Rylan immediately came to mind. “There is someone whom I trust as though he were my brother. But what would I say?”
“You may tell him that I demanded you deliver a message for me. That you don’t know who the people are or why or what the message is, only that I said you had to do it. Everyone believes me to be a petulant, spoiled prince who forces others to bend to his will, even if it’s some crazy whim. He’ll easily believe it.”
I looked at Damian, surprised to feel a reluctant new respect, even regret, for the life he lived. He spoke of others’ opinions of him without self-pity, his tone matter-of-fact. But though his voice and expression were devoid of emotion, his eyes held unhappiness when they met mine.
He must feel so alone. I’d never thought someone who had servants and guards at his beck and call, parties every night, and women throwing themselves at him all the time could be lonely.
“Rylan won’t ask questions,” I said quickly, to cover my confusion. “And I would feel better if he came with me.”
“Then you have my permission to ask him.” Damian looked away, and the window into who he really was snapped shut.
“But what about the king’s orders that someone be with you at all times — and Captain D’agnen’s order for me to guard your room at night?”
“If you leave at first light, you should be able to make it there and back by nightfall. I will tell the captain that I ordered you and Rylan to go.”
I didn’t like it. Even if I was back by night, that left an entire day with me gone, and Deron didn’t know about Eljin yet. I didn’t like leaving Prince Damian here without anyone knowing that a sorcerer might be in the palace. Especially now that I knew a sorcerer had killed Damian’s brother. What if Eljin was here for the same reason?
But if so, why wait? And why fight for a position on the personal guard, letting everyone find out who he was first?
“Alex, can you do this for me?”
I only hesitated for a moment. “Yes. Of course.”
“There’s one more thing. Are you familiar with bloodroot?”
“The plant?”
Damian nodded.
“I know what it looks like. There was a patch of it that grew by my old home. Why?”
“I need you to collect some while you are in the jungle.”
“Don’t you have servants for that kind of thing?” I immediately snapped my mouth shut, shocked at myself for speaking so boldly. But Damian just lifted one eyebrow.
“I’d rather not ask the servants. I would also appreciate it if you didn’t mention the bloodroot to anyone else, either. Including Rylan.”
“Why?”
He remained silent, looking at me.
“Fine, I can get the bloodroot, too.” I finally agreed, confused by his odd request. Bloodroot wasn’t common, but I was sure I’d be able to find it for him. The question was why he would want it — and why the secrecy. As far as I knew, its only use was to be crushed up into a poultice to help slow bleeding.
“Thank you.” Damian let out a sigh, then stood up. “I should go, then, and let you get some rest before you leave.”
I glanced up at the darkening skylight above us. The moon had traveled out of sight and soon the sky would lighten with the coming dawn. I realized that if I made this journey, I wouldn’t be here for Tanoori’s hanging. Maybe it was better that way. There was nothing I could do to stop it, and I couldn’t bear to watch her die.
“And don’t worry about Captain D’agnen,” Damian added. “I will speak to him after you go.”
I nodded and rose as well, so that we faced each other. Damian lifted his hand, holding it in the air between us. I hesitated to put my hand in his, strangely nervous to touch him when my emotions were in such an upheaval. But when he silently lifted an eyebrow at me in question, I quickly reached up to shake it firmly. A wave of warmth flowed up my arm and into my belly from the feel of his strong hand clasped around mine. I cleared my throat and tightened my grip. Act like a boy, act like a boy.
“Good night, Alex. I hope you can get some rest.” He let go and stepped back.
“Thank you. Good night … Damian.”
He smiled at me, a brief, sad smile, and then turned and went back into his room, shutting the door silently.
I stared after him for a long while, my heart beating unevenly in my chest. He’d proven my theory wrong. His interior might be more in line with his exterior than I thought. I almost wished I could go back to when I’d thought he was a blindingly attractive man with a rotten heart. Then I’d done my duty out of necessity, because I’d worked hard to get where I was, and my safety, virtue, and even life depended on it.
