Chapter 54
Nori’s gaze sought out the corner where Aeliana and Gaeren hid, panic flashing across her face before she could school her features.
“No,” Aeliana whispered. “They can’t do that.” She glanced at Gaeren, whose face had gone white. “There’s still time to fix this. She’ll have the starbridges. We can stop it.”
He swallowed hard.
She reached for his chin, forcing him to look at her. “Do you hear me? We will fix this.”
He nodded, then licked his lips. A strange urge to kiss them swept over her, and she shook it away as her bond mark throbbed painfully.
It was only her fear that this was his last night propelling her to do something so ridiculous.
He would have many more nights and many more chances to kiss his bondmate, not her.
She rubbed her palm against her tunic to scratch away the itch.
As if the elders had instructed everyone to return home, the crowd started dispersing, and Aeliana pulled Gaeren down the street. “We need to get back. They can’t know we left the hut.”
“What about the others?” he asked, even as he followed her. “They’re out in the woods and there’s a big hole in the hut. The soldiers will realize they’ve been drugged.”
Aeliana had no answers, so she kept running. They had to at least try. If the hut was found empty, they’d never be allowed to leave.
When they reached the woods, they ran even faster until they heard their names shouted in the wind. Velden stuck a webbed hand out to wave them down, then guided them through a copse of trees to a small clearing where the others waited.
Despite their exertion, Gaeren’s face was still pale, so Aeliana filled them in on everything that had happened as quickly as she could.
“I might be able to hide the hole,” Sylmar said. “Melt together some of the thatch so it’s not so noticeable.”
“You think that would be best?” Riveran asked.
Aeliana wrung her hands, understanding his hesitation. It was his and Gaeren’s lives that were on the line, not the rest of theirs. “Nori will make sure she has the starbridges. She’ll make sure you’re able to cross with us.”
Riveran nodded but blinked rapidly and looked away.
“And if something goes wrong,” she added, “we’ll use our magic—resort to Sylmar’s original plan.”
“We should have gone with Sylmar’s plan when we first got here,” Kendalyhn mumbled.
Aeliana wanted to argue. If they’d escaped from the beginning, they never would have had the chance to see Lady Merinnia.
But what had they really learned from her?
And at what cost? She glanced at Iris, who’d hardly said a word since Holm’s death.
Her physical sickness had mostly abated, but her soul still needed healing—healing that might not be possible in this life.
“I wish we had too,” Aeliana whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“Nothing we can do about it now.” Riveran stood, and his acceptance seemed to propel the others into action.
They all rushed back to the hut and filed through the same hole they’d escaped through.
It felt backward to return to their prison, but Aeliana had to trust their plan would work.
It was the only way to get close enough to the starbridges, whether to use them with Nori or to steal them from the elders and escape.
Sylmar and Velden did their best to hide the hole in the thatch, but with the hole facing the forest, they just had to hope no one would notice the seaweed broken on the exterior. They’d barely finished when voices could be heard in the distance, followed by light steps on the dirt.
Aeliana leaned against the thatch, trying to find a decent view of their visitors, and she sagged with relief at the sight of Nori and Gellen—even though they brought four more guards with them.
They nudged the sleeping guards, then made fun of them, threatening to expose their laziness to the elders, but eventually they opened the prison door and beckoned the Vendarans out.
“There are more of you,” Velden quipped, drawing attention to himself to keep eyes off the strangely melted thatch behind them. “Have we gotten more dangerous as the days wore on?”
None of the guards responded, but they fell in line to escort them all right back to the same square Aeliana and Gaeren had just run from. Nori latched her arm through Aeliana’s.
“How are you going to get the starbridges from your father before they’re hanged?” Aeliana whispered.
Nori shook her head, the lack of an answer making Aeliana even more nervous when the gallows came into view. The crowd seemed to have multiplied since she last left; news about the hangings must have traveled fast.
At first, they put all the prisoners on the north side of the dais.
Aeliana found herself gripping Gaeren’s hand as if holding on to him might physically keep him there.
But then she realized they should all be holding hands just in case there ever was a chance to use the starbridge.
She nudged Cyrus and grabbed his other hand, gesturing for others to do the same until suddenly they were a unified front before the Sayhleens, probably appearing more defiant than they intended.
