The Order of Masks

Chapter Forty-Five

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Mira

‘Do you have a moment?’

Aric paused, turning away from the Warriors he’d been speaking with. His expression was guarded as he looked at me, but he nodded slowly. ‘Give me a minute,’ he said to the others.

We made our way past the greenhouse and deeper into the gardens, the cultivated hedges and flowers giving way to leafy trees and chirping birds. The trickle of running water drew me to a curved bridge that spanned a small stream. Acres of greenery extended all the way to the towering iron gates and reflective white walls that encircled the palace grounds.

I gazed at the view. It was easier than looking at Aric, but there was only so long I could avoid facing him.

When I finally turned back, Aric was studying my outfit with a frown.

‘You don’t like it?’ I glanced down at my leather bustier and matching pants. ‘It’s one of Lillian’s designs.’

‘I don’t think it’s you.’

‘Well, I’m pleased with it.’ I regretted my sharp words immediately. I’d come here to lessen the distance between us, and already I was doing the opposite. ‘Let’s talk about something else,’ I said, making an effort to soften my voice. ‘What’s it like, being a Warrior?’

Aric hesitated, watching me closely. I couldn’t decipher the look in his eyes.

‘I’m not—’ My breath came out in a frustrated sigh. ‘It’s not a calculated question, if that’s what you’re wondering. There’s no alternative agenda. I just – it occurred to me that both our circumstances have changed since the Trials, but I’ve been wholly focused on my own life. I wanted to take more of an interest in yours.’

The dappled light played across Aric’s face as he moved closer, a trace of surprise – perhaps even hope – colouring his expression. I found myself caught up in his golden-brown eyes, warmer and kinder than I probably deserved.

‘I didn’t think I was going to like it so much,’ he replied after a brief pause, ‘but I do. I think it’s mostly down to the other palace guards.’ Aric’s posture relaxed further as he spoke of them, and I felt a pang of loss, remembering how that same ease had once existed between us. ‘Even the ones from noble families aren’t so bad, not when you spend hours a day training with them in the ring.’ He cocked his head. ‘We should spar together sometime. You won’t believe the things I can do.’

‘Like what, exactly?’

‘Everything we imagined and more. Speed, strength – reflexes .’ So fast his hand was little more than a blur, Aric plucked a gold pin from my hair.

I watched him roll it in his palm. ‘I look forward to it,’ I said. ‘Though I have to warn you, I have been practising. And Zandri makes for a very exacting teacher.’

The moment I mentioned Zandri, I expected the mood to turn strained. But rather than retreating from me, Aric moved closer.

I went very still as his fingers hovered above my lips. A breath from making contact.

‘All I’ve wanted is to see you smile again,’ Aric murmured. ‘To see you happy .’

I swallowed. Though Aric wasn’t touching me, the way he looked at me . . . he was looking at me like I was his entire world, and as I stared up into his face, I remembered that he had once been my entire world, too.

But—

‘I don’t think I’ll ever be happy again. I don’t think I can be – not truly.’ Even the word tasted like ash in my mouth.

Aric’s brow furrowed, and I could see how much that pained him. ‘Maybe happiness is too much to hope for, but anything is better than . . .’ He trailed off, then said carefully, ‘Seeing you suffer has been torture. It’s been torture for Lil, too. We lov—’

‘No,’ I interrupted. ‘No – don’t. Please don’t.’ I stepped away, feeling claustrophobic and unsettled. ‘I can’t hear it.’

Aric let his hand drop. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘the last thing I want to do is push you. I know you’re trying to cope with what happened during the third Trial.’ He paused, his voice soft and almost pleading. ‘But whatever you’re doing . . . it isn’t healing you, Mira. It’s killing you . And you’re the only one who can’t see it.’

‘You’re one to talk. How can you preach to me about happiness when you’re choosing revenge?’

