“I would prefer that, as well,” Marsen said. “There are too many guards in the hallway to get you there that way, but there are other ways to move through Lodie Palace.”
“The passages,” Ellis whispered, eyes widening in realization.
“Yes. There isn’t one directly into the tower, of course, but I can get us close while avoiding the guards.”
Eiri pushed aside the anger, the fear, the frustration and rage and everything churning inside him, focusing himself down to one simple goal: find Syrus. He didn’t entirely trust this man, but he was the best option they had at this point. They couldn’t go any further on their own and if Marsen led them into a trap, it would only hasten the inevitable.
Mind made up, he stepped away from Ellis, forcing his exhausted body to stand up straight when he faced Marsen. “Take us to Syrus.”
The tower lay before them, a stretch of empty grass separating Eiri from the door. Ellis, Xan, and Marsen crouched beside him, all of them ducking behind a row of hedges. It was the only cover to be had on this side of the palace.
Marsen’s plan had the four of them climbing out the window of the room he’d pulled them into and hugging the palace wall for several minutes as they crept across the grounds, only to crawl back through another window. It had been warded, but Xan and Marsen together were able to undo it and allow them to get inside. The room he brought them to appeared to be the living quarters of a courtier, but it was empty at the moment.
No tapestry or furniture hid the passage Marsen sought. It wasn’t necessary. The wall appeared to be one solid expanse of stone until the older man touched what appeared to be a tiny chip in the stone. The spot was high up, enough so that Marsen had to stretch to reach it despite his height, likely to preventanyone from accidentally finding it. The moment he touched it, a crack appeared, following the jagged contours of the stone wall. With a little effort, a narrow door opened before them, leading into utter darkness.
When they slipped inside and closed the secret door behind them, only the faint lights from the mages kept the darkness at bay. Marsen took the lead, with Xan bringing up the rear. None of them spoke a word as they moved through the passage. Occasionally, Eiri heard voices and sounds from beyond the walls as they passed through other rooms, but no one discovered them. The passage continued on, but they didn’t follow the full length, instead stepping through another door and emerging into what appeared to be an abandoned garden on the east side of the palace. Eiri couldn’t help the flash of disgust when he saw the place. How much of this massive palace lay abandoned and forgotten? The wastefulness of it appalled him.
“How do we get inside?” he whispered, impatience gnawing at him. Every second they wasted trying to get to the tower was another second not knowing if Syrus still lived. The guards outside the observatory kept them away, but surely if Syrus were truly dead, they wouldn’t be guarding his body so heavily? He had to believe that or he would completely break down. Syrus was alive. There was no other option.
“Xan and I may be able to disable them,” Marsen said with a glance at the younger mage beside him. “Do you keep amethyst dust on hand?”
Like Eiri, Xan still didn’t fully trust Marsen, but he seemed to realize the older man was their only chance of getting into the tower. He nodded, eyes darting between the guards and Marsen.
“A sleep spell? That won’t be easy at this range.”
“It’s the best option we have. If we try to fight them, we risk one soundingthe alarm.”
“Whatever you’re going to do, please hurry.” Ellis crouched beside the two mages, his eyes locked on the tower. His lashes were wet with the tears he struggled to hold back, and Eiri was reminded again of just how young Ellis was. The prince had barely reached adulthood, but already he’d been forced to face the reality of how hard the world truly was.
From the corner of his eye, Eiri saw Xan reach for Ellis, but he stopped himself before actually touching the younger man.
“I’ll take the two on the right,” he said, instead reaching for the bag at his waist that held spell components. Marsen nodded wordlessly and did the same, both withdrawing a handful of fine powder. Again, Eiri felt their magic brush his own, strange but still familiar. Marsen glanced over at him for just a moment, brow furrowed, but didn’t say anything.
