Knocking softly, I stood back and waited. I couldn’t stop myself from trembling — from exhaustion, from the wound in my back, from the devastation of Tanoori’s admission, from my own fears. There was no answer. I tried again, knocking a bit louder this time, even though the noise made me cringe and glance over my shoulder, half expecting to see the palace guards coming for me with torches lit and arrows aimed at my heart.
Finally, finally, the door inched open. Then it swung wide to reveal Eljin standing there, holding a lit lantern, his eyes wide above his mask. He grabbed my arm and pulled me in, swiftly shutting the door behind me again.
“Where have you been?” he asked, his voice quiet but accusing.
I shook my head, the enormity of our situation suddenly overwhelming me and choking my words.
“She’s injured,” Lisbet pronounced from behind her nephew. The smaller woman walked around him and took my hand in hers. “Come, let me see what I can do for you. Then you can tell us what’s happened.”
I let her lead me to the bed, where she helped me lie down on my stomach, on top of my sword. I didn’t even care that the scabbard bit into my stomach and legs. I was lying down, Lisbet was here — she was herself — and she was going to heal me.
“Fetch my basket,” she instructed Eljin. I heard the sounds of both of them moving through the room and then felt her lift the nightgown, and the next noise was that of scissors biting through the material.
“It wasn’t mine,” I said.
“It was ruined anyway.” Lisbet continued to cut the nightgown off, until it fell into pieces beneath me. Then I felt her tug at the binding Lenora had made around my back, cutting it away, and my ruined tunic beneath as well, to reveal my wound. She whistled softly.
“Alexa, what happened?” Eljin asked. “Where have you been?”
“Keep it down so I can focus,” Lisbet admonished him.
“I found a trail left by the kidnappers and followed it with Rylan. Didn’t he come and tell you?” I lifted my head slightly, but I couldn’t see her. “We found him, Lisbet. We found Jax.”
Her hands went still on my body; I could feel them trembling against my skin.
“And … is he … did they …”
“He’s alive. For now. But I have to be back there before dawn tomorrow, or they will kill him.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have to turn myself in. My life for his.”
There was silence for a long moment, and then Eljin said, “You can’t turn yourself in.”
“I can’t let him die, either!”
No one said anything, and then I heard Lisbet try to stifle a sob. “Yes. You can. You can’t leave — you have to stop Vera. You’re the only one left who can. You and Eljin together.”
“I’m not going to let him die, Lisbet.” I sat back up, even though my vision tunneled into hazy darkness for a moment. “I made a promise, and I will keep it. I have to get to Damian first, though. Can you heal me enough to get by? I have to find him before the sun comes up.”
“You only have an hour, if that, before dawn,” Eljin said.
“I can’t do much in such a short amount of time.” Lisbet looked into my face, her eyes full of pain and hope, emotions that tore at my heart.
“Do what you can,” I instructed, lying back down. “And I will do what I can.”
As she worked, I quietly relayed what I’d discovered in the jungle, at Rafe’s camp, leaving out some of the details to spare Lisbet.
“So it is Dansii behind the attacks, as I thought,” Eljin said when I was finished.
“Yes. It would seem so.”
“I told you that there are no black sorcerers in Blevon.”
We were silent for a long moment. “Eljin,” I finally said, “you need to at least explain to Damian and General Ferraun why you are so sure. We’ll need every bit of proof we can get that Blevon isn’t to blame, so everyone will support us in whatever we must do to stop Dansii.”
“You don’t think sending some sort of sorcerer and sorceress we’ve never encountered before to put the king under their control is proof enough?” Eljin countered.
I had to admit he had a point, but I wanted to know why he was so sure — for my own personal reasons. Yes, we now knew that the Blevonese soldiers who had attacked the king were under Rafe’s or Vera’s control. But that didn’t explain the attacks on our villages over the years, during the war with Blevon. It didn’t explain the black sorcerer who had attacked my village with Blevonese soldiers and killed my parents.
