting deep. But I shouldn’t worry about them. What I need to do is get these little dragons out of here.
“Let me go,” I plead again.
“I don’t think so.” Alayel pulls a dagger while holding Nelly with his other arm.
My friend—or former friend—gives me a ridiculous smirk, as if this was a game she just won.
“Please,” I beg, and Nelly’s expression changes at once, her eyes widening in shock.
I blink, unable to understand what I’m seeing.
Blink again.
A red gash lines her throat, blood pouring out of it. Beside her, Alayel’s dagger hand drops to his side, its work already done. He… killed her. Slashed her throat. Like that.
All the air whooshes out of my chest.
Nelly no longer looks at me, no longer looks at anything, as the life in her eyes vanishes, as her body goes slack and she crumples onto the wet cobblestones.
The man in front of me can’t be the same man I loved, the same man I dreaded abandoning.
“You monster.” It was supposed to be a yell, but all I could muster was a hoarse murmur through the heavy weight in my throat.
He scoffs. “Don’t be ungrateful. You’ll do as I say now.” His eerie calm is nauseating. “Guards are about to swarm this place, and she’ll take the blame. It’s the only way. I was protecting you. Only you. Now place the satchels on the floor, near her.”
The satchels jolt with the frantic movements of Ava and Vos, their squeaking cutting through the rain, while my own tears fall freely now. Somewhere behind me, footsteps approach. Guards.
There’s no escape. No way out. I kneel and set the satchels down on the wet cobblestones, my hands trembling, my heart aching. It’s over.
Perhaps I was naive to think I could save the little dragons. I can’t even save myself.
I tried, and I don’t even know when I failed, how Nelly—or Alayel—found out I would be here, how they guessed I would escape today. Someone must have been tracking my steps for days, and I never noticed a shadow.
Five guards close in, their uniforms slick with rain, and Alayel speaks up, his voice poised and calm, “We just caught the thief.” He points at Nelly’s body.
“Mayara caught her. The little dragons should be taken back to their room, and I’ll take care of my betrothed.
Also, please ensure that the thief is cremated like a recruit.
She made a mistake, true, but she was part of the Sky Academy and deserves the honor of having her body consumed by Auranius’ flames.
” He gives me a smirk that revolves my stomach.
Alayel then holds my wrists with one hand, the dagger with the other, and drags me back to the castle.
I wish I knew how to fight, wish even that I had the magic I used against Felien, against the rider, but I feel nothing, just shame, regret, helplessness. I look back and wonder what I could have done differently, but come up empty.
When we reach his room, he closes the door behind me, then points to the place between his bed and the window. “Go there and kneel.”
I go to the spot he indicated and lower myself to my knees, reining in my angry tears. I don’t want him to see me crying.
He steps toward me, pointing the dagger, and reaches past my body to open a compartment in the wall. Two chains with manacles spill out. He locks each manacle around my wrists, then settles back onto the bed with a low chuckle.
“Much nicer, isn’t it? Are you going to obey me now, or do you still need to learn your lesson?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“You do. You always do. Obviously, there’s always an easy choice and a hard choice.
” His calm, casual tone shatters, giving way to a vicious sneer and a dangerous glint in his eyes.
“I gave you freedom, Mayara, but it didn’t work.
You decided to betray me, to ruin everything I fought so hard to achieve.
” He huffs, then his expression softens, and he looks puzzled. “Why would you hurt me like that?”
“I didn’t want to betray you.” My voice is flat, with no emotion, as I don’t have any right now. My heart is an empty void. “I just wanted to free the little dragons.”
“Little dragons.” He rolls his eyes. “They’re animals. Your attachment to them is ridiculous. Why would you betray me for animals? Evil animals! They’ll kill us when they grow up.”
There’s no reply that will soothe him, so I look down at my soaked dress.
He roars, “Why?”
I swallow. “We shouldn’t harm innocents, even in war, even—”
“You shouldn’t defy your betrothed. You owe me obedience. From now on, things are about to change in our relationship.”
Relationship? Is he insane?
“I understand,” I say, schooling my expression of disbelief. I can’t see any way to survive this other than by appeasing him.
He kneels before me, close enough that I could kick him, except that it wouldn’t free me from the chains.