Aric was silent for a while. Then he said, ‘I was wrong. I realised it after I watched you kill the governor.’ I flinched, but Aric continued relentlessly, ‘Life is for the living, Mira. And we’re wasting ours.’

Before I could react, his lips descended on mine. He kissed me like he might never get another chance, pulling me to his muscular chest. The charged tension between us transformed into something passionate and heated and unstable.

And suddenly I was kissing him back, not caring that it was dangerous. Not caring that Aric had the power to hurt me in a way that Cassius never could.

In that instant, nothing else mattered. All I knew was Aric. All I wanted to know was him.

His hands, one on my lower back, the other squeezing my hip. His mouth, devouring mine until I was breathless and aching. His knee, coming to rest between my thighs.

I had dreamt about him touching me like this. Somehow, the reality was better.

My hands tangled through his soft chestnut hair, needing him even closer. When I inhaled, I breathed in his familiar, woodsy scent – a scent that instantly transported me to balmy nights on Aldara.

More. I didn’t know whether I thought it or said it, but it was an urgent pulse in my blood. More, more, more.

Then Aric pulled back, and reality slammed cruelly into me. His conflicted gaze met mine; I could see the same fiery passion echoed in his face, but it was slowly replaced by heart-wrenching sincerity.

‘I’ll turn my back on all of this, Mira,’ he told me, ‘if it means we can have a life together. If you ask me to, I will leave Ravalia behind.’

I searched his face for hesitation but found nothing except resolve. He would do it. He would really do it.

It was all I’d wanted for him, for us , only now it was too late. Now I was the one who couldn’t walk away.

Not even for him.

I swallowed heavily. ‘I can’t.’

A brief flicker of something crossed his face. Maybe it was disappointment. Maybe it was anger. I had no idea, and I couldn’t afford to care. Running with Aric would mean giving up my revenge, and my best chance to help the Kalurian people.

There’s no future between us anymore, I thought, even as my eyes drank him in. It’s better that we face the truth. Pretending otherwise will only get us both killed.

I forced myself to walk away. But as I crossed the bridge, his voice called me back.

‘I’m leaving soon. With some of the other newly initiated Warriors,’ Aric said. ‘We’re being sent to deal with a rebellion in the West. A few guards are going as well, since the emperor needs more men.’

Shock hit first. Then fear. As a royal guard, I’d thought Aric would be safe. That he would stay far away from battlefields. And the Western Lands . . . that was where Kain had died. The thought of Aric being sent there . . .

I acknowledged the emotions but forced them back down. Clinging to the coldness, the numbness, until it settled deep into my bones.

‘Stay safe,’ I said. The words sounded inadequate, even to me.

Aric’s lips twisted in a bitter smile. ‘Thanks.’

Silence descended between us, heavy and stifling. I didn’t want to hurt Aric, but I had. And, for once in my life, I had no idea how to fix it.

I tensed as he strode towards me, half expecting – half hoping – that he would take me in his arms again.

Instead, he said, ‘You look beautiful,’ and kept walking, away from the bridge and away from me.

I stayed there for a long time, staring out over the water.

For once, I had nothing to do and nowhere to be. Odessa and Danica were probably practising in the training hall. As for Scarlett – well, I didn’t know where Scarlett was, and I had no desire to see her. Things had been tense between us since the other night. We both knew I’d missed that shot to save Jadis’s life.

It was a foolhardy choice. Even if Jadis had filled Darius’s position as leader of the resistance, their funding had been cut and they were under observation by the Order of Masks. And yet even now, I was tempted to seek her out. To venture back to the headquarters Darius had once taken me to, in the hopes of making a deal.

But I had already made a deal – with Cassius. I couldn’t risk jeopardising that, especially for such an uncertain reward.

I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn’t notice the Warrior until he spoke.

‘His Imperial Majesty has requested your presence,’ he said. ‘If you would follow me, please.’