“The reason he can be so sure is a strictly guarded secret,” Lisbet said softly, as though she knew my thoughts. “Only Blevonese sorcerers or sorceresses are ever told the truth, and then they make a sacred oath to keep the knowledge they receive at Sì Miào Chán Wù in their hearts, sworn to never be revealed, except to another Blevonese sorcerer.”
“Sì Miào Chán Wù,” I repeated. “What does that mean?”
“Roughly translated, it means ‘Temple of Awakening to Truth,’ ” Eljin said, his voice gruff. “It’s where all Blevonese sorcerers go once they are of age.”
“Why is it a secret? And if only the sorcerers know the secret, how can you be sure that part of the Blevonese army wouldn’t work with a black sorcerer if they had the chance?”
“Because,” Eljin explained, “even though not everyone knows the entire truth, our people know enough to not make that mistake. The consequences from taking such a risk are too dire.”
“Please tell me,” I begged. “I’m half Blevonese. Shouldn’t I be allowed to know? I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”
“Shh,” Lisbet murmured. “You need to relax so I can work. This is too distracting.”
I begrudgingly fell silent as Lisbet worked on my back. Already, the pain was dimming; I could breathe deeper. But my willingness to remain silent didn’t last long. After just a short time, I couldn’t bear it anymore. I wasn’t relaxed — I was burning with questions. If I couldn’t be out in the palace searching for Damian, I could at least get some answers.
“Eljin, since you’ve suspected them the whole time, why do you think Dansii is doing this?”
“I think Armando wants more than just Antion,” Eljin replied, his voice grim. “I think he wants to distract both our kingdoms, so he can sneak his way into the heart of Blevon, while we’re busy tearing each other apart.”
“If he wants Blevon, why doesn’t he just attack you? Why go through us? Supposedly, we’re allies. It doesn’t make sense.”
“Armando and his armies can’t get into Blevon from Dansii — the Naswais Mountains that create the northern border of Blevon are insurmountable. The only way to our kingdom is through Antion.”
“The what mountains?”
“You aren’t familiar with the geography of Blevon?” Eljin sounded incredulous.
“Excuse me for not having time to study maps while I was doing everything I could just to survive,” I snapped back.
“Enough,” Lisbet interrupted us. “I need to concentrate.”
I tried to lie still, but I was thrumming with tension — with the need to be doing something. Helping Damian, stopping Vera. And there was one more question that I needed answered, before it was time for me to go face them and possibly never get the chance to ask again.
“So my father … you believe he was a sorcerer, and he was Blevonese. Would he have known the truth — would he have known your secrets?”
Lisbet sighed, but it was Eljin who answered, “Yes, if he was a Blevonese sorcerer and had ever been to our temple, he would have known.”
As I thought back on that day, the day my parents were killed, I suddenly saw his actions in a new light. From where he made us hide, I’d watched him prepare to fight the enemy. He’d seemed concerned, but confident — until the black sorcerer had started attacking. Then he’d been so shocked he’d stumbled. I’d never seen him stumble before. I remembered the look on his face — the way his eyes had widened when the man d
rew up the abominable fire in his hand. How anger and horror had been etched as the final expression on his face as he’d valiantly tried to save us.
I’d always assumed the anger and horror had been because he was afraid of dying — of all of us being killed. But maybe the true shock had been realizing a black sorcerer was fighting with the Blevonese army.
“Now is not the time for this discussion. We need to focus on the problem at hand.” Eljin cut into my thoughts, and then he proceeded to fill me in on what had happened in the palace while I was gone — whether to silence me, distract me, or give me more information to aid me in whatever lay ahead, I wasn’t sure. Probably all three.
Yesterday, Eljin had woken to find his door barred, and he’d spent the morning fashioning a rope ladder from his clothes and bedsheets, so he could break out of his own room. There were no secret passages in his quarters.
