Chapter 31 Kiera
Kiera
Korvin is here.
Numbly, I followed her instructions and took my saddlebags from Ozlow’s back. Two workers hurried toward us and led our horses into the stable.
Nikella assured us they would be taken care of. I kept a wary eye on the manor, waiting for Korvin to appear in one of the windows or to burst out of the front door.
I supposed we could keep running, but gods damn it, I was tired.
We’d fought and ridden all night. My entire body ached and groaned with every step I took.
The cut on my neck was my only injury from when that soldier first grabbed me.
But I was coated in dirt and sweat, and the dead soldier’s uniform smelled like his body was still in it.
But now Korvin had caught up with us.
None of the workers seemed terribly alarmed. As if soldiers stopped to check in regularly. Maybe they didn’t know who Korvin was.
After we gathered our saddlebags, Nikella led us through the woods to the back of the manor. She fumbled through piles of dead leaves until she lifted a patch of them. A patch that was really a trapdoor in the ground, with grass and leaves threaded to it.
She gestured us inside, but her gaze never strayed from the back of the manor, which had no windows—only a simple door.
Sigrid and Yarina jumped into the tunnel, while Maz and Aiden balked for a moment. I couldn’t see their faces behind their Wolf masks. Perhaps the mine tunnels had been harder to navigate than they’d thought.
I’d nearly cried with relief when I saw the two of them near their horses. Yarina, Sigrid, and I had just ridden back, and I thought we’d have to wait hours for them. But I’d seen Aiden’s shadow and known it was him, even in his Wolf disguise.
Yet both of them had seemed different since coming back. Tense. Quick to lash out. Like wounded animals.
Aiden sneaking off to kill a soldier had unsettled me. As it seemed to unsettle the others. It was unlike him to be so reckless. To seek violence.
But I was coming to realize that everything Aiden did was to protect others.
Something had shaken him in that mine. Perhaps he would tell me once we were safe. If that ever actually happened.
Maz and Aiden disappeared into the tunnel, and I followed. The darkness and earthy smell reminded me of the tunnel between quarters in Aquinon. Collapsed now, according to Ruru. I prayed that Melaena was still alive and well since he’d left.
Nikella closed the trapdoor behind her, enveloping us in inky darkness. I gulped, feeling my way forward.
Gods, I hope there aren’t any spiders in this tunnel.
“It’s fairly straightforward,” Nikella said quietly. “But watch your head.”
There was a thud, and someone ahead of me grunted. “Earlier warning would’ve been nice,” Aiden muttered.
A hysterical laugh bubbled up my throat, but I held it back. Not the time or the place.
Only a few moments went by before a shaft of light beamed down the tunnel. Yarina swung a small door open and crawled through. We emerged in a small, musty room lit by a single lantern. Wooden shelves laced with cobwebs lined the stone walls. A few kegs rested on the shelves, still plugged.
Several stone steps led up to a rusty metal door with a heavy chain and lock securing it. Perhaps it led to another cellar or the main house?
Nikella brushed past me to join Jek and Ruru in a corner where they’d piled up their cloaks and bedrolls. Ruru was snoring while Jek cleaned his weapons. Bruises were already darkening Ruru’s jaw and cheek. His ribs probably looked worse.
I owed all three of them. Ruru for his distraction of the soldier. Nikella for killing the other soldier who had pursued me. And Jek for riding to my aid when I struggled with the soldier who’d held a knife to my neck by the stream.
I started toward them when a sudden movement caught my eye. A woman and a young girl gasped and scurried back into a corner, staring at Maz and Aiden in their Shadow-Wolf disguises.
I narrowed my eyes at the strangers. They seemed familiar somehow. But the dirty faces, the limp hair, the plain clothes . . . The girl clutched a box with holes in it and Captain scrawled across the side.
My heart dropped to my boots. Helene and Isabel. Lord Garyth’s wife and daughter—the ones I’d helped flee Aquinon. What in the deep, dark, wandering hell were they doing here?
This couldn’t be the friend Nikella had brought them to. It would’ve taken her much longer to get here and back to Aquinon.
