Chapter 34
Parisar
The days blended into one another. With no access to the sky, I had no idea what time it was, or whether it was night or day.
Had I made the wrong decision allowing us to be captured?
The dungeon was dark, lit only by the torches on the walls that died frequently, and were only replaced when a guard came down to feed us and check none of us had died. How often the guards came was anyone’s guess. With no way of telling the time, time became irrelevant.
‘Parisar.’
The voice was new. It was a whispered hiss, but I knew it was not someone I had spent the intervening interminable darkness with. I was slouched against the wall near the front of the cell. It was the best place to communicate with the queen, although she had stopped speaking days ago…or what I assumed was days ago. She was still alive; I knew that much. I heard her weeping sometimes.
‘Parisar,’ the voice called again, closer this time.
I roused myself, although it was an effort. I had little energy and little desire to move. The oppressing darkness and starvation had worked its magic.
‘Tain?’ the voice called again. Or was it another voice?
I heard Tain shift. She was across from me, propped against the opposite wall.
‘Sim?’ Tain’s voice was a rough croak. We hadn’t had much to drink—only what we could slurp from the spout in the wall that dribbled foul tasting water into the cell intermittently.
‘Tain,’ the second voice said again. Sim. It was Sim. I recognised the sound of her whisper, which meant the other one was Cor.
‘Cor?’ I asked, almost afraid to hope. Perhaps it was a dream or a delirium.
‘Parisar.’ Cor’s urgent whisper found me in the dark, and I shifted toward the sound.
There was a snick of flint, and a soft glow lit the hall outside the cell. I squinted against the harsh brightness and allowed my eyes to adjust.
‘Thank Irys we found you,’ Cor said, coming closer to the bars. ‘We’ve been searching for weeks.’
‘Weeks?’ I asked, my voice feeling like gravel in my throat. ‘It felt like years.’
I tried for levity, but we all knew it was the truth.
Cor slipped something through the bars to me, and the scent of fresh bread assaulted my nose. I heard a moan and then shuffling as Weylei and Zeyr moved closer, drawn by the promise of food.
Cor handed out the small rolls to everyone.
‘The queen,’ I said, refraining from devouring the treasure in my hand. ‘The queen is in the next cell.’
Cor moved away, taking her light with her, and I lifted the bread to my nose, inhaling the scent before taking a hesitant bite. I closed my eyes, fighting the urge to shove the entire thing in my mouth all at once. I didn’t know when my next meal would be, so I chewed slowly, savouring it.
‘Water,’ Sim said softly, passing a water skin to me.
Again, I resisted the desire to drain the entire thing in one swallow. I would be sick if I did that, and that would be a waste I couldn’t reconcile.
Cor came back, the small light illuminating her concerned face.
‘I have news,’ she said gravely.
I took a breath and another bite of the bread before I nodded. ‘Tell me.’
‘Prince Elil is set to marry Snow tomorrow.’
I hung my head. I knew it was coming and had thought it had already happened.
‘She’s being drugged.’
I lifted my head. ‘What?’
‘He is using anima from what I can tell.’
‘Anima?’ This came from the queen, her voice barely above a whisper.
‘He is using crystals and music,’ Cor said, addressing both me and the queen. ‘I also think there is something in her food, and there is a peculiar scent in her room. I don’t know how he is doing touch. I managed to get her out of her stupor for a day, but they have pulled her back in, somehow. I think her maid is helping Elil.’
I exhaled roughly. Anima was an outlawed practise in Eudaimonia. It wasn’t magic exactly, more magic-adjacent. It had come to prominence after the fall of magic and was used to control unruly prisoners…or at least that was the justification for it. More and more it was discovered it was being used for other nefarious purposes—specifically for men to control their wives and children to influence the succession of wealth. It was later found to be used in small amounts in markets to influence people to buy more. Subsequently, it was outlawed a generation ago. It worked by engaging the five senses—touch, taste, sight, hearing, and smell. It could be used for short-term influence, such as in a marketplace, or for a more long-term solution until the person was no more than a puppet.
‘We need to rescue her,’ I said. ‘We need to get her away from him.’
‘We’re working on it,’ Cor said. ‘But she is guarded around the clock, and with her maid working for Elil, it is almost impossible to get close to her.’
‘There has to be a way,’ I said.
‘There is…I think, but we need you.’
‘What can I do?’ I asked feeling the hopelessness of my situation.
Cor held up something, and I squinted at it, not quite believing what I was seeing.
‘We’re getting you out of here,’ she said, moving to the door and sliding the key into the lock.
‘And the queen,’ I said.
‘No,’ the queen replied. ‘No. I need to stay here.’
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘Because Elil will want to parade me before the court. His marriage to Snow cannot be ratified without me.’
‘Which is even more reason to get you out of here.’
‘No,’ she said again. ‘If I am gone, it will raise the alarm that you have escaped. If Snow truly is getting married tomorrow, then they will come for me tonight. They will want to make me look presentable. If they discover you gone, we will not be able to save Snow.’
I hated it, but I knew she was right.