When he’d finally made it free, he found the grounds deserted. Eljin was able to locate Lisbet, and she told him that King Damian and Vera had called for a meeting in the great hall, asking every guard, servant, liveryman, messenger, and even the kitchen staff to be present. Lisbet didn’t trust Vera, so she’d gone to hide instead. Eljin concealed himself using his sorcery and snuck in to see Vera going from person to person in the room, while Damian watched from his throne. Eljin had quickly snuck back out, before Damian could sense his presence, and gone to Lisbet.
“What about his guard? Are they all under her power?” I asked.
“At this point, we have to assume so. Except Rylan, if he came back during the night.”
I wondered what had happened to my friend — if he’d had the same reception as I did. Was he imprisoned now? Had he been taken to Vera and put under her power as well? Or was he, too, hiding somewhere?
“Are you almost done?” I asked Lisbet, my body taut with urgency. I had to get to Damian, to see if it was possible to break Vera’s control over him before things got any worse.
“Healing can’t be rushed. It’s a difficult process, especially when I’m exhausted and trying not to be distracted by all of your talking. I’ve managed to stop the bleeding, but it’s going to take me hours before I can get all the layers of skin, muscle, and nerves completely knit back together.”
Her words sent chagrin through me, but I didn’t have time to lie there silently any longer. “I don’t have hours. Wrap me and let’s go. It’ll have to do.”
Lisbet didn’t argue with me; she just took my arm and helped me sit up. “Your tunic and your vest are ruined. Eljin, do we have something we can give her to wear?” The remains of my uniform covered the front of me, but my back was exposed. I gritted my teeth as I moved.
When Eljin turned away to rummage in a trunk in the corner, Lisbet carefully helped me pull off my destroyed vest — the one with the insignia of the king on it — and then my tunic, leaving me half naked on the bed.
“We have —”
“Don’t turn around.” Lisbet cut him off, and Eljin froze with his back still to us, holding out a dark tunic that looked like it was made for him.
She quickly bound my back with clean bandages, then took the tunic from him and helped me pull it on. When I was decent once more, he finally turned to face me. With his mask on, it was hard to know for sure, but it looked like his olive skin was slightly pink along his hairline, as though he were blushing. I couldn’t imagine the indomitable Eljin blushing, and for some reason, it made me smile.
“What’s your plan?” he asked, and my smile died as quickly as it came. “How can I help?”
“Do either of you know the secret passageway that leads to Damian’s outer chamber?”
“Yes,” they both responded.
“I’ll take you,” Eljin offered. “Lisbet, you stay here — and if anything happens to us, flee the palace and go straight to my father. Tell him what’s happened and that he must go to King Osgand and request the aid of the Rén Zhuˇsas. If it comes to that, they may be Antion’s only hope.”
I suppressed a chill as Eljin picked up an unlit torch and held it up to the one in the bracket until it caught fire, doubling the amount of light in the room. “What are the Rén Zhuˇsas?”
“The three most powerful sorcerers alive — they are the reigning sorcerers of Blevon. They live in Sì Miào Chán Wù, to protect it.”
“Why haven’t I ever heard any of this before?”
A dark look crossed Eljin’s face, which was reflected on Lisbet’s. “Because King Hector didn’t want his people to know of it. And the threat of death was good enough to silence anyone who knew even a little bit about your supposed enemies.”
I wanted to keep questioning him, but there wasn’t time. I could only hope to make it through the next day and night, and maybe someday have the chance to get more answers to all of my questions.
Eljin crossed to the wall with wood paneling opposite the bed and began to feel along it. I watched him, wondering how the mysterious passageways worked. Finally, he pushed and the concealed door sprung open, revealing a narrow, pitch-black pathway.
“How do they work?” I asked, still unsure of how he’d found the lever I’d been unsuccessful in locating in Damian’s room after Jax had brought me the letter.
“The mechanism is concealed as a knot of wood. When you push the right one in, it releases the latch and the door opens,” he explained, pointing to a small, round imperfection in the wall that looked like any of the other natural knots in the wood.
