“They’re over there!” the merchant shouts. When I glance behind us, he’s pointing a finger at us as several guards rush through the crowd.
Finding our last bits of strength, we shove through the bodies around us. My hand is tight on Connor’s as I try to pull him through. As we cut down an alley, I turn to him.
I hiss at him, “This is it. You go and don’t turn back and I’ll distract them.”
“No—”
“Connor!” I snap, frantically tucking my most prized possession—our father’s family ring—into his pocket. “I willneverforgive you if you let them take you.”
“Mother will wither away, don’t you see that!” he spits back. “If they don’t take me, what will I go back to, hmm? After everything, not only have I lost the one person I truly love, but I’ve lost myentirereputation. No one will want to hire me, let alone look my way. It’s already happened to mother! Out of all of us, you have the most promising future. You have the King’s favor already.”
“Then I’ll use his favor for a different option!”
He shakes his head and I try to shove him away as the guards round the corner for us. “Go!” I scream. I shove him harder, almost pushing him to the ground. “Go!” I shout harder with tears glistening in my eyes.
His stubbornness is as strong as mine. As the guards tackle him to theground and pull my arms behind my back, I cry out. Kicking my legs. “It wasn’t him that killed the priest, it was me! You have to believe me!”
I writhe and fling back against my captors. “I killed him and I would do it again!”
Connor’s face is shoved down onto the dirty cobblestones, one eye sliding up to me as they shackle his wrists and drag him up.
“Tell them!” I scream at Connor. “Tell them it's a lie! Tell them it was me!”
But he doesn’t look my way again.
It’s the last time I see him as they cart him off.
Six months ago.
“You do realize if he’s even still alive, he’s probably wishing he was dead?” a man’s voice comes from behind me.
I whip to the black hooded figure who stops beside me. Only a sharp nose and set of thin lips is visible. Turning my attention back to the guards patrolling around Millton’s prison, I hiss, “Piss off.”
The guards circle around the gated bottom portion of the prison. It’s a staggering build of cold stone towers. Growing taller as they’ve had to expand over the years. A single tunnel bridge leads from its gated entrance to us on its outskirts with another gate.
I was on the other side of this gate. Not for long, though. Once they captured and brought us back from Southlight, no matter how hard I tried to explain I was responsible for the priest’s death, no one would listen. They saw me as the desperate sister, rather than the trained soldier. One who’d have no problem killing. My truth fell on deaf ears.
They let me go. Released with a hefty fine for assisting a fugitive. I tried to send letters to Cyrus for an appeal to put me in Connor’s place. But as a commoner now, it’s pointless. Letters from the public aren’t accepted. And I couldn’t exactly storm his castle to ask in person, for fear of leavingConnor in Millton and chancing they do a public execution with the priest’s family as a willing audience.
My mother showed yesterday. Letting me know King Cyrus sent me a letter, calling upon me for a special project. But I couldn’t accept it. Still can’t leave Connor for a sinIcommitted.
Even if Connor wasn’t imprisoned, I’m not sure I could face Cyrus again. Not after everything. I hadn’t cried until the castle faded from my view. It was a painful goodbye. But one that was needed—I spent too long falling into him. Too long letting him break my walls down, changing my mind on what was important to me. I didn’t want to become someone else. Someone soft. Someone who was dependent on a man like air in my lungs.
It’s better this way.
This is who I am. Who I’m trying to convince myself I’mmeantto be.
The hooded man asks, “Tell me. Now that you’ve been at this for months with no success, what’s it going to take for you to give up?”
“I’m not going to give up,” I grumble, not wanting to give the man next to me any more attention.
He hums in appreciation. “I respect your tenacity. What if I told you, there’s a guaranteed way you could free your brother?”
I drop my arms from being crossed over my chest as I turn to look at the man. “What? And what would be in it for you?”
He slightly turns his face toward me. Eyes drowned in shadow. A coy smile lifts his lips. “You infiltrate Vitalis.”
I snort while rolling my eyes. “You’re asking for the impossible.”
