Chapter 39
Parisar held his fist up, signalling us to stop. Tain reached past me to tap twice on Parisar’s shoulder. He looked back, his eyes going to me first before looking to Tain. She made a complicated series of signs with her fingers, and he nodded before crouching and leaning his back against the tunnel wall. Tain’s hand on my shoulder encouraged me to do the same.
I didn’t know how long we had been in the tunnels. It felt like hours, but it could have only been a few minutes. Time was slippery for me. I didn’t know if it was still from being under Elil’s control, or if it had to do with being in the dark tunnels and having no way to judge the passing of time.
I had so many questions. I wanted to know everything, but it wasn’t exactly the right time to ask. We had been moving silently through the tunnels, neither Tain nor Parisar speaking except with the sign language they used. I didn’t know what they were saying, which was both frustrating and a relief. It meant I could just follow and not have to make decisions, but it also meant I didn’t have the faintest idea what was happening or where we were going.
Parisar stiffened beside me at the same time Tain clamped a hand over my mouth. I turned wild eyes to her, and she lifted her finger to her lips in a shush gesture. I nodded, and she dropped her hand from my mouth. With her eyes still on me, she made a clicking sound with her tongue. After a moment, it was repeated back to her from further down the tunnel. Parisar nodded and we rose, slowly moving toward the sound.
Two women waited for us around the bend in the tunnel. I knew them, although I didn’t know how or why, or what their names were. Both were dressed in close fitting dark clothes and carried a variety of weapons strapped to their bodies. The red-haired woman handed Tain a bundle, and they exchanged a look before Tain looked at me and indicated with a tip of her head that I should follow her.
When we were out of sight of the others, Tain shoved some clothes at me while taking some for herself. She didn’t bother to turn around as she stripped off the peasant dress she wore and replaced it with breeches. A look told me I should do the same. I struggled with my dress. It had taken three maids to get me into it, and although I had cut off the bottom of the skirt, the bodice was laced tight from behind. Tain pulled out a knife, spun me around, and sliced through the bindings. I breathed in, the first full breath since I’d been laced into the dress. I grabbed the pendant and fastened it around my neck before hurriedly changing into the clothes she provided. Tain helped me with a weapon belt, and the two forgotten knives that had been strapped to my ankles were relocated to holsters at my hips. The two knives I’d been gripping in my hands since she’d given them to me were slipped into holders at my shoulders. Tain showed me how to cross my arms and pull them free in one sweeping movement, and I practised a couple of times before she nodded.
Wearing matching dark clothes, we returned to Parisar and the other two. Parisar’s eyes travelled over my form, and I wanted to hide from his gaze. It wasn’t that the clothes felt uncomfortable—I thought they would be, but surprisingly, they felt more familiar than the dresses I had been wearing. It was the way he looked at me, like he could see into my heart and soul. I wanted to understand how we had gone from enemies to…whatever this new dynamic was. His eyes came back to my face and then to my hair, and anger flared in his features. He reached out, and I flinched, but he didn’t hit me. Instead, he pulled something from my head and tossed it to the ground, bringing his boot down on it with a loud crack.
I looked down at the broken shards of the tiara I had been wearing. I didn’t even remember it being put on my head. No, I did. It had hurt when the maid pinned it in my hair. It had been heavy, and now that weight was lifted. I blinked, and the last vestiges of fog in my brain shifted. I wanted to say that all my memories came rushing back in, but that wasn’t the case. I still had large swathes of missing time, but the ability to think clearly and independently became easier. I took another breath and rolled my neck. My head felt lighter, and I was almost giddy. I very nearly giggled at the sensation, but I kept my lips pressed together to stop the inappropriate sound.
Parisar searched my face. I didn’t know what he was looking for, but I let him look. We were in this together now. I had possibly killed the heir to the throne, or at the very least maimed him. I was a queen from a neighbouring kingdom. I had committed an act of war. Whether Parisar was friend or foe no longer mattered. The enemy of my enemy was my friend. We would talk about everything else at a later date. We had to escape first.
I nodded at him. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was trying to tell him, but he nodded back, satisfied. The two other women took up their positions in our little caravan. Parisar led. Next was the red-head, then me, then Tain. The small dark-haired woman brought up the rear.
The end of the tunnel spewed us out into the forest, if anyone could call it a forest. There were trees, but they looked parched, their leaves drooping and brown, as if the life had been sucked out of them.
Keeping formation, we continued forward, stepping carefully to avoid the leaf litter and sticks scattered on the ground. I began to breathe easier. We had made it, right? We were free. We had escaped…except, no one else seemed to think so.
