“What?” Talon shrugged. “He may not be as bad as we thought. Maybe he did actually help.”
They casually trod through different areas of the autumn equinox festival, not raising attention to their party. Once they reached the outer ring of Athusia, the crowds had thinned, the music faded, and the lights were extinguished other than the almost-full moon and shining stars.
Alarm bells rang across the city.
The horses picked up into a gallop. Pain lanced through Iyana’s entire body. She was on fire, pins poking everywhere. Her healing lashes broke open again, trickling blood down the small of her back. A sob stuck in her throat, and that hurt too; she wasn’t able to release it.
Then Altair placed his warm hand over her forehead, his magic flooding through her, and sweet, merciful darkness took her.
She lay in a heap, shrouded in darkness. Her bones were broken, her skin flayed, her mind confused. It was obvious her body had been through some trauma, but the pain was distant. An echo. She was content to lie still in the dark, waiting for her body to heal. Or waiting to die.
A warm hand brushed her hair back. Fingers continued to stroke her hair lovingly.
“I’m here, Mouse. You’re going to be okay.”
Emmeric. He placed a tender kiss on her forehead.
“I’ve got you. You can sleep, Mouse. You’re safe.”
Her body drifted away on a breeze, and she slept.
Chapter 25
Zane
Standing at his bedroom window overlooking the courtyard, he watched three horses walk off the castle grounds freely and unopposed. Zane sat in his plush wingback chair, crossing an ankle over his other knee, and unfurled the scroll he’d found in the library. He read it again, but just like the other dozen times he’d perused it over the past couple days, no further secrets revealed themselves. Iyana was important. He felt that in his bones. From what he'd gleaned out of the brief document, it seemed the Aztia and Kanaliza had played a much more important role hundreds of years ago. But sometime within the past three centuries, they’d become redundant, or complacent. There were no significant threats to the fate of humanity, so they had faded into obscurity. He wondered if any of the Aztias before Iyana had inherently understood that they were special. Or what if they needed their Kanaliza to unlock their magic? What would happen if they didn’t find each other?
As soon as he’d recognized what was in the vial that Emmeric had dropped, he’d had an overwhelming sense in the pit of his stomach that his next actions would direct fate. Not only his, but the continent’s. The world’s. Zane scoffed at himself and his obviously over-inflated ego. How could he possibly control anyone’s fate? He wasn’t even in control of his own life. All the same, two options had presented themselves: arrest Emmeric for aiding a prisoner of the crown and stand by while the emperor executed him, or purposefully ignore the situation and defy his father. For the past nineteen years of his life, he’d always chosen the first option. Acquiesced to Uther’s wishes and demands at the expense of others.
But he’d been silent for too long.
So he gave the vial back, hoped nobody else had seen and that Emmeric was smart enough to take a hint. Zane guessed a rescue attempt would be forthcoming. He wouldn’t expect anyone to sneak into the dungeon to give a prisoner contraband andnothave some grand scheme planned. As he thought more on it, he realized that the autumn equinox would be the nighthewould plan for. Most people would be out celebrating, it was loud, and the guards could typically be found drinking out of flasks and playing poker. There was no way for Zane to confirm they were planning an escape attempt—let alone one the night of the equinox—without revealing himself. He could, however, assist from the sidelines. If it turned out there was no rescue, then Zane was free and clear. No harm, no foul.
Other than his own two personal guards, his father’s guards, and the two in the dungeon, he’d offered the majority the night off. Some took him up on the offer, no questions asked. Some decided they’d rather work anyway; others questioned why, to which he’d said they worked so hard and rarely had time to themselves, and when was the last time someone was attacked within the castle, anyway? He hoped the skeleton crew would pave the way for Emmeric, and, he assumed, Talon. Those two didn’t seem to do anything without the other. A twinge of jealousy hit Zane’s heart, but was it because he lacked a friendship in which one would do anything for the other? Or because it was Talon, specifically? He didn’t want to walk that road, especially since Talon rode out of the city with Iyana and would now be branded as a traitor.
He briefly wondered who was on the third horse, the one carrying Iyana.
After an hour had passed, he opened his doors with a grand flourish, startling the two men outside. It wasn’t the twins, but instead the stand-ins he used when the twins or Emmeric and Talon were unavailable. Zane didn’t know their names and had no desire to learn.
“Your Highness?” one of them asked.
“I’d like to pay a visit to our esteemed guest,” he said, in the most haughty, spoiled prince voice he could muster.
“Guest, my lord?” the other asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.
“Yes, the woman in the dungeons.” The men glanced at each other, a silent conversation occurring; they knew the prince was forbidden from entering the dungeons. “I’ve taken a…special interest in her.” He winked and immediately feltshame coat him like a second skin. One guard finally nodded, and they escorted him down into the belly of the castle. Neither of them wanted to be on the crown prince’s bad side.
As they traveled, he pondered about the star his father was so interested in. What was it for? And what did Uther mean when he said ‘they’? That made it sound as though the star was a person. Unfortunately, his searches for any information on stars had proved fruitless. He planned on making a trip to the healer university to search their library.
Lost in his thoughts, they quickly reached the entrance to the dungeon where two men dressed in the Holygazer green uniform lay unconscious. His two guards ran to check on them and declared they were still living. Zane walked into the dungeon room, the smell of unwashed bodies and feces hitting him in the face. Someone protested him entering the space, but he paid them no mind. He had to know, to see it for himself. Grubby, skinny hands grabbed at him as he passed by, and he let them, his disgust for his father’s actions growing. Towards the back, a cell door stood wide open, the iron lock melted completely. What in the nine hells was capable of such destruction?
Looking past the door, he saw the cell was empty. Iyana was gone. Zane strode back to the entrance rapidly, snapping his fingers at his men in a command to follow him. They glanced towards the unconscious guards, but decided not to risk the prince’s wrath, and fell into step behind him.
“The prisoner has escaped,” Zane announced.
The men spluttered. “How?” one asked.
“Should we ring the bells?” the other asked.
