"City's closed," one said. "Turn around or else."
"We're invited," Nils said, handing over a slip of paper—the note Beswick had sent to Brynna. The man reviewed it momentarily, then nodded to his compatriots. They shuffled out of the way, but he remained in the center of the road.
"Out of the carriage," he said. "You walk from here."
Hagan started to argue, but I was quicker. "Fine. I could use the fresh air."
I stepped out of the carriage and smoothed my skirts and hair while Nils and Hagan retrieved the ond from inside. They shared an unspoken argument about who would carry it, but in the end, Hagan won. He tied the bag to his hip and rested his hand on top of it.
"May we go now?" I asked the guard. With a grimace, he allowed us to continue.
Once we'd passed the initial guards, the city was eerily quiet, and it set my nerves on edge. It wasn't even that there was a curfew—it seemed as if everyone in the city had up and disappeared. Windows were open, doors swung in the light breeze, and signs declaring businesses open still hung in the shops.
"What in the Mother's name?" Nils whispered. "Where is everyone?"
"Stay sharp," Hagan said, keeping his hand on the ond. "Something smells wrong here."
"Take heart, Kat," Nils said, giving me a half-smile. "If all else fails, we can lob this stuff at his face."
"With all the torches around?" Hagan said, giving his husband a look. "We'd all be dead in seconds."
"I'm just trying to keep her nerves steady."
"Well, with you talking about blowing people up, I don't see how that's possible."
I smiled. "Is this the sort of wedded bliss I can expect from Beata?"
"She's Forcadelian," Nils said. "I assume it'll be much worse."
I twisted my ring again, exhaling to myself. "At this point, I'll just be happy just to see her again."
"You will," Hagan said. "The Mother will look after you. Put your trust in Her."
"As should we all," Nils said.
We turned a corner onto the main street and were met by another set of guards, this time in front of the inn where we were meeting Beswick. Nils and Hagan moved in front of me, Nils placing his hand on his sword.
"Who are you?" the man said, pointing his sword at Nils.
"We're here to meet with Lord Beswick," I said softly. "We have what he wants."
He eyed me uncertainly, but then stepped aside and let us continue.
Brynna had said there would be vigilantes on the rooftops, but I didn't even want to look. My anxiety might spin out of control if I saw someone. I whispered another prayer to the Mother that all would be well and kept moving forward.
The inn was exactly as Brynna had described it—thank the Mother for her attention to detail. There would be enough unknowns in this situation without having to worry about what color the paint was. I twisted my ring one final time before telling myself to put it down. From here on, I would be as still as a mountain.
The doors opened, and I nodded to Nils and Hagan. They allowed me to go before them, passing under the threshold and into the dark room first. There, I found Johann Beswick, just as I remembered him from the church.
"You're not the person I wanted to see," he said, leaning forward onto the table. "Was I not clear in my message?"
"You were." My voice was much stronger than I felt, and I let myself believe my own lie. "Unfortunately, Her Majesty is trying to reclaim her kingdom and couldn't make this meeting. Trouble in Neveri with the Kulkans. She does send her most sincere apologies and her most trusted representative in her place. And she thought it fitting to send a princess of the kingdom from which you stole the ond."
Beswick made a face but offered me a seat. I crossed the room and sat down, but my two guards were barred entrance.
"Just us, Lady Katarine," he said. "Your guards need not stick around."
"I would feel better if they did," I said. "You are a man with a reputation."
"I have twenty swords at my command," he said, flashing me a menacing grin. "I doubt your two would do much to protect you."
This wasn't part of the plan, my voice whispered in my mind.
Brynna will figure it out came the other, more confident voice. The one that was beginning to sound more like the princess vigilante herself.
"Very well," I said, looking behind me. "You may wait outside."
Nils and Hagan opened their mouths to protest, but I cast them a stern look, with just a flash of pleading. The seconds passed like hours as they made their decision.
Finally, Nils nodded. "We'll be outside."
