by Lucy Tempest
“It…was…clearly…part of…yours.”
“Actually, it’s not a requirement of noblemen or princes, either. But I had a passion for it, and growing up with a powerhouse like Ayman spurred me to hone my strength, endurance and combat skills.” His face suddenly turned grim. “Lady Rostam encouraged me to fulfill my potential physically as well as in everything else. She also insisted on making battle strategy a part of my education, though my tutors found it pointless, as we lived in times of peace.” He gazed up towards the mountain. “Ironic that the first time I’m forced to use those capabilities, it would be against her.”
With the crippling pain in my lungs and side abating, I straightened to cup his bearded cheek in consolation. He turned his lips in my palm, eyes pained yet thankful. It seemed he found it a great relief he could tell me everything on his mind, no matter how distressing. I was endlessly grateful for that, wanted to be his sounding board and confidante for life.
But it only made my secrecy and lies feel much worse. I both longed for and dreaded the time when I finally came clean.
We extended our stop into a water break before continuing our trek across the city. It took one more hour until we reached its far end.
The tunnel that led up into the palace was at the very foot of the mountain, beneath an abandoned and now semi-destroyed shrine of some forgotten goddess. Cyrus’s tension rose as we descended into its depths, afraid that the opening would be buried or even gone.
Thankfully, it was there, though totally obscured. Cyrus told me that he and Ayman had found it by accident, believed that only they knew it existed, as he’d found no record of it in the ancient schematics that depicted every inch of the palace and its hidden passages.
As we began our climb through the bowels of the mountain, I finally felt that this was real. We’d really embarked on this mission, and there was no turning back.
The tunnel was claustrophobic, its air sparse, its lighting stones far and in between, its incline steep and it seemed endless. During the grueling ascent, Cyrus expressed many time how stupid he’d been to let me accompany him, especially after my ordeal during the past two months. But I assured him that it didn’t matter that I felt I was dying, because I wouldn’t.
Also, I wouldn’t have let him go alone. As unstoppable a warrior as he was, we were relegating his fighting skills to emergencies, in other words, if everything went wrong. A crucial part of our plan was stealth, and our best bet for everything else was my ring. And it wasn’t like I could have loaned it to him, as it answered no one else but me.
Though he hated to depend on its caprice, he agreed it was as sure a bet as we could have that if the situation was desperate enough, it would respond as it had in similar circumstances.
I lost track of time long before we reached a tunnel I recognized, what Cyrus and Ayman had taken me through that first time to the vault. It looked the same as before. Maybe the rot of the curse hadn’t eaten that deep yet.
As we reached that massive moonstone-lit chamber that led to the vault, Cyrus suddenly stopped me at its very center, pulled me into his arms.
Exhausted from exertion and apprehension, I immediately sought his refuge, clung to him. His strength and vitality encompassed me, as necessary as air to my breath-starved lungs. Then he raised my face to his and took my lips in a bolstering kiss.
“I love you, Ada of Rose Isle,” he breathed against my lips, and I almost whimpered. How I’d come to hate that name, that fabricated identity. How I dreaded the moment it would be exposed as a fraud and me with it. “And I will always love you. Whatever happens tonight, I’m only grateful I found you.”
I burrowed deeper into him, unable to reciprocate his confessions in fear I’d burst out in tears. We remained entwined until my breathing evened, then he unfurled me from his embrace.
I followed him, with memories and nostalgia flooding me, to the exit in the quarters where the girls and I had stayed. We came out beneath what used to be Cherine’s bed. He slipped to the door, cracked it open an inch, then turned to me. “Guards.”
I nodded, did what I’d done the night I’d compelled him and all the guards, and gone to get the lamp from the quarters we were here to infiltrate. Heart hammering, I pressed my ring to my lips and wished that every guard throughout the palace fell in a trance.
