“Luca!” Ula screeched, crashing to his side.
His eyes adjusted until he could see her face. Then Urtzi and Dunixi. And finally their surroundings… not Taillefer’s workshop. The familiar mingling scents of lavender oil, oats, and more than a few horses.
“Are we in the stable?” Luca’s voice was dry and cracking at the edges.
“Oh, here, have some water.” Ula thrust a waterskin in his face. He tried to move his hands, but they wound around in sloppy form. She helped him sit up and, propping him, put the pouch to his lips. After a few great swallows, he looked again to their faces, and then to his clothes—they’d given him a new shirt, something of awful Pyrenee purple. Beneath the fabric, his chest burned, but he felt some sort of lashing around his ribs, covering his wound—dressed. “How did you…?”
“Get you out?” Ula finished for him. When he nodded, her eyes lit up. “With Taillefer’s permission.”
Here, Dunixi chimed in, eager to explain. “You may not remember—the prince rang a bell, and a guard showed up and he ordered the boy to go grab others to help carry you. When he left, we appeared—thank the stars we were already in guard attire—and he laughed because it was our first day on the job but allowed it, and instructed us to carry you out under the princess’s window.”
“See?” Ula said. “I told you we’d get you out.”
Luca met her smile, but then the reality of what had happened dawned on him. “Stars.Does she think that I’m…?”
“Dead?” Dunixi answered. “Oh yes, I think she does.”
Luca gripped Ula’s wrist, his boots scrabbling against the hay-strewn stable floor as he tried to stand. “You were there. You heard Taillefer. And now Ama will do it. She’ll attack at the wedding. And if she murders a single person in that chapel, they’ll kill her and lie about what really happened. We have to get her out.”
“Oh, we’re not going to let her getin,” Dunixi said, as Ula got Luca upright. His legs immediately buckled and he was back on his rear in the straw within a blink. Dunixi turned to the Myrcellian. “Urtzi, toss him over your back. We must kidnap the princess before she enters the chapel.”
“Kidnap?” Luca whispered, his breath catching.
“Yes,kidnap.We are not your friends, stableboy. You’re still blackmail, and your princess will be, too.”
Luca’s heartbeat filled his ears. “And then what? You’ll give us back to Renard? To Taillefer?”
“Of course. Contrary to earlier events, we deliver goods as promised. And when we do, I expect Renard to shoot gold from his eyeballs.”
“No,” Ula spat, nostrils flaring. She stepped in front of Luca, stance wide, hands on her hips and her sword hanging sharp off her belt. “Enough about the gold, Dunixi. This is about much more than riches.”
A sneer crossed the boy’s face.
“Don’t be silly, girl—there is nothing but riches. You agreed earlier, we need it to release the ship. Hell, we need it to simply live.”
“Dunixi, I only agreed so that I didn’t have to kill you right there. We need to save Amarande, not steal her. This continent will go to hell if Renard orstars forbidTaillefer get what they want. We have a chance to do the right thing for everyone in the Sand and Sky, and that is worth more than any gold piece.”
Dunixi bared his teeth, eyes narrowing. “Urtzi, grab the stableboy.”
Ula drew her sword, shielding Luca. “No.”
Dunixi’s jaw hardened and his face collapsed into a frown. “Urtzi, the stableboy.Now.If Ula swipes at you, swipe back.”
The Myrcellian didn’t budge. “You want me to fight Ula?”
“No, I want you to finally have the balls to kiss her.” Spit flew from the Eritrian’s mouth. “Yes,I want you to fight her! She’s ready to fight you!”
“Urtzi,” Ula called, and his gaze snapped to hers. “I will only fight you if you fight for him. Be on his side or mine, but if you choose wrong, I will cut you down. And then I will cut your master.”
The Myrcellian boy stood there for a moment, fists out and ready, dark eyes shifting between them.
“Come on, Urtzi,” Dunixi prodded, turning for the exit and the yawning night. “Our window to take the princess is closing.”
Urtzi took a hesitant step toward Ula. She raised her sword out in a high guard, ready, her body low and angled in front of Luca. On the ground, Luca shifted up to his elbows, willing his legs to move and help him out of the way.
Ula and Urtzi locked eyes, and then something fell over the tall boy’s face. With one powerful side step, he hammered one fist into the Eritrian’s temple.
Dunixi’s eyes grew wide with shock in the split second before they rolled back into his head and he slumped to the stable floor.