Hagan walked forward, earning a pair of swords to his throat. He lifted the bag of ond up. "I think you want this."
"Yes, yes," Beswick said, waving his hand. "Let him put it down."
The swords disappeared, and Hagan placed the bag onto the table, releasing a small whiff of metallic odor. He winked at me, hidden from Beswick, and my heart beat in my throat as I begged him silently to leave with his husband. Finally, he straightened and walked out the back door.
The door shut, and I couldn't help but jump.
"Calm yourself, Lady Katarine," Beswick said, snapping his fingers. A figure appeared out of the darkness with a bottle of wine and two glasses. "You seem like you could use something for your nerves."
"Perhaps it's the twenty guards," I said. "Or that we're sitting in a room full of flames with a bag of ond."
Beswick pulled the bag toward him while his attendant poured the wine. He reached into it with his entire hand, running his fingers through the ond. It was unnerving to see him so flippant with such a precious material.
"It's all here," he said.
"Where's Aline?" I asked.
He flicked his wrist and the door behind him opened. A teenager was frog-marched in, her mouth gagged and hands tied in front of her. She had a light sheen of sweat on her forehead, but there was murderous intent in her gaze.
"She's unharmed. For the moment," Beswick said. "As are the citizens of this city."
I blinked. "The citizens? What citizens?"
"It's clear that I can't trust your little wannabe queen," Beswick said. "So I had to make sure she didn't try anything funny. I had my soldiers round up everyone in this little hamlet and relocate them to the docks. There's a bag of ond under the wood, just waiting for someone to strike a match."
I swallowed. "You have more ond?"
"Of course," he said.
But that made no sense. If he had more, why not use it down in Forcadel? "Seems like you went through a lot of trouble for just one bag," I said, hoping he'd share more of his thought process with me. "If you had more, why are we here at all?"
"It's not just about the ond," he said. "What I want is for your little princess flea to disappear. Be killed, lose her army, I don't care how. She has been annoying me for far too long, and I'm ready to send a message."
"She sent me here to ask for an alliance," I said. "Would you be interested if I promised more ond?"
He waved dismissively. "I don't need your promises. I can get my own material."
"Then why go through all this trouble to get one bag back?" Then, understanding dawned. "This is personal, isn't it?"
"It's always personal," Beswick said. "Which is why it's going to be so wonderful when I deposit your dead body on her doorstep."
My heart began to race. "There's no need to resort to that. You have the ond."
"But as I said," he said with a smile. "It wasn't about the ond. She needs to learn that—"
There was commotion outside and the mustachioed man by the window moved the curtain away. "The guards are gone."
"Check it out," Beswick said to the two by the door.
As I turned, cold steel pressed against my neck. My gaze went to Beswick.
"I knew she was listening," he replied devilishly. "And now she's walking right into my trap."
The door flew open and I was yanked to my feet, the knife still pressed to my throat. Brynna walked int
o the room, masked and beautiful. I'd never seen her in her Veil glory, but if she faced down criminals this way back in Forcadel, she'd been a truly fearsome creature.
And right now, all that fury was trained on Beswick.
"Let her go, and we can talk," she growled, her voice low and dangerous. "This is your last chance."
He laughed. "You're outnumbered."
"Am I?" She cracked a humorless smile. "I learned a few things from dealing with you over the years. Namely that you're a slime ball who can't be trusted."
"And yet you sent your envoy in here to talk alliances."
"I changed my mind. I think I just want you behind bars." She raised her sword. "So why don't we just skip all the crap and just get to it?"
"Fine by me."
The room filled with people, none of them Brynna's. And before I could say another word, Beswick's man pulled me out of the room and into the darkness of the night.
Chapter 51
"Kat!" I screamed as she disappeared out the door behind me. Before I could follow her, the ten guards in the room pulled out an assortment of weapons, all pointed at me. I turned to Aline, who was shaking and pale on the floor and stepped in front of her.
"Go," I ordered.
"What?" She looked up at me.
