34. Diar
Diar
When my father had imprisoned me yesterday, he locked me in his office.
Today, he tossed me in the dungeons.
It was so dark down here, I could hardly see a thing. One of the men escorting me roughly shoved me, and my face connected with a stone wall.
The cell locked behind me, and the sound of retreating footsteps echoed into the dark. Pressing my back to the wall, I slid to the floor and rubbed my throbbing cheek.
Siotha had been taken from me—again. This time, maybe forever.
A familiar voice emerged from the shadow of my neighboring cell.
"Here we are again," Ferris hummed. "It's like poetry."
My hand flew to my belt—but I didn't have a sword.
Ferris leaned against the bars between us—his emerald eyes practically glowed in the dark.
"What's with the sour look? I'm in here because I helped you escape."
"Not because you helped attack the city?" I asked, shifting closer, scowling. My eyes burned with betrayal, and faint pain thrummed in my heart.
"I already told you—their plans had nothing to do with me. I nearly died in Gwynford, remember?"
I turned away, staring into the darkness. 'You're still with them.' I wanted to say.
Who was 'they' exactly?
"Who are these people?" I asked. "The ones you work for."
Ferris pulled a knee up. "Before, I'd just call them spies. Now . . . "
"Spies who kill Emperors?"
Ferris gave me a hard look. "Do you know what the Emperor was doing in Tsuyan that day? For twenty years of his reign, he'd never left Forlaith City. Then he summons his guard and visits you."
Why had he come? I reflected on the worst day of my life, searching for the minor details that had come before the fire.
He'd wanted to talk to Father about our soldiers—for what, I could not say.
"You don't know?" Ferris presumed. "He was planning to start a war. Tsuyan was the first stop on a tour to prepare the nation's armies."
"War? Against who?"
"The Ceorthan Shadowlands. Rumor in the capital said he'd gone mad, struck by religious fervor. Not even the clergy understood his sudden obsession with cleansing the darkness."
"So his own people killed him."
"Not quite.” Ferris glanced away. "Now, his queen is resisting remarrying. It's driving the Lecovair mad."
The Lecovair—the caste of Solheart lords beneath the king. Father had mentioned them during his meetings.
"She's a woman. Can't they just force her?"
"They could, if the Archbishop approved. But he won't."
Odd. I narrowed my eyes. "What do the queen and Archbishop have to do with you being a traitor?"
"My point is—the Empire is at its weakest. I think I understand why they chose to strike now."
There was that word again: 'they.' I decided to formally give them a title—a name, for my enemy.
"The rebellion, you mean."
"I wouldn't call it that," Ferris murmured.
"And you're part of it. But considering you were content to help your father's assassin escape, I take it he's not."
"No." Ferris' voice grew uncharacteristically harsh. "King Ailithir is content to lick Forlaith's boots."
Reaching into my collar, I pulled out the thin cord necklace. Two beads of crystallized blood hung from it.
"I've decided," I said. "To fill this necklace with the blood of your people. There'll be a place for yours, too."
His eyes flicked between the blood jewels. "Why do you hate them so much?"
"Because they killed my brother, and ruined my life. Because they slaughtered innocents. What more reason do I need?" I glared at him. "You say you didn't know about their plans—will you abandon them? To turn traitor, as Quinn put it?"
Ferris said nothing. His eyes fell away from mine.
"That's what I thought.” I tucked the necklace back under my collar. "When—if—we get out of here . . . "
I didn't finish the threat. He understood it well enough.
Silence hung between us. Rattling iron and murmurs echoed in the dark.
"Your father," Ferris said. "He's going to kill you."
"He's going to force me to refuse Siotha."
"Will you?"
"No."
Ferris leaned his head against the bars. "I've heard stories about what they do to punish women here. Sometimes they do it to ensure she never has a chance to disobey."
My stomach turned. I had a feeling I knew what he would say. Father had threatened me with it long ago.
I hadn't thought about it until now.
"They say . . . ” Ferris' eyes found mine. "Your legs get broken and bound—so they won't heal right. So you can't run. If he won't kill you—that'll be your fate."
Ishida's mother was like that. She walked with a heavy limp. Even ascending stairs was difficult for her.
I'd asked my mother why, as a young girl. She told me there was a reason good women did not seek men's company outside their husbands.
Father would not hesitate to do the same to me.
I'd be trapped in the manor—forever.
Ferris clutched the bars. "Let's make a deal. You want to keep Siotha? General Yuudai doesn't have the last word."
I lifted my head, interested.