The sound of a body being dropped alerted me to the presence of Cor. It was followed by another body being placed more gently on the floor of the cell. Sim had a gentler touch.
‘What’s this?’ I asked. It was too dark in the cells to actually see what was happening, but I could make out vague shapes.
‘Your replacements,’ Cor said. ‘They’re not dead,’ she added as an aside.
‘Not yet,’ Tain replied.
‘Eh,’ Cor muttered. ‘They’re also not innocent members of society.’
‘I certainly hope you don’t think I’m going to wear a dress,’ Tain said, and I could hear the sneer in her voice.
‘Parisar can’t wear it,’ Cor retorted.
‘We need someone to get close to the princess,’ Sim said. ‘And we can’t take the chance that she will recognise either of us.’
‘If what you say is true, then she probably wouldn’t even recognise herself,’ Tain muttered.
‘Maybe, but we can’t take the chance,’ Cor said. ‘So you’re it.’
Tain huffed, but then the sound of rustling clothing informed me she was changing.
‘We’ve got two more volunteers waiting outside,’ Cor said. ‘We’ll be back soon.’
I pushed myself up to standing. Despite being fed by Cor and Sim, it hadn’t been enough to restore my body to full strength. The constant darkness and the inability to tell even what time of day it was had also taken its toll.
Feeling my way across the floor, I made contact with cloth first, and then the unconscious body. Moving as quickly as I could, I stripped the body—not an easy thing to do to a dead weight, even if I was feeling his best—and replaced my own, filthy clothing with the rough home-spun outfit of the man.
‘I refuse to leave these pants behind,’ Tain groused. ‘I’ve just worn them in, so they fit perfectly.’
‘You’ll never get the smell out,’ Zeyr said weakly from the corner.
Tain huffed. ‘Okay but this skirt has nowhere near enough pockets. How am I supposed to carry all my knives?’
I smiled despite myself. Tain knew her priorities. I couldn’t fault her for that.
‘I am absolutely keeping these boots,’ she said to no one in particular. ‘I don’t even care if they smell like this pit of hell for the next thousand years.’
No one argued with her. There was no point, and it cost more energy than we could spare.
The soft scrape of leather on stone alerted them to the return of Cor and Sim, followed by two more bodies hitting the ground.
‘Zeyr, Weylei, your replacements are here,’ Cor said.
‘And we’ve got food.’
I accepted the flask pressed into my hands and sipped cautiously. Soup. It was soup…probably just broth but it was the best tasting thing I’d ever eaten. And warm. I hadn’t realised just how cold I was. It took effort not to skol it.
Cor crouched beside me. ‘We have a safe house,’ she said softly. ‘Our plan only goes so far as getting you out of here undetected. We can insert Tain into the princess’ maids—’ Tain snorted at that comment— ‘But how we get the princess away from them…’
I didn’t need her to finish. If they were using anima then I had no idea how to counteract that. Not to mention the whole ‘true love’s kiss’ curse thing. The only saving grace was that the queen assured me Elil didn’t have the magical ability to pull it off, which meant he’d used another trick to wake Snow.
‘You need a token.’
The raspy whisper of the queen came through the wall. I had remained close to the front of the cell for the express purpose of being able to hear the queen if she spoke, and so the queen could hear whatever it was we spoke about, too.
‘A token?’ I asked.
‘Something with significance. Something Snow would recognise. Something she has an attachment to.’
I exhaled and rubbed my chest. A token…
The warmth of the pendant hanging around my neck brushed my knuckles, and I frowned. I’d completely forgotten about it. I didn’t even know what had possessed me to remove it from Snow when she first fell unconscious. I’d hidden it from the guards when we were taken, and then when it was clear we were to be left to rot in this cell, I’d put it on. It was a reminder of a moment that seemed like it was from another time and place.
But would it be enough?
It had emotional significance for me, but had she held it in the same esteem? I’d known she hadn’t worn it all the time and at first I’d been hurt by that knowledge. But maybe she was just trying to keep it safe? Or maybe she actually hated it and what it represented.
‘I wasn’t allowed to bring anything with me when they took me,’ the queen said.
‘I…’ I swallowed. ‘I think I have something. I’m just not sure...’
‘The pendent,’ Tain said.
‘Yeah,’ I sighed. ‘But she didn’t wear it all the time so maybe…’
Tain snorted. ‘Oh, it meant something to her,’ she said. ‘She slept with it every night and I caught her gazing at it often enough that I’d say it was significant.’
The warmth that washed through me was completely at odds to the situation we were currently in. I shouldn’t feel happiness, not when we were in such dire straits but…but maybe not all was lost.
With clumsy fingers, I removed the locket and handed it to Tain.
‘She needs to touch it,’ the queen said. ‘Touch it and see it—’ the queen broke off with a series of wracking coughs. I winced.
‘I think we should take you with us,’ I said, already knowing she would refuse.
‘No. You need to go and I need to stay. You can come back for me. The priority is to get Snow. She’s…she’s your queen now.’
The truth of her words smacked me in the face, and my heart clenched. The king was dead. Long live the queen.