Elazar placed a hand on the raider’s head and nodded atthe defensors. They pushed Lu toward the door, Elazar’s voice carrying as she went, helpless.
“This war will be different, Adeluna. It will not be a war at all, in fact—it will be a lesson on the blessings that come with obedience.”
3
A MONXE SLIDthe day’s supplies through the bars and retreated with tapping footsteps. Ben assumed it was breakfast—time had trickled through his fingers since Elazar had moved him, Gunnar, and Lu off theAstutotwo weeks ago. Maybe longer.
Ben waited, arm bent under his head, eyes closed. Distantly, a door thudded, the footsteps swallowed behind it. Silence.
Then, “Thaid fuilor mauth? All is well?”
Ben smiled weakly.
Gunnar had been the only other captive with Ben on theAstutowhile Lu writhed between life and death. When Elazar moved them to this prison, keeping Lu in that makeshift laboratory, Ben had a feeling of solidarity in seeing Gunnar across the hall. Not that they could talk much, with defensors and monxes around. But Gunnarhad begun asking a question, first in his language, then in Argridian:
“Thaid fuilor mauth? All is well?”
At night, in the morning, after monxes came and demanded Ben repent. Ben had responded, even when he wasn’t sure. He needed it to be true.
Ben rolled to his feet. The bed shrieked under him and he gripped the thin edge, bearing down on it to stay grounded. Floor-to-ceiling bars kept him in this cell, but across the hall, another set of bars marked a different cell for Gunnar, who hung from the rafters on chains.
Within hours of getting here, Gunnar had been deemed“in need of restraint.”Two defensors still had bandages where Gunnar had singed them with his Eye of the Sun powers.
Gunnar fixed his furious blue eyes on the empty hall, his lips moving in a silent whisper. He swayed, shirt billowing and boots dragging against the stones. Once, they had been Argridian servants’ clothes, ivory with navy and gold stripes—imprisonment had ripped and stained them beyond repair.
“Thaid fuilor mauth,” Ben repeated. “All is—” His voice caught. “The monxe didn’t feed you.” He hadn’t heard Gunnar’s cell unlock.
Gunnar gave a sad imitation of a shrug. “A new punishment?”
Ben stood and crossed to the supplies that had been left for him. A bowl of porridge, a piece of bread; a freshwaste bucket; and a pitcher with water that glistened in the light of the torches between the hall’s empty cells. Ben’s gut twisted.
The defensors made him drink the whole pitcher. Every drop. Something about this prison was...wrong.The moment Ben and Gunnar had set foot in it, the walls themselves had seemed to move. What other prisoners they had passed, in wings close to this one, acted drugged, screaming nonsense, some with lolling tongues or wide, unseeing eyes.
Day by day, that delirium had crept over Gunnar, making him whisper to himself or cry out in his dreams. But it hadn’t affected Ben. Magic, though he didn’t know what or how. Likely Narcotium Creeper, the hallucinogen. Or Croxy, the plant that caused bouts of rage. The defensors were drugging the prisoners but gave Ben the antidote so he would work for his father and continue experiments to make permanent magic.
The door up the hall slammed open. Booted feet thudded in a sprint. Ben pushed back a step, eyes on Gunnar in an unspoken agreement of preparation.
Preparation for what? Todowhat? Hopelessness smelled of ash and smoke.
Ignoring Gunnar, Jakes jerked to a stop outside Ben’s cell and ripped off his defensor hat. Sweat sheened his face, panic paling his bronze skin and making him look almost human. But Ben knew to see through the facade—beneaththe emotion lay a man who had manipulated Ben’s thoughts, his belief, his heart, to help advance Elazar’s mad plans.
“Ben,” Jakes panted. “You have to repent. We both know you will—do itnow.”
Ben rolled his eyes and tugged on the already unbuttoned collar of his filthy shirt. Weeks ago, it had looked like the blend of silk it was. His breeches, some supple velour; his boots, knee-high and crisp leather. All of it was now no better than the moldy, moth-eaten blanket on his cot.
“My father has resorted to having his defensors beg me? He must be desperate.”
Ben’s own statement caught him by the heart. If Elazar was desperate enough to have Jakes come to him,begging—
“Adeluna?” he rasped. The only time Elazar had allowed him out of this cell had been to give her the healing potion, with Lu’s father watching his every move.
Jakes nodded. “She’s awake.”
Ben exhaled in relief. Jakes, though, stiffened even more.
“I saidshe’s awake.You have to give in. This act has gone on long enough.”
“It isn’t an act. I saved my cousin. I was trying to help Adeluna as well, to free her from the despot who is my father. That is where my allegiance lies. I will not work for Elazar.”