In moments, Cyrus breathed in relief, reached back to me. Outside, the silhouettes standing guard were as still as if they’d turned to statues like Ayman. I wondered why it had worked when I wasn’t as desperate as I’d been the last times, and had to surmise it was the guards’ susceptibility, being already compelled, tired, bored and almost asleep on their feet.
I rushed after Cyrus through the place that had been his home since he was a nine-year-old boy. The place where we’d fallen in love, where I’d known joy and desperation. It was a macabre deformation of its former beauty and grandeur, its stairways gnarly, its hallways bleeding a red luminescence, and its walls oozing the pestilence of Nariman’s curse.
At a chamber that now looked like a cavern but he still recognized, he pushed a panel in the wall and another in the soaring ceiling opened and a rope ladder unfurled to the ground.
I couldn’t resist a chuckle. In a way, I was back where I started, about to climb a rope into a wealthy woman’s domain to rob her. But now Lady Dufreyne, her hilltop mansion and my petty vengeance on her felt beyond insignificant compared to Nariman, this palace and the immense stakes.
With a hand on the ladder, he turned to me, eyes anxious. “I can handle it from here.”
“You mean you only took me with you as a running companion? “I shook my head. “I’m not scared of climbing, as I’m sure you remember.”
He cupped my jaw, softly thumbed my cheek. “But you are scared.”
“Of going into the witch’s den? Of course I am.” The image of her turning into a colossal snake slithered behind my eyes. “But so what? I won’t let you go alone.”
He exhaled, nodded, his lips twitching at my doggedness. “We’ll be in and out in no time. If she stirs, the ring should work on her with her almost asleep like the guards.”
“It won’t work on her, not again” died in my throat. I could say nothing without snapping the string of pearls that were my lies. I had to bite my tongue and hope the Fates took pity on me for once so I didn’t have to confront her again.
Please be asleep, Nariman. And remain asleep.
Gripping the rope, I started climbing up to our only chance at saving us all.
Up to my biggest heist.
Chapter Nine
I was preoccupied with the pain in my knees as I scrambled on all fours when Cyrus stopped ahead of me. A rumbling sound of frustration escaped him, echoing in the duct.
“The opening to the tunnel is gone!”
My heart dropped with a painful plop to my guts. I should have realized it wouldn’t be that easy. That Nariman wouldn’t leave any vulnerability for us to exploit.
Cyrus echoed my bitter musings. “I should have worried about this opening more than the one leading up to the palace.”
“You did, said it’s a possibility she’d barred both,” I placated him, even when I started shaking all over. “We had no choice but to try the easiest way in first. And you did get us all the way up and inside here. Now it’s on to the contingency plan.”
He nodded grimly as he gestured for me to go back.
In minutes, we’d climbed down into the chamber and left the area, heading to the one housing the king’s quarters, now presumably Nariman’s lair. We retraced my steps when I’d gone to steal the lamp, and the memories of that terrible day that had ended in catastrophe juddered through me. Those came to an abrupt end at the east towers.
The guards posted across the archways were moving!
My wish hadn’t covered the whole palace as it had that day.
I whispered to the ring to entrance them—and nothing. They continued chattering.
Apprehension boiled inside my chest
. Cyrus could take them, but it would be too loud and messy. It would be like shouting for Nariman to come to apprehend us.
Cyrus pressed us against the darkest side of the stairwell as he turned me to him. “Time for a contingency of the contingency. I’ll claim to be turning myself in. I’m betting they won’t bother their queen before daylight, not even to inform her of my return, and would leave their post to confine me in my quarters until then. During their preoccupation with me, the path to her quarters will be open. The ring might work again and get you in. If it doesn’t, pick its locks, as I taught you, and get the staff. I’ll escape through the hidden panel again and meet you by the vault.”
I pounced on him, stopping him from walking out. “She might have already sealed that panel, or they’ll put you in a different room, or even a cell, so you can’t escape this time.”
“If I don’t, you do. And maybe destroying the staff would end all this.”