That explained why I’d never found the way to open the secret door. I’d been searching for something sticking out, not trying to push part of the wall in.
“Stay close,” he instructed, “and let’s hope Vera hasn’t figured out all of the palace’s secrets yet.”
I shivered at his words, despite the heat, and moved to follow him, but Lisbet touched my arm, stopping me. I looked down into her dark, somber eyes and swallowed past the sudden lump in my throat.
“Be careful” was all she said, and I nodded.
As I turned to follow Eljin, she called after me, “And thank you.”
I didn’t turn back around. She had nothing to thank me for. I hadn’t saved anyone yet.
* * *
The pathway was stifling — the dank walls were too close and the darkness too complete, even with Eljin’s torch throwing a small circle of light around us. It illuminated cobwebs hanging from the low ceiling and crisscrossing in front of us. I kept batting at them, trying to keep them from sticking to my face. The walls were layered with dirt, and the passageway was so narrow my shoulders occasionally brushed one side or the other, surely coating the arms of the tunic in grime.
We walked and walked through the damp blackness — turning corners, going up stairs, continuing down long stretches of endless dark, passing barely noticeable lines in the otherwise unendingly smooth walls that must have been exits from the passageway into other rooms. I wondered who was on the other sides of these walls, most likely sleeping, completely unaware of us walking past them.
At last, Eljin stopped and gestured for me to come closer. He pointed at a knot in the wall, similar to the one he’d pushed in Lisbet’s room. He pantomimed opening it and that he would wait for me.
I nodded. Taking a deep breath, I unsheathed my sword, unsure of what awaited me on the other side of this door. My heart pounded beneath the cage of my ribs. Damian was so close. I’d finally reached him. But what would he do when he saw me?
Pushing away my fears, I stretched my hand and pushed the knot. The latch sprung, and the door popped open silently. With one last look at Eljin, the torch he held casting his face into alternating shadow and light, I slipped through the opening and into the king’s outer chamber.
THE CHAMBER WAS dark. Only the dim illumination from the skylight above me offered the meager glow of the stars to reveal that the room was empty. I quickly strode across the familiar space, my blood pulsing through my veins, making my back hurt and my hands clammy. I’d never been so nervous to see Dami
an. When I reached his actual door, I twisted the knob, only to find it locked.
I stood there for a long moment, unsure of what to do. Normally, I would have knocked, demanding he let me in. But did I dare do that tonight? He never locked this door — why would he, when his outer door was already locked and guarded?
There was no other way to get to him. I’d just have to risk it.
I’d barely lifted my hand, ready to pound on his door, when I heard a voice from within his room — a female voice. I couldn’t make out what she was saying, but I knew who it was. Vera. In Damian’s room. Before the sun had even begun to rise.
My stomach twisted, sending a surge of acid into my throat, nearly choking me. He’s not himself, I reminded myself. He’s under her control.
But jealousy, white hot and unstoppable, suddenly burned through me. Jealousy and fear.
I pressed my ear to the door, straining to decipher her words.
“She’s here, Damian. She’s coming for us, just as I said she would.”
“How will we stop her?” he responded, his voice so familiar and yet his words so wrong, making everything inside of me constrict.
“I’m taking care of it,” Vera responded.
I spun around, my heart racing.
Maybe she hadn’t been with him all night, if she was telling him about me coming for them. But whether she had or not, their words proved that my fears were true; she’d turned him against me.
What did I do now? Above me, the skylight was beginning to show the gray shades of dawn, slowly wiping away the stars, bleeding away the black night into morning. I had one day. One day to stop Vera — without hurting her — and get back to Rafe to save Jax.
My options were so limited. I could either pound on the door and demand to be let in or wait until they came out.
And then I remembered the passageway Damian had used to enter my room the other night. He’d said it led straight to his inner quarters. If I could find it, I’d have a way in without causing a huge scene. I didn’t know what I was going to do yet; all I knew was that I had to get in there and at least try to talk to him. Without allowing Vera to look into my eyes and put me under her spell as well.
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