“How do you know?” he asks.
When I don’t answer, he lets out a short, dry laugh. “The fae who were at the veligh when the remnants attacked said you’d died. I thought they were exaggerating your injuries and that the rumors of your resurrection were Aren’s doing. I never thought . . .” He shakes his head. “You’re sure something’s wrong?”
I didn’t die—the life-bond kept me alive—but all I do is nod.
Trev lets out a tired sigh, then rises. “Let’s go.”
TWENTY-TWO
WE’VE FISSURED INTO one of the safe houses Lena’s set up just outside the silver wall. Trev opens the front door and leads the way out.
It’s early morning in Corrist. The first rays of sunlight are just beginning to smear the lower portion of the sky. The street is uncharacteristically crowded for the early hour, though, and no one looks like they just woke up. They look like they’ve been up all night.
A shout rings out from down the street. The fae it came from has a sword in his hand. He raises it into the air and yells, “Cadig!” the same huzzah the fae were chanting after Lena burned the ledgers.
“Are they still celebrating?” I ask Trev.
“I’m not sure,” Trev says hesitantly. His hand is on the hilt of his sword. The chanting fae down the street isn’t the only one who has his blade out now. Others have joined him, yelling as they thrust their weapons toward the sky. “We need to get inside the wall.”
I nod, already walking toward the wall of silver towering over the stretch of homes and shops in front of us. A narrow alley leads between an anchor-stone store and a cafe. We follow a trio of fae down the pathway and pass more than a few other people heading back our way. One of the latter locks his gaze on me. My chaos lusters are bright in the still-dark morning, especially with us eclipsed in the shadows of the alley. I return the fae’s stare, keep my shoulders straight and confident until the fae’s gaze falters.
We emerge from the alley not far from the western entrance to the Inner City. Trev stays close by my side, so close, the lightning on my skin flashes erratically across my left elbow, threatening to leap into him at the slightest brush. But he’s not going to step away anytime soon. He might not be my biggest fan, but he’ll protect me with his life, and that’s something he might very well have to do. Something isn’t right in Corrist.
It’s not unusual for the gates to the Inner City to be closed overnight, but it is unusual for so many people to be gathering in front of them this early in the morning. They should be opening soon, but I’m not even sure the fae want to go inside. The air buzzes with their shouts and chants and the low, constant murmur of a thousand conversations.
My brow furrows as Trev and I make our way through the crowd. It’s too loud and discordant for me to decipher what they’re saying. I ask Trev again if he knows what’s going on. He shakes his head, presses me forward. Most of the fae who see the lightning flashing across my face and arms back away, but a few of them don’t. They deliberately brush against me, agitating my edarratae and heating my skin. I grit my teeth and keep moving, trying to look as pissed and determined as possible to keep them from messing with me. And trying to figure out just what the hell everyone’s doing out so early in the morning.
Before we reach the wall, a small, discreet door opens. The portcullis behind it is already lifted, and four armed fae step out. Trev and I reach the guards—who most likely spotted us the second we stepped out of the alley—and enter the Inner City without much trouble.
The guards follow us in, closing the door behind them, then lowering the portcullis.
Trev turns to the nearest fae. “What are they celebrating?”
“The kingkiller has stepped forward.”
Every ounce of blood drains from my face. My mouth goes dry, my chest tightens, and I’m cold. Colder than I was in the In-Between.
“No,” I say. I mentally focus on Kyol, trying to break my way through his mental wall. He pushes back, and I can’t read him. I can’t rant or scream or rage at him.
Not from this distance.
I don’t remember the run through the Inner City. I only vaguely recall Trev shouting my name. My heart thunders against my chest, and the only thing I can focus on is stopping Kyol. I can’t let him do this. King Atroth was his friend. Kyol killed him to save me. He wouldn’t have done it otherwise.