Our immediate goal had been to escape the castle, but we wouldn’t be safe until we were back within the borders of Eudaimonia. That would take days, even if we had horses, which we did not.
Parisar slowed, and I felt the tension rise as the others did the same until we came to a stop. I didn’t know what they had heard or sensed. I did not possess the same highly honed abilities they did, but I trusted their instincts.
A man wandered out of the brush ahead of us. A man I recognised. Breust. I sucked in a breath and froze in place. We’d been discovered.
Breust smiled with a look of relief on his face.
‘You escaped,’ he said. ‘I’ve been searching for you everywhere.’
Tain snorted softly behind me and then mumbled, ‘Traitor.’
‘I know what you think,’ Breust said with a hard expression. ‘But it’s not true.’
Parisar relaxed slightly. The others didn’t, eyeing Breust with suspicion. I didn’t know what was going on. Breust had poisoned me. Parisar knew that. He believed me, right?
‘What happened to you?’ Parisar asked. ‘When Elil raided the camp, you disappeared.’
‘I went into hiding. I tracked you, though. I kept an eye on where they were taking you. I was going to rescue the princess and then rescue you.’
I narrowed my eyes at him. He was lying. Parisar knew he was lying, right?
‘Is that why you were escorting the princess down the aisle to marry Elil?’ Tain asked, her voice accusatory.
‘I thought those were your arrows,’ Breust said with a vicious smile. ‘Good shot, by the way. Luckily I was wearing armour under my tunic or I would have been dead.’
‘Pity,’ Tain murmured.
‘I know you think I betrayed you all, but believe me, I didn’t.’ He turned pleading eyes on Parisar. ‘You believe me, don’t you? After everything we’ve been through, you believe me, right?’
Parisar sighed and dipped his head. Tain and the others stiffened, and I felt horror coursing through my veins. Parisar wouldn’t…he couldn’t…
Parisar stepped forward with his hand outstretched. They clasped forearms, and Parisar pulled Breust close in a man-hug that had Breust smiling triumphantly over Parisar’s shoulder.
He never saw the blade coming.
Parisar swept his arm up behind Breust and buried the steal to the hilt in Breust’s neck. He whispered something in the other man’s ear before stepping back and pulling his blade free. Breust’s face transformed into one of surprise and then terror as his knees collapsed, and he fell to the ground.
So much blood.
Slow clapping came from further in the woods, and then he was there. Elil. An ugly wound ran down his face from the corner of his eye to his chin, courtesy of my blade. At least, I hoped it was my blade that had done it.
‘I told Breust no one would believe him,’ Elil said as he glanced dispassionately at the fallen man. ‘But he insisted your friendship would outweigh your suspicions.’
‘He was wrong,’ Parisar said, wiping the blade on his thigh before sheathing it.
His actions were so casual and unconcerned I wanted to scream. Here was the enemy, and Parisar was acting as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
A retinue of soldiers stepped out of the trees behind Elil, and any hope I’d had of us escaping was lost. One look at Elil confirmed it. He knew he’d won.
His eyes went to mine, and his smile turned to a sneer. ‘I am so disappointed, Princess,’ he said, disdain dripping from his words.
‘So am I,’ I replied, nudging my chin toward the wound on his face. ‘I thought my aim was better.’
Anger flared in his eyes, and Tain sniggered behind me.
‘You will pay for your insolence,’ Elil seethed.
‘You have to catch us first,’ Tain replied, snaking an arm around my waist and moving so quickly, I didn’t know what was happening.
‘Stay here,’ she hissed in my ear before disappearing.
I was in the cover of the trees, and the others had engaged the soldiers in combat.
‘Here,’ someone said beside me, pressing something into my hand.
I turned to look at the man. I knew him, except…damned this head of mine and the missing memories.
Before I could make my brain recall the information, he was gone, leaving me holding a sword.
My gaze dropped to it. It wasn’t as long or as wide as the ones the others wielded, but it felt good in my hand. Balanced and familiar. I took a few test swipes, and something triggered in my muscles. I knew how to wield a sword…sort of.
Crashing in the underbrush alerted me to a soldier heading my way. I lifted the sword in defence. He saw it and smirked, mockery in his eyes.
The mockery turned to fear when I buried the sword in his stomach. I was not as skilled as the others, but I knew where to strike to kill, and I had no compunction in doing so. I refused to return to that castle and under the mind control of Elil. And I had an advantage. The soldier hadn’t thought I was capable of fighting.
He’d thought wrong.
But I wouldn’t have the advantage for long. I needed to be smart. Tain wanted me to stay hidden, and that was fine with me, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t defend myself.
Another soldier headed toward me. He saw the body of his comrade and quirked an eyebrow at me.