Yesterday, I had been in danger of actually letting myself care about him, but tonight, I was in danger of far worse.
THE JUNGLE SEETHED with life — the whisper of leaves moving in the breeze, the buzz of insects, the call of birds singing and chatting above us in the trees. I suppressed a shudder. Though I’d lived my whole life near the rain forest, I didn’t trust it. The dense foliage hid too many dangers. My bow and arrows were strapped to my back, my sword secured around my waist, but I still felt vulnerable. I knew there were creatures hidden in the heart of the jungle that were too sly and too fast for me to have any hope of stopping should one decide to stalk us and turn us into dinner.
The screech of a monkey overhead made me jump, knocking into Rylan, who was walking next to me.
“You’re on edge,” he commented, glancing up at the trees above us. My hands were slick with sweat as we moved forward, pushing ferns and vines out of our way, consulting the map and compass Damian had provided for me.
“I’d rather not talk about it,” I said.
Rylan gave me a look but didn’t comment any further.
“We should be there soon. According to the map, there will be a river up ahead, and if we follow that for about a mile, we should reach the Heart of the Rivers.”
Rylan nodded and we lapsed back into silence. The sun had risen hours ago, and I’d spent most of the morning trying not to think about Tanoori and the hanging I’d missed. Yet another person I hadn’t been able to help — another failure to add to my list.
Would they burn her body or just throw it outside the wall for scavenging animals to drag off and desecrate?
“I know I’m not supposed to ask questions, but don’t you find it odd that Prince Damian sent us to do this?”
“You know the prince,” I said, forcing myself to stop thinking about Tanoori. “He’s always coming up with some sort of crazy demand.”
“Yes, but this is taking it to a whole new level. Making us wander through the jungle to try and find a secret group to deliver a message?” Rylan glanced sideways at me and I shrugged, keeping my face impassive.
“You’re right, this is beyond crazy, even for him.” Even though I knew more about our job than Rylan, I still agreed with him. I didn’t understand what Prince Damian expected to accomplish by having us deliver a message from him. These people wanted him dead. What made him think they’d listen to anything he had to say? I only hoped that they didn’t believe in killing the messenger.
To our right, the sound of rushing water became audible and steadily grew louder. Soon, we broke through the trees to stand on the bank of a river. Our arrival startled some small creature that had been getting a drink. All I saw was a long tail rushing beneath the cover of a bush before it disappeared entirely.
“I hate the jungle,” I muttered.
“Why do you hate it so much?” Rylan asked.
I shrugged, not realizing I’d spoken loud enough for him to hear. “Do you remember that first march to Tubatse?”
“Of course.”
The banks of the river sucked at our boots as we walked along, skirting the edge of the trees, staying close to the water, looking for the landmarks that would guide us to the Heart of the Rivers. “Growing up, I’d always thought the jungles of Antion were beautiful, but after that march, I came to hate the jung
le.”
“I don’t remember anything that bad happening,” Rylan said.
“Well, that’s because Marcel was kind and didn’t tell anyone. Let’s just say I had a run-in with a snake and without Marcel’s help, it would not have ended well.”
Rylan laughed. “So you do have a weakness after all! I have to admit, I’d never have guessed it would be snakes.”
I shoved him hard enough that he had to check his balance so he didn’t topple into the river. “If you tell anyone, I will shoot you in the mouth without hesitation.”
“Whoa.” He held up his hands in mock surrender. “You have my word. I’ll never mention your mortal fear of snakes to anyone.”
“Good.”
The river grew as we walked, spreading its liquid arms wider and wider, and soon we could see a large body of water ahead of us through the trees.
“I miss him, too,” Rylan spoke hesitantly. “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but you have both been my closest friends since we first joined the army.”