He said nothing else as he turned and crossed through the gardens, his armour gleaming in the sunlight. I followed a few paces behind, ignoring the curious glances from various Order members and court ladies.

My first thought was that this was it. Scarlett had turned me in, and now I was walking to my execution. But if the emperor sentenced me to death, so be it. There was nothing I could do to convince him otherwise.

We passed the decorative fountain at the palace entrance and entered the main hall, with its soaring marble columns and ornate ceiling. Before we reached the landing, four soldiers came into view, escorting a group of prisoners down the stairs, their expensive clothes rumpled and torn.

Recognition seared through me as a female prisoner looked up. Even like this, there was no mistaking Odessa Tiran.

My gaze swept over her companions. Lady Tiran had the same pale skin and white-blonde hair as her daughter. The familial resemblance wasn’t as obvious with General Tiran, who was muscular and tanned from years of outdoor campaigns. But there was a certain steeliness in his gaze that Odessa had inherited.

‘Keep walking,’ one of the soldiers instructed, and I realised that Odessa had stopped.

We stared at each other in silence. Her amber eyes were glassy with tears, but she kept her head held high, her expression carefully blank.

Despite myself, I felt a glimmer of respect for her. I knew what it felt like to have your life torn apart.

The soldier yanked on her chains, forcing her to keep moving. Odessa passed me on the stairs, close enough for me to smell her flowery perfume, but she was gone before I could think of anything to say – not that there was anything good enough. Nothing could make up for what I had done.

Continuing along the hallway, I noticed two Warriors guarding a towering set of gold-plated doors. My eyes dropped to the filigree doorknobs, shaped like roaring lions.

The emperor’s personal chambers.

This must have been where Odessa and her family had come from. I wondered if Emperor Kalias had intended for me to see them being taken away in chains. It seemed like something he would delight in.

Before I could brace myself, a servant bowed and opened the doors.

My first impression was one of darkness and strength: obsidian floors, marble columns, and carved furniture upholstered in rich, dark shades. A set of rooms designed for intimidation.

Three figures stood at the far end of the spacious parlour. They were silhouetted against the large windows, making them even more imposing.

Emperor Kalias regarded me dispassionately, ominous in robes the exact colour of congealing blood. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘you’ve certainly kept us waiting.’

‘I was in the gardens, Your Majesty. As soon as the Warrior told me you were waiting, I came straight here.’

The emperor studied me. At his side, his wife’s cold eyes were narrowed, hatred in the icy planes of her face.

Cassius was the only person in the room who seemed relaxed, sinking into a nearby chair and crossing his legs. ‘Are we going to get on with it?’ he asked. ‘I do have plans this evening.’

The emperor’s stormy eyes didn’t so much as flicker towards his son.

‘You are a problem,’ he told me, low and sharp. ‘You have been a problem from the moment you were born. The only reason you’re still alive, much less a Mask, is because there’s a chance you might prove useful to me.’

The ruthless certainty in his face left no room for doubt, and hopelessness engulfed me. I’d thought I was being so clever, using a law to manipulate him into keeping me alive . . . when all along, he had been planning to use me for his own ends.

But I refused to let him see how afraid I really was. How desperate to live – not for my own sake, but to see my plans through. To finally watch him bleed.

‘The Kalurians,’ he said, ‘are an increasing annoyance. Loyalists in the Wilds continue to fight against the regime I have painstakingly put in place. Your notoriety has inflamed them even further, and now, the entirety of the Western Lands has been tempted into rebellion.’

It was a struggle to conceal my surprise. I hadn’t heard anything about the loyalists since Roran was sent to Kalure, and I’d assumed that meant he had put a stop to their attacks. And the West . . . was the emperor suggesting that was my fault, too? That Aric was being sent to deal with fighting I was responsible for causing?

