Three blurry faces waver above me. I blink until they come into focus.
Eldy. Marigold. Astrid.
With my vision comes the rest: blaring pain in my skull, my ears, my shoulder, my leg, my ribs. Every piece of me aching and raw. The memories come next. Armored gloves and boots pounding at my bones. Divine weapons in the hands of thieves.
I should be dead.
I force myself to a sitting position. The three of them take to fussing: hands on my back, the clucking of tongues.
There’s no time for this.
“You should stay lying down,” Astrid says. “You were in rough shape when we found you.”
I put a hand to my brow, feeling the sutures. Eldy has always had a steady hand with a needle and thread. Then I touch my ears.
The skin is rough and hot. Cauterized. Another healing trick of the majordomo.
My honor—my helm—wasn’t enough for Kairyn. He had to mutilate me, too.
“How did you find me?” I ask, voice raw.
“We weren’t going to stay in that city without you.” Marigold crosses her arms. “Not with the boy-tyrant running the shop.”
“Where are we?” I put my hand on Eldy’s shoulder to hoist myself to my feet. Astrid gives a cry of alarm and immediately runs to my other side, helping to steady me.
My head clears a little as I look around. I don’t recognize it—it’s a barren wasteland. Dead grass wilts over dry soil. A waterfall roars, running into a black lake. And a bone-white willow tree stands sentinel in the middle of the grove…
“This is my doing,” I whisper.
“Lie back down, dearie,” Marigold says softly. “You’ve been through enough.”
Eldy looks at his feet. “We didn’t know where else to take you. All of Spring is under Kairyn’s watch. And Prince Daytonales and Prince Keldarion are being held captive. There is no word on the location of Prince Farron.”
My voice is low, controlled. “Where. Is. She.”
Their wary glances at one another are all I need to know.
They took her. The witch and the knights.They took her from me.
I push away from the group.
Marigold runs beside me. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“To save her.”
“Sire, you’re still injured!”
Though my bones are bruised, my skin torn, I have breath in my lungs and my heart still beats. I don’t even bother to look at them as I find my footing and stride forward. “You three have seen me well tended. You have my gratitude.”
Now, it’s Eldy who stands in my path. His eyes waver, a pained expression on his face. He was my father’s most loyal advisor all these years, a mentor to me as I grew. He was always more family than servant. And now he stands before me in defiance. “Ezryn, you have no weapon.”
“I will make do.” I push past him.
His voice rings out true, honest: “You have no Blessing.”
The reminder rips through my body like fingers plucking at the empty part of me.
Stupid, trusting fool,Kairyn laughs in my head.You always had to be perfect, didn’t you? The perfect son. The perfect leader. The perfect brother. Your self-righteous honor led you to giving up the one thing that may have been able to save her.
