“Oh,” Aliyah looked relieved. “Of course. I understand, Your Grace. I’ll return tomorrow.”
“You’re too kind. Thank you. Please, excuse me.”
I drifted back upstairs on my own, unsettled by the conversation. With nothing more to do, I returned to the balcony, looking out at the hills, the town. The whole conversation just now had unsettled me. Reminded me that our time here was limited. A choice would have to be made soon, with, or without Lyriana. Because as soon as Alistair realized I had no intention of taking back the Seat in Elyria, our little home here, would be gone.
I closed my eyes, trying to relax, trying to temper my heartbeat. But my eyes opened, alarmed by a strange noise below the landing. Aliyah leaving? I looked beyond the hills and down below. There was nothing. But then that sound came again. A metallic clanging, like something had snapped into place. And then something else, like rope shifting. Like someone was climbing.
I looked over the edge, at the base of the building below. I’d been standing out here so many hours every day and I’d never seen anything unusual. Alistair’s grounds and home were well protected. There were hills detracting visitors, and walls, and even a sentry at the door.
Yet there it was again. That strange sound. And then … a grunt.
My stomach dropped and I stepped back, moving slowly back inside the room, reaching for the balcony’s glass doors.
A hand appeared on the balustrade. And then another. A head full of blond hair rose up wearing silver armor. Armor that looked like a wolf’s pelt. I shut the doors, just as black eyes, identical to the Bastardmaker’s, spotted me.
I locked the doors, my heart racing as I ran, tripping over the boxes where the snakes slept.
The glass shattered. I reached for the door, leading to the hall where Dario and Aiden were. I just had to scream. Just one scream.
A hand wrapped around my mouth.
I bit down, and they released me. “Dar?—”
A cloth covered my mouth, some potion layered into it. One I’d experienced before. At the Palace.
He’d found me. The Emperor had found me.
My eyes widened, one last time, my heart racing, as I watched my fingers pull away from the doorknob. And then I lost consciousness.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
JULIANNA
I awoke with a start. My hands were bound behind my back, my body bouncing on a wooden plank. It was dark out, the moon above. It took me a moment, but I realized I was in the back of a wagon, being wheeled along the stone streets of Korteria. A rough woolen blanket had been shoved over me. And from the sound of it, an ashvan was walking down the street, dragging me along.
My head ached, and I could feel my body had been scratched and bruised all over. My elbow and knees and the backs of my legs were aching, with fresh cuts burning. I tried to sit up, realizing then that my feet were also bound. Shit.
I sucked in a breath, trying not to cry as I let my awareness move between my legs, my body trembling. It wouldn’t have been the first time I was unconscious when they—when Kormac?—
But there was no soreness, no strange sensations there.
Although there would be soon if I didn’t get out.
The wooden walls of the wagon around me were about as tall as I was from the looks of it. I tried to stand up, managed to hold my balance for about two seconds—enough to learn that thewalls only reached my chest—which wasn’t much better—before I fell over again. Unable to brace my fall, my head slammed into the ground.
“You hear that?” came a voice.
I stopped breathing. Did they hear me? If they thought I was awake, or trying to escape, they’d only come back here and make it worse.
“Just went over a rock,” came another voice. “Hit the wheels or some shit.Vra.Faster, you stupid horse.”
“How much fucking farther?” asked the first.
“We’re near the border for Cretanya. The others are meeting us there. We’ll stop for the night, have some fun. Bring her to the Palace in the morning,” said the second voice.
I started to shake. No. No. No. Not again. I couldn’t do this again.
