“No,” she said quickly. “It’s just me. I have a very active imagination, and Father says—”
“Your father is a liar and a traitor. You can’t believe anything he has told you. Did you think that all of this was just some big charade? That you’d come here, strut around with my name, just for . . . what? To catch me in some treasonous act? Prove my disloyalty? No, he brought you here to marry the prince, Lisette. So that you both could be married, and then murdered, and bring down the wall with your deaths. That’s what all of this is about. Everything. Toris de Lena will not stop until he’s destroyed Achlev’s wall, and the city with it.”
“No, no—he would never! Why would he want that for me? I’m his daughter! Why not just let you marry the prince and then kill you instead?”
I took a step back. “Because I saw through him.” He’d said as much in the Ebonwilde, when I’d tried to negotiate for Conrad. Unlike you, he’s proven himself valuably malleable. “He didn’t want to use me because he couldn’t intimidate me. He couldn’t control me.” I’d never thought of it that way before. Toris removed me from his plans not because I was weak but because I was too strong to be controlled.
“And I’m a fool, is that it?”
“No,” I said. “It’s just as you said . . . you’re his daughter. He was counting on your love for him to overcome any of your doubts. And can’t you see? It worked.”
She sniffed and turned her back on me. “He wasn’t always like this, you know. When I was very little, he was affectionate, loving . . .”
“But the loss of your mother changed him. I know.” I hated mentioning Camilla; I didn’t want to remind Lisette whose fault her death was in the first place.
“What? No. They fought constantly before she died. She always said it was what he saw at the Assembly that changed him. He was there when it fell. He was the one who relayed the news back to Renalt.”
“What was he there for, Lisette?” I asked urgently. “What did he see? What did he find?”
“I don’t know!” she cried.
I placed a tentative hand on her shoulder. “I know you love Conrad. In many ways, you’re a better sister to him than I ever was. Ever could be. Thank you, truly. But look around you. The king of Achleva is dead! The water is red with algae and dangerous to drink. Anything green in the city has rotted away. Something terrible is about to happen, and I must get Conrad away from it as soon as I can.”
“All of this”—she waved her hand at the dead terrace garden and the crimson fjord—“is because of the wall? And for the wall to fall . . .”
It begins with three dead white ponies,
then a maid, a mother, a crone.
Then upon a bed of red rosies,
Bleed three fallen kings to leave three empty thrones . . .
“Three of Achlevan royalty will die.”
“King Domhnall, me, and . . .”
“Valentin,” I said, swallowing hard. “The prince.”
She took a step back. His name had unnerved her.
“You can judge me for going along with this, for taking your place, but”—she gave a helpless shrug—“I love him, Aurelia. I’ve loved him since I was a little girl, reading his letters. I kept writing to him, too. I paid one of the castle messengers to deliver the letters to me instead of you. After my mother died, they were the only thing that kept me going.” She dashed some tears from her eyes, sniffling. “I know it’s stupid. It couldn’t last forever, I knew that. But ever since we got here, he’s hardly spoken to me. And . . . and . . .”
I surprised myself and hugged her. Maybe it was Kate’s influence. Maybe it was that our long-lost friendship wasn’t so lost after all. Maybe it was because I knew what it was like to love Zan and have to let him go. She returned my hug softly, almost shyly.
“I’m leaving today,” I told her. “I want you and Conrad to come with me. We can all go back to Renalt and face the Tribunal together. Since the Tribunal is orchestrating the destruction of the wall, once the Tribunal is gone, Zan—I mean, Valentin—will have nothing more to fear.” I took down the black ribbon and gave it to her. “Give this to Conrad. He knows what it means.”
She took it cautiously. “Do you know where he is now?” she asked. “Valentin?”
“Gone into exile,” I said. “Safe, far away from the wall.”
Even as I said it, from a distance there came the chime of a bell.
* * *
I remembered what Zan had said: The bell at the gate tolls for only two reasons: an army is approaching, or there’s royalty coming.