“But you still have your brother,” I snapped and picked up my pace, leaving him behind me. When I glanced back to make sure he hadn’t stopped entirely, he was right behind me, his expression clouded. Guilt gnawed at my belly. He was right; of course he missed Marcel. And he was my only friend now. Then I thought of the strange conversation with Prince Damian in the middle of the night. It almost didn’t seem real that he’d truly sat beside me on my cot, telling me of his own grief. Even after that — even though it seemed like Damian wanted me to — I couldn’t count him as a friend. He was my prince. I could never let myself forget it.
With a sigh, I stopped and turned, ready to apologize to Rylan, but no one was there. My heart leaped into my throat, and I whipped out my sword. Too late, I felt the sting of something pricking my neck. Cursing my inattention, I tried to fight the spiraling darkness, but my knees buckled of their own accord, and as I fell toward the ground, everything went black.
THE FIRST THING I noticed was the sound of water. It was everywhere, echoing, a dull roar humming through my head. I tried to open my eyes, but they were so heavy, I felt as though I had been drugged. Clenching my teeth, I forced my lids to open. I was lying on my back in a cavern of some sort. The ceiling looked damp and the air I breathed was fetid with the smell of soil and water and humans.
“He’s up,” someone remarked from nearby.
“That was fast.”
I turned to see two men standing over me, swords pointed at my throat and belly. The world spun when I laboriously sat up, unable to use my hands to aid me, since they were tied behind my back.
“I wouldn’t try that yet, if I were you.”
Ignoring them, I fought the spinning in my head and remained sitting.
“Okay, have it your way.” The first man, holding the sword now pressed against my clavicle, shouted over his shoulder, “He’s ready to talk!”
“First, tell me where my companion is.” My voice came out wrong, like I’d been drinking and couldn’t form my consonants and vowels sharply enough.
“He’s alive. That’s all you need to know.”
A third man walked over to me, a woman trailing him. He was short, shorter than me, but his arms were thickly muscled. The woman in his wake was taller than he was, and painfully thin, almost birdlike with a hooked nose and narrow-set eyes. “If you want to live, you’ll answer all of my questions truthfully. When your partner wakes, we’ll ask him the same questions and see if your stories match,” the man said without preamble. “First of all, tell me where you got that map.”
“I’m second-in-command in the prince’s personal guard. We were sent here by order of Prince Damian. He gave me the map and asked me to deliver a message to your leader.”
The man’s eyes widened, and the woman behind him stiffened. “You ask me to believe that the prince would dare communicate with us?”
“It would seem so.”
The pair shared a glance, then he held out his hand. “Let me see this message.”
“First, you’ll have to ask your henchmen to untie my hands.”
He nodded and the closer of the two guards knelt behind me and, using his sword, cut the ties from around my wrists. “One wrong move, and we’ll dart you again. I have three men out of sight, waiting for my signal. If they all hit you at once, you won’t wake up until Friday. If you wake up at all.”
I lifted an eyebrow at him and, without responding, reached into my vest and pulled out the vellum parchment containing the message held shut by the prince’s personal wax seal. He snatched it from my hand and moved to tear it open.
“Stop! Borracio will want to see the seal himself. He’ll know if it’s authentic.” The woman reached out and grabbed the letter. I watched as the pair turned and walked away, apparently forgetting about me for the moment. The effects of the drug they’d put on their dart were wearing off quickly, and I could have easily disarmed the two men standing guard over me. But I didn’t move, choosing to wait and see what happened.
While I waited, I surreptitiously took account of my surroundings. We were definitely in some sort of network of caves. There were tunnels heading off in three different directions. Where was Rylan? How big was this place? How large was this group of would-be assassins?
Minutes passed in silence, with no sign of either the man or woman. I wondered what time it was, how long I’d been out. Prince Damian expected me back tonight — and so did Deron. What would they do if we didn’t return?
