Chapter 6
Six
Once we walk through the front doors, I look back, taking in the castle from the outside for the first time. Living in the city meant seeing the spires above the ominous black hedges and wondering what the rest of the building looked like.
It is just as dominating and impressive as I always imagined.
Sweeping buttresses extend from turrets and arches.
Glass windows dot the upper floors, but the lower levels are solid gray stone.
Sculptures adorn each ledge and terrace.
Closer to the ground, human figures with wings extend out of the stone, like they are flying.
Angels weathered over time, making them look beaten and sorrowful instead of proud and inspiring.
The floors above them have more human figures, but without wings.
The features are worn and difficult to make out, but I think they’re the gods and goddesses.
In the center of a row of statues is a huge stained-glass window.
I can’t make out the scene it depicts, but I am intrigued enough to want to find it when I’m back in the castle.
The other terraces and rooftops are graced with creatures. Each of them different, a varied collection of animal features. Some with wings, some without. Snouts and claws, fangs and tails. Some are more monster than animal, but all are ominous and unsettling.
“This way,” Brevan says.
I follow the enforcer toward a waiting carriage, then hesitate. Am I actually getting into a carriage with this man? What if he knows who I really am? What if he recognizes me as one of the people who fled that night?
Guilt squeezes my chest so hard I can’t suck in a full breath. I ran that night. I thought that was the best thing I could do. I’m not a fighter, and I didn’t want to be a liability to my brothers. When they told me to run, I listened.
I was able to reunite with the few survivors in our meeting place in the catacombs the following day, and I discovered what happened.
I spent the next three days in a drunken stupor until my best friend, Anya, found me.
We left the rebellion and rented a room.
She got a job at a tavern, and I worked at a printer, setting type.
Three months later, Lee knocked on my door, begging for my help.
Three months. Or was it four? I’d tried to forget. It was too painful to think about it.
Either way, I should still be mourning their loss. Not playing nice with their killer.
“Princess?” Brevan asks.
I blink a few times and notice he’s got his hand out to help me into the carriage. “It’s just the two of us?”
“As I said before, the prince extends his apologies for not being able to attend. He assured me he set aside time for dinner with you tonight, though.”
I swallow around the lump in my throat. I can do this. I must do this. I have to play the part.
I let him help me into the carriage, but his touch feels like betrayal against my skin.
He sits across from me, and I pull the curtain aside so I can stare out the window instead of looking at him.
My fingers twitch. I’m not a trained killer, and I always struggled with that part of the rebellion.
It’s why I worked on the inside. Why I helped with strategy and supplies. Why I didn’t go out in the field.
Now, I’m holding myself back. I want to lunge at this man and claw and scratch and scream and kick and hurt him as much as he hurt me.
But I know if I kill him, the emperor will put another in his place. A new enforcer who will do the same harm. And I’ll be dead. We’ll lose our chance to find out where the emperor is and how he stays alive.
I’m the best chance at actual change. If I can keep myself from breaking first.
That is assuming this ride alone with him isn’t to quietly dispose of me. Well, if it is, I’ll make him work for it.
“It must be difficult to be so far from home,” he says.
I turn to look at him. He’s wearing his armor again but doesn’t have his sword. I still have no idea what we’re doing. “Do ladies here often travel alone with men?”
“The prince trusts me. And I can assure you, I want this trip to be quick even more than you do.”
“How very reassuring.” That doesn’t ease my anxiety. I wish I had a weapon. If I survive this, I wonder if I can find a dagger to hide under my skirts.
The carriage rumbles as we transition from the smooth castle road. We must have passed between the opening of the dark hedges.
The castle is atop a hill overlooking the city, and it’ll take a few minutes to reach the luxurious neighborhoods nearest the royal home. I look out the window at the gates that keep people away.
“Many of the emperor’s most loyal nobles live here,” Brevan says. “This is Duke Glass’s residence. He also has a vineyard estate in the country.”
“How nice for the duke that he has two homes while so many have none,” I snap.
“Doesn’t your family have six estates across Iskvaland?”
“It doesn’t mean I have to agree with it,” I reply.
