“Well?”
I respond by pressing my mouth into a thin line.
“Good.” He flicks his wrist, and the men yank me from the wall and push me to follow Ravin, even though I offer no resistance.
To Halazar,he said.
To my sisteris what I heard.
Yes, I will comply, for now. I will find her, get her, then hold her close to me…
While I burn down the world and all those who would harm us. The townhome was just the first ember.
The heavy shackles bite into my wrists as we march through the quiet streets. The sound of clanking iron mingling with the Stellis’s heavy plate armor has lanterns flickering to life in the windows. Soon, eyes are on me from all angles.
At long last, the wicked convict who escaped Halazar has been brought to justice,I think for them all.
Ravin quickly mends his clothes and wounds with some swift card work before we emerge onto the main street, though a tiny divot remains on his ear where I bit him. Other than that minor, unnoticeable-to-anyone-but-me flaw, he looks every measure the triumphant Oricalis crown prince and Eclipse City regent.
I scan the Stellis as we walk. One of them must be the one who called off Ravin’s attack—who stopped Ravin from killing me by persuading him I was more valuable alive. But I can’t tell which one. There was so much chaos.What did that Stellis say?I struggle to remember. Something about my being useful? My card as a Major Arcana?Kaelis?
The thought of the second-born prince stops me in my tracks. My consciousness has narrowed onto a single searing memory—Kaelis’s hands around my wrists, pinning me to the bed. I feel every sumptuous touch of fur and velvet on my bare skin as he looms over me, as he pounds into me relentlessly. I bite down the ache of longing, of shame. How could I have ever desired a son of Oricalis? And why do I still?
I paused for only a second, but that’s one second too long. The Stellis shove me, and the present comes crashing back. Everything hurts. There are no tender whispers or soft touches here. No room for pleasure, or desire. I am fueled by hate and held together by spite.
We turn off the main road. A secondary thoroughfare runs between Fool’s March and River Park and right in front of the Fatefinders Club. I would have expected everyone to be gone by now, especially after my discovery and disappearance.
I expected wrong.
Lanterns flicker along the exterior. A short row of carriages await the last of the patrons from the Feast of Cups ball. They all stop the moment they lay eyes on me. On their faces I see fear, morbid fascination, and outright contempt. I also see a few gleaming eyes and smug grins—Clan Moon, probably.
I scan the crowd. I don’t see Glavstone; he’s probably waiting for me at the prison. But my eyes do catch one familiar set: Sorza’s. When our gazes meet, her eyes widen. For a second, I think my friend and fellow Major is going to call out to me, but she turns away, and a twinge of hurt flashes in my chest like an Ace of Wands. It’s probably for the best…I’m nothing more than a liability to her now. And, like with Kaelis, I’ll probably never see her again.
We arrive at the docks, and more eyes are upon me as the guardsload me into a small vessel at the end of the pier. It’s the same boat that took me to Halazar the first time. But this time, the prince who’s putting me there joins me—Ravin leaves nothing to chance as he takes his seat at the front.
All I can see before me is his beaming triumph and the island prison looming behind him like an ominous shadow against the sky. Its walls confine the worst of the worst of Oricalis. But also the innocent who are unjustly deemed criminals for daring to use their own magic as they choose, rather than as the crown dictates.
I am one of those unjustly convicted. Maybe now I am also the worst of the worst.
But this time, I’m getting my sister, I’m getting us out, and then I’m burning this world down, starting with Halazar.
Chapter 2
The small boat glides effortlessly across the whitecaps of the Farlum River. My eyes water from the brackish air. The stench of the festering island ahead so overwhelms me that I nearly vomit.
The boat sails between the breakwaters that shelter the only entrance to Halazar. As we glide into a cove, a large portcullis looms overhead, like a beast that’s devouring me. The last time I arrived, it was with much less fanfare. Now nearly twenty guards line the U shape of the stone dock. At the very top of a wide, terraced staircase is a set of fortified double doors. And in front of those doors stands a man. The first time I came here, he couldn’t be bothered. I was just another prisoner of many.
Now Glavstone waits for me, eyes gleaming in the torchlight. The sight of him makes my skin crawl.
The two Stellis hoist me out of the boat. I don’t resist, but I certainly don’t comply, either. Ravin disembarks alongside me and greets Glavstone with a familiar handshake. The warden of Halazar Prisonbarely takes his eyes off me long enough to show the prince proper respect.
“I assured you that it would be done, did I not?” There’s a note of pride in Ravin’s tone, and a note of condescension when he adds, “All it required was a bit of patience.”
“A bit of patience…and the death of my son.” Glavstone is trying so hard to keep his voice calm and level. But I know him too well. I can hear the contempt he’s trying to hide in each strained word. See it in the tension that makes the muscles of his throat strain as he clenches his jaw. He loathes me as much as he loathes the sum cost of my recapture. It’s incredible that he doesn’t immediately cast a card my way.
“A grave and lamentable loss that had to come to pass.” Ravin does a good job of feigning compassion. “But I swore that you would have your vengeance for Eza’s death, and now I bring it to you. As you can see, it has already begun.” Ravin gestures to my beaten state with pride.
The shackles weigh me down. The Stellis’s hands are heavy on my shoulders. It’s as though everything is trying to force me into the ground. To crush my existence into dust. But they’re going to have to work harder. I smirk slightly and lock eyes with Glavstone.