Aiden and Maz peeled off their masks and hoods.
“We’re not Shadow-Wolves,” Maz said gently. “We’re with them.” He nodded to the rest of our group.
Isabel relaxed, but Helene’s tired eyes fixed on Aiden. “You,” she whispered. “I wondered if you were still with her.” She glanced at Nikella.
Aiden fidgeted with his gloves, taking them off more slowly than necessary. “It’s good to see you, Lady Helene.”
I couldn’t say the same. I shuffled further behind Aiden and Maz. I wouldn’t be able to hide from them forever in this tiny room, but I dreaded the inevitable confrontation.
The last time I’d spoken to them, they hadn’t known who I truly was. Isabel had even begged me to save her father if I could. But I’d never seen him again.
Nikella had a brisk, murmured conversation with Jek while Yarina and Sigrid tossed down their saddlebags and slumped against them.
I turned my back to the room and slowly sifted through my bags, digging out my blanket and water pouch.
“When did you arrive?” Aiden asked.
“Last week,” Helene replied. “Our situation in the south became compromised. Caddik was always a good friend to Garyth, so I felt safe coming here. Teacher Nikella told me . . .” Helene took a deep, shaky breath.
I tensed, my blanket clutched in my hand.
“She told me you were one of the last people to speak to my husband. Did he mention us?”
My heart cracked as Helene’s voice did. Aiden was one of the last people to see Garyth alive? When? Where?
A heavy silence filled the room. Even Ruru’s snores stopped.
I peeked over my shoulder at Aiden’s stiff back. I wished I could see his face, but I could only see Helene’s tearful one.
“He held on as long as he could for you,” Aiden said softly. “He thought Renwell had captured you and your daughter.”
Helene sobbed quietly, holding tight to a pale Isabel. “Was he . . . was he in much pain when he died?”
Aiden clenched a fist behind his back, his knuckles turning white. “He was relieved that you were safe. He died at peace.”
I felt the lie between his words. But Helene seemed to take comfort from them.
I’d guessed that Lord Garyth was dead, but now I knew for certain. The knowledge carved itself into a wall of names in my mind—of the people I’d known and lost.
“Kiera? Where’s Kiera?” Ruru’s hoarse voice rose.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Gods damn it, Ruru. I rose and walked toward him, where he’d woken and sat up.
“I’m here, Ruru.”
He relaxed when he saw me, but Isabel gasped and hurried over to me.
“Kiera! You’re alive! Look, I still have Captain.” She proudly shoved the box toward me. A thin pink tongue darted out of one of the holes.
I forced a smile at her. “I’m so glad, Lady Isabel.”
Her smile drooped into a frown. “I knew your voice sounded familiar. Mama said it wasn’t possible. That I was just imagining things. But I knew I’d seen you before.” She pointed to my brace of knives. “You wore knives like that when you were in my father’s study.”
Everyone in the room turned to stare at us.
Holy Four, just when I thought every one of my betrayals had been revealed, another came to light.
But this presented a new kind of pain. I would be a monster in Helene and Isabel’s eyes, much the same way Aiden had been one in mine. We’d both taken loved ones.
I glanced between mother and daughter. “Yes, it was me in Garyth’s study. Renwell sent me there to spy on him.”
Helene gasped and yanked her daughter away from me. “Who are you really?” she spat. “Are you still working for him?”
“No,” I said quickly. “I did. For a while. I am—I was—Princess Emilia Torvaine. After my mother was killed, I gave up my crown to become a spy.”
Helene shook her head as if she didn’t believe a word I’d said. “Are you the reason Renwell attacked our house and arrested Garyth? What did you tell him about us?”
Truth, Kiera. Remember, no more lies.
Thorns seemed to grow in my throat, making it hard to breathe, to swallow. But I tried to keep my voice even. “I found some secret correspondence in Garyth’s desk. I couldn’t decode the letters, but I told Renwell about the People’s Council symbol inked on them.”
Aiden shifted next to me, but I couldn’t bear to look at him. I hadn’t told him any of this yet. This could extinguish what little trust we’d reignited.