I palmed my knives. "Go. I'll take care of these assholes. You've done more than enough for me."
She gave me another look then scrambled out the door behind me. I expected some of them to go after her, but they stayed put. Clearly, I was who they wanted.
Slowly, I twirled my knives in my hands. "They keep telling me I've fought off ten at once. Let's see if I can actually do it."
They rushed me, but their coordination was their downfall. I dropped to the ground, allowing two of them to run each other through. In the confusion, I rolled forward, slicing through the calves of the two closest to me.
Before I could make another move, a hand closed around my throat, yanking me from the melee. I saw stars as my windpipe closed, but I brought my elbows down on his arm, freeing myself. My fist went to his solar plexus and he doubled over.
More hands grabbed me and threw me backward, and I landed hard on a chair that crumbled beneath my weight. Blinking, I looked up into the faces of the remaining five, ready to kill.
"Well?" I said, lifting my chin.
But they didn't come for me; rather, they dropped their weapons and held up their hands.
"Always coming to save your ass," came Jax's voice from the doorway behind me. I spun to find him, as well as ten others, with their crossbows aimed at Beswick's men. There were even more pointing their crossbows through the windows.
"What took you so long?" I said with a wry smile.
"Things are a bit hairy outside," he said, glancing behind him to his people. "You five, take these out to the field then return. We got a long way to go."
"What do you mean hairy? What do you mean, field?" I said, following him outside. There I found a smattering of my soldiers fighting with Beswick's. On the rooftops, the vigilantes were taking people down with arrows.
"Where's Beswick?" I said, spinning.
"I don't know, inside?" Jax said.
"He went with Kat," I said. "We have to find him before he leaves the city."
"He's not going far," Jax replied, but followed me as I climbed up to the roof. "The city's practically surrounded with our people."
"Except on the southern docks," I said pointedly.
"Then we'd better get there, and fast."
We took off along the rooftops, as the streets were clogged with fighting. There were more soldiers, but I couldn't tell where they'd come from. Were they the ones I'd brought from camp, or had Felix managed to find more somewhere? Either way, they were going toe-to-toe with Beswick's thugs, so I assumed they were on my side.
"Halt!"
Just as we jumped onto a rooftop, we were met by a gaggle of ten of Beswick's soldiers. Still more appeared, seemingly out of thin air, in the roofs around us. We were trapped.
"Oh, come on," I said panting a little. "Can't you guys just get out of my way for once?"
"Lord Beswick said we were to stop you at all costs," said the woman in the front. "And that he'd give us a nice reward if we brought you back to him alive."
I shared a look with Jax. Alive?
"But your friend can die," she said, walking toward him.
Jax pulled the knives from their sheaths and caught her sword before it fell. I jumped in to parry two of the others, but another slid down my cheek—too close for comfort. I elbowed the perpetrator in the face then kicked another body. But still more came.
"Jax, we need to go," I cried, as he pressed against my back.
"I don't think that's really an option right now," he snarled. "Unless you've got something in your bag."
I ducked a fist that landed hard on Jax's shoulder and he fell forward. I spun around to face the attackers—eight of them. Too many to take on without a little help.
"Jax," I said, digging in my slingbag. "Do you have the tinneum I gave you?"
"Ugh."
"I'll take that as a yes."
I threw a bag of hyblatha in the air then used my crossbow to split it, raining the hallucinogenic down on top of us. As quickly as I could, I stuffed the minty tinneum in my mouth, making sure Jax had done the same. It wasn't a moment too soon, as the guards started screaming and pointing at imaginary visions.
"Let's—"
A nearby guard's fist connected with the back of my head, and the wad of tinneum flew from my mouth. The hyblatha's sweet scent filled my nose, and the world around me faded away. What had once been a rooftop was now the forest—my forest. Celia's forest.
Lightning flashed overhead, and a deluge of rain came falling. The storm Nicolasa had predicted had arrived. It stung my eyes, blinding me to everything, and yet I could still see. I could see…
Ilara.
