Pulling at the bow, I tied it around Epsy’s paw. “If you see either of my brothers, give them this. They’ll know what it means.”
And hopefully, they’d know that it meant to run, that our father’s madness had gone further than we could ever expect. And if they wouldn’t run, at least they’d know where I was.
Epsy reached up, his tiny paws on my cheekbones, and gently nipped the tip of my nose in farewell. As he scurried out the air vent and onto the roof, I prayed to the Goddess to keep him safe.
Lierick’s jaw was tense. “Now we wait.”
Wait, and hope that Epsy found Bach before my father had him killed. That he found Vox before Feodore Vylan arrived in Rewill for the first time ever. That they got us the fuck out of here before I was dragged to Fortaare on a golden leash.
Eighteen
Vox
Iwatched Avalon’s retreating back as she was surrounded by her father’s guards and marched toward her childhood home like a criminal. What was her father up to?
I slunk further back into the darkness until the soldiers were out of sight, then slipped around the gate and into the village surrounding the manor behind the walls of Rewill. I tried to melt into the crowd leaving the market square the best I could, but I stood out like a beacon.
I didn’t look like the people of the north, with their ruddy skin chapped by the icy winds and thick woolen clothes to keep out the chill. I was already getting some strange looks, and I could only imagine they wouldn’t get many travelers coming through this way. This was the end of the world when it came to Ebrus. The northernmost city… well, that the general population knew of, anyway.
Shifting back into the shadows of the small dwellings, I watched and waited as night fell completely. Alucius was growling low, as she had been since they’d marched off with Hayle and Braxus.
Something had gone wrong; I knew it in my chest. However, I was in the dark about exactly what. Alucius’s growl suddenlycut off with a yelp, and I swung my gaze down to look at her. Her eyes, normally cunning and predatory, had gone wide with confusion. Then she shot off, disappearing into the crowd.
“Alucius!” I hissed, but she didn’t return. She didn’t even turn back to look at me.Fucking hounds.
Hopping a small stone fence, I stole a shirt off the clothesline at the back of someone’s house, flicking a gold coin from my pocket into the grass. I needed to blend in with the general population, if I was to find out what the fuck was going on. I grabbed a hat off the hook beside the back door of the house and mentally apologized again. Hopefully, the punishment for thievery in the Ninth Line wasn’t losing your hands, the way it was in Fortaare.
Better disguised, I moved back toward the large manor that housed the Baron of the Ninth Line and his family. If I could get inside a side entrance, maybe I could listen in on the conversation of the staff. Or I could go in there, powers blazing, and suck the life out of Roman Halhed until he told me what he was up to.
I preferred option two.
Stepping into the market square, I kept my head down as I dodged the carts of vendors packing up for the day and heading back to their little, rundown homes. I didn’t want anyone to remember me, or make the connection between me and the First Line. There were spies everywhere, even up here in the frozen north.
When I made it to the other side of the square, I breathed a sigh of relief. Halfway there.
Then I slipped around the corner and straight into the point end of a dagger.
The cold metal pierced the flesh of my stomach, and for a moment, I stared down at it in shock. It didn’t even hurt, despite being buried to the hilt in my gut.
Well, it didn’t hurt… until it did. Until radiating pain of the worst kind flooded every cell in my body, my knees going weak as they gave way and then hit the dirt.
Stanlus let go of the dagger, letting it fall with me. “Ah, little Heir. You’ve been busy,” my father’s favored soldier said in a voice filled with rage and cruelty. “You should have remembered that the First Line believes in an eye for an eye. A life for a life.” He leaned closer until all I could feel was the fetid warmth of his breath on my face. “An Heir for an Heir. He’s coming for your little girlfriend. For the Second Line scum.” He kicked me in the ribs. “Fucking traitor.”
Someone shouted, and Stanlus looked up, snarling. He kicked the dagger, still in my gut, making the pain become blinding hot as it tore through my insides. Stanlus’s boots disappeared from my spotty vision, and then it was just… nothing.
Dirt and darkness. This was where I died.
I sent up a mental apology to Avalon, who had loved me, despite the fact I’d never deserved her. Would she even know I’d died, or would she think I’d abandoned her? Would she think to go back, or would it be too late?
I asked the Goddess to protect her, even though I’d never done anything to earn the Goddess’s favor. I’d ask anyway, for Avalon.
Then I let go and fell into the darkness of death.