Lisette and I went together, shoving our way to the front of the angry crowd as three riders from the king’s guard made their way sedately up the street from the gate. A man was stumbling behind them, tethered by ropes wrapped thickly around his wrists. Zan.
“They caught him!” someone near me shouted, celebrating. Behind me, epithets were being thrown in his direction. King killer. Murderer. Betrayer. Destroyer.
Zan was being cast as his father’s assassin. Domhnall was a terrible king, but the people were scared and desperate for someone to blame for their suffering. Toris was feeding Zan to them like carrion to hungry wolves.
“Zan!” I cried, trying to break from the line to reach him. “Zan!”
Lisette tugged me back. “If my father sees you, he’ll kill you,” she hissed.
Hearing me call, he looked up, and my heart dropped at the sight of the dried blood caking his temple, the purple bruises marring his cheeks. His eyes were bright and angry, though, warning me away. I backed down, and Lisette and I fell into step with the mass as it moved toward the front steps of the castle, where Toris was waiting in full Tribunal regalia.
“Good people of Achleva!” he called with the same zest he used to always save for the most salacious witch executions. “Your great King Domhnall spent his life in your service, only to have it cut so short by the person he loved the most: his son. Prince Valentin has been doing everything in his power to destroy this sacred, ancient city, one murder at a time . . . even going so far as to frame and execute the innocent Dedrick Corvalis. But no more. His treachery has been dragged out into the light, and justice will soon be done!”
The crowd that had, only yesterday, cheered at Zan’s defiance of the king now screamed their hate-filled belief that he’d murdered him. Blood magic be damned; this was what true power looked like. Toris could wield a mob like a weapon.
I was wrong to have ever counted being paraded through a crowd bent on my death as my greatest nightmare. In truth, helplessly standing witness as it happened to someone I loved was far, far worse.
“What do we do?” Lisette whispered.
“We get him out,” I said. “We take him with us.”
I couldn’t watch Zan be dragged inside. Instead, I turned the force of my gaze to Toris, who was basking in the citizens’ fear and anger like a snake in the sun. He gave a deep bow and, wearing a confident smile, retreated into the castle that was now all but his.
I began calculating all the many ways I would make him pay.
* * *
Lisette was right: if Toris saw me, he’d kill me without hesitation. She, however, could move around inside undetected, so the task of surveillance fell to her. She was to observe everything she could about Zan’s imprisonment: If he was in the dungeon, which cell? How many guards would we have to contend with? How often did they rotate shifts? She’d collect as much information as possible, anything we could use to our advantage, and bring it back to me. At dark, I’d retrieve Zan and meet her and Conrad at the tower, and we’d all leave the city together.
She was a reluctant spy; I was an anxious sentinel. We were both ill-suited to our roles but united in our cause: retrieve Zan, escape with Conrad. Rob Toris of his pawns and deny him his victory.
I had to wait out the day in the tower. I meant to go all the way to the top, to watch what was happening in the city from its highest vantage point, but I barely made it
inside the door before my knees gave out. I crawled a few more feet before the days of accumulated exhaustion caught up with me. I slept for hours, curled up inside the mosaic triquetra, the tower’s thousand stairs spiraling into infinity above me.
My dreams were troubling, full of unnatural shadows and beguiling whispers. Help me, they said. Free me. I saw myself from above, thrashing in my sleep as serpentine tendrils of smoke coiled around my limbs. Let me out. The whispers grew more insistent, transforming from a plea to a demand.
Let me out.
I woke in a panic and scrambled from the mosaic, pressing my sweat-soaked back against the cold stone wall. Just a bad dream, I reassured myself. An unfortunate side effect of a weary body and a wounded heart.
Still, I didn’t want to spend another second in the tower.