"The Archdruid of Nazumi is the closest thing Muirashi has to a king. His word far outstrips your father’s.”
Ferris was right—Archdruid was a title given to the most talented mage in our armies. He ruled over our capital and governed the lesser generals.
Mother had often said Western Muirashi differed in culture. Her nose had wrinkled in distaste every time it came up.
Maybe, just maybe, they would listen.
"But.” Ferris smirked. "You'll need me."
"Why?" I asked. "Did you forget that I plan to kill you once we get out of here?"
"Making a truce involves putting off killing me, thanks.” Ferris cleared his throat.
"I'm a foreign prince. I can seek an audience with the Archdruid for you.
Harming me would land them in a diplomatic disaster, which means they can't hurt you, either.
" He arched an eyebrow. "Do you even know how to get to Nazumi? "
No. I rolled my tongue in my mouth, avoiding his gaze.
'You pick a direction and go,' Akemi had always said. 'It's going to get you killed.'
Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to think of a way out of my current situation. Aside from bashing my head against the walls and fighting my way through hordes of soldiers, I was fresh out of ideas.
But I would not side with my brother's killer.
"I don't want your help," I snapped, turning my back to him.
The hairs on my neck stood on end. I could hear men walking down the dark corridor toward us.
Torchlight broke the darkness, and I lifted my eyes to meet my father's gaze.
Two guards flanked him. The general said no words as he motioned for one to open my cell. The guard seized my arm and twisted it behind my back.
Ferris' voice rose from the shadows behind me. "Is that any way to treat a lady?"
Father glared at him. "You would have suffered far worse, had you been born with any other name. Keep silent before you further damage relations between Muirashi and Aenir."
Grabbing my collar, Father tore me from the guard and steered me down the corridor.
He threw me into a dark room and set his torch into an empty sconce. Faint bloodstains darkened the stone walls, and chains hung from the wall beside a stool. Turning my back to them, I set my jaw and met my father's gaze.
"Make this easy for all of us, Diar," he said in a low voice. "Relinquish Siotha."
"Why don't you just kill me?" I asked.
"I will not kill my daughter."
"I thought you had no use for daughters."
A vein ticked in Father's neck. He stepped closer, voice lowering. "If you refuse to forswear the bow, I will have no choice but to fetch the doctor. When he is finished, you will never walk again. Do you understand?"
My resolve faltered, and I looked away.
Father's hand curled around my collar. "You can still avoid that fate."
Whether he broke my legs or I relented, my fate remained the same: trapped within the manor, never again able to leave. What purpose could I find in such a life, when I'd finally tasted freedom?
"No," I breathed. "Siotha chose me."
"Is a damn bow truly worth this torture? Will it be worth it when you lie on your back beneath every man in this city who buys your services?"
Disowned daughters were sent to brothels. To humiliate them. To frighten young girls into obedience. I'd been terrified of such a fate, once.
But I would not refuse the one thing in this life that had truly been mine.
Father lifted his arm. Red light burst across my vision, and stinging pain radiated across my cheek. My head snapped to the side.
Gritting my teeth, I met his gaze. Father's fist curled, ready to strike again.
"Go ahead," I said. "I'm not going to change my mind."
Father inhaled deeply, eyes closing. He released me and stepped back. "Keep close watch on her. I will return shortly."
The guards moved to either side of the door as Father walked out. I waited until I could no longer hear his footsteps to break.
Slumping onto the stool, I pressed my fingers into my eyes. Red spots appeared across the black, and then . . . emerald light.
I snapped my eyes open to see a dragon burst through the door and twist itself around the left guard's neck. He flailed, trying to pull the ethereal beast away from him.
The other stumbled forward, eyes bulging beneath his helm, hands grasping at his neck.
Ferris waltzed in, face set in concentration. He flicked his wrist, and both men crashed to the ground.
"Not to worry.” He flipped one of the men over. "I stole some of the air from his lungs—he'll be alright in a bit. Help me get this armor off."
"How did you—”
Without looking back at me, he held up a lockpick, pinched between two fingers. "Changed your mind about my offer?"
"Fine.” I stumbled forward, away from the chains, away from the pain that awaited me here. "If you take me to Nazumi, I'll let you live for a few more days."
"And I do love living.” Ferris waved for me to join him. "Give me a hand with this, will you?"
Glancing out the door, I hurried to his side and started unsnapping the guard's helmet. "Why do I feel like we've been here before?"
"Seems we're fated to be captured and escape together.” He glanced back. "It's romantic, don't you think?"