I knew that Prince Claudian felt much stronger about the state of our world. In the years that we had worked together, Claudian had made it very clear that he would rule over all of Szrestia if it were up to him. I had the ever growing suspicion over the last few months that that was exactly the prince’s ultimate plan.
After all, he had paid me to eliminate countless individuals close to the king. He was constantly whispering in dark corners with his spymaster. As time went on, the prince became more and more desperate. His subtle tasks and movements before had been replaced with outright murder.
It was unsurprising. I expected royalty to be cruel.
They cared for themselves first and always. There was no doubt in my mind that the prince would kill everyone living in Ordelés, and half of his own citizens in Acsilla, if it meant that he would be made King of Szrestia.
What I could not figure out was how Seren Corso fit into the narrative, and why her return by the solstice was so important.
But I was not paid to judge the morality of my employer. I was paid to get the job done. I had not failed before, the stakes were far too high. I would certainly not fail now, with Claudian’s threat a looming blade above my throat.
Equinox huffed to a stop, flank swaying as she shifted her hooves in the shadow of the curtain wall. There were cracks in the low stone that would make for suitable handholds had I needed to scale my way across, but there was also a small wrought iron gate beside an old watchtower.
I watched with baited breath, waiting as the minutes ticked by.
Not a single Guardian took up the post.
“Are humans truly so ignorant as to leave the gate to their kingdom unguarded?” I whispered to Equinox. “Or is it their hubris?”
She snorted a disinterested reply.
“Ahh.” I nodded sagely. “Yes, ignorance. I believe you’re right, old girl.”
I settled Equinox beyond the tree line, carefully noting our point of entrance.
“Be ready. We may need to make a hasty get away,” I told her, rubbing her soft snout with affection.
I straightened my cloak and marched back toward the gate. I slipped through with ease, securing the latch behind me. The southern edge of the curtain wall led me around the outskirts of the grounds.
The clash of steel rang in the distance, and my feet carried me toward it on instinct.
A grand structure rose before me, all sharp edges. Sunlight glared off its long windows, momentarily blinding me.
I raised an arm, shadowing my gaze, and I found that I was not alone.
Mágik swelled within my chest, ready and waiting to be wielded.
“Who goes there?” The figure shouted, drawing his sword as he approached.
I harnessed my mágik, wrapping a blanket of calm around him. I embedded in him the urge to heed my command—forced it deep in his chest. “Follow me.”
He wove through the shadow of the great building, never taking his unblinking eyes from me. Where I moved, he followed.
The long stretch of courtyards and bubbling fountains disappeared as I positioned us between the curtain wall and the cathedral. I wondered for a brief moment who they worshipped there—it certainly wasn't the Three Goddesses. The humans had turned their backs on our faith long ago.
“You’re going to help me,” I commanded, tightening my mágik around his will.
He nodded, slack-jawed.
“Fucking hell…” I loosened my hold, the barest whisper, and awareness flooded back into his eyes. “I’m looking for a Guardian within your ranks.”
“Who?” He asked, voice flat. His eyes darted to my left a split second before the whistle of steel cut through the air.
I jerked away, but the second Guardian was already swinging.
She brought her sword in a sweeping arc that would have lopped my head clean off had my mágik not leapt to my call—eager, hungry.
I wrestled writhing bands of air around her weapon, ripping it from her grasp without laying a finger upon it.