‘You might think,’ Emperor Kalias said, lethally soft, ‘that this is a good thing. Perhaps you might even be pleased.’ He held up a hand to stop me as I opened my mouth to protest. ‘It doesn’t matter to me either way. The point is, the Kalurians are outnumbered and outmanoeuvred, fighting a war they cannot hope to win. However,’ he continued, ‘there is a way you can help us, and limit the loss of life in Kalure at the same time.’

Whatever the emperor wanted from me, his wife clearly didn’t agree. Her lips were curved into a sneer, her face set in an expression of severe displeasure.

‘The girl is descended from a line of usurpers,’ Empress Ivalene interjected. ‘She should be executed like her traitor of a mother. There can be no exceptions.’

Emperor Kalias held up a hand, and she subsided into sullen silence. ‘I believe,’ he said slowly, ‘that in this case, allowances can be made.’

Somehow, his mercy was more unnerving than his threats. I didn’t know how to interpret the gleam in his eyes, the new way he considered me – like I was suddenly worthy of his interest.

‘As my son is already aware, his betrothal to Odessa Tiran has outlived its usefulness. Whereas you . . .’ he paused, his gaze intent on my face, ‘ you can give me Kalure.’

I stumbled back a step, suddenly claustrophobic in the grand room. Cassius’s face was unreadable, but there was no trace of surprise in his eyes. He’d known exactly what was coming. He’d orchestrated it, using me to incriminate General Tiran and ensure Odessa wasn’t fit for a royal marriage.

My hands tightened into fists. All along, Cassius had wanted Kalure – and I’d just given it to him.

‘I realise this is a lot to take in,’ the emperor said, but I didn’t trust the new gentleness in his voice. ‘I am offering you the opportunity to stand at Cassius’s side. The . . . unfortunate circumstances of your past need not define you.’

I understood perfectly. Through my marriage to his son, Emperor Kalias would gain legitimacy and full control of Kalure. He could command the North for the cheap price of a wedding, minimal military casualties required – and Roran, his heir and future emperor, would still be free to make an advantageous marriage with some foreign princess or queen. Though I doubted Cassius had any intention of letting that happen.

‘You may continue to serve in the Order,’ Emperor Kalias continued, ‘at least for now. But I will organise a suitable date for the wedding, before the end of this month.’

Maybe this will be a good thing, I tried to tell myself. I’ll be closer to the emperor; it will make killing him much easier. And Cassius . . .

Cassius was dangerous, but he’d promised to help me – and the Kalurian people. A betrothal only solidified that arrangement, didn’t it? But then I remembered his ruthless comments about Kalure. I will be the next ruler of the Ravalian Empire. I need you to remember that.

‘And if I decline?’

‘Declining,’ the emperor said, ‘would be unwise. Right now, I am offering you a generous deal. But if you don’t marry Cassius, then you’re no longer useful to me. I think you know what happens then.’

A crown or a coffin. That was what he was offering me.

Emperor Kalias took a seat, leaning back in his chair. ‘So, Kasmira, will you be useful?’

My throat tightened, like my body could feel the chains the emperor was wrapping around me.

‘Yes,’ I said coldly. ‘I will be very useful.’

The emperor smiled in victory, but I wasn’t looking at him. I was looking across the room, at Cassius. For the first time, I noticed that he was twirling something in his fingers. A ring.

He stood smoothly and walked over to me, until we were almost close enough to touch. Close enough that I could smell his scent: cedarwood and leather, like he had just come from a hunt. It occurred to me that all along he had been hunting me – and now he’d caught me.

I braced myself for what came next – for him to drop to one knee – but his deep blue eyes remained on mine as he slid the ring onto my finger. Slowly and deliberately, as if giving me the chance to change my mind.

I stared down at the square-cut black diamond. Then back up at Cassius.

He was watching me shrewdly. He’d already known what I was going to choose. Regardless of the emperor’s threat, he didn’t think there was any limit to how far I was willing to go to assure my own survival. To get my revenge.

Maybe he was right. Maybe there wasn’t one.