Chapter 51
JO
“Jovie.”
I open my eyes and find Acker leaning over me. I must have fallen asleep.
He brushes the hair from my face. “It’s time.”
Sitting up, I spot Messer standing by the balcony doors, noting the fading sun through the window.
His expression is mildly more reassuring than Acker’s, but there’s a noticeable tension lining his body.
He turns to give me some privacy as I slip from the bed.
“I’ll see you in a few,” he says. Then I hear him shift, followed by the flap of his wings that signal his departure.
Acker releases me from the filigree leash and I hurry to get dressed.
When I pull my shirt over my head, he’s there with one of his coats and he helps me slip it on.
It’s thick, made of wool. I’m finishing buttoning the front when I notice Acker’s holding something I haven’t seen in many years. Beau’s metal rope.
“You kept it,” I say, gauging his shuttered expression. “Why?”
“I’m not sure,” he says, draping the weight over one of my shoulders. “But I think she’d like it back.”
I think we both know Beau’s waiting in the valley with the Maile soldiers. She would never sit idly by knowing we’re likely both in this fight, but I do wonder if she believes we’re doing it together.
“You’ll need to move quickly,” he says, pulling on the hood of my coat. “Look for Messer atop the palace wall. The passage is hidden behind poisonous vines. Stay covered until you’re underneath.”
“Once I’m free of the city’s walls, I’ll wait for you,” I say, repeating the plan.
He nods. “And if I don’t come to you?”
I voice the least favorite scenarios, running a hand over his stately attire, the lapel of his shirt is pressed silk. “I fall back.”
He kisses me swiftly then grabs the string of mangi stones as we leave his bedchamber and wraps it around his neck.
The soldiers that were stationed outside his room are gone and I find out exactly where they are when we escape into the hidden pathway behind the wall, their bodies just visible before we close ourselves in.
Acker has been busy while I was sleeping.
I create a small light in my hand for us to see by as we step over the dead soldiers and Acker leads me further into the secret maze of passages than I’d ever traveled when I was here years before.
He stops before a door, sensing for any moving metals that would signify people beyond.
Pushing a panel in the wall until it gives way, we enter the narrow stairwell that leads down to the kitchens, and I extinguish my glow.
Workers prepare dinner, servants moving hurriedly about.
Their eyes linger on us, and news will undoubtedly spread of the prince sneaking through the castle with his Match, but I assume by the time the king finds out, I’ll be long gone, and I don’t need the Bond to tell me that’s Acker’s only concern right now.
We continue past the butler’s pantry and into another hall.
When we reach the end, Acker turns me toward him, hands framing my cheeks. “I love you,” he whispers, the words unhurried despite the circumstance.
I can’t find any words without feeling the threat of tears wanting to emerge.
Grabbing him by his strap of daggers, I yank his mouth toward mine. He kisses me with just enough bite to not feel like he’s saying goodbye.
He smiles against my lips. “What’s going to be your first command when I’m serving under your crown?” he asks.
I don’t find his question amusing in the least, but I play along to stave off the tears. “Probably something that requires you to be on your knees.”
His eyes dance between mine. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Removing the rope from my shoulder, I twist the metal strands in my hands to create enough tension to prevent any rattling.
He kisses me once more before he opens the door, ushering me out into the cold.
The temperature shouldn’t surprise me, but it sucks the air from my lungs, having been inside since we arrived almost a week ago, only experiencing the biting air when the balcony doors are open to admit Messer.
A hawk sits atop the palace wall, and I check the portcullis for any soldiers.
There are two standing at the nearest parapet, and I wait for them to turn their backs before I make a run for it.
One of the soldiers laughs, slapping the other on the back.
Messer’s head swivels from the men, to me, and back again.
Vines cover the passage, but I’m not sure where it is exactly, and my eyes dart to the soldiers in a panic just as a hand reaches out from under the veil.
Before I can touch it, a sword darts out, moving the vines away, and I dart under the foliage.
“Fredrich?” I whisper.
“Yes,” he answers, voice low. “Take this.”
I can’t see what he shoves toward me, but I know what it is as soon as I touch it: a belt with a sheathed sword attached. I wind Beau’s rope around my waist and pin it under the belt before buckling it tight to my hips.
A sharp trill from Messer—a warning—and Fredrich squeezes my arm in farewell before darting out from under the vines, heading in the direction I just came from back to the servants entrance.
I listen carefully for any sign of trouble as he passes beneath the solders on the parapet, releasing a tense breath when I’m met with silence instead.
There’s a gate on the other side of the wall, left with a gap open just wide enough for me to squeeze through so that I’m unsure how Fredrich managed. Once on the other side, I keep my back to the stone, following Messer’s lead as he wheels overhead.
The sun is just beginning to dip as we move to the middle point between two parapets, at the place where the lanterns are the farthest apart and the light seem to fight back the dark shadows.
Here, Messer lands on the roof of a nearby building, indicating the location of a cut-through to a main street.
I can’t see a single soldier from my position, so I blindly make a run for it and don’t look back.
The alleyway is narrow, and I dart in between the buildings, skidding to a stop a few feet in to listen for any sound of pursuit. Looking up at Messer, he keeps watch from above, ensuring no one saw anything before taking flight again. Once we’re free from sight of the palace, I breathe easier.
There’re very few people out on the streets, the temperature steadily dropping along with the sun.
I keep an eye on Messer as he swoops over the buildings, checking different paths of travel for potential dangers.
Up one alley, down the next, over and over.
I split my attention between my surroundings and the bird in the sky.
Sometimes we have to backtrack to avoid patrols, but it’s not until we’ve had to do so twice in quick succession that I become concerned.
Messer swoops low into an alleyway and I freeze in my tracks.
Something doesn’t feel right.
I turn in place, listening to the eerie silence of the city. The muted moonlight reflects off the frozen ground and for a moment I even consider the possibility that I’m dreaming. Then I shake my head to clear the strange, surreal feeling, and I continue around the corner.
I hear the whizz of the arrow a moment before I hear Messer’s cry of pain.
The scream pierces the sky as the arrow knocks him down. He flops to the stone alleyway, blood from the arrow wound splattering across the icy ground. A black tipped arrow jutting from his body. Hearthstone.
“No!” I cry, scrambling toward his heaving body, only to be stopped by the hands of a man I don’t recognize.
Tears fill my eyes as I wail, my feet slipping, but I’m stopped from falling to my knees as I come face to face with Wren.
And it’s only now that I realize exactly how dire the situation is.
Men surround me on all sides. I’m outnumbered twelve to one.
I reach for the tether, but I’m met with only the familiar weightlessness that indicates the mangi are smothering the Bond on Acker’s end. I summon my magic, the heat of my light beginning to shine from my hands.
“That’s enough,” Wren demands, and my body begins to feel sluggish, my magic dulling. “There’s no need for violence.”
“Why?”
He stares at me for so long that I begin to think he’s not going to elaborate, but then he heaves a sigh. “Edmond is trying to oust me from the alliance.” He rolls his eyes. “As if I would ever want to be a part of his blasphemous party of magic suckers in the first place.”
I’m as shocked by this revelation as I am confused. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s the very same reason I tried to take control of all the territories before, to stop Edmond’s polluted agenda before it went any further, and he spun it around to make it seem like I was the one hungry for power, warped their minds with the gift of influence,” he says, shaking his head as if the mere idea is absurd.
“But this time, I’m going to stop him from spreading his sickness once and for all. ”
My vision is blurring from the tears clinging to my lashes. “What do you want with me?”
I suppose it doesn’t matter, because Wren’s final words put an abrupt end to our conversation. “Go to sleep.”