She grunted in acknowledgement as I walked toward Ember. She was speaking with one of the Feared. I only caught the end of their conversation as I approached.
“They’ll forever see you as his tool,” the woman said, her eyes darting nervously toward me. She straightened upon noticing my proximity. “Thank you for speaking with me.”
Ember barely had a chance to say goodbye before the woman retreated. I recognized her. Nissa, I thought her name was. She had been one of the women Alaric had recruited.She’d had a bad run-in with the Blessed, but she refused to leave the city, so Alaric had brought her here.
I watched her go and turned to Ember. “I know you can take care of yourself, but … she should know better than to call you the king’s tool. Especially after the agreement from everyone here tonight.”
Ember’s laugh was almost musical. She pushed her long blond hair over her shoulder. “She meant they’d forever see me asyourtool, Hart. Not his. I seemed to have cleansed myself of Rodric’s brand. Yours, however, is harder to fight.”
I worked my jaw in frustration, unsure how to respond.
She rested her gloved hand on my arm. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. I assume you’re ready to leave?”
She barely waited for my nod before turning to see Alysa waiting at the door. We moved through the crowd toward her.
“Ready? Where’s Reid?”
Alysa’s anger seemed to get the better of her as she chewed on her lip. “He’s staying.”
Ember didn’t press. “Alright, let’s go.”
The streets were too empty for my liking as we returned to the steep paths to the castle. Though Harrow would stay to deliver messages from Reid, his first task was to escort us out of the city. That bird gave me the creeps, but I couldn’t deny his usefulness.
We crossed the exposed hillside and ducked into the hedge-lined paths of the garden. We hadn’t walked far when the bird’s warning caw sounded, and voices reached us from the path ahead. We tucked into the orchard. The rows of trees had given Ember and me cover on our first escape. I pressed Ember into the trunk now, my body a shield covering her. Alysa hid behind a tree in the next row.
The echo of the bird’s cry faded, and a familiar voice broke through. “The report was credible. He’ll be here.”
What was Elias doing in the gardens at this hour?
My conversation with him at Forest’s Edge had left me with nothing but regret. I had no clear picture of what he thought of this mess. He proved unable to fully betray our father, although talking to me at all would be considered treason to Rodric. Hundreds of years of striving for acceptance couldn’t be overcome in one conversation. I’d left Elias here. I’d let Rodric shape him. As with everything from the time of my summons, if I had thought of anyone besides myself, things might have been different.
Ember’s hand gripped my arm. I glanced down at her, and she pulled my forehead to hers so we shared breaths. She must have sensed my frustration, my guilt, my … I wasn’t actually sure which emotion would linger on her senses now. Either way, she soothed me with the calming effect of only her touch.
I couldn’t change my past actions. I could make new choices—choices that represented the man I wanted to be, not the man I had been.
“He’s here,” Elias continued. “He got in somehow. You know what my father will do to you if they’re seen again and disappear.”
The guard’s throat bobbed at the obvious threat. Alysa, Ember, and I held our breaths as the pair passed. I didn’t think I imagined the way Elias’s eyes scanned the rows of trees in which we sheltered.
Before he passed, my least favorite person met him on the path.
“Anything?” Vaddon asked.
The slimy bastard had always thought too highly of himself. It was evident in the way he demanded information from Elias. My father had promoted him because he was competent and willing to get his hands dirty. Over time, hisusefulness to Rodric went unchanged. If anything, he seemed more secure in his position.
Ember silently gripped my wrist, urging me to calm as if she could feel my anger boiling. I guessed she probably could.
“We cannot fail this time,” Vaddon said. He ran a hand through his slicked-back hair as he addressed my brother with little deference.
Elias shook his head. “Perhaps if you’d let me handle it, we wouldn’t have shown up in force and scared him off.”
Vaddon snorted. “You mean as you did with the raid on Forest’s Edge? Don’t think I don’t know what that was really about.”
The advisor’s words turned venomous, and I could only wonder at the battle of wills between the two.
Vaddon stepped forward, leaning in close to make his point. “You wanted to deliver the book I’d spent weeks searching for. You wanted to appear as a hero to your father. Trust me, Prince, he’ll never see you as such. Especially with your mythical brother pulling strings throughout the city.”
I couldn’t see well enough in the low light, but I was sure Elias’s cheeks reddened. He’d always hated being compared to me. I wondered if Vaddon’s accusation was true. Elias seemed to have stolen the book from under his nose during the raid. It would have been Elias who presented the key to Father changing his fate. I could only imagine that earned him favor. Yet he also hadn’t done much to stop me from perusing the book myself—to learn what Father sought to do.