I staggered a step back. "What are you doing here?"
She merely smiled as she walked closer. Her dark hair swung to her hips, her dark eyes flashed with triumph. She sauntered toward me slowly, and I couldn't help backing up toward the edge of the roof.
"Oh, little princess vigilante," she cooed, her voice sounding far away. "Did you really think you could outsmart me?" She giggled. "You've always been destined to fail. Just look around you."
I turned and the bodies of the unfamiliar became familiar. Jorad, Beata, Locke—the children I'd left behind at camp. They lay scattered around me in horrifically gruesome positions, all of them killed by arrows. Elisha's dead eyes stared up at me from below. Beata's body covered hers in a vain attempt to keep her safe.
Ilara knelt before me and took my face. "Now, you'll take your medicine like a good little tool."
I clenched my jaw shut, shaking out of her grip, but someone else was holding me too. Together, they forced my mouth open and crammed something minty inside of it. Tears sprang to my eyes, and I began to cough. Slowly, the world came back into focus—and Ilara's face faded into…
"Joella?" I croaked.
"There she is." My Forcadelian lieutenant grinned at me, a sight for sore eyes. "Welcome back, Your Majesty."
"That tinneum works wonders," Luard said behind her. "Probably should've had some before you threw that hyblatha at everyone."
They helped me sit up and I blinked in the darkness as the rest of the hyblatha left my system. The bodies faded into nothing, and Forcadelian guards I only vaguely recognized had Beswick's men secured in an alley. My mind cleared enough to see a cloudy, rainless sky above, but my nerves remained.
A storm is coming.
"W-what are you…?" I said. Then I shook myself back into my body. "Kat. Beswick has Kat. Where is he?"
"We didn't see him," Joella said to Luard's stricken face.
"Southern port," I said, rubbing my face. "Let's go."
Luard had clearly brought reinforcements. As soon as Beswick's men showed up in my path, more Forcadelian soldiers popp
ed out of the alleys and side streets to fight them off for us. And when they were late, the vigilantes above cleared a path.
There were boats down at the docks, and if Beswick got on one, we might lose him and Katarine forever. Beata would never forgive me if her wife didn't come back—and I would never forgive myself, either.
"Where's Felix?" I said to Joella.
"No idea," she said. "He left before we did, but I didn't see his ship in port."
My heart seized, but I kept running. Felix wouldn't let me down. I had to have faith that he was on his way as fast as he could.
The docks became visible in the distance. Where I'd expected to see civilians, I saw nothing but open ports. Perhaps they'd all escaped in the confusion. I just hoped anyway. I didn't think Beswick would've had his men kill an entire city full of people.
"There!" Jax called, pointing to the street below. Beswick and two of his guards were half-dragging Katarine down the street. She was making a valiant effort to fight them off, until Beswick hit her in the back of the head. She slumped and the guard tossed her over his shoulder.
"That son of a bitch will pay for that," Luard snarled next to me.
"Stay here," I snapped at him. "I don't want you in danger either."
"Like hell—"
"Luard," I snapped. "This isn't a place for a prince. Let me do my job."
Despite the fury in his eyes, he nodded, and I left him on the rooftops. I jumped off, landing in a roll and then sprinting toward the docks. Beswick was nearly onto the boat, so I doubled my speed until my boots clacked on the wood.
"Beswick!" I called, coming to a stop. "You can't go any further. Give Katarine back to us and surrender."
He snorted. "I'm standing next to a boat that will take me down to Forcadel. Do you know the ransom Queen Ilara put on this woman's head? It rivals yours."
I licked my lips. I hadn't heard anything about a ransom, but that didn't mean it wasn't true.
"Whatever it is," Luard said, stepping forward. Clearly, he hadn't heeded my order. "I'll double it. As long as you give me my sister back unharmed."
"And hand myself over to you, Prince?" He laughed. "The way I see it now, I've got all the cards. You can let me go, or—"
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