I spent the rest of my vigil on the rocks below, watching boats—full of rich merchants, mostly—leave the docks across the water one by one, crossing beneath King’s Gate and leaving the suffering city behind. The poor could not leave so easily; my father used to say that a hurricane was an annoyance to the rich, while a mere drop of rain was a catastrophe to the poor. I wondered what wisdom he’d have imparted now, if he hadn’t died in the fire I’d sent to de Lena’s pier. I needed guidance, now more than ever.
It was dark again when I heard a shuffle on the other side of the tower. I scrambled to my feet.
“Aurelia?”
“Where have you been?” I said frantically. “I’ve waited all day! We need to—”
I stopped. Lisette was standing behind Conrad, who was watching me with hesitant eyes. I tripped over my feet to get to him, grabbing him with both hands and pulling him into a fierce embrace even as I stumbled. I wasn’t sure if I was laughing or crying or both, but I didn’t care. He put his arms around me and hugged me back, and I buried my face in his hair.
“He said you killed Kellan. That you were trying to hurt Mother . . .”
“I didn’t hurt Kellan. I would never have in a million years hurt Kellan or Mother or you or anybody. It was Toris. It was all Toris.”
“Aurelia, I mean Lisette, has been taking care of me.”
“I know! And she has been doing an excellent job. Look at you. You’re growing up so quickly. Mother will be so proud.”
“Look.” He brought out the winged-horse charm I’d hidden for him. “I’ve taken really good care of it.”
He tried to hand it back to me, but I shook my head. “You keep it. So the Empyrea can grant you good luck.”
“I couldn’t get to Valentin,” Lisette said under her breath. “Not even close. I tried all day. They’ve got an entire floor closed off. At least ten guards at every exit. Father has it locked down.”
I recalibrated my plans around this new information. “We’ll have to make some kind of diversion. Start a fire or something. Wait till they go running—”
“We can’t,” she said, putting her hand on my arm. “There’s more. I heard him talking to the guards. They’re going to seal the gates shut tonight. No one will go in or out. We have to be out before they do.” She glanced up at the castle behind her. “And before they know that we are gone.” She swallowed. “I told Father I wasn’t feeling well, that Conrad and I would retire early to our beds. I’m not sure he believed me, but I didn’t know what else to do.”
I nodded. “We’ll get you two out before the gates close. Once you’re safe, I’ll come back for Zan. I’ll find a way.”
I went over the ledge first; then I helped lift Conrad down from the bottom. Lisette’s boots were still hanging over the side when we began hearing shouts from above. “They must have already figured out we’re not in our beds,” she said as she touched her feet to the rocky ground of the inlet. “They’re going to come after us.”
“They won’t find us,” I said. “I promise. But you need to stay calm. For me, and for Conrad. Can you do that?”
She took a breath and nodded, and we had already gotten several feet into the tunnel when I remembered that I’d left the Founder’s blood relic hidden under Aren’s statue. I hadn’t thought of it in days.
“Wait!” I said. “I have to go back; I forgot something—” But I was cut off by the sound of hoofbeats on the ground overhead.
“Whatever it is, you don’t need it,” Lisette said. “It’s too late to get it now.”
She was right. I hated when Lisette was right. I had to trust Aren to watch over the vial now.
I led the way, and we sloshed through the red-toned sludge that was coating the inside of the passage. With Conrad beside me, I was sharply aware of every serrated piece of rock underfoot, every slippery turn; I could hear the soft tones of Lisette’s voice: “It’s all right, little prince. Not long now.” But the reassurances seemed more for her own benefit than for his; he was marching with a gusto that suggested he was enjoying himself.
When we got to the wall, our plans to scale it disintegrated and scattered like dust. Guards were stationed along the top of the wall now, each patrolling a section of one hundred feet. There was no way we could go up the staircase now; we couldn’t leave the shelter of the trees without risking being seen. We were forced to retreat, scurrying like rats into the city’s maze of alleys.