Finally, just as my back had begun to ache from sitting on the hard ground for so long, another man strode out of one of the tunnels, heading straight for me. He was olive skinned, with dark hair and eyes, and he moved with an animal-like grace. I recognized a fighter in him immediately.
“You are the one who brought me the letter from Prince Damian?” His voice was accented; it sounded like he was from Blevon.
“Yes.” I kept my face and voice impassive. “Are you Borracio?”
He ignored me. “Were you aware of its contents?”
“Unfortunately not. We are not at liberty to ask the prince any questions when he gives us orders.”
He stared into my face, his eyes like flint, hard and cold. There was a strange feeling around him, something … unnatural. As he continued to hold my gaze, my stomach tightened into knots. His expression changed suddenly, and he lifted one eyebrow. “This … guard … speaks the truth.” The way he slid over the word guard put me on edge. And how could he know if I had spoken the truth so definitively?
“You may give your prince a message. Tell him we are not to be trifled with and expect him to stay true to his word.” He stepped closer to me and bent down, until his mouth was next to my ear. I stiffened. “I know your secret,” he whispered in my ear. An icy tremor of shock skittered down my spine.
He straightened, his eyes piercing when they met mine. I lifted my chin, refusing to let him see how scared I really was. Who was this man and how did he know my secret? I clenched my fists in my lap to keep my hands from shaking. Then he nodded at the two men standing over me. “You may escort both of the men out. I have nothing further to discuss with them. Make sure to take them the back way.”
He turned on his heel and strode away as the man on my right reached down and yanked me up. I pulled out of his grasp and barely suppressed the urge to knock him out cold. “I’m perfectly capable of moving on my own.” My voice was like ice and the man shrugged. He was obviously someone who underestimated my ability to fight based on my stature. How I would have loved to wipe the smug expression from his face.
But I held my temper in check as the other henchman took a lit torch from a sconce and headed across the cavern. It was more important to get out of here, retrieve my weapons, find Rylan, and return to the palace before nightfall. I wanted to put as much distance between Borracio and myself as possible.
“Where are my sword and my bow?” I asked as I followed the men down one of the tunnels.
“Y
ou’ll find them where we found you. If someone else didn’t claim them already.” The man snorted, and his companion couldn’t quite hide a bark of laughter, either.
There was no way I was going back into the jungle unarmed. I glanced at them out of the corner of my eye. No bows, but both carried decent swords. That was better than nothing. I docilely followed them on a winding path through various tunnels, the light of the torch the only thing beating back the darkness. At times, we sloshed through water, or it dripped on our heads. I tried not to think about what could be in the tunnels with us. Rats. Bats. Snakes.
I shuddered.
At last, I saw daylight ahead. My sigh of relief was so audible, one of the men snorted again. I didn’t care. They wouldn’t be laughing anymore soon enough. We had to climb over a huge boulder to exit the tunnel. When we were finally standing on the dry ground with nothing over our heads except sky — a much darker sky than I’d hoped for — there was no one else there.
“Where’s Rylan?” I turned to ask gruffly.
“How would we know? We were in charge of you. I’m sure he’s around here somewhere.” The shorter one smirked. He outweighed me by at least thirty pounds. I’d been watching him walk and noticed that he favored his right leg infinitesimally, most likely from a recently healed injury.
Without any warning, I kicked him in the knee. With a cry, he dropped to the ground, his leg giving out entirely, just as I’d figured it would. Before he even had a chance to realize he was on the ground, I’d already grabbed his wrist, twisting it in a movement so hard and fast, I could hear the bone snap and his sword fell into my free hand just in time for me to spin and parry the blow heading in my direction as his partner charged me. Within less than a minute, I had disarmed him as well, and they were both on the ground. I let the guy with the broken wrist be, since he made no move to attack me again. But his partner tried to get back up, so I hit him in the back of the head with the hilt of one of the swords hard enough to knock him out. Aside from a pounding headache and wounded pride, he’d be fine when he woke up.
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