A week was time we needed to think of some other way to get her free.
A throat cleared. In the doorway was a young Stav. “Forgive me, my prince. I was sent to inform the Sentry that Stav Darkwin and Melder Bien were meeting the…” His gaze fell on Yrsa. “Well, they were meeting with the queen and the princess, but I can see the princess is here.”
Lyra had not met with Yrsa.
Kael wouldn’t take Lyra out of her chambers without reason, without a higher command.
There wasn’t anyone who would command it but me, Thane, or perhaps the king.
“I never summoned Melder Bien,” Yrsa whispered, her gaze falling to me.
“Roark—” Thane tried to take hold of my arm.
I shirked him away and took hold of the Stav swift enough the guard stumbled. I didn’t know what I was saying, but my gestureswere too frantic, and the younger guard gave Thane an imploring look.
“Who came to retrieve Melder Bien?” Thane’s palm patted my chest, nudging me out of the doorway.
“Captain Baldur, Highness.”
“And he was told she would meet with my mother and my bride?”
“Yes, Highness.”
My body seized for a breath, then spurred into action. I shoved past the Stav Guard, storming into the corridor.
Thane’s shuffled steps hurried to keep up. “Roark, keep your damn head, you stubborn bastard.”
More steps ran after us, lighter than Thane’s. Emi, no doubt. I didn’t look back. A hand gripped my shoulder, spinning me around. I shoved Thane back, something dark, something cruel clawing to the surface.
I drew in a deep breath through my nose until the prickle of heat in my blood soothed.Do not stop me again.
“Think.” Thane tapped the side of his head. “Baldur is pompous, but he has no reason to harm my father’s precious melder. My mother might’ve summoned her—”
And your father might force her to meld. I waved my hands in a frenzy.
Thane sighed. “All right. We’ll find her. If Baldur took her to meet with the queen, then we go to my mother’s wing.”
Emi placed a hand on my arm and squeezed. “Thane’s right. We go there. All is going to be well.”
Yrsa followed, a look of worry shadowed in her eyes.
I drew my seax, used my head to point toward the outer lawns, and did not wait for any farewells to be had to the princess before taking the staircase to the lower floor two steps at a time.
Something was not right.
The taste of smoke and brine burned like bile on my tongue. I felt the urge to lash out, to succumb to smoky shadows until I fell into nothing but the sharpest edges of my soul, hate and rage and avarice.
Wind whipped across the lawns. I shoved through mounting crowds strolling the outer courtyards, ignoring their gasps and declarations; some men had boorish manners.
Emi and the prince caught up, Thane still securing his short blade to his belt.
Instead of taking the paths through the gardens, I carved through one of the archways and down another set of steps, which would spit us out near the back of the queen’s corner of the fortress.
I’d only stepped off the final stair when the bellow of ram’s horns broke through the still morning. Boots stomped over mossy cobbles, and Stav captains shouted down from the watchtowers, bellowing commands.
“Go.” Thane shoved me between my shoulders. “You’re right, you’re always right. Go.”
We sprinted around the corner. The gentle slope looked down on the queen’s private garden planted beside the wall of glass doors. Open lawns spread out to the knolls and final walls.