I knew for a fact it wouldn’t. Only the lamp would. If I didn’t get it, all this would be for nothing. But I was no match for Nariman on my own. And I wasn’t letting him put himself into her hands again. “Turning yourself in wasn’t part of our plans or contingencies!”
“It’s the only way I won’t make a ruckus loud enough to wake up Lady Rostam and her ancestors.” His eyes widened as if with another idea. “Which might also work. If turning myself in doesn’t go as projected, I’ll make as loud and violent a commotion as possible. She comes out of her chambers to investigate, you rush in and do what needs to be done.”
I was shaking like a flame in the wind now, with dread and frustration at his insistence to risk himself, to be my shield. “And if I fail? You’d only have sacrificed yourself for nothing.”
“That has always been a possibility,” he said calmly, solemnly.
I shook him along with me. “Not acceptable. We do this together, remember? That was always the plan.”
“A strategist adjusts plans according to the reality on the ground. We’re out of safe, stealthy options, Ada.”
“No, we’re not. Not if I go first.”
It was like an iron gate slammed over his expression, alarm and refusal bursting from him like a furnace blast. Then he started to move away, biting off a final, “No.”
I clung harder. “Just listen to me. I can’t do this without you. But if I distract them, you can knock them out quietly. Then we go in together.”
“I’m their queen’s prized hostage. They need to take me in unharmed. They would have no qualms in killing you.”
“They won’t.” I squeezed his hands, getting desperate. “Just trust me. Please.”
A dozen conflicting emotions stormed in his jeweled eyes, then he finally exhaled. “At the very first sign of danger, run. I’ll take care of them.”
“No, you won’t, and no, there won’t be any danger. Just hold your protectiveness in check and don’t make any premature moves!”
Before he could stop me, I walked out of our hiding spot, wrapping my scarf more securely, in case any of the guards recognized me from my days as a Bride Search contestant. I didn’t need to feign panic as I approached them. My back-hunching fear and bone-rattling anxiety were on full display.
At first, they didn’t move, as if they couldn’t credit that someone had the nerve to approach this section of the palace. Then all jumped into action, taking defensive stances as the tallest among them approached me, the sharp tip of his spearhead gleaming like a silent threat, aimed at my throat. I prayed Cyrus wouldn’t consider this his cue to storm out in all-out attack.
For once, there was no benefit in swallowing my fear. I let all my pent up apprehension come flooding out in hyperventilating tears.
Alarmed, the guard lowered his weapon. “Who are you? And what are you doing here?”
I curled in tighter on myself, going for maximum pathetic effect. “I—I escaped.”
“From whom?” he asked, perplexed. “Are you a kitchen girl? A chambermaid? How did you get all the way here?”
“I-I’m a handmaiden to Lady Cherine, Lord Nazaryan’s daughter,” I whispered hoarsely, scouring my mind for convincing details to adorn my fabrications. “A guard stationed at my lady’s rooms was always watching me, making rude suggestions. He told me he’d take me away with him soon, and then-then people were escaping the palace, and he tried to carry me off, telling me he already got my lady, because he knew I wouldn’t leave without her.”
The guard goggled at me. “Are you telling us the breakout was an inside job?”
I nodded, sniffling. “I-I must report to the queen, not you. You could be like him.”
“We’re not!” The man jerked as if I’d burned him. The very thought that Nariman might suspect them made them all sag in fear, weapons now fully lowered.
Those guards didn’t feel compelled to me. Those must be the ones who’d sold out, joined her willingly, out of fear or avarice or both. She must have needed guards with their wits about them at her doors. Big mistake. Manipulating minds with their own free will and consent was what I did.
The guard rushed to add, “But no need to bother Her Majesty just yet. Tell us what happened first.”
I looked around, pretending extreme reluctance and suspicion, before continuing to spin my tale. “He said the queen’s compulsion faded and he and many others were forming a rebel group, refusing to serve under a witch. He said they’d rob the treasure, take the queen’s prized hostages to avoid her retaliation, then take over cities across Cahraman.”
