‘What is it?’ she asked, hoping everything was okay.
Azam worked his jaw, as if searching for the right words. He opened his mouth. ‘I—’
But before he could continue, they heard the stomping of boots. Sonya turned, then gasped, immediately stepping back.
They were surrounded by a dozen castle guards.
Her heart lurched. This couldn’t be happening. Her thoughts raced. How had they found her? Somebody at the wedding must have recognized her.
No, this couldn’t be happening.
‘Your Royal Highness, we’ve been looking for you everywhere,’ the guard in front said, stepping toward her. ‘Please, come with us. The king has been most worried.’
He reached for her, but she turned to Azam. She hadn’t wanted him to find out like this.
‘Azam, I—’ she started. She had expected him to be shocked by the news, perhaps even confused, or angry with her, but he wasn’t even looking her way.
Instead, he was looking at the guard, his face stricken.
The guard was looking at Azam, too, almost as if they kneweach other. Sonya didn’t understand. She looked between them, trying to make sense of what it was she was seeing.
Then the most curious thing happened.
The guard nodded his head at Azam. ‘Thank you for leading us to her,’ he said.
Sonya’s heart stopped. She turned to Azam, not believing what she had heard until she saw the emotion clear on his face: guilt.
He had betrayed her.
‘Sonya—’ he started, but she stepped away from him, tears blurring her vision.
‘This whole time?’ she asked, her voice breaking.
He opened his mouth and snapped it shut.
Sonya turned away from him and went with the guards willingly.
23
Sonya was taken to a royal carriage, the team of guards following behind her. She felt as if she was moving underwater, going deeper and deeper, further away from the light. She couldn’t breathe.
Her lips still tingled from kissing Azam not moments before, and she touched a hand to her mouth, feeling dizzy. She stumbled and a guard shot forward to catch her, but she steadied herself.
You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for, Winnie had said, and Sonya desperately tried to remember that now, even as she felt like crumbling.
She arrived at her carriage, a large and ugly thing, painted white with ornate gold finishings. The windows were covered with silk curtains. The coachman opened the door, helping her up.
The carriage wasn’t empty.
Her father’s chief advisor, Celeste, was already seated inside. She was a strict older woman with gray hair pulled back in a tight twist and sharp blue eyes behind glasses. She was wearing her usual uniform of a dull gray dress, the chain of a half-hunter watch hanging out of a pocket.
Sonya groaned, taking her seat across from her. Celeste was thelastperson she wanted to see.
‘Thank goodness you’re alright,’ Celeste said, looking at Sonya from behind her narrow glasses. She almost sounded concerned, and Sonya perked up, but then Celeste’s tone took on her usual scolding quality. ‘You have no idea how worried the king and princes have been. And look at the state of you! What on earth has happened to your hair? And what are you wearing?’
Sonya ignored her commentary, but she touched a self-conscious hand to her hair, frowning. ‘H-how did you find me?’ she asked. She was finding it difficult to speak, to think, to do anything.
She sat limp in her seat as the carriage moved off.
