It was damned unheard of!
Kian had been the perfect spy, and his intelligence had led us to free more humans than ever before. Not to mention, thanks to him, we got Asteria out. Who knows how long such a task would have taken otherwise? Calix wouldn’t have taken her against her will, and she wouldn’t have trusted us without Kian’s promises.
“Okay,” Kian sighed, jolting me from my thoughts.
“Okay?” I asked, my brow rising in suspicion. He’d fought me on this for months, after all.
Kian rolled his eyes, smirking a bit as he began to gather his things. “Yes,okay. I see your point, and I’m going mad under Cyrus’s watch anyway. I can’t get a damn thing done.”
“Thank Nox,” I said, relieved to finally be getting him out of here.
“We just need to do one last thing here,” Kian told me, distracted as he finished gathering what he needed. Most of it was already ready to go in his standard emergency bag.
All spies knew the day may come when running became necessary for their survival.
“And what’s that?” I asked wearily, tired from the long day and the madness of the battle.
Kian paused, looking up at me critically. He made his way over to me and paused, before lifting his hand and running it through my dark hair. My eyes fluttered closed as Kian continued to massage his fingers back and forth.
The moment of peace was more needed than I could express. The horror of everything I’d seen in Dusk the last few months was constantly swirling in my thoughts, waking me up in the middle of the night in a rough sweat, with panic and vomit both racing up equally.
After a few minutes, my pink eyes fluttered open, finding Kian’s intense blue stare on me. A charged moment passed between us, and I wasn’t at all sure what I wanted to do. Temptation had been distant with everything going on, but whenever I was with Kian, it came barreling right back.
His body swayed toward me, and I couldn’t help leaning a bit to meet him. We passed a beat in heavy silence, our eyes locked on one another as possibilities raced between us. But a beat was all we had—all we could have. Kian’s fingers paused as his eyes turned stormy, and he pulled himself away quickly. I sighed heavily, standing up as Kian stepped back. We remained quiet as he grabbed his bag, then he turned toward the door, determination on his face.
He still hadn’t told me what we were doing.
I rolled my eyes but pulled my sword, trusting Kian had a good reason for this. Between the two of us, we cut down the guards assigned to his door and quickly slipped down the hall.
I paused for a moment outside Twyla’s door, noticing the lack of guards. I looked at Kian curiously, and he smirked back at me.
“I got her out before he locked me up, before Vikal and Carrina even,” he scoffed, shaking his head. “Cyrus hasn't even noticed she’s missing. She didn’t want to go south, so she flew off somewhere. She wasn’t sure where she was going. But she’s been locked up in this palace her whole damn life. It’s time for her to finally fly free.”
His small smile was sad but content in the knowledge his little sister was safe and protected from the court she never fit quite right in.
“What about Weylin?” he asked suddenly. “Any news?”
“He still hasn’t been spotted,” I admitted, hating to see the light dim in his eyes. “I’m hoping with your help, we make our way to the border camp and see if he’s just busy, or if Cyrus has stashed him somewhere.”
“He’s Cyrus’s heir until he has a legitimate one,” Kian murmured as we continued through the halls, slipping into the dark passages meant for the slaves to move around unseen by the nobles.
“Perhaps. Who knows who the gods may choose,” I reminded him with a raised brow, “Our queen certainly wasn’t expected after all.”
“True.” Kian conceded with a nod. “But Cyrus won’t consider the rest of us. Weylin has been enemy number one in his eyes for years. Our father antagonizing him by using Weylin led to both of them seeing the other as being in their way.”
“A dumb move,” I told him bluntly.
Kian snickered quietly, nodding in agreement. But he paused as we slid around the next corner, coming to a familiar door.
“The dungeons?” I asked, and Kian sent a smirk back at me before charging through the door. I sighed, rolling my eyes upwards before darting after him.
Only a few guards were on duty, and upon seeing Kian and I, they moved to grab their swords. But the blonde guard paused, removing his hand from the hilt and instead put a hand over his fellow guard’s, stopping him with the sword halfway out of its sheath.
“You have pink eyes,” he observed quietly, and Kian and I looked at one another in confusion. This was definitely not how I expected this to go. “That means you’re from Night Kingdom. You serve Asteria.”
“That’s Queen Asteria to you,” I growled, not willing to take a Dusk soldier's disrespect for my Queen.
The fair-haired Fae smiled, shaking his head. “Of course. Queen Asteria deserved better than what she got here; I’m glad she’s found it elsewhere.”