Just when her confidence rose, two guards yanked Gaeren and Riveran from their line.
“No!” She tried grabbing Gaeren’s hand back, but a trident blocked her path, angled right at her neck.
“You can’t take them,” she shouted. “You’d be starting a war.”
This made the elders pause. “A war against whom?” Elder Algaen asked.
“The Vendarans.” She licked her lips, peering around the trident still a handsbreadth from her face. “What do you think will happen when we show up without their beloved prince?” She could practically hear Gaeren scoffing in her mind that he was no more beloved than Mayvus was.
The elders exchanged glances. Elder Perla cleared his throat. “Our ambassadors will bring back the starbridge. I don’t see how a war can be started if you don’t have access to our lands.”
“Please,” she said. “He’s done nothing wrong.
” She didn’t even care that she sounded like a petulant child.
At this point she was merely stalling, hoping one of the elders might reveal the starbridges.
Maybe Velden would even be able to sift out their location.
Once they had the starbridges, they could leave.
“She’s right,” Riveran called out. “I’m the one who killed the sprite.”
The people around the dais gasped, some stepping back as if his presence might taint them.
“Kill me, but let him live,” Riveran said.
“No.” Gaeren shook his head. “Neither one of us needs to die tonight.” But their words were cut off as they were manhandled into nooses before the crowd.
Aeliana sought out Nori, whose face had broken out into bluish-purple scales. Nori tugged on her father’s arm. “I don’t know if they’ll help me if it ends this way.”
“Then there’s no need for you to go.” He turned back to the audience and began reciting the judgment placed earlier on Riveran and Gaeren by the elders.
Aeliana looked to Gaeren and Riveran. The faithful friend’s eyes were closed, his lips moving in a silent prayer, but Gaeren’s gaze rested on her like a fire that burned from the inside out. He gave her a solemn nod, and she wished more than anything that she had kissed him in the alley.
It couldn’t end like this.
Lady Merinnia had said good would come from their visit, but Aeliana hadn’t seen anything good yet. They would have to use their magic and fight now, then find the starbridges later. They were out of time.
Just when she was about to kick her guard and pull out her hidden dagger, Nori stepped forward, slicing at her father’s trousers with her own dagger, and the starbridges fell to the dais.
At first, no one moved, but as confusion and surprise spread, Nori snatched the starbridges from the wooden planks and raced toward Riveran to saw his rope with her dagger.
The guard manning Gaeren’s noose was quick to pull the rope to raise Gaeren up, cutting off his air supply.
His face turned red as he clawed at the rope, and the guard reached for his arms. Aeliana wrested her dagger from beneath her sleeve and flung it at the guard, pinning his arm to the wall and freeing Gaeren’s hands, but the rope still pulled tight, and Aeliana ran for him.
A guard tackled her to the hard wood of the dais, and she lashed out with a light shield.
But he was already too close, his grip already too tight, and her shield was pitifully weak.
She kicked him away, remembering all of the combat skills Lukai had ingrained in her, allowing her starlock to build her energy even higher.
Velden and Sylmar joined the fray, and she prayed they were all careful not to kill any of the Sayhleens, or they’d end up right back where they started: in the gallows.
When she finally fought off her guard, she caught sight of Gellen freeing Gaeren, and all their obstacles suddenly seemed surmountable.
She built up her light shield around them, drawing her comrades into a tight circle.
It flickered, her confidence wavering with it.
Why was her magic so weak after it had been so powerful?
Especially now, when she was far enough from Durriken that the brand shouldn’t override her somatic skills.
It didn’t take long for her comrades to form a defensive ring, their hidden weapons revealed along with the larger ones Gellen had retrieved.
Aeliana even saw her bow on Lukai’s back, a sight that brought her an unreasonable amount of relief.
But the Sayhleen soldiers also had their weapons drawn, arrows nocked for whenever Aeliana’s shield fully faltered.
At this rate, it wouldn’t take long.
“It should be clear to you now that we could have escaped at any time,” she called out. “We’ve done everything in our power to be workable. As we’ve said before, we don’t want to harm anyone. We just want to go home.”