He’s gone. He’s really gone.
The Arx Magnum leers. ‘If I might be so bold, Radiance. You’renotlooking especially luminous tonight – rather pale and sickly, truth told. Are you indisposed?’ He’s goading me, tugging my edges to see if I’ll fray.
‘Indisposed?’ The word scrapes my throat. ‘I’m sick to my stomach. I’d rather return to that cell you’re keeping me in than remain here with you for a moment longer. You’ve got what you wanted anyway.’ I glower at the other members of his ministry. ‘Paraded me before your minions.’
‘We can certainly make that arrangement a permanent one, if you prefer.’ The Arx Magnum’s smile shifts from oily to vicious. ‘Guards, take the prisoner to her room.’
I keep my head high as I’m re-shackled and dragged roughly by the elbows.
If Astrophel has betrayed us, then it’s down to me. I’ll keep trying to summon starshine, ask Orthriel to search for the Celestial Chain. If I embrace my powers, really embrace them, maybe they’ll answer me… Even if it means embracing the monstrous parts of myself, I won’t abandon the others to the Arx Magnum’s foul plans.
Not without a fight.
*
YOUCAN’TFIGHTan enemy you can’t see, and I haven’t seen a soul save the silent sister who brings me food morning and night since they locked me back in my cell after that first dinner. I’ve been confined here for well over a moonscycle, and still, my magic is treacherous. Still, it refuses to answer my call. I should have known better than to place my faith in something star-cursed.
Has the Arx Magnum sent word to my father? Is civil war brewing beyond these walls? I stroke the frayed silk I restored to the end of my braid. My poor mother. I can’t bear to imagine her reaction to the letter, the toll it will take on her. Carmentis warned she must be protected from sudden shocks. I pray my father keeps it from her.
Crossing to the washstand, I splash my face, but even icy water can’t cleanse my mind of the dark thoughts that crowd it. The Faceless Woman still plagues my dreams. I can’t escape those phantom eyes tracking my every move, that pitiless laugh, the bitter choke of invisible smoke. I move to the other side of my cell and twitch the curtains back.
This narrow slit is my only window onto the world. Snow now sugars the ground, sparkling in the moonslight, which casts a bruised blush over the city. The moons are moving to waxing gibbous; they’ll soon be full again. The permafrost might have put an end to true seasons in Estelia, but it seems to have grown colder – as though Thaw has still given way to White – while I’ve been imprisoned in this tower.
I’ve had no news of the Outrealmers, just nightmarish imaginings to torture myself with. Visions of those gibbet cages. True visions? Dark mirrors? I can’t tell. Orthriel refuses to search the dungeons after the Arx Magnum made those threats against me. Won’t even look for the Celestial Chain, no matter how I beg. They’ve been distant. Still haven’t materialised. Ashamed they can’t protect me, that they’re frailer than they’ll admit.
And that’s another sobering thought. How much longer can the ebbing spark of my Guardian’s heartcrystal possibly endure without the Aether in the tincture to sustain them?
Heavy boot-crunch on snow pulls my attention to the street below my window. Astrophel. What’s he doing out at this time of night again? Briar trundles alongside him, tethered by a bridle. Still alive, Stars be praised, but her pearly coat is bloodied and she’s gaunt, ribs jutting sharp against taut skin. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen them together on these nocturnal excursions, but each time wrenches my heart like the first. Where’s he taking her? Why’s he doing this? Something about this picture is wrong, but he’s too far away to read him, though I try every time he passes under my window, hoping, praying, he hasn’t forsaken us. That he’s got a plan.
I called out to him the first few nights, but he strode on as if he hadn’t heard me. Didn’t miss a step. Eventually, I gave up trying.
Betrayal.The memory of the hatred lacing that single word, that single thought, when I read it in Astrophel’s mind, erases any speck of stubborn hope still remaining. How far has that betrayal gone? Has Astrophel told the Arx Magnum the true reason we journeyed through the realm? The true reason for our alliance? Will he now seek the lost sceptre himself?
Thank the Stars I never disclosed its location to Astrophel. That’s one secret he can’t betray.
I press my cheek to the frosted glass, watching my betrothed stalk into the night. Indignation seethes, blistering as the ignastium ore simmering within the Burning Mountain. How can Astrophel treat a sylvanmare like this? He twitches the bit between Briar’s teeth, driving her forwards with a lash of his whip. I wince as the crack reverberates the deserted streets. Hurling myself onto my bed, I screw my eyes shut as another crack echoes up to my chamber.
It’s the snap of my last thread of faith in him.
LEAP OF FAITH
LEILANI
‘WAKEUP.’
I jolt upwards, recognising the voice hissing in the darkness, that scent of sweet hay and soft leather.
A scream bubbles up my throat, but Astrophel silences it, pressing his palm hard against my mouth. His free arm brandishes his Crescent Sword.
‘Don’t move. Don’t make a sound. Understand?’
My eyes stretch wide as I nod. Does he mean to kill me? Defile me? Astrophel releases his hand slowly and I gulp for air as he tosses something at me.
Something that glitters.
‘Get dressed, we’re getting out of here.’
He points to a pile of clothes lying atop a small pack on the floor beside a stack of bedsheets. ‘Gather essentials into that pack, then rip those sheets into strips, knot them to form a rope. Tie one end to the bedpost and wait. When you hear three whistles, I need you to toss the rope from the window and climb down. Be ready to run.’ He turns for the door.