The plaza outside the palace’s main gate is just as packed as the area ringing the silver wall. When I reach the edge of the crowd, I falter for the first time. Yesterday, they were celebrating the burning of the ledgers. Today, they’re celebrating the pending execution of one of the most respected fae in the Realm. The fae are a fickle, violent people. I’ve always known that, but I’ve never before loathed them so much for it.
The crowd parts in front of me. Not out of fear of a lightning-covered human but because I’ve picked up an escort along the way. Trev and half a dozen swordsmen make a path for me. I take it, striding through the mass of fae and reaching an open door just as the sun peaks above the eastern city.
No one says a word once I’m inside. I keep silent as well. I don’t need them to tell me where Kyol is. He might be eclipsing his emotions, but he can’t hide his location. He’s in the northern wing of the palace. In Lena’s apartments, most likely.
Less than ten minutes later, I’m stopped before I enter the queen’s antechamber. I don’t recognize the fae standing between me and the open double doorway, but my guess is they’re fae who are loyal to Hison. The high noble is inside. He’s speaking to Lena. Her back is to me, so I can’t read her expression. She’s rigid, though, and I’m hoping she’s angry and resolute, that she’s refusing to allow Hison to arrest and execute Kyol, who’s somewhere in the room.
I try to push my way past the fae in front of me. One of them, a tall, thick-chested man with a green-and-white name-cord braided into his hair, shoves me back.
I slam into Trev, who steadies me before he takes an aggressive step toward the other fae. All the fae guarding the door must be on edge. They overreact, drawing their weapons and moving to intercept each one of my escorts.
“Kyol!” I yell, but I already feel him moving toward me, shoving aside Hison’s men.
“Don’t do this,” I tell him as he pulls me into his arms.
“Quiet!” he orders.
I dig my fingers into the hard muscles of his forearms. Hison’s ordering his men to arrest Kyol; Lena’s ordering them to stand down. I won’t let them take him away. I have to get through to Kyol, use everything in my arsenal to make him deny his involvement in the king’s death.
“The life-bond—”
“Quiet!” Kyol says again, shaking me. We’re touching. All my emotions jumble with his. I can’t sort them out.
“Please, Kyol.”
“Lord Hison, control your fae,” Lena says. “You’ve taken my sword-master. You cannot have my lord general as well.”
Hison issues an order to his people. They step back.
Kyol’s jaw clenches. His silver eyes are dark and pain-laced as they stare into mine. “I’ll fix this, McKenzie,” he says. “I’ll find a way to fix it.”
“Fix it?” I echo. He never should have admitted to it in the first . . .
You’ve taken my sword-master. Lena’s words ring in my head. The room seems to spin. This whole situation is wrong. If Hison knows Kyol is the garistyn, why is he letting him stand here armed and unshackled?
Realization slides over me.
“No.” I back away. “No, Aren wouldn’t . . .”
Kyol grabs my arm, pulls me close, then lowers his voice. “You must stay silent!”
It feels like a knife has lodged in my heart. My blood roars in my ears, so loud I barely hear Lena order Hison and his fae to leave.
“Where is he?” I ask as soon as the room is clear of everyone but me, Lena, and Kyol.
When Lena doesn’t answer immediately, I face her fully. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know,” s
he bites out. “Hison doesn’t trust me. His men took him away until the . . .” She presses her lips together, and when she speaks again, her voice is tight. “Until the execution.”
“Why didn’t you stop them?”
Lena grimaces, then turns slightly away from me, staring at the antechamber’s closed doors.
“You didn’t try,” I whisper, interpreting her silence. “You sacrificed him.”
Her shoulders quaver when she draws in a breath. She doesn’t deny my accusations, though. She let them take him.
Horror twists through my gut. How could she do that? Aren fought for the throne for her. He fought for her family for years. He’s the only reason she’s alive, and she’s turned her back on him.
A litany of curses and accusations scream through my mind. The only thing that keeps me from saying them out loud is the expression on her face. It’s a mix of regret and self-loathing, maybe a touch of helplessness.
“Hison came to arrest us,” Kyol says. “It would have crippled Lena. She’d have no hope of becoming queen.”