“Are you saying these rebels kidnapped the prince, his aunt and the lady you serve, and set off those explosions?”
I nodded vigorously, shaking the unshed tears off my lashes. “He tried to take me with him but I escaped him. Then after the train left, I couldn’t find my lady in her quarters. I was terrified, kept hiding, hoping he’d give up on me…” I let a shudder overtake me for good measure. “…but he’s come back for me, and for the other nobles too—the prince from Almaskham, the princess from Orestia, maybe even the king himself. He intimated that there’d been a change of plan, that they’d entered a pact with the prince, swore allegiance to him, and were coming to take the palace back with him leading the charge!”
“We have to warn the queen,” exclaimed a guard in the back, and the others buzzed in anxious agreement.
I pounced on the opening. “Yes, quick—warn her! I heard the prince is bringing the matriarch of Zhadugar to defeat her!”
Three of the guards shot down the right side of the hall, fading into the dim distance, but the one who faced me stayed.
“I’ll escort you to your lady’s quarters,” he said. “I’ll station a trusted guard at your door.”
I almost flinched when he steered me, remembering the times I’d been almost killed by those in this same uniform. But I had to perfect my act, so I breathlessly agreed. “Yes, please.”
A few steps into the hall, I heard a slight rustle behind us, then the guard’s hand slipped off my arm. Next second he hit the floor like a pile of soggy laundry.
The aversion gripping my joints loosened as Cyrus stepped over the guard and began stripping him of weapons and clothes.
My lips wobbled as I gazed down at him. “See? It worked.”
“It did,” he hummed, putting on the guard’s vest and turban. “That was some story you spun. I almost believed it myself.”
I suddenly became very aware of the sweat sliding down my back. It was the first time Cyrus realized what a good liar I was.
He stood to wrap the sash around his waist and stick both his weapons and the guard’s in it. “How did you learn to be so convincing? Did you act in plays as a child?”
Though I could tack on another lie to my already towering mountain and say “Yes,” I didn’t want to. I felt one more lie would make my heart burst with guilt.
All I could hope was that once this was over, my lies would be a small bump in the road that led to the freedom of an entire kingdom.
Instead of resp
onding, I asked, “Do you think she’ll take the bait, go down to investigate your impending incursion and vacate her chambers?”
Handing me the spear, he turned to lead the way. “If she thinks I’ve returned, she will.” He slowed down, groaned, “But she wouldn’t leave her staff behind, would she?”
I almost blurted out that it didn’t matter, as long as she didn’t take the lamp, too. It was heavy and cumbersome enough she might leave it behind, thinking that her own magic could take care of any attacks. Though he saw this as another hole in our ever-changing plan, I thought it was actually shaping up better than I’d expected. If she left her chambers, and I got the lamp back, this might be over in the same number of minutes Nariman had distorted Cahraman.
When I said nothing, he continued walking. “I hate the idea, but maybe I’ll have to fight her for it. You distract her while I…”
“Don’t even think it, Cyrus,” I stuttered, voice shaking harder than my grip on the spear, remembering the horrible moments when she’d turned Ayman to stone. “If this comes down to a confrontation, don’t dare make a move against her.”
“She wouldn’t hurt me. So if I—”
I couldn’t hold back the blunt exclamation. “I think you’re overestimating her fondness for you. Nothing is as precious to her as her power.”
He shot me a glance over his shoulder. “You talk like you know her.”
At that moment, holding my tongue was the most strenuous action I’d ever put my body through. I finally mumbled, “I know her kind.”
He stopped so suddenly I bumped into his back. I looked around him, saw what had startled him to a halt. Down the expansive hall, the massive but now blackened and distorted double doors to the king’s quarters were wide open. And there were no guards.
He started walking again, motioned for me to follow. “The guards must have followed her down. My father’s guards trailed after him like shadows. Less trouble for us.”
Instead of feeling reassured, my heart shrank behind my ribs.