“I wanted to thank you all for joining us on the eve of the second trial. Before we retire for the night, His Majesty would like to give a toast.” She gestured to the servants lining the wall. They began passing out slender flutes of sparkling wine to the guests.
The dining hall went silent as Gayl stood, shadows flickering on the walls behind him. He raised his flute in the air. “Well done, challengers. You have proven your knowledge with a trial of puzzles and riddles. Tomorrow, we discover the truth of who you are at the heart of the matter.” His mismatched blue and white eyes landed on me. “To your mettle and your spirit. I pray you will not be disappointed by either.”
At that, he lifted his glass higher, then tilted it back and drained it.
And the rest of us drank with him.
37
Rose
Iwoke with a bittersweet taste in my mouth and my tongue glued to the roof so thickly I had to work to pry it down. Stretching, I rolled over in bed, groaning against the bright sunlight turning the back of my eyelids red.
An abrupt realization chased away all grogginess.
The second trial was supposed to start today. I wondered if I’d receive a note like last time, or if there was some other method the architects had devised to tell us what to do.
I hurriedly bathed and dressed, opting for a pair of comfortable black pants that fit snugly inside my boots and a fitted shirt that wouldn’t get in the way if I had to move quickly. I grabbed my dagger and took stock of my charms, distributing them between my pockets and my small pouch, then hooked it to my belt loop.
Surprised nobody had called for me yet, I crossed to the door and opened it, peering down the hall to find it…empty. Horace was gone, and there were no maids scuttling about like normal, bringing towels or breakfast or dusting the decor lining the walls. I made my way to the closest adjoining hall, expecting to see lords with their fancy cloaks, messengers delivering mail, or guards stationed at various intervals.
But it was empty, too.
The palace was eerily silent.
A pit formed in my stomach. Wherewaseverybody?
Suddenly, shattering glass and a scream broke through the quietness. Following the sound, I raced down the corridor and turned a corner to find a window had been smashed. A young maid cowered on the ground before it with her hands over her head.
I rushed to her and helped her back to her feet. “What happened?” I asked.
She hiccuped through her sobs. “Ev-everyone i-is—” But she couldn’t finish her sentence, instead nodding out the window to the palace grounds beyond.
Slowly, I stepped across the glass littering the floor and leaned over the stone sill of the window, heart faltering at what unfolded before me.
Shouts and clashing steel met my ears. Plumes of dark gray smoke and flickers of red and orange flames rose from the village barely visible over the surrounding forest. Figures in the Royal Guard uniform of silver mixed with those in civilian clothing dashed from the palace and through the trees, making their way toward a thunderous boom coming from beyond the woods. Even from three stories up, I could hear the desperate cries of the wounded citizens under attack in the central sector.
“When did this start?” I asked the maid, shaking her shoulders urgently when she did nothing but cry into her hands. “What’s happening?”
“M-Mysthelm, my lady,” she wailed. “A-attacked just an hour ago. Everybody l-left to fight.”
My jaw fell open.Mysthelm?I thought we hadn’t heard from the non-magic kingdom incenturies. What in the world was happening? Why would they be attacking us? Had the emperor been keeping some conflict with them a secret from the rest of the provinces?
I released the maid and turned away, but she grabbed my arm. “Th-they’re in the palace, my lady,” she whispered, terror etched on every inch of her face.
My stomach plummeted to my feet.Beau and Morgana.
Bolting to the nearest stairwell, I descended to the bottom level, commotion growing louder the closer I got to the main hall. Men in armor I didn’t recognize were fighting with Veridian soldiers, the corridors littered with broken wood, glass, ripped tapestries, and pools of blood. Several bodies lay mangled on the floor, and I jerked my gaze away when it landed on a severed hand detached from a fallen guard. Dodging flailing limbs, I reached into my satchel to cast an invisibility spell over myself.
I knew something was wrong before I even reached the infirmary.
Bloody footprints led away from the entrance. Sobs haunted the corridor, making the edges of my vision gray with panic. I almost slipped on slick blood as I entered the healer’s wing, stifling a scream at the sight.
The curtains that had hung as partitions between patients were shredded, shelves full of supplies knocked over, beds tipped and cast aside, broken vials and bandages and potions scattered across the ground.
And every single patient…
Every patient was dead.