“She’s never going to become queen!” I yell.
“He told us not to fight.”
“What?”
“He told us not to fight, McKenzie,” Kyol says again.
I lower my voice, make it as hard as steel. “And you both just listened?”
In my peripheral vision, I see Lena’s head lower. She says, very softly in Fae, “I’m sorry.”
The apology infuriates me. I just barely manage not to explode. Instead, I lock eyes with Kyol and say, “We’re freeing him.”
“We don’t know where Hison’s holding him,” he says.
“You can find out.”
He doesn’t respond to that, probably because we both know it’s true. The fae respect him, especially the palace fae. Someone will have seen where Aren was taken. They’ll tell Kyol. All he has to do is ask.
And he will ask.
• • •
I’M sitting on a bench in the palace’s sculpture garden, staring at the ground. I hate this, the waiting. The doing nothing. I shouldn’t be here, and Aren shouldn’t be crowding my mind. I should be focused on other things, like the false-blood, the remnants, or the Sight serum. I should be concerned about Lena and her fragile Court. I shouldn’t be worried about members of that Court executing an innocent man.
Aren shouldn’t be facing down death. No one should.
A sudden tension runs through Kyol. I tilt my head slightly, as if that will make me more in tune with him and his surroundings, but his emotions return to a warm, neutral simmer. He’s still in the palace, but he’s not moving anymore. Maybe he’s found Aren?
Or maybe men loyal to Hison have found Kyol.
“I heard what happened.”
Naito’s voice startles me. I look up, notice that his shadow is falling over me. “How long have you been standing here?”
“Not that long,” he says, then he sits next to me on the bench. An anchor-stone is in his hand. He runs his thumb over its surface. It’s smooth there, like he’s rubbed that same place over and over again. “What are you planning?”
“The assassination of a high noble,” I say, not surprised by his question. He wouldn’t expect me to sit back and do nothing any more than I’d expect him to if someone he loved was in trouble.
He meets my gaze, scrutinizing me as if he’s trying to figure out if I’m joking or not. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? It might be . . . difficult.”
“I’m being trained by the best swordsman in the Realm. Of course it’s a great idea.”
At that, he chuckles.
“Aren is more of a brother to me than Lee has ever been.” His thumb slides over the anchor-stone again. “I’ll do what I can to help you get him out, but we might want to start with something a little more achievable.”
“Kyol’s trying to find him.”
“Is he trying to free him?” Naito asks the question way too casually.
“If he has the opportunity, yes,” I say, lowering my voice. No one’s near us, but the fae have excellent hearing. I don’t want to take the chance that one of them can understand English. “I don’t think he’ll be able to, though. He can’t let Hison or anyone else know he’s involved with Aren’s escape. Once we find out where he is . . .”
I fade off, trying to identify the emotion that spikes through my life-bond. Kyol tames it within seconds, but I swear his heart rate is escalated. He hasn’t moved from where he was a few minutes ago. God, please don’t let him be in trouble. I can’t save both of them.
“McKenzie?”
I focus again on Naito. “Sorry. I’m distracted.”
He stares at the anchor-stone. “Kelia always said Lorn’s emotions were muted when they were in different worlds.” A small, nostalgic grin touches his lips. “So she preferred to be in the Realm when we made love. It was her revenge.”
I smile, too. You can’t force a life-bond on someone. Both parties have to want it. On some level, I must have wanted it when Kyol made the connection with me, and Kelia must have wanted it with Lorn. I’m not sure what he did to deserve her vengeance, but knowing Lorn, I’m sure it was something.
“There’s really no way to break it?” I ask.
“There were rumors,” he says, turning the stone in his hand, “but I promise you, we tried all of them. We tried hunting down fae who supposedly could sever the bond. They were all dead ends. Then Kelia attempted to form a new bond with someone she hated less. When that didn’t work, she tried exhausting her magic to the point I made her stop because I was afraid she’d turn tor’um. Death is the only cure.”