Using his knife, Xan sketched a rough sigil in the dirt at his feet, cutting it into the damp earth. He and Marsen both placed their free hands on it and their magic surged, scraping against Eiri’s senses. Beside him, Ellis shivered, whether from the chill in the air or fear for his brother, Eiri couldn’t say.
He couldn’t see the shape of the magic Xan and Marsen wrought, but he clearly saw the effect. The four guards stationed outside the observatory listed to the side, struggling to stay upright as the spell took over their senses. The nearest of them belatedly reached for a small whistle hanging from her belt, but couldn’t lift it before the combined magic of the two mages hit her. She fell to her knees beside her compatriots, then crumpled to the ground.
“Go!” Xan hissed. “We’ll hold concentration on the spell as long as we can, but you have to hurry.”
Eiri didn’t need to be told twice. He knew the risk of encountering more guards was high, but he was past caring. Drawing on every bit of strength he had left, he darted across the grass with Ellis at his heels. The four soldiers outsidetwitched as he passed, clearly fighting the unnatural sleep, but they didn’t open their eyes. The door itself wasn’t locked, but he spotted wards carved into the wooden frame. The symbols didn’t stop them, and as much as he wanted to believe they were inert, it seemed more likely that the wards had sounded the alarms the guard hadn’t been able to.
His suspicions heightened when he and Ellis made it up the stairs and into the room without being accosted. The spiraling staircase seemed endless, his legs shaking with exhaustion by the time they spilled out into the room. What little energy he’d regained was long gone, and only pure desperation kept him on his feet. The moment he stopped, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get back up.
From the outside, the old observatory tower hadn’t been very impressive. Inside was a completely different story. The entire ceiling was made of glass, allowing a full view of the sky above. A metal frame supported the glass, set in a crosshatch pattern, and at every joint he spotted protective sigils set into the metal to prevent the glass from shattering. After sunset, it would provide a spectacular view of the sky while also providing protection from the elements. Now, it just showed a mass of roiling gray clouds overhead.
There were no walls here. Everything opened into one large room. Desks lined the walls, interspersed with shelves that once must have overflowed with books and charts, but now sat empty. A thick layer of dust covered everything, making the footprints on the floor stand out like a beacon.
Eiri followed the trail from where he stood all the way across the room before he finally realized what he was seeing. Someone had been here, and recently. The trail ended at the far wall, where one section of the open room lay partitioned off by a tall shelf. The marks in the dust showed it had been moved from its spot against the wall to create a small nook in the back.
That had to be a good sign. It had to be. He latched onto that vain hope, clinging to it with everything he had. It wasn’t much, but it gave him just barely enough strength to keep going, using the wall for support. His lungs burned with every breath and his knees shook, but he stayed upright.
“Be careful,” he whispered to Ellis, and the younger man shook himself, pushing aside his shock and coming to Eiri’s side, supporting him so they could cross the room together. He’d never felt this level of bone-deep, debilitating exhaustion in his life, where even breathing took almost more effort than he could manage.
Clutching the edge of the shelf, he circled around the side. His knees hit something solid, and he saw it was a metal bed frame, but that realization came and went in the blink of an eye, because on that metal bed lay Syrus Vardor.
Syrus lay on his back, a thin blanket covering him, not that the threadbare material would provide much protection from the chill in the room. His dark skin had gone ashen, his lips dry, and a thin sheen of sweat dotted his face. Eiri took all that in as he clung to Ellis, his head spinning. It wasn’t until he saw Syrus’ chest rise in a shallow breath that he could move, that sight giving him just enough energy to stumble forward. The bed sat against the wall, leaving less than a foot of space between the back of the shelf and the bed frame, but Eiri easily slipped into the narrow space. He buckled when he reached Syrus, exhaustion and relief sending him to his knees. He felt more than heard Ellis collapse beside him.
“Syrus,” he whispered. His forehead hit the thin mattress, his eyes burning with tears. Somehow, against all odds, Syrus lived. They could still fix things. He couldapologize, and they could finally explore how good they would be together. Everything would be alright.