‘Your work?’ he asked, looking from the body to the bloody sword in my hand.
‘Come a little closer and find out,’ I replied, grounding my stance and lifting my chin.
He wasn’t as arrogant as the soldier before him and approached me with more caution. He still didn’t believe I could best him, and I probably couldn’t, not in a one-on-one fight. But his arrogance and dismissal of me would be his downfall.
An arm snaked around my throat, and I froze. I had been so focused on the soldier in front of me, I hadn’t thought to check who was approaching from behind. In my defence, this was my first battle…was it a battle? And why was I thinking about that instead of working out how to free myself?
‘You gonna stick me with that little thing?’ the soldier rasped in my ear.
‘Of course not,’ I replied, trying for bravado even if my voice shook. ‘I thought I might stick you with this one.’
Using my left hand, I removed one of the daggers from my thigh and dug it into his. His hold loosened on me, and I spun around, stabbing with my sword. He managed to block my sword but wasn’t prepared for me to pull the dagger free and plunge it into his neck, just how Parisar had dispatched Breust.
I didn’t stop to think. There was another enemy behind me, and I spun, sword raised, but he was on the ground, and Tain stood there with a wide, feral grin on her face.
‘Nice,’ she said with a nod.
I returned her nod and sheathed my dagger. My fingers were trembling, and I knew if we got out of this I would end up a quaking mess on the ground, but it wasn’t over yet.
‘Parisar?’ I asked.
Tain motioned with her head, and we both headed toward the clearing. The others, the red head, the brunette, and two other men, were engaged with soldiers, but I wasn’t worried. The clearing was littered with the bodies of soldiers they had already dealt with. In the centre of the carnage stood Parisar and Elil, swords raised as they slowly circled one another. Why weren’t they fighting? Why hadn’t Parisar stabbed him through the heart? I knew he had the skill to do it, so why was he waiting?
Parisar’s face came into view as they moved, and I knew why. There was something about Elil, some sort of magic he was using. It was the same magic he had used on me the first time I saw him in the ballroom. Parisar was fighting it, but…
‘We need to help him,’ I said to Tain.
Her jaw was tight, and she nodded sharply as she pulled her bow from her shoulder and nocked an arrow faster than I could track.
‘The crown,’ I said. ‘You need to hit the crown.’
It all made sense. I had never seen Elil without that crown, and I knew it was the source of whatever held Parisar in thrall. It was what had bewitched me too.
Tain froze beside me, and I looked at her expectantly. She had the same glazed look on her face that Parisar was fighting. Aiming at the crown had drawn her into its magic.
I didn’t stop to think or to even aim. I dropped my sword and grabbed two daggers, flinging them toward Elil in one fluid movement. If I didn’t hit the crown, I might kill him, and really, that’s what I wanted.
The daggers flew true, and the sound of the blade hitting one of the gems reverberated through the forest like an inhuman scream. I covered my ears and dropped to the ground. Tain collapsed beside me. I chanced a look at Parisar. He was crouched, his hands grasping his ears against the sound. And Elil…Elil writhed on the ground, his mouth wide in a silent, pained scream. Black veins grew from his scalp and curled down his face. After a long moment, he went slack, and the screaming stopped.
Blessed silence. There was not a single sound in the forest. The others looked dazed. Tain was shaking her head as if trying to clear it. Parisar was still crouched on the ground, his back rising and falling in laboured breaths.
I ran to him, throwing myself over him as if in protection. I didn’t know what I was protecting him from, but it felt like the right thing to do.
‘Is he dead?’ Parisar asked, his voice like gravel.
‘I don’t know,’ I said.
Parisar slowly stood, his face grey and his eyes bloodshot.
‘We don’t have time,’ Tain said. ‘That…whatever that was…is going to alert everyone in the castle. We need to go. Now.’
Parisar looked down at the fallen prince. Elil’s chest rose and fell shallowly. He was still alive. Parisar lifted his sword, but I put my hand on his wrist, stopping him.
‘No,’ I said.
He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
‘Death is too good for him,’ I said, my voice rough.
‘We could take him with us—’ Tain started, but Parisar shook his head.
‘Leave him,’ he said. ‘If we kill him, the king will have a case against the queen.’ He looked at me when he said it. ‘If we kidnap him, there is nothing to stop them from invading Eudaimonia to try and retrieve him.’
‘But—’ Tain snapped her mouth shut at a look from Parisar.
‘He needs to live,’ I said. ‘For now.’
Parisar looked at me, and we shared an understanding. Death would come for Elil, but not yet.
‘Let’s go,’ Parisar said, sheathing his sword and grabbing my hand.