“How very modern of you.” He lifts one of the black velvet curtains to peer outside.
“Have you spent a lot of time in the slums, enforcer?”
He closes the curtain, then turns back in my direction. “I spent all my early years in the legion there.”
“And it didn’t bother you to see all the suffering?”
“I am not the emperor. I can’t change anything about how things work around here.” His face is stoic, emotionless as always.
“You have the emperor’s ear, don’t you? Most people don’t have that.”
“Is this how you speak to your father?” he asks.
“Yes.” I have no idea what the emperor of Iskvaland thinks of the poor in his empire. My guess is he’s never once thought about their well-being. But he’s not here. I am.
“It’s amazing, really. When I visited your father, I didn’t hear a single woman’s voice. They didn’t even allow female servants in rooms where men were meeting. And I was told that you and your mother were in the women’s wing, where you spent all your time.”
My face heats. The more I learn about what the real Sabina’s life was like, the more I want justice for her, as well.
“If you’re such an expert on my empire, then why are you asking me questions?
Go ahead, tell me what it’s like to grow up as a woman in Iskvaland.
It sounds like you must know more than me… a woman from Iskvaland.”
“That tongue of yours is going to get you killed,” he warns.
“I’ve had many compliments on my tongue, Enforcer,” I say.
He turns so red that even the tips of his ears are pink. So, his perfect composure can crack. That was far too easy.
“And last I checked, I outrank you as a royal visitor and soon-to-be member of the royal family.”
He inclines his head, then speaks through gritted teeth. “Forgive me, Your Highness.”
We roll to a stop in front of a street lined with shops.
They have glass windows that show displays of their goods and beautifully painted wood signs over their doors.
I’ve never been to this part of the city, and I’ve never seen shops like this.
In the Point, we had shops, but many of them were shoved into spaces between buildings, cloth hung as ceilings and crates lined up as shelves.
Only the butcher, apothecary, and Red’s Tavern were permanent in our part of the city. Everything else was sold from carts or temporary stores, or bartered from neighbors. If you needed something specific, you traveled to one of the other neighborhoods.
The driver opens the carriage door, and Brevan exits, then turns to offer his hand to me.
I accept it, head swimming with warnings.
I’m pushing it too far. There is no way he’s not going to report every single thing I said back to the prince.
What kind of princess cares about the common people like this?
He leads us to an unmarked shop. It has no windows or sign.
“What is this place?” I ask.
“I’m not sure. It’s not where Jacques usually conducts his business.” He knocks on the door.
“Who is Jacques? And what kind of business does he have?” I take a step back, seriously considering returning to the carriage.
He shrugs as if he doesn’t know.
“Wonderful. You brought me to a random building for an unknown reason, unarmed.” I glance to where his sword usually hangs.
“Trust me, Princess, just because you can’t see the weapons, doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”
An opening large enough for a pair of blue eyes to peer through slides open. “Who’s there?” The voice is muffled.
“It’s Lord Maxwell. I was told you’d be expecting us,” Brevan says.
The little window closes, then I hear locks turn and chains rattle.
The hair on the back of my neck rises. That’s a lot of security for a building on a street lined with upscale shops.
Any one of the places surrounding here would fetch a thief a small fortune, and they’re protected by easily breakable glass. What could be behind this door?
When it opens, I only see a sitting room. I stay close to Brevan, my hip brushing against him in my attempt to remain near the door. I move quickly, not wanting to be so close to him.
Three couches sit in a horseshoe shape, and a small table is positioned at the center of them. Off to the side is a counter lined with bottles of alcohol and expensive glassware.
A small, hunched old man with circular spectacles and thin white hair smiles at us.
Next to him is a large man in simple leather armor.
His blue eyes were the ones that looked out at us through the window.
His hand rests on a sword at his hip, and he stays focused on Brevan, ignoring me completely. Clearly, I’m not seen as a threat.
“Is this the woman I was told about?” the old man asks. He’s got a warm smile, but I don’t find it comforting. At least, not right now. I can’t figure out what is happening.
“Yes, Prince Caiden sends his regrets that he could not attend himself. There were issues at the port that required his personal attention,” Brevan says.