A crowd was gathering near the base of Forest Gate, its statues cleft and crumbling now that their magic seal was broken. Men were moving chunks of stone to clear the way for the portcullis to descend past the damage and close off the gate. Guards pressed the simmering mass of people back in a great half circle while they shouted their outrage at being denied exit.
“What are we going to do now?” Lisette asked. “There are guards everywhere! They are sure to see us.” She shook her head. “My father will be so angry.”
“They won’t find us,” I said. “We’re going to get out. Can you trust me, just a little?” I didn’t wait for them to answer before I drew my knife. “Give me your hands,” I said.
“What?” Lisette said, recoiling. “No.”
“Don’t be afraid. Conrad, look.” I pointed up to one of the guards on the wall. “He has a bow and arrow on his back. Can you tell? Yes, look closer. There it is.” My brother squinted. “A bow and arrow is a weapon.” I turned his face to me. “I am not a weapon. I am a person. Your sister.” I turned to Lisette. “Your friend. And magic is as much a part of me as the prints on my fingers or the color of my eyes.”
Conrad asked in a small voice, “Isn’t magic dangerous?”
“Yes, it can be—the way a knife or a bow or a staff are dangerous. But I can control it, and I will not let anything happen to you. Understand? Not one thing.” I cast a prayer to the stars that I could make good on that promise.
And there it was: the barest flicker of a smile. He held out his hand.
He believed me.
I peered around the corner to survey the layout of Forest Gate. “If we come at it from the east side, we can cross there, see?”
“That’s right out in the open,” Lisette said. “They will catch us.”
I took out my knife and drew it in a slim line across the very center of each of my hands. I could feel the magic immediately, drawing on my fear at crossing the wall and my elation as Conrad put his small hand in mine. I held out my other to Lisette. “Well?”
Reluctantly, she removed her glove and clasped my hand. “Walk slowly,” I said. “Follow my lead. And whatever you do, don’t let go.”
Together we walked to the street while I murmured the spell under my breath, hoping that it would work as well for all of us as it had for just me so many times before. “Nos sunt invisibiles. We are unseen. Non est hic nos esse. We are not here. Sunt invisibiles. We are unseen . . .”
I could feel my magic wrapping around them in threads; I crossed it back and forth, weaving it like a net.
“Aurelia,” Lisette said from the corner of her mouth as we moved toward the gate with aching slowness.
I couldn’t stop. We were past the line of the crowd, too far ou
t in the open now. “Aurelia!” Lisette said again, frantic this time. “Look!”
The men were finished clearing the rubble, and the portcullis had begun to move, creaking as it slowly descended, with six men cranking the chains on either side of it.
“We have to run!” Lisette said.
I shook my head furiously as I continued my chant. I could feel my blood flow slowing, the spell pulling up at the edges as I healed and clotted. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold the spell over them if they jarred or broke the blood connecting our hands. I quickened my pace, hoping to reach the portcullis before my blood flow stopped completely and I lost the spell altogether. Sweat was standing out on my forehead now from the strain. I had to keep my grip. I couldn’t lose my control.
I had promised Conrad I wouldn’t let anything happen to him.
We were getting close, but the iron teeth of the portcullis were coming down faster than we could cover ground. Tears were flowing freely out of my stinging eyes now, but I kept on. “Sunt invisibiles. We are unseen. Non est hic nos esse. We are not here. Sunt invisibiles. We are unseen . . .”
And then Lisette’s hand broke from mine. The part of the spell that had been blanketing her snapped back into place over Conrad and me alone. Now fully visible in the center of the road, she let out a piercing scream.
“My kidnappers! They’re getting away! Stop them! Stop them!”
She had betrayed us. She had convinced me of her innocence, conned me into bringing her into my plans, only to turn us over to the enemy. It was all for nothing.
But when I looked back over my shoulder and saw her, standing resolutely in the swarm of guards responding to her scream, she was not pointing to Conrad and me. She was pointing the other way. She had given up her own chance at freedom to draw them off, to allow Conrad and me to escape.
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