I bite my lower lip, refusing to cry. I don’t want Kyol to die, but I don’t want Aren to, either. And why would he do this? Why would he sacrifice himself to save Kyol when he hates him? He can’t be doing this just because he knows how much it will hurt me if Kyol dies.
My throat burns when I swallow. Kyol’s moving now, making his way back in this direction. Maybe he’ll have answers.
“What are you doing here?” I ask Naito. “I thought you were helping Lee test the serums.”
“Trev came back for us. He mentioned what happened.” He pockets the anchor-stone. “We’re finished for now, anyway. We have to wait a few hours, then see what the serum does to the blood samples. Theoretically, we’ll be able to match the changes in the test tubes to the changes that have already happened in Lee. Something like that, at least. He acts like he knows what he’s doing.”
“You’ll need Paige’s blood, too?”
“To make sure she injected the nonlethal serum, yeah. You still haven’t talked to her?”
“No.” I rub at the headache forming between my eyes. I must be a terrible person because Paige’s situation—the possibility that she might be dead or dying—is the furthest thing from my mind.
“Kyol’s heading back,” I say, standing. “I need to talk to him.”
Naito nods. “I’ll help any way I can.”
I give him a troubled smile, then head off to intercept Kyol, praying he has a plan to rescue Aren.
I don’t need the life-bond to know that Kyol isn’t bringing good news. He meets my gaze as he strides toward me. There’s no hesitation in his steps, no flicker of emotion in his silver eyes. He’s only this rigid and controlled when things aren’t going well.
My stomach tightens into knots. I brace myself for the worst, then ask, “How is he?”
“Not here,” he says. He passes by, leaving me no choice but to follow. The corridor we’re in is empty, but apparently not empty enough for him. He leads me to the palace’s residential wing, then to my room. Closing the door behind us, he says, “I talked to Jorreb. He refused to take back his words. He said it wouldn’t matter now if he tried. In the high nobles’ minds, he’s been guilty since they learned of Atroth’s death.”
My eyes sting, and nausea churns in my stomach. I believe the last part, that the high nobles think he killed the king. Even though Aren nev
er intended to take the throne himself, he led the fight against Atroth’s Court fae. His sword killed the king’s soldiers, soldiers who came from each of the Realm’s provinces. The high nobles won’t let that go. But I don’t believe this is just about bringing the kingkiller to justice; this is about revenge. The high nobles thirst for it.
“The high nobles can go to hell,” I say. “I won’t let them kill Aren. How do we free him?”
I keep my eyes locked on Kyol’s, waiting for his answer. The seconds tick by. His expression doesn’t change, but I feel a dozen emotions tumble through him. His walls are fragile right now.
“Kyol?” I press.
He draws in a breath. His shoulders hunch slightly, then he says, “He asked me to let this happen, McKenzie.”
“Let what happen?” I ask, refusing to understand him.
“The execution.”
Those two words knock the air from my lungs.
“He wants us to let Hison kill him?” It doesn’t make sense at all. Aren isn’t suicidal.
“It’s the best thing for Lena and the Realm,” Kyol says. “It’s the best thing for you.”
My mind locks on the words It’s the best thing for you, and the fear and frustration I’m trying so hard to hold to a simmer explode into a full-out boil.
“You want him to die!” I yell.
“No—”
“If he’s dead, you think you’ll have another chance with me.”
He reaches for my arm. “McKenzie—”
“You won’t!” I jab my finger at his chest. “I gave you ten years of chances, and you turned them all down.”
My heart shatters when I feel his break, but I hold the pieces of mine together with sheer willpower.
“This isn’t about me, McKenzie. This is what Jorreb wants.”
“I’m sure you tried to talk him out of it,” I say with a bitter laugh.
“I did,” Kyol says. “I swear to you, I did.”
“Bullshit!”
My words make him flinch, and he retreats a step. I pursue him, my rage increasing, not decreasing. “Everything I feel for you now is manipulated by magic. I won’t give in to it. Even if Aren dies.”
The Sharpest Blade Page 23
