“I—I don’t know anything about the queen,” I say, and my mouth is dry. I don’t know if I’m supposed to kneel or to bow or to start begging forgiveness for everything I’ve done wrong. “Callyn opened Lord Alek’s last letter. It didn’t say anything about the queen. It said something about the archery competition on the second day. ThatFatherwould be on the field. It wasn’t a threat, but … almost.”
The king’s expression is so unyielding. “Nothing about the queen? Nothing about Sinna?”
And then I hear it in his voice. The fear undercutting everything else.
I shake my head quickly and look at Tycho. “I was going to try to get to Emberfall. To warn you somehow. But my father came home. He took the silver.”
Tycho and the king exchange a glance.
“I watched the archery competition,” the king says. “Alek was at my side the whole time.” He pauses. “And this doesn’t explain the soldiers down the lane. Nor the message I was given.”
Tycho frowns. “Where is the letter now? Who claimed it?”
I inhale to answer, but the door at my back clicks.
Tycho’s eyes go wide. “Grey!” He lifts an arm and shoves the king to the side.
I hear thesnapof a crossbow, but I don’t register the sound until a bolt appears in the king’s shoulder.
Then my father’s voice. “Good job, Jax. You’ve finally done something right.”
CHAPTER 51
TYCHO
The king is struck before I can fully block him. He takes the first shot in the shoulder, but it’s better than his neck.
I lift an arm to block a second shot with my bracer, and the arrow slices right across my bicep.
The sudden pain nearly brings me to my knees. I’ve been shot before, but not like this. The arrow burns where it breaks the skin, stealing my breath. Jax’s father already has another bolt loaded.
The next one hits Grey in the leg, and he goes down.
“Da!” shouts Jax. “Da, stop!”
I go for my throwing knives, but the fingers on my injured arm are slow and clumsy. Silver hell.
“The arrows,” Grey gasps. His knee hits the dirt. “You were right. They’re Iishellasan steel.”
I don’t have an arrow embedded in my arm, but blood flows freely down my sleeve. Stars flare in my blood, but I can’t heal it at all.
Jax’s father hasn’t fired again, but he’s got another bolt loaded and aimed right at us both. I’m panting, but I slip a throwing knife into myleft hand. My aim won’t be anywhere near as good, especially with him behind the table, but I wait for a clean shot.
“They weren’t attacking me!” Jax cries, as if his father could possibly be seen asdefendinghim.
“I know that,” Ellis says. “We’ve been waiting for him to show up. Now go down the lane to tell the guards at Callyn’s that we’ve got the king, too.”
Too. My heart clenches.
I wonder if that means Callyn is part of this.
Ellis stays behind the work table. I’m sure Grey’s got a weapon in hand, but there are two steel arrows driven through his skin. He’s breathing harder than I am.
“Can you use magic?” I whisper to Grey in Emberish.
Grey’s eyes are dark with fury. When he speaks, his voice is strained. “If I could use magic, this man would be dead already.” He looks at me. “You need to find the queen.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