Helene’s eyes filled with anger. “It’s your fault he died, then. You betrayed him. You betrayed his ideals. Why bother helping me and my daughter? Why not turn us in as well?”
Her words felt like knives to my stomach. I’d rather face down a border patrol—or even Korvin, if he were still lurking about—than a wife and daughter I’d caused so much grief.
“I didn’t understand yet what a terrible man I was serving,” I whispered. “I thought I was protecting my kingdom and my family. When I realized my mistake too late, I did the only thing I could and got you out of Aquinon.”
“You could have warned us,” Helene snapped. “You could’ve gotten all of us out of Aquinon.”
I flinched, unable to argue with that.
“Renwell would’ve hunted you down and killed your entire family,” Aiden said.
Helene flung her hand toward the locked door. “We’re not exactly safe now, are we?”
No one answered her.
“And you. You defend her.” Helene pointed a shaking finger at Aiden. “Who are you? Garyth spoke of this man in the shadows who was fighting for the same cause he was. He hoped your plans would help the People’s Council rise again. But he didn’t know who you were.”
I tensed. Would he tell her the truth? I had shared my true name, but Aiden’s carried a heavy weight as well.
He straightened, his jaw tight and his eyes fierce. “I am Aiden Falcryn, son of the late King Tristan and Queen Rhea. Nikella rescued me as a newborn and raised me in secret.”
Relief passed through me as he rewrote history with his words. A new and strange reaction to a lie crumbling under the truth.
Nikella and Maz nodded their heads, approval in their eyes.
But a moment later, Helene turned accusatory once more. “You’ve been hiding. All this time. You are the true heir. You could’ve stopped all of this! You—”
“I’ve been trying to stop men like Weylin and Renwell for years,” Aiden cut in, not without kindness. “I have failed many people many times, but I have never abandoned Rellmira.”
“Rellmira has abandoned my family,” Helene whispered, hugging her daughter close. Isabel burrowed her face into her mother’s neck. “We have no home anywhere.”
Aiden said nothing. He stared at them, but his mind seemed to be miles, or perhaps years, away.
After a long moment, I whispered, “I’m truly sorry for my part, Helene. Isabel.” Then I retreated to my corner.
Aiden followed me with his bags. I sank to the ground, suddenly too exhausted to even want to change my clothes or wash the blood from my neck. Gods, all this arguing, and Korvin could still be somewhere in the manor. He could be moments away from finding us.
But not even fear could penetrate the hollow drum that stretched tight in my chest.
Aiden stripped off the sunstone armor he wore on his chest and wrists, like they were choking him. He stuffed them and his Wolf mask into his bag.
Then he yanked his shirt up over his head. My gaze couldn’t help traveling over him. The sweaty muscles. The falcon tattoo. The many scars—including the new one above his hip where Father had stabbed him.
His hard green eyes caught mine staring, and I promptly looked away. He pulled on one of his usual short-sleeved black shirts, then settled next to me.
Strange. He’d heard what I said about Garyth. He should be angry as well, refusing to make any more eye contact, as Helene and Isabel were doing.
But his elbow brushed mine as he rested his arms on his knees like I did.
That small act of solidarity almost broke me. When I looked up at his tight expression, I wondered if I wasn’t the only one withering inside.
Everyone else stayed quiet while we waited. And waited.
Then, someone knocked twice on the door, scratched once, and knocked three times.
“That’s Caddik,” Nikella said, rising with her spear in hand. “But Korvin could’ve forced him to reveal us.” She handed a key to Jek, who also stood. “Unlock it and pull him inside.”
He did as she commanded. He whipped open the door and yanked an older man into our room.
Nikella leaped out of the room, spear first. She came back a moment later. “All clear. He’s alone.”
“Of course I’m alone,” Caddik grumbled, shoving Jek’s hands off his collar. “That slimy weasel finally left after he ate my entire breakfast and drank my gods-damned tea.”
His beady eyes glared around the room, taking us all in. “Now, does someone want to tell me why the king of the Shadow-Wolves was knocking on my door at dawn?”